# View of the Hebrews: Exhibiting the Destruction of Jerusalem... / Ethan Smith / 1823 (1st edition)
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OF  THE 


EXHIBITING 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM  ; 

THE  CERTAIN  RESTORATION  OF  JUDAH  AND 
ISRAEL  ; 

THE  PRESENT  STATE  OF  JUDAH  AND  ISRAEL  ; 

AND 

AN  ADDRESS  OF  THE  PROPHET  ISAIAH  RE 
LATIVE  TO  THEIR  RESTORATION. 


BY  ETHAN  SMITH, 

PASTOR  OE  A  CHURCH  IN^POULTNEYi  (VT.) 


**  These  be  the  days  of  vengeance." — CHRIST. 
*  Yet  a  remaant  shall  return." — ISAIAH, 


POULTNEY,  (F/.) 

GRISTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  SMITH  &  SHUTE. 


District  of  Vermont,  TO  WIT  : 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  eleventh  clay  of 
June,  in  the  forty-seventh  year  of  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  SMITH  &  S.HUTF.,  of  the  said  Dis 
trict,  have  deposited  in  this  office,  the  title  of  a  book,  the 
right  whereof  they  claim  a?  proprietors,  in  the  words  follow 
ing,  to  wit :  "  View  of  the  Hebrews ;  exhibiting;  the  destruc 
tion  of  Jerusalem  ;  the  certain  restoration  of  Judah  and  Is 
rael;  the  present  state  of  Jutlah  and  Israel ;  and  an  address 
of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  relative  to  their  restoration.  By 
ET;IAJV  SMITH,  Pastor  of  a  Church  in  Poultney,  (Vt.) — 
'These  be  the  days  of  vengeance.' — CHRIST.  'Yet  a  rem 
nant  shall  return.' — ISAIAH."  In  conformity  to  the  act.  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled  "  an  act  for  the 
encouragement  of  learning,  by  securit  g  the  copies  of  map<f 
charts,  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  co 
pies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned." 

JESSE  GOVE, 

Clerk  of  the  District  of  Vermont. 
A  true  copy  of  record,  examined  and  sealed  by 

J.  GOVE,  Clerk. 


Xntnftuctfoit* 


historical  events  have  been  of  such  interest 
to  the  world,  as  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Romans,  about  forty  years  after  the  asronsion  of  our 
blessed  Lord.  This  remark  is  true,  if  the  event 
be  contemplated  simply  as  a  piece  of  history.  But 
when  it  is  admitted  that  the  event  was  a  striking  ful 
filment  of  denunciations  of  wrath  uttered  by  Christ 
on  his  persecutors,  and  by  ancient  prophets  on  the 
same  people  ;  also  that  it  furnished  a  most  brilliant 
type  of  the  final  destruction  of  Antichrist  in  the  last 
d:iys  ;  it  becomes  far  more  interesting.  This  inter 
est  must  be  felt  at  this  period,  when  the  great  events 
of  the  last  days  connected  with  the  restoration  of 
the  Hebrews,  are  in  a  train  of  incipient  fulfilment. 
The  signs  of  the  times  are  important  on  this  genera 
tion.  For  upwards  of  thirty  years  they  have  been 
assuming  an  aspect,  with  which  the  Christian  world 
ought  to  feel  deeply  impressed  ;  and  which  will  is 
sue  in  the  battle  of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty., 
and  in  the  millennial  kingdom  of  Christ. 

The  restoration  of  God's  ancient  people  is  to  be 
as  "life  from  the  dead"  to  the  Gentile  world.  Sor.ie 
have  queried  whether  they  are  literally  to  be  res 
tored  to  Palestine.  It  hence  becomes  important  to 
examine  the  prophetic  scriptures  upon  this  subject. 
This  the  writer  has  attempted  to  do ;  and  will  exhi 
bit  the  result  of  his  enquiries,  in  the  following  p£- 
ges. 


M5Q66Q3 


VI 

To  ascertain  the  present  state  of  the  Hebrews, 
must  be  a  matter  of  interest :  and  especially  the  state 
of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  This,  in  the  following 
work  is  attempted.  Also  an  explanation  is  given  of 
an  address  from  the  prophet  Isaiah  to  some  Chris 
tian  people,  relative  to  the  restoration  of  the  ancient 
people  of  God  ;  and  probably  this  people  is  Ameri 
ca.  If  it  is  ascertained  that  the  ten  tribes  are  to  be 
restored  with  the  Jews,  in  the  last  days  ;  they  must 
be  now  in  existence,  and  they  must  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Christian  world  about  this  time  : 
for  the  time  of  their  restoration  must  be  near.  And 
it  is  believed  they  are  coming  to  light  with  ample 
evidence.  This  musCdeeply  interest  the  Christian 
part  of  the  world. 

