ISRAEL DISCOVERED IN THE ANGLO-SAXON AND KINDRED PROTESTANT NATIONS;

JOSEPH AND EPHRAIM IN ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES; 
Shown from Old and New Testament Prophecy


 
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"Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations"

—Jer. xxxi. 7.


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By The
 
Rev. H. Newton, B.A.,
 
VICAR OF ST. MICHAEL'S, BOROUGH, SOUTHWARK.

AUTHOR OF "THE RESURRECTION OF ISRAEL," A POEM; "THE FALL

OF BABYLON," A POEM.


 
W. H. GUEST

54 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

DUBLIN STEAM PRINTING COMPANY, DUBLIN AND LONDON

 



 
PREFACE
 
The Author designed at first but a short Prefatory Tract on Israel Discovered, &c., to be prefixed to his poem, The Resurrection of Israel, printed some twenty years ago. He advertised this accord­ingly; but, in making the attempt, he found a mere Tract on such a subject an impossibility. However some may be disposed to treat our in­quiry, it has been, the Author knows, a subject of years of study and prayer with men who have the knowledge of the truth, as our Reformers and Martyrs held it, combined with judgment, and "the spirit of love and of a sound mind."
 
 
41 TRINITY STREET, BORO', SOUTHWARK,
April 1874.

 

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ISRAEL DISCOVERED IN TIE ANGLO-SAXON

AND KINDRED PROTESTANT NATIONS

 



CHAPTER I
 
WHEN the poem, named in the preface, was printed some twenty years ago, my thoughts were directed towards that land, which is yet to be to all "The Israel of God," over the whole world a metropolitan region. The thoughts of others, without any mutual personal acquaint­ance, were similarly directed. They thought of Zion, as the time drew nigh when, certainly in a material fulfilment, some were preparing to "take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof." (Psa. cii.) This is a fact worthy of note, and with other events stirring the question, whether “the time to favour her" is not at hand. Meanwhile Satan's counterplot was at work in our "perilous times" (2 Tim. iii.), in the efforts of the "traitors and the truce-breakers" amongst us, who with " a form of godliness," would " creep into houses" to stir the sympathies of England, not towards Zion, but towards Rome and the Roman Antichrist. When the Resurrection of Israel was written, I had arrived at no idea beyond this, that the destinies of the Anglo-Saxon race were bound up with those of Palestine: that this Scripture, amongst others, "The isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first . ." (Isa. lx. 9) can have but one meaning. Not till latterly was my attention called to the publications, whose titles are) given in. the notes1 These are designed to indicate, as some affirm, the probability, others, the certainty, that the ten lost tribes, named in prophecy the " House of Israel" distinctly from the " House of Judah," are to be found in the Anglo-Saxons, or in the Anglo-Saxon and kindred races, in the Protestant regions of Europe, America, and else-where. Some of the principal arguments in the books and tracts referred to, are here very briefly pointed out.
 
We have a promise in Gen. xxii. that Abra­ham's seed should be as "the stars, and as the sand of the sea," and be a dominant race, "possess the gate of their enemies." Of Abra­ham and Sarah, in the line of Isaac and Jacob, shall come "many nations and kings . . . kings of people" (Gen. xvii.); "a nation and a company of nations and kings." ((Ion. xxxv.) Jacob, in his dying hour, utters a prophecy (Gen xlix.), to be fulfilled in the last days," which all agree, are the days of Messiah, of the Gospel dispensation. A destiny is pointed out for Joseph, which, as a matter of fact, has a striking fulfilment in Eng­land and the career of the Anglo-Saxon race over land and sea: such a career, that French writers of note have admitted that the world will not be either French or Russian, but Anglo-Saxon. The blessings foretold are to be "on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren;" words referring to an event supposed to be symbolical in the life of Joseph. His are "blessings of heaven . . . of the deep that lieth under," and of a race like a "fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall" in a hot climate far away beyond assigned limits from the root—a race prolific "to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:" words which cannot mean more; and it is asked, can they point to less than the progress of a race which has laid its hands on regions beyond the Rocky Mountains in America, and the Himalayas in Asia. Joseph, “separate from his brethren,” "sorely grieved, hated, and shot at by the archers; his bow that abode in strength, the arms of his hands made strong by the mighty God of Jacob"—all this has directed our thoughts to the position and destiny of England, which has stood apart, and singly, ere now, against Popery, or revolutionary in-fidelity in arms against her. To "the blessings of the deep" a significance is given in the words of Jacob, spoken of Joseph's sons, especially Ephraim, "Let them grow (Heb. as fishes do increase, in shoals, suggesting voyages and co­lonies) into a multitude in the midst of the earth." Of Ephraim it is said distinctly that "his seed shall become a multitude (Heb. fullness) of nations." (Gen. xlviii.) Moses also, pro­phetic before his death, assigns to Joseph, with the chief things of the ancient mountains," "the precious things and fullness of the earth," those also which come of" the deep that coucheth beneath." His power, compared to that of our national symbol, "the unicorn," also to "the lion," in common with his brethren (Num. xxiv. 9), is to "push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Eph­raim, and the thousands of Manasseh." (Deut. xxxiii.) The "multitude of nations" (Hob. Goiim, the same word used always for "Gentiles" or " nations") is rendered in the margin, "fullness" of nations : the terms are used by St. Paul (Rom. xi.), who says that there will be no restoration, till the event signified by "fullness of the Gentiles" or nations is brought about. It is affirmed that this is appointed especially for Ephraim. "Multitude" or "fullness" will come to mean much the same thing—e.g., if the Anglo-Saxons are Ephraim, go to New Zealand, push out the Maories, and fill the island with their race; this in time becomes, as North America, the Red Indians being pushed out, becomes one of a multitude of Ephraimite or Anglo-Saxon nations. There is a Scripture showing what is meant by "Abraham, heir of the world," which is St. Paul's interpretation (Rom. 13) of the pro­phecy, "Father of a multitude of nations" (Gen. xvii. 4), and other prophecies already quoted. That Scripture is: "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He sepa­rated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel: for the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob is the lot (Heb. cord, or measuring line) of his inheritance (Deut. xxxii. 9). Compare this with "God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth" (Psa.lix.13), and we have Scripture to guide us in what is meant by Abraham, especially through an Ephraimite "fullness of nations" becoming "heir of the world." The conclusion is, that nothing less can answer the requirements of such a prophecy concerning Abraham and Israel, than the progress of a race, encompassing the world, occupying lands, sea-coasts, islands, as if measuring out both hemispheres for itself.
 
Everywhere in the pages of prophecy on the future of Abraham's race, till a certain great event takes place in a union, spiritual and na­tional, a distinction is made between the "out-casts of Israel" and the "dispersed of Judah." (Isa. xi.) That great event, repeatedly foretold in terms both literal and symbolical, is set forth in Ezekiel xxxvii., under the figure of a resurrec­tion in a valley of dry bones. Here one division of the race is indicated by "the stick of Joseph, in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions," "all the house of Israel," while very remarkably the second division is in­dicated by a stick, marked with. "the house of Judah and the children of Israel, his companions:" not as in the other case, with "the tribes," "all the house of Israel," as represented by Ephraim, often standing for the ten tribes. It is asked, what has become of the far larger portion which we are here plainly instructed is equally preserved, and distinct from Judah and those Israel­ites who adhered to the tribe of Judah? A reply is found in many Scriptures, a notable one in Ezekiel xi. 15, 16. We here read that Judah-Israel—the compound word 'is used for brevity's sake—who boasted of Jerusalem as their own, bore themselves contemptuously towards Ephraim-Israel, carried away by the King of Assyria, B.C. 722, to the north-western provinces of his empire. They said: "Get you far from the Lord; unto us is this land given in possession." God orders, by the prophet, an answer to this vaunting lan­guage," Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come."
 
