Chapter II: Part 2

We have been blind and guilty in the past, unconscious of our origin, and as a natural consequence, ignorant of our place and special work. In interpreting the Word of God we have been lavish in spiritualising, and greedy in materialising, overlooking the fact that nine-tenths of the Old Testament is a material history about one people, and that through them God's special providence was to flow to all other nations; and the New Testament plants the life and prosperity of the Gentile world upon the course and progress of Israel. God said to Abraham, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed:" and more, "and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Israel, being scattered and cast off, became a blessing to the world. They gave to the surrounding nations the only true idea of God, for in their lowest condition and idolatry they preserved the name and knowledge of Jehovah, and Christ sent His disciples after them through one of their own Tribe--namely, Benjamin--telling them not to go into the way of the Gentiles, nor into the cities of the Samaritans, "but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." To these sheep Christ declares He was sent. Where were these sheep? They were scattered about in Central Asia--in Scriptural language in Cappadocia, Galatia, Pamphylia, Lydia, Bithynia, and round about Illyricum. From these very regions came the Saxons: from here they spread abroad North and West, being the most Christian of any people on the face of the earth then, as well as now. Their reception of the Gospel gave them power over the surrounding nations, to whom they were, as it had been foretold, witnesses for Jesus and providence in a very special manner. What then, we say with Paul, will be the blessing of Israel--recognized and fully restored to God's favour? If so much good was carried and bestowed upon the Gentile nations because Israel was scattered, how much, and what are the blessings in store for those nations when Israel and Judah be restored? Paul compares it to a resurrection--like as when the barrenness and desolation of a Winter is supplanted by the fruits and beauties of Summer. "If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (Rom. xi. 15).

It is reasonable to suppose that this world is subject to the providence of God. Such a supposition is grandly sustained by the laws and operations of nature without, and the experience and intuitions of the mind within; and I believe this providence to be all-comprehensive, bounding, and cognising all things, past, present, and future, both small and great; claiming the ages for its measure, the universe for the field of its operations, and the Infinite as the source of power. "The Lord Jehovah reigns, let the earth rejoice." Let me persuade you to thoroughly believe in the precision, the intimacy, and the completeness of this providence. This doctrine we need to fully learn and accept. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and it is He "who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." Aye, and more, yet closer still does this providence approach us in our affairs. "By Him kings reign and princes decree judgment. He bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity." Even closer yet, for without His permission a sparrow cannot fall to the ground; and so intimate is He with us, that He knoweth the number of the hairs of the head. Now all this kind of Bible instruction is intended to teach the nearness of God to us, and His interest and intimacy with nations and nature. Let us not think for a moment that nations can rush to war and be outside this circle of providence. Let us study to know God's mind, His plans and purposes with the nations; for rest satisfied that His plan will finally be accepted by men and nations, and His purposes will prevail. Kings may plan, diplomatists may diplomatise, scientists may analyse, theologians may teach and preach their isms, and politicians may make platforms and construct rings, yet none, nor all combined, can stay the hand of God. "He doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." He can initiate, permit, modify, and destroy. Once we truly recognise the sovereignty of God over us, conceit will lie dead at the feet of humility.

The Church at large has but a slender hold upon this great doctrine. They look upon the great movement of wars and strife, rising and falling of nations, as looks the country stranger upon a railway engine the first time, the whirling wheels, the steam and smoke and burnished boiler rivet his attention so completely, that he sees not the driver in his car. So men are dazed with the show of pomp of courts and councils, with the harangues of legislators and march of regiments, that they discern not the master hand behind that directs all. "Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself." No, no, friends; English bravery, nor American ingenuity will not account for all that England has done on the line of victories, and the marvellous and rapid growth of these United States. As God said long ago through Moses, so He could say to-day--for heavenly counsel was given to the children of Israel on entering the Promised Land, with a design of suppressing their pride and enabling them to form a correct idea of their success in driving the strong and greater nations of Canaanites and Philistines--"Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee saying: For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess the land, but for the wickedness of those nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, that He may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people" (Deut. ix. 4).

By the same rule and for the very same reason that Israel conquered Palestine, does England go on from conquest to conquest. And because God remembered to perform His promises made to the patriarchs upon their seed, America was opened for the Puritans, who are without doubt the descendants and representatives of Manasseh, of whom God said "he should be a people, a great people."

