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rate and distinct people, and are included in the "whole house of Israel," and "shall come out of their graves,' as well as the house of Judah, and God "shall place them in their own land." The Lord, by his prophet, continues this subject under another figure, so as to confirm the restoration of Judah and Ephraim, and their final happy union, verse 16th: Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: [that part of Israel that remained with Judah after the others revolted :] then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:" [to wit, the Ten Tribes that revolted.] Here these two houses are clearly distinguished the one from the other, in their present separated state. Now hear what follows: "And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thy hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand." "And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, [this certainly means the Ten Tribes, and their heathenism, into which they have fallen,] whither they be gone, [this expresses their present state,] and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: [has this ever been done?] and I will make them one nation [both Ephraim and Judah] 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."

Surely no one will deny that this prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. Are not the houses of Israel and Judah now divided, and have been separate for the last two thousand five hundred and sixty-two years? And this prophecy foretells their literal restoration to the promised land, and their union as one nation, no more to be separated. But the predictions of this mighty event are intermingled with the prophecies of the final triumph of the kingdom of Christ, and with those of the great battle of Gog and Magog, or the downfall of Antichrist, the beast and false prophet. (See Ezekiel xxxviii, xxxix.)

The prophet Isaiah, (11th chapter,) takes a concise and clear view of the Messiah's kingdom; his origin, as it respects his human nature; and the final triumph of his gospel and kingdom, when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea: when the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again 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 nation, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, [reader, recollect that the Ten Tribes are represented as outcasts, or cast off from all society and association with the nations of the earth,] and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” How beautifully the prophet keeps up the distinction be

tween Judah and Israel! Judah is dispersed among the nations of the earth, to the four corners; but Israel is in an outcast state from all society with the nations of the world.

This prophecy clearly points us to the place whence we are to look for the return of the Ten Tribes from an outcast state, or a state of heathenism. But their restoration and re-union is our present subject of inquiry. The prophet continues: "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 dryshod. 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." (Verses 13-16.) In this prophecy we are shown that whatever are the obstacles, or the seeming impossibilities to the fulfillment of the purposes of God, in restoring the whole of Israel to the promised land, (viz., Judah dispersed and Ephraim cast out,) they shall be removed by the power of God, as the tongue of the Egyptian (or the Red) sea was divided, and the waters of Jordan rolled back to let Moses and Joshua and Israel pass on to the land of CaSo it will be when God sets himself the second time to restore his people. When he speaks to Judah to come from the four corners of the earth, and to Israel

naan.

from their outcast state of heathenism, all will obey, for the Lord hath spoken. Isaiah, in the 12th chapter of his prophecy, shows the happy state of this long rejected people, when Judah and Israel are restored, and united under the banner of Prince Immanuel, the Savior, whom they rejected, crucified, and said, "His blood be on us and our children;" (two thousand five hundred and sixty-two years has this curse followed this people ;) but now converted to God through faith in the crucified; restored by the power of God to liberty and to Palestine, their own country. "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 comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." They had forsaken the fountains of living water, by rejecting Christ, and had hewn out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which could hold no water, like all who reject the Savior; but they had got back to the wells, and now they draw the water of life. "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."

The restoration of Judah and Israel to the promised land shall have more notoriety in the world than their deliverance from Egyptian slavery. O how transported will be their feelings of gratitude to God, for their glorious deliverance from the dark night, which for more than twenty-five centuries has hung over their beclouded minds! The following shows their joy: "Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One

of Israel in the midst of thee." (Isaiah xii, 6.) The Ten Tribes are called outcast Israel, and Judah the dispersed Jews. This distinction is kept up throughout the prophecies. "Then shalt thou [Judah] say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, [Ten Tribes,] seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? [Ten Tribes.] Behold, I was left alone; [they have been lost;] these, where had they been?" (Isaiah xlix, 21.) From this passage some infer that during the dispersed state of the Jews, the Ten Tribes were entirely unknown to them. They were outcasts from the nations; for if they had been living in any nation, the Jews would have found them. But they were cast out from the social world, from the knowledge of all men, as Hebrews, and were lost to the world as well as to the Jews. It must follow that the Ten Tribes have somewhere on earth a distinct existence, in their outcast state; and there is no avoiding the conclusion, that if God has promised to restore them with Judah to the promised land, they must exist somewhere as a separate people, unknown as the descendants of ancient Israel. In Jeremiah iii, it is directed to call on them to return from their backslidings; for he (the Lord) is married unto them. "And I will bring them to Zion. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers."

The foregoing quotations are sufficient to show that God has not forgotten his ancient promise; that the promised land shall be an inheritance for the seed of Abraham' for ever; that although they have been driven out for their sins, dispersed, and are outcasts in the earth, yet the Lord