They were then in regions extending to the Caspian and Black Seas, were to travel thence to other lands, always under covenant Divine pro­tection, till the day of the great gathering for a restoration, both spiritual and national. This is all confirmed by what follows in this same chapter. The "outcasts of Israel," Ephraim-Israel, go one appointed way, and Judah-Israel, for we have learned that to Judah did cleave some com­panions of Israel," go another way. To these our Lord, when amongst them, said: "Your house is left unto you desolate. . . . Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Matt. xxiii.) Who cometh thus? A Christian mission; showing, by the way, that such is our duty: but the safest reply is by a parallel Scrip­ture. In Mic. v. 1-3 we have Judah, for smiting their judge, given up till a work of the Spirit takes place, here, as elsewhere, foretold under the symbol of parturition. "He will give them up, until the time that she that travaileth hath brought forth, then shall the remnant of his brethren (Judah) return unto the children of Israel." We have another parallel passage in Jer. iii. 18, where, for "with," the marginal reading is "to" or unto, and guided by the parallel prophecy, and in accordance with the LXX. have every reason to prefer it. "In those days, the house of Judah shall walk unto the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north." Not assuredly the land north of Assyria, long ago emptied of Eph­raim-Israel, but a different north, often indicated by "the isles," "the sea," "the coasts of the earth," "the west."
 
The "north" in prophecy, like Tarshish, Ba­bylon, &c., is adapted from the past to other places in the distant future. Ephraim-Israel to be "returned unto" must in conversion have got the start of Judah, in a region to them for a long time a wilderness of which we thus read: "The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest." (Jer. xxxi.) In this chapter, which is one of those most worthy of note for our inquiry, a precedence in the subject is given to Ephraim-Israel. We are brought to the times of the restoration, always coupled in prophecy with the latter-day "whirlwind," "the time of trouble," "the great earthquake," without a parallel in history,. when the Lord will be "the God of all the families of Israel" (Jer. xxx. and xxxi. ; Dan. xii. ; Rev. xvi. 18). Ephraim-Israel is dealt with thus: "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor (trouble) for a door of hope." (Hos. ii.) The comfort of the Gospel is brought to Ephraim-Israel, after days of long weary wandering over what for ages was to them a wilderness. There at last they find grace; there for ages they have been in a "Lo­ammi," "not my people," "outcast" state, not known, and not knowing themselves as Israel, "Abraham ignorant of them, and Israel not ac­knowledging them" (Isa.lxiii.16). "Yet," says the Prophet Hosea, speaking of them in this condition, "the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God." The next verse is to be noted in every part, especially the words, "Come up out of," connected, as we have seen, with "the north." "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." (nos. i. and ii.) A work has taken place upon. Ephraim-Israel, here expressly distinguished from Judah: then there is a union of the two; but precedence in the mighty movement is given to Ephraim-Israel. It gives a spiritual as well as national significance to the words in Jer. xxxi., "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born. There shall be a day that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion...." Ephraim-Israel having grown in their exiled state to a vast multitude, must in this have become great, and constituted "the chief of the nations." God commands (v. 7), "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations" for that which, while the metropolitan land is in the hands of an alien, they have not; an Israel-nationality, no matter how great or high among the nations elsewhere. All the title they have from Israel is "the remnant of Israel," not saved in the national sense, but in "the groat day of Jezreel" (the seed of God), saved in this sense, and also in that of "life from the dead," by the covenant work of grace upon the heart (v. 31-34). The gathering is declared in this chapter, as in other places, to be "from the north country," from "the coasts of the earth," and "the isles afar off." There can be no misunderstanding this. A people must be in a place to be gathered out of it. The humble title, "the remnant of Israel," while there is no Israel na­tionality, is, in this chapter (v. 8), made to consist with what is said of the multitudinous seed of Ephraim: "I will bring thorn . . . a great com­pany shall return thither;" a representative por­tion from a far greater multitude: "I will take you, one of a city, and two of a family," or tribal section, "and bring you to Zion" (Jon iii. 14). This is proclaimed "toward the north" to Eph­raim-Israel, not to Judah. Let it be carefully noted that the proclamation here is to Israel distinctively from Judah ; expressly so. The prophet calls to Ephraim-Israel, at that time exiled far away to the north, cast out of the land some ninety years before then. Their conversion to Christ, while yet far away from the land of Israel, seems here also thus intimated in v. 19-22, "I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land? . . . And I said, Thou shalt call me, My father . . . Behold we come unto thee." There are proofs upon proofs that the ten tribes are distinguished in prophecy from those now called Jews. In Ezek. xx., for example, we find the prophet, before Judah was yet cast out, ad-dressing the outcasts of Ephraim-Israel, in the land of their exile, he being one of their number. He foretells that they will be brought into "the wilderness of the people," there pleaded with, made to "pass under the rod, and brought into the bond of the covenant." The chapter closes with the restoration of "all the house of Israel" to their covenanted land.
 
In Isa. xxiv. we have a very striking descrip­tion of all the land of Israel in a state of utter desolation; its inhabitants "scattered abroad" out of it. The prophet then turns at once to the preserved of these inhabitants—that is, to their descendants, in a very different place (v. 13-15), "They shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, cry aloud from the sea . . . glorify the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea." This same Israel is addressed as being converted in these parts, or they would not be capable of singing there to the glory of the God of Israel; and it can be elsewhere shown that they greatly mul­tiply there. We learn (v. 16) that during this state of things there is a professing world of "treacherous dealers," on which account a final judgment, of which prophecy often speaks awfully loud and clear, is visited on the earth, so that "it shall fall and not rise again." This is an event, in which God will finally settle His controversy with all antagonist powers; "punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth: "Satanic powers—"Satan fallen like lightning from heaven"—deposed in the deposition of their representatives on earth. This event is in prophecy almost invariably coupled with the restoration of an Israelite nationality. We give a few instances. This chapter closes thus: Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion . . . and before His ancients gloriously." Hosea ii. closes the restoration of Judah and Israel thus: "I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely." We have this final conflict, the scene being in the Holy Land, given in the same words in. Psa. lxxvi., beginning with Judah and Israel nationally restored. So also in Ezekiel, in the chapters following that which foretells the union of Ephraim-Israel with Judah (xxxvii.), the prophecy closes with a description fearfully graphic of the world's last battle, in which a formidable power coming from the north to oppose itself to God's gracious design in Israel, is broken with unparalleled slaughter. So Micah v., foretelling Judah's "return unto the children of Israel," ends with a "judgment and fury upon the heathen such as they have not heard." We can be at no loss for clear ideas on what a war of opposite religious principles comes to, in the remembrance of the Franco-German war, and the Crimean disaster, which wrung the heart of England, while being led by Rome-favouring rulers.
 