The rule of England and America over other people, is to be as life from the dead--that is, whatsoever country England conquers and rules, it is better for the people, and the country, and the world. They give to the people a liberty that they would not have given to themselves; they develop the resources of the country as never before, and by trade and commerce bless the people and cause them to be a blessing unto others. And better still, they make known to the conquered ones, in due time, the riches of faith in Christ. So we have no hesitation in saying, a thing patent to every unprejudiced observer, that the aborigines of the conquered colonies of Great Britain are treated better by their conquerors than they ever treated themselves. The Africans, in the conquered colonies of Africa, are better off under British rule than those colonies or portions unconquered are. The hosts of India enjoy more, fare better in every grace and virtue in all that goes to adorn and develop mankind, under the British government and protection than they ever did or would under self-government. So the French, Germans, Italians, Russians, Spaniards, and the numerous progeny of emigrants to this country, fare better in every way with Manasseh, than they did in their own lands. Of course, both in England's rule and America's, there are many defects; but taking all in all, the good will out-weigh the bad; and more so as the years roll on.

True, an arbitrary purpose and an individualism is seen on the surface, yet under it all there is the hand of God. The farmer is free as to what he sows, but the Divine, without interfering with his freedom, regulates the harvest to plenty or famine. The Saxon people, England and America, stand in a new light to the world by the teachings of the Bible. Being Israel or the Ten Lost Tribes, they become at once the chosen agents of God for the glorious purpose of evangelising the whole world, and finally, by reducing the whole earth to the plane of universal liberty and peace.

It was necessary that these two nations should first be taught the art of mediation, for the ends of peace; that they should learn and show to the world that national disputes and grievances can be settled without an appeal to the sword. Hence we have, and what is much better, the world has, Geneva and Alabama and the fish bounty treaty of Canada and the United States. Not all the press did on either side, nor all the carping and blustering of individuals, could prevent the happy consummation of both these treaties. To God be praise, for they are prophetic harbingers of a better day coming.

No hand nor power, nor combination of powers, can stop the onward march of Israel to her God-ordained goal. Her future is to spread on the right hand and on the left. Island after island, colony after colony, will fall into her hands for mutual benefit. Russia may contest this march, and will, for she is as much the appointed agent of contest from Heaven as England is to advance. In a few years she will try to take the place of England among the nations, as she has just done in Afghan. Russia promised, no doubt, that she would and could protect the Ameer against England, but the bargain was outside of the aims of Providence, hence it could not be sustained. It is ordained of Heaven that Afghan fall into the hands of England, if England be Israel.

Against this fate-like division of the world Russia is going to contend and fight whenever she gets a chance. It would pay Russia and many other countries to read that "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 children of Israel" (Deut. xxxii. 8). These bounds God will maintain wherever they run; whatever country they cut in two, no matter, the earth must finally conform to this Divine geography. This purpose is strongly set forth by Isaiah xliv. 7: "And who, as I, shall call and shall declare it, and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming and shall come." This same sturdy fact is taught by Paul when speaking to the Athenians, telling them that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth, _and hath determined the times before appointed_, _and the bounds of their habitations_." National destinies are not so much things of chance, or prizes for the sword, as many think. God promised to David, when both Israel and Judah were prosperously settled in Palestine under David's reign, that He would appoint a place for His people Israel, and plant them there, and they should not be moved, neither should the wicked afflict them, as aforetime (2 Sam. vii. 10.) This promise God has kept. He has given them the British Isles, where none can afflict them, as they were wont to do when Israel was scattered in Asia and Europe. God has found Manasseh a home in this land of blessings and rich acres.

England, by a necessity, was forced to find new countries to provide for her multiplying population. Then she is forced to enter other nations as a missionary. She, with Manasseh, is chiefly responsible for the evangelisation of the world, and of course they are at work all over the world, for England and the United States send out more missionaries than all the world beside. Russia needs no land for colonisation, for now her inhabitants number only thirty-four to the square mile, while England numbers 889. If we take in all the territory under Russia and England, even then England has more to the square mile than Russia. Russia comprises about 8,000,000 square miles, and England, with her late additions, leaving out the United States, numbers about 9,000,000. Joining Ephraim and Manasseh together, they own one-fourth of the whole world--namely, about 13,000,000 square miles; the whole earth numbers 51,340,800 square miles. Besides, Russia is not a missionary country. She neither sends any, nor accepts any, being at present the only nation closed to missionary operation and toleration. The past few years Russia has gained rapidly in territorial power. With the conquest of Bokhara and portions of Turkestan, or Independent Tartary, she has added some 800,000 square miles.

At the beginning of the last century the Russian advance forts were 2,500 miles distant from those of England. At the close of the century the distance was 2,000. Then in 1810 it was reduced to 1,000. And since 1855 it has been reduced to 400. And now, of course, they want it reduced to nothing by getting control of Afghan.

