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has been hitherto given to man), still this should not prevent its legitimate use. Nay, we should be the more zealous in our endeavours to rescue it to the praise of our God, who is no less the Author of Mind, than He is of the Scriptures. If we have objections, let us honestly see whether they are founded in truth, or whether they truly belong to that which we reject, or are not rather taken from the perversions or misapprehensions of others. Some there are, who even sport with falsehood, and delight in deceiving the ignorant, or in pandering to their foolish prejudices: the sooner they are left alone the better. Let the friends of truth, with charity to its adherents, look all truth honestly in the face; and they will find that they have from thence nothing to fear, but much to do them service.

One great line of argument has been omitted in tracing the identification. It is that of Language. It was found too expansive for the bounds I had prescribed myself, and may have more justice done to it in a separate publication. A knowledge of the Hebrew, and of the different languages spoken by the nations dwelling along the line by which Israel came into Europe; and a comparison therewith of the English, and kindred dialects of the Gothic, will be found most interesting and useful, by those who have leisure and opportunity to pursue the inquiry. This, Sharon Turner has already partly accomplished:see his History of the Anglo-Saxons, fifth edit. vol. ii., pp. 447—90.

And now—may we not more and more admire the truth and faithfulness of the God of Israel, seeing that the promises which He made unto our fathers, and confirmed by his oath,— and upon which so much with regard to our faith, and especially our hope, is in the New Testament built,—He hath fulfilled, or is fulfilling, all, exactly as was declared from the beginning of time? We see that these promises were more than mere words; and that the use which is made of them in the reasoning of the apostles,

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is more legitimate and conclusive, than the whisperings of our unbelief would allow :—Yea, saith Divine Wisdom,

"All the words of my mouth are righteous

ness,

Nothing froward or perverse in them: They are all plain to him that understandeth,

And right to them that find knowledge."

The seed of the promise having been sown in the fathers, there was first "the blade," when Israel were brought out of Egypt, and were given possession of the hind. This was an earnest of what was to come, when there should be the greater redemption, and more permanent possession. Then, after that, was " the ear," when, under David, the proper kingly type was given to the scattered form of the Israelitish commonwealth; and when the ark was lodged in the glorious temple built by Solomon. This was the form of the fruit, but not the very fruit itself. At length, this was given, when the One Seed, Christ, appeared among men. He was "the full corn in the ear." Then was given the very substance of the promise; and it has ripened unto the harvest, when the multitudinous seed shall be made one with Christ; when He is in them, the Hope of glory;—when Ephraim shall be found, the Lord's firstborn in Christ, who is the One Son, the Heir of all things; and He by whom the many sons shall be led into glory. Such is the glorious end at which we are to aim, the glory of God, in the salvation of Israel, that they may be for vessels of glory, unto all the ends of the earth. Let us sow the seed: it will certainly prosper in that whereunto the Lord hath sent it. Let us prize the word:—let us prize every word:—God hath not given therein a stone, in place of bread to his children. If we think otherwise,—if we feel as if it were otherwise, it is because we have not seen the word of God aright. Let us know that word for ourselves, and make it known to others. Such is the work to which we may best address ourselves. Christ,

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who hath fulfilled the covenant, is alone the rightful Heir of the earthly possession, as well as of the heavenly Inheritance. True, his people are heirs with him, and shall inherit all things; but he hath promised Himself to come, and give them possession. And when He comes, we shall live together with Him, and stand in his presence, and be constituted kings and priests unto God, if now, patiently continuing in well-doing, we seek, through Him, for glory, and honour, and immortality!

Now we may see how it is, that the north and west have been so peculiarly favoured;—why it was that the journeys of the apostles, and their epistles, all proceeded in this direction; although the east and south were vastly more populous:—and how it is, that many great empires are passed over; and those that run, as it were, in a line north-westward, are particularly noticed in prophecy;— and how it is so much is said about the isles, in connection with the subject of Israel ;—and how all the peculiar blessings of God, as the God of Providence, as well as of Redemption, have hence arisen, or hither have been sent.

