reqnisit.e for complete and grand success. Even when he had tro.versed the land he st.ill believed in the perfect possibility of its conquest, and had all a hero's difficulty in belie,iug in anything tending to prevent it. But God's promise came, not as the yonug man hoped or expected. Youth sails too fast, underr&tes the difficulties to be surmonuted, does not realise its own weakness, and the weakness of coadjuto1·s, so that fivP-and-forty years elapse before the promise receives its ripe fuUilment. God_'s promises to us will all find realisation, but not quite so swiftly, perhaps, as m our youth we dream. Perfect victory over sin within ow·selves will not be a.cl1ieYed in one conflict, and abuses will not be destroyed by one assault. The might of God's help is greater than ever we deem it, but onr own weakness and faultiness are inadequately known. Our scheme of philanthropy will meet a stouter opposition and a feebler backing than we anticipate. Be not discouraged. God ·s promises will all be fulfilled, though not so fast as the young expect them. Observe secondly- II. Goo's PROMISE WAS FULFILLED EARLIBR THAN THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN DARED TO HOPE FOR. I expect Joshua felt the years of pilgrimage longer than any one else felt them. "Vi1ien would the nation be fit to strike for its earthly home? " Some centuries of bondage had been required to give them unity ; would a similar stretch of wandering be required to produce cow-age and faith? To his eye, doubtless, 'l'i.rtues grew far too slowly. And when he witnessed their murmurings, their readiness to decline to lower paths and viler practices, there could hardly fail to rise within him the feeling that the conquest of the land was daily becoming a more distant thing. And when he saw three of the hardiest tribes settle on the east of Jordan, and saw a great reluctance on the part of the rest to cross that river, doubtless he began to think the promise of God tarried, and to wonder whether he would ever see his people settled. But faith sufficient to cross the Jordan and courage sufficient to take the land did not require centw-ies to grow. God's purposes ripened faster than the faith of even His most believing servants, and accordingly, in all probability, long before Caleb and Joshua would have dreamed the people ready for the task, Canaan is won. God sees more than we see. He hastes not, but He tarries not. Our despairing thoughts are not our wise ones. More forces are working on ow- side than we imagine. God sleeps not. The desire of your heart will come sooner than, in your despondency, you deem either likely or possible. And when, perhaps, hope deferred has made the heart sick, then, like a morning without clouds, it comes in all its fulness. Lastly observe- III. WHEN Gon FULFILS Hrs PROMISES, HE DOES so GRANDLY. It is not half-done, or three-quarters. All the land is given them. Nay, good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over. On the south their ~er~itory extends to Seir; on the east it passes over J orclan and embraces almost all w1~hm th_e edge of the desert. It is given easily. They have war, but no defeat; diffi.cult1e_s, but no1;1e insuperable ; much left to be done (as in a new house there always 1s), bu~ still the conquest is complete. Won far more easily than any could have_ 1.IDagmed, the land is theirs. So in God's own time-i.e., the really fittest time-every promise will be fulfilled. The promise of answers to our prayers, of the heart's desire, of a olessing on our work, of growth in grace, of the abundant entrance into the inheritance of the saints in light-all will be given to us nt last, more richly, more fully, more easily than we have ever dared to hope.-G.
EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XII. 1-24. the Israelites. First he traces out the border of the trans-J ordanic possessions of 'J'HE EXTENT OF JOSHUA '8 CONQUESTS. Israel, which he describes as bounded on Ver. 1.-Now these are the kings. The the south by the river Arnon, on the west of historian now enters upon e. complete de- course by the Jordan, e.nd e.s extending from scription of the whole territory which ha.ii, Hermon, past the See. of Chinneroth, to the Up to thls de.te, fallen into tile llands of borders of the Dead See.. The eastern bor• OH. XU, 1-24.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 205