How wonderfully clear are the fulfilling events of the prophecy. This king of the North is to become a strong king, who, when Israel and Judah are settled in Palestine, will have spirit and power to attack them. So he is ripening, growing, and gathering power ready. Russia now comprises nine crowns, eight of which are crowns of conquest. Russia's one grand desire is to possess Palestine, especially Jerusalem. The Crimean war was waged for rights and extended privileges in this holy city. To-day Russian pilgrims swarm thither by the thousands every year. A few years ago she built outside the Jaffa gate what she called an hospice, which was designed to be nothing more nor less than a fort. It is in a position commanding the whole city, and is a place of great strength. Often she has tried to possess the city and land. By-and-bye she will be permitted by Providence to pour her troops into this "land of unwalled villages," and when having nearly achieved the ambitious plan of ages, and nearly realised her one great national idea, she will perish, to rise no more, "on the mountains of Israel." Her history is set forth by Ezekiel xxxviii. and xxxix. chapters.

Palestine and Jerusalem have borne undeniable evidence for prophecy and Providence. The whole land and the Book have been wonderfully agreed during the past eighteen centuries. How significant and telling the wailings and lamentations of the devout Jews, who crowd under the walls of the mosque of Omar, the site of the ancient temple. Here, each returning Sabbath, groups of Jews may be heard dolefully crying: "_Ali bene_, _Ali bene_; _bene bethka_; _bekarob_, _bimheira_, _bimheira_; _beyamenue_, _bekarob_," which, being interpreted, means, "Lord build, Lord build; build Thy house speedily, in haste, in haste; even in our day build Thy house speedily." Yes, mourning brethren of Judah, the time is coming when the house shall be built and the voice of wailing no more heard in the streets.

Can any student or inquirer after the truth fail to see that in our day a prophecy is being fulfilled? Can any one shut their eyes to the wonderful fact that Israel is breaking forth on the left and on the right? God has long ago said that Israel were the people of His inheritance, and that Jacob was the lot of His inheritance, or His girdle, or cord, as the word lot means. Then, if you turn your attention to Great Britain and her colonies, including Manasseh, you will see this girdle or measuring line around the earth. Let me aid you by pointing the same out for you. Look at the Eastern hemisphere circle, enclosing the Gentile nations. Begin with Great Britain; pass on to the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, West Coast African Colonies, St. Helena, Cape Colonies, Mauritius, Seychelles, Perim, Aden, Ceylon, India, Burmah, Straits Settlements, Labuan, Australian Colonies, Hong Kong, and the Dominion of Canada. In the Western hemisphere commence the circle with Canada and United States, Fiji Islands, New Zealand, Falkland Islands, British Guiana, British Honduras, West India Islands, and Newfoundland. Do we not plainly see that Israel is possessing "the isles of the sea," "coasts of the earth," "waste and desolate places?" These things are not hid in a corner; they proclaim the intentions of God, an over-ruling Providence; and who and where the Lost Tribes are. A miracle and prophecy are fulfilling before our eyes.

ISRAEL AND POPULATION. DISCOURSE IV.

PROPHETIC LATTER DAYS--OUR BEARINGS IN THE AGES--UNWISE IMPATIENCE--ISRAEL TO BE ALWAYS A NATION--HER EMPIRE--HISTORIC CAREER OF AND FUTURE OF ENGLAND, AMERICA, AND JUDAH--RELATIVE INCREASE OF POPULATION--THE INFIDEL SAXON--JEWISH, BRITISH, AND AMERICAN INTERESTS ONE--A FULL END OF ALL NATIONS BUT ISRAEL--FAMINE HENCEFORTH ONLY FOR THE HEATHEN--ARBITRATION TO BE ENFORCED BY ISRAEL--AMERICAN ABSORBTION--STARTLING FIGURES OF FUTURE POPULATION--THE BALANCE OF POWER.

"Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the
sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and it shall come to pass
that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people,
there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living
God."--Hosea i. 10.

A period of time is frequently referred to in the Scriptures as being the "latter days." It is, therefore, very important for the prophetic student, and the Church of Christ at large, that the time of days spoken of should be known. For connected with these days are a number of prophecies waiting fulfilment, and they are of such a nature that their fulfilment may easily be discerned. In breadth and scope they cover much territory and include many people. They cannot be hid in a corner, for the parts are so numerous and the interests so great. The fulfilment of these prophecies will make a radical and fundamental change in Church and State.

I take it for granted we are now entering into the time of the latter days--a time that precedes by a natural consequence the millennium. It is, therefore, unwise on the part of any person to claim that Christ may come any day, and that His millennial reign may be begun at any moment. It is but fair that we should carefully consider our bearings in the circle of Providence and our position in the ages. The story and work of redemption are grand, full of interest and thrilling incidents; still we must take things in their order. Some stories we read are very fascinating. The plot culminates, the characters and incidents converge toward and centre in the hero. At such a point we are often carried away with our sympathy for the hero; we become anxious for him, and desires to know the issues, and so are tempted to skip a few pages and get at the end unwisely and unlawfully. Thus I think many are carried away by a loving desire for the millennium; they become anxious for the return of the Hero of redemption; they skip a few pages of Providence, and come to the end too soon.