Thus, also, may we account for the universal and continually improving genius of the race now inhabiting Europe::-a race, evidently designed to spread abroad, and cover the globe; -a race, in every respect fitted for universality; and, especially, for being

[LEC. XIV.

the teachers of the world. They are a people formed by God himself, for the special design of showing forth his praise.

Now, also, may we see wherefore it is, that all the varied instrumentality, for the acquiring and communicating blessings of all kinds, to all parts of the earth, has been bestowed upon these nations; and wherefore such favourable positions, so widely scattered, and so variously placed, all over the globe, have been given to the British nation, in particular. The like hath not been done to any nation, as to this; and the position which is occupied by England, is that unto which Israel is called, and for which they were gifted: and "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

And now behold the important position of these nations, as being equally related to the Jew and the Gentile; the brethren of them both they are, that they should do good unto both, as God may give them opportunity,and this He is doing abundantly. They have the Jews among them, and they are among the Gentiles;—and the God of Israel, the Master of the harvest, is looking on, and soon will appear to the joy of those who have given themselves to his service. Let us duly regard the claims our God has upon us, for most loving and lively obedience. He hath, indeed, been unceasing in his care, and marvellous in his love, to the house of Israel. He is indeed fulfilling his word,—

giving a more favourable verdict. Should this end not be obtained, still the result may be good, as many will doubtless be convinced of the untenableness of your position; and so become less disposed to trust in man, and more inclined to examine for themselves whether these things are so-so may they be led to trust more entirely upon the teaching of the Father of Israel, as given to them in his word. Your words are:—

"Calmet has a Dissertation prefixed to the Book of Chronicles, On the Country to which the Ten Tribes were taken, and on that in which they now are;' giving various opinions to his day, and giving his own opinion, that the ten tribes gradually returned, and so fulfilled the prophecies. Mr. Wolf's Journals, from 1831 to 1834, contain many interesting particulars respecting the Jews in Armenia, Persia, Khorassaun, Toorkestaun, Bokhara, Balk, Affghanistan, Cashmeer, and Hindostan. His idea was, as the result of his inquiries, that the chief body in the east was at Lassa, in China. In various parts of the east (see, for instance, Jewish Intelligencer, December, 1840, and Buchanan's Researches), there appear to be remnants of the Ten, as well as of the Two Tribes, but in a very degraded state. It will hereafter be really an object of great interest to the Gentiles to search them out, in order to bring this scattered and peeled people, who have been meted out and trodden down, as a present to the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion. Isa. xviii. If part of the ten tribes are in China, it is singular that both those countries, Palestine and China, should at this time (December, 1840) be so remarkably brought under the attention of Europe! May we be delivered from all unrighteous aggression, and made instrumental, as vessels of mercy, in accomplishing the purposes of God's love to our fellow-men.

"It may be right here to notice Mr. Wilson's recent work on our Israelitish Origin. I have read it without any conviction. Believing with him in the same hope of the restoration of Israel and the personal reign of our Saviour, I cannot but regret that so pious a writer should, on so scanty a foundation, seek to establish a system which appears to me to confound the distinct situation of Jews and Gentiles, and the peculiarity of the divine love in the times of the Gentiles. However, his

work may be useful in calling attention to the subject, and suggesting thoughts to other minds; his system is, in my view, unsupported in its proofs, and contrary to the plain testimony of Scripture. Instead of blindness in part happening to Israel, and the fulness of the elect among the Gentiles now coming in, this view would make, in the whole of the Gentile dispensation, Israel the seeking people, and the Gentiles the blinded people, and destroy the contrast of the apostle between Jews and Gentiles. The sovereignty of God on this hypothesis, would be resolved into almost a carnal and mechanical selection of one family, instead of that largeness and fulness of love which the Holy Scriptures reveal, which has no respect of persons, but deals both righteously and graciously with the whole human race. There appears more reason to think there is a foundation for the opinion that the original American Indians were of the ten tribes, as shown with a good deal of apparent evidence in Mrs. Simon's "Ten Tribes Identified," but we have no certainty yet respecting them. The Rev. J. Samuel, in a volume entitled, 'The Remnant Found, or the Place of Israel's Hiding Discovered,' endeavours to show that the Jews of Daghistan, on the Caspian Sea, are the remnant of the ten tribes; and his own evidence of this is brought forward. They were visited by him in 1837 and 1838; but in any case this can only be a fragment of the whole. Finn's History of the Jews in Spain and Portugal contains much valuable information."

