All this is blessedly true, but it affords no warrant whatever for transferring the promises made to Israel to New-Testament believers. God has pledged Himself by an oath to bless the seed of Abraham His friend--to bless them with all earthly blessings, in the land of Canaan. This promise holds good, and is absolutely inalienable. Woe be to all who attempt to interfere with its literal fulfillment in God's own time. We have referred to this in our studies on the earlier part of this book, and must now rest content with warning the reader most solemnly against every system of interpretation which involves such serious consequences as to the Word and ways of God. We must ever remember that Israel's blessings are earthly; the Church's blessings are heavenly. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with _all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ_." Thus, both the nature and the sphere of the Church's blessings are wholly different from those of Israel, and must never be confounded. But the system of interpretation above referred to does confound them, to the marring of the integrity of holy Scripture, and the serious damage of souls. To attempt to apply the promises made to Israel to the Church of God, either now or hereafter, on earth or in heaven, is to turn things completely upside down, and to produce the most hopeless confusion in the exposition and application of Scripture. We feel called upon, in simple faithfulness to the Word of God and to the soul of the reader, to press this matter upon his earnest attention. He may rest assured it is by no means an unimportant question; so far from this, we are persuaded that it is utterly impossible for any one who confounds Israel and the Church--the earthly and the heavenly, to be a sound or accurate interpreter of the Word of God. However, we cannot pursue this subject further here. We only trust that the Spirit of God will arouse the heart of the reader to feel its interest and importance, and give him to see the necessity of rightly dividing the word of truth. If this be so, our object will be fully gained.