These days are preparative, and in such a preparative stage we are warranted to look for the fulfilment of certain prophecies; for prophecies, indeed, of such a nature and character that no Bible student need be mistaken as to the time, place, and conditions of fulfilment. We have called your attention to one of these prophecies, and pointed out to you how the same was literally fulfilling before the eyes of all. God, in olden times, made promises to Abraham, the patriarchs, and their seed. These promises were nothing more nor less than prophecies. He attested the same by His own oath. He called to witness the sun, moon, stars, sea, night, day, the seasons, seedtime and harvest. These He called His ordinances. These ordinances may depart from before Him, but the seed of Israel should not cease to be a nation. They were not only to be a nation, but a company of nations. To this end, in the latter days, they were to come in possession of the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, waste and desolate places; to inherit the seed of the Gentiles, and cause their desolate cities to be filled. They were to possess and rule over the heathen. In the latter days they were to possess Edom and Esau--that is, Turkey--and so come in possession of their own land, Palestine. Now I call you to witness, and ask you if these things are so? Before your eyes, before mine, before the eyes of all the world, God is fulfilling His promises made to the fathers.

The very exceptions to the sweeping and comprehensive possessions of the seed of Jacob are pyramidal witnesses to the same. The House of Judah was to become homeless, without a nation and without a government, after they left Palestine; but to be a people known by the race feature, and by their unwavering adherence, attachment, and fidelity to the Mosaic worship. This exception all can see, and none can truthfully deny. They have had money and men enough to buy and rule a nation, but as yet they have none. Their talent, their ability, and their money, have been the chief factor in the rule, prosperity, and greatness of many nations in the past as well as now. And the second conception is not less grand and conclusive. Let any one inquire what was to be the portion of the Tribe of Manasseh, and they will find that Manasseh was to be a distinct people, a great people; for so said the dying patriarch Jacob. Now such a people, a great people, we hold Manasseh to be at this day in the people of the United States. Some sixty colonies England has overrun, established, or conquered, and she is busy at work yet conquering and gathering in. But is it not remarkable that she has never lost one of the many save the United States? Will any one give an earthly reason for this marvellous exception? I presume no one can. There is, however, a Divine reason. Moses, when giving his prophetic benediction to the Tribes of Israel, gives us an insight into this question. Speaking of Joseph and the wonderful blessing in store for his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, he says: "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; and with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; _and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim_, _and they are the thousands of Manasseh_" (Deut, xxxiii. 17). And further light is thrown on this subject when we notice what Isaiah says in the forty-ninth chapter. The children of Israel, when settled in some Isles, would lose a portion of themselves, and still the "children which thou shalt have _after thou hast lost the other_, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me, give place to me that I may dwell." The simple and natural interpretation of such a passage is, that the Isles referred to were the British Isles. The children lost refer to Manasseh, the Pilgrims, and Puritans who came from England. And the cry for more room after they have left, shall lead England to look for lands in which to colonise her surplus population, all of which she has done and is doing.

Surely in these things there is something more than chance. Yes, there is a divine purpose fulfilled. Seeing, then, that God will put the land into Israel's hand, there will run another blessing parallel with this--namely, a peculiar increase of the seed, or children of Israel, so that they may occupy and control these lands. These two prophecies are to be fulfilling on a parallel line at the same time. Are they so fulfilling? We answer, Yes; and the answer all the world may verify, for the facts are of such a nature that if they are not so fulfilling it can be very easily disproved.

The prophet tells us in the text that the children of Israel are to be numerous--to be numerous in an extraordinary degree--so much so that it shall appear partly miraculous when such increase is compared to other people or judged by the common methods of reasoning. Hosea had three children; the first a son. He called him Jezreel. This son was set for a witness that God would cause to cease the House of Israel in Palestine--that Israel should cease to be a nation for a time. This idea Isaiah points out under the type of an abandoned wife. God styles Himself the Husband of Israel, and that He had given the wife a bill of divorcement. Thus the two prophets agree, and history ratifies both.

Hosea's second child he calls Lo-Ruhamah. She was set for a witness that God would take away His mercy from the House of Israel for a time, and that God would utterly take them away out of the land. So He did; for a few years after this we find the children of Israel were carried captive into Assyria by Shalmaneser, and the Assyrians were brought and put in their place. And from these Assyrians, who were planted in the cities and country left by the children of Israel, we get the Samaritans, who were, as you see, not Jews nor Israelites by generation--they were manufactured Jews only. "And the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day" (2 Kings xvii. 23). During this captivity, which is even in force till now, barren Israel, the divorced one, was to have more children than the married one--namely, Judah.

