v - v “ . ■ . ■ 1 *-4 . ' J OoCa.^ O^Vvv J -U l' 'Vv^. \ io . v¥ ferib LECTURES ON ANCIENT ISRAEL, AND THE I SRAELITISH ORIGIN OF THE MODERN NATIONS OF EUROPE. BY J: WILSON. “ The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” — Romans, xi. 29. CHELTENHAM : MIMPRISS AND CO. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY. LONDON:— NISBET & CO.; BALL, ARNOLD, & CO.; AND WERTHEIM, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCXL. f MITCHELL, HEATON, AND MITCHELL, PRINTERS, LIVERPOOL, PREFACE. The following Lectures are intended to prove, that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is verily a God of truth, is fulfilling His word with regard to the multitudinous seed, — the many nations to come of the house of Ephraim : And that as truly, as He has accomplished His purpose, in giving the One Seed Christ, to come of the house of Judah. These nations have, from the beginning, been in a state of training for their high and im¬ portant destiny, that of shewing forth the praise of Jehovah, who is the God of Nature and of Providence, as well as of Redemption, and whose wondrous wisdom is manifest in all. The author holds, with many modem students of prophecy, that the pro¬ phecies must he literally fulfilled; and that Judah must mean Judah, and Israel mean literally, Israel. At the same time, he agrees with those who apply, to these Christian nations, many of the prophecies respecting Israel : believing as he does, that these nations have not merely come into the place of ancient Israel, hut are truly the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, — are of the so-called “lost house" of Israel, — the leading tribe of which was Ephraim. These nations have been brought forth at the time, and in the place predicted : they are the modern nations of Europe, — and especially those of Saxon race, whose glorious privilege it now is, to preach the Gospel for a witness unto all nations, ere the end come. How the promised seed have come to be sown in these countries, is accounted for in the latter part IV, PREFACE of the Course : but the author earnestly requests a careful perusal of the first six lectures ; as it is upon the Scriptural foundation there laid, that his after conclusions chiefly rest. These he has supported by proof, as various in kind, and great in quantity, as, he trusts, will be requisite to substantiate the truth of the view he has been led to entertain. The plan of the Lecturer has been to look on the subject in all points of view; but especially, in the light of God's word. In that light would he ever rejoice to look upon all around him, — upon this world, and its inhabitant, man; and the wondrous course of God’s providence, which, all, hath had respect to His people of Israel, — of whom He hath said in truth, “ I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.” Even after they were seemingly cast away, the God of Abra¬ ham still declared, by his prophet Jeremiah, — “ I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim i3 my First-born.” Edgehill, Liverpool , August, 1840. J. W. CONTENTS LECTURE I. Israel's Ancestry, and the three Grand Races of Mankind. The Adamic Dispensation. — The Flood. — Prophecy in the names between Adam and Noah. — Covenant with Noah. — Babel. — The names between Noah and Abram. — Three Grand Races of Mankind : the Tartar Race ; the Negro Race; the Caucasian Race. — The European Family. — The Prophecy of Noah. — Contrast of the European Family with the most anciently civilized portions of the Three Grand Races. — Reference to Deut. chap, xxxii., as expressing God's designs with regard to Israel . . . 1 LECTURE II. The Land of Israel. Interesting Scenes and Objects to be passed in a voyage to the land of Pro¬ mise. — Tyre. — Important Transactions connected with the Land. — The Land identified with Eden, in the language of Prophecy, Ezek. xxviii. and xxxi. — Its central position by Land, and also as to Water. — The Rivers, or bodies of Water, adverted to in the description of Eden, Gen. ii., still found branching out from the Land of Israel.- — Central position of the Land in relation to the British Empire, and all varieties of Mankind. — Description of it from Scripture, and correspondent human testimony. — Its present state.— Its future renovation, as described, Zech. xiv., Joel iii., Ezek. xxxviii.-ix.,xlvii., Isaiah xxx., Ps. xlvi. — Literal and spiritual fulfilment of the Prophecies. — The Land doubly lost and won . . . . . 22 LECTURE III. The Promises made unto the Fathers. The terms Earth and World considered. — The Inheritance, as understood by the Patriarchs. — The Great Empires conquered, but enjoyed not the Land. — The Frank’s possession of it. — The King of the North may attempt to fix his Me¬ tropolis there. — Possession not to be had through the law, but by Christ ; Rom, iv, 13-18. — Calling of Abraham. — What is meant by the seed to whom the land was absolutely promised ? — The One Seed, Christ. — Whether a natural or an adopted seed ? — WTiether of Ishmael, or of Isaac, was to come the multitu¬ dinous seed? — The three birthright blessings distinctly specified, and written in the very names of the three great receivers, Gen. xxii. Promises to Isaac, Gen. xxvi, 2-4. — Isaac blessing Jacob. — Jacob’s vision at Bethel, and his inter¬ view with the Angel of the Covenant, in returning. — The first birthright blessing, (the double portion, and multiplicity,) more particularly confined to the house of Joseph, and to the tribe of Ephraim. — The three birthright blessings pos¬ sessed by the rejoicing multitude, mentioned, Rev. vii . 42 VI, CONTENTS LECTURE IV. The Training of Israel. Israel’s close connection with the Three Grand Families of Mankind. — The Mingling of Races. — The parent's influence upon his offspring, exemplified in the case of Abraham’s posterity. — Care taken, as to the physical properties of the Chosen Race. — The Moral Training given to Abraham — to Isaac — J acob — J oseph — and his Brethren.— To Israel, in Egypt — in the Wilderness. — The Three grand principles of Government, — Monarchy — Aristocracy — Democracy — suc¬ cessively developed. — Israel in the Land, under the Judges, and the Kings. — David and Solomon. — All have failed, in the very respects in which they ex¬ celled. — Israel trained to maritime affairs, preparatory to going_ forth among the nations. — God’s purposes with regard to Israel, and for which he had been training them, not accomplished during their former residence in the Land. — Shall be fully accomplished in the promised Kingdom . 68 LECTURE V. The Dispersion of Israel. Israel and Judah discriminated. — The former called All Israel, or the whole House of Israel. — Different purposes the two houses were intended to serve.— The Captivity of Israel. — The time of their resurrection, foretold at the time of their political death. — Completeness of the Captivity. — Its continuance. — The places to which they were carried; Assyria and Media. — The design of the Assyrian, and that of the God of Israel, very different. — Importance of the lost house of Israel. — Who are Jews? — The more valuable portion of the Jews became mixed among the Gentiles : — The Jew hath inherited the curse of both Canaan and Edom ; yet still the promise is to the Jew: but it cannot be less to Israel. — It is to the return of Israel’s captivity that the Prophecy specially points : — and then shall Christ be rejoiced in by the Jew, as having become also his salvation . 92 LECTURE VI. The Place of Israel's Hiding. Certainty of the recovery of Israel. — Objections. — Israel have become mingled among the Gentiles. — What is to become of the Gentiles ? — The literal and spiritual Israel, one. — Abraham’s three families, correspondent to the three sons of Noah — Ishmael and Ham — Children of Keturah and Shem — Jacob and Japhet. The word of Prophecy points northward, to the place whither Israel had gone, and whence they are yet to be brought. — The great Prophetic line of Empires running north-west. — Antichrist, the consummation of the TyrantEmpires in the north-west; Is. xi, 1-10. — Four Songs, of fourteen lines each, (Is. ix, 8-21; x, 1-4) describing the progress of Israel’s punishment — First : Israel, immediately before their removal from the land. — Second ; Israel, as being removed by the Assyrian. — Third; Israel, after removal, in the same place with Judah. — Fourth; Israel, before the great judgment. — Our Saviour’s ministry went out northward. That of the Apostles proceeded north-westward. — The Epistles all sent to places in the same direction. — The Apocalypse carries our view onward to our own part of the world. — Conclusion of the Argument : Here are to be found the sheep of God’s pasture . 114 LECTURE VII. The Progress of Israel Westward. Reference to the Beni-Israel in the East — Their manner of burial — Israelitish tombs, northward of the Caucasian mountains. — Names of the rivers between the Don and the Danube, indicative of Israel’s sojourn there. — Mcesia. — The Get* or Goths — Attacked by Darius, Alexander, and the Romans. — Dacia. — The Goths precipitated upon the Romans by Attila and his Huns — They regain CONTENTS Vll i possession of Mcesia — They war with the Romans. — The storm passes over to Africa, and leaves the Gothic Race in possession of Europe. — Their important position. — Their traditional prophecies — as in“ Voluspa" — consistent with their Israelitish descent; and supposed to be handed down from the days of Elijah, who had ministered the word of God, chiefly, in this house of Israel . 143 LECTURE VIII. State of Europe, subsequent to the Northern Invasion. Israel's being brought out into these maritime countries. — Consternation of the former inhabitants. — Complete supplanting of the enemies of Israel — And the powerful instrumentality whereby all this would be effected — All clearly foretold, as in Is. sli, 1-16. — The Great Whirlwind among the Nations, Jer. xxv, 15-33, sweeping Israel out of their place of hiding, into the foreground of Europe. — State of Europe, consequent upon the Whirlwind, as described by his¬ tory. — Theories, as to the increase of the northern nations. — They are the Seed the Lord hath blessed. — The Great Change in Europe, consequent upon their settlement here. — Its whole phenomena consistent with the Israelitish origin of the people who produced it. — Their mixed form of government, and happy con¬ stitution of society. — Feudalism.— Provision for the Clergy. — Chivalry. — Com¬ mercial Leagues and Corporations. — Free Masonry. — Heraldry.— The Crusades. — Language, Music, and Poetry. — Time of the Introduction of Christianity among them. — Religious and Temporal Blessings. — All consistent with the idea of their being the Line of the Lord’s Inheritance. — Objections considered . 171 LECTURE IX. The English Identified with Israel. It has been shewn how Israel nationally can have come into Europe. — The difficulties all on the other side. — Gothic-Scythian race. — Ancient Sacae and modern Saxon branch — Are traced to the same quarter as that to which Israel had been carried captive. — Whence the name, Saxon? The Saxons reach the north-west of Europe, and betake themselves to sea. — Come to the assistance of the inhabitants of South Britain, against those of the north. Their beauty : two remarkable circumstances connected therewith. — Saxon and Jewish form of head — Justice and Truth. — Independence of spirit— Interest in public affairs, and tendency to improvement. — Benevolence : its possession befits the design of God, with regard to Israel, and the present position of the English nation, for which they have been also intellectually gifted.— Promises to Israel, as acting worthy of her destiny. . . . 197 LECTURE X. The Identification : — Social and Political Relations. Supposed ferocity of the ancient Saxons and Danes accounted for. — Analogous case of the Cossacks, inhabiting the same country from which the Saxons came, and evidently of the same race. — Saxons’ respect for Woman. — Their Marriage Ceremonies derived from Israel. — Relation of parent and child. — Avenging of blood. — Voluntary associations. — Institution, by Moses, of Elective Govern¬ ment. — Correspondent arrangement among the Anglo-Saxons. — Israelitish cha¬ racter of their Constitution, by two old Authors. — Plainly of Israelitish origin; and otherwise unaccounted for. — Common Law. — National Chronicles. — Conclu¬ sion : — Their social Institutions, equally with then1 personal character, witness to the truth of their Israelitish origin . 217 LECTURE IX. The Identification, concluded. Dress of the Anglo-Saxons. — Use of the Bow. — Form of Battle. — Use of Ensigns. — Were Freemen at the same time that they were soldiers. — Agriculture. — Architecture. — Gothic Arch. — Proficiency in the Fine Arts. — Laws regarding Property. — Poetry. — Music. — Their ancient ideas of the Supreme Being. — Re- Vlll, CONTENTS ception of Odin as the incarnation of Deity. — Symmetrical arrangement of tbeir objects of worship, as written in the days of the week. — Arrangements of their great Temples, and worship in Groves.— Israelitish Days, Weeks, and Festivals. — Their three Grand Convocations.— Their Priesthood. — Tithes. — Retention of Israelitish forms, when they professed Christianity. — Gradual and continual development of God’s favour to his Church in England . 245 LECTURE XII. The Escaped of Israel. — Israel the Lord's Measuring Line. Who were the Lacedemonians that claimed to be the kindred of the Jews ? — Whither went the escaped of Israel? — What became of those that fled into Egypt? — Surprising growth of Free Commonwealths in the West, after the Assyrian Captivity.— That of the Twelve Kings in Egypt. — Of the Twelve Ionian Cities. — Of the Twelve Etrurian Lucumonin. — The Danes and Jutes. — Piets and Welsh. — Manasseh and Ephraim. — Israel, the Lord’s Measuring Line — Enclosed Jerusalem, and took the Jebusites into the portion of the Lord, in the time of David. — Samaria, in the time of our Saviour’s personal Ministry. Analogy between this and the Ministry of his Church, in the same direction, down into Europe, as into the place within the Vail. — Israel now given to encircle the Earth : a Token of favour unto Man. — Call to duty, as anticipating the coming Glory, — (Is. lx.) . 267 LECTURE XIII. The Songs of Degrees. — Israel's Progress into Millennial Glory, The Songs of Degrees, (Psalms cxx-cxxxiv,) sketching the progress of Israel from their state in the Wilderness, to their appearing before the Lord in Zion. — Their exposure in the North. — Obtaining of Help. — Going up to Jerusalem. — Emancipation from Anti-ckristian thraldom. — Blessing obtained for the firm ad¬ herents of the Truth. — Discovery of the Lord’s wonderful dealings with Israel. — Return of the Lord, with the earlier children of the Church. — Consequent happy condition of Israel. — Meditations on the works of God, in Providence and Redemption. — The appropriate sacrifice of the people, presented by Christ, and full acceptance declared.— Happy union of the children of God in the house of their Father . 291 LECTURE XIV. Recapitulation, and Conclusion. Recapitulation of the Course. — Useful application of the Subject, as reveal¬ ing the true Character of God, — a God of Truth, and Faithfulness, and Everlasting Love : — as accounting for the Desolations of the Land, and the Favours bestowed upon these people; their tendency to Improvement; their adaptation for Univer¬ sality ; and their singularly favourable Position for doing Good : — as pointing out our Duty to the Jew, on the one hand, and the Gentile, on the other, — equally our Brethren. . . 313 NOTE TO THE READER. Means of information on the subjects discussed in these Lectures— The Scrip¬ tures; as being indeed the Word of God, and not of man. — Phrenology. — An¬ cient History: Herodotus. — On the word Scythian. — The Middle Ages: Gibbon. — Incidental Proof: Mimpriss’sMaps. — History of the English: Henry. — British Constitution. — The Song of Moses . 325 LECTURE I. ISRAEL’S ANCESTRY, AND THE THREE GRAND RACES OF MANKIND. The Adamic Dispensation. — The Flood. — Prophecy in the names between Adam and Noah. — Covenant with Noah. — Babel.— The names between Noah and Abram. — Three Grand Races of Mankind : the Tartar Race ; the Negro Race; the Caucasian Race. — The European Family. — The Prophecy of Noah. —Contrast of the European Family with the most anciently civilized portions of the Three Grand Races. — Reference to Deut. chap, xxxii., as expressing God's designs with regard to Israel. God made man upright, — made him in his own image ; and he was equally happy as he wTas holy. His will w7as in unison with that of the Framer and Sustainer of all things; and being in har¬ mony thus with universal nature, suffered not those painful collisions to which it is now so con¬ stantly exposed, in consequence of sin. And as man became alienated from God — from the true good — the light of Jehovah’s countenance ; so did he become subject to that wretchedness which results from his possessing active powers, adapted for communion writh the spiritual world, without these having any thing proper upon which to fix themselves. In this low estate man Avas not left by Him Avho alone could help him. God mani¬ fested himself unto Adam in a manner fitted to B 2 ADAMIC DISPENSATION. man’s fallen condition. Salvation through the great atoning sacrifice was then revealed. It was promised that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head ; and, in place of the insuffi¬ cient covering of his own workmanship, with which man, in his first emotions of shame, had covered himself, he was clothed wfith skins — as we suppose, with the skins of the animals slain in sacrifice, in the first institution of that new mode of worship, which was now given to man, as re¬ quiring to be redeemed by the blood-shedding of the Lamb of God; — as requiring to be clothed with the righteousness of Him in whose name alone we may approach the Father. The good seed being thus sown in the first fa¬ mily of mankind, they w7ere allowed to multiply and replenish the earth. But, even in that early period of our world, there was a distinction of races. The descendants of Cain were emphati¬ cally wicked; whilst the sons of Seth (see Gen. vi. 22) are called the sons of God. In process of time these two races intermingled, and the result was a most powerful progeny; but their power was not consecrated to the Lord. Men, as they grew mighty, became monsters in wickedness; and as they replenished the earth, they equally filled it with violence. Their enormities . called for vengeance from heaven ; and the waters of the flood were sent to quench the fire of their lust ; and to sweep them, with their wTorks of wicked¬ ness, from the face of the earth. LECTURE I. DISPENSATION OF NOAH. 3 Of - all the families of mankind, only one was spared, the family of Noah ; which, together with the individuals that had intermarried therewith, was preserved in the ark, that Noah was directed to prepare, during the hundred and twenty years in -which he testified against that ungodly gene¬ ration, and preached righteousness, pointing to that rest that remaineth for the people of God, and of which the ark was a type. It has been remarked that God was preaching righteousness from the very beginning; and had been writing his gospel in the very names of Noah and his progenitors, even from the creation of man upon the earth. Thus the name of Adam may^ either mean red earth , out of Avhich man was formed, or it may be from the Hebrew word sig¬ nifying image : and, made of earth, man was formed after the image of God ; which image we lost in the first Adam, who is of the earth earthy; and we have it restored in the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven. Seth, the son of Adam, hath his name, meaning placed: man, made of earth, and in the image of God, wTas placed in Eden by his Maker; but, by his sin, he placed himself in a wilderness of thorns and briers. And then Enos means mortal , referring to the death¬ ful state into which man was precipitated by his fall into sin. Cainan means miserable, the cha¬ racter of that state of spiritual death, in which man is now found. But Mahalaleel brings into view the Lord, the Saviour; this name meaning Jfe "£2 *T ^ ,U3 dU/* fry ** ^ A « V ' ' ”* *T fjjit AAA. {<1. 'to Cc- 2^ /t-yML $ \JUsWsA~' I few* 4 PROPHECY, IN NAMES the Blessed God, or, God who is worthy of all praise, — which the Word was, even before He came down to earth to accomplish our redemption. His humbling of himself is in the next name expressed, Jared meaning he shall descend: He humbled himself, to take upon him the form of a servants and to become a Messenger to those who received his message with the utmost despite. This ser¬ vice is expressed in the next name, Enoch, which means teaching. The ministry which he fulfilled, until the time of his being offered up, was that of a Teacher, sent from God. Never man spake like this man ; and the subject of his teaching to his chosen disciples, much related to the decease he should accomplish at Jerusalem. And this seems to be the object pointed at by the next name, Methuselah, meaning, He who died shall send. He died for our sins, and rose again for our justi¬ fication. And then did He w7ho had said, “ I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” send forth his apostles, with power, on the same blessed errand. Lamech means, to the afflicted: and to the afflicted, the tossed with tempest and not comforted — the desolate woman — the lost house of Israel, which had gone into the north country, was the Gospel more especially sent. The name Noah, describes the character of the message, which hath proceeded from Jerusa¬ lem, through Judea, — through Samaria, — through Asia Minor, — through Greece, — and still more and north-westward, until, having reached these “ isles LECTURE i. FROM ADAM TO NOAH. afar off,” it is being spread unto the uttermost ends of the earth. It is rest, or consolation. It is “ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.” It is an invitation to enter into rest ; into the enjoyment of perfect peace, whatever troubles may outwardly abound: to take refuge in that ark, which was faintly shadowed forth by the ark that was budded by Noah. Thus, in the first names of mankind, the ten between Adam and Noah, we have, most distinctly written, the great purpose of Jehovah with regard to Israel in particular, and mankind generally. The names, together, as given 1 Chron. i. 1-4, without the assistance of any interposing word, read, “ Man — placed — mortal — miserable — the Blessed God — shall descend — teaching — having died, He shall send — to the afflicted — rest or conso¬ lation.” The 44 afflictions of Joseph,” and the fact that the blessings of the Gospel have been mainly addressed to his descendants, and, through them, to the world, will hereafter engage our attention. With Noah, a new covenant was made. It was, that no such sudden destruction, by the waters of a flood, should end the present, as it had the past dispensation. His children might, therefore, with confidence, go forward to multiply and replenish the earth anew; and the bow in the cloud was ap¬ pointed to be a token of this covenant, that, when they looked upon it, they might think of God’s remembering his promise, that the showers should fall in measure; that the clouds should be girt, 6 FAMILY OF NOAH. - BABEL. as it were, with the band of the Almighty; and no more burst upon the world with the waters of a universal deluge. The family of Noah seem then to have left the mountains, and come down to the more inviting plain, in the land of Shinar. If the land of Israel be, as there is reason to believe, the site of Eden, then the land of Shinar, which is eastward of that, may be the very land into which the first great tyrant among mankind, Cain, went from the presence of the Lord, and built a city for his son. Here, in the site of Babylon, the first of that list of tyrant empires that have so sought to lord it over men, and persecute those that have occupied the place of righteous Abel ; here, thus early, did they seek to centralize the human race, in a grand confederacy against the will of Heaven. Thus early did Babylon oppose itself to the King of Salem, who hath chosen Zion, and desired it for his habitation ; saying, “ This is my rest for ever ; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.” The Lord confounded the folly of these early founders of a universal empire in¬ dependent of Him who alone hath a right to reign. He forced the rebels to disperse ; and the three families of Noah were at length, according to the divine appointment, scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth. The dispensation of Noah, like the Adamic, went into utter apostacy; and the whole world was being covered with idolatry: but God remem¬ bered his covenant with Noah, and brought not LECTURE i. NAME OF THE LORD. 7 such a sudden all-sweeping judgment as the flood, to sweep away all his posterity at once from the face of the earth. He adopted another method of dealing with mankind. He chose one, to whom and to whose posterity, he meant to show especial favour, and upon whom he would bestow a very superior training ; who should be the depositories of his lively oracles, and the medium through which he would communicate with the othfer fa¬ milies of mankind. A new kind of ark ; and that of which the former wTas a type, was given : — the name of the Lord. was presented to man. It Avas especially designed for the seed of Abraham ; but others of mankind, who joined themselves to this people, by putting their trust in the God of Israel, might, like the wives of Noah’s sons, be saved from the ruin which is the portion of all the world beside. It may have been in allusion to this anti-type of the ark, that Noah called the name of his first-born, Shem, that is, the name , or what is fixed or established. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” The name of the Lord was, in some measure, manifested unto the Patriarchs, and more fully unto Israel, when a nation. Still more clearly at the first coming of Christ did the name of God appear. In the ark of the covenant hath Israel been preserved at all times, amid all the fluctuations of earthly things, amid all the most sweeping judgments that have made an end of many nations. — Only therein may salvation be 8 SECOND PROPHECY, IN NAMES found. In the righteousness, and goodness, and power of the Lord, have his people been given at all times to trust. After having been “ afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted,” Israel was at length promised rest. (Is. liv. 9, 10.) — “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth ; So have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, And the hills be removed ; But my kindness shall not depart from thee, Neither shall the covenant of my peace he removed, Saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee." Shem, the son of Noah, — perhaps in allusion to the release from the ark, and the healing which the earth enjoyed after the flood,— called the name of his son, Arphaxad ; that is, he who heals or releases : and He who shut Israel in, as he had done the family of Noah in the ark, hath also promised release and healing to his elect. Then follows Salah, that is, sending or branching out : and they were to “ break forth on the right hand and on the left.” His branches wrere to spread. Then comes Eber, that is, passing over: there is a departure from the place of idols, and a set¬ ting forward to the land of promise. Then there is Peleg, division : the great city is divided, Baby¬ lon is broken up and destroyed, and the cities of the nations fall. With this, appears Reu, that is, his friend , or companion : separating from the un¬ godly, by whom their righteous souls have so long been grieved, friend meets friend in Jesus; and LECTURE i. FROM NOAH TO ABRAM. 9 they rejoice together in the goodness of the Lord; and especially shall the long-separated brethren, Judah and Ephraim, be glad at this meeting, when they shall thenceforth be made one in the Lord : and, accordingly, the next name is Serug, or in¬ tertwining — passing over all the obstacles which have so long kept them apart, they shall embrace each other with fraternal love, and be even as members together of the same body, of which Christ is the head. Actuated by his spirit, they burn more fully to accomplish their mission, and spread in every place the savour of Jesus* name ; and thus the next name is Nahor, that is, snorting , as a horse impatient for the course : and then comes Terah, that is, breathing , as the breathing of perfumes in triumph, when the smell of Israel shall be as Lebanon : and then, lastly, we have Abram, or high father. “ His name is exalted, He dwelleth on high.” i( His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Ever- X lasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” And from his glorious high throne shall He be heard to con¬ firm his word, which has been but faintly, if at all, believed: “I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.” Jer. xxxi. 9. Before proceeding to trace farther the purposes of God with regard to his chosen race, and to identify them among the nations, it may be good to understand well what the general masses of mankind are, from whom they are to be distin¬ guished, and among whom they were to be a * "rax Vs? &(va. § - A- , 10 THREE GRAND RACES. blessing. The Grand Races of mankind may pro¬ perly be reckoned three in number. These have been distinguished from each other by their form of head, and other physical marks, as well as by intellectual and moral character: not that anyone of them has qualities which the other is entirely without ; but the different races possess in very different degrees and modifications those qualities which are common to all. The races are in very many cases in a considerably mixed state ; but still in the masses they may be marked out from each other. They are known as the Calmuc- Tartar, the Caucasian, and the Negro races. The Huns, or otherwise the Calmuc-Tartar race, seem to have been appointed the northern portion of the globe. There they exist, in very different conditions. As Laplanders, they, in the extreme north, live much unlike the tribes traversing the great wilds between Russia and China; and still more are they unlike the Chinese themselves, who, as being most stationary, seem to have retained most of the ancient civilization of the race, as received from the first fathers of mankind. Europe appears to have been anciently possessed by this race ; and America was found considerably peopled by them, when that country was discovered by the modern possessors of Europe; who, with such power, have, in the latter ages of the world, come rolling from the East. Except in the case of China, the Japhetic race is generally found very thinly spread over a very LECTURE i. TARTAR OR JAPHETIC RACE. 11 wide territory. The race we are describing have much breadth of face, and great width between the eyes. The cheek-bones are wide asunder, and prominent ; and the w'hole head is in general very broad. All this is correspondent with their general character, as being restless and roving, and in many cases addicted to violence and war ; impatient they are of restraint, and ambitious of a proud independence. The warlike propensities, and those that principally tend to muscular ac¬ tivity, have their organs situated on the side of the head, and occasion the breadth of head al¬ ready described. The physiognomy, otherwise, is correspondent : the features are harsh ; the parts not well proportioned, according to our ideas of beauty ; the hair is strong and straight. The beard is scanty: in some, as in the North American Indians, it does scarcely at all exist ; but that seems to be partly produced by art, just as, in the case of the Charibs, the breadth of head has been aggravated by pressure in infancy. The complexion is pretty uniform, being some¬ what of an olive hue ; but still it is varied, from that of the dun Laplander, to the brown of the Calmuc-Tartar, and the colour of the red Indian, traversing his wide-spreading wilds ; where the physical powrers must of course obtain more free expansion, than amid the snows of Lapland, or where they are cooped up so closely as in China. Correspondent to their form of head, this race have in general manifested considerable mechani- 12 TARTAR AND NEGRO RACES. cal skill; and they have frequently made very extensive conquests. These, however, they in general more easily make than retain. They can execute ; but seem rather wanting in masterly wisdom. They require a superior moral and in¬ tellectual power, to guide their great force to a proper end. They do not sufficiently care for those under them. Here, again, China seems to be rather an exception : but, even there, the ex¬ posing of children is allowed. This, the Japhetic race, has less care for their children than either of the other races ; and it may easily be observed that in them, generally, there is less of a projec¬ tion over the cerebellum, in the region of the head alloted to that propensity which gives an interest in the young. On the opposite side of the globe, that is south¬ ward, and chiefly in the vast continent of Africa, we have the Negro race, the supposed descendants of Ham. These in general have the head elongated behind, forming in this respect a considerable contrast to the Japhetic race: and the Negroes are as remarkable for their love of children and fondness of nursing, as the Tartar tribes are for their indifference in these respects. The forehead is narrower, and perhaps also lower; correspondent to their deficiency in reasoning power, and in mechanical ingenuity. They have generally a good height in the upper and middle part of the head, where is the organ of veneration ; but they are considerably deficient in that which gives a LECTURE i. THE NEGRO RACE. 13 tendency to form ideas respecting the spiritual world, and to hold communion therewith : the mind is consequently left more to the influence of objects of sense; and the worship is apt to be rendered to the sensible creature, rather than to the unseen Creator. They thus, the more easily, become subject to others. They can have intelli¬ gence, but they seem to have little forethought or power of planning. They require to be cared for like children. They can, of course, be the more easily seduced into unreasonable acts; but they have much gentleness and affection, and power of being made useful when properly trained. Their mildness is indicated by the comparative narrow- ness of the head, over the ears. The wdde-headed Japhetic race cannot be so easily managed. It need scarcely be remarked, that the Negro race are generally distinguished by the prominence of the lower part of the face, especially the mouth, indicating perhaps considerable sensitiveness as to touch. They have black, woolly, strongly curled hair : and the blackness of the skin is about as uniform with regard to the children of Ham, as the brown colour is to the descendants of Japhet. That, however, seems mainly occasioned by climate. In some countries, the children of Ham are com¬ paratively white. This race appears to have early taken possession of the lands in which the families of Abraham were first to be planted : thus, Cush inhabited Arabia, destined for Ishmael, and Ca¬ naan took possession of the very land of promise c 14 CAUCASIAN RACE. itself; and even north-eastward of these countries, in ill-fated Babylon, we find Nimrod, the mighty hunter before God, erecting the throne of his empire. This central position was not, howrever, designed for the descendants of Ham. They have long been expelled from their usurped domain. The children of Shem, generally called the Caucasian race, occupy the central position ; and chiefly inhabit Southern Asia. We find Armenia, Persia, Arabia, and the thickly-peopled regions of India, giving a home to this race. The Jews are an improved specimen of this race ; and so also are “ the chief of the nations,” the modern inhabitants of Europe. These people are generally charac¬ terized by an oval face, with regular features. The head is more remarkable for height than either for length or breadth, although it has in general a goodly proportion of both. The upper part of the forehead, the reflective region, is especially well developed ; and so also is the imaginative — immediately outward from thence. They have the largest proportion of those powers which regard the spiritual world, and which tend to give an elevated and refined exercise to the intellect. In this race, the beard, Avhen allowed to grow, is abundant. The hair is more soft and pliant than in either of the other two families. As for stature and complexion, they seem to be greatly modified by climate : in some quarters, as in the burning plains of India, this race may be found quite black. In more elevated situations, and in temperate LECTURE I. EUROPEAN BRANCH. 15 climes, they are found fair, and more fair, until in Europe we find them with the lily hand and rosy cheek, the azure eye and the flaxen hair ; and corresponding to Jeremiah’s description of what his people once were. Lam. iv. 7 '• — “ Her Nazarites were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk, They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was of sapphire.” This race may more generally be characterized by the head elevated and elongated in front, the delicacy of the texture, and the beautiful propor¬ tion of the features. It may be remarked that although the head is more finely formed, indica¬ ting a greater proportion of the reflective faculties, imaginative powers, and religious sentiments, yet, altogether, the mind has less force : and this is indicated by the comparative smallness of the head. The brain is better in quality and form, but less in quantity. The case of the Jews, and that of the modern possessors of Europe, is an exception to the latter part of this rule ; as, here, the head is not only more beautifully formed than in even the other branches of the Semetic family, but it is greater in volume than in the case of either the Negro, on the one hand, or the Tartar, on the other. It may be observed that this improved specimen — the European branch of the Semetic family — is rapidly spreading westward. From the East, they came into the maritime parts of Europe; and have gradually pushed the people to the ends of the 16 PROPHECY OF NOAH. earth, who previously possessed these countries ; or they have taken them up, to become one people with them, and to be made partakers with them of their blessings. This improved family of the Semetic race, after renewing their strength in these islands, have launched out into the great Atlantic; and the tide of emigration has rolled, over that world of waters, still further westward, — encroaching still upon the Japhetic race in America, as it did in Europe. And wTe may pre¬ dict that this race will still further spread, until the wilderness be wholly inhabited ; and 44 the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose.” With all their faults, they seem to be, eminently, a seed which the Lord hath blessed. In Genesis, ix. 25-7? there is a remarkable prophecy of Noah, with regard to his three sons. We there find Ham (v. 25) punished in his seed; and this is a point in which, judging from his race, he would be most likely to feel: whilst Shem (v. 26) is blessed in the object of his religious regard ; and the religious sentiments are in his descendants the strongest. And Japhet, whose restless spirit sought large room in which to range, wTas pro¬ mised enlargement (v. 27.) According to the view we have taken, Japhet has been originally given the largest possessions ; and this race has been re¬ markable for their wide spreading : not only had they possessed the whole north, in ancient times, and covered America ; but, from their heights in North-eastern Asia, they have once and again LECTURE i. THREE GRAND RACES COMPARED. 17 poured down upon the fertile plains of the eastern world : they have also sore pressed upon the in¬ habitants of the West. They have become much mingled wdth the posterity of Shem, and do as it were dwell in his tents ; filling the place of upper servant: whilst, not only has Canaan been cursed, but the lower place — that of the mere slave, has generally been left to the other children of Ham. God has especially manifested himself, and his great salvation, to the posterity of Shem ; who have even, as we have seen, the greatest natural capacity for this kind of knowledge : and, with the Semetic race, not only has the true religion been more abundant, but false religions have also been more plentiful. The truth, however, shall prevail : and then indeed shall Shem be blessed, and be given still more fully his place at the head of the human family. Japhet, intermingled with Shem, shall occupy the place of a servant born in the house : whilst Canaan shall have the curse removed, and be blessed through the ministration of Shem ; and the whole human family, who take refuge in the ark of the covenant, shall become the blissful family of God. A singular contrast may be observed to take place between the European family, and even the most civilized portions of each of the three grand races already described. Besides the Nomadic branches of these l'aces, — who, as being too far separated from the main stems, to retain the full advantages of the ancient civilization, possessed c 2 18 EUROPEAN FAMILY^ AND by the immediate descendants of Noah; or, who, in consequence of other changes, have been thrown into a state of utter barbarism ; — beside these, who have lost so much, and who, without the assistance of others, seem utterly incapable of regaining what they have lost — there seems to have been a portion of each of the three grand races, which, as being more stationary in the original seats of mankind, have retained a sufficient knowT- ledge of nature and of art, to procure for them the appellation of civilized. Thus, of the same race with the wandering Tartars, but considerably different, in consequence of circumstances, — we have the Chinese. Of the Semetic, or Caucasian race, we have the Hindoos ; and of the children of Ham, of the same general race with the Ne¬ groes, we have the most anciently civilized empire of Egypt, and their kindred, along the coast of Palestine. These three nations, the Chinese, the Hindoos, and the Egyptians, appear to have re¬ tained what they have, from time immemorial; and they seem rather to have lost than gained. And the practice of the arts they have often re¬ tained, without knowing the principle, according to which the effect they aim at is produced. They merely, as it were, with difficulty, retain what has been delivered to them from their fathers. Not so the European family, of Gothic origin. They . had lost all, — 'they were stripped naked, as in the day they were born, (see Hos. ii. 3,) when they presented themselves here in the west ; but they LECTURE i. THREE GRAND RACES. 19 have not remained as those generally do, who are left thus destitute. They have evidently been given a principle of life — an onward tendency — •which is not merely of use to themselves, but it, in general, gives an impetus to all with whom they come into contact ; who must either yield them¬ selves to its influence, or be broken down by it. Theirs is not merely a retentive capacity, but an inventive genius. Theirs is not a contentment in empirical practice : they must know the principles of the arts they practise; by the knowledge of which, not only is the retention of the art the more insured ; but a way is opened up for new improvements and discoveries. The great work of self-instruction is ever going forward. They are not bound down to the limits of the knowledge possessed by their fathers. They are wiser than all their teachers among men, for God himself is their instructor — both in nature and in grace; and He hath given them a capacity to receive his in¬ struction, and communicate it to others, above what any nation, or number of nations, have ever possessed. This is no matter of chance. We shall see that it is according to the original purpose, and whole course, of God’s procedure with regard to Israel. In that remarkable song of Moses, Deut. xxxii, we are told that — “ When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance; When he separated the sons of Adam, He set the hounds of the people According to the number of the children of Israel.” 20 ISRAELIS DESTINY FORETOLD, Why should the Lord thus set the bounds of other nations, according to the number of a people not yet born into the world ? Because this people were intended to compass these nations; which they could not do, unless their numbers were proportionate to the bounds of the people they were intended to encompass ; and so it follow’s : “ For the Lord’s portion is his people, And Jacob is the lot ( that is, cord or measui'iny line) of his inheritance." And then follows a description of the careful training, by w’hicli they should be so far fitted for the important purposes which God had in view’ with regard to them. — And then there is an extended prophecy, clearly recognising the fact, that the end which God had in view with regard to Israel, was not accomplished during their former sojourn in the land : — nor could it indeed be, without their going forth out of the land, and encompassing the various nations the Lord intended to bring within his fold. When this end is accomplished, then goes forth the joyful invi¬ tation w ith which the song concludes : “ Rejoice, 0 ye nations, with his people; For he will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries; And will be merciful to his land, and to his people.” In this song we have (v. 3-6) the name of Jehovah declared. Then (v. 7-9) the high office to which Israel w?as called; and (v. 10-14) the careful manner in which he was trained, to qualify him for the exalted service to which he was ap- LECTURE i. IN RELATION TO OTHER NATIONS. 21 pointed. Here, also, we see (v. 15-28) that at the very time God had called, and was gifting Israel, he foretold all that we have known to have taken place, as to the apparent failure of Israel in doing the work designed. Then (u. 29-83,) the cause of this failure is pointed out, as being their ignorance of their latter end, and their forgetful¬ ness of God. And yet we are assured (v. 34-43) that the work would be done according to the purpose of God, whose gifts and calling are with¬ out repentance. The truth of this, the following Lectures will, it is hoped, abundantly manifest. A subject this, most intimately connected with the truth and faithfulness of God; and equally with our responsibility as to the service to which we are appointed among the nations, and the gra¬ titude we owe to the Bestower of all good, for his wondrous goodness and everlasting love to the house of Israel : — “ Let them praise the name of the Lord : For his name alone is excellent; His glory is above earth and heaven ; He also exalteth the horn of his people : — The praise of all his saints, Of the children of Israel; A people near unto him, Praise ye the Lord.” LECTURE II. THE LAND OF ISRAEL. Interesting Scenes and Objects to be passed in a voyage to the Land of Pro¬ mise. — Tyre. — Important Transactions connected with the Land. — The Land identified with Eden, in the language of Prophecy, Ezek. xxviii. and xxxi. — Its central position by Land, and also as to Water. — The Rivers, or bodies of Water, adverted to in the description of Eden, Gen ii. , still found branching out from the Land of Israel. — Central position of the Land in relation to the British Empire, and all varieties of Mankind. — Description of it from Scripture, and correspondent human testimony. — Its present state. — Its future renovation, as described, Zech xiv., Joel iii., Ezek. xxxviii.-ix., xlvii., Isaiah xxx., Ps. xlvi. — Literal and spiritual fulfilment of the Prophecies. — The Laud doubly lost and won. In the very centre of the three grand families of mankind, as already described, is placed the land of Israel : whilst, w7ith regard to the nations of Europe, in relation to that land, it may empha¬ tically be said, “ They are at hand to come.” They, in general, may reach it either by land or by water. Our course is by the Mediterranean : as we ascend which, what interesting scenes open upon our view ! At the very entrance, we are, in Gibraltar, presented with one of the grand posi¬ tions, which have been given to Britain, for the transmission of truth, and the establishment of righteousness, all over the globe. Alas, that these positions should hitherto have been so feebly oc- LECTURE II. WESTERN APPROACH TO THE LAND. 23 cupied, as to the purposes for which they have been designed by the God of Israel. Here, also, — on the one side, Spain, and on the other, Morocco, — we behold the scenes of intense suffering : and of the attempted deep degradation of the Jews ; our kinsmen, as wTe shall see, even according to the flesh. As we ascend, Rome on the left hand, and Carthage on the right, remind us of most important events, connected both with ancient Heathen story, and with the history of the Chris¬ tian Church, In the mean time, we may be passing over the treasures rifled from the Temple at Jerusalem; and, since, rifled from Rome: and now lying, with much other treasure, in the bot¬ tom of this sea. And here, again, our nation has, in Malta, been given a most important position, in relation to these interesting portions of the globe ; whilst, further to the left, and, as it wrere, embracing Greece, w7e have the protectorship of the seven islands, forming the Ionian Republic. We pass Greece, in which so much of an enduring nature was written and acted in the days of old ; and unto which, by the spirit of God, the Apostle Paul was so directly led : he being allowed to diverge to neither the right hand nor the left, until he reached the opposite Asiatic shore ; and unto w'hich he wras then so miraculously called, in a vision, by a man of Macedonia. As we ascend, we have, on this side, the site of the seven Churches of Asia, towards which, in its first movement north-westward, we have our attention 24 APPROACH TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL. called, by the spirit of prophecy, in the Apoca¬ lypse, that closes the volume of inspiration; whilst, on the other hand, we have, emptied into this sea, the Nile, the great river of Egypt, on the banks of which were transacted some of the most re¬ markable events recorded in the first books of the Bible : and where seems to be arising the king of the south, with whom the king of the north is to come into deadly conflict; when Pharoah may again prove a broken reed to the people of Israel ; when the shadow of Egypt may again be their confusion, — before the perfect peace, and fulness of protection, and brightness of glory, shall be enjoyed in the land of Israel. And now we have arrived on the coast of that land. Here was Tyre, the root of that great maritime confederacy, which, in such early ages, connected such distant parts of the globe : — which, even thousands of years ago, brought the British Isles, the isles afar off, the isles of Tarshish, into commercial alliance with the land of Israel ; and which, in the provi¬ dence of God, was given the greatest facilities of transmitting the escaped of Israel westward : just as Assyria was appointed to carry into captivity the body of the people northward. Each of these. Tyre and Assyria, was the most fitting instrument for the part of that work to which it was ap¬ pointed, although we may believe that nothing was farther from their hearts than to accomplish God’s good pleasure to his first-born Israel; and thereby to the world. LECTURE II. THE LAND OF ISRAEL. 25 We now enter upon the mountains of Israel, where wandered the Pati'iarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; — where ministered Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God ; — to which, by the cloud of glory, and the ministry of Moses and Joshua, were conducted God’s ancient people ; — where was erected the throne of David ; — where was reared the Temple of Solomon ; — where the prophets delivered the counsels of Jehovah; — and where the high priest of the nation was allowed to come into the very presence of the God of Israel; — where the Lord of Glory himself, in our very nature, condescended to tabernacle among men ; — and where the great atonement was offered ; — and whence the Great High Priest ascended up into the holiest of all ; — and upon which so copiously descended the former rain, when, having ascended up on high, “he received gifts to give unto men, even to the rebellious, that God the Lord might dwell among them.” This land, so distinguished in the word and providence of God, must be, at least, near that which was the most early favoured of God. In this neighbourhood seems to have been situated Eden, where was placed the first family of man¬ kind, in a state of innocence and bliss. It seems worthy of remark, that both the states already adverted to, Tyre and Assyria, are spoken of in Scripture as bordering upon Eden and the Garden of God. And the land which bordered upon these two states, in common, as being situated D 26 THE LAND AND EDEN IDENTIFIED between them, was the land of Israel ; — so marked as the theatre of God’s grand manifestations to man. Tyre was on the western coast of the land of Israel; and in Ezek. xxviii. 13, it is said of the Prince or King of Tyrus, “ Thou hast been in Eden, the Garden of God.” “ Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God." ( v . 14.) “ I will cast thee as prophane out of the mountain of God." (v. 16.) — Tyre, be it remarked, was close upon Mount Lebanon, one of the most distinguished and ele¬ vated portions of the land of Israel. Let us now pass over to the north-eastern bound of the land — to Assyria, and we shall find a coun¬ try, equally with Tyre, spoken of as being in the immediate neighbourhood of Eden, or the Garden of God ; and that also, as being connected with Lebanon. Thus, in Ezek. xxxi., the Lord, by the prophet, addressing the King of Egypt (which country, be it observed, was at the south-western extremity of the land of Israel), speaks of Assyria, who dwelt at the north-eastern border : “ Behold the Assyrian, {v. 3.) A cedar in Lebanon, With fair branches, And with a shadowing shroud, And of an high stature ; And his top was among the thick boughs ; The waters made him great; {v. 4 ) The deep set him up on high. With her rivers running round about his plants ; And sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field." “ The cedars in the Garden of God could not hide him. (v. 8.) Nor any tree in the Garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches, ( v . 9.) So that all the trees of Eden, that were in the Garden of God, envied him.' LECTURE II. BY MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 27 “ I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, (v. 16.) When I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit. And all the trees of Eden, The choice and best of Lebanon, All that drink water, Shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.” And then, speaking of Pharoah himself, the prophecy concludes : “ To whom art thou thus like, in glory and in greatness, (v. 18.) Among the trees of Eden ? Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden ; Unto the nether parts of the earth : Thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised. With them that be slain with the sword. This is Pharoah and all his multitude, Saith the Lord God.” Thus are the trees of Eden, and of Lebanon, spoken of, as if the same thing were meant by either expression : and thus is the case of Assyria illustrated to Egypt, by imagery derived from the Garden of God ; which, as we suppose, lay be¬ tween them, and the advantages of which highly favoured position, they both of them, in part, en¬ joyed. Even with regard to that portion of this intermediate space, which is now most remarkably under the curse, it is said, Gen. xiii. 10 . “ And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, be¬ fore the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.” Even more eastward, in the land of Arabia, Mount Horeb is called the Mountain of God: and the ground 28 CENTRAL POSITION OF THE LAND. there, was said to be holy ground ; and there the Lord condescended to speak with man ; and there the law was promulgated, and the tabernacle set up ; and there it was that the rod of Moses drew water from the rock, to give drink to the hosts of Israel; a pledge, we may regard it, that streams shall yet abundantly refresh that burning desert, when it shall be claimed by their King, as belong¬ ing to the portion of Israel. The land of Israel, as being situated between Assyria and Egypt, is most centrally placed with regard to all lands : on the side of Egypt, all Africa being stretched out from it to the east and west ; and on the side of Assyria, we have the still greater portion of our hemisphere, in Asia and Europe: from all parts of which, it is not too much to suppose, that highways will yet be cast up, whereby an easy conveyance will be prepared, for all to flow unto the land of Israel; to the name of the Lord, — to Jerusalem. It is here these high¬ ways can most conveniently converge, supposing them to reach out unto Africa; or supposing them to lead out of Africa, into Europe and Asia. Its position is equally central, with regard to water : in pointing out which, we can scarcely do better than follow the course of those great bodies of water, which seem adverted to in the descrip¬ tion of Eden, (Gen. ii. 10-13) ; and which, not¬ withstanding the ravages of the flood, are still, as to their great outlines, to be seen branching out from the land of Israel. Thus, looking back LECTURE II. THE RIVERS OF EDEN. 29 westward, along the course we have come, we have the Mediterranean, the same, as we suppose, with the Pison, compassing the land of Havi- lah, which name means to suffer pain, or briny forth or declare ; and here, as we suppose, Israel, after having passed through a sea of affliction, did at length bring forth that multitude of nations, that were to be privileged to declare his glory to all the ends of the earth. Here, anciently, much gold was to be found ; and here is plentifully the good — that good word of God which is infinitely superior to the most fine gold. By the Mediter¬ ranean, we have not only a connection by sea with the coasts of Africa and Europe, but with the great Atlantic Ocean, and thereby with America, the more distant portion of our globe to the west. South-eastward of the land, we have the Gihon, the same, as we suppose, with the Red Sea, that still “ compasseth the land of Ethiopia and by which we reach out to the great Indian Ocean, and thereby gain Australia, the counterpart of Soutli America, as the islands northward of it are of the West India Islands; and as the more eastern part of Asia, if separated from the more western por¬ tion, would be the counterpart of North America. We have, beside these, the third river, Hiddekel, the same with the Persian Gulph, u which goeth toward the eastward of Assyria,” branching out to the coasts of India and China. The fourth river is Euphrates, with regard to the course of which river, nothing is said. Before the depression of d 2 30 CENTRAL POSITION OF THE LAND. the land, it is more natural to suppose that it went northward, when the Black or Caspian Seas may have been connected therewith; as hereafter may be the case, when the land shall again be lifted up, and when the Lord shall heal the breaches thereof: when, as in Isaiah xi, 16, — “There shall be a highway for his people. Which shall be left from Assyria: Like as it was to Israel, In the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." However this may be, we must see that the land of Israel is most centrally placed, with regard to water, as well as with regard to land, and the three grand races of mankind. Here, our brethren in America, Australia, the Cape of Good Hope, and India, may most conveniently meet with the in¬ habitants of Britain. And, further, the land of Israel is one, in which the sun-burnt Indian may meet with the inhabitant of Iceland; and the wanderer of the desert, writh the children of Erin’s green isle. The inhabitants of all countries may here join in sweet fellowship, without any of them feeling as if he went far from his home, to meet with his most distant brother. Here, where the Most High hath appointed, may most appro¬ priately be placed the throne of universal empire. However widely scattered may be their possessions over the globe, this is most fit to be the common home of the human family. The Mind that ap¬ pointed this, when the relations of this land to the more distant parts of the globe were to man LECTURE II. THE LAND, AS IT WAS. 31 unknown, must have been that of our Father in heaven, the God of that grace which was hence sent forth, to collect the scattered into one : — the God of that glory which shall be enjoyed, when He shall here reign, as described, Ps. xlvii. 8, 9: “ God reigneth over the nations ; God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness : The princes of the people are gathered together ; The people of the God of Abraham : For the shields of the earth belong unto God : He is greatly exalted.” The land we are now considering, was thus char¬ acterised by the God of Israel, when they wTere about being given the possession of it, under that covenant which they almost immediately and con¬ tinuously broke ; Deut. viii, 7-10; — “ The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, A land of brooks of water, Of fountains and depths That spring out of valleys and hills ; A land of wheat and barley. And vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; Aland of oil-olive and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness ; Thou shalt not lack anything in it: A land whose stones are iron, And out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, Then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God, For the good land that He hath given thee." The fecundity of this land was owing, naturalists have said, to “ several circumstances: such as, the excellent temperature of the air, which was never subject to excessive heat or cold; the regularity of the seasons, especially the former and latter 32 . THE LAND AS IT WAS, AND IS. rain ; and the natural fatness and fertility of the soil, which required no manuring. It was famous for its large and delicious grapes; for its palm- trees and dates ; and for its balsam-shrubs, which produced the celebrated balm of Gilead ; for the constant verdure of its fruit-trees, — its citrons, and oranges. Its vines yielded grapes twice, and sometimes thrice, in the year. Its honey was abundant. Its inhabitants cultivated sugar-canes with great assiduity : their cotton, hemp, and flax, were mostly of their own growth, and manufacture. Its vicinity to Lebanon, afforded them an ample supply of cedars, cypresses, and other stately and fragrant trees. They fed large herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep ; and their hilly country afforded them, not only variety and plenty of pasture, but also abundance of water, which descended thence into the valleys and lowlands, which it fertilized. They had plenty of fish; and they had salt, which Galen affirms to have been preferable to any other. The fecundity of Palestine has been extolled, even by Julian the apostate; who frequently, in his epistles, mentions the perpetuity, excellence, and abundance, of its fruits and produce.” Such was the land, even after it had lost the bloom of Eden : but nowr, the visible effects of the divine displeasure have been so long upon that interesting country, that the far greater part of it is reduced to a mere desert ; and the author who supplies the foregoing description, concludes by saying, “ If we were to judge by its present ap- LECTUUE II. THE LAND SHALL BE CHANGED. 