Let it be observed that the same parts, "the sea, the isles of the sea," and, in Isaiah xlix. 12, "the north and the west," are named by Jeremiah as the region of the earth from which principally the captivity of Israel and Judah are brought (xxx. 3; xxxi. 8-10). So in a region indicated by "the isles," north and west of Palestine, must the ten tribes be looked for. Isaiah says, speaking of the preserved of Israel, "They shall lift up their voice . . . sing . . . cry aloud from the sea …. glorify the God of Israel in the isles of the sea." So they are there, having been far removed from Palestine. Jeremiah (xxxi.) says, in much the same words, speaking of the preserved of Israel that "found grace in the wilderness," "Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations . . . say, O Lord, save Thy people, the remnant of Israel . . . I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth .. . declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him." From all which it is inferred, first, that a con­verted Israel from the tribes, quite distinct from the still unbelieving Jews, is in that region indi­cated by "the isles," north and west of Palestine.. "The chief of the nations," the bulk of the ten, tribes," the wilderness," as it has once literally been to these, and till we have "the life, from the dead," is so morally to spiritual believers, to "the sealed," comparatively few, are to be found in the same quarter of the earth. It should be noted that, by "the isles," commentators do not under-stand merely the sea-girt parts of Europe, as England, but also the maritime parts contained within the scope of the prophecy. Thus, there is a distinction in the sentence, "The isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first" (Isaiah lx. 9). So also, in Rev. x., the angel, holding in his hand the "little book open," con­sidered to represent the Reformation, sets his right foot (the firmer foot) on the sea, and his left on the earth. A student of many years on our subject has seen an inchoate fulfillment of the prophecy in the chief of the nations," England and Germany, having themselves represented by a Protestant bishop in Palestine. Secondly, it is inferred, from the plain Scriptures before us, that it is out of the question to wander off, in our search, to the Nestorians, or Afghans, or the Beni-Israel, in India, who claim. Reuben for the head of their tribe. It is true that there are remnants of Ephraim-Israel in other parts of the world. But if God will "bring from the east," He is to gather from the west (Isaiah xliii. 5), where they are, in "the chief of the nations." But, as regards nationality, prophecy looks over the pre-sent state of things, into a glorious and permanent future. It treats Israel, no matter how numerous, as being, till then, in an utterly abnormal condi­tion. Nationalities, in coming momentous changes, are to merge in the Israelite, and a theocracy in this. In Jer. xxx. we read, "Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee;" and Isaiah xxiv. foretells the same, not only in the symbolic language already quoted, but, in chap. lx., in plain words, addressed thus to a nation and polity, which "they shall call The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel:" "The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish; those nations shall be utterly wasted." In Zech. xiv. a curse is denounced on any nation which would disown the affiance, and ignore the second great restoration, in an established Israel-nationality, the celebration of which is the anti-type to "the feast of tabernacles."
 
In Isaiah xlix., beginning, "Listen, O isles, unto me," we find (verse 3) it is Israel, God's called servant for a special purpose, that so addresses "the isles." Is it the "Israel of God" (Gal. vi. 16), Jew and Gentile, who, being "of faith, are the children of faithful Abraham," being "all one in Christ," that has here to do with the isles? Or is it a people by race descended from Abraham, in fulfilment of these most explicit prophecies: "I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again." "I will sow her unto me in the earth: and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy." "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, Land I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them, and they shall be as though I had not cast them off . ... and they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man" (a warrior). (Zech. x.; Hos. ii.) The Israel that in Isaiah xlix. addresses the isles, and is in the isles, or how could an Israel for the Holy Land be gathered out of them, is by race descended from Abraham, having a mission for Christ: we are hedged up within certain particulars that so decide. This Israel is, in verse 14, impersonated 'by Zion. This Zion is described here, as also in chap. liv., as a woman, once in marriage covenant, but divorced and desolate, to whom it is promised, "The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other." This no way applies to an aboriginally heathen people, converted to Christ. Such is not the Zion that is to say, "Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro." No converted Japanese or Burmese can ever speak thus. To such, the words here, and in chap. liv., where we have the "wife of youth" divorced, and again received, can in no way apply, "Thou shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, as a wife of youth, when thou wast refused. For a small moment have I forsaken thee," &c. The promise of being so prolific as to be compelled to colonize, grow into a "multitude of nations," so "inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited," is, as we have seen, pecu­liarly distinctive of the family of. Abraham. "Thy waste, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow . . ." This will, no doubt, be true in future ages of the now desolated Palestine. But Zion, who (verse 12) has a number of children in far countries, "the north, the west, and the land of Sinim," asks, "Who hath begotten me these, seeing I am desolate . . . these, where had they been?" With all this agrees Hosea 1:10, in prophecy of the "Lo-ammi." outcast state of Ephraim-Israel becoming as the sand of the sea, attaining to the title of the children of God, before the gathering with Judah, and coming up out of the land in the great Pentecostal day of Jezreel. This is the Israel that has to do with the isles. A people is set forth, once in covenant, cast out of their land, for many years paganized, in this state “barren,”2 incapable of yielding children to God, compelled to wander, and looking for rest; they at length "find grace in the wilderness," are there "spoken comfortably to," and so multiply, that the waste and desolate places to which they have travelled, and "the land of their destruction," in which they dwelt in a lost nationality, has become "too narrow by reason of the inhabitants." These must, of necessity, constitute "the chief of the nations," "break forth on the right and left," and fulfil the prophecy, "Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles," and "become a multitude of nations." If an objector should say, "All this is for the Jews now still unbelieving: they are to be gathered and brought to their land. They will, all over the world, take the place of the Anglo-Saxon and kindred races. These must in comparison so di­minish, they so increase, as to 'push the people together to the ends of the earth.' There must be a pause in the Anglo-Saxons occupying and peopling vast continents and islands in the old and new world, that the Jews of the future may become a 'nation and a multitude of nations,' as 'the sand of the sea,' constituting Abraham ' heir of the world.' "The objector is asked, are the now unbelieving Jews, comprising within themselves, as you say, all the tribes of Israel, to perform all this in a converted or unconverted state? If you say, unconverted, that contradicts the words of our Lord, in harmony with all that is foretold of the Jews, to be under a reproach and a curse, and having no favour from Christ, the governor of the nations, till they shall say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." If you say they will perform all this in a converted state, that is to say, as His spouse, a married wife, that contradicts the prophecy, "More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife."
 
Israel, in Isaiah xlix., declares to the isles his call of the Lord, "He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword." As this is a symbol of the Word of God (Rev. i. and xix.), we may apprehend that this Israel looks like a people in the isles, who have translated and who send the Bible to all the nations of the world: that it is a people that has "come of Jacob to take root, blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." (Isaiah xxvii.) Disappointment is expressed at first as regards results; but there is an assurance of a call to service, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, restore the preserved (LXX., dispersed) of Israel, and to be a bearer of the tidings of "salvation unto the end of the earth . . . raise up the earth, and cause to inherit the desolate heritages." If it should be said that all this is addressed to Christ, that "Israel," in verse 3, is Christ, the reply is, He works by an agency, in a people here particu­larly described.