We find that the third child born to Hosea is called Lo-ammi, meaning, "Ye are not My people." This child pro-figured the casting out of the Jews; that they would refuse to accept God in Christ, and He therefore would reject them. Thus the Jews became wanderers from their own land. And the land rests in desolation, enjoying her Sabbath of rest, while her sons and daughters are being chastised and trained for their return.

The time will come when God will call Israel to Him, and have mercy upon her, when the divorced one shall be restored to her husband. "And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call Me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali" (Hos. ii. 16). Now Ishi means husband, and Baali stands for Lord. Saxons have been looked upon as being infidels by the rest of the world. The Mohammedans and Buddhists never reckoned the Saxons as being the sons of God; and Catholic Europe and Greek Russia have looked upon England as infidel and heretical. And the Saxons themselves never went so far in their knowledge as to know who they were, their origin and work. But the prophet says: "It shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God." And the time will come when Lo-Ruhamah shall become Ru-hamah, which means to have obtained mercy. And Lo-Ammi shall become Ammi, which means that this is My people. And Jezreel, which was a sign of dispersion, shall be the sign of gathering. "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land; _for great shall be the day of Jezreel_." Then the Jews (Ammi) will call the Saxons their sister, long lost, but found at last. The Saxons (Ru-hamah) will call the Jews their brother, those whom in the past they have hated and persecuted; and thought themselves far removed from Jewish blood. Now they both will acknowledge a common generation, and Abraham their father. And one with his eyes half open can see this part of the prophecy fulfilling. The Jews, England, and United States, from this and henceforth, are one in interest, policy, and destiny.

These being the latter days, let us look for the signs of the multiplying of the seed so that they be as the sea sands God promised to Abraham, saying: "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies" (Gen. xxii. 17). Old Jacob foretold that Joseph would be a fruitful bough, whose branches would run over the wall--that is, colonise. This increase is to be seen in two ways. Let me direct your attention to one of these ways, in a special manner, because it is so singular and unique, so distinct and discernable. In Jeremiah xxx. 10, 11, we find a remarkable statement: "Fear not, O Israel, for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee. Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished." That Israel has been punished and corrected no one will deny who is acquainted with her history and sojourn from the time she was carried captive to this day. But has the other part of the saying been fulfilled? We answer, Yes--as the law of colonisation has progressed. The Ancient Britons are no more; Saxon Israel has entirely supplanted them, just as Manasseh in the United States is supplanting the aborigines or Indians. They perish and disappear like snow before the rising sun. Not all we can do on the line of legislation, philanthropy, and religion, is sufficient to stay the ravages of this long-ago declared decree of Heaven. Go to Canada, and you find they are perishing; in Newfoundland they are entirely gone, and in every other province they are fast disappearing, save such as are saved by incorporation, by marriage, and salt stayed by the power of Christianity; but both these remedies are only temporal--they perish in spite of all in the heated atmosphere of Israel's civilisation. Some few tribes may hold their own and seem to increase, but such does not invalidate the evidence of the decree. For they have perished in such numbers, and so uniformly, when in contact with Israel, that history proclaims the decree fulfilled.

The native inhabitants of Van Dieman, called Tasmanians, have entirely become extinct. The Maories of New Zealand are rapidly diminishing. Fifty years ago they were 200,000 strong; now only about 50,000. In a few more years they will be gone. The same is true in all the other Australian provinces. The same is true of many isles of the sea, also of the African colonies. In these things, so exceptional, we can surely say, with the magicians of old who contended against Moses, "This is the finger of God." Thus we see Israel increasing, by the law of diminution going on among the Gentiles. Israel in the latter day was to be blessed with plenty in the orchards, stall, and field: "For I will lay no more famine upon you, saith the Lord." The past year we learn that some 10,000,000 of Chinese perished in famine. India, in one part, has been greatly reduced in number by the same scourge. This country will be partly protected from the operation of this law--for no doubt a large portion are from Abraham. "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" (Gen. xxv. 6). This same scourge does not follow the colonising of other nations. It did not follow Spain, nor the Dutch, nor France.

If you turn to the prophets, you will soon learn how they are to increase in the latter days--not by a comparison on the line of diminution only, but in and from themselves. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with the seed of man and beast" (Jer. xxxi. 27). Have these days come? We again say, Yes; and these kind of prophecies are being fulfilled in this day in so special a manner as to make certain the times we live in. Through Israel, Judah, and Manasseh, the earth is to find the equilibrium of peace. The Jews will furnish the money, for in the increasing ascendancy, and multiplying power, and authority of England and America, the Jews will draw closer to them and invest more and more their money with them, because of greater security and profit. The balance of power and even compulsion will be in the hands of England and America, to force arbitration on disputing nations, and they will do so, having set the precedents themselves in the Alabama and fish treaties. At present, many will refuse this idea, and point to the famous Monroe doctrine. Now that doctrine has had its time, nearly; and it has served a good purpose for the country. The mercantile growth, and general producing power of this country, will cause us to abandon our selfish protection policy; for of all other people on the face of the earth we will want free trade; for we will have the greatest surplus of mercantile and agricultural productions, and in a short time our very position and ability will push away all competitors. Once our mercantile and agricultural interests are cast in other nations, we will then have an interest in their wars and peace, and will be led to interfere.