It  would  be  strange  if  so  great  a  section  of  Chris 
tendom  as  our  United  States,  could  claim  no  appro 
priate  address  in  the  prophetic  writings.  And  it  is 
thought  to  be  capable  of  being  shown,  with  a  satis 
factory  degree  of  evidence,  that  such  an  address  is 
indeed  found  ;  and  one  of  great  interest  at  this  oay. 
The  writer  acknowledges  himself  to  be  affected 
with  this  part  of  the  subject ;  and  he  would  rejoice 
to  be  the  humble  instrument  of  exciting  a  corres 
ponding  feeling  in  the  minds  of  his  Christian  breth 
ren. 

THE  AUTHOR. 
Poultney,  July,  1823. 


RECOMMENDATION. 

;,.  that  they  have  hoard  (he 


cUftlly  r<  <•(  i;i:;ieuJ  it  to  the  perusal  of  all  cius-es  o*"  j-eople. 
Voted,  uua.ijinious.ly. 

Attest,     KUFUS  CUSHMAN,  Scribe* 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE 

DESTRUCTION 

OP 


The  land  of  promise  was  long  a  land  of  won 
ders.  The  Hebrew  nation  there  was,  for  many 
centuries,  the  cradle  of  the  true  and  only 
church  of  God  on  earth.  There  glorious 
things  were  wrought  for  her  salvation.  Patriarchs 
had  there  prayed,  sacrificed  and  praised.  There 
Prophets  had  prophesied  ;  find  the  Almighty  had 
often  made  bare  his  holy  arm.  There  his  people 
had  too  often  apostatized  ;  had  been  expelled 
from  their  Canaan  ;  and  again  mercifully  restor 
ed.  There  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  had  renounced 
the  house  of  David,  and  their  God;  and  were 
hence  banished  to  some  unknown  region  of  the 
world,  to  the  present  day;  while  the  Jews  were 
still  retained  in  the  covenant  of  their  God.  Tlxve 
God,  manifest  in  the  flesh,  made  his  appearar.ee 
on  earth  ; — performed  his  public  ministry  ; — 
atoned  for  the  sins  of  the  world  ; — and  ascended 
to  glory.  There  the  first  heralds  of  the  ; 
dispensation  commenced  their  ministry ;  and 
thence  the  wonderful  scheme  of  grace  was  pro- 
d  through  the  nations. 
1* 


Jerusalem  was  the  capital  of  this  earthly  Ca 
naan.  Glorious  things  were  spoken  of  this  cjty 
of  our  God.  "  Beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy 
of  the  whole  earth,  was  this  Mount  Zion  on  the 
sides  of  the  north,  the  city  of  the  Great  King.'7 
This,  for  many  centuries,  might  he  called  God's 
Capital  on  earth.  God  said,  alluding  primarily 
to  this  city,  "  For  the  Lord  hath  chosen  Zion  to 
be  an  habitation  for  himself.  Here  will  I  dwell, 
for  I  have  desired  it."  Here  great  things  were 
done  in  divine  faithfulness  :  which  led  the  psalm 
ist  to  say  ;  "  God  is  known  in  her  palaces  for  a 
refuge.  For  lo,  the  Kings  were  assembled  ;  they 
passed  by  together.  They  saw  it,  and  so  they 
marvelled;  they  were  troubled,  and  so  they  hast 
ed  away."  "  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with  us  ;  the 
God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge."  "  In  Salem  stood 
his  tabernacle  ;  and  his  dwelling  place  in  Zion. 
There  brake  he  the  arrows  of  the  bow,  the  shield 
and  the  sword  of  the  battle."  This  city  of<jod 
long  answered  well  to  its  name, — Jeru,  they  shall 
see  ;  Salem,  peace.  Long  did  the  church,  while 
they  walked  with  God,  there  see  and  enjoy 
peace. 

But  alas,  we  find  recorded  of  this  city,  temple, 
and  nation  of  the  Jews,  a  fatal  reverse.  They 
found  the  sentiment  in  their  sacred  oracles  ful 
filled  ;  "  The  Lord  is  with  you  while  ye  be  with 
Mm  ;  but  if  ye  forsake  him,  he  will  cast  you  oiF. 