Some of the treatises, whose titles have been given in a note, viz., those by Wilson, Carpenter, "H. L.," supply co-ordinate historic evidence in support of their theory. The inquirer is referred to these publications: only some of the heads of his class of evidence can be here given. The Anglo-Saxons have been traced by Sharon Turner to the very land in North Media to which the ten tribes were transferred by the King of Assyria. He can trace them no further. Where Scripture leaves the ten tribes, there S. Turner finds the Anglo-Saxons, and at a time which agrees, as to date, with what we learn from Scripture. The subject of our inquiry on the ten tribes never occurred to him. Saxon words and names not a few are derived from the Hebrew; S. Turner gives 247.


The institutions and polity of the Anglo-Saxons were Israelite, having their original pattern in what Moses had instituted in the wilderness. The Saxons had the Israelite divisions of time; they reckoned their day from the evening, and had their week of seven [days named after their objects of worship: Sun-day, Moon-day, Tuosco-day, Wodens-day, Thors-day, Frigga-day, Saturns-day. This looks like traditional derivation, not acciden­tal coincidence. The Israelites had "joined them-selves to idols," and to "worship the host of heaven," and God "gave them up" to be paganized (Jer v. 19; Acts vii. 42); but we may well presume they did not wholly give up their national customs. The Saxons had, like the Israelites, three great festivals: Easter, a word supposed to be derived from Esther; Whitsuntide, answering to Pentecost; and a third, held about the same time as the Feast of Tabernacles. Vast sepulchral heaps or monuments, indicating by the double-cave stone structure underneath, a work of Israelitish origin, mark, along vast regions in the north of the Black Sea, a migration westward of a highly-civilized people. Mr. Carpenter says, "The Russian Archceological Society has brought to light many interesting Israelitish relics, many hundreds of epitaphs from tombs, some of which go back to pre-Christian times, and date from the 'year of our exile,' no doubt the Assyrian captivity." One of the relics is a golden serpent, studded with jewels, reminding us of the brazen serpent, and the superstitious use made of it by "the children of Israel" (2 Kings xviii. 4). Mr. Carpenter says, the Beni-Israel in India, who claim, in descent from Reuben, the name of "Israelites," not "Jews," are said to have silver serpents as objects of worship. Should further research confirm the conclusion arrived at that these sepulchral monuments are Israelite, we would have, not circumstantial, but direct evidence, added to not a little of the cumulative, that there has been a great migration westward of "the outcasts of Israel," of whom Josephus says in his history (Book xi.) that in his day they had increased to "an immense multitude, not to be estimated by numbers." What became of this most prolific race? Dr. Abaddie, a learned divine and historian of the last century, says, "Either they have flown into the air, or plunged into the earth's centre, or they must be sought for in that part of the north which, in the time of Constantino, was converted to the Christian faith." Mr. Rankin gives an instance of what may be added by antiquarian research to this class of evidence. The writing on a slab, dug out of the ruins of Nineveh, is deciphered, and reads: "Sargon came up against the city of Samaria, and the tribes of Beth Khumri, and carried captive into Assyria 27,280 families." It is conjectured that the Israelites were called Khumri, from their idolatrous priests (Chomarim LXX.) (2 Kings xxiii. 5). The Cimbri, in sound like Cumri, or Cymri, are always mentioned by Tacitus with the Teutons, a part of the great German race. They have occupied North Germany, Denmark (the modern name for Cimbrica), and Great Britain, where Cambria and Cumri are names standing for Wales and the Welsh. Let this be compared with what Herodotus (iv. s. 11) relates of the Cimmerians, inhabitants of the region called Kimmeriom (the very region where the Israelites, Khumri, had dwelt), and whence they were expelled by migrating Scythian tribes. We anticipate a little by saying that the Apocalyptic language for this is, "water, as a flood, cast out after" . . . and "the (Roman) earth helping," . . . becoming a place of refuge (Rev. xii. 15). It is also noted that the final syllable in Jordan is in the names of rivers and places in the west, especially in the course taken by the people, whose progress west-ward is marked by the tumuli mentioned above. Some of these names are, the Dan-ez, Dan-nipper, Dan-fester, Dan-ube, or Dan-au (river of Noah, or rest), Dan-merk, as Denmark is pronounced by the Danes, whose land, Jutland, or Juteland, is supposed to mean the Jews' land. In the British isles, the broad Norwegian pronunciation, which gives Dawn-merk, has altered the syllable Dan in such flames as Dundee, Dundalk, Don, Doon.
 
It is supposed by S. Turner that the Saxons derived their name from the Sacae, the most cele­brated of the Scythians: this is a name for wandering tribes, under which designation out-cast Israel would come. We learn from Pliny that a division of these, named Sacassani, gave to their country, Armenia, the name of Sacasena, in sound nearly the same as Saxonia. It is also con­jectured that "Saxons" means "sons of Isaac," by which name the Israelites called themselves (Amos vii. 16). Sunnia being an eastern word for sons, Sac-suni, sons of Isaac, is the origin of the word "Saxons."
 
A most valuable paper by Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, was read at the conference at Mildmay Park, June 26 and 27, 1872, showing that "our national weights and measures add signal confirmation to the belief in our national and hereditary Israelitish descent." The English inch is the exact measure, the 25th part, of the sacred cubit; and our "quarter," by which the staff of life is measured, is exactly the fourth part of the Hebrew laver, and of the most sacred vessel of all, the Ark of the Covenant.
 
I am indebted to the writers already named for the arguments given in this treatise. My reasons are now submitted for concurring with them.
 
Some thoughts which occurred to me, and which I imagined to be exclusively my own, I discovered, in the course of study, to have occurred also to others. This may be true, more or less, of the reasons now given for the affirmative side of the question.
 
CHAPTER II
 
WE find New Testament prophecy to agree with the Old in what has been affirmed on this ques­tion. In Revelations, chap. vii., we have an angel ascending from the east, and sealing 144,000 out of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, 12,000 of each: Joseph being substituted for Ephraim. This is during an interval of quiet in the Roman earth, before the signal is given of those storms which are to burst on the Roman Empire. It is that very period which Dr. Abbadie, in his Triomphe-de la Providence, pointed out, during which we must look for the great body of the Israelites in the north of Europe. As the move­ments and characteristics of people, as they stand related to Christ and Churches, are in this very book signified by their angels, there is no imagin­able reason for this angel ascending from the east, that is, travelling westward, but one—namely, that the people of Israel, out of whom God has elected and marked His servants on their foreheads, have travelled westward to the Roman earth: that His witnesses come of these during the long period of the Roman apostasy. The preci­sion in the numbers, 12,000 of each of the twelve tribes, which never could be the outcome of aught but Divine sovereignty in grace, teaches this truth, which is marked on the foreheads of all God's protesting servants, as against the doctrine of human meritorious expedients paraded by the false prophet. Joseph being named for Ephraim is most significant.3 What has paganism converted to Christianity to do with this, or with the twelve tribes? Not the most self-torturing invention can find out a reason, save one, for an angel "ascend­ing" (moving, and progressively rising) from the east, and putting a mark on Joseph in the west. This directs us to the Scriptures, to the words of Moses, and the dying and inspired Jacob, giving us clear distinguishing marks for the finding out of Joseph, with his double honours of birthright (1 Chron. v. 2) in "the last," in gospel days. We now look for him in the west, having the wealth of the earth and "the deep that coucheth beneath," a population and power "to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." Revelation directs, find out Joseph, and you have his representative, Ephraim, for "the stick of Joseph is in the hand of Ephraim." Joseph being elsewhere by Manasseh, is by Ephraim, "the first-born," in England, the parent of a "multitude of nations," the land signalized by "the morning star of the Refor­mation."
 