33 pearance, nature itself has rendered it incapable of cultivation.” This is exactly correspondent to what was prophesied would be the case, during the scattering of the holy people; Lev. xxvi. 43 : “ The land also shall he left of them, And shall enjoy her sabbaths While she lieth desolate without them." Immediately before this, (v. 42) the Lord had said ; " Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, And also my covenant with Isaac, And also my covenant with Abraham will I remember : And I will remember the land." Then shall that land, which hath indeed been made utterly desolate, be again, and far more abundantly, found blooming with beauty and teeming with plenty. When the Lord will have mercy upon the land, one of the principal means of his blessing it, would seem to be his cleaving it with rivers : and these shall be preceded by an earth-quake, “ such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earth-quake, and so great.” And this shall be upon the self-willed restoration of the people to the land, — again, as we suppose, under the shadow of Egypt, against which they are, by Isaiah, repeatedly counselled. Then will the King of the North, having gathered to him many nations, come up to make a prey of them. In Zech. xiv, 2-4, we are told that “ all na¬ tions will be gathered against Jerusalem to battle.” To distinguish this siege from the former, •when Jerusalem was entirely destroyed, it is added : — 34 CHANGES TO TAKE PLACE IN THE LAND, “ The city shall be taken, And the houses rifled. And the women ravished. And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city, Then shall the Lord go forth. And fight against those nations, As when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives.” And, that we may be at no loss to ascertain what locality is here meant, it is particularly described, as being that very Mount of Olives, — Which is before Jerusalem, on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof; Toward the east, and toward the west, a very great valley ; And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, And half of it toward the south." The cause of this is adverted to, as being a literal earth-quake, such as the Jews had previously ex¬ perienced in the days of king Uzziah. This earth-quake, although disastrous to the enemy, shall be the cause of blessing to Israel. The land, it would seem, is to be lifted up, and the valley into which the Mount of Olives had been rent, is to be the bed of a river, which, like that of Eden, is to go forth eastward, to water the Garden of God. Thus it is said (verses 8-10 ) : — “ And it shall be in that day, That living (or running waters) shall go out from Jerusalem ; Half of them toward the former sea : (as flowing in the valley eastward,) And half of them toward the hinder sea; (or Mediterranean ; — westward) In summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth : In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain, From Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem : And it shall be lifted up, And inhabited in her place." LECTURE II. AS DESCRIBED IN ZECHARIAH AND JOEL. 35 This lifting up will, doubtless, conduce, of itself, to lift the land out of its burning barrenness, into a temperature more conducive to health. “ And there shall be no more utter destruction, (v. 11.) But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." The same matters, which are thus clearly ex¬ pressed by Zechariah, are also explicitly foretold by Joel, in the end of his prophecy, iii. 9-18 : — “ Assemble yourselves, and come all ye heathen, And gather yourselves together round about : Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, ( v . 12.) And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, [which means the Lord shall judge,) For there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.” — The valley of Jehoshaphat, it may be observed, lies between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem ; and is thus the more immediate scene of that awful convulsion intimated in Zechariah, and in which the Mount of Olives is to be cleft in twain. Then are the wricked, as it were, cut down, and thrown into the great wine-press of the wrath of God : “ Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe : (v. 13.) Come, get you down, for the vats overflow, For their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision, The sun and the moon shall be darkened, And the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth shall shake. But the Lord will be the hope of his people, And the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God, Dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain ; 36 CHANGES TO TAKE PLACE IN THE LAND. Then shall Jerusalem he holy. And there shall no strangers pass through her any more. And it shall come to pass in that day That the mountains shall drop down new wine, And the hills shall flow with milk. And all the rivers shall flow with waters. And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, And shall water the valley of Shittim ; ” This same river, and the paradisaical character of its banks, are still more minutely described, in Ezekiel, xlvii; — as the preceding events, connected with the destruction of the king of the north and all his multitude, at the time of the great earth¬ quake, and grand deliverance of Israel, are des¬ cribed in xxxviii, 20, 21, and xxxix, 21, 22 : — “ All the men that are upon the face of the earth. Shall shake at my presence, And the mountains shall he thrown down, And the steep places shall fall. And every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him, Throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God : Every man's sword shall be against his brother.” “ And I will set my glory among the heathen, And all the heathen shall see My judgment, that I have executed, And my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know That I am the Lord, their God, From that day, and forward.” The same things are frequently adverted to in Isaiah, — as in ch. xxx, 25, 26 : — “And there shall be, upon every high mountain, And upon every high hill, Rivers and streams of water, In the day of the great slaughter, When the towers fall. LECTURE II. FORETOLD BY ISAIAH. 37 — Here it is added, that a wonderful change shall also take place in the atmosphere, so that, — “ The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people. And healeth the stroke of their wound.” So also, speaking of the great deliverance of Israel, it is said, (ch. xxxiii, 20, 21): — “ Look upon Zion ! The city of our solemnities; Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, A tabernacle that shall not be taken down; Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord . . unto us, A place of broad rivers — streams, Wherein shall go no galley with oars. Neither shall gallant ship pass thereby : For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King : He will save us.” Israel, as having been sojourning in these mari¬ time parts, have been the better prepared for enjoying their own land, when it shall be made “a place of broad rivers and streams.” There, however, their ships of war will not be required : the Lord will be their sure defence, so that they may, without hesitation or reserve, devote their whole energies to the furtherance of peace and diffusion of blessing. With regard to the rivers of water, it is again promised, (ch. xli, 18-20), — “ I will open rivers in high places, And fountains in the midst of the valleys ; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land springs of water.” E 38 CHANGES IN THE LAND. The natural good accompanying this refreshment of the land is then intimated : — “ I will plant in the wilderness [v. 19.) The cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree ; I will set in the desert The fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together. Then the moral good is described : it is, — “ That they may see and know, (v. 20.) And consider, and understand together, That the hand of the Lord hath done this, That the Holy One of Israel hath created it. And so also, — referring to the wonders of old, as if they had been mere pledges of the far greater, more extensive, and more permanent blessings, hereafter to be bestowed ; — and at the bestowment of which the very irrational creation shall be given to rejoice with Israel, — it is said, ch. xliii, 18-20: — “ Remember ye not the former things, Neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing ; Now it shall spring forth ; Shall ye not know it ? I will even make a way in the wilderness, And rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me. The dragons and the owls, — Because I give waters in the wilderness, Bivers in the desert, To give drink to my people, my chosen : This people have I formed for myself, They shall shew forth my praise." The same things are frequently adverted to in the book of Psalms. Thus, in Psalm xlvi, — after describing the great eartli-quake, by which the mountains are “ carried into the midst of the sea/’ LECTURE II. DOUBLE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECIES. 39 and during which, “the God of Jacob” is found a sure refuge for his people, — the discovery of blessing is made : — “ A river ! the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.” The destruction of the enemy, and consequent deliverance and peace of Israel, are in the same Psalm described, as taking place at that time. These are the times when refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord ; — “ the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began.” — Acts, iii. 21. Thus shall abundant room and provision be made for returning Israel ; to enjoy, during mil- lenial ages, the good their God hath promised to bestow upon them : — “ Then shall the earth yield her increase, And God, even our own God, shall bless us, God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear him.” This literal fulfilment of the Prophecies, seems to be that which is in the first instance designed ; but this may not prevent their spiritual applica¬ tion. These outward things, that shall come with observation, are for those that have received the kingdom that cometh not with observation. It is they, that are now hid with Christ in God, that shall appear with Christ, when he appeareth in glory. And when these outward advantages shall be enjoyed, they will be reflected in the lives of the 40 THE LAND DOUBLY LOST AND WON. rejoicing people of God ; who shall then indeed be as a city that cannot be hid; and shall send forth, in all directions, rivers of living water ; and he whose delight is in the law of the Lord, shall then indeed be like a tree planted by the rivers of water : — “ Which bringeth forth his fruit in his season, His leaf also shall not wither, And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” This is he wTho shall stand in the judgment, and appear in the congregation of the righteous. “ The people also shall be all righteous, They shall inherit the land for ever. The branch of my planting, The work of my hands : That I may be glorified." In this land was Adam, in innocence, placed; and Israel, when holiness to the Lord. In this land did both Adam and Israel break the covenant, whereby they held possession of the land; and thence were they both driven to till the common ground : and because of the sin of the one and of the other, hath the curse devoured the earth. But in this very land did the Prince of Glory conde¬ scend to bear the shame ; and in this very land shall he condescend to bear the glory, and to sway his sceptre over the renewed earth, — the world, — the universe. Then shall be accomplished that which is written ; Is. ii. 2-5 : — “ And it shall come to pass in the last days, The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established In the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow unto it. LECTURE II. TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. 41 And many people shall go and say, Come ye. And let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob ; And he will teach us of his ways, And we will walk in his paths : For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations. And shall rebuke many people ; And they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, And their spears into pruning-hooks : Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, Come ye, And let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Then — when the restitution of all things to the state they were in Eden, shall take place — shall Israel, through the same redeeming love, whereby the outward blessings have been recovered, be given an inward beauty and moral fruitfulness, correspondent to the goodness which the Lord will then manifest, to the mountains and plains, the streams and the sea-coasts, of the land which had been promised to the fathers, and which they shall then be given, in everlasting possession. For thus, of backsliding Israel, saith He in whom “ the fatherless findeth mercy.” — Hos. xiv, 4-7 ; — “ I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely : For mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel : He shall grow as the lily, And cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread. And his beauty shall be as the olive tree, And his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall revive as the com, and grow as the vine, The scent thereof as the wine of Lebanon.” LECTURE III THE PROMISES MADE UNTO THE FATHERS. The terms Earth and World considered. — The Inheritance, as understood by the Patriarchs. — The Great Empires conquered, but enjoyed not the Land. — The Prank’s possession of it. — The King of the North may attempt to fix his Me¬ tropolis there. — Possession not to be had through the law, but by Christ ; Rom. iv, 13-18. — Calling of Abraham. — What is meant by the seed to whom the land was absolutely promised ? — The One Seed, Christ. — Whether a natural or an adopted seed ? — Whether of Ishmael, or of Isaac, was to come the multitu¬ dinous seed? — The three birthright blessings distinctly specified, and written in the very names of the three great receivers, Gen. xxii. Promises to Isaac, Gen. xxvi, 2-4. — Isaac blessing Jacob. — Jacob’s vision at Bethel, and his inter¬ view with the Angel of the Covenant, in returning. — The first birthright blessing, (the double portion, and multiplicity,) more particularly confined to the house of Joseph, and to the tribe of Ephraim. — The three birthright blessings pos¬ sessed by the rejoicing multitudes mentioned, Rev. vii. We are apt to look upon the terms earth and world as exactly synonimous. They appear, how¬ ever, to have a considerable distinction of meaning, in several parts of Scripture. The Hebrew term earth, or land, aretz , from which, it is likely, our word earth is derived, seems to be more specially applied to that distinguished portion of the globe, which is so much the subject of promise. The term world seems not to be so applied, except when the other parts of the globe are meant also to be included. The two are distinguished, both as to creation and redemption. Psalm xc, 2, God lecture hi. THE “ EARTH ” AND THE “ WORLD.” 43 is said to have “ formed the earth and the world.” And in Psalm xxiv, referring to the Lord’s return, when He comes to claim his own, it is said, “ the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof ; the world, and they that dwell therein.” It is upon the earth, more especially, that the physical changes are to take place, preparatory to the es¬ tablishment of the millennial kingdom, as is inti¬ mated, Is. xxiv. The earth, or land, will be dreadfully convulsed ; after w'hich the dry deserts will be found well watered, and blooming with perennial beauty. At the close of the Millennium, not only shall the barren land have been thus recovered from barrenness, but, great revolutions having also occurred in the world abroad, the very sea will be made to give way to scenes of greater beauty, and more full of goodness to man. Then, as in Rev. xxi, 1, “ There shall be no more sea.” It is before that time, and at the commencement of the Millennium, that the land of Israel is to be so entirely changed. This change, it is intimated, Heb. xi. 8-16, was clearly understood by the Patriarchs. Abraham is there said to have been called to “ go out into a place, which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance.” And “ he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country.” It was, indeed, the land of promise, — the land which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance. But the time wras not yet come for the possession. It was, as yet, to them, only as a strange country, wherein they, at that time, 44 THE LAND OF PROMISE sought no permanent dwelling : but there Abra¬ ham, with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise, dwelt only in tabernacles. Abraham looked for something further than was yet in the land : “ He looked for a city, which hath founda¬ tions, whose builder and maker is God.” These Patriarchs, it is expressly said, “ all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off ; and were persuaded of, and em¬ braced them, and confessed that they were stran¬ gers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things, declare, plainly, that they seek a country.” They looked for a more blessed state of things than was then to be enjoyed. They looked for the land as it shall be, when the will of God shall be done on earth, as it is in heaven. They desired a better country; that is, an hea¬ venly : wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, as if he had failed in his promise to them; but, even after they wrere dead, without having received the promises, God still calls him¬ self their God, — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and why? for He will perform to them the promises. “He hath prepared for them a city,” — the New Jerusalem, that cometh down from God out of heaven ; and which shall be the heavenly seat of dominion under the whole hea¬ ven. Then shall Abraham be found the heir, not merely of the land, but of the world. The pro¬ mise of the land may, indeed, be said to imply that of the world; just as the possession of a LECTURE III. PASSED OVER BY THE GREAT EMPIRES. 45 throne implies the possession of the empire over which the throne is placed. It is rather remarkable, that a spot so eminently fitted for being the throne of universal empire, should yet never have been occupied, as such, by any of the great powers that, since the rise of the Assyrian empire, have aimed at the sove¬ reignty of the world. It is true, that these three great states of ancient times. Tyre, Egypt, and Assyria, wTere on its several bounds : but the eli¬ gibility of the land itself seems not to have been observed. The Assyrian, with a force like that of his mighty river, swept over this land, carrying away the house of Israel captive, and threatening also the destruction of Judah : but he stayed not in the land. He left only the wreck of some conquered nations, in the room of captive Israel. The Babylonian came next, and completed the removal of the people of the promise, by taking awray Judah also : but he seems not to have thought of occupying this glorious position, from which to issue his arbitrary mandates to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell upon the face of all the earth. The Medes and Persians next bore sway. They gave so far release to Judah, as to allow him to return to the land of his fathers ; unthinking that they were thus parting with the throne of the world. The Macedonian conqueror passed over the land, as one not knowing its value ; and took up his abode in Babylon, which wras to be destroyed. Three of the great king- 46 THE FISHERS AND HUNTERS OF ISRAEL. doms, into which his empire was divided, bordered upon this land ; north, south, and east. Still the throne of the earth was left comparatively empty: but much disturbed by two of these, — Egypt on the one hand, and Syria on the other. The Romans came next, throwing their covering wings over the oppressed Jews ; and, at length, filling with desolation the land of Immanuel : but they thought not of making this the throne of their glory; although, ultimately, they removed the chief seat of their empire eastward, as far as Byzantium. These, the Macedonians and the Romans, as coming by sea, and drawing the peo¬ ple out towards them, seem to have been the fishers, that it was prophesied (Jer. xvi. 16) would fish Israel out of their land. Afterwards came the hunters, who were to hunt them. These were the Arabians, or Saracens, on the one hand, and the Turks on the other. The former swept over the land from south to north ; and, northward of the land, erected some principal seats of their empire, as in Bagdad and Aleppo. The Turks hunted from east to west, as far as Constanti¬ nople, anciently Byzantium, where they erected the throne of that empire, which is now tottering to its fall. It is remarkable, that although all these nations have in their turn trod Jerusalem under foot ; and have, in all directions, swept over the land to further conquests, yet none of them have in truth enjoyed the land : and it is as remarkable, that LECTURE III. THE KING OF THE NORTH. 47 the only kingdom of Jerusalem which has been at all set up, since the expulsion of the Jews, is that of the Franks, at the time of the Crusades : — the only enterprise in which all the western na¬ tions ever fully united. The land however was not then prepared for Israel ; nor were they pre¬ pared for it : and their wisdom, now, will be to wait their Lord’s return. This it seems many of the people will not do. They will again wilfully go up to take possession : when the King of the North will come up to contend with them for this throne of universal sovereignty ; and will seek to make a prey of them, when they are there gathered with their treasures, out of many coun¬ tries.— Ezek. xxxviii. By its being said in Daniel, (xi, 45,) that “he shall plant the tabernacles of his palaces, between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain,” it would seem that he will have perceived the eligibility of that land, as so beauti¬ fully seated between the seas, and as supplying such facilities for building ; and will be making preparations for the erecting there a splendid metropolis for the immense empire he shall then have acquired ; as having swept away the Turk, and overthrown the King of the South ; and united Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya, with his many bands from the north quarters. But, as has been described by so many of the prophets of Israel, “ he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” The land shall be kept for the people to whom it was promised in the days of old; and 48 THE PROMISE OF THE LAND. who have been ever in training to become a nation of kings and priests unto God. The promise of the Land to a peculiar people, is one of the first and surest things with which we are made acquainted in the Scriptures of truth. And in order clearly to understand our subject, it may be good, before going farther, briefly to con¬ sider the promises made unto the fathers on this subject : and it is worthy of remark that these promises, especially those to Abraham, were pro¬ mises, properly such ; and not conditional upon man’s part, as were those afterwards made with the nation of Israel, upon their going to take temporary possession of the land. That temporary possession of the land they received upon the terms of a covenant which they afterwards broke. Thus did they forfeit their right to the possession, and so were removed out of the inheritance. As marking this distinction, the apostle very beauti¬ fully argues, (Rom. iv. 13-18), “ The promise that he (that is, Abraham) should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be the heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.” Why? Because the law hath utterly failed of securing the heirship to Israel. In place of doing this, u It worketh wrath, for where no law is there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed : not to that LECTURE III. SEED OF ABRAHAM. 49 only which is of the law,” (such as the Jews, who still retained the Mosaic ritual,) “ but to that also, which is of the faith of Abraham:” who was justified by a faith which he had before circumcision. In circumstances similar to his, had already, at the time of the Apostle, been placed the main portion of Abraham’s descendants of the house of Israel ; who had been then seven hundred years out of the land, and were now growing up into the promised multitude of nations. And so the Apostle here takes notice of its being said to Abraham, “ I have made thee a father of many nations.” He is the father of us all, before Him , whom he believed ; although, to the view of man, the literal accomplishment of the prophecy has not taken place. Israel, or Ephraim, the seed of Abraham, of whom the promised multitude of nations wras emphatically to come, has been ac- counted dead, or not existent ; but God ee quick- eneth the dead, and calleth those things that be not as though they were.” Abraham, “ against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be,” that is, “ as the stars of heaven for multitude.” And that this was spoken of the multitude of a natural seed, even as contrasted with an adopted, we shall pre¬ sently see. The promises made to the fathers, with respect to the heirship of the world, are thus recognized in the NewT Testament as still stand¬ ing ; and they are sure to all the seed of Abraham, 50 PROMISES MADE TO ABRAM. having faith in the promised Messiah, whether they belong to the circumcision or uncircumci¬ sion. The blessing is still more directly to Israel; and, through them, to other nations. Our busi¬ ness, therefore, is still with the promises made unto the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The first of these promises, to which we refer, is recorded, Gen. xii, 1-3 “ Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, And from thy kindred, And from thy father’s house, Unto a land that I will show thee : And I will make of thee a great nation,” — (This seems to refer to the ultimate fulfilment of the promise, “ when shall be gathered into one nation, all the children of God, that are scattered abroad ;”) — “ And I will bless thee, And make thy name gkeat ; — (Such was the meaning of the name which he then bore : Abram, — great, or high father) : — And thou shalt be a blessing : And I will bless them that bless thee. And curse him that curseth thee : And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." The seed of Abram were thus to have an inti¬ mate, powerful, and, ultimately, most beneficial influence upon all the families of mankind. Other nations were to be blessed through their instru¬ mentality. Those who refused participation in their blessings, would wither away before them : LECTURE III. THE ONE SEED, CHRIST. 51 and their commission to bless extended to all the families of the earth. This is their calling from the beginning; and of which, He who knows the end, from the beginning, will not repent. Abraham obeyed the call of Jehovah, and came into the land of Canaan, (verse 7) : — “ And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land.” Here the promise is full and free. It is a gift of the land, before the law was given ; and even before circumcision; and, therefore, altogether uncon¬ ditional. It may also be observed, that the pro¬ mise of the land is intimately connected with the former promise, that in this seed “ all the families of mankind were to be blessed,” — the land being the most advantageous position from which streams of blessing could be diffused over all the earth. There may be some dispute as to what is meant by the seed of Abraham here spoken of. Is it an individual, or many? Is it an adopted, or a na¬ tural posterity? It means One. This is plainly declared. Gal. iii. 16, “Now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of One, arid to thy seed, which is Christ.” It was Christ, then, to whom the land was promised. He is the Head, and only in him can the inheritance be enjoyed ; none can come into the possession, except as being viewed in him. “ Thou art worthy,” sing the four living creatures, and twice twelve elders. Rev. v. He only is worthy to claim the inhe- 52 PROMISES MADE TO ABRAM. ritance, having truly acted the part of a kinsman Redeemer : but He does not retain the possession to himself alone, the sole inhabitant of the land. — No, although it is to One that the land is given, yet many come into the enjoyment of it through that One. And, accordingly, the song concludes thus : — “ Thou hast made us unto our God, kings, and priests : And we shall reign on the earth.” Ry this seed, therefore, is meant one, Christ ; to whom the land is absolutely given ; and in whose right a multitudinous seed come into the enjoy¬ ment of it. The question then comes to be, whether this multitudinous seed, viewed in the One seed, Christ, is the natural posterity of Abraham; or merely an adopted family, not the natural descendants of Abraham? The circumstances of Abraham at the time of receiving the promise, seemed to offer nothing but an adopted heir. The doubt, how¬ ever, is resolved for him, Gen. xv. He had been complaining that not a son of his own ; but that merely one born in his house, was to be his heir. The Lord answers, (verses 4, 5) : — “ This shall not be thine heir ; But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, And tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: And He said unto him, so shall thy seed be.” Here the Lord evidently distinguishes between a natural and merely an adopted seed ; and, at the LECTURE III. THE MULTITUDINOUS SEED. 53 same time that he speaks of the natural, as being undoubtedly that which was spoken of, — he, as undoubtedly, points to the multiplicity of the seed, as in contrast to mere human expectation, at the time. It is added, “ And he believed in the Lord, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.” He looked forward to the pro¬ mised inheritance, through the right of the One promised seed, through whom alone, either he, or any of his numerous progeny, could come into the promised possession; and he stood accepted in Him, whose day he saw afar off, and seeing which, he rejoiced. A further distinction, as to the seed, is made in Gen. xvii, where the multiplicity of the seed is particularly dwelt upon, (verses 3-6) : — “ And Abram fell on his face ; and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee. And thou shalt be a father of many nations ; Neither shall thy name be any more called Abram, But thy name shall be Abraham; For a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful; And I will make nations of thee, And kings shall come out of thee.” And then, with regard to the continuance of God’s favour towards the posterity of Abram, (verse 7) : “ And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, And thy seed after thee, in their generations, For an everlasting covenant, To be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." And then God, through all their changes, having followed them with his everlasting love, brings f 2 54 PROMISE TO ABRAHAM. them, at last, into the promised inheritance, — “ And I will give unto thee, (v. 8.) And to thy seed after thee. The land wherein thou art a stranger; All the land of Canaan, For an everlasting possession ; And I will he their God.” Now, the question comes to be, was this nu¬ merous posterity, with whom the Lord was to be always ; and who would, ultimately, be given pos¬ session of the land: Were these to come of Ish- mael, who had already been born to Abraham, and whose posterity are now known to be ex¬ tremely numerous, and may be said to have long had actual possession of the land? Abraham, himself, seems to have had scarcely any other expectation; but, what saith God? (verses 19-21 :) “ Sarah, thy wife, shall bear thee a son indeed. And thou shalt call his name Isaac ; And I will establish my covenant with him, For an everlasting covenant, And with his seed after him. My covenant will I establish with Isaac, Whom Sarah shall bear unto thee At this set time in the next year.” Thus explicit is the word of promise, with re¬ gard to the many nations to come ; — not of Ish- mael, however numerous his posterity might be, but of that very son Isaac, which should be born of his wife Sarah, the following year. And the name of Sarai, my lady, is changed to Sarah, the lady, as if she would be the mother, in common, of those who should inherit the promises : as Abram is changed to Abraham, the father of a multitude, — a multitude of nations. LECTURE III. THE THREE BIRTHRIGHT BLESSINGS. 55 That these promises may be made doubly sure, God confirms them with an oath, in Gen. xxii, 16-18, — Abraham having, in purpose, offered up his son Isaac — a type of the offering up of the son of God, the heir of the promises ; and whereby they are all confirmed : for K Christ was a minister of the circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” If God hath not with-held his own son, but hath freely given him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things ? Abraham having presented the type of this sacri¬ fice, the God of Truth then condescends to address him thus : — “ By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, That in blessing I will bless thee. And in multiplying I will multiply thy seed As the stars of the heaven, And as the sand which is upon the sea-shore : And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies ; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Here, then, the three birth-right blessings are distinctly promised to Abraham : These are, the multiplicity, or double portion ; the kingship or place of rule ; and the priesthood or being made the medium of blessing. The double portion seems to be expressed in the first of these pro¬ mises, which speaks of the immense multiplicity of the race ; and the language in which the pro¬ mise is conveyed, seems to intimate that they would possess both the more elevated portions of the earth, and also the sea-shore : and their 56 PROMISES TO THE FATHERS, own land is one in -which they may indeed most eligibly possess this double portion, — it being the most centrally placed with regard to both land and water. The second of these promises regards the place of rule — the kingship : which is expressed by its being said that they should possess ec the gate of their enemies/’ It was in the gates, of old, that the people held their counsels, and that rule was exercised. To possess the gate of the enemy, was the same with overturning his counsels, and pos¬ sessing his power. Now it may be observed that it wras from the North, that the great enemies of Israel proceeded : the Babylonian, Median, Greek, and Roman, all proceeded from the north. These were the empires that composed the great image described in Daniel, chap, ii, as w7ell as the Assy¬ rian, who had previously ravaged the land, and led away the main portion of the people into the north country; — where they have multiplied, as promised ; and where they were given to possess the gate of their enemies ; and have gone out by it, unto all parts of the earth. The third promise regards the priesthood. This seed, promised to Abraham, are to be made the means of conveying blessing unto all the nations of the earth. This is emphatically true of Christ ; but it is also true of the other seed of Abraham, wTho are heirs, together with him, of the promise. Already have these nations, who so wonderfully multiplied in the north, and who have been given LECTURE III. WRITTEN IN THEIR NAMES. 57 already, so far, the gate of their enemy ; — already are they made the instruments of conveying the glorious gospel of the grace of God unto almost all the ends of the earth. All blessings are, in the first instance, put into their hands; and, through them, are these widely distributed among the nations. True, the children of Belial are here also, and try to mar this administration of blessing; but still it is through them that the blessing is conveyed ; and this, we are given to hope, will yet be much more abundant. These three promises were written in the names of the three great receivers of the promises. The first, referring to their multiplicity, is written in the name Abraham, — the father of a great multi¬ tude, who had also been called Abram, or high father. The second promise, regarding the sup¬ planting, and the possession of power, is written in the name of his grandson, Jacob, — a supplanter; and Israel, — prince of God, or great prince. And the third promise, regarding the communication of blessing, the making known the good tidings of great joy unto all people, is expressed in the name of Abraham’s own son, Isaac, — that is, laughter : at whose birth his mother said, — “ God hath made me to laugh, So that all that hear will laugh with me.” To Isaac the promises were confirmed, which had been thus so unequivocally given to Abra¬ ham, Gen. xxvi, 2-4 : — “ And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt; 58 JACOB AND ESAU. Dwell in the land that I shall tell thee of. Sojourn in this land, And I will he with thee, And I will bless thee ; For unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries. And I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham, thy father ; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, And will give unto thy seed all these countries ; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Here, again, the multiplicity, the dominion, and the power of blessing are spoken of; and are ex¬ pressly connected with the seed of Abraham, in the line of Isaac. But Isaac had two sons, both of the same mother, and born at the same time. Which of these was heir of the promises? Neither here are we left in doubt. Even before they were born, the blessing was promised to Jacob. Isaac wished to have the blessing conveyed to Esau, in pre¬ ference : but his purpose was overruled ; and the blessing, after all, descended upon the child of promise, although by means which we cannot approve. It is a wonderful example of divine faithfulness, triumphing over human infidelity, — of Isaac to his God, — of Rebekah to her hus¬ band, — of Jacob to his brother. Jacob seems to be a type of the supplanting seed of Abraham, who have come into the possession of blessing, meant of God for them; but, by the human bestowers, for another. And this is the blessing wherewith Isaac blessed Jacob, supposing him to be Esau, (Gen. ch. xxvii, 28, 29) : — “ God give thee of the dew of heaven, And the fatness of the earth, And plenty of corn and wine. LECTURE III. PROMISES TO JACOB. 59 Let people serve thee, And nations bow down to thee. Be Lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that carseth thee, And blessed be he that blesseth thee." The heirship of the world, is thus most distinctly given to Jacob’s posterity, even as distinguished from that of his own twin brother, Esau. In Gen. xxviii, 12-15, the promises which had been made to the fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and which had been unintentionally conveyed to J acob, are all confirmed to the latter, in a vision which he had of the glorious kingdom of the Messiah; to which our Saviour seems to allude when — speaking with Nathaniel, who had made confession of his being the king of Israel — he says, “ Hereafter shall ye see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” Here it is said, that Jacob, having lighted on a certain place, took a stone for his pillow, and laid him down to sleep : — “ And he dreamed. And behold a ladder set upon the earth; And the top of it reached to heaven ; And behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and He said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, And the God of Isaac ; The land whereon thou liest, To thee will I give it, and to thy seed, And thy seed shall be as the dust of tire earth ; And thou shalt spread abroad, to the west, and to the east, And to the north, and to the south." Now, this is the very order in which we suppose the seed of Israel to have spread; first to the 60 JACOB AT BETHEL. west, and then, latterly, to the east ; first to the north, and now emphatically to the south. And now seems to be dawning, that which is here again said, “ And in thee, and in thy seed. Shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” And then, with regard to the good providence of God, until all these things should be accom¬ plished, (verse 15) : — “ And, behold, I am with thee, And will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, And will bring thee again unto this land, For I will not leave thee, Until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” » — Notwithstanding all appearances, we believe that God has been true to his promise, in making Israel the object of his peculiar care. He will never leave them until the kingdom of grace be consummated in glory. At the same place, (Bethel, or house of God,) the Lord met with Jacob, upon his return from the north country, where he had served for a wife, (Gen. xxxv, 9-12 ) : — “ And God appeared unto Jacob, when he came out of Padan-aram, And blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob ; Thy name shall not any more be called Jacob, But Israel (or Prince of God) shall be thy name : And he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty.” It is when Israel returns with his numerous posterity, that the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given them. It is then, when LECTURE HI. THE SONS OF JACOB. 61 God has been enquired at to do for them what he hath promised ; when they have wrestled to obtain the blessing, that they shall, indeed, in fulness, be made princes in all the earth. And God con¬ descends to pledge his Great Name, that He will accomplish these promises He has now written in the names of the three great receivers of the promises. And, he adds, — “ Be fruitful, and multiply ; A natioD, and a company of nations, shall be of thee, And kings shall come out of thy loins, And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, To thee will I give it, And to thy seed after thee will I give the land.” But Jacob had a number of sons, twelve in all : To which of them were the birth-right promises made? — Or were they all made alike to all? They belonged to Reuben, the first-born ; but they were taken from him, and distributed among three of his brethren. The priesthood was given to Levi. The kingship to Judah : his mother’s children were to bow down to him. — Of him, according to the flesh, came Christ, to whom every knee shall bow. The double portion, the multiplicity, •was given to Joseph. The very name of Joseph means increase ; and there is abundant reference to the increase, both as to the number of his pos¬ terity, and the amplitude of their possessions, in the blessing which Jacob pronounced upon Joseph, as recorded, Gen. xlix, (verses 22-26) : — “ Joseph is a fruitful bough, Even a fruitful bough by a well ; Whose branches run over the wall : G 62 THE BLESSING OF JOSEPH, The archers have sorely grieved him, And shot at him, and hated him : But his bow abode in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (From thence is the Shepherd, the stone of Israel : ) By the God of thy Father, Who shall help thee ; And by the Almighty, Who shall bless thee. With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lieth under. Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb : The blessings of thy father have prevailed Above the blessings of my progenitors, Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills : They shall be upon the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him That was separate from his brethren.” Here the blessing, in all its amplitude, as to the double portion — as to the multiplicity of the seed — and all correspondent blessings, to be en¬ joyed, either in the high places of the earth, or as being masters of the deep that croucheth beneath, even as a camel of the desert, ready to convey with speed whither-soever the governor listeth. The full blessing, and blessing beyond those of his progenitors, is pronounced upon the head of Joseph. And not only was he separated from his brethren, but his posterity, the heirs of the pro¬ mises, have been so separated, that they have been accounted lost. But, it is remarkable, that not only was the blessing as to the double portion more emphati¬ cally conveyed to Joseph, but, even of his two LECTURE III. AND OF HIS SON EPHRAIM. 63 sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, a distinction again was made. Ephraim, the younger, hath the mean¬ ing of his name fruitful, and the fruitfulness was more particularly promised to him. In Gen. xlviii, 3-7, Jacob, — having referred to the first great birthright blessing — the double por¬ tion, as being his in the promise of God; and naturally belonging to Reuben, his first-born ; or, to his next eldest son, Simeon ; — expressly adopts into the enjoyment of that blessing, the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh; and confers upon them, and especially upon Ephraim, the great promise of the multiplicity, which had been so carefully preserved to himself, through Isaac, from Abraham, (verses 15-16) : — “ And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, did walk, The God which fed me all my life long, unto this day, The angel which redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And let my name be named on them. And the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac ; And let them grow into a multitude, in the midst of the earth." The expression used in the last part of this blessing, it is noted, implies that they would grow, as fishes do increase — sending off shoals, as has been the case with regard to both the figure, and the people spoken of, in the north country. Thus worthy would they be of the name of their father, Joseph, — adding or increase. The line in which was to come the great multiplicity, is still more distinctly pointed out : for, when Joseph perceived that his father had crossed his hands, so as to put CA THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES the right upon the head of the younger, in place of upon Manasseh, he would have corrected the supposed mistake : but his father, who had evi¬ dently been guided by inspiration, in the act, as well as in the words, refused, and said (verse 19) : “ I know it, my son, I know it; He also shall be a people, And he also shall be great : v But, truly his younger brother shall be greater than he ; And his seed shall become a multitude of nations.” Are these words all to go for nothing ? Or is it not so, that a multitude or fulness of nations hath come of this so-called lost portion of the house of Israel. These are not mere idle words. And, let it be considered, that a multitude of na¬ tions cannot, indeed, well be hid in a corner ; nor are they. The word, translated multitude, is also translated fulness. Put Gentiles for nations, (and the words are used indifferently,) and then we have the very expression used by Paul, when, speaking of Israel, in Rom. xi, 25, he says, that “ Blindness, in part, hath happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the gentiles for nations) be come in;” that is, until that fulness, or multi¬ tude of nations, promised to come of Ephraim, be brought forth, and are introduced into the Christian church. “And so all Israel shall be saved.” Paul recognizes, fully, the truth of God, with regard to Israel and, looking far into futurity ; and, at the same time, tracing back the procedure of God from the days of old, when he had called them ; and, since which, he had been LECTURE III. TO COME OF EPHRAIM. 65 ever bestowing upon them gifts, according as they were able to bear the kindness of their God to¬ wards them; — he at length bursts out into that exclamation of wonder and praise, with which he concludes his reasonings, in these three chapters, respecting the darkness then hanging over this people. Looking beyond all the troublous dark¬ ness, — to Israel, as coming up out of the great tribulation, and as fully accomplishing their des¬ tiny, he exclaims, — “ O the depth of the riches, And of the wisdom And knowledge Of GOD, How unsearchable are his judgments. And his ways past finding out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, And it shall he recompensed to him again? For of HIM, And through Him, And to Him are all things To whom he glory for ever — Amen.” It is not necessary that Josephus posterity should hitherto have been known as Israel : Joseph was not known in Egypt as a son of Jacob, when the Lord made him fruitful in a strange land. Nay, he had previously called the name of his first¬ born, Manasseh; as having himself forgotten all his toil, and all his father’s house. There was evidence, however, to convince his father and his brethren that the very Joseph found in Egypt, was the very Joseph who had been by his brethren thought lost, and by his father be- g 2 66 THE MULTITUDINOUS SEED, lieved to be dead. And there is, as we shall see, abundant evidence to prove, equally, the identity of his descendants, as existent in the north country, out of which they are as really to be brought, as were their fathers out of Egypt. It is remarkable that, in Rev. vii, after the sealing of the limited number from Juda, and his companions, we have the description of ano¬ ther company, who may most clearly be recog¬ nized as possessing the three birthright blessings, which we have seen were promised to Abraham, in the line of Isaac — and then in that of Jacob — and then, more particularly as to the double por¬ tion, to the house of Joseph, in the line of Eph¬ raim, the chief of the tribes that have been called lost, and which were, by the Assyrians, carried into the same quarter from which the modern possessors of Europe have come. First, as to the multiplicity promised to Abraham, and written in his name, “ After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all na¬ tions, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” And, secondly, as to their having supplanted their enemies, and come into the place of honour and power, expressed in the names, Jacob and Israel, it is said that they “ stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” — They are brought near unto the Supreme; the Source of all Blessing: — and are given to possess the tokens of victory. And then, thirdly, as is promised in the name lecture hi. AND BLESSINGS OF THE FIRST-BORN. 67 Isaac, they are full of rejoicing, and call upon all to rejoice with them. Their song is one of the most blessed which the heart of man can con¬ ceive : “ And cried with a loud voice, Salvation to our God that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.” Here are the people, possessing the blessings of the first-born. This seems to be, that which is called, (Heb. xii, 23) the general assembly of the Church of the First-born, which are written in heaven.” And it is worthy of re¬ mark, that the description given of them by the Elder, consists of exactly twelve lines, arranged in threes, after the manner of Hebrew poetry, as if they had a reference to “ the twelve tribes scattered abroad;” but are, at the time referred to, gathered out of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, into the full enjoyment of the blessings of the First-born. “ These have come out of the great tribulation, And have washed their robes. And made them white in the blood of the Lamb : Therefore are they before the throne of God, And serve him day and night in his temple; And He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more. Neither thirst any more ; Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them. And shall lead them unto living fountains of waters ; And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." LECTURE IV THE TRAINING OF ISRAEL. Israel’s close connection with the Three Grand Families of Mankind. — The Mingling of Races. — The parent s influence upon his offspring, exemplified in the case of Abraham’s posterity. — Care taken, as to the physical properties of the Chosen Race. — The Moral Training given to Abraham — to Isaac — J acob — Joseph — and his Brethren.— To Israel, in Egypt — in the Wilderness.— The Three grand principles of Government, — Monarchy — Aristocracy — Democracy — suc¬ cessively developed. — Israel in the Land, under the Judges, and the Kings. — David and Solomon. — All have failed, in the very respects in which they ex¬ celled. — Israel trained to maritime affairs, preparatory to going forth among the nations. — God's purposes with regard to Israel, and for which he had been training them, not accomplished during their former residence in the Land. — Shall be fully accomplished in the promised Kingdom. God, having chosen a particular family, whereby to exercise a great and most extensive influence among mankind ; and having appointed them a position the most advantageous, from which to dispense, to all the ends of the earth, the bles¬ sings of which they, in the first place, wrere to be made the partakers ; and having indubitably se¬ cured unto them the blessings of the first-born, by reiterated promise, and even by oath ; — having chosen Israel to be the lot of his inheritance — to be the instructors of mankind — the declarers of his glory unto the nations : He dealt with them accordingly. He brought them near unto himself, LECTURE IV. THE MINGLING OF RACES. 69 and led them about, and instructed them. As a tender parent with a child, he took them by the arms, and taught them to go ; and gradually strengthened them for the service in which, for their heavenly father, and their brethren of man¬ kind, they were afterwards to be engaged. He brought them into every variety of situation, en¬ larging, continually, their experience, and giving them a sympathy with universal nature. He qualified them for all climes; and for meeting with every condition of life ; and for laying hold upon all instrumentality; and for the seizing upon every medium through which blessing might be conveyed unto the whole family of Adam. One of the principal means of improving a race, as wrell as of enlarging its sympathy, is its being given, to a certain extent, to intermingle with other races. And the connection of the chosen race with the three grand families of man¬ kind is rather remarkable. The first three ge¬ nerations by both the father and the mother’s side, were entirely of the race of Shem ; but after this, their connection with the descendants of Ham, seems to have been very intimate, — and that as to both the houses of Israel: Joseph having married in Egypt; and Judah took to him a Canaanitess : — and such also seems to have been Tamar, the mother of Phares and Zara. A wholesome restriction was put upon this inter¬ course ; but still it seems to have gone forward, and must have had a considerable influence upon 70 THE PARENT’S INFLUENCE the race ; adding that strength of domestic affec¬ tion, for which the descendants of Ham are re¬ markable, to the superior intellectual and moral constitution possessed by the original stock. After this sojourn among the descendants of Ham, they were, as we shall see, led out among the more vigorous Japhetic race, in the north country, to have the needful energy given to that intellectual power, and those sentiments and affections, which they previously were given to possess. It is a fact now abundantly ascertained, — not only as to the inferior animals, wdth regard to which the principle has been long acted upon, — but, also, it is true with regard to the human race ; — that the dispositions and attainments of the parents, have, in many cases, a most important influence upon the capacity and habits of the offspring. The laws which regulate this influence, are not yet clearly defined ; but there can be no doubt as to the general principle — a principle implied, indeed, in the very first truths of our re¬ ligion, — in which, the moral and intellectual con¬ stitution of man is recognised as having been grievously injured by the fall of our first father, Adam. We must distinguish between natural capacity, and special divine grace, when we speak of the influence of parents upon their children, previous to birth. It is of the natural capacity and disposition of which we speak; and subor¬ dinate although this be to the other, — yet still it LECTURE iv. UPON HIS OFFSPRING. 71 is of vast importance, both as to the happiness of the individual, and his usefulness to society. Even where the children are of the same parent, there is often a striking coincidence, between the varying disposition of the parent, and the per¬ manent disposition given to his different offspring. Thus, Ishmael, born to Abraham, after his conflict with the kings in the valley of Shaveh, has given birth to a race delighting in war; whilst Isaac, born to Abraham in his old age, after receiving the benefit of his long training and discipline, manifested, except in one grand instance, much of that subdued, and pious character of mind, which might have been expected. And if, as some have supposed, the Brahmins be the des¬ cendants of Abraham, by Keturah, they do remarkably manifest that self-possession and willingness to sacrifice the affections, through re¬ ligious motives, which were so conspicuous in Abraham, at the time of his offering up his son Isaac upon the altar. In them the principle has been ill-applied ; but as to the natural feeling, it may be regarded as the same. Even physical beauty and strength were not unattended to, in the choice of the progenitors of the chosen race. The health, both of Abraham and of Sarah, appears to have been sound. The various journies of Abraham, and the multifarious duties to which he had to attend, must have re¬ quired a strong physical constitution, — and may also have tended to increase it. His agility is re- 72 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. marked, as in the case of entertaining the angels, — and the successful pursuit of the captors of his kinsman, Lot. The beauty of Sarah, the wife of Abraham ; and of Rebekah, the beloved wife of Isaac ; and of Rachel, the best beloved wife of Jacob; is very particularly and repeatedly noticed. And we find, as in the case of Joseph, of whom the multitudinous seed was to come, that this beauty was not lost to the children of these mo¬ thers of Israel. From many parts of the Scripture we learn, that the daughters of Israel were fair and comely : and even with regard to the children of Judah, whose beauty is not so much spoken of as is that of Joseph, much is recorded. The means taken to preserve health of body, and to season, strengthen, and attune the physical powers, were indeed remarkably adapted for the purposes intended ; and did certainly argue a full knowledge of the natural laws, in the Guide and Law-giver of Israel. These, however, we do not now dwell upon : if personal beauty, and bodily ac¬ tivity and strength were attended to in the choice of the fathers and mothers of this peculiar people ; much more may we expect that attention should be paid to their minds — to the improvement and invigorating of their moral and intellectual con¬ stitution. One of the first lessons which Abraham had to learn, was, the proper exercise of faith — an imme¬ diate dependence upon the guidance and protec¬ tion of the unseen God. He was called to go out, LECTURE IV. MORAL TRAINING OF ABRAHAM. 73 not knowing -whither he went, — nor how he was to be supported and preserved, — otherwise than as the Almighty would vouchsafe. At the same time, his Hope was brought into most healthful influence, by the many precious promises that -were given to him, with regard to his seed ; and especially with regard to Messiah’s day, which he was given to see afar off ; and his possession of the land wherein he was a stranger ; and of that city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. His Veneration was given abun¬ dant occasion for exercise, not more by the need he had for patient submission to the w7ill of God, during the long delay, and the trials which God in his sovereignty allowed him to endure, — than by the call for rejoicing devotion to Him, by whom he was ever so signally delivered, and so abun¬ dantly blessed. The sentiment of Justice was nourished by the sacrifices he was enjoined to offer, as pointing forward to the sacrifice of God’s beloved Son, for the sins of guilty men. And lessons of truth were equally impressed upon him, by his being shewn the folly of duplicity, as in the case of denying his wife ; and by his great Teacher’s so wonderfully fulfilling to him his -word. By this divine goodness, also, was his Benevolence instructed; and in its exercise wras he encouraged, by his being given to entertain angels unawares. And, to crown all, he was, by his constant ultimate success, after long waiting, taught to be firm, as enduring and persevering in H 74 TRAINING, INTELLECTUAL, acting — in acting as being made of one mind with the most high God, — who condescended to have fellowship with him, and to call him his friend. True dignity, and yet humble and delighted obedience, might therefore be expected to belong to the character of Abraham. At the same time, his Intellect must have been greatly cultivated by his being led into such a variety of scenes and circumstances. His know¬ ledge of localities must have been greatly enlarged, by his travels into such a variety of countries. And his Individuality, or power of observing and distinguishing objects, was given exercise by coming into contact with various nations, as well as with so many individuals. The various productions of nature, and of art, in the various countries through which he passed, would also help to keep this important mental power well employed. He must have been well acquainted with civil affairs, — and we see that he was far from being unskilled in diplomacy ; nor was he unin¬ structed 6r unsuccessful in war : although, only for the sake of peace does he seem to have turned his attention to the sword. Astronomical knowr- ledge, it is likely, he brought with him from the east ; and in Damascus and Egypt, and the smaller states between, he had an opportunity of being made well acquainted with the arts, and their various productions. In learning the ways of God, which were so unfolded to him, his Causality must have been well employed, and his LECTURE IV. OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC. 75 Comparison, in the illustrating of these to others, while commanding his children and his household after him, that they should keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment. His powers of intelligence and reflection, no less than the higher sentiments, must, by all this, have become highly cultivated. All this training seems to have been, not alone for his own advantage, but clearly, also, for the benefit of his numerous posterity, — on account of which he was called Abraham, the father of a multitude; a great and mighty nation, through whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. It was not until his mind had attained that maturity, which all this training was calculated to afford, that to him, Isaac, in whom his seed was to be called, was born. In the case of Isaac there seems to have been, in many respects, a repetition of the same trials and travels; — the same exercises of faith, and hope, and veneration, and justice, and benevolence, and firmness. Many of the very same incidents seem to have happened in his case, which had oc¬ curred in that of his father ; and therefore it may be, that less is said respecting him. If we may be allowed the expression, there seems to have been in him, a conning over the lessons taught to his father. His life appears to have passed in greater quietness ; and in a calm cultivation of personal piety, and of the domestic affections, — until the waywardness of his affections led him to destroy that domestic peace he seems to have so 76 TRAINING OF JACOB AND JOSEPH. t valued, by his endeavouring to thwart the purposes of God, as to the bestowment of the Blessing. In Jacob, another useful class of faculties seems to have been called into play, along with those already mentioned in the case of Abraham and Isaac. These have their organs situated on the side of the head, and are mainly prudential. He was early called upon to exert prudence, even in the preservation of his life from the wrath of his brother; after he had, by stealth, procured the blessing. Prudence, also, he had to exert, in the acquisition, preservation, and management of his property; as well as in the preventing of mis¬ chief in his numerous family ; or in the assuaging of disputes when they arose. The wisdom he was thus called upon to exercise, was, no less than the virtues taught his fathers, necessary to be possessed by a people who are to supplant every other, and be made princes in all the earth; — justifying their title to the two names given to their father, — Jacob, a supplant er> and Israel, prince of God. In the case of Joseph and his brethren, Jehovah seems to have manifested himself less immediately to man ; but equally instructive is He, by his providence. What a powerful lesson of virtue is given in Joseph, as triumphing over all the un¬ kindness and powerful treachery of brethren and of strangers ! Separated from his fathers house, and with his true origin unknown, he is put into a position of returning good for evil, and of being LECTURE IV. TRAINING IN EGYPT. 