was right; they knew that the promise itself had a deeper meaning:
they looked undauntedly for "a city which hath foundations."


II. The second inquiry, therefore, is the meaning of this
delusiveness.

1. It serves to allure us on. Suppose that a spiritual promise had
been made at first to Israel; imagine that they had been informed at
the outset that God's rest is inward; that the promised land is only
found in the Jerusalem which is above--not material, but immaterial.
That rude, gross people, yearning after the fleshpots of
Egypt--willing to go back into slavery, so as only they might have
enough to eat and drink--would they have quitted Egypt on such terms?
Would they have begun one single step of that pilgrimage, which was to
find its meaning in the discipline of ages?

We are led through life as we are allured upon a journey. Could a man
see his route before him--a flat, straight road, unbroken by bush, or
tree, or eminence, with the sun's heat burning down upon it, stretched
out in dreary monotony--he could scarcely find energy to begin his
task; but the uncertainty of what may be seen beyond the next turn
keeps expectation alive. The view that may be seen from yonder
summit--the glimpse that may be caught perhaps, as the road winds
round yonder knoll--hopes like these, not far distant, beguile the
traveller on from mile to mile, and from league to league.

In fact, life is an education. The object for which you educate your
son is to give him strength of purpose, self-command, discipline of
mental energies; but you do not reveal to your son this aim of his