The chief way in which the balance of power will fall into English and American hands is in the fulfilling of the blessings of the text: the multiplying of this people, first by natural increase, and second by incorporation and absorption. Look at this law of absorption; how vigorous and sure! If you turn into a field of grass fowls, pigs, horses, and cows, you get chicken-meat, pork, horseflesh, and beef. The individualism in each creature absorbs and converts the same field of grass into themselves. So into this country are coming people of every nation and race, but the individualism of Manasseh will in due time make them all Manassehites. The children of the Russians, Poles, Spanish, and so on, become American in taste, manners, and sympathies. They are being grafted into the tree of Manasseh.

But look at the law of increase naturally. Take the population of several countries as given in the last census, and carefully note the relative increase, and how long it takes each nation to double its number. Russia, eighty-six millions, doubles every 100 years; Germany, forty-two millions, doubles every 100 years; Turkey, forty-seven millions, doubles every 550 years; Austria, thirty-seven millions, doubles every 100 years; France, thirty-six millions, doubles every 140 years; Great Britain, thirty-three millions, doubles every 55 years; United States, forty millions, doubles every 25 years; Italy, twenty-seven millions, doubles every 125 years; Egypt, seventeen millions, doubles every 150 years; Spain, sixteen millions, doubles every 112 years; English colonies, ten millions, doubles every 25 years. Now make a calculation for 100 years, from 1878 to 1978, and see how these countries stand in population and their relative position. Russia will have one hundred and seventy-two millions; Germany, eighty-four; Turkey, fifty-six; Austria, seventy-four; France, fifty-nine; Great Britain, one hundred and thirty-seven; Italy, forty-one; Egypt, twenty-nine; Spain, twenty-eight; United States, six hundred and forty; and the English colonies, one hundred and sixty--and that is not reckoning the natives in the colonies, only the descendants of the English. Of course, in a country like India, the natives will be a considerable number, and they might properly be reckoned in with the colonial items, and so swell the number of Israel's power.

Now these figures show a wonderful conclusion. In simple language, we find that in 1978, the English-speaking race, or Israelites, will number 937 millions, while all of Russia, Germany, Turkey, Austria, France, Italy, Egypt, and Spain, will only number 543 millions. Where then, we ask, will be the balance of power? And why should this certain law come into operation at this time, if it be not the blessing foretold by the prophets? And can we not see that these are the latter days, and that God is fulfilling His promises to Israel?

The blood of Abraham and the faith of Abraham have been wonderfully preserved and projected down through the centuries with telling effect. And on this line the Darwinian theory of election is very true, for the survival of the fittest is the proclaimed law of Heaven. There is power in land possession and there is power in number, and if these two factors maintain their force for one hundred years, then we infer of certainty that the sceptre of rule and destiny of the world will be in the hands of Israel, unless the laws of nature are reversed, and the promises of God fail. The Word of God cannot fail or return unto Him void; it must accomplish that whereunto He sent it and prosper in things designed, or as Jeremiah xxiii. 20 says: "The anger of the Lord shall not return until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly."

ISRAEL AND LANGUAGE. DISCOURSE V.

LATTER DAY PROPHETIC PROMISES--TIME OF ISRAEL'S REVIVAL--PYRAMID TESTIMONY--BRITISH ISLAND POPULATION IN 1882--AFFINITY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND HEBREW--CELL OF THE HONEYBEE--ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE--LION OF LANGUAGES--FOREIGN TESTIMONY--ALL TONGUES INDIGENOUS BUT ENGLISH--THE PRE-MILLENNIAL TOKENS.

"For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may
all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one
consent."--Zephaniah iii. 9.