77 a succour, in trouble, for those who had appointed him unto death, and sold him into bondage. His firm resistance of the seducements of sin, prepare for his being given the control of all that the most polished nation, supposed to be then in the Avorld, did possess. At the same time we are shewn how his over-faithfulness to Pharoah, in making the Egyptians become slaves for a morsel of bread, is rewarded upon his own pos¬ terity ; who, under the descendants of these same Egyptians, were subjected to cruel bondage. But God over-ruled this, for good. Previously to this, the chosen race had only been accustomed to pas¬ turage, or tillage ; but they were designed to plant cities, and dwell in them, and become more concentrated than could be allowed them in the pastoral life. The imaginative , or conceptive powers, had been greatly called into exercise, in the case of Joseph, by the position in which he was placed in Egypt, where so much depended upon his management. His power of planning seems to have grown almost to the degree of abuse, at the time his brethren arrived first in Egypt. But not only was it useful that he should have been given much exercise of that inventive and im¬ proving genius, for which his descendants were to be so remarkable, — it was also requisite that the race, generally, should be broken in ; so as to per¬ form the duties, and the labours, of more settled life ; and, accordingly, they are laid hold upon by h 2 78 ISRAEL BROUGHT OUT OF EGYPT. the Egyptians, and are taught by them those arts, which it was now requisite for them to possess : — such as the making of brick, and the building of cities : — they are trained to industry and hardship. They had been given, by their previous way of life, a strong physical constitution, — and now it was given abundance of profitable exercise : if not immediately profitable to them, — yet, certainly, to their posterity. At the same time, their moral feelings are educated, by their being given to knowT the heart of a stranger ; so that when given a land of their own, they might deal with the stranger, as themselves would have chosen to be dealt with, in the same situation. All the while ♦ their patient waiting upon God, for the accom¬ plishment of his promise, is put to a severe trial. At length God makes bare His holy arm, and seizes upon the simplest means — the rod of a shepherd — to break the sceptre of Egypt, — and clear a way for the oppressed, through all the difficulties wherewith they were surrounded. They are taught the justice, the wisdom, and the power of Jehovah, in his leading in safety, Israel, his first born, through the mighty deep ; whilst the enemy sank as lead in the mighty waters. After having been taught all the wisdom, and made to feel all the power of Egypt, — they are given to see all such to be of no avail, in con¬ travening the purposes of the God of Israel. In the wilderness, we behold another course of training commenced, connected with their future LECTURE IV. POLITICAL TRAINING. 79 destination. They are instructed in their reli¬ gious, social, and personal duties, in the most minute particulars. They are led about, and habituated to military discipline. They are taught alike personal cleanliness, and holiness of heart. They are taught to put away every thing hurtful or unseemly, and to be considerate of each other’s welfare and happiness. They are given a body of political institutions, remarkably calculated to teach them order, and train them up for inde¬ pendence — for the enjoyment and preservation of their public and individual rights. They are ini¬ tiated into the forms of a popular government; and are taught, by the division of their nation into tribes, the principles of the confederation of states. It may be observed, that there has been, up to this time, a gradual development of the principles of government, according as they were called for by the condition of the people. In the infancy of the race, whilst they lived as a family, under Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchal, or monarchical principle prevailed. Upon the death of Jacob, when twelve brethren were left pretty equal in authority, the aristocra- tical form of government may be said to have existed; and this rule, by elders, being the heads of families, seems to have continued till Israel were brought out into the wilderness. In the wilderness the democratical principle was added to their political constitution; as we read, Deut. i, 9-18. Then were the whole body of the people 80 GENERAL TRAINING OF ISRAEL commanded to look out, from among themselves, good men, and true, who should be appointed officers among them ; as rulers of tens, of fifties, of hundreds, and of thousands : so that every matter, great or small, might be instantly attended to, and put to rights, by men in whom they had confidence ; who had understanding of the affairs of those they represented; who had wisdom to direct ; and who were men known to have inte¬ grity, to act according to the best of their know¬ ledge and judgment. They were, also, here given a body of religious rites, remarkably calculated to lead them into a minute knowledge of both nature and art. They could not make those distinctions, as to clean and unclean animals, — and the different parts of the same animal; — as to the different plants, and spices, and ointments; — and as to metals and precious stones ; — without becoming extensively acquainted with natural history. And they could not but become well accustomed to chronological and astronomical observation, by their regularly occurring festivals. At the same time, the acquisi¬ tions made in Egypt, were not to be lost. The perfection of the arts, which they had there learned, was called for, in the constructing of the Tabernacle, and its various important contents ; the making of dresses for the priests; the en¬ graving of stones, and compounding of ointments ; and working variously in wood, and precious metals. They are taught to work for the Lord, LECTURE IV. IN THE WILDERNESS. 81 and to feed at his hand. At once do they see Him as the God of creation, of providence, and of redemption ; by whom the ordinary laws of nature are over-ruled, that the people he had ran¬ somed from the hand of the enemy, might be delivered and sustained. God is their Lawgiver, Governor, Judge, and Guide; a wall of fire around them, and the glory in the midst of them. There, in the quiet of the desert, with all the world shut out, that so their attention might be the more entirely concentrated upon the words of their Great Teacher, and the visible representa¬ tions of spiritual truths, they were, as yet, too carnal, — too much in childhood, otherwise to learn ; and which it was important should be _ impressed upon their imaginations, with all the solemnity, brightness, and power, that now ac¬ companied them. God drew near, and was him¬ self their Teacher. What simple sublimity in the scene ! How full of meaning the words that were uttered, (Exodus xxxiv, 5-7) : — “ And the Lord descended in the cloud, And stood with him there, And proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, Merciful and gracious, Long suffering, And abundant in goodness and truth; Keeping mercy for thousands, Forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin; And that will by no means clear : — Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, And upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth.” 82 RELIGIOUS TRAINING. The grand course of God’s procedure, in provi¬ dence and grace, is set before them, both by word, and in lively emblems : — As, when hid in a cleft of the rock, their leader saw thus the God of Israel passing by, and proclaiming, “ the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,” — which he was at the first advent, in the bestowment of his Son, and his Spirit : and then he is, “ Long- suffering,” during the backslidings and wander¬ ings of both the houses of Israel ; until his second appearing, when he shall be seen as “ abundant in goodness and truth.” The same things were expressed in grand scenic representation : when the high priest, with the blood of atonement, was seen entering into the most holy place, to appear in the presence of , God, for the people, — who, without, were waiting for his second appearing; when he came forth, not clad in plain raiment, as before, — but clothed in garments of glory and beauty, to bless the people in the name of the Lord. So our Great High Priest, after having entered into the holiest of all, not made with hands, — and not with the blood of others, but with his own blood, — though now gone to appear in the presence of God for us, — shall, to those that look for him, appear, the second time, in glory and in majesty, — fully to bestow the blessing he hath gone to procure. The power of tracing analogies, — so essential to them as the intended instructors of mankind, — was given thus the highest cultivation. And the LECTURE IV. INTELLECTUAL TRAINING. 83 whole of their reflective faculties were brought into healthful exercise upon all that the Lord had done, was doing, and would do with them. They are taught the origin of the world, and the past history of man. They are given to see sin as the cause of all evil ; and the goodness of God as the source of all good to man. They are, as it were, put to school, to learn in lively emblems, the jus¬ tice and the mercy of God; and the future history of their nation, and of the world. And their sense of propriety is educated in the most profit¬ able manner, by the minute attention they are taught to pay to the holy service of religion, : — to useful social, and most wholesome private ob¬ servances. Of the observing powers, that which observes size — which takes notice of proportions, and measures distances, — was especially useful to them, — as intended to be the Lord’s measuring line, — to compass sea and land, for the extension of the divine goodness among men ; and the bringing all parts of the world into one grand interchange of blessing. And the provision made for the cultivation of this mental power is abun¬ dantly manifest, — when, in reading the books of Moses, we observe the minute attention which was to be paid to every sort of measurement ; as in the making of the tabernacle and its contents. It may justly be questioned, whether there be a single profession, or trade, or art, or science, with regard to which profit may not be derived, from the diligent perusal, and thorough understanding 84 TRAINING UNDER THE JUDGES. of the books of Moses. It is short of the truth to suppose that these books had but the incul¬ cation of one truth in view, however important that one truth may be. Israel, in the wilderness, was in a grand course of training, with regard to every thing requisite ; whether belonging to their physical, or moral, or intellectual constitution ; in order that they should be eminently a seed to serve the Lord, — and be strong for labour — in diffusing blessings among men. Having been duly prepared in the wilderness, they are at length brought forward into the land of Canaan. And it is given them, according as they require, and are given a heart to. take pos¬ session. Moses and Joshua are dead ; but their King liveth, and is Almighty. They lie exposed to their enemies, who surround them on every side; and who give continual occasion for the vigorous exercise of their minds in defence, and in the wise management of their national relations. Their enemies have no powTer, but as they give occasion, by Israel’s rebellion against their hea¬ venly King. They are taught to depend upon the Almighty, who will infallibly protect them in the right, and punish them in the wrong. Their Judges are his officers, raised up for the occasion. To them the nation must not look ; but to that God, who hath appointed them. If they look to man, they are disappointed, and broken. It is now, more especially, that the Lord is training them to go alone. Each individual is, in a great LECTURE IV. TRAINING OF ISRAEL. 85 measure, made to think and act for himself. A more powerful or better consolidated government, among them, than that of the Judges, might have given to the body of the people more strength ; but it would not, so much, have strengthened the individual character : and it was with a regard to this, that the Lord was training them, much more than for the purpose of giving them present ease, as a nation. It was not to make them the useful instruments of one man, as under an absolute monarchy ; but to make them a nation of kings and priests unto God, that he had delivered them from their Egyptian task-masters. But they did not consider their latter end, for which their Lord was preparing them. They grew impatient of this state of things, and require a king, like the na¬ tions around them. He warned them of the evils into which they were plunging: but they were importunate, — and he gave them a king in his anger, and took him away in his wrath. They are again taught the folly of trusting in man: — the king who was to combine their scattered energies, and lead them forth successfully to battle, left them in the hands of the enemy. But the Lord has again a bright course of training for them ; and to this, the concentrated form of a kingly commonwealth is better adapted. And David is raised up to execute the purpose of God. It would be difficult to name a single faculty of the human mind, affective or intel¬ lectual, which was not remarkably manifested in i 86 TRAINING OF ISRAEL David ; who, from feeding his father’s flock, was taken to feed the flock of God — the people of Israel. His genius, with regard to music and poetry, w7as especially remarkable. To the beau¬ tiful appointments in the service of God, ad¬ dressed to the eye, and chiefly administered by Moses ; he added those, which were no less ne¬ cessary and instructive, addressed to the ear: and the songs of rejoicing are sung, which anticipate the glory of Messiah’s kingdom, — when the song of salvation shall resound throughout the world. The impress of David’s powerful mind appears to have been indelibly impressed upon the nation. He was indeed an eminent type of the King of Zion, both in his sufferings and in his triumphs. David, whose name means, beloved, seems to have been eminently distinguished for reigning in the affections of his people. When this throne was taken from him, as by Absalom’s stealing away the hearts of the people, he refused to remain in his throne at Jerusalem; and with-held himself therefrom, until the people voluntarily called the king back. And the Redeemer shall be given the throne of his father, David, in both respects. His people “ shall be willing in the day of his power,” when He shall “ send the rod of his strength out of Zion.” But the Kingdom of Messiah is to be emi¬ nently a kingdom of peace ; and wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of His times. The sapphire, the heaven-assimilated throne, in LECTURE IV. UNDER DAVID AND SOLOMON. 87 which the King shall reign on earth, is seated upon a body of brightness, like to the terrible crystal. As if to represent this peaceful light, the true support of powerful love, Solomon, the peaceful prince, and wisest of mortals, is raised up, — to give the widest range to the observing, and the deepest tone to the reflective faculties. He gives a grand example of the temple of know¬ ledge, to be filled with the glory of the Lord : and he is given to rear that wondrous type, the temple at Jerusalem ; holding forth the great mystery of godliness, and embracing so many lessons of love and of holiness. But, as if to teach the folly — the utter folly of leaning upon an arm of flesh, and of putting implicit confidence in any man, in the things of God, — this, their greatest king, and the wisest among men, was allowed to fall into the very dregs of folly ; and he leads the way in the spiritual adultery of the nation. He seems, also, to have elevated the monarchy, to the lowering of the people, as to their standing in the commonwealth ; and to the oppression of the nation he was given to protect ; and whose capitol he was gilding with foolish magnificence, — making it only the more tempting a prize for the enemy. Thus, also, was his father, the man after God’s heart, left to fall into the most base and revolting of crimes. Thus was Moses, the meekest of men, guilty of the greatest impatience. Thus, also, do we find righteous and benevolent Joseph, the preserver of nations, guilty 88 ISRAELIS TRAINING UNFRUITFUL, of one of the greatest public wrongs, and sweep¬ ing calamities, — the leading of one of the most highly improved nations into a state of even per¬ sonal slavery ; putting them into such a position, as that any political change would be esteemed by them a gain. Thus was Jacob, so generally without guile, guilty of the grossest deception. And thus was pious and affectionate Isaac guilty of an attempt to frustrate the purpose of God, in a most material point, occasioning thereby, the greatest domestic confusion and bereavement. And thus was faithful Abraham left so little trust in his God, as even deliberately to deny his bosom companion. And thus was righteous Lot found halting, after being so signally delivered from Sodom. And thus was Noah also an object of shame to his own children, after resisting a world of ungodliness; and being so wonderfully pre¬ served from that destruction which overwhelmed it. How instructive is the history of Israel; — and, indeed, of the wrorld ! How incessant in commanding to cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils. “Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” And “ let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” The kingdom of Israel had been rapidly attain¬ ing to an elevated position among the nations ; and it might have been supposed, had matters so progressed, that now was come the expected glory. Men might have been in danger of mistaking the lecture iv. BEFORE THEIR LEAVING THE LAND. 89 type, for the thing typified. But in no such danger were they left. It is too plain, that the purposes of God with regard to Israel, were not at all accomplished or consummated, whilst they were under the kings ; and the religious state of the people had greatly degenerated before the death of Solomon : and when this was the case, their political happiness could not long abide. Immediately the kingdom divided : — that house, of whom the one promised seed, Christ, was to come, remaining attached to the family of David ; whilst the house of Joseph — that of which the multitudinous seed was to come, erected a new kingdom for themselves, under Jeroboam. An ignoble termination was thus made to so glo¬ rious a beginning ; plainly intimating, that this people had not yet arrived at that for which they were so long under such a careful course of training. Ephraim was separated from Judah — not only in a political, but also in a religious respect. Both houses were, during the reign of their respective kings, taught many severe lessons, as to the unprofitableness of departing from God. Still God was dealing with them in kindness, and preparing them for their different destinies. The Jews, who were not designed to be a maritime people, but a kind of universal medium of com¬ munication among mankind by land, were given an entirely inland position ; whilst Israel, who were still more extensively to be a band of union to the human race, — who were to be spread unto i 2 90 MARITIME TRAINING. the most distant isles, were, before being taken out of their land, — and even from the time they entered it, — in the most careful manner, taught maritime affairs, — not only as possessing the small sea of Galilee, but by their being placed all along the upper border of the great, or Medi¬ terranean sea ; and in connection with such per¬ fect masters of those matters as were the inha¬ bitants of Tyre and Sidon, — by whom, also, their architectural taste had already been considerably improved. The keeping of cotemporary chroni¬ cles of their own and other nations, — the art of war, — and the power of making expeditions by sea, — and of planting colonies, — and of keeping up an extensive correspondence with distant parts of the world, — were especially necessary for them to possess. And all this was, in the kind providence of God, prepared for them before the final breaking up of their nation : — when, for the mis-improvement of their many great privileges, they were cast out, and left to become wanderers among the nations. They had been given all that they could receive at home, and had now to go forth on their travels, to learn that, in foreign countries, with toil and trouble, which they would not be taught by more peaceable means at home. — Nor should we forget that they were thus to suffer for the good of others. The casting away of them was to be the riches of the Gentiles, and the restoring of them shall be like life from the dead : — LECTURE IV. ISRAEL EVER IN MOVEMENT. 91 “ He will have compassion upon us, He will subdue our iniquities, And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, The mercy to Abraham, Which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” The most cursory view of the known history of Israel may convince, that they cannot be found among an inferior, or even stationary people. They were ever in a state of transition — ever pas¬ sing on from one lesson to a higher, in the school of their Great Teacher. And in them eminently was to be fulfilled the saying, “ Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Their symbol is the palm tree, that bringeth forth fruit in old age. “ They shall be fat, and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright, my rock, and no unrighteous¬ ness in him.” “ This people have I formed for myself, They shall shew forth my praise.” As yet, when the gifts and calling of God are manifest in Israel, shall be realized this glad pre¬ diction of Isaiah, chap, xxxii. v. 1-5. “ Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, And princes shall rule in judgment; And a man shall he as an hiding place from the wind, And a covert from the tempest; As rivers of water in a dry place ; As the shadow of a Great Bock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see, shall not be dim; And the ears of them that hear, shall hearken ; The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge. The tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly; The vile person shall be no more called liberal; Nor the churl said to be bountiful.” LECTUKE Y. THE DISPERSION OF ISRAEL. Israel and Judah discriminated. — The former called All Israel, or the whole House of Israel. — Different purposes the two houses were intended to serve. — The Captivity of Israel.— The time of their resurrection, foretold at the time of their political death. — Completeness of the Captivity. — Its continuance. — The places to which they were carried; Assyria and Media. — The design of the Assyrian, and that of the God of Israel, very different. — Importance of the lost house of Israel. — Who are Jews? — The more valuable portion of the Jews became mixed among the Gentiles : the more accursed portion of the Gentiles were joined to the Jews. — The Jew hath inherited the curse of both Canaan and Edom; yet still the promise is to the Jew: but it cannot be less to Israel. — It is to the return of Israel's captivity that the Prophecy specially points: — and then shall Christ be rejoiced in by the Jew, as having become also his salvation. In speaking of the chosen proper that we discriminate clearly between the two houses, generally distinguished by the names Ephraim, or Israel, or the house of Isaac, for the ten tribes ; and Judah, or the Jews, for the two tribes that remained with the family of David. Sometimes, indeed, the latter house is also called the house of Israel; and then the ten tribes are called all Israel, or the whole house of Israel ; as in Ezek. xxxvii, 16 ; and also before that, in verse 1 1 ; and in various other parts of his prophecy. This distinction between the two houses seems to have been made very early. David reigned six LECTURE V. SEPARATION OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. 93 years and a half, in Hebron, over the house of Judah, before he reigned the thirty-three years in Jerusalem, over Israel and Judah; (2 Sam. v, 5.) Solomon, his son, reigned forty years. Seventy- three years, in all, the house of Israel remained entire, — when another, and more permanent se¬ paration took place ; a breach, w7hich hath not hitherto been healed. Upon the death of Solo¬ mon, when the tribes met together, for the ac¬ knowledgment of his son Rehoboam, as king, they presented, as it wTere, a bill of rights, request¬ ing that their burdens should be lessened. This he ultimately refused, threatening them wTith still heavier oppression, and a more severe rule, than they had been visited with by his father, (1 Kings xii, 16.) “ So, when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people an¬ swered the king, saying, — What portion have we in David ? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel ! Now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents : but as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.” He after¬ wards attempted to raise tribute from all Israel, without their consent ; but, all Israel stoned Ado- nijah, who was over the tribute; and Rehoboam himself was glad to get up into his chariot, and flee to Jerusalem. “ So Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day.” We find it 94 ISRAEL AND JUDAH : then recorded, (verse 20,) that e( All Israel called Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, unto the congrega¬ tion, and made him king over all Israel .” No¬ thing of importance remained to the house of David, “ but the tribe of Judah only.” It is probable, however, that, ultimately, a portion of each of the tribes was joined to either house of Israel. About three times as long as they had been united under the house of David, did Israel and Judah remain together in the land; — separated as to government, and much, also, as to religion. — During this space, of about twro hundred and thirty years, many changes took place in the house of Ephraim. They seem to have been continually in movement : but at this time, the spirit of change wrought rather darkly, like the unseemly heavings of the chaotic mass, before beauty covered the face of this fair creation. Amid these revolutions, many, it seems, went over to the house of David, or kingdom of Judah, which was more stationary; and which continued more to cherish the vision of their departed glory, and the hope of its return, in greater brightness, to abide for ever. The two houses seem to have been intended to fulfil considerably different purposes, in God’s economy of grace to the world. Of Judah was to come the One promised seed, the heir of all things: of Ephraim, the multitudinous seed, so much pro¬ mised to the fathers, — the many brethren, who are also called the Lord’s first-born. Judah has been a standing witness to the prophetic word ; lecture v. THEIR DIFFERENT DESTINIES. 95 whilst Israel, — long, to appearance, lost, is to come forth with overwhelming witness to the truth in the latter time. Judah was the first-fruits, ga¬ thered in the apostolic age ; but Israel is the har¬ vest, to be gathered at the Lord’s return. Judah was privileged to carry out the Gospel to the north, and north-west, to the many nations that have come of Jacob ; whilst these have been given to carry it out thence, unto all the ends of the earth. Judah and his brethren were to be pre¬ served alive in the midst of famine ; but this was to be accomplished by their unknown brother, Joseph, v'ho had been sent before them, and given a headship over the heathen. They may also be different as to connection with the land : for, whilst Judah seems to be given no home but that of his fathers, which is still in reserve for him, Israel has been greatly alienated from that land, and seems designed to be given possession of the world. Blessings, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, are promised to come upon the head of him that was separated from his brethren. Their cities, it seems, are to be spread abroad ; they are to be such an innumerable mul¬ titude, that, although the land of Israel will be their common centre, they will, at the same time, be possessors of sea and land, unto the ends of the earth. But then, indeed, Israel and Judah shall have become one. They shall be one nation, upon the mountains of Israel, for ever. The time having come for the removal of Israel 96 THE CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. into their place of hiding; or, rather, their des¬ tined position, as the administrators of blessing to the nations whom the Lord intended to bring into his inheritance, he prepared fit instruments for the purpose : who seem to have spared no labour or cost, so as that the work should be fully accomplished. The first grand instrument, was the king of Assyria, the rod of the Lord’s anger for the correction of Israel. In 2 Kings, xv, 29, we read that, “ In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, came Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Ivedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.” Assyria lies northward of the Holy Land, and approaching the Caspian and Euxine seas. This captivity of the most north-east por¬ tion of Israel, is supposed to have happened before the Christian era, about seven hundred and forty years; which is just about the time that had elapsed since their having been brought out of Egypt. This first captivity is adverted to, also, in 1 Chron. v, 26. After having remarked that Israel had transgressed against the God of their fathers ; and gone a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed from before them, it is said, “ And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul, king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser, king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, lecture v. time of Israel’s captivity. 97 and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.” About nineteen years after this partial captivity, another and a more complete removal of Israel, took place ; with regard to which, it is said, (2 Kings, xvii, 6,) “ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria,” (the capital of the kingdom of Israel,) “ and carried Israel away captive into Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.” This second captivity is said to have occurred about the year before Christ seven hundred and twenty; that is, about one hundred and twenty years before the captivity of Judah, under Nebuchadnezzar. We are now past the middle of the third thousand years since the political death of that house, wrhich is so fre¬ quently called, in Scripture, all Israel. And, as one day is wTith the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day ; and, as the Lord condescended to fulfil, in Himself, many things which are accomplished in his people, He, on the third day, arose from the dead, to ascend into glory: so is Israel given to say, as in Hosea vi, 2, 3. “ After two days will he revive us ; In the third day he will raise us up; And we shall live in his sight: Then shall we know, . . We follow on to know the Lord : His going forth is prepared, as the morning; And he shall come unto us as the rain, As the latter and former rain unto the earth." So much as to the time of the captivity ; and k 98 COMPLETENESS AND CONTINUANCE now, as to the completeness thereof. It has been objected, that the difficulty of transporting such a multitude of people to any great distance, was so great, as to make it altogether improbable that any thing like the whole nation wras carried away, as described. It was only, say some, the more useful and noble part of the inhabitants that were taken : the common people being left to cultivate the land. This hypothesis, however, is not borne out, either by the language of Scripture or the facts of the case. With regard to the captivity of Judah, indeed, which was long after, it is ex¬ pressly mentioned, that the baser of the people were left : and this may have been to obviate the very evils which had been incurred in the case of Israelis captivity, — which wTas so complete, that the wild beasts multiplied in the land, and greatly annoyed the new Gentile inhabitants : so much so, that they felt obliged to propitiate, as they thought, the God of the land, by uniting the worship of the God of Israel with that of their other gods ; and for this purpose, they were under the necessity of sending to the king of Assyria for an Israelitish priest. No such supply of new inhabitants, and no such multiplying of wild beasts, do we read of, in the case of Judah; and yet we know, that Judah’s captivity was very great. Let us also consider, that when the captivity of Israel is men¬ tioned, it is uniformly spoken of as being national, and not merely in part. Before the captivity took place, Amos, vii, 17, declared, “ Israel shall surely lecture v. OF THE CAPTIVITY OF ISRAEL. 99 go into captivity, forth of his land.” And, im¬ mediately before it took place, Isaiah (chapter vii,) very graphically describes the desolation of the land which would ensue. And in 2 Kings, xvii, 23, it is thus described, “ The Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said, by all his ser¬ vants, the prophets : so was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day.” Thus complete was the captivity. Now let us inquire as to its continuance. Were the children of Israel ever restored to their own land, as was the house of Judah, after the Babylonian cap¬ tivity? In the book of Kings, which brings down the history of the Jews to the year before Christ five hundred and sixty-two, (about one hundred and sixty years after the captivity ; and long after the breaking up of the Assyrian empire,) it is expressly said, as we have just seen, that the cap¬ tivity of Israel had not then been restored. And upon the release of Judah from their seventy years* captivity in Babylon, we have no evi¬ dence whatever that Israel returned with the Jews ; except, indeed, as to some of those from the ten tribes, who had ^previously united with the Jews, and who were reckoned as belonging to the kingdom of Judah. The two houses had otherwise become greatly alienated. After the re¬ turn of the Jews, to build Jerusalem, Samaria still remained in the possession of the Gentiles ; and, so far from there being an interchange of favours, as was foretold would be the case upon the return 100 THE PLACES TO WHICH ISRAEL WAS of Israel to their own mountain of Samaria, (see Jer. xxxi,) we find that, instead, the Jews were cursing the Samaritans, and would have no deal¬ ings with them. Galilee, northward of Samaria, came afterwards into union with Judah ; but, not as being peopled by returning Israel. It was only a Jewish colony, having Gentiles intermingled with them. It is the conviction of the Jews themselves, that they have never yet been joined to the ten tribes; which denial they have little temptation to make, seeing that their prospect of a happy settlement, in their own land, can never be realized, until Ephraim, who is the first-born, be joined unto them. The Jews may, from their own Scriptures, most clearly know, that without Ephraim they cannot be blessed: — even as clearly, as that, when the two nations are made one ; — when God hath “ accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people,” their troubles shall be ended, and Messiahs glorious kingdom be established in the earth. And now, as to the places to which Israel were carried : by tracing out which, we may the more certainly discover the route which they afterwards took ; and be led towards their present abode ; to the places in which they were so to take root, and flourish, and bring forth the multitude of nations afterwards to be united into one. Assy¬ ria, and Media, are among the places we can most easily identify. Assyria lay north-east of the Holy Land ; and Media still further, in the same lecture v. CARRIED CAPTIVE UNDER ASSYRIA. 101 direction. In the maps. Media is usually made to include the southern border of the Caspian, as far west as the Araxes. This north-western por¬ tion of Media seems, however, to have been some¬ what independent of Media Proper. It was, per¬ haps, rather claimed by the Medes, than actually at all times possessed. It was the less likely to be so, if this were the quarter to which Ephraim was carried captive; or of which he took possession upon being brought forth into the north country. Without any apparent regard to our present view, it is to this neighbourhood that the Saxons have been traced, by one of the most eminent of our historians. The river running into the Caspian, south-east of the Araxes, is now called Kuzal Ozan, and may possibly be the Gozan, mentioned as that on the banks of which some of Israel were located. The empire of Assyria is supposed to have reached down into Asia Minor. It is likely enough, that some portions of captive Israel were sent in this direction, and materially assisted in giving birth to some of those important states that here, afterwards, arose, and sent forth nu¬ merous colonies westward. The fountain which supplied these, it is not extravagant to suppose, was Israel, whose seed Avas to be in many Avaters ; — see Num. xxiv, 7- It is remarkable, that almost immediately upon Israel’s transmission into the northern possessions of Assyria, those countries, and especially Media, revolted from under the Assyrians ; and seem to k 2 102 ROOM IN THE NORTH COUNTRY have lived, for some time, as Israel had so long lived, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes: they having only Judges, of popular election, without any powerful executive. For this, of course, the other people were not even so well prepared, as were Israel. Great disorder, accordingly prevailed ; and many of Israel, it is likely, took the opportunity of effecting their escape, to some more remote abode of their own choosing. And room, at this very time, was made for them, farther north, by an immense migration from thence, which now came pouring into Asia ; and, for a number of years, held great part of these countries in subjection : arresting any arm that would have been stretched out after them, in their progress more northward. Those that re¬ mained, would, doubtless, greatly invigorate the Median commonwealth; which, having, like the Israelites in the time of the Judges, found that kind of government insufficient for personal secu¬ rity, made choice of a king, one Deioces, to whom they allowed a powerful executive. The Medes forthwith arose into great power; and extended their dominion, by the conquest of some neigh¬ bouring states, such as Persia, — on which side, afterwards, the empire chiefly raised up itself, and ultimately grasped, in a manner, the world. It was the instrument, under Cyrus, of letting cap¬ tive Judah return from Babylon. And intimately must Judah have become connected with the south-eastern portion of this empire, as well as lecture v. PREPARED FOR OUTCAST ISRAEL. 103 Israel, with its north-western, when we find a Jewess, Esther, as their queen ; and Jews, such as Daniel and Mordecai, in the first offices of state. Although the Assyrian had laboured so dili¬ gently in the removal of Israel from his own land into the north country, his purpose was very much opposed to that of the God of Israel : his end was very different from that which immediately ensued. He thought to interweave the several parts of his empire so together, as to make them more entirely one. Thus proudly did he boast ; Is. x, 13-14: — “ By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom, for I am prudent. And I have removed the bounds of the people. And have robbed their treasures. And I have put down the inhabitants, like a valiant one. And my hand hath found, as a nest, the riches of the people. And as one gathereth eggs left, have I gathered all the earth : And there was none that moved the wing ; or opened the mouth, or peeped.” But, thus did the Lord answer, (verses 15-23): — " Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith ? — Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it 't As if the rod should shake against them that lift it up ; — As if the staff should lift up as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, And under his glory he shall kindle a burning, like the burning of a Are, And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire. And his Holy One for a flame ; And it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his forest, And of his fruitful field, Both soul and body : And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. And it shall come to pass in that day, — the kemnant of Israel, And such as are escaped of the house of Jacob: Shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, 104 THE RETURN OF ISRAEL FORETOLD But shall stay upon the lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God ; For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them shall return : The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness, For the Lord God of Hosts shall make a consumption. Even that determined, in the midst of the land." To the same purpose, assuring of the return of Israel, speaks Ezekiel, eh. xxxvii : — “ Thus saith the Lord God, (u. 21.) Behold, I will take the children of Israel, From among the heathen, whither they he gone, And will gather them on every side, And bring them into their own land ; And I will make them one nation in the land. Upon the mountains of Israel; And one king shall be king to them all : And they shall be no more two nations, Neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all ; Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, Nor with their detestable things. Nor with any of their transgressions : But I will save them Out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, And will cleanse them : So they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” “ And they shall dwell in the land (y. 25.) That I have given unto Jacob my servant, Wherein your fathers have dwelt ; And they shall dwell therein, — They, and their children, and their children’s children, for ever: And my servant David — their prince for ever.” We should never forget that the house of Israel, which was taken away captive, or otherwise dis¬ persed by the Assyrian, was that which is called the whole house of Israel, or all Israel ; and this, both in the historical and prophetical parts of Scripture, — both at the time they separated from Judah, and also after they had been taken captive by the lecture v. AT THE TIME OF THE CAPTIVITY. 105 Assyrian into the north country. They are, of the Lord’s peculiar treasure, not merely as one piece of money, but the whole ten. They are, of the sheep of God’s pasture, not merely as one of the hundred, but the ninety-and-nine, who had wan¬ dered into the wilderness. They are, of the family of our Father in Heaven, the God of Abraham, — not merely the younger son, but even the first¬ born ; for thus He hath said, “ I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my. first-born.” Many, overlooking the case of Israel, have fixed their eye exclusively upon the people called Jews; as if all that is said in Scripture about Israel were fulfilled in them ; and, as if their re¬ turn from Babylon was the grand fulfilment of those glorious descriptions given in the prophets, respecting the perfectly peaceable and permanent re-settlement in the land of all the house of Israel , after their old estate; the Lord doing even better for them than at their beginnings. The restoration of even the Jews, from Babylon, was only par¬ tial; and, as it were, but a pledge of what is hereafter to take place, with regard to both Judah and Israel. The great body of the people seem to have remained in the land of the enemy. It certainly could not be of that time that the Lord hath said, — as in Ezekiel, xxxix. 28, 29 : — “ I have gathered them unto their own land, And have left none of them any more there, Neither will I hide my face any more from them : For I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, Saith the Lord God.” 106 DISPERSION OF JUDAH. It was not from thenceforth that Jerusalem was safely inhabited, and that no stranger passed through her any more. The very contrary of all these things, in a remarkable degree, took place ; as if to force our view forward to the grand truth of prophecy — the full redemption of Israel. But now let us speak, for a little, with those who seem to take a more rational view of the subject, — who look upon the promises as still future, and to be accomplished in the people called Jews — the recognized children of the fa¬ thers, unto whom, and to whose seed, the promises were made. Let such remember that many — very many of the Jews, who were dispersed in the east at the time of the Babylonish captivity, became mingled among the nations, and their descendants are not now known as being Jews. They may have much tended to originate, or, at least, to improve some of those tribes that border upon India and Persia; and that are said con¬ siderably to resemble the Jews. These are gene¬ rally Mahometans : and many of the Jews in other parts also embraced the religion of Mahomet ; neither are their descendants now known to be Jews. A much more pleasing dispersion of them, in the apostolic age, took place, when multitudes of even the priests were obedient to the faith. The 'whole original stock of the Christian church, in all parts of the world, was Jewish. That which embraced the Gospel was, doubtless, the more fa¬ voured portion of the Jewish nation, — the true LECTURE V. WHO ARE JEWS? 107 heirs of the promises. Yet, neither are their descendants now known as being of Judah, Ben¬ jamin, or Levi. And we may be certain, that if there are peculiar blessings in store for the na¬ tural seed of Abraham, in the line of Isaac and of Jacob, those promised blessings would most surely not be forfeited for their children, by their acceptance of Christianity. But the children of these early Jewish converts initiated their chil¬ dren into the faith of their fathers, and gathered up others together with them into the same family of God. And because they did so, are their children to be disinherited ? But what, in the mean time, were doing the people called the Jews ? Why, the very same thing, in their own ■way. They, also, were ever receiving disciples. Even in our Saviour’s time they were compassing sea and land to make one proselyte : and just be¬ fore that, they had been making them wholesale. Thus we read that about the year one hundred and twenty-nine before Christ, a whole nation was introduced into the Jewish church. And what nation should this be ? The very people against whom, as the last prophet, Malachi, (i. 4,) declares, “The Lord hath indignation for ever.” John Hyrcanus having conquered the Edomites, or Idumeans, reduced them to this necessity, either to embrace the Jewish religion, or else to leave the country, and seek new dwellings elsewhere. They chose to leave their idolatry rather than their country; and all became proselytes to the Jewish 108 WHERE ARE EDOM AND CANAAN? religion. And when they had thus taken on them the religion of the Jews, they continued united to them ever after : till at length the name of Edomites was lost in that of Jews ; and both people became consolidated into one and the same nation together : — so much so, that at the time the true King of the Jews was born, an Idumean swayed the sceptre of Judea, and was the great restorer of the temple to that glory, in which it was so admired by the disciples of our Lord, before its destruction by the Romans. Now, the children of Edom were cursed, — and that curse they have not escaped, although they have nominally become Jews. Nay, they must have increased their curse by thirsting after the blood of Christ, as soon as he was born into the world ; and by afterwards joining in the cry, “ His blood be upon us and our children.” And who can now tell whether this or that Jew is of Esau, whom the Lord hated? or of Jacob, whom he loved? Nay; have they not all inherited the curse of Edom, — by continuing in his spirit and behaviour, as despising the birthright, and per¬ secuting the Son of Promise, — as well as by the most intimate intermingling of races ? Is it only here that we are to look for the first-born Israel ! But more than this. It would seem that even the Canaanites themselves, who were, emphati¬ cally, the children of the curse, were gradually, and at length fully, amalgamated with the Jews, so as to become one people with them. This lecture v. judah’s connection with canaan. 109 seems to have been the case in even the capital of the kingdom, — Jerusalem, where was both the throne and the temple ; and which, (immediately before these were placed there,) was inhabited by Jebusites, whose king had been the leading king among the Amorites, one of the most accursed nations of Canaan. And we are expressly told that the tribe of Judah could not put out these Jebusites; nor did the tribe of Benjamin put them out : but they remained there, among the children of Judah, and the children of Benjamin, until the time of David, when they were built up in the very midst of the Jews, retaining even their possession of the land there ; as is evident in the case of Araunah the Jebusite, over whose thresh¬ ing floor the angel stayed his hand, when cutting down the people, because of the sin of David their king. That was literally true, which the Lord said by Ezekiel, (xvi, 3); and which, those that plead for the literal interpretation of Scripture, should not gainsay: — “ Thus saith the Lord God, to Jerusalem, Thy birth and nativity is of the land of Canaan; Thy father was an Amorite, And thy mother an Hittite." The very first mothers of the Jews ; Shuah, the mother of Judah’s first three children ; and also Tamar, mother of Phares and Zara; were, it wTould seem, Canaanites of the children of Heth. And the men of Jerusalem, the first stock of its inha¬ bitants, were Jebusites, belonging to the nation of the Amorites. But, was that tribe, or that L 110 JUDAH CANNOT BOAST IN THE FLESH, city, therefore, excluded from the inheritance of Israel? No. Of that very tribe, — although into the line of his ancestry was brought another Canaanitess, Rahab, of Jericho ; and, also, the Moabitess, Ruth, — of that very tribe, by this very line, came Christ, the Saviour, the promised son of David, the rightful king of Israel. And this very city did he make one of the principal scenes of his ministry ; and here it was that he commanded his apostles to commence their minis¬ try, after his resurrection : here it was that the Holy Ghost descended in such power, upon the day of Pentecost ; and hence was the glad sound of salvation, in the name of Jesus, sent forth unto the ends of the earth. Say we these things — do we then bring forward these historical truths — for the purpose of disparaging the Jew? No: Far be it : — but to illustrate the truth respecting Israel; and to show, that those who were taken out of the land cannot be more lost among the Gentiles, than were the people that remained in the land. If there was one people cursed above another, it was Edom, of the children of Abraham: — it was Canaan, among the more immediate descendants of Noah : and with both of these the Jews have become most signally mingled, so as to become one people with them, and so as to inherit the curse of both. As Ham, the father of Canaan, exposed Noah, the saviour of his family, to shame, so have his children, as being the inhabitants of Jerusalem, exposed to shame the Saviour of the LECTURE V. ANY MORE THAN CAN EPHRAIM. Ill world, and that, upon the accursed tree ; and as Edom pursued his brother Jacob with constant hatred, so did his descendants among the Jews pursue, with unceasing hatred, not only Christ, the Head, but also his followers, so long as they had the power. But, shall they be excluded? No : Even although the Canaanites, dwelling along the sea coast, were also ultimately taken up into Judah; yet still, — even granting that with them is Ashkelon, and Ashdod, and Ekron, — still we have the word of prophecy, (Zech, ix, 7?) — “ He that remaineth, even he, — for our God ; And he shall he as a Governor in Judah ; And Ekron as a Jebusite.” — Even Ekron shall be as that portion of the Canaanites, who were built up in the very midst of His people. But, if God will deal thus kindly with the Jews, who are thus so unequivocally one with the children of the curse ; equally, at least, may it be expected, will he deal, according to promise, with that other house, which compre¬ hends the body of the people, so as to be called all Israel ; and which, however mingled among the Gentiles, cannot be worse mingled than are the Jews, — about whose case, as the subject of prophecy, so little doubt has been generally entertained. When the great restoration of Israel is referred to in prophecy, let it be again remembered, it is Israel, or Ephraim, that is chiefly spoken of. It is that house of Israel which has been accounted 112 THE PROMISED RETURN lost, that is ever brought to remembrance. Jeru¬ salem and her daughters shall not return, until they return in the midst of Samaria and her daughters; and, also, it would seem, amid the children of Lot : and not by her own covenant, which she has broken, shall Judah be given pos¬ session of the land ; but in the right of the One Seed, Christ, the true First-born, their crucified Messiah, upon whom they shall look, and mourn their unbelief and ingratitude. Then shall they also acknowledge that God has, indeed, been a father to Israel, and that Ephraim is his first-born, in whose religious privileges, as well as temporal blessings, they shall be glad to participate. Then shall the children of Judah walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that the Lord had given unto the fathers, in the name of the pro¬ mised Messiah. This grand gathering together will, it would seem, take place in the north ; and chiefly in the north-west. But it is not alone here, where Antichrist hath his seat, — and where Christ hath so much been for a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, to both houses of Israel, — it is not only here that the lost sheep of the house of Israel shall be recovered. The remnant left in all the countries around, shall also be brought back unto their father’s house. The prophet Isaiah, besides having mentioned, in the preceding part of chapter xi, the great release from the wicked , here, in the north-west, takes, in verse 11, LECTURE V. IS THAT OF ALL ISRAEL 113 quite a circuit all around the land, — mentioning Egypt and Pathros, in the south, Cush and Elam, in the east, Shinar and Hamath, northward, and the Islands of the Sea, in the west. It is not of Judah, alone, whose captivity was restored from Babylon, and who was not taken captive by Assyria, which Israel was, at the time Isaiah prophesied — it was of all Israel, that the prophet foretold as follows, (Is. xi, 11-16; xii, 1-6.) “ And it shall come to pass in that day, The Lord shall set again his hand the second time, To recover the remnant of his people, Which shall be left from Assyria, And from Egypt, and from Pathros, And from Cush, and from Elam, And from Shinar, and from Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel ; And gather together the dispersed of Judah, From the four comers of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west : They shall spoil them of the east together; They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab ; And the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; And with his mighty wind shall He shake his hand over the river, And shall smite it in the seven streams. And make men go over dry shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, Which shall be left from Assyria ; Like as it was to Israel, In the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. 114 JUDAH TO BE JOINED TO ISRAEL And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee : . , Though thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away ; And thou comfortedst me. — Behold ! God is my salvation. I will trust, and not be afraid ; For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and song; He also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water Out of the wells of salvation; And in that day shall ye say. Praise the Lord, Call upon his name, Declare his doings among the people. Make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the Lord, For He hath done excellent things : This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion : For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee." [It may be observed that the first six verses do especially refer to Israel : the last six may more particularly refer to Judah, as being made a partaker, together with Israel, of the perfection of those blessings he hath so long refused; and as being made to say of the God of Israel, “ He also is become my salvation .w] LECTURE VI THE PLACE OF ISRAEL’S HIDING. Certainty of the recovery of Israel. — Objections. — Israel have become mingled among the Gentiles. — What Is to become of the Gentiles ? — The literal and spiritual Israel, one. — Abraham’s three families, correspondent to the three sons of Noah — Ishmael and Ham — Children ofKeturah and Shem — Jacob and Japhet. The word of Prophecy points northward, to the place whither Israel had gone, and whence they are yet to be brought. — The great Prophetic line of Empires running north-west. — Antichrist, the consummation of the TyrantEmpires in the north-west; Is. xi, 1-5, 6-10. — Four Songs of fourteen lines each, (Is. ix, 8-21,) describing the progress of Israel’s punishment. — First : Israel, immediately before their removal from the land. — Second; Israel, as being removed by the Assyrian. — Third ; Israel, after removal, in the same place with J udah. — Fourth ; Israel, before the great judgment. — Our Saviour’s ministry went out northward. That of the Apostles proceeded north-westward. — The Epistles all sent to places in the same direction. — The Apocalypse carries our view onward to our own part of the world. — Conclusion of the Argument : Here are to be found the sheep of God's pasture. Notwithstanding the clearness of the prophetic word, respecting the recovery of Israel, in the latter time, their very existence has, like the birth of a son to Sarah, appeared to many, all but im¬ possible. Just as sure, however, as Isaac was born, shall the nations that were to come of Jacob, be forthcoming. We have the word of God for the one, as well as for the other. And, if this may avail any thing, we have it far more fre¬ quently. The prophets expatiate greatly upon this ; and the New Testament has very explicit 116 ISRAEL TO BE DISTINGUISHED information upon the point. But, let us, for a moment, turn aside, to hear what man has to say upon the matter, that so we may the better be prepared to see the value of that mass of evidence, which has been provided in the kind providence of God, to remove his objections, and confirm him in the truth of God’s most holy Word. Some have supposed, that Israel, if not lost, are yet, at least, so mixed among other people, — so blended with the Gentiles, as that they cannot be restored. And, it is, indeed, true, that “ Eph¬ raim hath mingled himself among the people;” and that the Lord hath sown Israel to himself in the earth ; and that, like seed sown in the earth, he was, for a while, to all appearance, lost ; but it is also true that, — (Is. xxvii, 6,) “ He shall cause them that come of Jacob, to take root; Israel shall blossom and bud. And fill the face of the world with fruit." The seed of God was, therefore, not in reality to be lost. His design, with regard to the peo¬ ple, shall, most assuredly, be at length accom¬ plished. To the same purpose do we read, in the same prophet, lxi, 9-1 1, “ And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people ; All that see them shall acknowledge them, That they, the seed, the Lord hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God ; For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness ; As a bridegroom decketh with ornaments. And as a bride adometh with her jewels. LECTURE VI. AMONG THE NATIONS. 117 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, And as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth ; So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise, To spring forth before all people.” The people that “ have come of Israel/* are thus to be distinguished among the Gentiles, and are to be found, a people, whose superiority is acknowledged by all impartial witnesses. They are also to be found, as a people eminently blessed by divine grace, as well as by nature and provi¬ dence. Theirs are the garments of salvation, — the robe of righteousness. And, here again, the beautiful emblem, of seed sown in the earth, is brought forth, to illustrate the case of a people, whose growth is naturally progressive, yet such as may well astonish the world ; and it is, that through them, righteousness and praise may spring forth with them, and spread abroad in the sight of all people. Such was the design of God with regard to them, from the beginning; and He will do all his pleasure. Perhaps some have run into the contrary ex¬ treme, and have supposed that something very remarkable is to distinguish the children of Israel, so as to make them shine out individually, as the favourites of Heaven, to the exclusion, as it were, of other people ; — that they are, and will remain, altogether distinct. Such seem to forget all that is said in Scripture, about the intermarriage of this people with other nations ; and they overlook what is constantly occurring in the world, all down from the days of the Apostles, who left 118 ISRAEL TO BE EXALTED their children among the Gentiles. But, is it true, that the Gentiles are so to be excluded ? Or, is it not rather true, that Israel has been, and shall be, exalted, for the purpose of communi¬ cating blessing to the Gentiles? What saith Isaiah, to the stranger, who, upon finding God’s wonderful manifestation of love to the children of Israel, throughout all generations, may be apt to murmur, “ The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people:” (lvi, 6-7;) — “ Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, To serve him, To love the name of the Lord, To be his servants, Every one that keepetli the Sabbath from polluting it, And taketh hold of my covenant ; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, And make them joyful in my house of prayer; Their burnt offerings, and their sacrifices, Accepted upon mine altar ; For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel, Saith, Yet will I gather others to him, Besides those that are gathered unto him.” Yes, thus it is written, even with regard to their great and final settlement in the land, (Ezekiel, xlviii, 21-23,) — “ So shall ye divide this land unto you, According to the tribes of Israel. And it shall come to pass. Ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you. And to the strangers that sojourn among you, Which shall beget children among you; And they shall be unto you as bom in the country, Among the children of Israel ; They shall have inheritance with you, Among the tribes of Israel, LECTURE VI FOR BLESSINGS TO THE GENTILES. 119 And it shall come to pass. In what tribe the stranger sojoumeth, There shall ye give him his inheritance, Saith the Lord God.” An opinion was once prevalent, that the pro¬ phecies respecting Israel, applied to these Christian nations, as being the spiritual, or surrogate Israel; and that we are not to look to the literal Israel as to the people in whom the Scriptures are to be fulfilled. Now, it is indeed true that the pro¬ phecies do apply to these Christian nations, — but not to the exclusion of the literal Israel : for these nations do not only contain the main body of the spiritual, — they are also, as we shall see, the literal Israel. „ On the other hand, the idea has lately been scouted by some, of applying these prophecies to nations called Gentile, — for, say they, the pro¬ phecies refer exclusively to the literal Israel : and it is true that the prophecies do indeed apply to the literal Israel, — but, for that very reason, they apply to the modern nations of Europe — the multitude of nations that were promised to come of the lost son, Ephraim. The opposing parties, as to prophecy, have thus had each a portion of the truth, which they have been attempting to magnify into the whole truth ; and thus have they come into such direct con¬ tradiction; and thus are they so widely separating from each other. Here is common ground, upon which they may meet and embrace as brethren, both in the flesh and the spirit ; forgetting their 120 THREE FAMILIES OF ABRAHAM, disputes, as lost in admiration at the wonderful kindness towards them of the God of their fathers; and as feeling the responsibility under which they are placed, as the depositories of the divine bounty, to minister, to the Jew, on the one hand, and the Gentile, on the other, the manifold wisdom of God. Such being the importance of the subject, let us earnestly apply our minds to a patient in¬ vestigation of the truth respecting it. And, first, let us look at the indications afforded us of the place of Israel’s sojourn, — as these may be dis¬ covered in the course of God’s providence, and the leadings of his word. There is symmetry in God’s working : — and here it may not be foreign to our subject to revert again to the case of Abraham, to whom the pro¬ mises were first, and so emphatically, made. He may be said to have had three families, which seem to have been designed to leaven, as it were, the three families of Noah, already adverted to. Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, was by Hagar, the Egyptian. He received his portion in Arabia ; and he has multiplied and spread as was promised. He has mainly spread southward ; so that great part of Africa may now be said to be leavened by his posterity. Along the south bank of the Mediter¬ ranean, even as far as the Atlantic Ocean, the Arabs have extended their conquests. Had not the Gothic race come into Europe, they would also, most likely, have been given to possess it. But there was a barrier placed here, which they LECTURE VI. AND THE THREE SONS OF NOAH. 121 could never entirely remove. The prophecy delivered to Hagar has been amply fulfilled in her son Ishmael; (Gen. xvi. 10-12): — “ I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, That it shall not be numbered for multitude. Behold, thou art with child, And shalt bear a son, And shalt call his name Ishmael ; Because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man ; His hand will be against every man, And every man’s hand against him ; And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Isaac, Sarah’s child, was Abraham’s second son, and in him was the promised seed to be called. Abraham’s third family was by Keturah; of whom it is said, Gen. xxv. 2, 5-6. — “She bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.” — “ And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, (while he yet lived,) eastward, unto the east 'country.” Proceeding eastward, it is supposed some of the children of Abraham by Keturah, reached India, — where, say they, their descendants are still called Brahmins, from the name of their father, Abraham. Certain it is, that these are a people having a moral and intellectual constitu¬ tion, much superior to that of Hindoos generally ; and they manifest that extreme firmness of pur¬ pose, — and, at the same time, uncommon mildness, which we may suppose to have characterized M 122 JACOB SENT TO LEAVEN Abraham in his declining years, after all his trials and exercises of faith ; just as, in Ishmael, we see more reflected the roving and vigorous character of his earlier years. As Ishmael seems to have mainly been given the south, or Africa, the dwell¬ ing of the children of Ham ; so in the east, the children of Keturah have spread among the descendants of Shem. In ancient times, the Brahmins are said to have occupied a position worthy of their high origin. In the east, learning and science have been by them chiefly possessed ; and throughout the various changes of rule in India, they have generally, there, kept a powerful hold on the public mind. True, their religion has become greatly corrupted: but such, also, has been the case with regard to Christianity ; the types and parables of which, have, in most cases, been as little understood as are those of the Brahmins, — derived originally, we may suppose, from a good source, but now mixed up with human fables and idle fancies, or worse. The time, however, let us hope, is near, w'hen the* rubbish shall be removed, and the pure gold of sacred truth appear in all its native brightness. With regard to these children of Abraham in the east ; — Ishmael has been dwelling in the sight of his brethren : Arabia, the eastern dwelling of Ishmael, being over against India, where the Brahmins have spread. It may thus be observed, that two of the families of Noah have come into the most intimate connection with two of the LECTURE VI. JAPHET IN THE NORTH. 123 families of Abraham: Ishmaelwith Ham; and the children of Keturah with Shem. It remains that the other son of Abraham, (Isaac, the child of pro¬ mise,) be given his portion: for him there remains the north — and especially the north-west, in the sight of which Ishmael has been dwelling — as being spread along the south border of the Mediterranean Sea, over against Europe. Here, among the isles anciently possessed by the chil¬ dren of Japhet, do we find a Semetic people, — eminently favoured by nature and providence, and pre-eminently by divine grace; correspondent to the many great and precious promises which were so surely made to the seed of Abraham, in the line of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Ephraim. But, that we may be still more sure as to the place in which the lost sheep of Israel are to be found, let us again look into the prophetic word, and see if we can discern its leading in this res¬ pect. The prophetic word plainly points north¬ ward: no less than the mysterious needle, whereby the people of the north have been, in safety and with certainty, guided in all directions over the wide waste of waters. Thus, when a message is sent after captive Israel, it ever goes forth to the north. In Jeremiah iii., the Lord having dis¬ tinguished between the two houses of his chosen people ; calling the one Treacherous Judjih, and the other Backsliding Israel; and having said that backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah, — He, as if relenting over the 124 THE WORD OF PROPHECY former, gives command to the prophet, saying, — “ Go and proclaim these words toward the north. And say. Return thou, back-sliding Israel, saith the Lord, And I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you : For I am merciful, saith the Lord, And I will not keep anger for ever.” “ Turn, O back-sliding children, saith the Lord, For I am married unto you ; And I will take you, one of a city, and two of a family. And I will bring you to Zion." “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. Neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, And they shall come together oht or the land op the north, To the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.” From this it is clear, that not only was Israel, (as distinguished from Judah,) in the north, at the time when the prophet spoke, but, even after Judah also would have wandered into the north, Israel would be still found there ; and out of it they would be brought together, at the time that the Lord would make Jerusalem his throne, and would gather unto it all nations, — when the heads of the people, from all the cities and families of Israel, would be gathered together. The same thing is stated in Jeremiah, xxiii, 5-8. “ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, That I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, And a King shall reign and prosper, And shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved. And Israel shall dwell safely : And this is His name whereby He shall be called. The Lord our Righteousness. LECTURE VI EXPRESSLY POINTS NORTHWARD. 125 Therefore, behold the days come, saith the lord, That they shall say no more, the Lord liveth, Which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt : But the Lord liveth, which brought up And which led the seed of the house of Israel out op the north country, And from all countries whither I had driven them ; And they shall dwell in (heir own land.” Thus it is plainly stated, that when Israel shall be given to enjoy the blessedness of Messiahs reign, it is, as having been brought up from the north country, where they had been wonderfully sus¬ tained and delivered. The same thing is stated in Jer. xxxi, 8 ; where again it is declared, — “ Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the coasts of the earth : — And, that we may be at no loss to ascertain the truth, as to what people are here spoken of, it is added, verse 9 : — I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is my first-born.'’ — Israel, it is thus plainly declared, was taken into the north country ; and thence are they to be brought at the time of their great Return. Those empires which are, in the dream of Nebu¬ chadnezzar, represented as the several parts of one great image, — are so distinguished in prophecy, because of their connection with the cause and people of God. The whole image is frequently called after the head, — Babylon : at the destruc¬ tion of which, God will grant deliverance to Israel. He will then have accomplished uto scatter the power of the holy people.” By looking along this line of empires, and seeing to what countries, m 2 126 THE GRAND PROPHETIC LINE and to what people, they lead, we may expect to have some light reflected, even from this dark¬ ness, upon our path, as being in search of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. How, then, does this line lead us ? Babylon, the head of gold, lay north-eastward of the land of Israel. The breast and arms of silver, — the Medo-Persian empire, — arose still more northward, and extended itself, westward, as far as the utmost extremity of Asia Minor. — It also, indeed, spread far east¬ ward. The Greek empire, represented by the brass, arose still further north and westward, in Europe. The legs of iron, — the Roman empire, — arose still further north-west ; and, lastly, we have the feet, partly iron, and partly clay, — the Roman empire in its Germanic form, in which the children of God would be mingling themselves with the seed of men; but would not -cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed w7ith miry clay. This is the part of the image that the stone is to strike, w7hen the “ manifestation of the sons of God ” takes place ; when strangers shall no more serve themselves of them, but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, “ whom I, (saith Jehovah,) will raise up unto them.” He is that stone : both the foundation- stone upon which the Jews fell and were broken; and also the chief corner-stone, that cometh down in glory and in power : with regard to which com¬ ing, the warning hath gone forth, “upon whom¬ soever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” LECTURE VI. OF EMPIRES, RUNS NORTH-WEST. 127 The same empires are, in Dan. vii., represented as great beasts. They are the wild beasts that have been ravening upon the mountains of Israel. Babylon is here represented as a lion; the Medo- Persian as a bear, as if with three ribs of the torn carcase of Israel between its teeth. Then -we have again the Greek empire, represented by a leopard with four heads, in allusion to the four kingdoms into which that of Alexander was parted. And then we have the fourth beast, with great iron teeth, the devourer — the breaker in pieces, — the Roman empire. And, lastly, wre have the Anti-Christian dominion described; and which synchronises with the feet of iron and clay, — the Germanic empire. This fifth power is represented in Rev. xiii., as a beast, having on his heads names of blasphemy. And he has the character¬ istics of all the great empires that have preceded him ; and these are mentioned in the order in which they lie from the north-west. Thus, this beast is “ like a leopard,” by which Greece had been represented ; “ and his feet wrere as those of a bear,” the Medo- Persian empire; “ and his mouth as the mouth of a lion,” as boastful Babylon. With regard to the fourth empire, it is expressly said, the Dragon,” — the dreadful beast — the devourer — the breaker in pieces, — he “ gave him his seat, and power, and great au¬ thority.” Messiahs destruction of this wicked one, with the rod of his mouth, at his glorious appearing, is much the subject of prophecy, in 128 THE TYRANT-EMPIRES, AS REDUCED, both the Old Testament Scriptures, and the New; as, for example, in Isaiah xi. 1-5 : — “ And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots : And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord ; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, Neither reprove after the hearing of his ears : * But with righteousness shall he judge the poor. And reprove with equity for the meek of the earth : And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked ; And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins. And faithfulness the girdle of his reins." And what then results with regard to the king¬ doms of this world ? Even that which had been described in Daniel vii., where it was said, “ Their dominion is taken away, but their lives are pro¬ longed for a season and a time.” The wild beasts that had been ravening upon the mountains of Israel, are deprived of their evil power ; and are made to associate quietly with the children of peace. Here they are each of them mentioned, and that again in the same order as they lie from our dwelling in the north-west. The fourth beast hath its terribleness removed, and is simply spoken of as the wolf, Avhereby Rome was or¬ dinarily represented. After which, we have the leopard — bear — and lion, — their evil nature taken away by the knowledge of the Lord. — Is. xi. 6-10. LECTURE VI. TRACED BACK FROM THE NORTH-WEST. 129 “ The Wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the Leopard shall lie down with the kid ; And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together ; And a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the Bear shall feed ; Their young ones shall lie down together ; And the Lion shall eat straw like the ox, And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, And the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain : For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, Which shall stand for an ensign of the people; To it shall the Gentiles seek. And his rest shall be glory.” The prophet had been speaking of the glorious appearing of Messiah, to exercise his beneficent reign ; when the poor in spirit shall have the pro¬ mised kingdom of heaven, and when the meek shall inherit the earth. Preparatory to this, “ He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth ; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” — This same Wicked, is also spoken of in Psalm 1. 16-23 ; which compare with 1 Thess. ii. 8. Look also at Daniel vii. 8-12, and compare with what is here said, Isaiah xi. 9. All these passages speak of the same grand consummation of tyranny, — that concentration of iniquity, — that personification of wickedness, — in which the great empires that have lorded it over the land and people of Israel terminate. The bond of wicked¬ ness is then broken ; and those that had been as wild beasts preying upon the mountains of Israel, 130 FOUR SONGS OF DEGREES, IN ISAIAH, — the Roman wolf, — the Grecian leopard, — the Median bear, — and the Babylonian lion, — are separated from each other; and associated with those whose influence is holiness and peace. The knowledge of the Lord destroys their evil in¬ fluence. They no longer seek to ravage the holy mountain, but flow up thereunto for lessons of love, and to become more largely possessed of the true riches. This destruction of Antichrist takes place in the north-west, from which the prophetic line of empires stretches back eastward along the north border of the land. Thus, back and forward along this north- Avestern line, are we constantly led by the pro¬ phetic word, down from the very time of the Assyrian captivity, when Isaiah prophesied ; and that as pointing forward to the time when Shiloh shall come in his glory ; and when unto him shall the gathering of the people be. In Isaiah, ix, 8-21, there is a very striking series of paragraphs, each ending with, “ For all this his anger is not turned away, But his hand is stretched out still.” Upon more minute examination, it will be found, that they consist each of just fourteen lines, and may thus be vieAved as regular sonnets. They refer to that house of Israel, which, at the time the words were spoken, Avas being taken away captive by the Assyrians. They describe, in a very animated manner, the several degrees of the punishment of Ephraim ; and seem to give very lecture vi . CARRY THE ATTENTION NORTH-WEST. 131 clear indications of the place of Israelis sojourn. The first of these sonnets describes the punish¬ ment of Israel, immediately before being removed out of the land. The second describes their being cut off entirely from the land, and also to the view of the world, by the Assyrian captivity. The third describes them when out of the land, as being at war, one portion with another ; and as being all of them against Judah ; which supposes them to be grown into a number of hostile na¬ tions, and in the same countries with the Jews. The fourth seems to describe a dreadful course of trial, which would precede their great deliverance; and for which they would, probably, be unpre¬ pared. The first points the words expressly at Israel or Ephraim : — “ The Lord sent a word into Jacob, (v. 8.) And it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the people shall know — Ephraim, and the inhabitant of Samaria, That say, in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, But we will build them with hewn stones : The sycamores are cut down, But we will change them into cedars. Therefore the Lord shall set up the foes of Rezin against him, And join his enemies together. The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind, And they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, But his hand is stretched out still.” Thus was Ephraim in the land, to be so sur¬ rounded with thorns and briars, as that a removal out of the land, would, by many of them, be rather accepted as a boon. Others of them, how- 132 DESCRIBING THE PROGRESS ever, would be loath to leave the land of their fathers, at the same time that they would not leave their sins ; and, for such, a more severe judgment was prepared, — the casting of the whole body of the people forth of the land ; the entire extinction of their glory as a nation : and so the second of these sonnets proceeds : — “ For the people tumeth not unto him that smiteth them, (v. 13.) Neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts. Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel, Head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honourable, he is the head; And the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail; For the leaders of the people cause them to err, And they that are led of them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows : For every one is an hypocrite and an evil doer, And every mouth speaketh folly ; For all this his anger is not tamed away, But his hand is stretched out still." The entire removal of Israel having thus taken place ; and they having been brought out into the northern wilderness, we are next presented with a view of their condition there, as still undergoing punishment. “ For wickedness burneth as the fire : (i>. 18.) It shall devour the briers and thorns, And shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, And they shall mount up like the mounting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the land darkened ; And the people shall be as the fuel of fire : No man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry. And he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied : And they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm. LECTURE VI. of Israel’s punishment. 133 Manasseh, Ephraim ; and Ephraim, Manasseh ; And they, together, shall be against Judah : For all this his anger is not turned away, But his hand is stretched out still." This strikingly describes the condition of the northern nations, at the time of their being driven in upon the Roman Empire. The slaughter and rapine which resulted, was prodigious ; during which the different nations of Europe were dread¬ fully racked by wars with each other. But, how¬ ever opposed among themselves, they all united in persecuting the Jews: — their power of doing which, is here plainly intimated. The next, and last sonnet, carries us forward to a more settled state of things, to outward appearance; when wrong would be perpetrated not so much by open violence, as by force of law, and unjust legisla¬ tion, to the injury of the rights of the poor and needy ; — the depriving the poor of bread, or the preventing their free enjoyment of the word of life. Glory, and triumph, are spoken of; but that in language full of warning; and, upon which we have no pleasure in dilating. — It may be, that this synchronizes with the third woe, which cometh quickly, — referred to in Rev. xi, 14. “ Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, And that write grievousness which they have prescribed : To turn aside the needy from judgment. And to take away the right from the poor of my people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless ! And what will ye do in the day of visitation. And in the desolation which shall come from far ? 134 THE WORD TO LIGHT UPON ISRAEL. To whom will ye flee for help, And where will ye leave your glory ? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, And they shall fall under the slain : For all this his anger is not turned away, But his hand is stretched out still.” Thus are we, by this very interesting line of prophecy, led directly to our own part of the world, as. to the place of Israel’s sojourn. Let it be again remarked, that the prophecy cannot apply to Israel, as being in some corner of the earth, shut out entirely from other people ; and where they could have no opportunity of mani¬ festing their hatred of their brethren, the Jews. Nor can the words be fulfilled in them as being under some mighty empire ; such, for example, as that of China, where they would be without the power of warring with each other, or of letting Judah feel their power. To no people does this series of songs so apply as to the nations of Europe. Yes, although Israel seemed to be cut off from hearing the wrord of God, the Word, after all, hath lighted^ upon Israel. And Israel, even Ephraim, shall know the truth of the Word w hich hath been spoken respecting him. Its being prophesied that the Word w7ould light upon Israel, or Ephraim, and that they wrould know that word, is most consistent writh God’s purpose respecting Israel, as having been de¬ signed to become the administrators of that word to the nations. We may, therefore, not expect to find them out of the course of that word; but, LECTURE vl. our saviour’s ministry : — 135 as it were, in the highway thereof. Let us then, see if we can discover this, the highway of the Word of God, — the great outgoing of light to the world. If we glance at Mimpriss’s map, display¬ ing the course of our Saviour’s ministry, as de¬ scribed in the gospels, (a map which ought to be in the possession of every student of the Bible,) we shall see, at once, that these journeys all went out northward. Although the greater part of the tribeship of Judah lay south of Jerusalem, we do not find one journey of his, in that direc¬ tion, recorded, after the flight into Egypt, in his infancy. It is northward, through Samaria, that we trace the course of his journeys ; and it is round about the coasts of the most northern part of the land, Galilee, that he went preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people. And it was when in his farthest journey in that direction, on the coasts of Syro-phenicia, that he pronounced the important words, “ I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” His mission was, comparatively, not to other people, as it was to the lost house of Israel: — after the sheep, who had wandered into the north country, were, ever and again, drawn the feet of their good Shepherd, who came to seek and to save that which was lost. His mission to the nations, pro¬ mised to come of Israel in the north country, was more fully carried out by his Apostles. Look at the great extent of Africa to the south, and of 136 MINISTRY OF THE APOSTLES: Asia to the east, where anciently existed mighty empires ; and where such myriads of human beings have been produced : and then look north¬ west, at this comparatively small quarter of the globe, Europe, — and look now at Mimpriss’s most valuable map, describing the journeys of the Apostles, as recorded in the Acts, and see, again, how they all go out towards our own part of the world. Journeys may, doubtless, have been made to other parts of the world, where scattered por¬ tions of Israel were; but the inspired record leaves, as it were, the world behind, and closes in our attention towards this part of the globe, in which the Word of God was, ultimately, so to take root, and spread abroad, to every land ; and this as having reached the nations that we sup¬ pose to have come of Jacob. Every successive journey was, as it were, a farther development of the gospel north-westward. It was to Samaria, — to Damascus, — to Antioch, — to the cities of Asia Minor: and in this course the Apostle was di¬ vinely inspired to proceed still farther ; being constrained, as well as invited, to pass over into Europe ; and then through the cities of Greece : and, in short, from Jerusalem, round about unto Illyricum, was it that he could say, “ I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” The providence of God led him farther still in the same direction, to Home itself. But, even this was not to end his journeys hitherward; his purpose being to proceed as far west as Spain. Some have hazarded LECTURE VI. ALL WENT OUT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 137 the conjecture that he even preached the gospel in Britain ; but the divine Record does not carry us, at this time, so far. It may, perhaps, be said, that Paul was influenced to proceed in this course, because here, in the west, was the capital of the empire, into connection with which the Jews had then come. But this is not correct ; for, indepen¬ dent of the supernatural influence in the case, which is plainly avowed, we find, (Rom. xv, 24,) that when Paul expressed his purpose in the matter, it was not so much to make Rome the special object of his journey, as the much farther point, Spain; and he intended calling at Rome, as being on his way to the more western country, anciently called Tarshish. Paul, and his fellow- disciples, who ministered the Word of God that was to light upon Israel, we thus find, all followed out the course indicated by the great Shepherd of the sheep ; — and that, (being uniformly north¬ westward,) directs our attention to our own part of the world, as being that in which the lost sheep of Israel may be found. Thus far the spoken word : and now, as to the written word. It might be expected that although no apostolic journeys are recorded as being made to the other more extensive and more populous portions of the globe, that, at least, some of the epistles would be sent into those quarters : but no. If we look to Paul’s Epistles, we find them all sent out in the same course as were his jour¬ neys ; all to places lying between us and the land N 2 138 apostolic epistles: of Israel. All point to this part of the world, in which the grand doctrine of free and full justi¬ fication through the blood of Jesus by faith, — where the great doctrine advocated by this apostle, has been so clearly brought out, and proclaimed to the wrorld. The Epistle of James is expressly sent to Israel ; — “ To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.” This hath missed its direction, if it hath not come to the places where the twelve tribes are to be found, — if Israel be not among the people on Avhom hath lighted this Word of God. It does not address a people who have not heard the Word of God; but a people making a great profession of faith, — but more strong in doctrine than in practice ; and requiring to be aroused out of antinomian sluggishness, into a more full and consistent practice of Christian virtue ; and especially into the brighter exhibition of that spirit of love which becomes the Gospel. It recognizes a state of society very like our own; more like, than may be found in any other part of the world. The Epistles of Peter, which are sent to the same royal priesthood — to the holy people now scattered abroad, expressly points north¬ westward : — it being addressed “ To the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” — all places in our direction from the land of Israel. The Epistles of John and of Jude, although no names are given, are equally applicable as to their contents. It is here that these, with all other parts of Scripture, have LECTURE VI. THE APOCALYPSE : — 139 been read, translated, and spread abroad. It is true, we as yet know but little of the Bible ; but we have more made it our own, than have any other people ; and the things which it saith, it saith to them that are under its hearing, whether with regard to the law or the gospel. To sum up all, we have our attention turned in the same direction by the Apocalypse, that closes the volume of Inspiration. There we find the good Shepherd, by his voice from heaven, amply confirming the indications of his personal ministry when upon earth ; and still expressing a peculiar interest in the north-west. In the north-west, in Asia, over against Greece, were the seven churches to which were first directed the seven epistles in the commencement of this wonderful book.— And, by the most esteemed commentators, the book is supposed to proceed more and more in the same direction, until it closes the detail of judg¬ ment in our own part of the world : when the grand mystery of God is disclosed ; and the great events of which all the prophets witness, speedily ensue. There is then the effect of every vision ; and a rending of the veil which hath been spread over all people. The Book of Revelation fills up the gap of prophecy between the times, imme¬ diately succeeding the first coming of Christ, and preceding his second coming. Where it ends the line of judgment, there may Israel most certainly be found : the second appearing of Christ being so intimately connected with the discovery of 140 — ALL LEAD US TO LOOK FOR God’s grand purposes with regard to Israel, whom he shall then have made ready to receive him, with songs of everlasting joy ; — as in Rev. xv. 2-4 : — “ And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire ; And them that had gotten the victory Over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, — Over the number of his name, Stand on the sea of glass, Having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, And the song of the Lamb, sayiDg, Great and marvellous — thy works ! — Lord God Almighty ! Just and true — thy ways ! — thou King of saints ! Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For — only — holy ! For all nations shall come and worship before thee; For thy judgments are made manifest. — Concisely to recapitulate : — If there be proportion between the seed of Abraham, and the other nations of the earth: as is specially avowed, with reference to Israel, (Deut. xxxii, 8,) — then are wre led to look for the lost children of Jacob, among Japhet’s posterity, in the northern portion of our globe. Again : it is assumed that the Restoration of Israel shall be one of the grand consummations of prophecy — of those prophecies whose tenour has reference to a beneficial change of the very face of nature , and which affect universal mankind: the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together, until now, “ waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God,” (Rom. viii, 19, 22 ;) when, in the place where it was said unto them, — “Ye are Lo-ammi , LECTURE VI. THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL*. - 141 (not my people — Gentiles,)” — it shall be said unto them, — “The sons of the living God!” — when the children of Israel, and the children of Judah, shall all be gathered together, under one Head; — when “ great shall be the day of the seed of God,” (Hos. i, 10, 11.) If so, then are we led to look for the lost house of Israel, — and especially, for Joseph’s posterity, — here in the North-West : for the plain indications of Old Testament prophecy, and the whole course of its descriptions, (whether as de¬ scribing the case of Israel, or of the great empires with which they were to come into contact, or of Antichrist, to be destroyed at the Lord’s appear¬ ing,) all point north-westward; — while the indi¬ cations which New Testament history presents, of the personal ministry of Christ, — the “ Good Shepherd ” who came to seek and to save “ the lost sheep of the house of Israel;” — extended, as these indications are, to similar purport, by the full expression of apostolic solicitude, — of the “heart’s desire” of those who carried out from Jerusalem the ministration of Christ’s Gospel, as expressed, fervently, in the whole course of their recorded preaching, and in their epistolary com¬ munications, — both of which were under the im¬ mediate direction of the Spirit of God : all these corroborate the inferences to be drawn from the language of the Older Record. If, therefore, the Word of God, as contained in either the Old or the New Testament, be intended to throw light upon this interesting — this mo- 142 - HERE, IN THE NORTH-WEST. mentous subject, — which, from its uniformity, we may justly infer it is designed to do, — then are we of necessity led to look for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, in the north-west — in our own part of the world, wdiither the Word of God hath ever followed them, and where the whole course of His Providence testifies to this truth of the word of prophecy. He that scattered Israel, promised to gather them, and keep them as a shepherd doth his flock. And He hath indeed proved a shepherd to Israel ; He hath led Joseph like a flock. Upon Him may we now in truth call, — “ Turn us again, O God, And cause thy face to shine. And we shall be saved.” And, when he shines forth in his beauty, and the portals of glory are thrown open to our enrap¬ tured view, may we in truth be able to prolong our song, — (Ps. c.) “ Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands, Serve the Lord with gladness, Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God, It is He that hath made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. Into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, And his truth endureth to all generations.” LECTURE VI. LECTUEE VII. THE PROGRESS OF ISRAEL WESTWARD. Reference to the Beni-Israel in the East — Their manner of burial — Israelitish tombs, northward of the Caucasian mountains. — Names of the rivers between the Don and the Danube, indicative of Israel’s sojourn there. — Mcesia. — The Get® or Goths — Attacked by Darius, Alexander, and the Romans. — Dacia. — The Goths precipitated upon the Romans by Attila and his Huns — They regain possession of Mcesia — They war with the Romans. — The storm passes over to Africa, and leaves the Gothic Race in possession of Europe. — Their important position. — Their traditional prophecies — as in “ Voluspa” — consistent with their Israelitish descent ; and supposed to be handed down fx-om the days of Elijah, who had ministered the word of God, chiefly, in this house of Israel. I have seen several accounts from India, stating that there is a people there, seemingly about seven thousand in number, and scattered over the country, from the neighbourhood of Bombay, who are called Beni-Israel, and are supposed to be a remnant of the lost ten tribes. They are said to be the descendants of seven men, and seven women, — who, about sixteen hundred years ago, were saved from shipwreck, on the coast near Bombay. They profess to be of the tribe of Reuben, and, consistently with this, they call more of their children by that name than by any other. If the facts be so with regard to the signal preservation of this portion of the tribe of Reuben, the prayer of Moses, for this tribe, seems to have been signally answered, to the very letter: — 144 BENI-ISRAEL. " Let Reuben live and not die, And let his men ( dying ones ) be written.” The names of this people, — both their Hebrew and their Gentile names, are being written with rather remarkable particularity ; and their num¬ bers, in the different towns and villages where they reside, are being carefully enrolled. At the same time, they seem to have fulfilled, in them, the words of Jacob. — Gen. xlix, 4 : — “ Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.” They seem to be generally pretty respectable in the lower or per¬ haps middle rank of society. When they enter the army, they are valued as musicians, and ge¬ nerally attain to be native officers : but none of them seem to rise into any great eminence, in any respect. As a people they seem to have been remarkably stationary, except as influenced by surrounding society, which has led to considerable change outwardly, even as to religious worship ; whilst, essentially, they remained the same. And among them have signally been preserved some of those customs belonging to ancient Israel, with which it is most important to our present enquiry that we should become acquainted. The last required of these, — those that regard the inter¬ ment of the dead, — are those that will first engage our attention. And indeed it is a curious coinci¬ dence, that upon proceeding northward from Assyria and Media, (as we have been directed in search of Israel, after their political death and burial,) the first remarkable objects that strike our LECTURE VII. THEIR MANNER OF BURIAL. 145 attention are tombs, which, by their construction, plainly tell that once Israel lay there. With regard to the Beni- Israel, already referred to, it is thus reported of their funeral ceremonies: — When one of them dies, — “ They wash the body, and clothe it with white linen, laying it on a plank, and carrying it to the burying ground. They sing alternately all the way as they go, ‘ Hear, O Israel,’ & c., and continue the same till the body is committed to its original dust. On the fourth day, some of the relations visit the grave, and perform the following cere¬ mony: — “ They raise up the grave a foot high with sand, and afterwards cover it over with a piece of white linen ; then they take a little fire in a vessel or pot, and place it at the head, eastward ; they then burn incense, during which time they collect in another vessel a quantity of different kinds of grain, with cocoa-nuts made into small pieces, and flowers of all kinds mixed together, and sprinkle them over the grave, while covered with the linen cloth ; then they remove the linen cloth which covers it, and sprinkle over the grave a little chunnam mixed with water, which they have previously prepared, and then disperse. “ On the seventh day, they again visit the grave ; but use no cere¬ mony with the exception of a prayer, which is offered up for the soul of the deceased, if there be any person present able to perform the duty, which is seldom the case, owing to their extreme ignorance. They then go to it no more.” Were they to repeat their visits, and leave what they thus place upon the grave, as was probably the case in more ancient times, then there would be over it alternate layers of earth and vegetable matter. The covering the grave thus, seems now, however, to have degenerated into a mere cere¬ mony. Let us now recollect that Israel did not burn, but bury, their dead; and this, dow’n from the time of Abraham. That they did not so much 0 146 ISRAELITISH TOMBS, choose to bury in the earth merely ; as in a cave, either built of stones or dug in the rock. A stone lay upon the grave’s mouth, which was eastward. The grave seems to have been covered by alternate layers of earth, or sand, and vegetable matter, — the sand being the first laid on ; which manner of covering their dead may have been adopted, the better to preserve the interior of the tomb from damp : — and over the grave, in dis¬ tinguished cases, they were accustomed to raise high heaps, — both, perhaps, to serve as a monu¬ ment, and also, the better to preserve the tomb from spoliation. Now let us, with the intelligent traveller, Dr. Clark, visit the country immediately beyond the Caucasian mountains, directly north¬ west from the places to which Israel was carried by the Assyrians. Here are immense plains, producing the most beautiful herbage, and ap¬ parently capable, with cultivation, of sustaining immense multitudes; but they are now chiefly remarkable as a place of graves. “By much the most frequent objects were the tumuli ; and, from their great numbers, I should have been inclined to suppose they were occasionally raised as marks of guidance across these immense plains during winter, when the ground is covered by snow ; but whenever any one has been laid open, the appearance of a sepulchre puts the question of their origin beyond dispute, and the traveller is left to wonder and perplex himself in conjectures concerning the population which supplied the labour for raising these numerous vestiges of interment, as well as the bodies they served to contain. The number greatly increased as we drew near to the Kuban ; and in the last stage, before we reached that river, I counted ninety-one, all at once in view. LECTURE VII. NORTH-EAST OF THE BLACK SEA. 147 “ No trace of any ancient work afterwards appeared, excepting tumuli, until we came to the Bay of Taman. Then, on the shore, immediately above some very high cliffs, we observed the remains of a very large fortress and town, entirely surrounded with tombs and broken mounds of earth, indicating evident vestiges of human labour. The geography of these coasts is so exceedingly obscure, that a little prolixity in noticing every appearance of this kind may perhaps be tolerated. We soon reached the post-house of Sienna, actually scooped in the cavity of an ancient tomb. In the neighbourhood of this place, we found remains of much greater importance. Its environs were entirely covered with tumuli, of a size and shape that could not fail at once to excite a traveller’s wonder, and stimulate his re¬ search. The commandant of engineers at Taman, General Vander- weyde, had already employed the soldiers of the garrison in opening the largest. It was quite a mountain. They began the work, very ignorantly, at the summit, and for a long time laboured to no purpose. At last, by changing the direction of their excavation, and opening the eastern side, they discovered the entrance to a large arched vault, of the most admirable masonry. I had the pleasure to descend into this remarkable sepulchre. Its mouth was half filled with earth, yet, after passing the entrance, there was sufficient space for a person to stand upright. Farther, towards the interior, the area was clear, and the work perfectly entire. The material of which the masonry consisted, was a white crumbling limestone, such as the country now affords, filled with fragments of minute shells. Whether it was the work of Milesians, or other colonies of Greece, the skill used in its construction is very evident. The stones of the sides are all square, perfect in their form, and put together without any cement. The roof exhibits the finest turned arches imaginable, having the whiteness of the purest marble. An interior vaulted chamber is separated from the outer, by means of two pilasters, swelling out wide towards their bases, and placed, one on each side, at the entrance. The inner chamber is the larger of the two. “ Concerning every thing found in this tomb, it is perhaps impossi¬ ble to obtain information. One article alone, that was shown to me by General Vanderweyde at Taman, may give an idea of the rank of the person originally interred there. It was a zone for the leg, or bracelet for the arm, of the purest massive gold. The soldiers em¬ ployed in the undertaking stole whatever they deemed of value, and 148 ISRAELITISH TOMBS. were able to conceal, and destroyed other things which did not appear to them to merit preservation. Among these was a number of vases of black earthenware, adorned with white ornaments. The bracelet was reserved by General Vanderwede, to be sent to Petersburg, for the emperor’s cabinet ; but as enough has been said of Russia to induce at least a suspicion that so valuable a relic may never reach its destination, a more particular description of it may be necessary. Its weight equalled three quarters of a pound. It represented the body of a serpent, curved in the form of an ellipse, having two heads, which, meeting at opposite points, made the opeuing for the wrist or ancle. These serpents’ heads were studded with rubies, so as to imitate eyes, and to ornament the back part of each head with two distinct rows of gems. The rest of the bracelet was also further adorned by rude graved work. It possessed no elasticity; but on account of the ductility of pure gold, might, with sufficient force, be expanded so as to admit the wrist or ancle of the person who was to wear it ; and probably, when once adapted to the form, remained during the life time of the owner. I could not but view it as the most ancient specimen of art which perhaps exists in the world ; and which, while it shows the progress then made in metallurgy, and in the art of setting precious stones, — at the same time offers a type of the mythology of the age in which it was made ; the binding of the serpent round the leg or arm, as a talisman, being one of the supersti¬ tions common to almost every nation in an early period of civilization. Immediately above the stone work constructed for the vault of the sepulchre, appeared, first a covering of earth, and then a layer- of sea¬ weed, compressed by another superincumbent stratum of earth, to the thickness of about two inches. This layer of sea-weed was as white as snow, and when taken in the hand, separated into thin flakes, and fell to pieces. What the use of this vegetable covering could be, is very uncertain, — but it is found in all the tombs of this country. Pallas observed it placed in regular layers, with coarse earthenware vases, of rude workmanship, and unglazed, which were filled with a mixture of earth and charcoal. It is said that a large marble soros, or sarsophagus, the top of which now serves for a cistern, near the fortress of Yenikale in the Crimea, was taken from this tomb. The appearance of the entrance, however, in its present state, contradicts the story, — as the opening has never yet been made sufficiently wide for its removal, even had it been so discovered. LECTURE VII. SERPENT WORSHIP. 149 “ Similar tombs are found on all the shores of the Bosporus. Close by that which 1 have described, are many others, — and some nearly of equal size. Pallas, in his journey over this country, men¬ tions the frequent recurrence of such appearances all round the Bay of Taman. Indeed, it would be vain to ask where they are not ob¬ served. The size, grandeur, and riches of those on the European and Asiatic sides of the Cimmerian Straits, excite astonishing ideas of the wealth and power of the people by whom they were constructed ; and, — in the view o labour so prodigious, as well as of expenditure so enormous, for the purpose of inhuming a single body, — customs and superstitions are manifest, which illustrate the origin of the pyramids of Egypt, — the caverns of Elephanta, — and the first temples of the ancient world.” I was somewhat at a loss to ascertain the con¬ nection with our subject, of this golden serpent, the only remarkable object found in the tomb seen by Dr. Clark : but I observe that the Beni- Israel in India, are accused of having, each of them, in his secret chamber, a silver serpent, — to which they burn incense twice a day, and throw a little flower before it, — and sing, accompanied with a small tomtom beating during the ceremony. Nor is this strange ; as, even in the other house of Israel, the same superstition appears to have long continued. It was not until after the ten tribes had been carried away, that Hezekiah arose, — of whom it is recorded, 2 Kings, xviii, 4, "He brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made : for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it. And he called it Ne- hushtan : ” — a piece of brass. The tombs referred to, commence north of the river Kuban, that empties itself into the Euxine, o 2 150 NAMES OF RIVERS AND COUNTRIES near Tamin ; in the neighbourhood of which there are other places whose names argue a Hebrew origin. They stretch from the Kuban, northward, to an immense distance, — and the direction they take seems clearly to indicate that the people who there deposited their dead, proceeded not eastward, towards Siberia, along the back of the Caspian sea, but, with the usual tide of emigration, westward, along the back of the Euxine. Here, in addition to the high heaps already no¬ ticed, we have way-marks sufficiently legible. The names of all the great rivers in this neigh¬ bourhood seem to refer to the Jordan, as being the original seat of the people, — who, before the great migration of nations westward, inhabited the country north of the Euxine, between the Don and the Danube. The name Jordan, means the river Dan, — or, as some would have it, Eden. It was natural that the children of Israel, having that as their principal — their almost only river of any importance, should remember it in con¬ nection with any great river, along the banks of which they might be located. It would come to be a common name for rivers. Thus, proceeding westward from the Don, we have the Danez, flowing into the Don itself : — farther in the same direction, we have the Danieper, contractedly Dnieper; — still further westward, we meet with the Daniester, or Dniester : — and southward from thence, and flowing from the far west, we have the Danube, or Danau, — which, I have heard, the LECTURE VII. IN THE NORTH-EAST OF EUROPE. 151 Germans understand to mean the river Noah ; as if the people who gave it this name had, after bearing much tossing and great affliction, ex¬ pected to find here rest and comfort. This dis¬ trict, which appears to have been anciently well inhabited, has but few men left in it. It has been so entirely left in obscurity, that before the truth on this subject was presented to my mind, I thought that if there was one portion of the globe of less importance than another, it was this. Here nothing of any interest was ever known to be transacted. And yet there is scarcely any spot out of Palestine that would now be more interest¬ ing, or that would be more likely to reward a careful examination. This, and not the barren north, appears to have been the great store-house of nations. This store-house, however, is now comparatively empty. It was emptied into the north, in consequence of the dreadful incursions of the barbarous tribes from the east, — who have, since, mainly possessed it as pasture ground. And in this work of destruction, these barbarians were assisted by the great empires that have been called civilized ; who, by their murderous inroads into this country previously, had inclined the in¬ habitants to seek a place in the inhospitable north; whence they rebounded upon their destroyers, and have come to possess their possessions. They carried with them their civilization — their free institutions — their superior intellectual ca¬ pacity and moral constitution, even to the frozen 152 GETdE, OR GOTHS, IN MCESIA, regions of Iceland, rather than inhabit a fertile land subject to barbarian sway. The quarter in which we can obtain the most distinct view of this people, in very ancient times, is, perhaps, on their southern frontier, that nearest Greece. Here, along the south bank of the Danube, between this river and the mountains of Haemus, the country was anciently called Moesia; and the description given of the ruling race inha¬ biting this district, is correspondent to the idea of their having been Moses’s disciples. The account which Heroditus gives of the Getae, the same with the people afterwards called Goths, is in the following words. He is describing the progress of Darius, northward, in his wanton invasion of these people. (See Melpomene, paragraph xciii-iv.) “ Before he arrived at the Ister, he first of all subdued the Get®, a people who pretended to immortality. The Thracians of Salmy- dessus, and they who live above Apollonia, and the city of Mes- sambria, with those who are called Cyrmianians, and Mypsaeans, submitted themselves to Darius, without resistance, The Getas obstinately defended themselves, but were soon reduced : these, of all the Thracians, are the bravest and most upright. “They believe themselves to be immortal ; and whenever any one dies, they are of opinion that he is removed to the presence of their god Zamolxis, whom some believe to be the same with Gebe- leizes. Once in every five years they choose one by lot, who is to be despatched as a messenger to Zamolxis, to make known to him their several wants. And they seriously believe that there is no other deity.” It is plain there is much of fable mixed up with this account of the Getae ; but these things appear clear respecting them : that they were dis- LECTURE VII. AND THEIR TEACHER, ZAMOLXES. 153 tinguished from the surrounding people, by their religion. They were called immortals, because of their confident belief in a future state. They were also distinguished for their moral rectitude, and for their bravery in Avar ; at the same time they seem to have been highly improved in the arts of peace. The Scythians around them were chiefly pastoral; but these produced grain, not merely for their own consumption, but for expor¬ tation. But that for which they seem to have been most remarkable, was, their being the fol¬ lowers of Zamoxes, or Zamolxes, or Zalmoxis, after whom the country appears to have been called. Za , in Hebrew, means that ; and Maxes appears to be the same with Moses, — from which we have Moesia. This appellation, “ that Moses,” is given to the leader of Israel, by Ste¬ phen, (Acts vii. 37;) — and may have been usually given him by the descendants of Israel, to dis¬ tinguish him from others among them of the same name. This Zamoxes is said to' have left to these Getae, the institutions of their religion in books, the loss of which is much lamented by the learned; but which, it is most probable, we have in the first five books of our Bible. There seems to be some confusion as to the name of this their great teacher, — and also, as to whether he should be reckoned the object of their worship, or merely their religious instructor. Such confusion of idea is nothing remarkable among the heathen ; and has been abundantly manifested in their accounts 154 GETiE ATTACKED BY ALEXANDER, of the Jews. In the present instance there was the greater liability to error, on account of the likeness between the sound of the words, Za El- Moses — the God of Moses, — and Za Moses — Zamoxes, simply “ that Moses.” It may be re¬ marked that from this quarter, including Thrace, came the principal of the most early poets and musicians, such as Orpheus, who are said to have so assisted in charming the previously rude inha¬ bitants of Greece, into the mildness of civilized life. In later times, also, they were still re¬ markable for musical talent; so that the Greeks were in the habit of hiring from this quarter, men to mourn at their funerals. In other respects, as in gardening and architecture, they seem to have been of very great service to the Greeks. Macedonia, the original inheritance of Alexander, lies between Moesia and Greece ; and, previous to that Prince’s turning himself to settle matters fully in Greece, and pass over to make his con¬ quests in the east, he went, we are told, north¬ ward, and subdued the country as far as the Da¬ nube. The inhabitants of this country were too proud to submit to national servitude, however willing many of them may have been to labour in¬ dividually for hire, and accordingly they passed over the Danube towards the north, choosing ra¬ ther to enjoy their beloved freedom in a colder clime, than retain their former homes under the Macedonian yoke. Those who remained were, of course, the dregs LECTURE VII. AND ALSO BY THE ROMANS. 155 of the people, perhaps the mere Aborigines ; and this may have caused the name of Thracian and Moesian to sink ultimately into disrespect. A principal portion of those who withdrew beyond the Danube, were called Getae, most likely of the tribe of Gad. These Getae, we have said, are identified with the Goths, who were thus early made again to wander forth in search of another resting-place. This was in that powerful and ex¬ tensive republic, north of the Danube, where anciently they were called Davi, and the country Dacia, most likely after their great king David, — whose memory was, like that of Moses, delighted in by Israel as well as by Judah. But, when com¬ fortably seated in this more northern abode, they were attacked by the next great masters of the world, — the Romans, who not only made Mcesia a Roman Province, but, attacking Israel in Dacia, the country north of the Danube, they drove them still farther into the wilderness. After a most violent struggle, which lasted for several years, Dacia was at length nominally subdued. Multi¬ tudes of the brave Dacians who were taken cap¬ tive, were condemned to suffer cruel deaths in the, theatre, for the amusement of the Romans ; — no wonder they hated the rule of such a conqueror. Their king, rather than bow his neck to the Ro¬ man yoke, acted as many of the Jews did at the destruction of Jerusalem, — he destroyed himself. The inhabitants who had withdrawn for a time northward, returned, many of them, afterwards, 156 THE GOTHS INUNDATED and made the retention of the province so trouble¬ some to the Romans, that they ultimately resigned their conquests north of the Danube ; when a considerable number of the original inhabitants, it is presumed, re-settled quietly in the land. Quiet¬ ness, however, was not allowed them, partly from internal troubles, and partly from external assaults. The people among them that sought peace, seem principally to have settled farther north, where they planted commonwealths, much after the Israelitish pattern ; as in Germany, Sweden, and along the western coast of Europe. The banks of the Danube, on which Israel ap¬ pear to have been previously given rest, after the tossing of their captivity, was also the place from which Israel was appointed to spread into power, so as to possess the gates of their enemies, and merit eminently the title of Jacob, or supplanter, and that at the moment of their greatest extre¬ mity. When released in Dacia from the Roman yoke, Attila and his Huns came pouring down upon them from the wilds of Tartary, in far Asia, and swept them as with a besom of destruction from off the face of that whole land, where they afterwards remained only in corners. The Ser¬ vians, a more slavish race, came into their posses¬ sions, under the shadow of the rude barbarian power, which, however, soon passed away like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. This blast of the terrible ones was most severe, whilst it lasted; and was, indeed, like a storm against the Roman LECTURE VII. BY BARBARIANS FROM THE EAST. 157 wall, upon which it precipitated the poor Goths to such a degree, that they were glad to beg for shelter from that people by whom the bones of their brethren had been heretofore scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. What greatly conduced to the flight of the Goths, was the horrific appear¬ ance of the Huns. This made the beautiful Goths flee from them as they would have fled from the face of a serpent. They wanted not courage to meet a foe of their own kind ; but they appear to have doubted the propriety of having much inter¬ course with such monsters in human shape, whose polluting habits, also, they may have been glad to shun. They begged to be allowed a shelter within the bounds of the Roman Empire. The Roman emperor, with seeming generosity, granted their request. A bridge, constructed of boats, was thrown across the Danube, and the Gothic my¬ riads rushed to it from all parts of the country. Before passing the river, the Goths were required to deliver up their arms. It was also stipulated that their children should be given to the Romans, and dispersed through the Provinces of Asia. These terms were hard to a brave people, and a people so affectionate to their offspring, as Avere the Goths. Ere they could submit to them, they must have been reduced to the utmost extremity. They seem, however, to have been faithfully ob¬ served, until perfidy appeared on the part of the Romans. The children of the nobility were sepa- 158 Israel’s extremity, rated without delay from the multitude, and con¬ ducted to the distant places assigned for their re¬ sidences ; and we are told that as these numerous hostages, the victims of remorseless policy, passed through the cities, their gay apparel, their inno¬ cent wonder, and the martial and robust appear¬ ance of their attendants, moved the Roman sub¬ jects with alternate emotions of admiration and pity. The emigrants spread themselves over the un¬ cultivated plains between the ridges of Mount Haemus and the Danube, in the same country from which they had been driven by the Macedo¬ nian in his early conquests. Here, in the land of their fathers, they seem to have been offered little but a grave, into which it was threatened they wrould fall by one of the most fearful of deaths, that of hunger. When they accepted of the hard conditions already alluded to, they were promised provisions for their immediate supply ; but these came far short of the demand. They had to ex¬ pend all to purchase food ; and at length, many of them had to sell themselves as slaves, in order to preserve a miserable existence. Was such a state of things to be endured, if it could be at all mended ? At length, insult was added to injury — they became exasperated — and in their despera¬ tion began to consult desperate measures. These, the Visigoths, at length procured assistance from the Ostrogoths, who had not been admitted within the Roman Empire ; and who, of course, still re- LECTURE VII. god’s opportunity. 