The 12,000 from each tribe "redeemed from among men" are called "the first-fruits," in con­trast to what results from their testimony in happier times: "After this I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." (Rev. vii. and xiv.) It should be observed that a twelfth part of the 144,000 are of the tribe of Judah, either of those who remained with Ephraim-Israel in Assyria, or who were con­verted to the faith by St. James, who addresses "the twelve tribes scattered abroad," or by St. Peter, who addresses "the strangers scattered . . . elect, according to the foreknowledge of God." They represent the truly regenerated, the true believers, the paucity of whose numbers during ages of false or idolatrous profession is signified by their being "the first-fruits unto God and unto the Lamb;" and the words, "were not defiled" by the company of the profligate idolatress, Babylon, named and having her character given her in the same chapter, and the words, "they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth," add to the proofs that they are God's witnesses in the trying times of Rome's domination, and not to be looked for in Jews of the future. In chap. xiv. they appear in prophetic view, at a certain stage of the history of the Church, while the missionary angel is going over the world, and a warning is sounded of the impending judgment on Babylon, and of that last terrible battle, which everywhere appears in con­nexion with Babylon's fall and Israel's restora­tion. At this stage of history they appear on Mount Sion with the Lamb, having on their fore-heads "his Father's name." This seems a pro­phetic contrast to those who have Babylon's father, the "papa" of Rome, on their foreheads. There is a fearful warning in this chapter to "any man who receives the mark of the Beast and his image in his forehead, or in his hand." In the company of those represented by the 144,000 must be found the martyrs, who have refused the mark of the Beast; for, as there are not two sorts of spiritual harvests, there are no other first-fruits. Let it be again especially observed, for this is much to our point, that the great harvest multitude of the redeemed are, in prophetic symbol, represented by "four living creatures," not "beasts," as im­properly rendered from the Greek. These four living creatures present each an Israelite national aspect, by a lion, a calf, the face of a man, a flying eagle, the standards of the children of Israel. They, with such an aspect, represent the Church of Christ all over the world, as they declare, "Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." (Rev. iv. and v.) But what has a Christendom of converted paganism, without an outcast Israel, to do with the national standards of the tribes of Israel? Have we not here in prophetic symbol, what we had before in plain words? Israel's "seed shall inherit the Gentiles," become "the fullness or multitude of nations," bringing into one Abrahamic family, by faith, heathen of "every kindred." We have not here a convert Pagan Christendom first, for 1800 years, and a Jew Christendom afterwards; what we have is the very reverse. An outcast Israel going be-fore and becoming "the riches of the Gentiles," till the unbelieving of Judah "return unto the children of Israel," in a "life from the dead," in "the great day of Jezreel." (Hosea ii.; Micah v.) The four living creatures say, "We shall reign on the earth;" but it is with Israel at their head.
 
In Rev. xiv., as we draw near the time of the fall of Babylon, we have the pre-figuring symbol of the 144,000, representing the elect of the twelve tribes of Israel, on Mount Sion with the Lamb, singing there a "new song." It is a song which the redeemed all over the world cannot sing. In their presence (in the presence of the four living creatures) a new song is sung " which no man could learn," has it not as his own proper subject of thanks-giving, but those who now appear on Mount Sion, who " were redeemed from the earth."
 
As regards redemption by the blood of Christ, the four living creatures are all, by this, similarly redeemed. What can this song be—not a song of redemption common to all—but proper to the former, and not to the latter, who are redeemed out of "every kindred and nation"? The former, the elect from the twelve tribes, singing on Mount Sion, in the Holy Land, is suggestive of the reply. Only to one people, of Abraham's race, is there a promise of national restoration, and theo­cratic rule from head-quarters, Mount Sion. If the subject of this new song, peculiar to the elect of the twelve tribes, so indicating a peculiar race, be not found in such Scriptures as the following, where is it to be found? "The days come . . . that it shall no more be said . . brought up out of Egypt; but, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and all the lands . . . into their land that I gave unto their fathers" (Jer. xvi. 14). "In those days they shall say no more the ark of the cove­nant of the Lord . . . At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. In those days the house of Judah shall walk unto the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land . . . given for an inheritance unto your fathers" (Jer. iii. 16-18). It is worthy of note that in this passage on the throne of the Lord, "the north" is pre-eminent: it alone is specially named. In the song that is exclusive for the elect representa­tives of the twelve tribes of Israel, we have a proof that seems unanswerable, that they who have been in Europe, the west and north, the sphere of Rome's domination, "not defiled" by Rome, and who have "followed the lamb," are literally of Israel's race.
 
In the chapter (Rev. xv.) following after the exclusive song, the victors over Antichrist, " over the Beast, his image, and mark," sing "the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb." Here also there is something peculiar. All believers, in the act of singing the song of the Lamb, sing that of which Moses, in deliverance of Israel, was a type. They sing the type in the anti-type: but who are they who, victors over the Beast with seven heads and ten horns, the Roman Antichrist, sing both songs, that of the literal national deliverer, and the soul deliverer? We shall still further inquire who they are.
 
In Rev. xii. the prophet has a vision of a woman crowned with twelve stars and clothed with the sun. She is in severe labour-pains, watched by a dragon with seven crowned heads and ten horns. She brings forth a "man-child," destined "to rule all nations with a rod of iron." The child is "caught up" from the jaws of the dragon "unto God, and to His throne." The woman, persecuted by the dragon, flees, by the aid of "two wings of a great eagle, into the wilderness, a place prepared of God," and is nourished there during the period, often repeated, of the life of the Roman Antichrist, 1260 years (prophetic days). To refer to what Bishop Newton, Elliott, Keith, and other expositors have written on this vision would be to write a book, net a treatise. We will keep to our ques­tion: Dees the woman crowned with twelve stars represent, in her wilderness abode, a Church, whose members are of outcast Israel, according to such Scriptures as, "I will bring her into the wilderness." "I will sow her unto me in the earth." "Sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again The daughter of my dispersed shall bring an offering," &c. (Hos. ii.; Zech x.; Zeph. iii.), or are such members aboriginally heathen, converts to the faith?
 
