258 THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN 



the Jews might have rotted in Egyptian bondage. En- 

 largement and deliverance would have arisen to the 

 Jews from some other place ; but we and our father's 

 house would have been destroyed. By faith Moses 

 refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 

 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the children of 

 God, etc. And certainly he did suffer for it. 



They embraced the promises with their whole hearts. 

 They were stoned and sawn asunder rather than give 

 them up. And what was the effect on their characters ? 

 Having counted the cost, and being perfectly willing 

 to accept any loss or pain for the sake of these prom- 

 ises, and hence inspired by them, they became sub- 

 lime heroes. Through faith they " subdued kingdoms, 

 wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the 

 mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped 

 the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made 

 strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the 

 armies of the aliens. And others had trials of cruel 

 mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and 

 imprisonment : thej' wandered about in sheepskins 

 and in goatskins ; being destitute, afflicted, tormented. 

 Of whom the world was not worthy." That is a faith 

 worth having, and it is as sound philosophy as it is 

 scripture. 



"These all died in faith, not having received the 

 promises." Did they receive nothing? Moses and 

 Elijah, Gideon and Barak gained power and heroism 

 greater than we can conceive of. Surely that was 

 enough. But they did not get the whole of the prom- 

 ise, or even the best of it. And the simple reason 

 was that God cannot make a promise small enough to 

 be completely fulfilled to a man in his earthly life. 