159 lained their arms. War was resolved on. The banners of the nations were unfurled ; and the air resounded with their mournful but sublime music. They fought and overcame. In the mean time, the Gothic youth, dispersed over the Asiatic provinces, were, by order of the Roman Government, all, in the most atrocious manner, slaughtered. We are accustomed to talk of the barbarism of the Goths, and of the ruthless hands they laid upon the Roman Empire. But was not vengeance to be looked for in, re¬ turn for so much cowardly cruelty, with which these strangers were treated in the land of their fathers, by the Masters of the world ? And accord¬ ingly, Alaric, King of the Visigoths, was raised up for the correction of the Romans. To this office he reckoned himself specially called, calling himself the Fire of God, and the scourge of Rome, which he abundantly was, weakening it in various parts ; and especially ravaging Greece, and thus punishing in their children the ancient dis- possessors of his fathers, when Alexander led his conquering arms into Mcecia. At length, Alaric marched upon Rome itself, and, after twice spar¬ ing it, and repeatedly meeting with treachery and insult, he at length sacked and plundered the city, carrying away an immensity of treasure. The Goths themselves, behaved, it is said, with much mildness and humanity; but the Barbarians, wThom Alaric had joined to his army, ran into 160 THE BARBARIANS SWEPT AWAY, great excesses, the blame of which the Goths have in a great measure borne. In the mean time, the barbarians, who had caused the emigration of the Gothic nations, rolled many of them over the empire, sweeping away many mingled people. Some passed over to Africa, which they conquered, or rather ravaged; whence, returning under Genseric, their prince, Rome again, and still more severely, suffered. Even the capitol is now uncovered, for the sake of its gilded brass; and the sacred vessels, be¬ longing to the temple at Jerusalem, — the spoils that Titus brought to Rome, and that Alaric, be¬ cause of their holiness, refused to touch, — these are among his trophies ; but a storm deposits them in the bottom of the Great Sea. And at length this great savage power, that threatened to erect an empire, embracing both sides of the Mediter¬ ranean, and which would have made, perhaps, Africa the seat of empire, is melted away, and can no more be found. Such has been the fate of all the nations that so came, like a sweeping storm, — a furious whirlwind, to drive Israel into endless ruin. They have passed away like a night vision. All their mighty conquests are now but as a troublous dream. Even the Roman eagle, which, under her wide-spreading wings, proffered a refuge to Israel, in such mockery of hospitality and truth, is now as nothing ; whilst the poor and needy hath, indeed, taken root, and spread and flourished, as was promised. Would LECTURE VII. WHILST ISRAEL ARE GIVEN ROOT. 161 that their fruit were such as becomes the children of so many mercies. Spain, as well as a considerable portion of Italy, came into the possession of the Goths. Gaul was laid hold upon by the Franks, another branch of the same great family, and from them, has been called France. Britain came into the pos¬ session of the Anglo-Saxons, at least as to the largest and most valuable part of it; and from them has been called England. The Gothic na¬ tions were, in the course of the revolutions we have briefly sketched, driven in chiefly towards the north, where they erected free commonwealths, in what was anciently called Cimbria and Scandi¬ navia, which they civilized, and rendered compa¬ ratively fruitful; but from which many of them rebounded back, by sea, upon the more fertile countries of Europe, — making not only great de¬ predations, but, in some cases, as in that of Nor¬ mandy, large conquests. By one means and another, and mostly as if from necessity, has Europe come, almost entirely, into their posses¬ sion; and from thence have they spread them¬ selves over great part of the other quarters of the globe. The great supplanting has been ever going forward. This people have, indeed, been Jacob from the beginning, but particularly since their settlement within the bounds of the Roman em¬ pire. It is especially north of that, however, that they have displayed the most mental power. This mental power has, as we have seen, been in train- p 2 162 IMPORTANT POSITION ing from the earliest period, — in order that they might be prepared for acting under the other name of Jacob, — that of Israel, or Prince of God. They are to be made princes in all the earth, ac¬ cording to the order of the kingdom of heaven ; according to which, the greatest of all is to be as the servant of all; even like the Prince of the kings of the earth, who “ came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many/’ God is already proceeding to lay liberally to their hand, — not for self glorification, or luxurious ease, — but that they may enjoy the high dignity of being the dispensers of the Lord’s bounty to mankind. May they soon fulfil their destiny, and be given to rule in judgment, under the king of righteousness, — justifying the pre¬ diction, “ the people which shall be created, shall praise the Lord.” Only look for a moment at the important po¬ sition which this people now occupy, — whose name but lately wTas a name for barbarism. They possess the most improved portion of our globe, — the greater part of which was but a wilderness when they took possession of it. There is scarcely any place of much importance, in any part of the world, that they do not now occupy, — except, in¬ deed, their own land of Israel, and those laid hold upon by their great rival, in the North-east por¬ tion of the world ; and who, as grasping at the whole, is yet to act so important a part at the close of the present dispensation. Israel have LECTURE VII. OF THE GOTHIC NATIONS. 163 colonized, or are colonizing all the new world; and great part of Asia is in their possession: whilst Africa is in a manner surrounded by them. Either directly, by rule, — or indirectly, by di¬ plomatic agency, they can control almost all the nations of the earth. All the facilities of good appear to be rapidly providing. It is true there is a deadness unworthy of this position. There is, as it were, the silent waiting for the powerful word of the living life-giving God : “ Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live.” Then may Moham¬ medan delusion depart, and Ishmael associate with Isaac, in his efforts to raise unto the full dignity of man, the long-oppressed children of Africa. Then may the Brahmins, the younger children of Abraham, in the east, behold the truth of their beautiful, but perverted allegories, and become efficient missionaries to all the families of Shem, so densely crowded into that part of the world: whilst the* Jews, spread every where, knowing all countries, all languages, all customs, and all engagements of mankind, may turn their penetrating minds unto the truth, as it is in Jesus, and labour to bestow upon all, the true riches, as they have laboured to acquire for themselves the mammon of unrighteousness. Then shall Judah walk with Israel, — and they shall come together out of the north country, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem ; and thence go forth, as lightning, to the utmost corners of the earth, as vessels of honour 164 NORTHERN TRADITIONS. - fit for the Master’s use, — to carry out blessing unto the ends of the earth. But to return : — It may be objected that if these things are so, there will surely be some traditional remains among this people, tending to prove their Israel- itish origin. With regard to the Scriptures, which it is most desirable we should find them possessed of; we have the parallel case of Judah. It would seem that, even in that portion of God’s peculiar people, the word of God was so scarce, that when a copy of it was found, in the reign of Josiah, it was as if some remarkable discovery had been made. (See 2 Kings, xxii. 8-20.) Upon their return from Babylon, also, it plainly appears that they had, up to that time, been remarkably wanting as to Scriptural knowledge. (See Ez. ix.) If this was the case with regard to the Jews who retained Jerusalem, — the place of rule, and the place of worship, — who had the best opportunities of being instructed in what God had done for his people in the days of old, and what he had appointed them to observe as the symbols of alle¬ giance to himself, the Lord of Hosts, — the Great Governor among the nations ; less forgetfulness could scarcely be expected of the other — the fugitive house of Israel ; who were ever in a state of change, and who had already become so separated from the worship of God, previous to their removal out of the Land. Although they, however, are not known to have had the books of the Scriptures actually in their possession, — yet it LECTURE VII. VOLUSPA. 165 might be expected they should have traditions of another kind. This might be the more expected, as Elijah and Elisha chiefly prophesied in Israel, — not in Judah : and their prophecies would more naturally regard the people among whom they ministered ; rather than the other house — that of Judah, to which they did not minister, — and who have no record of their prophecies. These pro¬ phecies are lost, unless they are somehow else preserved than by the Jews. However adulterated by heathenish admixture, something might be expected to remain among these northern nations, of the traditions of their fathers, to attest the truth we have been advo¬ cating, — and accordingly this is remarkably the case. The oldest poem these people are known to possess, appears to have been produced with the special design of collecting the traditions of their fathers. It is called Voluspa; that is, the spae or prophecy of Yola, — or, perhaps Baal: for they were justly accused of giving Baal credit for that which proceeded from the God of Israel. It commences thus : — “ Be silent, I pray, all holy creatures. Greater or small, sons of Heimdallar ! I will tell of the devices of Valfodar, The ancient discourses of men, The earliest I know.” It then proceeds to describe the rising of this creation out of chaos ; — the separation of the light from darkness ; — and the appointment of times 166 THE VOLUSPA CONSISTENT and seasons. Then there follows much in very enigmatic language, adverting occasionally to inci¬ dents recorded in Scripture, as to the case of Judah and Tamar, until it comes to what may have been specially derived from the prophesying of Elijah, — and then the language becomes comparatively clear, and the meaning more apparent. Thus it then proceeds : — [Captive Israel cast out into the northern wilds.] “ She saw the bound one. Lying under the Grove of the Huns. The perfidious funeral. — One. like Lok, There sat, as Sigynia, Never dear to her husband. Know you more 1 What is it 1 ” Having been brought out into the north coun¬ try, into the vast plains northward of the Cauca¬ sian mountains, and been given there an apparently peaceable settlement, — there is then the rushing of many waters, — of the fierce barbarians from the east, that inundate these plains, and sweep the people to which the prophecy applies, in towards the north ; and thus, accordingly, the poem pro¬ ceeds : — “ A river flows from the east, Over poisoned vales, Carrying mud and turf ; It is called Slidur.” [Promise of a refuge in the north. — ] “There stands towards the north, In Nidafiollum, A golden palace, named Sindra ; LECTURE VII. WITH ITS ISRAELITISH ORIGIN. 167 \ But another exists in Okolni : The ale-cellar of the Jotun, Which is called, Brimir.” i [Disappointed as to the obtaining the promised refuge in the north. — ] “ She saw a palace stand far from the sun. In Nastrondum ; It looks at the doors of the north. The building is twisted from the spines of serpents, Poisoned torrents Flow through its windows.” [Dreadful state of society, as mingled among the northern barbarians: — whilst the Roman Wolf was busy in his work of destruction. — ] “There she saw, amid the dreadful streams. The perjured and the murderers, And those that pull the ears Of another’s wife. There Nidhoggur Tore the flesh from the corpses. The fierce Wolf devoured the men. Know you more ? It is this.” After much more to the same purpose, the poem then goes on to describe the fulfilment of the words of Isaiah, ix. 18-21 ; to which allusion was made in last lecture. “ Brethren will fight and slay each other ; Kindred will spurn their consanguinity ; Hard will be the world ; Many the adulteries. A bearded age, an age of swords : Shields will be cloven. An age of winds, an age of wolves, Till the world shall perish, There will not be one that will spare another.” Further on, we have an account of those dread¬ ful convulsions of the material creation, which shall 168 CONNEXION BETWEEN THE VOLUSPA precede the full establishment of peace, and be- stowment of blessing. There is still a mingling of heathen fable with the truth of prophecy ; but, through that, this may all the while be discerned. “ The sun darkens ; The earth is immerged in the sea ; The serene stars are withdrawn from heaven : Fire rages in the ancient world : The lofty colour reaches to heaven itself. Garmur barks from the cave of Gnipa ; The chains are broken, Freco rushes out. She sees at last, emerging from the ocean, An earth, in every part flourishing. The cataracts flow down ; The eagle flies aloft ; And hunt the fishes in the mountains.” Then there is an evolving of the mysteries of Providence as to the past; and an easy divining of the future, as in the days of old : — “The Asae met in Ida Valle, And talked of the world’s great calamities ; And of the ancient runae of Fimbultyr. These things done, the wonderful dice, Are found gilt in the grass. Which those of former days possessed.” Then the earth yields her increase ; and want and woe are felt no more : — “ There were fields without sowing. All adverse things became prosperous ; ” “ The Asae will dwell without evils, Do you yet understand 1 ” Then the two brothers, Judah and Joseph, are made one ; and choose for them one head, and are LECTURE VII. AND SCRIPTURAL PROPHECIES. 169 given the promised headship over the heathen : — “ Then Heinir shares the power of choosing Vidar, And the sons of the two brothers Inhabit the vast mansion of the winds. Do you know more 1 ” Then there is the promised glory in Jerusalem: Israel and Judah have walked together out of the north country, to Mount Zion, the glory from which shall cover the earth : — “A Hall stands, brighter than the sun, Covered with gold, in Gimle. There virtuous people will dwell, And for ages enjoy every good.” Then, — the millennial ages having run their course, — there is the loosing of the serpent, (see Rev. xx, 7~10) ; — and so the poem concludes : — “ Then will come the obscene dragon, flying, The serpent from Nidar fiolli, He carries the corpses in his wings, He flies over the ground ; — The infernal serpent, Nidhoggur ; Now the earth gapes for him.” So clearly, indeed, have the traditions of these nations been related to the contents of our Bible, that it was at one time supposed the northern nations had become acquainted with them through the medium of Christianity. Such a supposition is however now abandoned and thus do these traditions remain as incontestible evidence of the truth of the Israelitish origin of the people that possess them. Well may this outcast house of Israel, who had seemed to be no more dear to her husband, but to Q 170 PROMISES TO OUTCAST ISRAEL be given a bill of divorcement, and for ever sent away — well may she be addressed as in Isaiah, liv, 1-8. The address is evidently made to the people who had previously been in the Lord’s fa¬ vour : and yet, not to the Jews ; (see Gal. iv. 27.) The words are thus confined to Israel as cast out among the Gentiles, preparatory to her Husband’s manifesting himself more fully as her Redeemer, and, at the same time, as the God of the whole earth : — “ Sing, 0 barren, (Is. liv, 1-8.) Thou — didst not bear ; Break forth into singing, and cry aloud. Thou — didst not travail with child : For more — the children of the desolate Than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent. And let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations : Spare not, lengthen thy cords, And strengthen thy stakes ; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; And thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, And make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; Neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame; For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, And shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker — thine husband ; The Lord of hosts — his name; And thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel : The God of the whole earth shall he be, called. * For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, And a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; But with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, Saith the Lord thy Redeemer.” LECTURE VII. LECTUEE VIII STATE OF EUROPE, SUBSEQUENT TO THE NORTHERN INVASION. Israel's being brought out into these maritime countries. — Consternation of the former inhabitants. — Complete supplanting of the enemies of Israel — And the powerful instrumentality whereby all this would be effected — All clearly foretold, as in Is. xli, 1-16. — The Great Whirlwind among the Nations, Jer. xxv, 15-33, sweeping Israel out of their place of hiding, into the foreground of Europe. — State of Europe, consequent upon the Whirlwind, as described by his¬ tory. — Theories, as to the increase of the northern nations. — They are the Seed the Lord hath blessed. — The Great Change in Europe, consequent upon their settlement here. — Its whole phenomena consistent with the Israelitish origin of the people who produced it. — Their mixed form of government, and happy con¬ stitution of society. — Feudalism. — Provision for the Clergy. — Chivalry. — Com¬ mercial Leagues and Corporations. — Free Masonry. — Heraldry. — The Crusades. — Language, Music, and Poetry. — Time of the Introduction of Christianity among them. — Keligious and Temporal Blessings. — All consistent with the idea of their being the Line of the Lord’s Inheritance. — Objections considered. The bringing of Israel forth from the east, into these islands, where the people were to renew their strength; where nations passed away from before them; and where they were given power over kings, — over those who had usurped the do¬ minion of the world : all this appears to be clearly foretold in the prophetic word ; as, for example, in Isaiah, xli: — “ Keep silence before me, 0 islands; And let the people renew their strength ; Let them come near, — then let them speak : 172 ISRAELIS SOJOURN IN THE ISLES. Let us come near together, to judgment. Who raised up the righteous from the east, Called him to his foot, Gave the nations before him, And made — rule over kings 1 He gave — as the dust to his sword. As driven stubble to his bow. He pursued, — passed safely; By the way he had not gone with his feet. Who hath wrought and done — calling the generations from the beginning ? I, Jehovah, the First, and with the last; I am He.” God “hath not seen iniquity in Jacob; neither perverseness in Israel — not that there was none there ; but, in his grace, “ he hath clothed him with the robe of righteousness.” He hath beheld him in the Righteous One — the multitudinous seed, in the One Seed Christ. In the succeeding verses, (5-9,) we have de¬ scribed the consternation of these countries ; and their vain superstitious recourse to images, which began then to multiply in the churches — called Christian, — but from which the spirit of Chris¬ tianity seems to have almost entirely vanished, at the time the Gothic race broke in upon western Europe. This people, who had, as was prophesied, lost their name of Israel, are repeatedly pointed to their origin ; and they have, also, their end, or the purpose of God with regard to them, declared. Too many of them, however, have, like Israel in Canaan, learned the way of the heathen, W'hom the Lord cast out before them. “ The isles saw, and feared ; The ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. They helped every one his neighbour; And — said to his brother, Be of good courage. LECTURE VIII. AND SUPPLANTING OF THE NATIONS. 173 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, He that smootheth with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, Saying, It is ready for the soldering ; And he fastened it with nails, — it should not be moved. But thou Israel, — my servant, J acob — whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend, — Whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called thee from the chief men thereof, And said unto thee, Thou my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away." Israel is here pointed forward to his higher destiny than the being a servant of idols. He is chosen to be the servant of the living God. And he is one, between wThom and God none may in¬ terpose. He is chosen of God, and delighted in by Him, as the seed of Abraham, his friend, with whom he condescended to have familiar inter¬ course. He is chosen of God, — who, in opposition to all human unbelief, here emphatically declares, C! I have not cast thee away.” The complete sup¬ planting of the enemy, whose gates he has been given to possess, is then described, (verses 10-12:) “ Fear thou not; for I am with thee : Be not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee, Yea, I will help thee, Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee. Shall be ashamed and confounded ; They shall be as nothing; And they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them. And shalt not find them, Them that contended with thee : They that war against thee shall be as nothing. And as a thing of nought." The powerful instrumentality, whereby this great Q 2 174 GREAT MIGRATION OF NATIONS, supplanting would be effected, is next pointed out. All difficulties would be removed, and swept away; and Israel would take root, and flourish, as was promised, (verses 13-16 ;) — “ For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand. Saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, — ye men of Israel ; I will help thee, saith the Lord, And thy Redeemer, — the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth : Thou shalt thresh the mountains, And beat — small, And shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, And the wind shall carry them away, And the whirlwind shall scatter them : But thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, Shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.” The Whirlwind here referred to, appears to be that described by Jeremiah, xxv, 15-33, and to which it may be good now, for a little, to direct our attention. It describes the course of judg¬ ment around Jerusalem, once, and again, and a third time. In the first and second circuits, the north, whither Israel had been removed, is passed by; but the third circuit ends in the north; and the whirlwind spends its fury there, producing that overwhelming movement of the nations, to which we adverted in our last Lecture ; whereby both the Romans and the Barbarians were alike removed, and obliged to give way to Israel — to the nations that had come of Jacob, and who seemed so near being crushed between them. (Jeremiah, xxv, 15-33 ;) — LECTURE VIII. FORETOLD BY JEREMIAH 175 “ For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, And cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, Because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the hand of the Lord, And made all the nations to drink, to whom the Lord had sent me: Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah ; And the Bangs thereof, and the Princes thereof ; To make them a desolation, an astonishment. An hissing, and a curse ; — as, this day.” [First Circuit of the Whirlwind round Jerusalem .] “ Pharoah, king of Egypt, and his servants; South. And his princes, and all his people ; And all the mingled people ; East. And all the kings of the land of Uz ; And all the kings of the land of the Philistines; West. And Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, And the remnant of Ashdod." [ Second Circuit of the Whirlwind .] “ Edom, and Moab, South. And the children of Ammon ; East. And all the kings of Tyrus, West. And all the kings of Zidon ; And the kings of the isles which — beyond the sea.” The whirlwind having thus swept around Jeru¬ salem once and again, the north being still com¬ paratively passed over ; it then takes a wider com¬ pass eastward. It comes round by Elam, and enters the north at last, by Media, whereby Israel had entered it : when the whole multitude of the nations there, far and near, one with another, even from the borders of China, to the extreme west, are set in motion ; and the effect is felt over all the world. [ Third Circuit of the Whirlwind.] “ Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, And — are in the utmost corners. South, 176 THE GREAT WHIRLWIND And all the kings of Arabia ; East. And all the kings of the mingled people That dwell in the desert, And all the kings of Zimri ; And all the king3 of Elam, And all the kings of the Medes, North. And all the kings of the north, Ear and near, one with another ; And all the kings of the world. Which are upon the face of the earth ; And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them." The great nations then fall, and rise no more, whilst Israel, who had been small, is lifted up, and given to ride upon the high places of the earth. They are carried forward in the great movement, and set down in the place which the God of their fathers had, from old time, appointed ; where they were to renew their strength ; and thence spread abroad, to the encompassing of all nations. “ Therefore thou shalt say unto them. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue. And fall, and rise no more, Because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse To take the cup at thine hand to drink, Then thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ve shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name. And should ye be utterly unpunished ? Ye shall not be unpunished : For I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, Saith the Lord of hosts." In the same prophet, ch. xxx, 23, it is said : “ Behold the Whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing Whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.” This LECTURE VIII. FORETOLD BY JEREMIAH. 177 seems to be that same wicked one , the man of Rome, who is here said to be given to the sword ; with regard to whom it is said in Rev. xiii, 3, “ I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death ; and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast.” And again, in verse 14, he is described as being “ the beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live.” “ Therefore prophecy thou against them all these words. And say unto them, the Lord shall roar from on high. And utter his voice from his holy habitation ; He shall mightily roar upon his habitation, He shall give a shout as they that tread — Against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come to the ends of the earth ; For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations ; He will plead with all flesh ; He will give the wicked to the swokd, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day From one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth : They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; They shall be dung upon the ground.” The truth of the foregoing prophecy may, per¬ haps, best be illustrated by the following account of the attack of the Romans, upon what wTere called the barbarous nations in the north of Europe ; and next of the ample revenge which the latter took of that great beast, and strong exceed¬ ingly, that brake in pieces the whole earth. This account of one of the Roman invasions, is partly by the Emperor himself, under whose conduct it took place. 178 THE WHIRLWIND IN “After the assassination of Alexander Severus, the ferocious Max- imin assumed the contaminated purple, and announced his accession to the north of Germany, in a series of victorious slaughter and un¬ relenting devastation. So irresistible was the tempest, that unless, says the historian, the Germans had escaped by their rivers, marshes, and woods, he would have reduced all Germany into subjection. His haughty letters to the senate display the exultation and ferocity of his mind. ‘ We cannot relate to you,’ says he, ‘ how much we have done. For the space of four hundred miles we have burnt the German towns ; we have brought away their flocks, enslaved their inhabitants, and slain the armed. We should have assailed their woods, if the depth of their marshes had permitted us to pass.’ “ This destructive invasion, like many other evils, generated, by the greatness of the necessity, a proportionate benefit. A modern writer has very happily ascribed to it the ‘ formation of that important confederation, which, under the name of Franks, withstood the Roman ^rmy, and preserved the liberties of Germany.’ ” — Turner’s Anglo-Saxons, Vol, I, page 138, fifth edition. The Breaker thus came up before Israel ; nor was it long before they passed through the gate, and went out by it, to the encompassing, as they now do, the world. The further progress of the Whirlwind, — the irruption of the northern, or rather north-eastern nations, into the south and west of Europe, and of the settlement herein of the Gothic and Saxon race, is given in the words of the distinguished historian, Robertson, a writer of great authority. Still, we must make allowance for mistakes, occa¬ sioned by the writer being anxious to assign a cause for every thing, — without being acquainted with the true theory according to which the phe¬ nomena might be rightly explained. “ When the fierce barbarians in the north of Europe, and of Asia, fell upon the Roman empire, wherever they marched, their route was LECTURE VIII. THE NORTH OF EUROPE. 179 marked with blood. They ravaged or destroyed all around them. They made no distinction between what was sacred and what was profane. They respected no age, or sex, or rank. What escaped the fury of the first inundation, perished in those which followed it. The most fertile and populous provinces were converted into deserts, in which were scattered the ruins of villages and cities, that afforded shelter to a few miserable inhabitants whom chance had preserved, or the sword of the enemy, wearied with destroying, had spared. The conquerors who first settled in the countries which they had wasted, were expelled or exterminated by new invaders, who, coming from regions farther removed from the civilized parts of the world, were still more fierce and rapacious. This brought fresh calamities upon mankind, which did not cease, until the north, by pouring forth successive swarms, was drained of people, and could no longer furnish instruments of destruction. Famine, and pestilence, which always march in the train of war, when it ravages with such incon¬ siderate cruelty, raged in every part of Europe, and completed its sufferings. If a man were called on to fix upon the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most calamitous and afflicted, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Theodosius the Great, to the establishment of the Lombards in Italy. The contemporary authors, who beheld that scene of desolation, labour, and are at a loss, for expressions to describe the horror of it. TThe Scourge of God, the Destroyer of Nations , are the dreadful epithets by which they distinguish the most noted of the barbarous leaders ; and they compare the ruin which they had brought on the world, to the havoc occasioned by earthquakes, conflagrations, or deluges, — the most formidable calamities which the imagination of man can conceive. “ But no expressions can convey so perfect an idea of the de¬ structive progress of the Barbarians, as that which must strike an at¬ tentive observer, when he contemplates the total change which he will discover in the state of Europe, after it began to recover some degree of tranquillity, towards the close of the sixth century. The Saxons were, by that time, masters of the southern and more fertile provinces of Britain; the Franks, of Gaul ; the Huns, of Pannonia; the Goths, of Spain; the Goths and Lombards, of Italy and the adja¬ cent provinces. Very faint vestiges of the Roman policy, jurispru¬ dence, arts, or literature, remained. New forms of government, new 180 VAST INCREASE OF POPULATION. laws, new manners, new dresses, new languages, new names of men and countries, were every where introduced. To make a great or sudden alteration with respect to any of these, unless where the ancient inhabitants of a country have been almost totally exterminated, has proved an undertaking beyond the power of the greatest conquerors. The great change which the settlement of the barbarous nations occasioned in the state of Europe, may therefore be considered as a more decisive proof than even the testimony of contemporary his¬ torians, of the destructive violence with which these invaders carried on their conquests, and of the havoc which they had made from one extremity of this quarter of the globe to the other.” — View of the State of Europe, sec. 1. The immense increase of these northern nations has been acknowledged, on all hands; and dif¬ ferent theories have been formed to account for it ; and, also, for how they could be contained in the north, from which they seemed to issue in such myriads. If they had, in truth, been pro¬ duced and sustained solely in the north, this would have been no less a miracle than the feed¬ ing of their fathers in the wilderness of Sinai, previous to their being given possession of the land of Canaan. But we plead for no such mira¬ cle. There is no necessity for this, when we allow them the position we have pointed out, in the east of Europe, immediately behind that great wall of empires, by which the way of Israel Avas so long hedged up, that she could not find her paths. Sir William Temple supposes these nations had increased by an indiscriminate commerce of the sexes, or by a plurality of wives ; whilst directly the contrary of all this was the case, — these people being remarkable for chastity in their own LECTURE VIII. THEORIES RESPECTING IT. 181 homes ; and with regard to polygamy, we see that, as in the case of the Turks, this may rather tend to the decrease of the population. He sup¬ poses that men will increase faster as barbarians, than as being civilized; which, facts seem abun¬ dantly to disprove. Look, for example, to the case of the red and white races in America : the former are rapidly melting away before the latter, and that whether they be at war with each other, or living in peace. It may be said that the North Americans, if not at war with the Whites, are busy destroying each other; but so also were the northern nations, and yet they continued to increase. It may again be said, that the North Americans are destroyed by an excessive use of ardent spirits ; but this excess also existed among these northern nations in Europe, so that “ a drunken Dane” came to be a common expression; and yet they continued to increase, and overflow all around them. Nor is it true, that they have now ceased to increase. Their increase is indeed more peaceable : but still it is onward, and even much greater than before ; only, now they do not require to break through the bounds of others, in order to obtain room in which to dwell. Having reached these maritime parts, they spread abroad in every direction, and plant themselves on every shore ; and colonize the globe. Their case, either before taking possession of the foreground of Europe, or since, cannot be accounted for, except upon the supposition, that the Lord “ had a favour R 182 GREAT CHANGE IN EUROPE. for them/* and that they are “ the seed which the Lord hath blessed.” That they are indeed the very people we are in search of, will still farther appear, if we consider the aspect of society in Europe, after the Roman Empire had been en¬ tirely subverted ; and when the genius of this new people had got full time to become developed. The face of society was entirely changed. Let us see whether the character of these great changes be fully consistent with the idea that the people who produced them were the children of those fathers whose training we have traced. We shall now briefly advert to a few of the more general outlines ; and afterwards exemplify the truth of our proposition, more minutely, in the case of the English nation. We have seen that Israel were not allowed to rest in the patriarchal form of government. As soon as their circumstances allowed, they were accustomed, first, to aristocratic rule, or govern¬ ment by a few, — these being the natural leaders of the people. They had thereafter introduced among them the democratic principle, — the peo¬ ple delegating their power to men who acted in their name, either for counsel or judgment. Now one of the grand changes which took place upon the dissolution of the Roman Empire, was the universal establishment of this same mixed form of government. “ Wherever they seated them¬ selves,” observes Sir Wm. Temple, “ they left a constitution, which has since been called, in LECTURE VIII. ISRAELITISH INSTITUTIONS. 183 most European languages, the States ; consisting of three orders — noble, ecclesiastic, and popular, under the limited principality of one person, with the style of King, Prince, Duke, or Count. The remainder at least, or traces hereof, appear still in all the principalities founded by these people in Italy, France, and Spain ; and were of a piece with the present constitutions in most of the great dominions on the other side the Rhine.” It may be remarked, that the Northerns claim, for their civil institutions, an origin in the most remote antiquity ; and that some of them have claimed for them, as well as for the names of some of their cities, an Israelitish origin. Their Go¬ vernments, like that of Israel, were almost all representative or constitutional, a form peculiar to Israel and the nations of Europe. Their laws were strict; and administered, in each nation, generally by twelve judges, having appointed cir¬ cuits, as we find recorded in the Bible of Samuel. Their Kings, like those of Israel, were generally hereditary in particular families; but the indivi¬ dual was often determined upon by popular elec¬ tion : and the Kings were more the principal agents in getting the law carried into effect, and in conducting the defence of the commonwealth, — than arbitrary monarchs, making every thing minister to their private gratification. The people themselves, by their minute subdivision into hun¬ dreds, and tens ; and by their mutual subordina¬ tion and oversight, exactly analogous to what was 184 ISRAELITISH INSTITUTIONS. the case with regard to ancient Israel, greatly as¬ sisted in the preservation of social order : so that the civil condition, at home, of these people, was often strongly in contrast to the buccaneering or privateering excursions of the more restless por¬ tion of them abroad ; of those who went forth to be avenged on their great adversary Rome, and to take possession of the colonies of that empire, which had so continually been spoiling them of their own country, and driving them in upon the inhospitable north. Whether migrating, or abiding at home, their form of society seems to have had a most germinating power. Every little band of them formed a community, with rules, and par¬ tition of duty, such as might enable them either to maintain their present position, or expand into a powerful state, as occasion might require, or cir¬ cumstances allow. This subdivision of the people, and the association of these little communities, for more general purposes, into tribes or king¬ doms, prepared the way for that association of comparatively independent states, as in the Ger¬ man empire ; or still more largely, in the great European family of nations, with regard to which so much has been spoken about the balance of power. Thus far wuth regard to government ; — and as to property, the change was equally character¬ istic of Israel : among whom, although land was heritable, still individuals had not absolute pos¬ session thereof. It seems to have been reckoned LECTURE VIII. FEUDALISM. 185 a kind of public property; those who held it owed certain duties to the state ; they were liable to be called out in its defence. They thus were supported, in order that they might support the commonwealth. Civil offices might be paid for in the same way as thus were military services. Thus were the people less liable to taxation. Thus might all, from the lowest to the highest, feel that they were members of one whole ; and that, for the good of the whole, they had each duties to perform. Not only does this seem to have been the case when they were formerly in the land ; but such is again to be the case, as we find it plainly written, even with regard to the prince himself : — Ezek. xlv, 8 ; ({ In the land shall be his possession, and my princes shall no more op¬ press my people.” It need not be remarked how naturally this accounts for the feudal system, over the origin of which, among these nations, so much mystery has hung. Feudalism universally prevailed among the nations who, after the tem¬ pest had subsided, were found settled in western Europe. The feudal system also prevailed equally among those that were farther removed from the Romans, as among those that were near. The principle among all was this, that land was public property, for which services wTere due to the state : to the king, as the representative of the state, by the great holders of land, in the first instance ; and then, through them, by the subordinate holders ; every one rendering his service to him r 2 186 CLERGY : - CHIVALRY. that was immediately above him, until it reached the throne, which itself was supposed to be held by the grace of God, as expressed in the voice of the people. There wTas wisdom in the contrivance, beyond what could be expected to originate in barbarism, or mere chance. The system, however, was doubtless abused ; and the great holders nowT retain the property, without the trouble of render¬ ing the state any considerable recompence for that with which they were originally intrusted for the public good. Among some of these people, as, for example, in Norway, the right of redemption, as in Israel, also remained. A like provision was made in Israel, for the ministers of religion : The Levites had their own possessions in land throughout the tribes, beside the free-Avill offerings that might be presented them by the people. They had also much to do, as to the teaching and administration of the lawT. Correspondent to this, is the change noticed by Sir William Temple, to have taken place in the state and provision of the clergy in Europe, after the embrace of Christianity by the northern na¬ tions. When these nations were only, in a manner, holding military possession of Europe, and had not fully established their civil institutions, they had, (like Israel in a similar situation, as in the days of the Judges,) an order of men assisting in the administration of justice, who could only be looked for among a people, whose moral feelings LECTURE VIII. HANSEATIC LEAGUE. 187 had been cultivated to a remarkable degree. I advert to the order of Chivalry ; to an order of men, who, sacrificing personal ease, and all expec¬ tation of private gain, went forth in search of opportunities of avenging wrong, and relieving the oppressed : — An order of men, combining in their character, besides this remarkable display of conscientiousness and benevolence, the most courteous and chaste regard for woman, and re¬ verence for religion. With them, the sword was consecrated by religion, to be wdelded by the most punctilious honour, in the support of morality. Chivalry, doubtless, degenerated much into empty parade and other abuses ; but withal, it was of immense use, in improving the civil condition and social intercourse of these nations, after the con¬ fusion that accompanied their first settlement in western Europe. The Teutonic order of Knighthood was not more remarkable than the Teutonic League for the furtherance and protection of commerce. The vast extension of the Hanseatic League, spreading its ramifications throughout Europe, and bringing together the productions of India, the manufac¬ tures of Italy, and the bulky, but no less useful commodities of the North; and the wisdom with which the measures of the league were planned in their general assemblies; and the vigour and regard to principle with which they were con¬ ducted towards a successful termination, until they cleared the rivers, and all other great thorough- 188 corporations: — free-masonry. fares, of the predatory bands that had infested them; and made their alliance be courted, and their power be dreaded by the greatest of monarchs: — all this argues an intellectual and moral capacity, such as we could scarcely expect to spring up among, or originate from, a barbarous people. And it was among the new inhabitants, and not among the remains of the Roman race in Europe, that all this took place. The same thing, in its degree, took place in the several towns and cities of this people, where those following the same craft or occupation, generally associated together for their mutual assistance and protection, — as in guilds ; and the several guilds were again combined in burgh- corporations ; in which again the representative principle was at work, and men were in training for more extensive public employment. Of all associations among this people, that of Free-Masonry is perhaps the most remarkable, as well as longest preserved ; whereby the ancient architecture of the days of Solomon, and the mystic meaning of the ancient symbols which were used by this art in the more important buildings, such as cathedrals, were so wonderfully preserved. If our theory be correct, as doubtless it is, there will not be so much of vain preten¬ sion in the craft, as many have rashly supposed. Their origin may then most truly be referred to the days of Solomon, King of Israel, and Hiram, King of Tyre ; and a better account may be given LECTURE VIII. HERALDRY: - THE CRUSADES. 189 of our peculiar style of architecture, and its nar¬ row lights, than has hitherto been proposed. The rites of free-masonry also indicate such a connec¬ tion with Egypt, as had the children of Israel. Heraldry, or the science of ensigns — of symbols, as connected with the history of nations or lesser societies, or of distinguished families or individu¬ als, or as designating office, — and the origin and use of which has been so lost in obscurity — seems to have had the same source as the institutions already referred to. Some faint emanations of it may perhaps be found previously, in Europe ; but the great blaze of its glory is only to be seen after the settlement here of the nations we have supposed to come of Jacob. The first grand dis¬ play of it was among these nations, and during the crusades. This use of such variety of ensigns, and of the language of colours, and precious stones, and metals, may best be accounted for, by the variety of standards existing among the tribes of Israel ; and by the symbolical use which was made, amongst them, of these very matters, — even in things the most sacred ; and to which we should be glad more particularly to direct our at¬ tention, than we have now an opportunity. The Crusades themselves are highly consistent with the truth of our view. It has been observed, that this was the only enterprise in which the Eu¬ ropean nations ever engaged; and this they all undertook with equal ardour. This, to say the least of it, is somewhat singular. And we may 190 THE CRUSADES. help to account for the frenzy, which then so generally seized the minds of men in this matter, if we suppose that still there were some lingering recollections existing among them, of the value of the land of their fathers, — some remaining hope of a happy return to the scenes of their early, and also, their prophesied glory ; w'hich, mingling with the views and prospects of Christianity, as they had received it, became so blended therewith, as that the former was lost in the latter : and the yearning they had for their dear mother, Jeru¬ salem, and the place of their father’s sepulchres, took the form of a zeal for the defence of the holy city, and the place of the holy sepulchre, from infidel cruelty, rapacity, and pollution. Thus the whirlwind wTent round ; and the west wTas precipi¬ tated back upon the east. Like Israel, as coming up from the wilderness, they made a wilful attempt to take possession of the land ; in wThich they were put to shame, and made to turn back from before their enemies, into the wilderness, until they had been so trained, as that the land could, consistently with their true good, be given them in permanent possession. From that time to the present, the course of this people has been ever progressive. Their God has been ever, more and more, enriching them by his providence, and un¬ folding to them, still more clearly and largely, the treasures of His grace. They have been ever in a course of improvement. Discovery and invention have gone hand in hand ; and opportunities of LECTURE VIII. LANGUAGE. 191 consecrating these to the good of man, and the glory of God, have correspondently abounded. The providence of God, equally with the plain declarations of His word, testifies, most distinctly, to the truth of our Israelitish origin. As to Language, it is granted that this could not of itself identify a people ; or distinguish Israel, for example, from the Canaanites, who seem to have spoken the same language with that of Israel; nor does that of Babylon appear to have been greatly different : and we know that the very people referred to, have, in many cases, changed their language ; so that the words used by a na¬ tion, in one age, can scarcely be understood by their descendants in another. Still it may be ex¬ pected that a sufficiency would remain of the Hebrew, to tell of this people’s former acquaint¬ ance therewith, — and such is the case. It has been observed by linguists, that a very great deal of the ancient language of Israel, exists in the modern languages of Europe ; and, that it is through a Gothic medium that this plentiful supply of Hebrew has come. So much have these languages been thrown into a Hebrew mould, that a French abbe has lately proposed to make use of the Hebrew, as the grand key to these languages, — as that whereby they may most easily be acquired; and, it is said, he has been remarkably successful. The time of the Introduction of Christianity among this people is rather remarkable : it was 192 MUSIC AND POETRY. just when it was fading away into mere formalism or superstition, in all other parts of the world ; and when, throughout the east, it was being en- gulphed by Mahommedanism, so as to be threa¬ tened with entire extinction in all its original seats. Then did it reach these nations — then did it take root among them, — and thence did they become, emphatically, Christendom. And, contrary to all other people, their course has been progressive with regard to religion, as it has been with re¬ gard to every thing else. It need scarcely be remarked, that both Poetry and Music were greatly cultivated in Israel. These were accomplishments which, it might be ex¬ pected, would be eminently possessed by a people who were to be peculiarly devoted to the worship of God — the Most High over all the earth : and accordingly, they, especially the Germans, have been remarkable for musical talent, — and parti¬ cularly as to instrumental music; and the genius of their music appears to be very much like that of the Jews. With regard to poetry, in all its varieties, these nations have been remarkable. Poetry was greatly cultivated, even among the operatives, in the cities of Germany. And in Italy, after the genius of the Gothic race began to develope itself in verse, one of the most impor¬ tant changes that we observe, is the production of the Sonnet, or song, of fourteen lines, in which so much was written by Petrarch. In the same age, Antonio a Tempo, a civilian at Padua, who wrote LECTURE VIII. SCRIPTURE SONNETS. 193 on poetry, distinguishes sixteen different kinds of Sonnet. Now, the like variety of this kind of composition prevails to an immense extent in the Scriptures, as has abundantly been exemplified in the course of these lectures. This might still more largely be exemplified in the songs of degrees, in the book of Psalms. It will scarcely be said that these people learned to write sonnets from their perusal of the Scriptures, as conveyed to them through a Christian medium : for, so far as I know, these sonnets have lain unobserved in the Scrip¬ tures from the time the Bible was first circulated in Europe. That kind of composition, along with many others, amounting to above an hundred, seems to have been preserved among the people of Israel, during all their wanderings ; although they do not seem to have recognized it in their own Sacred Writings, when these were restored to them through the medium of Christianity. These are the people who have already been blessed with the choicest blessings, both temporal and spiritual. When darkness overspread the earth, and gross darkness the people, it was upon them that the light dawned, at the time of the Reformation ; just as it was towards their part of the world, as we have already seen, that the preach¬ ing and the epistles of the apostles, all went forth at the beginning 'of the Christian dispensation. And among them, or the people sprung from them, did not only that important change take place, — but, also, every revival in more modern s 194 BLESSINGS BESTOWED times. These are the people who have shewn the greatest adaptation of mind for the study of the Scriptures. They have not merely studied them most for themselves, — they have translated them into almost every tongue, and distributed them all over the globe. They are, besides, most in the position of waiting for the coming of their Lord, and the promised out-pouring of the Spirit. These are, certainly, much less than they ought, — still they are most in the position commanded and promised to Israel. Many, also, are the temporal blessings which have been conferred upon this race; — the numberless discoveries and improvements which have sprung up among them, and by them been distributed over the globe. Among the first of these was paper, the very fine substance of which books are now made ; allowing what would have formerly been a pretty extensive library, to be condensed into a volume, that may, without inconvenience, be carried in the pocket : and, that this may more effectually be accomplished, and copies multiplied at (comparatively) no labour and expense, — they have been given Printing. By steam power, the process of printing has been still further faci¬ litated, to an immense extent, and the books rapidly spread over the land, and sent even afar over the sea, — with almost tlife certainty of their reaching their destination at the appointed time. By the discovery of steam-power has the city been spread all over the country, and the country LECTURE VIII. UPON THE GOTHIC RACE. 195 brought, as it were, into the city; and remote corners of the earth brought into conjunction : whilst human labour is lightened, and the conve¬ niences of life are multiplied, to an amazing extent. Nor could these advantages have been enjoyed, but for the previous discovery of the compass, by which the great waste of waters can so easily be traversed ; — and gunpowder, by which all ob¬ structions can be so rapidly removed, in “ exalt¬ ing the valleys, and making low every moun¬ tain,” — so that highways may be cast up for the rapid conveyance of men, and the means of blessing them. How rapidly has education of late proceeded ! How has all science been searched out, and all arts improved, — and antiquities ran¬ sacked, and inventions multiplied. The Lord hath indeed been hastening his work in these our times. He hath been putting most liberally into our hands. He hath, also, been opening the eyes of many, here and there, to see wondrous things out of his law. May the beauty of His Word be indeed made to appear, — and may its power be felt ; and may, for this, the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and may his people indeed see their position — and their privilege, — and be tho¬ roughly persuaded to live not unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again ; they reckoning nothing that they may have as their own, but all as intrusted to their care, for the good of all, as they have opportunity. I know not of any objection to the supposition 196 OBJECTIONS. of this people being Israel, which has not been anticipated by the spirit of prophecy, and which may not be turned to the advantage of our argu¬ ment. Thus : — Had these, like the prodigal son, wandered into a far country, among fields of swine? Were they found eating things that are ceremonially unclean? Such was foretold of Israel. It was prophesied that he would eat unclean things, in the land of Assyria. Had they corrupted their re¬ ligion, so as even to become worshippers of wood and stone, and of new gods, which had newly come up? Such, also, was plainly foretold of Israel. Had they lost even the name of Israel, and were they not known as being the peculiar people of God ? This also was foretold. The prodigal son was not only to be lost to his father, but even to himself. But the lost son shall find himself : he hath al¬ ready, even when afar off, been found of his Father. “ Doubtless thou art our Father, (Is. lxiii, 16-19.) Though Abraham be ignorant of us. And Israel acknowledge us not : Thou, 0 Lord, art our Father, Our Redeemer — thy name from everlasting : O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, — Hardened our heart from thy fear ? Return, for thy servants’ sake, The Tribes of thine Inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are — : Thou never barest rule over them ; They were not called by thy name." LECTURE VIII. LECTUBE IX. THE ENGLISH IDENTIFIED WITH ISRAEL. It has been shewn how Israel nationally can have come into Europe. — The difficulties all on the other side. — Gothic-Scythian race. — Ancient Sacae and modern Saxon branch — Are traced to the same quarter as that to which Israel had been carried captive. — Whence the name, Saxon? The Saxons reach the north-west of Europe, and betake themselves to sea. — Come to the assistance of the inhabitants of South Britain, against those of the north. Their beauty : two remarkable circumstances connected therewith. — Saxon and Jewish form of head — Justice and Truth. — Independence of spirit — Ioterest in public affairs, and tendency to improvement. — Benevolence : its possession befits the design of God, with regard to Israel, and the present position of the English nation, for which they have been also intellectually gifted. — Promises to Israel, as acting worthy of her destiny. Having previously shewn that the Scriptures lead us to look for the lost Tribes of Israel in the north-west, — in Europe ; and that the whole scheme of Providence, especially with regard to the administration of the Word, is correspondent to this expectation : we, in the Lecture before last, proceeded to see whether history favours our view ; and we then saw that history, and the tra¬ ditions of the north, do require this view, in order to clear up what is otherwise inexplicable. Be¬ tween the third and sixth centuries, Europe, in a manner, changed its inhabitants. The new race issued from the north-east, — from the same quarter as that in which we saw that Israel had s 2 198 ROOM WAS MADE FOR ISRAEL left the most distinct traces of their sojourn. In our last Lecture we saw that the Scripture recog¬ nized the facts accompanying this mighty migra¬ tion of nations ; and the circumstances of Europe then, and now, — when, if Israel were to see out of obscurity, and out of darkness, they might look for their ancient enemies, and would not find them, — even all that contended with them ; so utterly have they been made a thing of nought. We then, also, saw that the whole phenomena of Europe, after that great change of its inhabitants, were correspondent to this view of the case. When the storm had abated, and when the at¬ mosphere had cleared, and a distinctive view could be had of how matters were settled, — we saw that every thing, so far as it was looked at, gave un¬ equivocal indications of its having been Israel who were given to possess the land, to the exclusion of the Romans and barbarians, — both of whom had sought their destruction, and had robbed them of the homes they previously had been given, be¬ tween the Don and the Danube, and in the neigh¬ bouring districts of the northern wilderness. We now enter still more minutely into this latter part of our subject ; and propose to take, as a specimen of the grand family of nations, one nearest home, — the Anglo-Saxon branch. This, of course, is not taken to the exclusion of the others; but it happens to be the first that arrested the lecturer’s attention, — one with regard to which it is of the most importance we should be resolved, LECTURE IX. IN WESTERN EUROPE. 199 — and one, to the evidence for which we have the most easy access. — It surrounds us on every side, and, hereafter, one of the most remarkable facts connected with this subject shall be, that such multifarious and obtrusive evidence should have been so long disregarded. We propose taking a view of the Anglo-Saxons chiefly anterior to their embrace of Christianity, at a time when their manners and institutions, political or religious, were uninfluenced by the Bible, as received through that medium. If, at that time, their physical appearance, their mental and moral character, their conduct in the private and public relations of life, their civil institutions, religious opinions, rites and ceremonies, and all else respecting them, be such as might reasonably be expected of Israel ; — if there be no incongruity, but every correspondency in the case : surely we may say that the truth has been now arrived at, on this important, and hitherto, most perplexing point ; and we may then proceed to see what should be its practical influence, — which we believe to be no less important. If a young man had gone a-missing, (and this is the lost son,) what else could be done ? The father knew the marks of the son, and has ascertained the direction in which he wandered; — all these he has clearly pointed out. Let us now see to whom they apply. The people to whom they all apply, and who are found at the time and in the place predicted, are, we may rest assured, the children of the promise ; 200 THE SAXONS CAME FROM WHENCE the nations that were to come of Jacob, the very seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, as well as the greater part of those who are also his children by faith. We before saw that the Scripture leaves captive Israel, in the north, — in the cities of the Medes, and in other places in the northern possessions of Assyria. Now it is a remarkable fact, that to this very quarter are the Anglo-Saxons traced by Sharon Turner, in his valuable history of this people. Where Israel was lost, there the Saxons were found. Here are two puzzles which have been long enough before the historians: — Whither went Israel, the most important people as to the promises and purposes of Jehovah ? — Whence sprung the Saxons, the most distinguished of all the families of mankind in the providence of God ; and especially as to the benefits he hath bestowed upon them, and enabled them to bestow upon others ? Why should we needlessly create a dif¬ ficulty, and make the Most High work contradic- tively, and produce miracles without a cause? Why cut off the people to whom the promises were made, and whom He said he would not utterly destroy, although he would seem to do so ? Why cut off this people, and in the same place, raise up another people, from an origin altogether unknown, — answering in every respect to the character he had been so long giving to the former race; and having also, to the most minute particulars, the destiny of Israel fulfilled in them ? Is this likely ? LECTURE ix. ISRAEL HAD BEEN CARRIED. 