The scene in Rev. xii. is laid in Europe, as signified by the "seven heads and ton horns," and "the third part of the stars," drawn by the tail of the dragon. The man-child no more represents a single individual than the woman or the dragon: they, as well as the scarlet-dressed woman, the Beast, the false prophet, &c., repre­sent corporate bodies and powers. The Roman pagan dragon, who had not, while pagan, so many as seven crowned heads, nor as yet ten horns, is presented in his full aspect, both pagan and papal. It is in this latter that, during 1260 years, he persecutes the woman, the Church of Christ.. In pagan ascendancy, he strove to extin­guish the hope given her in God's sure Word, to be fulfilled in due time, of Christianity exalted in a Christian polity, on "the throne of the Lord," in "the city of righteousness, the faithful city," "the beloved city." (Jer. iii.; Isa. i.; Rev. xx.) I need not refer farther to the fearful effort made by that impersonation of pagan enmity in Constan­tine's day, Galerius, to quench this hope, than to say, that the man-child, caught up unto God and to His throne, for a rule over all nations, is reserved for the set time in full-grown manhood. The prophecy comprises a long period, including the long life of the Roman Antichrist. It is not in infancy, or boyhood, or early youth, that he is fit or manifested for this Theocratic rule. This book directs our thoughts on the subject, in chap. ii. v. 2G, "He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers." Here "the nations" and the "rod of iron" show the identity of the throne for the man-child, with the ruling power raised up by our Lord, on the total breaking up of anti­christian powers. The "rod of iron" is again named in chap. xix., in the prophecy of the last effort, and the utter ruin of "the Beast and the false prophet." This event, finally decisive for "the kingdom given to the saints of the Most High," marks what is called "the end." It is a terrible event, not only in the West, but in the East. In the latter, a power "from the north," Gog, the prince of Rosh,4 Meshech, and Tubal, is destroyed in his attempt to take possession of the Holy Land. The same words designate "the end" in both the East and the West: "that great day of God Almighty," "It is done" (Rev. xvi. 14-17). "Behold, it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken." "So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel" (Ezek. xxxix. 8, 22, 25).
 
We return to the question: Is the "man-child," born in Europe, the offspring of the star-crowned parent, long resident in Europe, warred upon to the last in "the remnant of her seed" by the Papacy, literally of the house of Israel, or only spiritually so? If Abraham's blood flows in the veins of the child, it must also in that of the parent; it cannot flow in one and not in the other; the impossible in nature is the impossible in prophecy. They are the same people who are represented in the allegory, in two aspects: the spiritual, in the star-crowned woman clothed with the sun, and the regnant in due time in a holy polity, in the man-child, caught up at his birth for divine keeping "unto God's throne." If the man-child, the destined ruling Christian power for all nations, be literally Israelite, the question is settled. In that case, the house of Israel must have migrated to Europe, to "the isles," to "the north" and "west" of the Holy Land, and is to be found in the various branches of the great Teutonic family, the Angles, Saxons, Danes, Normans, and others who have received the Bible, as men lay hold of long-lost title-deeds, in Protestant contrast to the Latin races, who in standing out against the Bible, have shown "the mark of the Beast."
 
All the Scriptures already quoted, and more not quoted, teach that the man-child in future rulers in a ruling nation for the world is literally Israelite. To suppose otherwise is to set aside all the promises made to Abraham of the future, in a world-wide glory to which his race is destined. We have, in confirmation of' our argument, the same allegory in Mic. iv., with the same result in a literal Israel. This is a chapter on the triumph of the Gospel in "the last days" when "the mountain of the Lord's house is established in the top of the mountains." Here Israel, im­personated by Zion, once "driven out . . . cast far off, gathered, made a strong nation," has "the kingdom come to the daughter of Jerusalem." How this is brought about answers exactly to Rev. xii., Why dost thou cry aloud? is there no king in thee? Pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion ; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, shalt dwell in the field, go even to Babylon ; there shalt thou be delivered." The Babylonish captivity suits neither the context, nor the subject, nor the time, nor the nature of this deliverance. In a few verses following (chap. v.) the allegory is again taken up, and directs us: after that "she that travaileth hath brought forth," Judah, the "given up" portion, returns unto the children of' Israel. We have also what answers, in effect, to "the rod of iron," "I will make thine horn iron, thy hoofs brass: thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord of the whole earth."5 Israel has gone forth out of the city" and the Holy Land, has been a nomadic people "in the field," has travelled to the domain of the Babylon of the Tiber, to "the north" and "the isles," to "the wilderness" of both Old and New Testament prophecy, has "found grace" there (Jer. xxxi. 2; Hos. ii. 14), has been rendered capable of yielding a mascu­line Protestantism, which coming to a full-grown manhood, will, as with "a rod of iron," break Popery to shivers.
 
We pass over Zeph. iii., in which with the promise to "gather her that was driven out," after the breaking up of worldly powers, it is said to Israel and Jerusalem, "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty," &c.; we pass over the same prophecy in Zech. xiv. and Joel iii. to notice how Haggai closes his prophecy in chap. ii. This answers to what we have in Revelation about the man-child, and the breaking up of antagonist world-powers, to clear the way for his rule. Zerubbabel (stranger of Babylon), governor of Judah, is addressed as an official representative for a very distant future: " I will shake the heavens and the earth; overthrow the throne of kingdoms, destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen. . . . In that day I will take thee . . . and make thee as a signet : for I have chosen thee." On the same subject Jere­miah says, "Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them." "The seed of Jacob and David . . rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return" (Jer. xxx. 21, and xxxiii.. 26).
 
The man-child of Revelation, the divinely chosen to "rule all nations," an outcome of the same people in Europe, represented by the star-crowned woman, who is a Christian, not of the unbelieving Jews, who as a Christian is persecuted for 1260 years by the Roman Antichrist, who in the palmy days of that Man of Sin, has but "a remnant of seed, which have the testimony of Jesus Christ"—this man-child is, on the sure warrant of Scrip­ture, of the seed of Abraham. So then is the parent: both symbolically represent the same people in different aspects. This man-child has been and is in Europe, "the isles" of prophecy; a Christian of the race of Israel, not an unbeliev­ing Jew. If so, we look for his appearance in a people in Europe, at once Protestant and Israelite, especially in "the chief of the nations."


The crown of twelve stars shows prima facie an Israelite, having the moon—Judaism, whose is a borrowed light—under the feet. A heathen convert Church never had anything to do with Judaism. As the dragon is exhibited by all the symbols in his full development, so the star-crowned woman, clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, is symbolized for all that she is to be. The twelve stars direct our thoughts to those twelve ruling heads of the twelve tribes to whom our Lord said, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. xix. 28). The "two wings of a great eagle” have been taken to signify the Alps, which in their northern and southern slopes harboured some and only some of those who sought a refuge from Rome's persecution. As it is open to question that eagles should symbolize mountains, we would make another effort at interpretation, guided by Scripture usage. This points people by their national arms or standards; as the Macedonians by the he-goat (Dan. Viii.) &c., and the Roman and some other nations by eagles—thus, "Where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together." The eagle is the national standard of more than one of the great Teutonic powers. Is there not here an intimation of "nourished"?
 