In the last two discourses we called your attention to two prophecies that are now fulfilling; they are on parallel lines of time and territory. The first had reference to the rapid accumulation of the lands of the earth by Israel. Accepting the Anglo-Saxons as being the children and descendants of Jacob, it naturally follows that the prophetic blessings and promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their heirs, should find a fulfilment in these, the latter days, and that such fulfilment should be found in the English nation, among the Jews, and in the United States. It is easy to see and believe that the curses prophetically pronounced on Judah and Israel have been fulfilled, especially on the House of Judah. The promises to the House of Israel are now being grandly realised. England is in possession of the isles of the sea, the coasts of the earth, the waste and desolate places, the heathen is her inheritance, and she is inheriting the seed of the Gentiles, and causing their desolate cities to be inhabited. From the taking of Jamaica, by General Penn, in 1655, to the peaceful cession of Cyprus, the course of this little island nation has been onward and upward. And if her conquests and progress are not amenable to prophecy, for an interpretation, then the wonder is still greater. The facts are with us, and must be accounted for some way. The second had reference to the multitudinous seed of Israel in the latter days. Till two hundred years ago the Anglo-Saxons were not in this respect distinct from other races; indeed, for centuries they were distinct rather for their weakness in multiplying power and number. Many other races have exceeded them in this particular. But no sooner do we come abreast of the latter day time than we find the laws of centuries changed. In thermal science it is an axiom that heat expands all bodies, and of course that cold contracts them. But to this general rule there is one beautiful and benevolent exception: it is in water; for if we start with water at thirty-two degrees, we find the remarkable phenomenon of cold expanding all below thirty-two, and heat expanding all above. If we take water at 212 degrees and withdraw it from the heat, it will continue to contract till we reach thirty-two; then the law is reversed, and the water expands. Now the reversion of this law, at this particular point, is wonderfully expressive of Divine forethought and benevolence. By such a change ice is made to float in water, and so save our lakes, streams, and wells from being frozen solid. As this exception is to thermal science, so is the law of reproduction to Israel in this day. This people, who have been behind other races, now, at an appointed time, step to the front. The law seems to be reversed, and that too for a benevolent purpose--for the very purpose that they might be able to fulfil the mission assigned them in these last days, to occupy the new lands and evangelise the world. One prophecy seems to call for the other, for what would be the use of the lands without the people, or the people without the lands? It is an amazing fact that Queen Victoria should bear rule over one-third of the population of the whole earth, and that Israel, including Manasseh, should own one-fourth of the land.

But this amazing fact is made reasonable when we accept the Queen as being of the seed of David, and an heir to the promises attaching to David's throne, and when we accept the Anglo-Saxons as being the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Then prophecy, Providence, and facts, are a trinity--they are one sublime whole. God, speaking through Moses, said He would punish to reform Israel for seven times--and seven times prophetically understood, means 2,520 years. If we allow that Israel were carried captive in the year 725 before Christ, then Israel would come into freedom, or be reformed, about 1795; because if we add 725 to 1,795, we get 2,520. Up to this point they were to be robbed of their children and to be few in number (see Lev. xxvi. 22). In the year 1795 Israel were to be relieved from these curses; and about this time this special law of reproduction came into operation; or, if we take the lamentations of Hosea vi. 1-3: "Come and let us return unto the Lord, for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up; 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 if 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." By this passage, our day and the special providences of this period are mournfully and graphically referred to. Here a day stands for a thousand years, "for a day with the Lord is as a thousand years;" so that when two thousand years should have passed by, Ephraim, who stands for Israel, was to be revived and blessed with fruitfulness sometime during the third day, or thousand years. In ancient time a day was counted when it had a majority--that is, when it had passed the half. The prophet here says we were to be revived, or raised up, on the third day. So, if you again take these three thousand-year days, you will find that two of them are to be completely passed, and during the third we were to be raised. The number we have given, 2,520, exactly meets the interpretation--2,000 complete, and 520 make a majority for the third day by the twenty over the half. These prophetic figures tally well with the existing state of things. About the beginning of this century England assumed to lead the world. It is a remarkable coincidence that, in the last century, the question of how to multiply the population was a subject of debate and legislation in the British Parliament. But what legislation failed to do, God in His providence did at the appointed time.

It is a curious fact, and well worth noticing, that the famous witness of the Lord of hosts in Egypt, the Great Pyramid, forecasts what the number of Israel and Judah would be in the year 1882. As Israel is symbolised in the Grand Gallery, it is found that the cubic contents of the same, in inches, is about 36,000,000; thus by some this is interpreted to mean that inches stand for individuals, and if so, then England proper will have this number in 1880. Whether this is a true interpretation or not, we all know that these figures will be about right. The Queen's Chamber of the Pyramid symbolises the number and condition of the Jews.

From these two prophecies, so sublimely fulfilling, let me invite your attention to another that is now maturing. It, too, is parallel with the other two. We refer to the peculiar growth, power, and progress of the English language. After Israel went into captivity, they were to lose their language and take or form another. "For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people" (Isa. xxviii. 11). We will all agree that the English language is not the Hebrew; and if we are Israelites, then indeed God is speaking to us in another tongue, for few of us read His Word in Hebrew. It is read to the millions in the English; hence the millions hear God speak to them in another tongue than that of Hebrew. Between the English and Hebrew languages there is an intimate relation, especially back a few years, before the English had grown so much. The Hebrew was a very limited language; not numbering more than 7,000 words. The English is now said to number about 80,000. The most lavish writer does not use over 10,000; the common average is about 3,000. In the English we have not less than 1,000 Hebrew roots. This, comparing the languages a few years back, is a large percentage. In names of persons and places the Hebrew is very prominent in England.