201 Is it consistent with the wisdom, and truth, and faithfulness of God? It is not. — It has nothing, either in or out of Scripture, to support it ; and might at once be rejected. Yet we proceed : — Speaking of the second, the Teutonic stock of' the European population, Sharon Turner observes, “ It is peculiarly interesting to us, because, from its branches, not only our own immediate ances¬ tors, but also those of the most celebrated nations of modern Europe have unquestionably descended. The Anglo-Saxons, Lowland Scotch, Normans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Lombards, and Franks, have all sprung from that great fountain of the human race, which we have distinguished by the terms Scythian, German or Gothic. The first appear¬ ance of the Scythian tribes in Europe, may be placed, according to Strabo and Homer, about the eighth, or, according to Herodotus, in the seventh century, before the Christian era.” — Even the former of these dates, it may be observed, is the same wfith that of the Assyrian captivity. “ The first scenes of their civil existence, and of their progressive power, were in Asia, to the east of the Araxes ;” — the very district into which Israel had been brought, by those whose purpose with regard to them was so very different from this, the purpose of God. “Here they multiplied, and extended their territorial limits, for some centuries, unknown to Europe.” The account of Diodorus is, that the Scythians, formerly incon- 202 ANCIENT NOTICES siderable and few, possessed a narrow region on the Araxes ; but, by degrees, they became more powerful in numbers and in courage. They exten¬ ded their boundaries on all sides ; till, at last, they '“raised their nation to great empire, and glory.” All this is most consistent with the promise made to the house of Joseph, whose very name means increase. “ One of their kings becoming va¬ liant and skilful in the art of war, they added to their territory, the mountainous regions about Caucasus ; also the plains towards the ocean ; and the Palus Maeotis, with the other regions near the Tanais,” the very quarter in which are to be found the Israelitish burying places we before pointed out. “ In the course of time, they sub¬ dued many nations between the Caspian and Maeotis, and beyond the Tanais or Don. In the time of Herodotus, they had gained an important footing in Europe. They seem to have spread into it from the Tanais to the Danube ; and to have then taken a westerly direction ; but their kindred colonies, in Thrace, had extended also to the south. They have become best known to us, in recent periods, under the name of Getae, or Goths, the most celebrated of their branches.” With regard to the Saxons in particular, Sharon Turner proceeds to observe, “ they were a German or Teutonic, that is, a Gothic or Scythian tribe : and of the various Scythian nations which have been recorded, the Sakai or Sacae are the people from whom the descent of the Saxons may be in- LECTURE IX. OF THE SACAE OR SAXONS. 203 ferred, with the least violation of probability. They were so celebrated, that the Persians called all the Scythians by the name of Sacae. They seized Bactriana, and the most fertile part of Armenia, which from them derived the name of Sakasina. They defeated Cyrus, and they reached the Cap- padoces on the Euxine. That some of the divi¬ sions of this people were really called Sakasuna, (from which we have our word Saxon, or Sacson,) is obvious from Pliny ; for he says, that the Sakai who settled in Armenia, were named Sacassani, which is but Saka-suna, spelt by a person who was unacquainted with the meaning of the com¬ bined words ; and the name Sacasena, which they gave to the part of Armenia they occupied, is nearly the same sound as Saxonia. It is also important to remark, that Ptolemy mentions a Scythian people sprung from the Sakai, by the name of Saxones.” Many opinions have been given as to the origin of this name Saxon : we may mention one, which has not the less proba¬ bility of truth, from the fact that every former one has proved unsatisfactory. We suppose it derived from Isaac, by which, we find from Amos, this house of Israel had begun to denominate itself, just before the captivity. It was usual to contract the commencement of the name, espe¬ cially when they combined it with any other word, or when it came to be familiarly applied : Saxon is, literally or fully expressed, the son of Isaac. But our argument stands not in need of this 204 SAXONS REACH WESTERN EUROPE: - etymology, although possibly it may have some connection with the promise made to our father Abraham, “ In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” The Saxons having reached the western extre¬ mity of the European continent, the Cimbric Chersonesus, now called Jutland, and having spread out to the three smaller islands, North Straudt, Busen, and Helig-land, betook them¬ selves much to a sea-faring life ; and proved con¬ siderably troublesome to their enemies the Romans, by the skilfulness and courage of their attacks upon the western provinces of the empire. They early made descents on Britain ; so that, even while the Romans held possession of the island, an officer had to be appointed to guard from their attacks, the eastern coast, which began now to get the name of the Saxon shore. When wdiat were called the Barbarians, began in earnest to avenge themselves on Rome, (which certainly had, upon the whole, shewn but little mercy to them,) then were the Romans obliged to contract their empire ; to withdraw their forces from the more remote provinces, in order to defend those that were nearer the centre, and more valuable. They left the Britons to manage matters for them¬ selves. These had, through disuse, it is said, become incapacitated either for counsel or for wrar, so that, when left by the Romans, — who had previously kept all, as it were, in their own hands, — they felt themselves quite unable, single-handed, to meet the dangers that surrounded them. The lecture ix. ARE INVITED INTO BRITAIN. 205 Scots and Piets came pouring in upon them from the north ; whilst the Saxons renewed their descents upon the eastern coast. The idea seems to have struck the Britons, of playing off these enemies the one against the other, and they were so far successful. The Saxons came into the pay of the Britons. Some say that it was at the earnest request of the Britons, that the Saxons now visited South Britain, to defend it against their brethren of the Pictish line, who had already come into the possession of the eastern coast of Scotland. However this may be, cer¬ tain it is, that they did come, and fight success¬ fully for the Britons. They were given the isle of Thanet; — afterwards they obtained the county of Kent, and so onward they proceeded, until the far better part of the island came into their pos¬ session. The original inhabitants were, by one means and another, excluded : so that Saxon laws, religion, and language, wrere universally estab¬ lished. These people had come over in different bodies, at different times, and planted a number of independent kingdoms, generally called the Heptarchy. These gradually merged into one kingdom ; and, in the mean time, they adopted the profession of Christianity. The nation was fast degenerating into monkish sloth and super¬ stition, when they were fearfully aroused by the rude incursions of the Danes ; who were of the same origin with the Saxons ; professed the same religion which the Saxons had professed, at the 206 PERSONAL BEAUTY OF time of their coming into Britain ; — they also spoke a dialect of the same language. The Danes bore sway, for some time, in the island; and, at length, became one nation with the Saxons ; apparently throwing them back into partial bar¬ barism, but really invigorating the English stock ; and the more fitting this people for future great¬ ness. After a time, the Normans came next ; and produced another revolution in England; and another renewal of the northern blood : the Nor¬ mans being a colony of the same people, who had settled in that part of France, which was afterwards called Normandy. These three great immigrations into England, have been all from the same source. We might take either the Saxons, the Danes, or the Normans, as the par¬ ticular subject of our enquiry : but, independent of other considerations, the Saxons seem to claim our principal attention, as having been the first comers, and as having given birth to the greatest body of the people. One of the very first things to which our atten¬ tion was drawn, in 'considering the case of ancient Israel, was their physical appearance, — their per¬ sonal beauty, and this we saw was recorded, not merely of the mothers of the race, but specially of Joseph, whose posterity w7e seek to identify. The modern Jews, are many of them very dark complexioned, chiefly perhaps, as having become so intimately blended with the children of Ham ; but as to ancient Israel, much is said of their LECTURE IX. THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 207 fairness. Correspondent to all this., is the descrip¬ tion of the Anglo-Saxons, upon their coming into Britain. They are described as being e( fair of complexion, cheerful of countenance, Very comely of stature, and their limbs to their bodies well proportioned.” Two most remarkable events, in the history of this people, are connected with their beauty: these are, their first settlement in the country, and their conversion to Christianity. As to the former, we read that the kinswoman of Hengist, one of their first leaders, so won the heart of the British monarch, that he delivered himself over to her counsels; and so left the greatest and most valuable part of the island to be possessed by her countrymen ; whilst he retired, and began to build for himself in Wales. We are also told, that when, after the settle¬ ment in Britain, some of their youths were exposed as slaves, in the markets at Rome, they so attracted the attention of Gregory, afterwards Pope, that he stopped to ascertain what they were, and whence they had come ; and upon being told they were Angles, he said they were rightly called angels. “ It suits them well,” said he, “ they have angel faces, and ought to be co-heirs of the angels in heaven.” So powerfully did the sight of these youths impress his imagination, that he ceased not until he procured a mission from Rome, consisting of Austin and other monks, for the conversion of their countrymen. There are examples, at that period, of English youths 208 THEIR FORM OF HEAD. being, because of their beauty, preserved from exe¬ cution, even after having been sentenced to -death. It may be gathered from Scripture, that con¬ siderable attention was, among the Israelites, paid to the dressing of the hair ; and among the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, fine hair was considered one of the greatest ornaments ; and they were at no little pains in setting it off to the best advant¬ age. Now, fine and well-dressed hair is not readily found among a rude people ; it rather indicates that the race possessing it, have, like Israel, been very long under mental training. One of the very first things which struck me in this enquiry, and which indeed puzzled me exceedingly, before I knew how to solve the prob¬ lem, was the great similarity of the Jewish head to the Saxon. If, thought I, these are of two different sons of Noah, the one of Japhet, and the other of Shem, how does it come that they are both reckoned of the same, the Caucasian, family, and of the same most improved branch of that family ? Those who have looked at the heads of the different races, and diligently com¬ pared them ; and seen them to be, in general, so strongly in contrast to the European head, — far their superior in beauty and power, will readily acknowledge that this is no minor matter. The Jewish and Saxon head, are of the same general form ; and, what is far from being the case among the several branches of the Caucasian family, they are of the same size, — one of the largest, the LECTURE IX. REGARD TO JUSTICE. 209 very largest, possessing any pretension to beauty. The head is high, and has an ample anterior development ; but is by no means deficient in the domestic propensities behind ; so that it is rather elongated, than round ; and the sides are perpen¬ dicular rather than sloping. The size and form of the head, serve, much more accurately than complexion, to identify a race. Even the differ¬ ence that does exist of form, between the Saxon and the Jewish head, serves to corroborate our view ; correspondent as it is, to the difference of character between the two families of Israel, as pointed out in Scripture. One of the principal things in which Israel was educated, — and a strict attention to which wras interwoven with all their private and national concerns, and which may be expected to distin¬ guish the race, — wras justice, and a regard to truth, as averred in the presence of the heart-search¬ ing God. Their laws were not merely put upon public record ; they were made familiar to the understandings of the people from infancy. And such was the case as to the ancestors of the English, of whom it is written, that t( their laws were severe, and vices not laughed at ; and good customs were of greater authority with them, than elsewhere were good laws ; no temporizing for favour, nor usury for gain.” It need not be remarked, with regard to their descendants, that their probity is remarked, and depended upon, all over the world. It may not, of course, have , t 2 210 THEIR INDEPENDENT SPIRIT. in every instance, been so complete as is desirable ; but still it is distinguished, and has mightily con¬ duced to procure them influence both as indivi¬ duals and as a nation. It is true, the Jews are represented as not being so strict in their observ¬ ance of truth, as might be expected from the training they enjoyed. Supposing the accusation to be correct, something must be allowed for the deteriorating circumstances in which, as an oppressed people, they have long been placed : whilst their brethren of the house of Israel, have been rather enjoying a kind of supremacy over other people. But even at an early period, the two houses were distinguished by different names, correspondent to this difference of character : the one being called treacherous Judah, and the other backsliding Israel. — (See Jer. chap, iii.) A wayward independent spirit ; a stiff-necked¬ ness of disposition ; an abuse of the tendency to rule ; is very much complained of in Scripture, as belonging to Israel ; and the same self-esteem and firmness are no less remarkable among many of their English descendants. The independent spirit of the latter, in respect to government, has been such as to procure them, from Defoe, more than a century ago, the following character : — “ No government could ever please them long. Could tie their hands, or rectify their tongue ; In this to ancient Israel well compared, Eternal murmurs are among them heard.” This murmuring, however, seems in a great LECTURE IX. THEIR PROSPECTIVENESS. 211 measure, to have arisen, not merely from their self-will, but also from that prospectiveness so cultivated in ancient Israel, by the prophets, and by the whole tendency of their institutions. These looked forward, at least, as much as back¬ ward ; not merely as serving as a chronicle or record of the Lord’s past kindness to them ; but as indicators of the far greater goodness he wrould yet bestow. Accustomed to occupy their minds upon future national events, and to form an opinion of wThat ought to be ; they have been the more ready to find fault with the measures of government, — these, of course, not always corres¬ ponding to their individual anticipations. They may have been the more induced to take habitu¬ ally an interest in national concerns, from the fact of its having been continually impressed upon them, that they were dealt with by Providence, not merely as individuals, but as a nation : — that the people were responsible for the conduct of the rulers, as well as were the rulers responsible for the conduct of the people. — Their interests were one, and the oversight mutual. Israel, we have said, were ever taught to look forward : they were ever in a course of instruc¬ tion, — and a spirit of change was produced in them which has continued down, throughout all their wanderings, to these their remote posterity ; in whom, a restless spirit of improvement, is most remarkable ; and, of itself, distinguishes these, the Anglo-Saxon descendants, and their 212 THEIR BENEVOLENCE. European brethren and American children gene¬ rally, from all other people. The history of their constitution, their religion, their sciences, their arts, their literature, — of all connected with them, is, almost without exception, an exemplification of this most important law of their nature. Every thing is, with them, progressive, and, at the same time, wonderfully continuous. All which is most consistent both with their origin, and the training which, in their fathers, they received; and also, with God’s expressed design of making them the instructors of the world. Benevolence, — a hearty interest in the welfare of others, of strangers as well as of kindred, was especially needful for them to possess, as occupy¬ ing this important relation to the other branches of the human family : and this important gift was bestowed. They were taught to look to each other’s good ; to contribute systematically to the relief of the poor. When in devotion they looked up to the Most High, they wrere taught to look compassionately down upon the meanest around them ; and, by liberality to the poor and needy, to express their thankfulness to God, the Giver of all good. They were given to see the claims their kindred had upon them ; and they were also made to know the heart of a stranger: and so, w7ith regard to the Anglo-Saxons, it is said, that they even received all comers into their houses, and entertained them in the best manner their circumstances would allow. This hospitality was LECTURE IX. REASONING POWER. 213 doubtless abused, when they became intermingled with strangers ; and restrictions were necessarily adopted. The modern English, although not so extravagant, are still remarkable for their good will. They are perhaps the most genuinely benevolent people on the face of the globe. Their own poor they support systematically ; and the poor of other countries they have frequently assisted in the most liberal manner. Not seldom have they a good deal embroiled themselves in the quarrels of their neighbours ; as taking an hearty interest in their welfare, and as desirous of putting them to rights. Their benevolence has latterly been most delightfully exercised, in ear¬ nest endeavours to benefit the whole human race, with the riches of divine truth, which have been so intrusted to their distribution. They have, at the same time, been endeavouring to break every bond, as in the case of the previously enslaved negroes ; and they have done much to confer upon the nations, the blessings of an enlightened education, and a free constitution. Speaking thus, we do not speak of every individual of the English nation ; but benevolence, a generous .interest in the welfare of others, is undoubtedly a national characteristic, no less than the tendencies that dispose, and, in some measure, qualify for rule. This is the race who have shewn that cultiva¬ tion of the Reasoning Power which was so carefully given to Israel; that tendency to look to causes 214 WHEN MAY ISRAEL EXPECT and effects, which is so useful, either as enquiring into the natural laws for the furtherance of science; or as applying knowledge thus acquired, to the producing useful inventions, for the improvement of the arts ; for the lessening the evils, increasing the comforts, or gratifying the intellectual taste of man; and in no branch of the human family may we find the pleasing and the useful, so agreeably combined. They are well qualified to be the grand producers of good to man, as well as its most liberal distributors. It need scarcely be observed, that the other intel¬ lectual qualities that were more particularly cul¬ tivated in Israel; — such as the power of measuring distances, or judging of proportions ; and also that of drawing analogies and contrasts, of readily judging, and clearly illustrating; — qualities of mind so necessary to a people who wTere to bear an important relation to universal mankind, — that of instructors, administrators of the manifold wis¬ dom of God : these were, and still are, equally the characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race, with those we have already pointed out. And, as yet, their natural taste for symmetry, their extreme regard to order, their capacity for enjoying the Double (Job xi. 6. — Is. lxi. 7* — Zech. ix. 12,) will receive abundant gratification from that word of God, that bread of life, which they have now, in truth, begun to deal out to others. It is wThen she thus acts in her true character, that her true name will be given to Israel : for thus of old LECTURE IX. HER LIGHT AND GLORY? 215 it was said unto her, — and that just as the dark¬ ness was beginning to thicken around her ; thus ■was it said to her, prospectively to her being given her present most important position among the nations : (Isaiah lviii) : — “ Is not this the fast that I have chosen, IT To loose the bands of wickedness ; To undo the heavy burdens, And to let the oppressed go free, And that ye break every yoke ? i Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, And that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house : When thou seest the naked that thou cover him, And that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? II Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, And thine health shall spring forth speedily ; And thy righteousness shall go before thee, And the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward : Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; Thou shalt cry, and he shall say here — I." IT “ If thou take away from the mid3t of thee the yoke. The putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity. i And thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, And satisfy the afflicted soul. II Then shall thy light rise in obscurity ; And thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, And satisfy thy soul in drought, And make fat thy bones ; And thou shalt be like a watered garden ; And like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And — of thee shall build the old waste places ; Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations ; And thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach — The Restorer of paths to dwell in." And as charity is to accompany piety ; so a religious regard to the day and the word of God, 216 PROMISES TO ISRAEL. is to accompany the exercise of benevolence. The words which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, are not to be dealt with as if they were mere words. We are, especially on the day which God hath most kindly set apart for this particular purpose, earnestly to seek to enjoy them for ourselves ; and to deal them out, in all their richness of meaning, unto others. “ He that thus watereth others, shall be watered also him¬ self.” “ He that giveth shall increase.” “ The liberal soul shall be made fat.” “ If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, — Doing thy pleasure on my holy day; And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy of the Lord, honourable ; And shalt honour him, Not doing thine own ways, Nor finding thine own pleasures, Nor speaking — words. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father ; For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken." LECTUKE X. THE IDENTIFICATION .—SOCIAL AND POLITICAL RELATIONS. Supposed ferocity of the ancient Saxons and Danes accounted for. — Analogous case of the Cossacks, inhabiting the same country from which the Saxons came, and evidently of the same race. — Saxons’ respect for Woman. — Their Marriage Ceremonies derived from Israel. — Relation of parent and child. — Avenging of blood. — Voluntary associations. — Institution, by Moses, of Elective Govern¬ ment. — Correspondent arrangement among the Anglo-Saxons. — Israelitish cha¬ racter of their Constitution, by two old Authors. — Plainly of Israelitish origin ; and otherwise unaccounted for. — Common Law. — National Chronicles. — Conclu¬ sion : — Their social Institutions, equally with their personal character, witness to the truth of their Israelitish origin. To the representations made in last Lecture, with regard to the natural benevolence of the Anglo-Saxon race, it may perhaps be objected, that in the early history of both the Saxons and the Danes, there seems to have been mani¬ fested considerable ferocity of disposition. This, however, can be accounted for without supposing them to possess a predominant propensity to cruelty. Their very best feelings were, before their coming into Britain, so turned to evil, as mainly to conduce to such description of conduct. Their admission into the hall of Odin, (the father of slaughter, and god of fire and desolation) ; and all their future happiness, — depended, they were u 218 SUPPOSED FEROCITY OF THE SAXONS: taught to believe, upon the violence of their own death, and the number of their enemies they had slain in battle. This belief inspired them with a contempt of life, — a fondness for a violent death, and a thirst for blood, which happily are unknown in the present times. Thus that association of the warlike propensities with the higher religious sentiments, — which was produced in them when their nation was young, — when, under the leading of the Lord of hosts, they went forth to execute the sentence of extermination upon the wicked nations of Canaan ; and which was also afterwards manifested in the wars of David, — that connec¬ tion of valour and veneration, still existed, but in a depraved state, and with unhappy results, cor¬ respondent to the change in their object of wor¬ ship. We have also before hinted, that their very sense of justice may, in many instances, have had much to do with their deeds of violence. They had been robbed of their country by the Romans, and obliged to take refuge in the inhospitable north, where they were crowded together without the possibility of maintaining their existence, except as turning back upon the Roman provinces, and serving themselves there-from, as best they could. And, in such cases, the pusillanimous people who supported the proud oppressor, might expect to suffer, along with that oppressor him¬ self : and, the habit of committing violence being acquired, it was easily transferred to other cases, in which there was not the same excuse. LECTURE X. ANALOGOUS CASE OF THE COSSACKS. 219 That their courage was more that of principle, than of mere animal ferocity, is evident from the fact of their so soon settling down into a state of peace, after their conversion to Christianity. They then poured the energies of their minds into the more tranquil exercises of religion, with an enthusiasm equal to that with which they had devoted themselves to war. They then attempted conquests of another kind ; and became, many of them, the most active and efficient missionaries among other nations, and especially in the north of Europe. It seems also to have been at the instigation of one of them, Alcuinus, that Char¬ lemagne established so many facilities for learning and science on the continent, and especially in Germany, — which have produced such a powerful influence upon the human mind ever since. The case of the Anglo-Saxons, at this period of their history, seems to be considerably illustrated by that of the Cossacks, — who inhabit the same country as that in which we have supposed Israel to have dwelt, in the early part of their sojourn in the north country, and from which the Saxons came ; — that is, near the mouth of the Don, and along the back of the Black Sea. These people have got the credit of being wild and savage ; — and they certainly are dangerous enemies, and they do not well brook oppression : so much is this their character, that, even under the despot¬ ism of Russia, they form among themselves a kind of republic, and have much the same free 220 THE COSSACK INSTITUTIONS and liberal institutions as have the English, and as seem to be natural to the Saxon race generally, and the most important of which, we shall see they possess in common with ancient Israel. “ Nothing has contributed more to augment the colony of Don Cossacks, than the freedom they enjoy. Surrounded by systems of slavery, they offer the singular spectacle of an increasing republic ; like a nucleus, putting forth its roots and ramifications to all parts of an immense despotic empire, which considers it a wise policy to promote their increase, and to guarantee their privileges.” “ Some of the public edifices in Tscherchaskoy, (their capital,) are as follow : — “ The Chancery, in which the administration of justice, and all other public business, is carried on. One room in it is appropriated to their assembly for public debates, which much resembles our House of Commons. When a general assembly is convened, it consists of a president, with all the generals, colonels, and staff- officers, who hold councils, not merely of war, but of all affairs relating to the public welfare. “ Another court of justice, called Sclvesnesut, which signifies justice by word. The assemblies here, answer to our quarter-sessions. Parties who have any disagreement meet, with their witnesses, and state their grievances. Each receives a hearing, and afterwards justice is decided. “ The Public Academy, in which their youth receive instruction in geometry, mechanics, physic, geography, history, arithmetic, &c. “ The Apothecaries’ Hall. “ The Town Hall, of the eleven stanitzas into which the town is divided.” — Clarke’s Travels. In personal appearance, and even in customs of a very minute kind, as well as with regard to the general frame-work of their society, there is also a striking resemblance ; and possibly there is some connection in even the name, the latter part of the name Cos sack, being the same with the first lecture x. LIKE THOSE OF THE ENGLISH. 221 part of the name Sac son. It is the same name, the former having a prefix, the latter an affix. This people have been supposed to come from the west, whence some parties,- — as from Poland, — have joined them ; but the intelligent traveller, Glarke, is clearly of opinion that their own account of themselves, and that of ancient history, is correct, which give them rather an eastern origin. They are a remnant of the Saxon or Gothic race, left in that neighbourhood, whilst the great body of the people were driven westward; and they appear to be busy leavening the surrounding apparently heterogeneous masses, such as the beautiful Circassians, on the one hand, and the horrible Calmucks, on the other, — together with Tartars, Poles, Greeks, and Armenians, along with some Russians and Turks. An improved race is being produced from the whole, speaking, indeed, the Russian language, but having the mind and manners of the Cossack. Now, what is the Don- Cossack — who has, at a distance, appeared to us as only a wild free-booter ; and who certainly has not been placed in circumstances the most favour¬ able to morality ? “ The Cossacks,” observes Clarke, “ are justified in acting towards the Russians as they have uniformly done ; that is, in withdrawing as much as possible from all communion with a race of men, whose associations might corrupt, but never advance, the interests of their society.” He gives his own experience. “ The people of the house in which we had been so comfortably lodged, positively refused to accept payment for all the trouble we had given them. No entreaty could prevail upon any of them to allow us further satisfaction, by any remuneration. ‘ Cossacks/ said they, ‘do not sell their hospitality.’ ” u 2 222 COSSACK SOCIAL MANNERS Dr. Clarke has the following remarks, in des¬ cribing an entertainment given to him by the Commander-in-chief of the Cossack army. “ The morning after our return to Oxai, we received a message from General Vassili Petrovich Orlof, commander-in-chief of the Cossack army, stating, that he expected us to dine with him at his country-seat upon the Don. We set out, accompanied by our friend Colonel Papof, and a Greek officer in the Cossack service, whose name was Mamonof. The general had sent his carriage, with six fine Cossack horses, and several Cossacks mounted, with lances to escort us. We passed along the steppes, and occasionally through vineyards, planted with cucumbers, cabbages, Indian wheat, apple, pear, peach, and plum trees, and melons, for about ten miles, till we arrived at his house, which stood upon the European side of the river, opposite the town of Tscherchaskoy, and distant from it about five miles. Here we found elegant and accomplished women assem¬ bled round a piano-forte ; and afterwards sat down to as magnificent a dinner as any English gentleman might afford ; the whole of which was served upon plate. The company consisted of about twenty per¬ sons. The general presented us with mead thirty years old, which tasted like fine Madeira. He wished very much for English beer, having often drank it in Poland, A number of very expensive wines were brought round, many of them foreign ; but the wine of the Don seemed superior to any of them. As we sat banqueting in this sumptuous manner, I called to mind the erroneous notions vie had once entertained of the inhabitants of this country, and which the Russians still continue to propagate concerning the Cossack territory. Perhaps few in England, casting their eyes upon a map of this remote corner of Europe, have pictured in their imagination a wealthy and polished people, enjoying not only the refinements, but even the luxuries of the most civilized nations. The conversation had that enlightened and agreeable cast which characterizes well- educated military men. Some peculiarities, which distinguished the manners of our ancestors, and are still retained in the ceremonial feasts of ancient corporate bodies, might be observed. The practice of drinking toasts, and rising to pledge the security of the cup¬ bearer, was a remarkable instance. Another very ancient custom, still more prevalent, is that of bowing and congratulating any one LECTURE X. LIKE THOSE OF THE ENGLISH 223 who happens to sneeze. The Cossacks of the Don always did this. When we took leave of the general, he said, if we preferred return¬ ing by water, for the sake of variety, we might use his barge, which was prepared, and waiting to convey us. Being conducted to it, we found it manned by ten rowers, and decorated in a most costly man¬ ner. It was covered with fine scarlet cloth ; and Persian carpets were spread beneath a canopy of silk.” “Perhaps an anecdote which I shall now relate may render the contrast between the Cossacks and the Russians more striking. The truth of it, on account of its notoriety, will not be disputed by either party. Whenever a quarrel among the Cossacks causes them to combat each other, they fight, as in England, with their fists, and never with knives, daggers, or any sharp instrument. This practice is so established a characteristic of their country, that it gave rise to a very remarkable wager. Teplofif and Gelagin, two of the late Empress Catherine’s privy counsellors, happened to be in her pre¬ sence, when it was told her that a Cossack priest, then a monk in the Convent of St. Alexander Nevski, had been arrested for cutting the throat of a young woman, whom he had made pregnant, and with whom he had quarrelled; upon which TeplofF offered to wager with Gelagin that the monk was not a Cossack. The bet was made, and won by TeplofF ; the monk proving to be a Russian. Being questioned how he could possibly divine the probable success of his wager — ‘ Because,’ said he, ‘no Cossack would strike a woman ; if he did, he would use his hand, and not his knife.’ ” Clarke's Travels. The character of a people may be very much determined by their manner of treating Woman. The estimation in which she was held by ancient Israel, appears to have been remarkable. We find her eminently influential both for good and for evil ; as in the case of Deborah, among the judges; and of Jezebel, after the separation of the nation into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Among them were prophetesses and witches, as well as true and false prophets. The counsels of woman did sometimes prevail in the 224 WOMAN RESPECTED IN ISRAEL: most important public affairs, and under her guidance the arms of the nation were occasion¬ ally wielded with the greatest success. It does not seem that it was until after the separa¬ tion of the two kingdoms, that the women were separated from the men in the public worship, and were given a court outward from theirs in the temple. Even so early, as at the Red Sea, we find Miriam, the sister of Aaron, taking a timbrel, and leading forth the women after her, with timbrels and with dances, in the public rejoicing, saying, — “ Sing ye to the Lord, For he hath triumphed gloriously ; The horse and his rider hath thrown into the sea.” Afterwards we find this very Miriam, equally with Aaron, rivalling even Moses himself, and saying, “ Hath the Lord only spoken by Moses ? Hath he not also spoken by us ?” The very pos¬ sibility of such an occurrence as this taking place, argues a state of equality between the sexes, much greater than now exists in those countries, — and such as exists in our own. The innocent intercourse of the sexes does not appear to have been at all so constrained in ancient Israel, as it is now in the east, — but such as it is with us in Europe. It may perhaps be said, that the emancipation of woman, among ourselves, has been produced by Christianity. We, of course, cannot mean to deny this tendency in Christianity; but, here, this tendency does not seem to have been so much required: the Anglo-Saxons are thus described, during their early sojourn in Britain :— *■ lecture x. AND EQUALLY AMONG THE SAXONS. 225 “ The English in this period, treated the fair sex with a degree of attention and respect, which could hardly have been expected from a people so unpolished in their manners. This way of think¬ ing they undoubtedly derived from their ancestors, the ancient Ger¬ mans ; who not only admired and loved their women, on account of their personal charms, but entertained a kind of religious venera¬ tion for them, as the peculiar favourites of heaven ; and consulted them as oracles. Agreeable to this, we find some of the Anglo- Saxon ladies were admitted into their most august assemblies ; and great attention paid to their opinions ; and so considerable was their influence in the most important affairs, that they were the chief instruments of introducing Christianity into almost all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy.” — Henry’s Great Britain, Book ii, chap. 7. To the same purpose speaks Sharon Turner, in his history of this people : — “ It is well-known that the female sex were much more highly valued, and more respectfully treated, by the barbarous Gothic nations, than by the more polished states of the east. Among the Anglo-Saxons, they occupied the same important and independent rank in society which they now enjoy. They were allowed to possess, to inherit, and to transmit landed property ; they shared in all the social festivities ; they were present at the witena gemot, and shire gemot ; they were permitted to sue and be sued, in the courts of justice ; their persons, their safety, their liberty, and their property, were protected by express laws ; and they possessed all that sweet influence which, while the human heart is responsive to the touch of love, they will ever retain in those countries which have the wisdom and the urbanity to treat them as equal, intelligent, and independent beings.” — And the Anglo-Saxons, having the wisdom and urbanity thus to treat the fair sex, ought not, surely, to be accounted less polished than the most civilized nations of the east; — from among whom they had come : but from none of whom, save their Israelitish ancestors, they could learn that truly just and generous propriety, with 226 WOMAN UNDER PROTECTION. which woman was, throughout their various changes, treated among them. Notwithstanding this comparative equality, and, in some respects, superiority, of the fair sex, among the ancestors of the English, every woman was placed under some guardian or other, without whose consent she could not execute any legal deed. Thus the father was the guardian of his daughter ; the husband of his wife ; and the male heir of the husband was the guardian of the widow. The king was the legal guardian of those women who had no other. When a young man made his addresses to a lady, one of the first steps he took, was to secure the consent of her mundbora, or guardian, by making some present, suitable to his rank, and that of the lady. Some¬ thing similar to this we find related in the Scrip¬ tures, respecting contracts for marriage among the Hebrews. In this way was Laban profited by the disposal, both of his sister Rebekah, to Isaac, — and of Leah and Rachel, to Jacob. No marriage could be lawfully celebrated without the presence of the woman’s guardian, who solemnized the marriage by delivering the bride to the bride¬ groom ; by which the latter obtained the claims of legal guardian over the lady. From this we still retain the custom of giving away the bride in marriage. The custom of the bridegroom’s giving at that time a ring to the bride, seems also to have had an eastern origin. It was a token of his endowing her with his property, and making LECTURE X. MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 227 her mistress of his house. A seal, we may well be¬ lieve, was on the ring in ancient times; by affixing which seal, authority was given to a deed. Thus we read that when a king gave his authority, upon any particular occasion, to a subject, he did so by giving the king’s seal ; and this was done by put¬ ting his ring, having such seal, upon the finger of the person to whom was deputed the royal power. The bridegroom thus, by giving the ring, did at once recognize his natural right to exercise autho¬ rity; at the same time he invested the woman with the same, under, or along with, himself. Perhaps the large square piece of cloth, supported by a tall man at each corner, and held over the bridegroom and bride, in the after-part of the ceremony, when receiving the nuptial benediction, may also have had the same eastern origin. The other marriage ceremonies, — such as the bridegroom’s party, in martial array, going for the bride, under the conduct of the foremost man, to conduct the bride in safety to the house of her future husband ; the bride’s procession in return, led by the brideswoman, and followed by a com¬ pany of young maidens, who were called the bride’s maids; her betrothal, when carried thus to the house of the bridegroom; the united re¬ joicing procession thence, to receive the priest’s benediction ; the gladsome return ; and the sub¬ sequent splendid marriage supper, all forcibly remind us of similar ceremonies prevailing in Is¬ rael, and intimated throughout both the Old and 228 CHASTITY OF ANGLO-SAXONS. New Testaments. The feastings and rejoicings continued, for several days after the marriage, and seldom ended until all the provisions were con¬ sumed. To indemnify the husband, in some de¬ gree, for all these expenses, the relations of both parties made him some present or other at their departure. And this, also, we find, was the case among the Hebrews, as is intimated in that beau¬ tiful nuptial song, (Ps.xlv) ; — which Psalm is beau¬ tifully illustrated by the Saxon ceremonies, to which we have alluded; as also they are illustrated by it. “Chastity in their youth,” we are told by Henry, “ and conjugal fidelity after marriage, may justly be reckoned national virtues of the Anglo-Saxons. — Their ancestors, the ancient Germans, were famous for both these virtues. The intercourse between the sexes did not commence till both arrived at full maturity. The laws of matrimony were observed with great strictness. Examples of adultery were extremely rare, and punished with much severity. The husband of an adul¬ teress, in the presence of her relations, cut off her hair, stripped her almost naked, turned her out of his house, and whipped her from one end of the village to the other. When the matrimonial knot Avas once duly tied, nothing but the death of one of the parties, or the infidelity of the Avife to the marriage bed, could generally have poAver to dissolve it. There were, however, instances of voluntary separations, and even divorces.” All lecture x. DOMESTIC RELATIONS. 229 which is correspondent to what we know of ancient Israel, with regard to whom the utmost care was taken in these particulars. Neither people were so perfect as could be wished ; but still they were very far in advance of most other nations. With regard to Children; as among the Hebrew women, so among these, their Saxon daughters, was it accounted a disgraceful thing, and one of the greatest misfortunes, to be without offspring. And as it seems to have been the case with the former, so was it with the latter; mothers generally nursed their own children. When some Saxon ladies, after the introduction of Christianity, refused that labour, they were reckoned guilty of an innovation. The paternal authority did not extend to the power of life and death, as among the Gauls ; but parents had a right to correct their children with becoming severity, to regulate their conduct, to sell their daughters to husbands, with their own consent ; and even to sell both sons and daughters into slavery, to relieve them¬ selves from extreme necessity : all which we expressly know to have been the case with ancient Israel. We know that in Israel the ties of kindred were very fully acknowledged beyond the mere domestic relations ; and one of the claims of kindredship, was the avenging of blood. The friends of the slain had a recognized right to slay the shedder of blood. This also was the case with regard to the 230 VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS. Saxons. The custom, it seems, degenerated into family feuds and bickerings, and private wars, which disturbed the public tranquillity, and pre¬ vented the regular course of justice ; so that ' many laws had to be made on the subject, one of which provides that the murderer alone shall be obnoxious to the resentment of the relations of him whom he had murdered, and not his whole family, as formerly. They had also, like Israel, places of refuge where the avenger could not enter. The Saxons seem to have been, like the Israel¬ ites, not a giddy isolated number of individuals. They had a strong tendency seriously to apply themselves to the matter in hand, and closely to combine one with another, for the furtherance of a common object. Yet not this, as being entirely submissive to a dictator ; but rather as each exercising an independent, although harmonious, will in the matter. This led them to form free Societies of a variety of kinds, some of which, such as those for business in cities and burghs, still in a manner exist ; and have been the strong¬ holds evefi of national liberty at all times. They seem to have recognized the principle, “In the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” At the same time, they acted with concentration and when they did so, it was generally with efficiency. They pursued even their private ends in public bodies : yet not so as to sacrifice their individual rights, as either cowardly following each other, or tamely submitting to a leader. Even with regard lecture x. ELECTIVE GOVERNMENTS. 231 to the relation of Vassal and Baron, Robertson observes, — “ It was a fundamental principle of the feudal system of policy, that no freeman could be subjected to new laws or taxes, unless by his own consent. In consequence of this, the vassals of every Baron were called to his court, in which they established, by mutual con¬ sent, such regulations as they deemed most beneficial to their small society, and granted their superiors such supplies of money as were proportionate to their abilities, or to his wants. The Barons themselves, conformably to the same maxim, were admitted into the supreme assembly of the nation, and concurred with the sovereign in enacting laws, or in imposing taxes.” Among the Anglo-Saxons, this system of self- government appears to have prevailed as much as was compatible with the military attitude in which they were generally obliged to hold themselves. The theory of their constitution seems to have been, that every ten men, or heads of families, should choose one from among them, to act for them in the council of their little community, consisting of generally ten such compartments or wards. Ten of these wards formed a tything or parish. And ten of these tythings formed a hundred, the elders of which, thus chosen, were supposed to meet for the management of matters belonging to the ten tythings in general : whilst each tything took charge of the affairs that especially belonged to itself. The County, which was still more extensive, corresponded to the tribe in Israel. The word county or comte seems to be derived from the Hebrew word signifying to rise up, to stand, — and refers to the rod or 232 INSTITUTION^ BY MOSES; OF ensign of the tribe to which they congregated themselves, in the larger assemblies of the people. The Cossacks were called, in the earlier part of their history, Comani, — most likely in regard to their tribes or standards ; as also they were anci¬ ently called Khazares, on account of their skill in archery, for which they, as well as the Saxons, were remarkable. The word shire appears to be from the word Shehir, signifying a city, and still used in the country, south of the Caucasian mountains, in which Israel were placed by the Assyrians. A shire is a district of country, con¬ nected with a principal city. The nation of Israel, we have seen, were, at an early period of their history, given proper rules for their association, such as were equally adapted for a small society, or for a large one. The peo¬ ple were given to have a mutual oversight of each other in tens ; each ten had one who represented and acted for them. The institution is very distincly expressed, in Deut. i, 9-18, and appears clearly enough to account for the peculiar con¬ stitution of the Anglo-Saxons, about the origin of which, philosophers have been so puzzled, and such absurd notions have been entertained. “ And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone : The Lord your God hath multiplied you, And, behold, ye — this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. (The Lord God of your fathers make you A thousand times so many more as ye — And bless you, as he hath promised you !) LECTURE X. FREE ELECTIVE GOVERNMENT. 233 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, And your burden, and your strife ? Take you wise men and understanding, And known among your tribes, And I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me and said, the thing which thou hast spoken — good — to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, And made them heads over you, Captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds. Captains over fifties, and captains over tens, And officers amoDg your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, Saying, — Hear — between your brethren. And judge righteously between — man and his brother, And the stranger — with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment ; — Ye shall hear the small as well as the great; Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; For the judgment — God’s: And the cause that is too hard for you, bring — unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.” Here the people are enjoined to look out from among themselves, men qualified for official situ¬ ations; and these are to be brought to the chief governor, ruling by the grace of God, and he gives them their authority, and the rules according to which they are to act. The people are divided into thousands, the elders representing which, came to be denominated the thousands of Israel. The subdivision of the people thus, and into hundreds and tens, is exactly that which existed among the Saxons, from the earliest period ; and, although the substance of the thing has been greatly lost, the terms hundred and tything or ten still exist, with regard to civil divisions of the people in England, x 2 234 THE SAXON GOVERNMENT “ In the Saxon times all were decenners, that is, ranked into several tens, each one being pledged for others’ good abearance ; and in case of default, to answer it before the judge, that is, of the hundred ; and in case of default of appearance, his nine pledges should have one and thirty days to bring the delinquent forth to justice : if this failed, then the chief of those decenners was to purge himself and his fellow pledges, both of the guilt of the fact, and also of being parties to the flight of the delinquent. If they could not do this, then were they by their own oaths to acquit themselves, and come under a bond to bring the delinquent to justice as soon as they could ; and in the mean time to pay the damage out of the estate of the delinquent ; and if that were not sufficient, then out of their own estate. The master of the family was a pledge, or one of the ten, for his whole family. It was a building of great strength downward, even to the foundation ; arched together both for peace and war. By the law of Decenners, wherein justice was the band, their armies were gathered not by the promiscuous flocking of people, but by orderly concurrence of families, kindreds, and decenners, all choosing their own leaders ; and so honour, love, and trust, con¬ spired together, to leave no man’s life in danger, nor death unrevenged. “ It was a beautiful composure, mutually dependent in every part, from the crown to the clown, the magistrates being all choice men, and the king the choicest of the chosen ; election being the birth of esteem, and that of merit ; this bred love and mutual trust, which made them as corner-stones pointed forward to break the wave of danger. Nor was other reward expected by the great men, but honour and admiration, which commonly brought a return of acts of renown. Lastly it was a regular frame, in every part squared and made even, by laws which, in the people, ruled as lex loquens ; and in the magistrates, as lex intelligens ; all of them being founded on the wisdom of the Greeks, and judicials of Moses. Thus the Saxons became somewhat like the Jews, distinct from all other people : — their laws, honourable for the king, — easy for the subject ; and their government, above all other, like unto Christ’s kingdom, whose yoke is easy, and his burden light. But their motion was so irregular, as God was pleased to reduce them by another way.” — Historical and Political Discourse of the Laws and Government of England, page 70. So striking is the resemblance between the an- LECTURE X. LIKE THAT OF ISRAEL'. 235 cient Saxon constitution and that of Israel, that, more than an hundred years ago, a book was pro¬ duced with this title : “ An Historical and Political Essay, discovering the Affinity or Resemblance of the Ancient and Modern Governments, both in our Neighbouring Nations, as also in the Jewish Com¬ monwealth, in respect to our English Parliaments and from which we extract these few following remarks : — “ Selden allots to the great assembly or Sanhedrim of the Jews, both a judiciary and deliberative power ; to the first he refers their judgment of all matters relating to the payment of the annual tithes or revenues, and concerning all manner of sacrifices ; to the last, of all matters relating to peace or war, to the amplifying of the temple or city of Jerusalem, to the enacting of any new laws, or the erect¬ ing of any inferior Sanhedrims. All which are things frequently treated of in our parliaments ; the supreme judiciary power of the kingdom in civil affairs being also lodged in the House of Lords. “ It is farther agreed, that it belongeth to this great Sanhedrim, or Jewish assembly, to give all the necessary instructions and injunc¬ tions how first fruits which should be faithfully paid, and both sorts of tithes. Which course of making laws concerning the payments which the people were to make, as is shewn before, is the proper business only of the Parliament. “ For the freedom of their votes, the king was not admitted into the College of the Senate ; because it is a crime to dissent from him, and to contradict his words. In our Parliaments, whensoever the king came into the House of Peers, where his place and chair of state was, the house did forbear to proceed in any debate whatso¬ ever in his presence, but only heard what he was pleased to say unto them. The reason is before given by these Rabbins, which doth suit with the usage and custom of our Parliaments, as it was the course in their great Sanhedrim, which was a supreme Council among them.” The author thereafter proceeds to prove, from a vast number of instances, recorded in Scripture, 236 THIS LIKENESS NOT ACCOUNTED FOR that the representative system prevailed in ancient Israel, as in the Anglo-Saxon constitution. To those who have attentively studied the in¬ stitutions of Moses, and compared them with the Saxon; there must appear so striking a similarity, as will be apt to lead to the conclusion that the Saxon commonwealth was thus framed, after their becoming acquainted with Christianity. This, however, does not appear to be the case. They brought these institutions with them into Eng¬ land, and left similar institutions among the people in the north of Europe, with whom they had been from time immemorial. Yet, even granting this, we find Millar making the following remarks : — “ According to the early policy of the Anglo-Saxons, each of their villages was divided into ten wards, or petty districts; and hence they were called tythings or decennaries, as their leader was denominated a decanus or tything-man. This regulation appears to have been extended over all the kingdom, s upon the neighbouring continent ; and in all probability it originated from the influence of ecclesiastical institutions. “ As upon the first establishment of Christianity, under the Roman dominion, the form of church government was in some respects modelled by the political constitution of the empire, so the civil government, in the modern states of Europe, was afterwards regu¬ lated in many particulars according to the system of ecclesiastical policy. When the western provinces of the Roman empire were conquered by the barbarous nations, and erected into separate king¬ doms, the conquerors, who embraced the Christian religion, and felt the highest respect for its teachers, were disposed in many cases to improve their own political institutions, by an imitation of that regularity and subordination which was observed in the order and discipline of the church. “ In the distribution of persons or of things, which fell under the LECTURE X. BY FORMER THEORIES. 237 regulation of the Christian clergy, it appears that, in conformity to the customs of the Jewish nation, a decimal arrangement was more frequently employed than any other. By the Mosaic institutions, the people were placed under rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. A Jewish synagogue, corresponding to a modern parish, appears at a subsequent period to have been put under the direction of ten elders, of whom one became the chief ruler of that ecclesiasti¬ cal division. A tenth part of the annual produce was appropriated for the support of the Levites ; as the same proportion of ecclesiasti¬ cal livings was claimed by the high-priest. Hence we find that, in modern Europe, the members of a cathedral church, as well as those of a monastery, were divided into ten branches, each of which was put under a director, and the tenth of these persons, or decanus, was intrusted with a superintendence of all the rest. Hence too, the modern institution of tythes, and the pretensions of the Roman Pontiff, the Christian high-priest, to the tenth of all the revenues of the clergy.” — Historical View of the English Government. This writer seems to have been prepared to look upon the Saxons as being in a state of barbarism, — and as if they had been obliged for every thing to the Romans, to whom they were superior in arms, — and to whom, their descendants are cer¬ tainly not inferior in intellectual power, or moral dignity. Such writers are greatly at a loss to account for these Mosaic institutions, existing in so perfect a state among a people they reckon so rude. By this, one of the most skilful of these writers, the conjecture is here hazarded, that, without any concert, and even as separated into their minuter divisions, all these northern nations fell into this arrangement and coalescence, as copying after the ecclesiastical institutions then planted among them. It happens, however, rather awkwardly for this theory, that these insti- 238 FREE INSTITUTIONS CO-EXISTENT tutions were most distinctly possessed by the Danes, and the Danish colonies, — who were among the latest in receiving Christianity ; and they rather became fainter, the farther they de¬ parted from their early manners. It was not a very likely thing, to say the least of it, that these nations required to build up society from the very base, after acquaintance with Christianity, — when previously they had, by their combined energy and wise counsels, broken down the strength and policy of Rome. This they did not do as indi¬ viduals, nor even as small parties merely, but as nations, as a company of nations. Was it likely that these people, acting thus successfully in con¬ cert, would all at once, as if with common consent, and yet without any concert, throw away their old associations into utter forgetfulness, and adopt what was entirely new : whilst, with regard to the names of the days of the week, and even religious festivals, as in the case of Easter, — and further, as to the names of the Supreme Being, they retained those they had used previous to their knowledge of Christianity? We can readily believe that, had the author of this “ Historical View of the English Government” been acquainted with our view of the case, he would not have been so puzzled in accounting for the planting of the institutions of Moses in the north: — he would not have been under the necessity of supposing such a simultaneous growth of like political con¬ stitutions, the most perfect in theory, among LECTURE X. WITH THE SAXON RACE. 239 many independent, and as he supposed, barbarous nations ; a thing of which we have no experience in the history of the world. The same writer, it may be observed, has been led to acknowledge what is grossly inconsistent with his own view of the case, and which, indeed, deprives it of its only seeming foundation ; which is, that it wras in modern Europe that the ecclesias¬ tical constitution and arrangements were assimila¬ ted to the Hebrew; so that this ecclesiastical change, (equally favourable to our view,) requires to be accounted for, as much as the other. Even granting, however, that the Mosaic insti¬ tutions did exist among these nations, anterior to their embrace of Christianity, may it not still be objected, that they were given them by some legislator, who had, somehow, been made ac¬ quainted with the writings of Moses ? Neither will this objection stand good. What is imposed upon a people as foreign to their former habits, exists only, as it were, in law. It is long before it becomes familiar to the every-day habits of the people, and acquires a perpetuity independent of the statute-book, so as to endure throughout all migrations, and changes whatsoever, of the people. What is naturally everywhere part of a people’s political existence, and distinguishes them conti¬ nuously through all their known history, from all other nations, may well be supposed to have been taught them in their infancy; and to have grown with their growth. It has been early put into the 240 ADMINISTRATION OF LAW. very nature of the people. But we know of no peo¬ ple to whom this was done, except to Israel. The presumption is, certainly, altogether in our favour. — We find the Saxons, in their earliest political history, with these institutions ; and it remains to be proved how otherwise they received them. The theories hitherto formed to account for them, have no foundation in history, and are too fanciful to be admitted as philosophy. Our argument for the priority of the Mosaic institutions among the Saxons, — and their being independent of the ecclesiastical institutions, — w ill still more appear, when wre consider that, in the people’s courts, they followed their own customs and lav?s, the body of which w7as called the Com¬ mon Law ; and which had been handed down to them from time immemorial : vdiereas, in the ecclesiastical courts, that were now, for the first time in Europe, allowed the Christian priesthood, after the Israelitish pattern, (in wdiich the Levites had so much to do in the administration of jus¬ tice,) there wTas no such favour shown to the com¬ mon law7; but rather, of course, to their own canon law, and also to the Roman civil law. The Common Law, — a body of law, written in the very habits of the people, and not merely in writing, but so engraved, as in the rock for ever, as to subsist, together with this people, throughout all their migrations, revolutions, and changes, even of religion, is a perpetual witness to their having been, in the earliest period of their history, under LECTURE X. SAXON CHRONICLES. 