That you are, with many others, beginning to see the importance of the subject, is indicated by your observing with regard to the Ten Tribes, that "it will hereafter be really an object of great interest to the Gentiles, to search them out." To have contributed to produce the conviction that the people more particularly pointed out as the objects of blessing, the house of Israel, -divorced from under the law, in order to be espoused to the Lord according to the terms of the Gospel dispensation,—to have helped to produce the conviction that this people, so truly and everlastingly loved of God, are really of some importance, is indeed consolatory: but the pleasure thus afforded is much diminished by the ignorance still pre

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vailing on the subject; and which is sufficiently evinced by your avowal of the purpose for which you think they are to be sought out. It is in order, you say, to bring this scattered and peeled people, who have been meted out and trodden down, as a present to the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion." Is this consistent with the idea of Israel's having multiplied as the sand of the sea previous to their predicted union with Judah, as expressed, Hos. i. 10, 11 ? Is this consistent with Ephraim's having grown into the promised fulness of nations; and, together with the thousands of Manasseh, having pushed the people to the ends of the earth,— so that, at the time of their Restoration, the nations shall see and be confounded at all their might? No, the Lord will perform the truth to Jacob, the mercy to Abraham, which He hath sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. The recovery of Israel from Egypt is to be eclipsed by their Restoration from the north country: Were they then presented to the land as a miserable fragment, under the degrading patronage of their Egyptian task-masters? Was it not in power that they came forth, under the immediate guidance and blessing of the God of Israel?

It is true that in Isa. xviii. the promise is given that the present of a people scattered and peeled shall be brought unto the Lord of Hosts: but look again at the last verse of that chapter, and you will find, that this present is not to be brought by a mere Gentile people: it is to be "from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto, whose land the rivers have spoiled," as truly as it is to be " of a people scattered and peeled." And the people terrible from their beginning hitherto, are of the same stock as the people "scattered and peeled;" but they are not the same portion of the people. There is the same distinction marked in the closing verse, as that which is, throughout the Scriptures, made between the case of Israel and Judah. The people of whom the

5

present consists are the Jews; the people from whom the present proceeds is Israel, whose land the rivers have spoiled: by which expression we are led back to ch. viii. v. 7, 8, of this same prophet, where the spoiling of the land of Israel, as well as of Judah, is described as commencing with the Assyrian invasion; when the waters of the river, strong and many, swept away the house of Israel forth of their land. The outcast house of Israel, terrible from their beginning hitherto, shall extend favour to the distressed, the scattered, and peeled children of Judah. Israel, as having renewed their strength in the islands, and having been brought near to their God; and as having had the mystery of God's working in providence, as afore revealed in his word, opened up to them, shall be found in the possession of the abundance of the seas, and shall employ the ships of Tarshish in this labour of love. See Isa. xli. lx. &c.

You say yon have read my work without any conviction. I leave it with your own conscience to judge of the fact as to whether you have really read the book, or merely glanced over some particular portions. But of this I can well judge, that you have not paid attention to all that is contained even in the beginning of the book; else you could not have made some of the statements contained in the foregoing extract. I earnestly again request, as I did before in the preface, that you read the first six lectures, which chiefly consist of reasoning with regard to the scriptural expectations we should form, as to the so-called lost house of Israel. You cannot know whether a people be indeed the people of the promise, until you have seen what is really promised respecting them. God will honour his word, by making it the chief instrument in removing the veil that hath been spread over all nations.

You say that you believe with me in the same hope of the restoration of Israel, and the personal reign of our Saviour. With regard to the latter, it is