IV. That the promise is but delated ? This is loudly maintained by many. They who believe that the Jews will be restored to their native land, expect it on the express ground that Canaan has never been actually and permanently theirs. A certain tract of country, three hundred miles in length by two hundred in breadth, must be given, or olsu they think the promise has been broken. " If there be nothing yet future for Israel, then the magnificence of the promise has been lost in the poverty of its accom- plishment." This reply is not to be lightly dismissed. If the kingdom of God, for whose coming we daily pray, do mean that which all who heard our Lord so perpetually speak about it, understood it to mean — and he never, in the main substance of their belief, even hinted that they were wrong — if it mean the reign of God upon earth, as we believe it does, in which, under Christ, the Isiael of God, the Church, shall be first in the kingdom of heaven, having been of those blessed ones who bad part in " the first resurrection," then the literal fulfilment of the prophetic word may reasonably be looked for. This was " the hope of Israel," of which St. Paul spoke ; " the restitution of all things," and " the times of refreshing," of which St. Pet«r spoke ; and this belief has at least this vast advantage, that it enables those who hold it to read the Scriptures literally, and to understand by David, Jerusalem, Levi, Israel, etc., that which they seem to mean, and not whatsoever the too facile process of spiritualizins; may say that they mean. Of course, if the kingdom is of this world, this age, as our Lord dis- tinctly told Pilate it was not, then a literal fulfilment of these prophecies is out of the question ; but regarded as the kingdom to be revealed in another age, after the resur- rection and the Lord's return, then all is as possible as it will be blessed.
V. That it is fulfilled already ? This is what they afiirm who regard our Lcrd as embodying in himself both the regal and priestly functions, and the Cliurch as being the nation whom God has restored. The Jew's national life and his relision were the two things most dear to him. These, it is said, have been preserved to him in the Church, and in him who is the Church's Head. But surely these are the exigencies of exegesis, and but preteroea nihil,
VI. That such predictions are instances of God's law of illusion ? (Cf. on this F. Eobertsou's sermons on the ' Illusions of Life,' vol. iii. p. 83.) We have illusions in nature. The sun, etc., seem to move round us whilst we are at rest. The hedges, fields, etc., fly along whilst the train in which we are seems to be stationary. Tho miragei We have them in moral and mental life.
' Hnpe springs eternal in the human breast, >Vhich never is, but always to be, blest."
What pictures we draw in our youth of what life is going to be for nsl Then see what life really turns out. We are all subjects of the law of illusion. Now, was it so in these Bible histories? Abraham was promised Canaan. But he never had a foot of it to call his own (cf. Acts vii. 5). All the patriarchs "died in the faith, not having received the promises, but were persuaded of them " (cf. Heb. xi.). The early Church was persuaded that " the Lord was at irand ; " " the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." And yet he never came, and has not come to this day. Now, may not these prediction!
OH. xxxm. 1—26.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 83
be further instances of this law of illusion ? Ten thousand times " No," exclaim as many people; "it is to make God a liar." Is it so? Of course, then, we would rather not be deceived ; we would have all our illusions done away. Would we ? As for " Hope," let her be put an end to, seeing what an incurable liar she is. But distin- guish between being subject to delusion and illusion. He who is subject to the former ho[<es for some good thing and gets nothing. He who is subject to the latter, hopes fur some good thing and, if the illusion be of God's permission, gets something letter. Our hopes lure us on. We acquire character, habits of patient industry, etc., better far than the mere material thing hoped for. The patriarchs hoped for an earthly Canaan ; they won such faith in God that by it they all " obtained a good report." They never complained of God deceiving them (read Heb. xi.); for they knew that, if not the thing they hoped for was given, God had provided that which was better (Heb. xi. 8 — 10). Our own belief is that, in regard to this world, these promises were illusions, but in regard to the world to come, they shall in substance and reality be fulfilled there. Meanwhile let us all have faith in God, who, in ways better far than we think, will fulfil that which now it sometimes seems as if he never fulfilled at alL — C.
Ver. 6, — The abundance of peace and truth. I. Thb need of such a bevelation. There is already abundance of discord, mutual hostility, instability, deceit. What a picture of misery is at once suggested by contrast with the state presented in this promise 1 Instead of the welcome salutation of peace, there is too often threatening. And when the salutation does come, it is too often only a mere conventional expression, and in some instances even an elaborated hypocrisy put forward to carry on war behind it, and instead of the feeling that one is on a sure foundation, there are continual quak- ings tliat disturb what is underneath, and continual blasts that disturb what is above. And beside what attacks man from without, there is within a spirit of hostility and rivalry to others, a spirit striving to shake their position and triumph over them. So that peace and truth need to be revealed within us first of all. We need, not merely to have amicable feelings towards others, freedom from envy and malice, but we need positive cordiality. Loving, unselfish cohesion is the true way to escape bitter habitual contention. Moreover, this peace and truth are needed in abumlance. It must be said of them, as is said in the New Testament of God's Spirit, that they are given without measure. The promise of the peace that passeth all understanding is assuredly a promise correspondent to our necessity.