241 strict moral training, and accustomed to the care¬ ful and regular administration of justice ; such as could not accidentally have been given to a nation, far less to a body of nations : but such as we cer¬ tainly know was given to Israel. Nor was the manner of preserving the national records so imperfect as Millar has rashly asserted, thus shewing that he was less acquainted with this people, than with their enemies, the Romans. Before their conversion to Christianity, their priests, in different parts of the country, kept, it is most likely, distinct records, in each section, according to their several knowledge, of what was passing of a public and interesting nature. At the death of the king, these different accounts were brought together, and consolidated into one general history of the nation during the period. After their conversion to Christianity, this busi¬ ness fell into the hands of the monks, of the Benedictine order, in whose several monasteries, the district records were kept; and afterwards, the whole were reduced into one statement, by a chapter of the order. So regularly was every thing of importance noted in this way, that, it is said, no history of the same period is so complete as that of the Saxons, from their arrival in Britain, until the Norman invasion. In the books of the Kings of Israel, and the chronicles of the kingdom of Judah, — written after the same plan, according to the lives of the kings ; and taking a religious view of men and events, Y 242 SCYTHIC RACE NOT BARBARIAN. noting particularly the hand of Providence in national affairs, — we have the origin of all this. As the learned Mr. Ingram has observed, — “The Saxon Chronicle may be philosophically considered the second great phenomenon in the history of mankind. For, if we except the sacred annals of the Jews, contained in the books of the Old Testa¬ ment, there is no other work extant, ancient or modern, which exhibits at one view a regular and chronological panorama of a people, des¬ cribed in rapid succession by different writers, through so many ages, in their own vernacular language.” The Scythians, of whom are the Goths and Saxons, are as clearly distinguished, (Col. iii, 11,) from the Barbarians, as are the Jews from the Greeks ; yet historians, at the expense of many inconsistencies, have been in the habit of con¬ founding them. We shall close this line of argu¬ ment with a quotation from Turner, who, having very gratuitously assumed that the Saxons were barbarians, proceeds to give a statement of the results of their settlement in Europe, such as fully justifies his suspicion, elsewhere expressed, that the Saxons were not so barbarous as has been supposed ; but were rather descended from some of the more civilized portions of Asiatic population. “Yet from such ancestors, a nation has, in the course of twelve centuries, been formed, which, inferior to none in every moral and intellectual merit, is superior to every other in the love and possession of useful liberty: a nation which cultivates with equal success the elegancies of art, the ingenious labours of industry, the energies of war, the researches of science, and the richest productions of genius. This improved state has been slowly attained under the discipline of very diversified events. “ The barbaric establishments were a new order of things in Europe, but cannot have been so prolific of misery to mankind as we have LECTURE X. THEIR INSTITUTIONS MOSAIC. 243 hitherto, too gratuitously, assumed ; — when, notwithstanding the dis¬ couragement of new languages and institutions, and ruder habits, they were preferred by many of the Romans to the country which was their birthplace, which had been so long consecrated by deserved fame, and whose feelings, mind, and social manners, were congenial to their own. “The invasions of the German nations destroyed the ancient govern¬ ments, and political and legal systems of the Roman Empire, in the provinces in which they established themselves ; and dispossessed the former proprietors of their territorial property. A new set of land- owners was diffused over every country, with new forms of govern¬ ment, new principles, and new laws, new religious disciplines and hierarchies, with many new tenets and practices. A new literature, and manners, all productive of great improvements, in every part superseded the old, and gave to Europe a new face, and to every class of society a new life and spirit. In the Anglo-Saxon settlements in Britain, all these effects were displayed, with the most beneficial consequences.’’ Limited monarchy, constitutional law, and representative government, an efficient civil police, and trial by jury, are among the most important legacies left the English nation, by their Anglo-Saxon forefathers ; and these may all be easily traced to an Israelitish origin. And to this origin, they have been traced, as we have seen, even by those who were obliged, in rather an unphilosophical way, to account for the con¬ nection. It is, indeed, rather remarkable, that so many of these institutions should have been allowed to remain as incontestible evidence that this people had been Moses’ disciples. Equally does their social condition witness to this, as, in our last lecture, we saw that their personal ap¬ pearance and character give evidence, full and ex¬ plicit, to their being the children of Abraham. 244 CALL UPON ISRAEL TO HEARKEN “ Hearken to me, Ye that follow after righteousness. Ye that seek the Lord ; Look to the rook — ye are hewn. And to the hole of the pit — ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father. And unto Sarah — hare you ; For I called him alone, And blessed him, And increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion : He will comfort all her waste places. And he will make her wilderness like Eden ; And her desert like the garden of the Lord ; Joy and gladness shall be found therein. Thanksgiving, And the voice of melody. Hearken unto me, my people ; And give ear unto me, O my nation ; For a law shall proceed from me. And I will make my judgment to rest, For a light of the people. My righteousness — near; My salvation is gone forth, And mine arm shall judge the people; The Isles shall wait on me. And on mine arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens ; And look upon the earth beneath ; For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke ; And the earth shall wax old like a garment, And they that dwell therein shall die in like manner But my salvation shall he for ever, And my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness : The people in whose heart — my law; Fear ye not the reproach of men ; Neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a g arment, And the worm shall eat them like wool : But my righteousness shall be for ever. And my salvation from generation to generation." LECTURE X LECTUKE XI THE IDENTIFICATION, CONCLUDED. Dress of the Anglo-Saxons. — Use of the Bow. — Form of Battle. — Use of Ensigns. — Were Freemen at the same time that they were soldiers. — Agriculture. — Architecture. — Gothic Arch. — Proficiency in the Fine Arts. — Laws regarding Property. — Poetry. — Music. — Their ancient ideas of the Supreme Being. — Re¬ ception of Odin as the incarnation of Deity .—Symmetrical arrangement of their objects of worship, as written in the days of the week. — Arrangements of their great Temples, and worship in Groves. — Tsraelitish Days, Weeks, and Festivals. — Their three Grand Convocations.— Their Priesthood. — Tithes. — Retention of Israelitish forms, when they professed Christianity. — Gradual and continual development of God's favour to his Church in England. The very dress of the Anglo-Saxons witnessed to the truth of their Israelitish origin. Their garments are said to have been loose and flowing, and chiefly made of linen, and adorned with broad borders. It had been commanded of God, that the border around their garments should be of blue ; but from the strictness of this rule they had perhaps departed, — as it is said, they were now woven or embroidered with various colours. With regard to the women, much the same variety and elegance of dress appear to have prevailed, as among their mothers in ancient Israel. They had, also, the same sort of muffling; they wearing npon their head, a hood or veil, — which, falling down before, was wrapped round the neck and y 2 246 USE OF THE BOW. breast. And, as identifying these Anglo-Saxons with the people who built the tombs near the Euxine, to which we before referred, and in one of which the large golden bracelet was found ; it may be noticed, that, among them, the men of consequence or wealth usually had expensive bracelets on their arms, as well as rings on their fingers. In an Anglo-Saxon will, the testator be¬ queaths to his lord, a beah, or bracelet, of eighty golden mancusa. As had been foretold of Joseph, these people were remarkable for the use of the bow. It seems to have been chiefly by this that they had become famous before coming into Britain. It was by this they obtained the conquest of this island; and by this they afterwards gained, also, their victories in France. The successful use of this weapon required that accuracy of eye, as to dis¬ tance and proportion, which we saw wTas so cul¬ tivated in the fathers, — and which is still, and more and more, profitably made use of by the children. It may be worthy of remark, that the ancestors of the English were generally in the habit of forming their battle lines in the form of a hollow w7edge, something like the Greek letter A, the point of which, towards the enemy, is very sharp ; and the sides of which gradually diverge, by which it becomes broadest at the rear. It is curious enough to observe, that not only was this the figure of their portion of Britain ; but it wras, LECTURE XI. FORM OF BATTLE. 247 also, much the form of their settlement, as holding military possession of the land of Canaan, — from the time of Joshua to the breaking up of their kingdom. The tribes along the border of the Great Sea, formed the base ; whilst part of the tribeships of Simeon, Judah, and Reuben, formed the right side; and Asher, Manasseh, and Gad, the left. The main angle pointed eastward. Among the Anglo-Saxons, when an army was composed of several distinct battalions, or the troops of several different counties, they often formed as many of these hollow wedges as there were battalions. Each of these battalions being formed of the inhabitants of the same county, were expected to fight the more bravely for the honour of their county, and in defence of their relations and friends. This further supports our idea, that the counties were so named, from the circumstance of their each containing what be¬ longed to a distinct standard. As was the case with Israel; — the different tribes, or battalions, had their different standards, with suitable em¬ blems. And as the Israelites were emboldened by the presence among them of the ark, so did the Saxon army carry before them the ensigns of their gods. When they were converted to Christianity, such as it then was, the heathen relics gave way to the relics of the saints, or some other representation of their new religion ; as, also, did the blessing of their arms by the heathen high priest, to the benediction of the Christian 248 AGRICULTURE. bishop. They used their arms with skilfulness, as well as with force ; and they were equally prudent in negociation, as valiant in fight ; and they seem to have been scarcely more zealous in overcoming their enemies, than anxious to secure themselves against the oppression of those that led them on to victory. They were individually to be respected, as well as collectively to be feared. The Anglo-Saxons were, like ancient Israel, much a pastoral people ; but they seem to have been also well acquainted with agriculture ; or, at least, they easily fell into this way of life, as if it had not been foreign to their former habits. The lands seem to have been, at once, divided among the great leaders, and subdivided among their fol¬ lowers, upon such terms as implied a knowledge of the value of land, and the power to make use of it. And soon each soldier became a husband¬ man, or was otherwise usefully employed in the civil affairs of life. Like ancient Israel, they, at first, used only hand-mills in converting their corn into meal ; and such mills were, also, in this case, turned by women. As to architecture, consistent with the idea of their being Israel in dispersion, they seem to have used only wooden tabernacles, as it were, for their more ordinary religious assemblies : but we are expressly told, that their national temples were of the most splendid description ; they were of the most curious workmanship, and glittering with gold. This was even before coming into LECTURE XI. ARCHITECTURE. 249 Britain. During their sojourn in the northern wilderness, they seem to have got greatly into the habit of building with wood, just as their descend¬ ants in North America, at this day. Before they began to build in wood, they seem to have acquired a great predilection for the arch. The perfection of their arch is particularly noted, with regard to their early tombs, as described by Dr. Clarke. In attempting the arch, as building in wood, it would naturally strike them to give it additional strength, by placing two slightly curved pieces of wood, one on each side, within the arch: the lower end of each piece of wood resting on the base of the arch, and the other end meeting with its fellow in the centre. This produced the Gothic arch, which the two pieces of wood would of themselves form. What they were thus led into through a kind of necessity, as building in wood, was afterwards found to be a beauty ; and copied when they began to build again in stone, and to produce fabrics of a more durable nature. Various theories have been formed to account for the Saxon arch : some of them, as for example, that of Milner, appear to be exceedingly refined. That which is here presented, seems to be the most natural: — the necessity of this people pro¬ duced it; and their taste for symmetry made them retain it,— even after it had been partially abandoned for the Roman arch, immediately after they began to traffic with their old enemies, the Romans. 250 OPERA ANGL1CA. They seem to have attained to great perfection in the carving of wood, and also in the gilding of wood, and the inferior metals ; but this, indeed, they had from their fathers, even from the time of the erection of the tabernacle in the wilder¬ ness, as coming up out of Egypt. The Eng¬ lish Cathedrals appear to have been built after the fashion of the temples they frequented pre¬ vious to their conversion to Christianity. And these cathedrals, it has been observed, seem evi¬ dently to be built after the design of the temple at Jerusalem. Like this, they have their most holy place, the altar ; and their holy place, the choir; and the court outward from thence, for the body of the people. The more minute parts and ornaments will, in general, be found exceed¬ ingly correspondent. The working in lead and iron, must have been well understood by the Anglo-Saxons : with the former, almost all their churches were covered ; and they had abundance of warlike instruments provided from the latter. They were also well skilled in the use of the precious metals, which they wrought up into coronets, chains, bracelets, half-circles for dressing their hair upon, collars, — and similar articles of usefulness and orna¬ ment — into such articles as we know to have been in use among the Israelites. Even the art of polishing and setting of precious stones, were not unknown among them. Nay, the English goldsmiths were so famous for their art, that the LECTURE XI. LAWS : - POETRY. 251 curious caskets, adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones, in which the relics of saints were kept, became generally known as opera Anglica. The art of making gold and silver thread, for weaving and embroidery, they also possessed : and the Anglo-Saxon ladies became equally famous, for their needlework, as were the English goldsmiths. As they knew the value of property, and had skill to acquire it, and valour to defend, and pru¬ dence to make use of it ; so wrere they equally wrell provided with laws for the regulation of mat¬ ters of this kind, and, indeed, of almost every other. In criminal cases, there was much of an effort at making compensation for the injury committed; both to the injured party, and to the king as representative of the law : much the same as we find was appointed in ancient Israel. The farther w7e go back in the history of the Anglo-Saxons, we find their laws approximate more and more nearly to those of Moses. If these were the descendants of Israel, we may also expect them to have indications of having been a race whose poetical genius w?as great, and whose taste in this respect was highly cultivated. And, after the examples of David and Solomon, it might be well expected that the employment of their genius in poetry, for the delight and improvement of mankind, would not be thought beneath the most exalted in character and station. And, accordingly, we read that 252 POETRY. never were poetry and poets so much admired as among the Anglo-Saxons. The greatest princes were no less ambitious of the laurel, than of the regal crown. Alfred the Great was not only a poet himself, but he never neglected to spend some part of every day in getting Saxon poems by heart, and in teaching them to others. He made himself intimately acquainted with the wisdom of his Saxon ancestors : and thus, doubt¬ less, as well as from other sources, were so many reforms produced in his reign, after the preced¬ ing troubles. He has, in several important cases, got credit for having given a commencement to institutions which he merely restored. Canute the Great was also a famous poet. The ancient bards of the Saxon and Danish race, are said to have produced the most astonishing effects upon those who heard them. To have such power, they must have been greatly assisted by nature : but nature was evidently vastly improved by art. They are said to have used prodigious artifice, and an almost endless variety of kinds and mea¬ sures of verse. The harmony of these different kinds of verse, did not consist in only the succes¬ sion of long and short syllables, as among the Greeks and Romans ; nor in the similar sounds of the terminating syllables, as among the moderns ; but in a certain consonancy and repe¬ tition of the same letters, syllables, and sounds, in different parts of the stanzas, which produced the most musical tones, and affected the hearers LECTURE XI. MUSIC. 253 with the most marvellous delight. Much the same seems to be the genius of Hebrew poetry, upon which the rules of ancient Saxon poetry may be expected to throw considerable light. As to Music, for which the children of Zion were so distinguished, and for which the descend¬ ants of that people have been so remarkable all over the world, we have the following account of the Anglo-Saxons : “ Music was as much admired and cultivated as Poetry. The halls of all the kings and nobles of Britain rung with the united melody of the poet’s voice and musician’s harp : while every mountain, hill, and dale, was vocal.” As an example, Alfred the Great excelled as much in music, as in war; and ravished his enemies with his harp, before he subdued them by his arms. Music appears to have constituted a prin¬ cipal part of their heathen worship, — for which, they, like the Hebrews, had an immensity of songs ; and, after their embrace of Christianity, their public, and even private worship, consisted mostly in psalmody. In some cathedrals and large monasteries, perhaps as rivalling what had taken place in their heathen temples, and derived from their still more early and pure way of worship, this exercise of singing was continued both day and night, without intermission, by a constant succession of priests and singers ; with whom, the laity occasionally joined. Besides the harp, which was, as in ancient Israel, their most admired instrument of music, all the other kinds in use 254 THEIR ANCIENT IDEAS OF DEITY. among the Israelites, appear to have been equally possessed by this portion of the people who were to come of Jacob, — a people created for the praise of the God of Israel. As to that for which this people might be ex¬ pected to be most distinguished, — Religion, or the knowledge of the Supreme Being, and of the service more immediately required by Him, — the Anglo-Saxons, and their brethren in the north of Europe, gave equally clear indications of their Israelitish origin. They are described “ as having been acquainted with the great doctrine of one Supreme Deity ; — the Author of every thing that existeth ; the Eternal, the Ancient, the Living and Awful Being; the Searcher into concealed things; the Being that never changeth ; who liveth and governeth during the ages ; directeth every thing which is high, and every thing W’hich is low.” Of this glorious Being, they had anciently esteemed it impious to make any visible representation, or to imagine it possible that he could be con¬ fined within the walls of a temple. These great truths, the s^me as, we know, were taught to Israel, had in a great measure, become lost or obscured, before this people’s coming into Britain. But this very obscuration itself, speaks of their origin : it having chiefly taken place, it is said, in consequence of their receiving a mighty conqueror from the east, as their God in human nature, cor¬ respondent to the expectation of Israel with regard to the Messiah. This supposed God LECTURE XI. RECEPTION OF A FALSE MESSIAH. 255 incarnate, is thought to have presented himself among these people, about the same time as the true Messiah appeared among the Jews in the land of Israel ; or perhaps it may have been shortly after that, when the false Christs were deceiving the Jews. The name of this pretender was Odin, or Woden, — the same word, apparently, as that from which we have Eden, and signifying delight. And he was esteemed the great dispenser of hap¬ piness to his followers, as well as fury to his enemies. When Woden was removed from them, they placed his image in their most holy place, where was a kind of raised place or ark, as if in imitation of that at Jerusalem, where, between the Cherubim, the divine presence was sup¬ posed to abide. Here, as if on the mercy seat, or throne of the God of Israel, did they place the image of him whom they reckoned Immanuel or God in our nature. There, also, they placed the image of his wife Frigga; and, between these two, they fixed the image of Thor, wTho sat crowned in the centre. Outward of these three, by the side of Woden, was the image of Tuesco ; and by the side of Frigga, was Seater or Saturn ; and outward of Tuesco, was a representation of the Moon ; and outward of Saturn, was placed an image of the Sun. Thus Thor, after whom we still call the middle day of the week Thursday, was in the centre ; his father Woden, from which we have Wednesday ; and his mother Frigga, from which we have Friday, were with armour, on 25G THEIR TEMPLES. either side of him : whilst outward from these are the more peaceful deities ; Tuesco, from which we have Tuesday ; and Saturn, from which we have Saturday ; — and, most outward of all, wTe have the two great luminaries, the moon, from which we have Monday, and the sun, after which we have Sunday. In the arrangement of these false objects of worship, and in the correspondent naming of the several days of the wreek, they manifested that same regard to symmetry, in which ancient Israel was trained, and for which their English descendants are so remarkable. These gods, it may be also remarked, are the very same they had been threatened with. They were the sun and moon, and new gods which had come newly up. Before this elevation, or ark, in this most holy place, on wdiich the symbols of their worship were placed, they had an altar, on which the holy fire burned continu¬ ally ; and near it was a vase for receiving the blood of the victims, and a brush for sprinkling the blood upon the people ; reminding us again of what was done in ancient Israel. They had generally, one great temple for the whole nation, and in one of these, it is particularly noticed, they had twelve priests, presided over by a high priest, and having under their charge the religious con¬ cerns of the whole people. This temple is said to have been of the most splendid description, — of incredible grandeur and magnificence. It was at Upsala, in Sweden. In the neighbourhood of LECTURE XI. THEIR DIVISION OF TIME. 25 7 % the same place, was, and still is preserved, a pave¬ ment of eleven or twelve stones, where the per¬ son took his stand that conducted the election of the king among the people inhabiting that country. Israel, it may again be remarked, had one great temple for the whole nation : — but, beside this, they had their rural worship, which was generally in groves ; and the very same arrange¬ ment had the Anglo-Saxons. We have, in short, every agreement of these people with ancient Israel, as to religion ; except in those respects which have been anticipated by the spirit of pro¬ phecy, and that, from their very commencement as a nation, under Moses ; and which, therefore, no less than ’what they had retained of the Mosaic institutions, tend to fix their identity. Nor should we forget that these people had the Israelitish division of Time. Their day was from evening to evening, and their weeks, as we have seen, consisted, like those of the Hebrews, of seven days : and by our still retaining the heathen names for the days of the week, it is quite evi¬ dent that this division of time had long existed among the people, previous to their becoming acquainted with the institutions of Moses through their Christian instructors. It may also be ob¬ served, that there were three great festivals among the Hebrews, in the course of the year, at which all their males were to present themselves before the Lord. These are repeatedly mentioned in the books of Moses; as in Deut. xvi: — z 2 258 THREE GREAT FESTIVALS. “ Thrice in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God, In the place which He shall choose; In the feast of unleavened bread. And in the feast of weeks, And in the feast of tabernacles ; And they shall not appear before the Lord empty : Every man — according to the gift of his hand, According to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which He hath given thee.” — See also. Exodus, xxiii, 14-17 ; — xxxiv, 18-26 ; and Lev. xxiii. Three great festivals had also the Anglo-Saxons before their conversion to Christianity ; the first of which, (Easter) exactly corresponds to the Passover, — the first of the feasts appointed Israel : and, even after their conversion, the heathen name of the festival was retained ; so that we still call it Easter, — the name of the festival, which, at the same time of the year, they had previously observed ; and which they had evidently brought with them from the east. The second feast was Whitsuntide, correspondent to the Hebrew Pen¬ tecost, or feast of weeks ; when, upon the fiftieth day after the Passover, the first fruits were offered with rejoicing; and hence it was called White- Sunday, because of their then appearing in gar¬ ments that indicate rejoicing. The third great feast among the Hebrews was, the feast of Taber¬ nacles. It is particularly noted, that the Anglo- Saxons were in the habit of congregating to their great assembly, — the Witena Gemot, thrice in the year. And the two first of these times exactly correspond to the two first great feasts of ancient Israel. At this great assembly all the LECTURE XI. THEIR PRIESTHOOD. 259 males were supposed to be present, if not in person, at least, by their representatives ; which was probably also the case in ancient Israel. Nor did they appear empty ; their principal object being to arrange with regard to the offerings to be presented to the king, as previously they had, at such times, paid their tribute to their God, — who was king in Israel, previous to the time of Saul. The priesthood, as in Israel, was confined to certain families, and descended from father to son. In ancient Israel the priesthood had their posses¬ sions in land, and they had much to do in the declaring of the law; and so, — contrary to what existed in the primitive Christian Church, — the Saxons plentifully bestowed lands upon the clergy. And their courts M ere given a degree of authority Mrhich they did not before possess, and which they very speedily abused. Then, also, do tithes seem to have been established in these countries, after the Israelitish pattern. These offerings, we have every reason to believe, had been previously made to the priesthood belonging to that corrupted form of Hebrew worship, which the Saxons brought with them into Britain. Upon their embrace of the Christian faith, the revenues of the former worship were appropriated to the use of the Christian priesthood: just as, after, Mre find them taken from the church, as in connection with Rome, and given to the support of the Pro¬ testant worship. They did not belong to the 260 RETENTION OF RELIGIOUS RITES, Church of Rome, but to the Church of the Anglo- Saxons. Popery purloined them for a while, but they have been, so far, recovered. When Gregory sent his missionaries to the English, to procure their adhesion to the see of Rome, they were in¬ structed not to destroy the heathen temples — but only to remove the images of their gods, — to wash the walls with holy water, — to erect altars, and deposit relics in them, — and so convert them into Christian churches ; not only to save the expense of building new ones, but that the people might be the more easily prevailed upon to frequent these places of worship, — they having been previously accustomed to assemble there. He directs them further, to accommodate the ceremonies of the Christian worship as much as possible to those of the Heathen, that the people might not be much startled by the change : and, in particular, he ad¬ vises them to allow the Christian converts, at certain festivals, to kill and eat a great number of oxen, to the glory of God,~as they previously had done, to what he is pleased to call, the honour of the devil. These sacrifices, at such festivals, and the very possibility of making the new wor¬ ship look anything like the old, argues such a similarity of the one to the other, as wre could not expect to exist between the Christian worship, and any other but that of the Hebrews. Indeed, considering the changes which must have occurred during their sojourn in the northern wilderness, ‘ it is wonderful that the Christian worship could LECTURE XI. FROM ANCIENT ISRAEL. 261 have been so far made like it, as that the change in religion should not be much observed. Thus may we account for our retaining the heathen names for the days of the week, and certain great festivals ; and thus, also, may we see how the Church of England wras so early and so well provided for. And hence followed that peculiar conformity to the Israelitish worship, which, in so many things, it possesses. And well may her children, as being the children of God’s ancient people, now acknowledge, — “ O God, we have heard with our ears ; Our fathers have declared unto us The noble works which thou didst in their days ; And in the old time before them.” — Yea, well may the house of Israel now say, — “ His mercy endureth for ever. ” Their ancient views of the Supreme Being, — their reception of the pretended Odin, (corres¬ pondent to Israel’s expectation of Messiah, as God incarnate) ; — their places of worship, (ge¬ nerally in groves, or else in some one grand national temple) ; — their order of priesthood, or¬ dinary ; and, in these grand temples, the number twelve, being like every thing else, remarkable ; — their division of time into portions of seven days, measured from evening to evening, — their three grand convocations in the year, (correspondent to W’hat was appointed in Israel) ; — the likeness of their former worship to that of the new religion, so as that the latter could be introduced in place of the former without being much observed : — 262 THEIR GUIDANCE UNDER Surely, by all this view of the religious condition of this people, (equally with that of their personal character, social condition, and political state, as formerly sketched,) we must have the conviction forced upon our minds, that these people were descended from those among whom had been established the religion of Moses. — They were indeed a portion of those that were to come of Jacob. Their change to nominal Christianity, and the admission among them of the New Testament Scriptures, as well as their recovery of their own Old Testament writings, at the time of Gregory, was a partial restoration to the light and favour of God. This seems to have happened about the year of Christ five hundred and ninety-two ; be¬ fore which, partial conversions may have taken place in different portions of the Anglo-Saxon population, through the influence of the British and Scottish Christians ; so that their conversion may be said to have happened about the middle of the space of time which has elapsed since the captivity of Israel; — and their sojourn in the northern wilderness may be reckoned about one thousand, two hundred and threescore years. Since that, they have, with all their backslidings, been generally, upon the whole, making progress. After two days (a thousand years being for a day) the Lord revived them by the Reformation ; the dawn of which, in Europe, had among them been given, when Wickliff appeared, — immediately after the LECTURE XI. THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL. 263 two thousand years from the time of their captivity. At the Reformation, there was another recovery of the Scriptures, and release from the service of idols; and there was a clearer exhibition of the one great truth of the Gospel, than had ever been before enjoyed. This, howTever they received with too great indifference. It required to be beaten and burned into them by the bloody persecutions under Mary: — when they were made to see the value of the doctrine of justification through faith alone, in the crucified Redeemer, by its power, in sustaining through suffering and death, in zealous devotedness to the service of God. But when the sceptre and the sword were again given to be wielded by the hands of protestant piety, there was a danger of the people’s leaving their religion too entirely in the hands of govern¬ ment ; and accordingly their protestant govern¬ ment is allowed sufficiently to evince their falli¬ bility, — by their separating from the church, many of the most zealous and conscientious of the clergy ; who were left to propagate the truth apart from the state, and to provide more largely and earnestly for the religious instruction of the people, than could have been done by the state alone. But, in time, this non-conformist body undermined the established church ; and, des¬ pising many of the wise institutions of their fathers, were not merely content to do good in their own way, but they would have their own way to be every thing, both in church and state. 264 FURTHER GUIDANCE, UNDER And they were allowed to experiment on both, and manifest their folly, by the creation of a mili¬ tary despotism, under Oliver Cromwell. And then a revulsion took place, at the restoration of the ancient mixed constitution, after the death of Cromwell. Then there was a danger of the nation running into the opposite extreme ; — but, again, the most valuable portion of the clergy were disbanded by the state ; to mix more fami¬ liarly among the people, — to be pressed home upon their bosoms, — and to be supported by their voluntary contributions. By these changes, also, were they forced to spread abroad and plant their colonies; as, for example, in the New England States, in North America, where they continue to spread, and to prosper, as they had been accus¬ tomed to do from the beginning, — and even more abundantly. The church recovered herself, at the Revolution, from the downward tendency which had been given her since the Restoration. But she was sinking into a lethargic formality, — when, on the one hand, by the violent shakings and bitter sneers of infidelity, she was quickened into a deeper search for the intellectual foundations of her faith ; and on the other hand, by the loud voice, and busy stirrings of Methodism, she was aroused into a more confiding faith in the One Foundation, Christ Jesus. By this awakening, have both the church established, and the dissent¬ ing churches, been animated into a more earnest searching after the truth for themselves, and for lecture xi. THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL. 265 the defending their cause against infidelity. They have also been aroused into more earnest endea¬ vours to spread the truth abroad to others. And, ever and anon, are bands of men raised up around the Church, to give a prominency to particular portions of the truth ; so that what she might forget on the one hand, she is reminded of on the other. And latterly, from many quarters, has her attention been specially called to Christ, as our Hope, — as the Chief Corner-stone, — as coming for the completion of that building, of which He is also the Foundation. All this is in the kind pro¬ vidence of God. And her business is, neither to overvalue nor undervalue either herself or others ; but to maintain that spirit of improvement which is the true characteristic of Israel, and by which she may ever receive gain from all the Lord is saying to her, and doing with her ; so as that she may indeed be as the shining light, “ that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Neither may any section of the Church Universal, magnify itself, or despise the others, — but may all glory in the Lord, and strive to serve each other as brethren in Christ ; — as fellow-heirs of the pro¬ mises made unto their fathers. The truths of God, like the tribes of Israel, have been widely scattered abroad. May our God hasten the time when they shall all be gathered into one : when our Redeemer shall clothe himself with his people, as with a seamless robe of glory, woven from the top throughout. When, — 2 A THE VAIL TO BE REMOVED In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people A feast of fat things, A feast of wines on the lees ; Of fat things full of marrow, Of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain The face of the covering cast over all people: And the vail that is spread over all nations, And he will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away tears From off all faces ; And the rebuke of his people shall he take away From off all the earth; For the Lord hath spoken.” LECTURE XII ISRAEL THE MEASURING LINE OF THE LORD’S INHERITANCE. Who were the Lacedemonians that claimed to be the kindred of the Jews ? — Whither went the escaped of Israel? — What became of those that fled into Egypt? — Surprising growth of Free Commonwealths in the West, after the Assyrian Captivity.— That of the Twelve Kings in Egypt. — Of the Twelve Ionian Cities. — Of the Twelve Etrurian Lucumonin. — The Danes and Jutes. — Piets and Welsh. — Manasseh and Ephraim. — Israel, the Lord’s Measuring Line — Enclosed Jerusalem, and took the Jebusites into the portion of the Lord, in the time of David. — Samaria, in the time of our Saviour's personal Ministry. Analogy between this and the Ministry of his Church, in the same direction, down into Europe, as into the place within the Vail. — Israel now given to encircle the Earth : a Token of favour unto Man. — Call to duty, as anticipating the coming Glory,— ^Is. lx.) Long before the Assyrian captivity of Israel, we find Joel, (iii, 4-8,) prophesying, respecting some portion of Judah, which had been taken into slavery, westward. In this, Tyre and Sidon appear to have been chiefly instrumental. These had sold the children of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem, to the Grecians, that they might be removed far from their border. The Lord pro¬ mises to raise up these Jews, who had been thus enslaved, and to bring them against Tyre ; and he threatens to give the Tyrians into their hands. Has this prophecy been fulfilled? It has not, f 268 WHO WERE THE SPARTANS? perhaps, been generally observed, that, both by Josephus, and in the 1st book of Maccabees (ch.xii) it is said that the Lacedemonians, in the time of Onias, the high-priest, sent a letter to the Jews, stating that they had found, in writing, that they and the Jews were brethren, and equally the children of Abraham, — and claiming, in conse¬ quence, an interchange of friendship. And the Jews acknowledged the claim; and, long after, wished still to continue the brotherly intercourse : so that when they sent ambassadors to Rome, these w7ere directed to make also a friendly call upon their brethren at Sparta. The Lacedemo¬ nians were remarkable for the wisdom of their political arrangements. They had much the same mixed form of government as the English. They were also uncommonly brave in war. When Alexander resolved upon his Persian expedition, they were the only people of Greece who refused to be led by him against the east. After his return from his successful expedition to the Da¬ nube, and his cruel destruction of the Thebans, refusal seems to have been out of the question : and thus were these Lacedemonians, the brethren of the Jews, — the Jews, as we suppose, who had been sold into slavery by the Tyrians, raised up, and that, contrary to their own wish, to be led against Tyre, to execute upon it the judgment written. For, the Tyrians refusing to admit Alex¬ ander as a master, he wholly demolished old Tyre, on the continent, to make a causeway, whereby LECTURE XII. THE SPREAD OF ISRAEL WESTWARD. 269 to reach New Tyre, which was previously an island ; and, having effected his purpose, he burnt it down to the ground, and destroyed, or enslaved, all the inhabitants. Eight thousand he slew, in sacking the town; two thousand were crucified; and thirty thousand were sold as slaves. It is no extravagant idea to suppose that the Lacedemo¬ nians had been slaves, who had, by some means, obtained their freedom. The two thousand Tyrians who were crucified, had this sentence executed upon them, under the pretext that they were descended of slaves, who had conspired against their masters, and murdered them all in one night; and, marrying their mistresses, had con¬ tinued in possession of the town, in the room of their former lords. Now, if the Jews, who were farther removed from the Mediterranean sea, and who have not, in Scripture, so much said about their multiplicity, — if they thus early were sending in this way their branches into the west, — much more may we expect to find the extension of the other house of Israel in this direction : their increase, and their scattering in the isles, being so much the subject of prophecy ; and the far greater part, about two- thirds, of their tribeships, reaching down to the coast of the Great Sea, thus affording them every facility for their conveyance in this direction. By mention being made in Isaiah, chap, x, verse 20, of “ the escaped of the house of Jacob,” as well as of “ the remnant of Israel,” which had 2a 2 270 THE ESCAPED OF ISRAEL. been taken captive by the Assyrians ; it seems to be intimated, that a considerable number had fled from the land, rather than remain to be led away at the will of the enemy. This was the more likely, as those dwelling along the coast of the Great Sea, had, nineteen years before the great captivity, warning given them by the forcible removal of those that lived eastward of the Jordan. In the space of these nineteen years, between the two captivities, many, doubtless, escaped; and it may partly have been to prevent the greater withdrawal of Israel from under their yoke, that the Assyrians came up, and swept away the rem¬ nant so entirely. The way of escape was west¬ ward, down the Mediterranean sea, or into Egypt. Every other door of hope seemed to be closed against them. With regard to Egypt, it had been said by the prophet Hosea (ix, 3.) “Ephraim shall return to Egypt and again (verse 6,) Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them.” Memphis, it may be remarked, is that city of Egypt, in the neighbourhood of which, are the Pyramids, and other remarkable burying places. It would appear by the language of this prophecy, that the dispersed of Israel would be prized in Egypt ; and that they would there be honoured in their burial. And it is, perhaps, worthy of notice, that shortly after the Assyrian captivity, the influence of Israel does seem to have been felt in Egypt, — as, then, a singular revolution took place, approximating their government to LECTURE XII. THE TWELVE KINGS IN EGYPT. 271 that of the twelve tribes. Upon the death of the king, who reigned over Egypt, in the time of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, the Egyptians, says Herodotus, (Euterpe, cxlvii,) recovered their freedom ; and chose twelve kings, among whom they divided the different districts of Egypt. — Here we have, immediately after the Assyrian captivity, an elective government established in Egypt, and that consisting of twelve communes ; and this, during the very life-time of the refugees belonging to the twelve tribes of Israel. Egypt, however, does not seem to have been the soil in which the seed of liberty could then firmly take root, however rapidly it might spring up. These twelve kings were they who built the celebrated labyrinth, near the lake Moeris, and to which, Herodotus says, even the pyramids were inferior. It was composed of twelve covered courts, six towards the north, and six to the south; and three thousand apartments, fifteen hundred under ground, and fifteen hundred above, of incredible grandeur and beauty. These are now supposed to be covered by the sand. The re-opening of them, Savary supposes, may throw considerable light upon the past history of man ; and possibly, our own subject would profit thereby, as much as any. But although Israel would, as to a por¬ tion of them, find thus an asylum and occupation in Egypt, they were not then to continue ; they were not then to take root. After the passages of Hosea, already referred to, it is said of 272 THE TWELVE IONIAN CITIES, Ephraim, (chap, xi,) “ He shall not return into the land of Egypt.” There no more would they find that rest which they sought to obtain, as forgetting their Maker, and building temples, and choosing altars to sin. The Egyptian Commonwealth was speedily dissolved, and one of the twelve, called Psammitacus, obtained the supreme command. From that time, Egypt appears to have been thrown open to strangers ; and, doubtless, then also many of the freedom-seeking Egyptians removed to other countries. Foremost in this new emigration, would be the Israelitish refugees. On the opposite side of the Mediterranean, in the extremity of Asia Minor, we find thereafter springing up another, the Ionian Commonwealth, consisting of twelve tribes or states ; and taking, after the Israelitish pattern, the form of a limited monarchy. It is clearly inferred from Herodotus, that their having a commonwealth of just twelve states, was a matter of choice, and not of chance. They had the same political arrangements previous to their settling in this part of the world, and when being placed along the western coast of Greece : — where are the islands that are now called the Ionian republic, under the protection of the British nation. The Ionians appear, many of them, to have possessed some of the strongest characteristics of Israel. They were remarkable, alike, for personal beauty, and for the beauty of their situation, — to which Herodotus could find no parallel. It was LECTURE XII. WERE THEY OF SIMEON? 273 in the western extremity of Asia, and reached out into the islands on the coast over against Greece. The principal of their cities was Miletus, from which there was such an emigration westward, in ancient times. They seem to have been remark¬ able for their mental vigour, and love of liberty. Their connection with the Egyptians was most intimate ; and they are said to be the first among the Greeks who undertook long voyages. They had, as we have intimated, been in rather a wan¬ dering state, previous to their settlement in Ionia, — where, at length, as in a second Eden, they had taken up their abode. But this was not to be their rest. They appear to have been given this position, in order that they might still more ex¬ tensively be sown over the world ; as if to give the fullest scope for the execution of the sentence pronounced upon Simeon by Jacob : — “ Simeon and Levi are brethren ; I will divide them in Ja¬ cob, and scatter them in Israel.” Three several times were they reduced by the Persians, and by them sown over the earth. Some of them were carried even as far as to Ampe, a city said to be near the Erythrean Sea, where it receives the waters of the Tigris. And it is worthy of remark, that this dispersion took place in consequence of a revolt, occasioned by their fear of being replaced in the land of Israel, — about the same time that the Jews had their captivity returned. They had not, like the Jews, been forcibly drawn away from the land of promise. They had voluntarily aban- 274 THE DISPERSED OF ISRAEL, doned it, as a land that devoured its inhabitants, and they had found a happy home abroad. They had become alienated alike from the throne of David, and the Temple of Jerusalem, so that what was joy to the Jews, was naturally a terror to them. The term brethren, so emphatically ap¬ plied to Simeon and Levi, appears to have been much in use in this quarter. Thus we find, near this, Philadelphia, that is, loving brethren ; and a very remarkable, an exceedingly rich temple, called Didymus, meaning Twins , wras also in this district. Nor is it of small importance, that to this quarter our attention is particularly directed, not only by the preaching and epistles of Paul, but also by the book of Revelation. Here were the seven churches, symbolized by the seven candlesticks in the sanctuary. Many of the greatest lights of antiquity arose in this neighbourhood. As tyranny prevailed, mental vigour declined ; or rather tra¬ velled farther west, into Greece, and afterwards, still more and more, into Europe. This important office of the dispersed of Israel, as instructors of the Greeks, appears to have been understood by the Jews, in the time of our Saviour’s sojourning among them. When he threatened to leave them, and go where they would not find him, they said, — “ Whither will he go, that we shall not find him ? Will he go to the dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks ? ” — (Not the Gentiles, as given in our translation.) This seems clearly to indicate, that they thought LECTURE XII. AMONG THE GREEKS. 275 some, at least, of the dispersed, had gone among the Greeks, and communicated to them much knowledge, — of which the Jews were so selfishly proud; and of which the Greeks do not seem to have made the very best use. That knowledge had, indeed, become greatly corrupted before the Assyrian captivity. To such corruption, Simeon was peculiarly exposed, by his nearness to Egypt and Philistia. The words of the Jews seem also to imply that at the time they were spoken, the dispersed among the Greeks had ceased to be re¬ cognised as of Israel. It was as much as to say, let him go from us ; it will be his own loss, as it has been that of the portion of our people who departed from us ; and especially, of those sent to Javan or Greece, — who so far from manifesting the God of Israel there, have themselves been lost. Our Saviour’s view of the matter was dif¬ ferent, when he was told that certain Greeks, who had come up to the feast, desired to see him ; he seems to have recognized them as being of Israel, who had, to human view, been lost, like seed sown in the earth. They had been sown among the nations, but were now beginning to spring up, and ripen unto the harvest. The double seed, — the one seed Christ, to come of Judah, — the mul¬ titudinous seed, to come of the other house of Israel, — have frequently, as here, the same things said of both. It may be remarked, that the very names, and order, and number, of the Greek letters, give evidence of their being taught them 276 THE ETRURIAN COMMONWEALTH. by the Hebrews ; thus from the Hebrew Aleph, we have the Greek Alpha ; Heb. Beth, Gr. Beta ; Heb. Gimel, Gr. Gamma, &c. Even their letters, so essential to the very existence of their litera¬ ture, speak thus plainly of the quarter from which the Greeks had derived much in which they were most disposed to boast themselves. Their sacrifices, their oracles, and their free government, all tell of the influence of the Israel- itish refugees, who had so early been given to encircle their coasts. As coming from the coast of Phenicia, they would doubtless be called Phe- nicians ; or, as coming from the border of Egypt, where was Simeon, and possibly as coming di¬ rectly from Egypt, they would be confounded with the Egyptians ; nor would they, in the cir¬ cumstances, be likely to boast of their true origin. It was not until sufficient time after the Assyrian captivity, that the seed, thus sown along the coasts of Greece, ripened, as in Athens, into that intellectual fruitfulness for which it was in after ages so distinguished. Coming farther down the Mediterranean, to Italy, we find in the most north-west portion thereof, another commonwealth, consisting of twelve states, or lucumonin — a word doubtless from the same Hebrew root as that from which we have county or comte. This country was anciently called Tyrsenia, which word appears to mean a second Tyre, or Tyre repeated. The word senia is from the same root as that from which we LECTURE XII. ETRURIA. 277 have sen or son , attached to so many northern names. This state seems to have been at first only a Tyrian colony. At an early period it appears to have undergone a considerable revo¬ lution: after which it generally bears the name of Etruria. It was then that the inhabitants were formed into a commonwealth of twelve states each lucumo, or state, being in some measure independent, and having its own prince; but all, like the tribes of Israel, under one king. These changes, we may well believe, took place in consequence of extensive immigrations from Israel; and especially, from the tribe of Asher, in whose tribeship was Tyre. (See Rees’ Cyclo¬ paedia, on the word ee Etruria.”) The Etrurians are said to have formed themselves into twelve states ; — first, on the west of the Apennines ; and afterwards, they established a similar common¬ wealth, consisting of the same number of states, on the east side. Both passes into Italy were thus possessed by them. The language of the Etrurians, is said to have been the same with the Hebrew or Pheni- cian; and, anciently, they believed in one Supreme Being, whom they called Jave or Jove, the pecu¬ liar name of the God of Israel. They considered him to be what the very word imports, the Prin¬ ciple of life and motion, as well as the Great Governor of the Universe. They also looked forward to a future state of rewards and punish¬ ments. Their sacrifices, their eagerness to have 2 B 278 THE DANES AND JUTES. the knowledge of future events communicated to them from a supernatural source ; and even, their real prophecies regarding the Messiah, which the Romans learned from them, and which were para¬ phrased by their great poet Yirgil ; all bespeak their Hebrew origin. From them the Romans received almost every thing valuable they posses¬ sed, whether in arts or in arms. Even their civil polity, as well as their religious rites and cere¬ monies, they learned of the Etrurians. By the Romans they were at length subdued, and made greatly subsidiary to the political importance of those lords of the earth. The Romans served themselves of them, even as the Persians did of the lonians ; and the Macedonians of the Spar¬ tans and Athenians. These were mingled among, and became conformed to the evil practices of, the heathen. And they even became such proficients in wickedness, as to teach the wicked ( ones their ways ; and so was “ that wicked” given to lord it over them. They yielded themselves to be the slaves of idols, and so were allowed to become the servants of men. The tribe of Dan seems to have required no foreign aid, to assist them in their flight. Even so early as the time of the Judges, it is said that “ Dan abode in ships;” and Joppa, at which Jonah took shipping, to flee into Tarshish, was in the tribeship of Dan. It wras no extraordinary thing, but rather fully to be expected, that many of this tribe would take refuge in the far west, from LECTURE XII. THE PICTS AND WELSH. 279 their eastern enemies, that seemed ready to de¬ vour them. One of the northern Chronicles takes notice, that the Danes and Jutes, by their very names, give evidence of their Israelitish origin. The extreme likeness of character in the Danites and the Danes, need not be dwelt upon. The port of Joppa was the nearest to Judah, and may have afforded some of that tribe the means of transporting themselves in the same direction, when the panic was upon that people, as well as upon Israel. These would naturally settle in the same neighbourhood with the Danes ; which may account for the Jutes and Danes dwelling so near each other in the north. And the place in which they settled, it may be remarked, is pot even so distant as that, in the same direction, to which we know the Phenicians had traded for amber. A very interesting work has been written by the distinguished antiquary, Sir Wm. Betham, to prove that the Welsh are related to the Piets. And some hints have been thrown out by a very able writer, (Abdiel, in the Jewish Expositor, 1828,) intimating that the Welsh are of Israel. It is likely enough that these were the elder brethren of the Saxons ; that they were of Manas- seh — of that half of this tribe which bordered upon the Great Sea ; and who had, equally with Asher, Dan, and Simeon, an opportunity of escaping westward ; and who had at length reached these isles afar off. As early settling among the Cimbri in the north of Europe, and learning their lan- 280 ISRAEL GATHERED IN TO ONE PLACE. guage, they would naturally come to be called by their name. These have indeed become Manasseh, having C( forgotten all their father’s house.” If these are of the elder brother of Ephraim, the pro¬ phecy has fully been accomplished, (Isaiah, ix. 21.) Manasseh has been devouring Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and they together have been against Judah. And if the escaped of Israel have thus been strewed along the coast of Europe, — the very country into which the remnant carried cap¬ tive were about to come ; — if those who fled west¬ ward have come into the very quarter into which those who were taken away north-eastward in bonds have ultimately been brought; and where the two long-separated streams have commingled, and thence spread their fructifying influence all over the globe, — then, so far, has also that prophecy been fulfilled, which, at the time it was given, seemed most difficult of fulfilment, (Mic.ii. 12, 13 :) “ I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee ; I will surely gather The remnant of Israel ; I will put them together, As the sheep of Bozrah, As the dock in the midst of their fold ; They shall make great noise by reason of men. The Breaker is come up before them : They have broken up ; And have passed through the gate ; And are gone out by it ; And their King shall pass before them, And the Lord on the head of them." They have been gathered together into one place, and the Lord hath there kept them as a shepherd LECTURE XII. LINE OF THE LORD’S INHERITANCE. 