I take it for a fact that language is of Divine origin. Men have written on the origin of language from every standpoint; the majority of them trying to account for its existence without allowing so noble a source. The first man, Adam, I believe, could talk as easily and naturally as he could see, and hear, and taste. Speech was a part of his endowment. There is nothing more wonderful in a man talking than a bird singing, save that speech is a higher order of utterance. Dumb nature performs marvels every day as mighty and wonderful as man's talking. The honey-bee builds its cells, ignorant of the fact that such construction is the solution of a problem which had troubled men for centuries to solve. At what point shall certain lines meet so as to give the most room with the least material and have the greatest strength in the building? This problem is said to have been worked out by a Mr. McLaughland, a noted Scotch mathematician, who arrived at his conclusion by laborious and careful fluxionary calculation. To his surprise, and to the surprise of the world, such lines and such a building were found in the common bee cell. Now I hold that the same Creator who gave to the bee the mathematical instinct could endow man with the instinct of speech. Even to animal instinct we find a certain variation and permitted latitude in what is called adaptive instinct. So in man we find this same instinct of adaptation in a higher sense. The instinct comes into play when we suppose a number of persons separated from others, each living in different quarters of the globe. In such a condition, though of the same language when first separated, they would not remain so long--that is, in the primitive state of society. Thus, among the tribes of Africa, at this day, languages are widening and varying from a once common centre. So Israel in captivity would lose the Hebrew gradually. The language of the people among whom they settled was the Sanskrit, from which a score of languages have come--the German, French, and Italian, Saxon and others. The Saxon of to-day, compared with the Saxon of 2,000 years ago, is very different; so much so that for us to learn and speak it would be equal to learning a new language. Thus the English language is a thing of growth. In the year 1362 the Saxon was made the court language of England. From that time onward its growth has been wonderful.

The prophetic outlines and Divine place of this language may be seen in the germal foundations, which give unto it such vigour, tenacity, and capabilities of expansion. All the features of this language go to show that it is destined to be the medium of a world's intercourse, and that it very suitably belongs to Israel, in whose hand will be the destiny of the world. It is the lion of languages. It will grow anywhere, and by reason of its tenacity when once it gets a foothold it abides. It is peculiarly suited to the humanities of every race, clime, and condition; there is no limit to its expansive adaptability. It is in a special manner voracious in the destruction of other languages; wherever it goes, it sounds the death-knell of all the rest.

Soon as this language entered Britain, it began its work of destruction. Before it has disappeared the real British, the Cymric or Welsh, Erse or Irish, the Gaelic of Scotland, and the Manx of the Isle of Man. The British Keltic is entirely gone; the rest are entirely local. Beside these it ousted from the island the Norse, the Norman-French, and several other tongues that tried to transplant themselves on English soil. It is at work in every part of the globe, planting itself and displacing others. A few years ago French was the language best suited for a traveller on the Continent. But this has changed. Now the English is by far superior. And why is it that the English is supplanting all others? To answer such a question in a scientific way, one cannot do better than quote from the great and learned German philologist, Prof. Grimm, of Berlin. He says of it: "It has a thorough power of expression, such as no other language ever possessed. It may truly be called a world-language, for no other can compare with it in richness, reasonableness, and solidity of texture." But perhaps the most definite and distinct testimony given by a foreigner touching the future ubiquity of the Anglo-Saxon race and language, is that put forward by Provost Paradol, a learned Frenchman. He says "that neither Russia nor united Germany, supposing that they should attain the highest fortune, can pretend to impede that current of things, nor prevent that solution, relatively near at hand, of the long rivalry of European races for the ultimate colonisation and domination of the universe. The world will not be Russian, nor German, nor French, alas! nor Spanish." He concludes that it will be Anglo-Saxon.

A British poet has presented in poetry the special features of several of the European languages, which we give:--

"Greek's a harp we love to hear;
Latin is a trumpet clear;
Spanish like an organ swells;
Italian rings its bridal bells;
France, with many a frolic mien,
Tunes her sprightly violin;
Loud the German rolls his drum
When Russia's clashing cymbals come;
But British sons may well rejoice,
For English is the human voice."

There are eight languages in the bounds of Christian civilisation that may be accounted powerful, because they are the tongues of vigorous people; they are the English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Scandinavian. But of these all are indigenous, except the English, so that they die if transplanted. Look at this country and behold what a cemetery it is for languages. Once the French had strong hold and promised to abide here; but it is now nearly gone, even from the state of Louisiana and Canada, the last places of retreat.