In "the remnant of her seed" are to be found that spiritual order of persons, designated in Rev. xi. by the "Two Witnesses, clothed in sackcloth" during the 1260 years of Papal power. If it be conceded that the Protestant of Europe are of Israelite origin, that the sealed of the twelve tribes, the spiritual witnesses, are in these nations, a reason occurs for the number "two." The people, Jacob or Israel, to whom God has said, "Ye are my witnesses," in special contrast to those "who trust in graven images" (Isa. xlii. and xliii.), are all through prophecy presented in a dual form, "The house of Israel and the house of Judah," "The two families which the Lord hath chosen." (Jer. xxxiii.) It should be ob­served that in the chapter referred to (Isa. xliii.) the people addressed as witnesses of God, are promised that He "will do a new thing," by reason of which they are "not to consider the things of old." He will make for them a way in the wilderness;" there the water of life is given to His chosen : it accords with all that has been said on the destined way for exiled Israel. The Two Witnesses are a spiritual order of persons, signified by "the two olive trees" which are the two "anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." (Zech. iv.; Rev. xi.) We infer, from Jer. xi. 16, 17, that those of God's planting in Israel and Judah are represented by the olive tree, having the oil that 'never fails "by grace through faith." The Two Witnesses are set forth in Rev. xi. as long in existence, and given power, &e., during the reign of Antichrist. Something definite must be meant by the number "two." This has been explained by the Wal­denses and Albigenses. But according to the testimony cited by Bishop Newton from Ebrard of Bethune and Thuanus, the Vallenses, called also Valdenses from Valdo of Lyons, Leonists and Albigenses, were one people under different names. They stood for centuries in the van of testimony against the Papacy. They were the same as the Paulicians who, according to Gibbon, "came from Armenia and the adjacent provinces." They came from those very regions already referred to, inhabited, and according to Josephus,, swarmed over by the ten tribes, who travelled and multiplied westward with a remnant of "Judah and his companions," and were ad-dressed as the exiled of the twelve tribes by Peter and James. The Paulicians persecuted with all the malice of the old murderer for their testimony against idolatry in the east, were driven westward, and became the Protestants of the west, especially in the south of France. There Papal Rome did her work, as even Pagan Roman Emperors might shrink to do it. To use the words of Gibbon, "the visible assemblies of the Paulicians or Albigeois extirpated thence by fire and sword" had a remnant left, which were scattered through various parts of Europe. The historian in his narrative unconsciously paraphrases the words of Scripture. They, in their testimony, were "sown among' the people," and through them the God for whom they witnessed, was "remembered in far countries." They may be taken for a co-ordinate evidence of Protestants in the west being of that Israel which came from the land of their exile in the east. Representing in the west the "two families" assured by the prophet that God would not cast them off (Israel being " blinded in part" only), standing in front of the army of martyrs against Rome, they have well merited the application of the title, "Two Witnesses," if not from the two names of one people, for what is submitted to be a more solid reason. Two "stood by the Lord" on great occasions in Israel; Moses and Aaron, Elijah and Elisha, Joshua and Zerubbabel.


 
THOUGHTS, HINTS, AND QUERIES

All expositors are agreed that some prophetic symbols are allusive, being taken from what is characteristic of the time pointed to in a prophecy. Thus, in Dan, xii., "the time of the end" is pointed to by "many shall run to and fro," which all now understand, May not the "rod of iron" and the "great chain" in the hand of the mil­lennial angel (Rev. xx.), be also allusive? Who are the people who have led the way in uniting the nations by the rod of iron and the wire?

 

As a whole generation in the presence of Christ asked, where is Christ? As whole genera­tions in the presence of "the Man of Sin" on the seven-hilled city, pointed to by St. John, asked, where is Antichrist? may not the question be asked, in similar want of power to discern the present, where is Ephraim and his multitudinous seed? where the "stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim," quite distinct from the "stick of Judah"?

 

As we are taught to look for great events in the "great day of Jezreel," the born of God, when "a nation is born in a day," may we not hope for a time when a title mutilated from "The 'United Church of England and Ireland" by the allies of the Pope in Ritualism and political dissent, may be amended. May we not hope that "the Church of England, and of the British empire," may yet repay the enemy with interest in his own coin? Will the Anglo-Saxon -United States, becoming as a nation subject to the "King of kings," come to the help of the. whole Anglo-Saxon race to "open the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in?" (Isa. xxvi.)


Is not a false position in respect of the unbe­lieving Jew avoided by our saying to him, believing in Jesus of Nazareth, you "return unto the chil­dren of Israel," and, according to His word, to a restored nationality. (Mic. v. 3, Matt. xxiii.) In­termarriage with other nations, which has been common to all Israelites, does not set aside Abrahamic pedigree. "They are mine," Jacob said of the sons of Joseph, who in. blood were half Egyptian. The same is true of the half Ethiopian children of Moses.
 
The symbolical Euphrates (Rev. xvi. 12), the Turkish power, is dried up, that "the way of the kings of the east might be prepared." What people may be here indicated, who ruling a vast empire in the east, are singly interested in keep­ing open from east to west, that short highway through Turkish territory, the covenanted land between the sea and the Euphrates, Syria, pro­mised to Abraham?6

 

As "Rosh" (Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix.) comes from " the north parts" right across that way, as young lions" are the arms of India, as "Tarshish" stands for the great maritime power of the day, as Rosh coming across "the way of the kings of the east" is opposed by "the merchants of Tarshish with all the young lions there-of " (chap. xxxviii. 13), what may we be prepared for, with some reason, as we look on the prophetic page, and the historical page of our time?

 

In Zech. ix. 13, on an event in Gospel times, the last war (verse. 10) followed by "peace to the heathen," and Christ's "dominion . . . to the end of the earth," we have "Zion" as a religion and a power, and "Greece" the same set in contrast. This latter could only be in Graeco-Russian "ortho­doxy."7 Who can Ephraim be, the war-power distinct from Judah? "When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, 0 Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man." It will be known when that event in providence takes place, "an ensign set up for the nations" to "assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dis­persed of Judah" (Isa. xi. 12). For this, it is certain, Tarshish leads the way (Isa. lx. 9).


EXTRACT FROM "THE RESURRECTION OP ISRAEL."