281 doth his sheep. The Breaker, the great beast, the fourth empire, that breaketh in pieces the whole earth, came up before them. They were obliged to associate more closely together, and break up that which aimed at their utter destruc¬ tion. They obtained possession of the gate of their enemies, and have gone out by it. And their king hath passed before them, to receive for himself the kingdom, and to return ; when he shall be found, the Lord on the head of them. Their multiplicity, their supplanting the nations, and the cause of the joy they are given to declare to the world, (Chi’ist in his first and second advents,) are all here pointed out. Israel hath thus been indeed the Lord’s mea¬ suring line, from the very time of their calling, and being placed in the promised land. They have been enclosing one portion after another of the human race, until now, that, in a manner, they embrace the world. We have already adverted to the fact of Jerusalem’s having been, until the time of David, retained as a Canaanitish city. It was enclosed within the bounds of Israel, who were dwelling on all sides of it ; and at length it was , taken up into the Lord’s inheritance ; and was chosen, above all places, for the God of Israel to place his name there, and where his congregation should be established before him. Afterwards, by the Assyrians, the body of the people were removed farther back into the north. Their place in Samaria was left to be filled with a first-fruits 2b 2 282 ISRAEL THE LINE of a variety of other nations, who were enclosed within the remaining portion of the Lord’s people : the Jews, dwelling in Judea and Galilee, and having these Gentiles, inhabiting Samaria, in their centre. And the Lord, in going down from Judea into Galilee, “ must needs go through Samaria ; ” and his apostles followed in the same course ; and the Samaritans came into a partici¬ pation of the blessings of the Gospel, as being thus brought into conjunction with Israel. They were blessed as being in the way in which the Lord went ; and in which he sent his messengers forth for the blessing of his chosen people, the lot of his inheritance. Our Saviour’s personal ministry was, in embryo, that which has been accomplishing since. As Samaria, occupied by the Gentiles, lay between the two portions of the Jews, Judea and Galilee ; and as it was the latter which was the great scene of his preaching and doing of good : so, between the land of Israel and this goodly heritage of the host of nations here in the north-west, did interpose a tract of country mainly possessed by the Gentiles, through w7hich the Gospel had to pass, as it had to pass through Samaria; and here, as in Galilee, in the most north-west portion of the land, has been the greatest display of the goodness, and manifesta¬ tion of the unwearied care of the Shepherd of Israel. — Even all along this line, in which the Gospel has travelled westward, were, as we have seen, placed portions of the people wdio had been LECTURE XII. OF THE LORD’S INHERITANCE. 283 prepared for the name of Jehovah, to transmit it from one part to another, until it reached these “ isles afar off,” whence it was to be declared unto all the ends of the earth. The Gentiles have come, and are coming, into the possession of blessing, as being encompassed by Israel, the lot, the measuring line, of the Lord’s inheritance. The great body of the people had been either led into the north, or were fled into the west. They had encircled the western coast of Asia Minor ; and that was taken into the Lord’s inhe¬ ritance : — There, was the great preaching of the gospel, and planting of churches, in Apostolic times. But Israel had encompassed Greece ; they were to the north, and south, and west, of Macedonia : and that became thence a carefully laboured portion of the vineyard. But Israel had proceeded to the north-west of Italy. — They had, as it were, enclosed Rome : and it, also, became blessed with the preaching, and one of the most valuable epistles, of the apostle. But not only have portions of the escaped of Israel, come into the West: — “the fullness of nations,” promised to Ephraim, have been brought forth ; and have come into the possession of the extreme north and west. They have, like the palm tree, been long in proving worthy of their name, Ephraim, that is , fruitful : but at length the time has come, that they should be blessed, and be the means of blessing all the nations of the earth. And accord¬ ingly, the light travels onward ; the sap progresses 284 LINE OF THE LORD’S INHERITANCE. in the branch of the Lord’s planting : the Albi- genses appear in the north of Italy, and testify to the simple truths of God’s word, in opposition to all the thick darkness that was then covering the earth. The witnesses thereafter appear, as Waldenses, on the north-west of the Alps. After¬ wards, the same doctrines are proclaimed by Wickliff, still further west, in England ; and his voice reaches even afar east, to Bohemia. And then in the north, among the Saxons, stands forth the bold Luther, denouncing in strongest terms the man of sin ; who, having “ defiled the temple of God,” shall be by God destroyed ; for the temple of God is holy ; which temple, said the apostle, to some of the first reached of the Euro¬ pean population, — “ which temple ye are.” Here is the place within the vail, which shall be cleansed. “ The idols he will utterly abolish s< and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” And now was declared in its fulness, the doctrine of free justification, by the blood of Jesus. And Israel, having been given the gate of the enemy, and having passed out by it, and spread themselves over the earth, and encircled every shore, — they are also given every facility for declaring the glory of God to the Gentiles. Having renewed their strength in these islands, and thence spread themselves abroad, the word of God is also given to be by them conveyed ; to be “ preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations : and then shall the end come.” The LECTURE XII. CALL TO CORRESPONDENT DUTY. 285 storm is approaching, such as hath not been since man was upon the earth ; but the bow is in the cloud, — there is the token of favour to man. In the fulfilment of the word of God, respecting Israel, by their being given to encircle all nations, there is the assurance, that, when these calamities are overpast, glory and blessing shall be the portion of the human race, in the kingdom of Messiah and his saints ; who shall be given the domi¬ nion under the whole heaven : — the line of the Lord’s inheritance shall have then truly encom¬ passed the globe. Seeing that these things are so; — seeing that such things the Lord hath wrought ; — and seeing that we look for such things, — may we not well comply with the invitation, so often given us in holy writ, to stand boldly forward, and occupy our proper position, our destiny, our duty, and our privilege. To this there is a lively call in Isaiah, chap. lx. This beautiful portion of Scrip¬ ture seems to consist of six smaller portions, the first five of which are sonnets, or songs of four¬ teen lines each. The first, places the hearer in Jerusalem, in the Holy Land, and bids him look around, and see how the light is breaking; and how all around are preparing to flow unto Mount Zion, the city of the Lord. The next four para¬ graphs point eastward, and westward, and north¬ ward, and southward, to the characteristic trea¬ sures of each quarter, as being contributed to that city, which shall then be the joy of the whole 286 VIEW OF ALL AROUND earth. The sixth paragraph, in five verses of four lines each, describes the settled and increasing state of glory and blessedness which Jerusalem shall thence enjoy. The first paragraph is a call to courage, and to a clear exhibition of the truth, in anticipation of the coming glory. Jerusalem is called to look around, and see how immensely more numerous her children are, and how much more favourably dealt Avith, than she had at all anticipated. — The day dawrns ; the morning begins to spread upon the mountains. It is time to put off the works of darkness, and to go forth, in light and holiness, to arouse a sleeping world to a recognition of the word, and working, and ways of Jehovah ; and to a preparedness for the glorious issue of all his wonderful acts to the children of men. — Let us, then, feel at one with Jerusalem, while she is thus addressed by the Spirit of prophecy, as antici¬ pating this time : — “Arise! shine! For thy light is come, {v. 1-4.) And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold the darkness shall cover the earth. And gross darkness the people ; But the Lord shall arise upon thee, And his glory shall be seen upon thee : And the Gentiles shall come to thy light. And kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes bound about And see ! All they gather themselves together ; They come to thee ! Thy sons shall come from far. And thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." LECTURE XII. FLOWING UNTO JERUSALEM. 287 The second paragraph is a call upon Jerusalem to look Eastward; and to be filled with holy fear toward God, whilst her heart is enlarged toward men, when she sees how abundantly the God of the whole earth hath enriched her there, with the means of distributing blessings among the nations, from the Cape of Good Hope, to India, and Aus¬ tralia. The Erythrean Sea with its two branches, and all the treasures of Arabia between, are hers. The burning desert, now abundantly refreshed, will contribute its rich and varied productions as provision for the house of the Lord^s glory : — THE EAST. “ Then thou shalt see, (v. 5-7.) And flow together ; And thine heart shall fear And be enlarged , Because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, The forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee ; The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah : All they from Sheba shall come : They shall bring gold and incense ; And they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, The rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee : They shall come up with acceptance on mine altar." The third sonnet turns the eye Westward, and sees the swiftly-sailing steam-ships, Avith unde¬ viating aim, stretching up the Mediterranean ; bringing in abundance the children of Zion, Avith their treasures, unto the name of the Lord. — No more may Israel be termed Lo-ruhamah ; seeing that from this quarter it is so truly manifest that 288 THE WEST AND NORTH the Most High, in his favour, hath indeed had mercy on her : — THE WEST. “ And I will glorify the house of my glory. Who — these ! — fly as a cloud, ( v . 8-10.) And as the doves to their windows ? Surely the isles shall wait for me, And the ships of Tarsbish first, To bring thy sons from far. Their silver and their gold with them, Unto the name of the Lord thy God, And to_ the Holy One of Israel, Because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, And their kings shall minister unto thee : For in my wrath I smote thee, But in my favour have I had mercy on thee.” The fourth sonnet looks Northward, and sees the gates of the enemy given into the hands of Israel, and all her former oppressors and despoilers made submissive, or brought to nought. — No longer may she fear that the ravenous beasts from the north, — the wolf, the leopard, the bear, and the lion, shall devour on her holy mountain. And the glory of Lebanon (in this quarter of the land,) shall be all her own : — THE NORTH. “ Therefore thy gates shall be open continually ; (v. 11-14.) They shall not be shut day nor night ; That — may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentile3, And — their kings — brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish ; Yea, — nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, The fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box, together, To beautify the place of my sanctuary ; And I will make the place of my feet glorious. LECTURE XII. AND SOUTH OF JERUSALEM. 289 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; And all they that despised thee shall how themselves down at the soles of thy feet; And they shall call thee. The city of the Loed, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." The fifth paragraph looks Southward, and sees the Redemption, prefigured by that from Egypt, made complete. And it is intimated that the rich mineral treasures of Idumea, here on the south, are equally hers, as the trees of Lebanon in the north. All the bondage and oppression, with which the children of Africa have so long been visited, are at an end, — at the same time that all contribute to Jerusalem’s glory and joy : — THE SOUTH. “ Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, {v. 15-17. ) So that no man went through — I will make thee an eternal excellency, A joy of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, And shalt suck the breasts of tings: And thou shalt know that I the Lord — thy Saviour And thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, And for iron I will bring silver, And for wood brass, And for stones iron : I will also make thy officers peace, And thine exactors righteousness.” The former paragraphs describe Israel’s obtain¬ ing of the Land, — to which, indeed, the Scripture sonnets generally relate. The sixth and last paragraph, regards the permanent peace, and glory, and righteousness, and magnifying of God, in that kingdom which, 2 c 290 ISRAEL GIVEN REST whatever changes the earth may hereafter under¬ go, shall never pass away : — THE FUTURE GLORY. “ Violence shall be no more heard in thy land, {v. 18-22.) Wasting nor destruction within thy borders ; But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, And thy gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day : Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : But the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, And thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: For the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, And the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also — all righteous : They shall inherit the land for ever, The branch of my planting. The work of my hands. That I may be glorified, A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation : I the Lord will hasten it in his time." LECTURE XIII. THE SONGS OF DEGREES.— ISRAEL’S PROGRESS INTO MILLENNIAL GLORY. The Songs of Degrees, (Psalms cxx-cxxxiv,) sketching the progress of Israel from their state in the Wilderness, to their appearing before the Lord in Zion. — Their exposure in the North. — Obtaining of Help. — Going up to Jerusalem. — Emancipation from Anti-christian thraldom. — Blessing obtained for the firm ad¬ herents of the Truth. — Discovery of the Lord’s wonderful dealings with Israel. — Return of the Lord, with the earlier children of the Church. — Consequent happy condition of Israel. — Meditations on the works of God, in Providence and Redemption. — The appropriate sacrifice of the people, presented by Christ, and full acceptance declared. — Happy union of the children of God in the house of their Father. Hitherto we have chiefly illustrated our subject from Moses and the Prophets: but the Psalms are many of them upon the same theme ; and the New Testament equally confirms the promises made unto the fathers. Upon this latter department of our subject we cannot now enter ; and we have also reserved the main portion of the prophetic testimony to a further opportunity. We shall here, just before concluding, give an example from the Psalms. We might have, per¬ haps, equally taken some other portion ; but that which we now approach is the collection of Songs of Degrees, reaching from the hundred and twen¬ tieth, to the hundred and thirty-fourth, of the Book of Psalms. We take these the more readily, 292 THE SONGS OF DEGREES, as they are an exemplification of the Sonnet, or song of fourteen lines, as prevailing in Scripture, as well as a description of the progress of Israel from among the children of falsehood and hatred, in the northern wilderness, to their appearing before God in Zion, in peace and concord, as brethren, living together in unity. Each succes¬ sive Psalm is the description of a successive step, in their approach to the .house of the Lord. These songs are evidently intended to describe the case of the true Israel of God : and to express their hearts* desire, — as going up to the house of the Lord, — as looking forward to the expected sal¬ vation and glory, — that state of holiness and bliss, for which they have been in training, up to this day. Viewing this series of Psalms thus propheti¬ cally, we regard them as we believe them to have been designed by that one Spirit, from whom the whole body of Holy Scripture has proceeded, however diversified the agency through which it has been conveyed. But, we do not deny their application, in a measure, to the case of the Psalmist, or to that of the individual believer: although the limiting them to individuals thus, has certainly much tended to darken the word of God ; and make it be regarded as hyperbolical or equivocal, or such, as that it might as well be made anything of, as that to which it is turned. Now the word of God is not a mere word, that requires to have meaning put to it by us ; — nor has it meaning that may be lost without recovery. LECTURE XIII. I VIEWED PROPHETICALLY. 293 It has a true and definite meaning, which shall never fail; and which, when discovered, requires no straining of the text, although it may some¬ times require us to part with vague or chance notions that we may happen to have associated with the text : — and each portion is not merely as a polished gem, but a gem so placed, — so arranged in relation to others, as that its beauty will best appear, when viewed in connexion with all around it; and especially with all belonging to the same piece of divine workmanship : for let us never forget that God, not man, is the Framer of the word ; and his Word he hath mag¬ nified above all his name. The first of these songs finds Israel in a situa¬ tion directly the reverse of that in which the last leaves them. They are here, as it were, cast out into the wilderness, and exposed to hatred and reproach. Long had they been sojourning in Mesech, whose country is generally allowed to be that in which we found outcast Israel, — the south of Russia. There they were the objects of false accusation; which the remnant of them, dwelling in the same place, still, it seems, are. There they dwelt as in the tents of Kedar, being scarcely al¬ lowed any settled abode ; — they were surrounded by those that hated peace. The aim of those around them, whether barbarian or civilized, seems to have been to prey upon this people, — triumphs over whom, were accounted glorious; and their efforts at self-defence, or reprisal, as manifestations 2 c 2 294 ISRAEL, IN THE WILDERNESS, of barbaric rage. Every effort seems to have been made to rob them; and their utter extermination appears to have been aimed at, by the Romans : — Psalm cxx. — A Song of degrees. “ In my distress I cried unto the Lord, And he heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, — From a deceitful tongue. What shall he given unto thee; Or what shall be done unto thee, Thou false tongue ? Sharp arrows of the mighty, With coals of juniper. Wo is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, — I dwell in the tents of Kedar ! My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I — peace ; But when I speak, — they — for war.” The second song finds this people as looking for help ; and as finding fallacious the promise of human aid. But their extremity is God^s oppor¬ tunity. When brought to the very dust, they are lifted up, and given comparative security and rest. Then did they enter the fold of Christ. Then, more sensibly, came they under the care of the Shepherd of Israel, who hath since guided Joseph like a flock ; giving them to make continual pro¬ gress, and to have all things working together for their ultimate good. It may be remarked, that the latter part of this Psalm seems to be a paraphrase upon the name of Samaria, the capital city of the ten tribes ; as the conclusion of next psalm is upon Jerusalem : this meaning, the sight , or vision of peace ; and LECTURE XIII. OBTAIN HELP FROM GOD. 295 Samaria being called after Shemer, — (2 Kings xvi. 24,) — which means keeper , or one that keeps watch and protects ; which God hath most truly been to this house of Israel : — Psalm cxxi. — A Song of degrees. “ Will I lift up mine eyes unto the hills ? From whence cometh my help ? My help — from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved : He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord — thy keeper : The Lord — thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, Nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil : He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, From this time forth, and even for evermore.’’ The third song may be taken to express the joy with which these nations entered that, which, in the New Testament Epistles, seems to be uniformly meant by the Temple or House of God. (See lTim.iii, 15,16; iCor, iii. 16,17; Heb.iii, 6; 1 Pet. ii, 5 .) But there was then, also, regard to the literal Jerusalem, and to that which was esteemed the house of God there : — so that the people freely offered themselves for the rescue of the holy city, from the scornful and oppressive infidel ; and for the planting there the ensign of their faith. Never, as has been observed, have these nations so united their counsels and their arms, as in their wilful attempt to gain possession of the Land. Doubt- 296 THEY GO UP TO JERUSALEM : % less they animated themselves with many of those promises respecting Jerusalem, such as are here recited, — which abound in Scripture, and which shall yet, most assuredly be realized ; but, not by the might or power of man, but by the grace of God, shall the glory be enjoyed. It may be re¬ marked, that although shamefully foiled in their attempt to keep possession of Jerusalem, — yet, they have increasingly experienced the truth of the promise here made to those that love her. From that time their progress has been rapid and pro¬ gressive ; and especially as to the light of divine truth : — Psalm cxxii. — A Song of degrees of David. “ 1 was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together; Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, Unto the testimony of Israel, To give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, The thrones of the house of David. Fray for the peace of Jerusalem : They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls — Prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' suites, I will now say, Peace — within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.” The fourth song finds the eye of Israel lifted from the dream of earthly glory, to Him that dwelleth in the heavens ; and to whose sovereign disposal of human affairs it is wisdom to submit. The wilfulness has been punished ; and the chas- LECTURE XIII. ARE TAUGHT HUMILITY. 29/ tisement has been felt. There is an humble, but earnest waiting upon the Lord, until that he have mercy upon them. Their pride is humbled ; they having been put to shame before the enemy. The proud Saracen, and still more haughty Turk, are allowed to tread Jerusalem under foot, and to treat with scorning and contempt the children of Zion : — Psalm cxxiii. — A Song of degrees. “ Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants — Unto the hand of their masters, — ■ As the eyes of a maiden Unto the hand of her mistress ; So our eyes — upon the Lord our God, Until that he have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, 0 Lord, Have mercy upon us ; For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled. With the scorning of those that are at ease, — With the contempt of the proud." The fifth song recognises deliverance, and that as proceeding from the Lord. Security had been sought in creature help. They had recourse to saints and images, and the delusions of a super¬ stitious priesthood. The Man of Rome had seized upon their zeal, and turned it to his own malicious purposes ; directing now the crusades against the peaceful followers of the Lamb, who seemed ready to be swallowed up. But the Lord at length made his light more extensively to penetrate through that thick darkness which had covered the people. 298 FREED FROM SNARES OF ANTICHRIST, The snare in which they had so long been caught was broken ; and, in the Reformation, there was escape, from all the gods of man’s creating, to a simple trust in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth: — Psalm cxxiv. — A Song of degrees of David. “ Unless — the Lord who was on our side, Now may Israel say; Unless — the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us : Then they had swallowed us up quick, When their wrath was kindled against us : Then the waters had overwhelmed us, The stream had gone over our soul : Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed — the Lord, who hath not given us — a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers ; The snare is broken, And we are escaped. Our help — in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” The sixth song respects that confidence of faith which those possess, who are given to build upon the One Foundation laid in Zion. It expressively declares the firmness of the true Israel, — as en¬ during persecution ; and their real security under the protection of their God, — who, whatever evils assail, is as a wall of fire around his people. There is an intimation here of a release from under the rod of the Wicked, in tenderness to the righteous, to whom peculiar favour is shewn. And blessing has for centuries wonderfully followed the Protest¬ ant faith ; so that the nations, and even portions of nations, professing it, have been remarkably distinguished, in the providence of God, from the LECTURE XIII. THEY GAIN STRENGTH AND BLESSING. 299 followers of idols. There is, at the same time, warning here given to those that work iniquity, and those that turn aside after their crooked ways. And there is a looking forward to the prophesied “peace upon Israel:” — Psalm cxxv. — A Song of degrees. “ They that trust in the Lord — — As mount Zion — Cannot he removed, — Abideth for ever. — The mountains — round about Jerusalem, So the Lord — round about his people, From henceforth even for ever. For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous : Lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. Do good, O Lord, unto — the good. And to — the upright in their hearts. As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity ; — Peace — upon Israel.” The seventh of these songs comes down to the time when the Lord uncovers His wondrous working among the children of men, and shews his people the power of his works. Then are they Isaac : “ Their mouth is filled with laughter, and their tongue with singing.” They are full of as¬ tonishment at their own blindness ; and with glad¬ ness at what the Lord hath done for them. The Gospel hath been preached for a witness, unto all nations; — all have been previously presented with the word of God, that all may be given to see the great things our God hath for us wrought. There is a looking forward to the full harvest, and to the 300 THE COMING HARVEST. Lord of the Harvest bringing his sheaves ; when He that was ff the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” shall, notwithstanding all human unbelief, doubtless come again, and that with rejoicing : — Psalm cxxvi. — A Song of degrees. “ When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, We were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing : Then said they among the heathen. The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us, — We are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth. Bearing precious seed. Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. Bringing his sheaves.” The eighth song respects the fruitless attempts which, it seems, will yet be made, to build the house, and keep the city. It calls for quiet con¬ fidence, and patient waiting upon God. It points to the fulfilment of His word, as to the multipli¬ city of the Seed, and the goodly heritage He hath provided for them. And it points the attention, also, to the children of the youth which are now restored, and appear in resurrection Glory. These are they who shall be given power. Happy the man who shall have many of these for a crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord. Happy shall the Man of Sorrows then be, as using these for the execution of his will. These are “ the called, lecture xm. FUTURE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. 301 and chosen, and faithful,” who shall not fail in the cause of righteousness and truth, which shall thence abundantly prosper : — Psalm cxxvii. — A Song of degrees for Solomon. “ Except the Lord build the house, They labour in vain that build it : Except the Lord keep the city. The watchman waketh — in vain. — Vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late. To eat the bread of sorrows : —So he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children — an heritage of the Lord .' — The fruit of the womb — the reward. As arrows — in the hand of a mighty man ; So— children of the youth. Happy — the Man that hath his quiver full of them : They shall not be ashamed, But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." The ninth song describes the blessedness of the man who shall live in that happy age, under the dominion of Christ and of his saints. These now are willing to follow him through tribulation, and shall then appear with him in glory, and be made kings and priests unto God, and reign on the earth. Then the seed of the blessed of the Lord shall live in peace, and their children with them : for although those who shall be accounted worthy of the first resurrection, ee neither marry, nor are given in marriage;” it is not so with those under their dominion. Life shall then be immensely prolonged : as the days of a tree shall be the days of God’s people. Then indeed shall there be “ Peace upon Israel : ” — 2 D 302 THE FUTURE PEACE AND BLESSING. Psalm cxxviii. — A Song of degrees. “ Blessed — every one that feareth the Lord ; That walheth in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands : Happy — thou — and — well with thee. Thy wife — as a fruitful vine By the sides of thine house : Thy children like olive plants Bound about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed, that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion : And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem, All the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, — Peace upon Israel.” The tenth song is Israel musing over the ways of Providence, and exulting in the redemption the Lord shall then have wrought for them, as having delivered them from all bondage and oppression, which had been so grievous, and multiplied ; and, notwithstanding which, they had, like the palm- tree, continued to spring up ; and at length, they flourish abundantly, and bring forth fruit in old age : whilst their haters are like the grass upon the house-top, withering and unproductive. Unhappy shall be the condition of those who will not parti¬ cipate in the joy of Jerusalem : — Psalm cxxix. — A Song of degrees. “ Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. May Israel now say : Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth : Yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back : They made long their furrows. The righteous Lord hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. LECTURE XIII. THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL. 303 Let them be as the grass — the housetops, Which withereth afore it groweth up : Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand ; Nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say. The blessing of the Lord— upon you : We bless you in the name of the Lord.” The eleventh song presents the Saint, as review¬ ing that more wondrous way, as celebrating the still greater Redemption which he has experienced; the redemption from sin and misery, through the for¬ giveness of God, in Christ Jesus. It is, as it were, the heavens answering to the earth, and telling of the depths out of which there had been deliver¬ ance into that exceeding great glory. It is a re¬ minding of Israel according to the flesh, not to rest in the temporal deliverance, which shall then have been wrought for them. And it is a direct¬ ing all into the way of peace. The man of God recounts, in grateful song, his own experience of redeeming Love : — Psalm cxxx. — A Song of degrees. “ Out of tbe depths bave I cried unto tbee, 0 Lord. Lord, bear my voice : Let tbine ears be attentive to tbe voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand ? But — forgiveness with tbee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for tbe Lord, my soul doth wait, And in his word do I hope. My soul— for tbe Lord more than they that watch for tbe morning : They that watch for tbe morning. Let Israel hope in tbe Lord: For with the Lord — mercy, And with him — plenteous redemption, And be shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities." 304 ISRAEL ACCEPTED The twelfth song brings into view the true worshipper, — as having all his pride and presump¬ tion subdued ; as possessing the lamb-like nature of the One Great Sacrifice — Christ Jesus ; as hav¬ ing every high imagination brought into subjec¬ tion to the mind of God, — willing to learn all that his God would teach, and looking for nothing but what his Father appoints him. Then has he the Lord himself for his everlasting portion ; and thence shall all the treasures of wisdom and know¬ ledge be unfolded to his view. It is the pride of man, that prevents him from being truly exalted ; and his covetousness, that keeps him poor indeed. May the numerous seed soon become like the One Seed, Christ, — meek and lowly in heart: — so shall they find rest unto their souls ! This is the proper effect of all the trials Israel have passed through, — of all the grace so richly manifested toward them. Psalm cxxxi. — A Song of degrees of David. “Lord, my heart is not haughty, Nor mine eyes lofty : Neither do I exercise myself in great matters. Or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved, and quieted myself, As a child that is weaned of his mother : My soul — even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth, and for ever.” The thirteenth song naturally divides itself into two equal portions ; — the first of which, (verses 1-10,) is the voice of the worshippers; and the second (verses 11-18,) an answer, in nearly the same order, to the prayers they have presented. These prayers are for the accomplishment of the LECTURE XIII. IN THE BELOVED. 305 will of God, in the establishment of the promised kingdom of Messiah : He is the true David, or Beloved ; the Builder of the true house of God. His vow to provide this habitation for the mighty One of Jacob is here repeated, in the six lines contained in verses 3-5. These six lines may be regarded as a continuation of the former song, in which, as well as in these six lines, the speaker is One : whereas, in the first four and the last ten lines of this half of the psalm, the speakers are many . The One Speaker, in the former song, is Christ, in the name of his people : they are mem¬ bers of that one body, of which He is the Head. He approaches the throne in their name ; and He pleads their being emptied of self, and ready to be filled with all the fulness of God. He might have proceeded to speak of the work he had ac¬ complished in their behalf ; of his vow to come and do for them the will of God; of his having been afflicted in all their afflictions ; and having borne, for them, the curse of a broken law, until he could say, “ It is finished ” : — but this, the ground of acceptance, he leaves to be spoken of by the many sons he introduces into glory, who, in his name, approaching the throne, address the Father, thus : — Psalm cxxxii. — A Song of degrees. “ Lord, remember David, ( that is, the Beloved,) — All his afflictions : How he sware unto the Lord, — Vowed unto the Mighty — of Jacob;” — which vow of his they immediately repeat. 2 d 2 306 THE GREAT SALVATION These are the words of the vow, which had been made by their Beloved : — * Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, ‘ Nor go up into my bed: ‘ I will not give sleep to mine eyes, ‘ — Slumber to mine eyelids, ‘ Until I find out a place for the Lord, ‘ An habitation for the Mighty — of Jacob.’ Their repeating these words of their Beloved, implies a knowledge of their having been found by the grace of God; and of their being built together, — a spiritual house for the shewing forth of his glory. Thus they proceed : — “ Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah : (v. 6-10.) We found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles : We will worship at his footstool. Arise, 0 Lord, into thy rest ; Thou, and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness ; And let thy saints shout for joy, For thy servant David’s sake ; Turn not thou away the face of thine Anointed.” They approach the throne, pleading the merits of his sufferings and obedience; — the fruits of that vow which was heard of at Bethlehem-Ephratah, when the heavenly host sung the coming forth of that Ruler in Israel, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Then it was heard ; but now it hath been found. The truth of that vow hath been experienced “ in the fields of the wood,” — in the wilderness into which her Husband hath allured outcast Israel; and where he hath spoken to her heart. — (Hos. ii, 14.) They have LECTURE XIII. IN CHRIST, THE TRUE DAVID. 307 found the Lord, and they have been found of Him ; and now there is an earnest longing for all that unto which they are redeemed. They plead all for the sake of that Beloved, in whom the Father is well pleased ; and who presents them spotless before the throne of God. He is in them, and they are in Him. This mystical union is beauti¬ fully expressed, by the manner in which these two sonnets (Ps. cxxxi, ii, 1-10,) are intertwined with each other, as well as by the mode of expression made use of here, both by the One Son, and the many sons by him introduced into glory. But, speaking thus, of that David who was to come, and who was promised to be raised up unto Israel, long after David the son of Jesse was gone the way of all living, — speaking thus of Christ, the true David; — Is the other lost sight of by God? No: he is, immediately after, adverted to in the answer of the Father; who recognises the literal fulfilment of the promise to David, — of the raising up of the Fruit of his body, to sit upon his throne. This is He in whom the covenant “ is ordered in all things, and sure,” — who shall assuredly “ sit upon the throne of his Father David ;” and “ of whose kingdom there shall be no end.” “ The Lord hath sworn — truth unto David: (u. 11-18.) He will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body, Will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant And my testimony that I shall teach them, Their children also, for evermore, Shall sit upon thy throne. 308 ISRAEL AT HOME IN THE For the Lord hath chosen Zion ; He hath desired — for his habitation. This — my rest for ever : Here will I dwell ; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision : I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation : And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud : I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame : But upon himself shall his crown flourish.” This second half of the same Psalm, (cxxxii,) it may easily be perceived, is just the Lord^s most gracious answer to the several petitions presented in the former half, (verses 1-10,) and which are here answered — it may be observed, in much the same order: the oath of the Beloved; the promised rest and glory in the house of the Lord, in Zion ; — and the purity and joy of the worshippers there, are presented successively in each of the para¬ graphs. And when these blessings shall be given, as assuredly they shall, then indeed shall Jeru¬ salem be holy; and her beauteous position and rich provision shall be abundantly enjoyed: — These lines, — containing the gracious reply of the Father to the prayers of his people, and the intercession of his Son, and describing the settled rest and glory, — are not a sonnet, but, (like the conclusion of Isaiah, lx,) are arranged in five verses of four lines each. Exclusive of these verses, there are in these fifteen songs of degrees, just four¬ teen sonnets ; the two concluding songs making one sonnet of fourteen lines between them. LECTURE XIII. HOUSE OF THEIR FATHER. 309 Psalm cxxxiii. — A Song of degrees of David. Behold how good and how pleasant, — For brethren to dwell together in unity ! — Like the precious ointment upon the head; That ran down upon the beard — Aaron’s beard : That went down to the skirts of his garments ; As the dew of Hermon — that descended upon the mountains of Zion : For there the Lord commanded the blessing, — Life for evermore \ " Psalm cxxxiv. — A Song of Degrees. “ Behold, bless ye the Lord, all — servants of the Lord, Which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands— the sanctuary. And bless the Lord. The Lord bless thee out of Zion. He that made heaven and earth,” These two concluding Psalms, (cxxxiii, cxxxiv,) describe the union of the two houses of Israel : — the children of God, as gathered together in Jerusalem, in the house of their Father; and as there enjoying blessed communion together, and the unspeakable joy of serving, in peace, and with their wdiole hearts, Him, who more and more unveils to them, the riches of his grace, and the wonders of his love. They have now been conducted out of that wilderness state, in which the first of these songs found them ; and, through all the successive steps, have been led into the full redemption promised to Israel. — Love to God and to man, — upon which hang all the law and the prophets, and which the Gospel writes in the hearts and lives of the redeemed, — truth and love now fill their souls, and occupy their tongues. But language fails, in attempting 310 THE PROGRESS OF ISRAEL the expression of God’s unutterable praise. the more it is examined. As to the settlement of these nations in Europe, Robertson's View of Europe, introductory to the life of Charles the Fifth, may be profitably read; and some information may also, of course, be got from Gibbon; but Gibbon seems to have had more eventuality, than individuality, — and does not sufficiently identify the actors in the scenes he allows to pass before you ; and he certainly had no idea of looking for information on the particular subject of these lectures. He is an unwilling witness, and must be cross-examined, in order that you may fully elicit from him the truth. You will obtain much more satisfaction by going, when you can, to the original sources of history, and picking up what others have allowed to pass unobserved. The Lectures on Modem History, by Professor Smyth, of Cambridge, may, with much profit, be read. Few authors are better fitted for arriving at his¬ torical truth, or more disposed to make a right use of it, when obtained. But this valuable book would certainly have been immensely more valuable, had the author possessed that knowledge of the true origin of these nations, without which key to their movements, during their first sojourn in Europe, all appears mystery and confusion, although ever, undoubtedly, moving onward, with the greatest precision, to the end appointed from the beginning by Divine Providence. Researches in the south of Europe, such as those of Dr. Clarke, are useful , as accounting for what thus took place in the north-west. But even here, also, the proof must be looked for as being given incidentally, and not as if the writer were acquainted with our subject. Proof of this kind is esteemed more valuable, but it is also more scanty. In this case, however, it is, I trust, suf¬ ficient. As an example of incidental proof, I may again refer to those most important contributions to Scriptural education, the map3 of Mr. Mimpriss. Before meeting with Mr. M., the idea had struck me that the uniformity of the phenomena connected with the first preaching of the Gospel, amounted, as it were, to a law; according to which, all went forth towards the north and north-west. I mentioned this to him; immediately he spread out his map of the acts of the Apostles ; which was as if it had been prepared for the very purpose of illustrating our subject. Every great successive journey was found as being more and more to our own part of the world : as if here were the objects of God's peculiar care, which He hath declared Israel to be. It was not 328 MEANS OF FURTHER INFORMATION until afterwards, that, on looking on his map for the Gospels, as hearing my friend lecture on the subject of our Saviour’s personal ministry, that I perceived how our Lord gave therein, a type of the ministry which has been since accom¬ plished in his Church, as described in Lecture twelfth. These maps may seem somewhat complicated, to those who only glance at them ; but I have been astonished at the perfection in the use of them, which can be attained even by little children. Extensive as is their use, their importance is only beginning to be felt. It will be well, that the parents keep pace with their children, and the patrons, with the patronized. As to the history of the English in particular, I may mention, that the work from which I received the greatest mass of information, is Henry’s History of Great Britain; and especially, the second book of that history. A work this, of uncommon research and accuracy, — especially with regard to the period con¬ nected more particularly with our subject. Hume scarcely touches upon that period, and writes as if he had not prepared himself to say any thing worthy of being read, about the English, previous to the Norman invasion. Neither may you look to Goldsmith, or other cursory writers, for much to illustrate our subject; except as tracing God’s wonderful dealings with this people, through¬ out all time. And this is being, at present, given more explicitly in a work on the Theocratic Philosophy of English History, by Schomberg: — another curious coincidence; the writer very clearly and beautifully illustrates one branch of our subject, without, I suppose, knowing the whole. This seems to be a writer that may safely be trusted, so far as he goes. His attention was struck with one line of argument respecting this people, and that he has faithfully deve¬ loped,— without, perhaps, seeing its full application. Thus it has been with others, as to other branches of our argument : — such, for example, as that respecting the civil institutions. The three works, besides Henry, from which I have chiefly quoted on this subject, are Millar’s “ Historical View of the English Constitution,” — a work of much research, deep thought, and, I may add, great ingenuity, — but it seems to be written in considerable ignorance of the more ancient Saxon history. I have a better opinion, in this respect, of “ an His¬ torical and Political Discourse of the Laws and Government of England ; ” — and the little work “ on the Analogy between the Government of Ancient Israel, and that of the Northern Nations generally, and of the English particularly,” may be usefully perused. I had just finished, at first, my view of this branch of the subject, when my attention was drawn to this book; else, doubtless, I might have made more use of it. Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons, fifth edition, was also late in coming before me ; and so I have taken less from him, than would have otherwise been the case. — Out of his work I have taken the quota¬ tions from Voluspa. It seems to be a most valuable work ; but, being written at different times, —and, as I suppose, parts added, as new information came to the writer, or as his subject appeared to him in new points of view, — there is, perhaps, some seeming inconsistency in his representation of this people, in the different parts of his book. I should be glad, however, to see this valuable work in even more general circulation than it already is. I have got some¬ thing from Speed’s Chronicle. You will find much advantage from a careful and minute observation of ancient customs, institutions, and laws, brought by these nations into Europe: ON THE SUBJECTS OF THE LECTURES. 329 surrounding us with the most indisputable proof of our being descended from Ancient Israel; but so familiar to us, that it has never, perhaps, struck us to inquire how they came here. Bead all that you can of ancient Saxon history, and of the northern nations generally; and exercise the mind in extricating useful truth from other matters with which it is often encumbered. There appears to be some difference of statement among writers, respecting the Anglo-Saxon " Tything." Some have supposed it to refer to the tenth of a parish ; and others to every ten men who were associated together under a tenth or tything-man, by whom they were represented. I have supposed the original institution to be consistent with the trath of both views ; but leave the matter to be more accurately ascertained by others. The general opinion has been that they were associated together in tens and hundreds, — which is all that is necessary to our argument. The work of Henry, already alluded to, is that from which I have chiefly drawn. You have information there presented in that systematic way, which makes it a most valuable book for reference. You there know where to look for every thing; — and if information is to be had on the point, you will find it under its proper head. When I first presented a synopsis of my views on this subject to that most dear and venerable servant of God, the Eev. P. Boe, (Bector of Mary’s, Kilkenny,) he told me there was one book that I would find most useful in studying the point ; but it was one not at all known or appreciated as it ought to be. Upon asking the name of this hidden treasure, he pointed out the very book to which my attention had been previously, and rather singularly directed; and to which I would direct that of my readers; — but not to the exclusion of any other information, as in Cyclopedias, Beviews, Magazines, and Treatises of different sorts, as well as Histories, professedly such. Except the Prophets, I cannot direct you to any work written expressly on the subject; but on all hands, you may collect farther information, and additional proof. 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 the author had prescribed himself; and may better have justice done to it in a separate pub¬ lication. A knowledge of the Hebrew, and of the different languages spoken by the nations dwelling along the line by which Israel have come 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 oppor¬ tunity to pursue the enquiry. This, Sharon Turner ha3 already partly accom¬ plished : — see his History of the Anglo-Saxons, fifth edit. vol. II., pp. 447-90. The Song of Moses, referred to at the end of the first Lecture, and of which the whole course is in a manner illustrative, has been added, in conclusion. This song has been too much neglected. It may easily be perceived that the words apply to the house of Israel, rather than to the house of Judah; it being the boast of the Jews that they have not at all, in the latter days, provoked the Lord to anger through the work of their hands— or in other words, by idolatry : but there can be no doubt about Israel, in this respect, either before they, as being these nations, embraced Christianity, or since they were favoured with that better light. A large portion of them, on the continent, are still indulging in this gross insult to the majesty of Heaven : — nor have we been free from the guilt of abetting this iniquity: — 2 f 2 330 THE SONG OF MOSES, - “ Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may 9peak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them. For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befal you in the latter days ; because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands. And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.” (Deut. xxxi. 28-30.) The word and name of Jehovah, engaged for the Redemption of Israel: — “ Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; And hear, 0 earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew, As the small rain upon the tender herb, And as the showers upon the grass : Because I will publish the name of the Lord : Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. — The Bock, his work — perfect : For all his ways— judgment : A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right — He. They have corrupted themselves, their spot — not— of his children : — A perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the Lord? O foolish people and unwise ! Hath not He, thy Father, bought thee ? Hath He not made thee, and established thee ? The Gifts and Calling of Israel: — Eemember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations : Ask thy Father, and He will show thee ; Thy elders, and they will tell thee. 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 — his people ; Jacob — the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, And in the waste howling wilderness. He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of his eye. The kindness of the Leader of Israel: — As an eagle stirreth up her nest, Fluttereth over her young, SKETCHING THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL. 331 Spreadeth abroad her wings, Taketh them, beareth them on her wings ; So the Lord alone did lead him. And — no strange god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, That he might eat the increase of the fields; And He made him to suck honey out of the rock, And oil out of the flinty rock ; Butter of kine, and milk of sheep. With fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, And goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat ; And thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. Unprofitableness of Israel, prior to their dispersion : — But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered — Then he forsook God that made him. And lightly esteemed the Bock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy with strange — , With abominations provoked they Him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God ; To gods whom they knew not, To new — came newly up, Whom your fathers feared not. Of the Bock that begat thee thou art unmindful, And hast forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw — He abhorred — Because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. The destruction of Israel, and of their Land: — And He said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end — ■ For they — a very froward generation, Children in whom — no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with — not God; They have provoked me to anger with their vanities : And I will move them to jealousy with — not a people ; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in mine anger. And shall burn unto the lowest hell, And shall consume the earth with her increase, And set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them ; I will spend mine arrows upon them. In the utmost straits, Israel shall be preserved: — — Burnt with hunger. And devoured with burning heat, And with bitter destruction : 332 THE SONG OF MOSES : — I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them. With the poison of serpents of the (lust. The sword without, and terror within, Shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, The suckling — with the man of gray hairs. I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men : Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy. Lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, — Lest they should say, Our hand— high, And the Lord hath not done all this. Importance of Israel's considering their origin and end: — For they — a nation void of counsel. Neither — understanding in them. O that they were wise, — they understood this, — They would consider their latter end ! How should one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Except their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had shut them up ? For their rock — not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves— judges. For their vine — of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes — grapes of gall, their clusters — bitter. Their wine — the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. God's purpose with regard to Israel, standeth sure:— — Not this laid up in store with Me, — Sealed up among my treasures? To Me — vengeance, and recompence ! Their foot shall slide in— time : For the day of their calamity — at hand, And the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people, And repent himself for his servants. When He seeth that — power is gone, And — none shut up, or left. And he shaU say, Where — their gods, — Rock in whom they trusted Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, — Drank the wine of their drink offerings ? Let them rise up and help you, — be your protection. The word and hand of God, engaged for the redemption of Israel: — See now that I, — I, — He, and — no god with Me : I kill, and I make alive : I wound, and I heal : THE VISION OF PEACE 333 Neither — that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword. And mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, And will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh ; — With the blood of the slain and of the captives, From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, — His People ; For He will avenge the blood of his servants, And will render vengeance to his adversaries ; And will be merciful unto his land, — to his people." “ Quick, ( Heb. iv. 12.) The word of God, And powerful, Sharper than any two-edged sword, Piercing to the dividing asunder Of Soul and Spirit, And of the joints and marrow ; And is a Discerner Of the thoughts and intents Of the heart. Neither is there any creature That is not manifest in his sight; For all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him, Of whom, to us, is the word.” EXTRACT FROM “THE VISION OF PEACE." The following verses are presented as a specimen of the manner in which the things, belonging to the outward glory, may be regarded as types of the accompanying spiritual blessings — blessings already in part enjoyed. The verses are a paraphrase, it may be observed, of Rev. xxi, 18-27 — xxii, 1-5. (See Lecture II. pages 39-40.) Jerusalem had walls of wondrous height, (v. 18.) — Which still, in beauteous strength, appeared to grow : Of modest Jasper they; but yet so bright, They all around, like summer sun, did glow ; — Vet not oppressively: — they sparkled so. As still to cheer, but ne'er to dim the sight. Strong to withstand th’ assault of every foe. They were the source of ever new delight : — In God’s pure word, be strong; let Christ be all thy might. 334 THE OUTWARD GLORY, This wall, so beautiful, and bright, and strong, Was something worthy given to enfold: The city, which thus lay pure light among, Was all, itself, of precious purest gold, Like clearest glass : — God’s truth doth treasure hold ; And rich should he the Christian's life ; — a song Wherein the power of light divine is told ; Free from hypocrisy, and every wrong, Whether of heart or life; of hand, or guileful tongue. The clear foundations of th’ enlightening wall. Which held a city all so rich and pure. With precious stones were gaily garnished all; And joined as one, for ever to endure: — Let us adorn our One Foundation sure. With graces various and resplendent; all Whereby we glory may to Christ procure ; Yea, let us cast aside all Satan’s thrall; And let true faith in Jesus, Eden's peace recall. As Jasper modest, yet most bright. Shall be the Church, in Christ, her light. Pure, powerful, — her affection true, Shall be like throne of Sapphire blue. In the Chalcedony, appear Rich mingling hues : — so Christ is dear. Around, of Emerald’s cheering green, God’s rainbow covenant is seen. Sardonyx, circling union shews ; So reigning saints round Christ shall close. The Sardius red, says, God their Sire, Shall round them be, like wall of fire. The Chrysolite describes the crown, — The golden triumphs they have won. The Beryl is of heavenly dye ; So heavenly are their works and joy. Like Topaz bright, their hearts shall flame, To know and tell of Jesus’ name. Like gold and green Chrysoprasus, They beauteous are, and bounteous. The Jacinth paints the life of those. Who God's life-giving works disclose ; The violet, purple. Amethyst, The lowly — lofty — mind, of Christ. Twelve pearls, most precious, the twelve gates were seen ; Each in itself was beautiful and rare. Nor were they such as earth presents, I ween : Each was of One rich pearl, to saints most dear : — -(»■ 18.) (v. 19.) ( v . 20.) (v. 21.)— IMAGING SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS 335 Thus high shall be esteemed the means, which are Prepared of God, his goodness to obtain ; Thus high shall Christ be prized every where ; Tea, through the One pearl of great price we gain, Whate’er can bliss bestow, or confidence maintain. Nor could the pilgrim disappointment meet, Whene'er he through these lovely gates might pass; For, like the city, was the city's street. All of pure gold, and like transparent glass; — So should the Christian walk in holiness, All free from every guile, and rich and sweet, Should be his shewing of the righteousness Of Him who called away his wandering feet From guilt and gloom immense, to light and joy complete. I saw no temple in God’s city, where The worship paid Him by the tribes might be : For the Lord God Almighty fully there — The Lamb, who gave his precious blood for me — My God, there gives his presence, felt and free, Throughout the whole : — all was a place of prayer, Of praise, of Christian converse — all agree True blissful confidence in God to share, And each the other help His glory to declare. The city had no need that brightening sun Of earthly splendour upon it should shine ; And the reflected light of the pale moon Fled back abash’d before its light divine : God's glory gave it light; — that work of thine, My Saviour ! and of which thou art alone — Thyself the light ; by this thou shalt combine The nations of the saved into one, To walk in that pure light, their endless joy begun. Yet, human splendour shall not be denied ; For thither now the kings of earth shall bring Their glory and their honour : — magnified, Shall be, by all they have, that city’s King. Day shall not see its gates shut, for nothing Like night of error shall its glories hide : But gladly in the ways of God they'll sing, Whilst thither still they bear, of nations wide. The glory and the praise : there these shall now abide. But into it, shall enter in no wise, Whatever makes God’s holy place unclean, Whate’er doth idols work, or maketh lies ; But only those whose names are written in — (t>. 21.) (v. 22.) ( v . 23, 24.)— — [v. 24-215.) (v. 27.) 336 VISION OF PEACE The lamh’s own book of life. — The saints shall win Within those gates, to feast their wondering eyes. Truth cannot in the darkening soul remain, But, from idolatry and guile, still flies To cheer and guide in virtue those who light can prize. The angel who me guided, shewed me now A pure, delightful, and refreshing stream, Of living water, which was seen to flow From throne of God and of the Lamb : — Redeem, 0 God! thy people from each guileful dream ; That they may live thy blessings to bestow ; May show their spirits are received from Him Who is enthroned in love ; may saints live so, That by their lovely lives, men may the Gospel know. And in the middle of that golden street, On either side of this pure river, grew The tree of life ; whereon, most fair and sweet, Twelve kinds of fruit, each month, did bless the view : These, of the gospel, were the influence true As seen in action ; even the leaves were meet To grow where all was lovely and good too : They were for healing of the nations great : The verdure of the Church, with medicine is replete. Now shall be no more curse ; for there the throne Of God, and of the Lamb, shall ever be ; Him shall his servants serve : whilst, like a sun Of joy-bestowing light, His face they’ll see ; Each by his life shall say — God owneth me. No night is there ; and candle they need none; Nor light of other sun : for, gloriously, The Lord God giveth light to every one : And to eternity, their reign in bliss shall run. (xxii, 1.) {v. 2.) (u. 3-5.) FINIS. Date Due ■ 43 1 FEB o i 992 * • ■ DS131 .W74 Lectures on ancient Israel : and the Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00055 1392