ZION PERSONIFIED
 
Oh, the sweet bowers of balsam and of palm,
And orange groves along a sea-beat shore!
For Israel's region all, through ether calm,
I in clear sight miraculous looked o'er.
And I could view each city's busy throng,
And see the interior of each happy home.
Hear now a light harp tuned to sacred song;
Now organ peals through marble-vaulted dome.
Then Gilead's rural music wins mine ear;
The bleating flock, the shepherd pipe's sweet lays
I realized in sounds and prospects near,
The dreamy pastorals of youthful days.
But youthful Fancy with her colouring warm,
Imaging all the beautiful, did ne'er
Conceive the beauty of that kneeling form.
For suppliant as she upward look'd in prayer,
Her aspect mirror'd, as it gazed on Him
Who such a glory in one smile displays;
Compared with it the sun new-ris'n is dim,
And fades the beauty of his morning rays.
"Beneath the glory of thy beaming brow,
Dwelling in light and bliss ecstatic here,
And gazing on thy look of love, as now
Oh, let me far from darkness, sorrow, fear,
Sojourn in Israel, with thy presence nigh.
For let such look its loneliest scene illume-
Yon Tempter has no power to terrify;
Death has no terror, and his grave no gloom."
Voices from starry depths of ether float
And "we shall reign" their anthem—Train on train
Of cherubim, with. note succeeding note
Far worlds to near worlds echoing, "we shall reign."
Onward to clearer view their choirs unfold
Near-echoed "we shall reign" more sweetly clears,
And "we shall reign " afar in torrents roll'd,
Of sounds like thunders in heaven's distant spheres.
He who the AEgean island beach stood o'er--
In sounds of " waters," such as stormy wave
Sends not when surging on the Patmos shore ;
In "lightnings," such as ne'er on Athos rave;
In "mighty thunderings," as never roll
O'er the vast Alps; then in heav'n's scenes sublime,
And heav'nly " harpings " rapturing the soul,
Descried the war—the triumph of our time;
Advanced with form all brightening to mine eye
But in the lines of a poetic page,
Ye may not that form, brow, and mien descry;
Beauty of youth, and dignity of age.
"Oh, Thou who in eternity supreme,
High-throned and hid above created ken,
Didst veil on earth Thy untreated beam,
In human form—to live—to die for men.
Thy wonders wrought in Zion we survey
Her days of mourning number'd; doom'd above
To end in bliss—the death, the life, thy way
Of mystery that ends in endless love.
Here once we traced Thy earthly lowliness;
And knew not whither led by steps divine—
Led to that agony of soul-distress,
We left Thee—to a sorrow, only Thine.
That sorrow's growth, till ceased the mortal breath,
Wrought Israel's solace—dawn'd our hope in gloom
Of Thy dark hour—our life was in Thy death,
And resurrection in Thy lowly tomb.
And now in Zion's doom, her every line
Of written destiny for heav'n we trace.
And by Thee written, seal'd with blood divine
Hell cannot blot, nor hand of death efface."
He spoke. Loud voices as if torrents sweep
From the near hills, from Lebanon afar,
Mingle with notes that roll in ether deep,
As if a voice pours forth from every star.
I felt not, in that moment, as from dream
Waken'd with streams of music round me pour'd,
Exhausted in a zephyr: I did seem
Like one from a third heav'n to earth restored.
I gazed on the ivy-mantled arch, look'd round,
Where dazzling noon of late had lit the scene—
Through rustling leaves the moonbeams strew'd the ground,
As night-winds swept the arch of ivy green.
 
FROM MOSES ON MOUNT NEBO.
 
Meanwhile before the seer
Sudden illumined all Judea's scene,
Reveal'd a day of her millenial year.
The sun blazed forth, and rainbow hues serene,
Beneath whose arc shone Galilee's blue sea,
A smiling Eden, vale, grove, river spann'd;
Whence floated tones of bliss and harmony,
Around Moriah's marble-pillar'd land.
The Hebrew prophet saw—his last hour nigh—
And spoke rejoicing, "Let in peace depart
Thy favour'd with this glory: let mine eye,
Blest with the scene, now see thee as thou art.
And though I reach not Hermon's cedar groves,
Nor on thy goodly Lebanon repose ;
Nor cross this vale of palms, where Jordan roves
Through wilds now blossoming like Sharon's rose;
Foretasting o'er this scene thine Israel's bliss,
I would here enter Israel's happier rest,
In holier land, and fairer ev'n than this."
 

 

Our Israelitish Origin. By J. Wilson. London: Nisbet. The Israelites Found in the Anglo-Saxons. By W. Carpenter. Macintosh & Co., Paternoster Row. The Con­ference on Israel. Four papers read at Mildmay Park, 26th and 27th June 1872, the Right Rev. the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem in the chair. Nisbet & Co., Macin­tosh & Co. The Identity of Israel with the English and Kindred Races. By Protheroe Smith, M.D. Nisbet. Lost Israel: where are they to be found? By II. L. Edinburgh: Maclaren. London: Nisbet. The Anglo-Cimbri and Teu­tonic Races proved to be the Lost Tribes of Israel. By James Rankin. Macintosh. There are the Ten Tribes? By "Israel," with Preface, by Henry Innes. Macintosh. The English, the Descendants of the Ten Tribes. By the Rev. R. Polwhele. Partridge, Paternoster Row. Israelitish Origin of the Anglo-Saxons. By the Rev. T. G. Tipper. Hatchard, Piccadilly. Twenty-seven Identifications of the English Nation with the Lost House of Israel. By Edward Hine. W. H. Guest, 64 Paternoster Row. Also by the same Author, Flashes of Light. The Coming Glories: con­taining The Great Pyramid. By Professor Piazzi Smyth, F.R.S.S. Oxford Wrong: The Anglo-Saxon Riddle. By Antiquary; and its Solution. By Edward Hine.

St. Paul, in Galatians iv. 27, spiritually applies to converts, both Israelite and heathen, the words, "More are the children of the desolate," &c., for a reason common to both, in the subject of which he treats, viz., both divorced from the law. But the words are primarily addressed to a people once in a marriage covenant, divorced, and received again

To say that Ephraim is omitted in disgrace for his idolatry is utterly at variance with Scripture, which, on the contrary, names him repeatedly in God's covenant mercy for a glorious future, and pre-eminence in this. His sin was as much that of the other tribes, for whom his name stands as representative. All commentators, from Irenaeus to our own time, express themselves as being at a loss to account for the substitution of Joseph for Ephraim. See Harmony of History with Prophecy, By Josiah Conder.

'Pws (Ross) appears in the LXX. and also in the modern Greek Bible, translated from the Hebrew, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Rosh, Meshech, Tubal have been supposed to stand for Russia, Moscow, Tobolsk; "All the Russias."

Let those who, at the dictation of the Pope and his minions, robbed the Protestant Church of Ireland, compare this and other Scriptures with their conduct. Honesty requires restitution.

The Land of Israel, according to the Covenant. By the Rev. Dr. Keith.

The Author brought up in the Ionian Islands, and having returned for some years to the east, has made him-self fully acquainted with the creed and character of the Greek Church, self-styled "Orthodox." He is prepared to prove that Greek "orthodoxy" and Papal "infallibility" are equally antichristian. Both equally dishonour Christ. Both deny the doctrine of Justification in Christ by faith only. Both Churches hold fast by transub­stantiation, the sacrifice of the Mass, sacordotalism and Masses for the dead, idolatrous worship of the idolatrous Blessed Virgin and saints, creature intercession by these, idolatrous use of relics, of images or pictures, as the case may be. Three preserved carcases, to which are respectively given the names of St. Spiridion, Gerasimo, and Dionysius, are in in all reality the gods of Corfu, Cefalonia, and Zante. A carved wooden image of the Virgin, said to have been exe­cuted by St. Luke, is the supreme object of worship, as the "Mother of God," in the Monastery of Megaspeloeon in the Morea. Two more such are elsewhere. The annual, holy fire jugglery, played off in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, is as old as the sixth century. It was first started, about A.D. 669 in France, at Poietiers. It was exhibited at Jerusalem from A.D. 870 to A.D. 1187, when. Saladin transferred the Church, with the "doing of the great wonder," from the Latins to the Greeks. A Romish invention, synchronous. with the life of Popery western and oriental; it seems pointed to, as a mark of the false prophet, "He maketh fire come down from heaven" (Rev. xiii. 13). The scene is one of frantic fanaticism and profaneness, doing the work of Satan, in holding up his representation of Christianity to the scorn and ridicule of Turks and infidels. And this is the "Catholicism" and the "Orthodoxy" with which pro-papist Ritualists would unite and identify the Church of England. .

 

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