The  Jews  became  carnal  ;  crucified  the  Lord 
©f  glory  ;  and  they  fell  under  the  denunciations, 
and  the  full  execution  of  his  wrath.  Their  law 
giver  Moses,  and  their  prophets  had  long  thunder 
ed  against  them,  that  when  they  should  become 
of  the  character  they  finally  assumed,  the  most 
tremendous  judgments  of  God  should  cut  them 
off.  And  the  Messiah  uttered  against  them,  in 


consequence  of  their  rejecting  him,  a  new  edition 
of  these  fatal  denunciations,  which  we  find  in 
Matt.  xxiv.  Mark  xiii.  Luke  xix.  41 — 44.  chap, 
xxi.  and  xxiji.  27 — 30;  to  which  the  reader  is  re 
ferred.  These  were  to  have  a  primary  fulfil 
ment  in  the  desolation  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the 
Jewish  commonwealth.  This  primary  fulfil 
ment  Christ  assured  should  take  place  on  that  ge 
neration.  And  the  denunciation  was  fulfilled. 

This  fulfilment,  inasmuch  as  it  demonstrated 
the  truth  and  divinity  of  our  Saviour  ;  exhibited 
a  type  of  the  destruction  of  Antichrist,  and  of  the 
wicked  at  the  end  of  the  world  ;  and  shows  the 
danger  of  rejecting  the  Son  of  God  ;  ought  to  be 
duly  noted  in  the  church,  and  frequently  con 
templated.  It  is  a  subject  too  much  neglected, 
and  forgotten  in  the  present  Christian  world.  I 
design  then,  to  give  a  concise  description  of  the 
event,  in  which  Jesus  Christ  came  in  awful  judg 
ment  upon  the  infidel  Jews,  and  vindicated  his 
cause  against  his  persecutors  and  murderers. 
But  some  preliminary  remarks  will  first  be  made. 

This  noted  city  was  built  on  two  mountains  ; 
and  contained  two  parts,  called  the  upper,  and 
the  lower  city.  The  former  was  built  on  Mount 
Sion  ;  the  latter  on  Mount  Acra.  The  city  is 
supposed  to  have  been  founded  by  Melchisedeck, 
and  then  called  Salem,  or  Solyma.  The  war 
like  Jebusites  possessed  it,  when  Israel  entered 
Canaan. 

In  the  higher  city  they  long  defended  them 
selves  against%e  Hebrews.  Here  they  remain 
ed,  till  David  subdued  them  ;  and  called  theiir 
City,  The  City  of  David. 

Herod  the  Great,  when  he  repaired  (or  rather 
rebuilded)  the  temple,  added  vast  strength  arid 
embellishments  to  this  city ;  which  accounts  for 


8 

its  superb  state  and  strength,  when  it  was  de- 
Most  of  this  city  was  surrounded  with  three 
wrpHs.  In  some  places,  where  it  was  deemed  in 
accessible,  it  b  '.'lie.  The  wall,  first  built, 
was  adorned  and  str-e  ulhcned  with  sixty  lowers. 
Fourteen  tower-;  rested  o'i  the  middle  wall.  The 
outside  one  (most  remarkable  for  its  workman 
ship)  was  secured  with  ninety  towers. 

The  tower  Psephinos,  was  most  celebrated. 
It  was  seventy  cubits  high  ;  had  eight  angles  ; 
a iid  commanded  a  most  beautiful  prospect.  Here 
the  visitor  might  (in  a  clear  atmosphere)  delight 
himself  with  a  view  of  the  Mediterranean,  forty 
miles  to  the  west  ;  and  of  most  of  the  Jewish  do 
minions.  Some  of  these  towers  were  nearly 
ninety  cubits  in  height;  and  famous  for  their 
beauty,  elegance  and  curiosities.  They  were 
built  of  white  marble  ;  and  had  the  appearance 
of  vast  marble  blocks.  These  huge  piles  gave  to 
the  city,  in  the  view  of  the  adjacent  country,  a 
most  majestic  appearance. 

Near  the  most  lofty  of  these  towers  stood  the 
royal  palace,  of  the  most  commanding  elegance. 
Incredible  cost  had  furnished  its  pillars,  porticoes, 
galleries,  and  apartments.  Its  gardens,  groves, 
fountains,  aqueducts,  and  walks,  presented  -the 
richest  and  most  delightful  scenery.  This  was  the 
beauty  and  elegance  of  the  north  side  of  Jem* 
salem. 

On  the  east  side  stood  the  temple,  and  the  fort 
of  Antonio,  over  against  Mount  Olivet.  This 
fort  was  built  on  a  rock  of  fifty  feet  in  height,  and 
of  inaccessible  steepness,  overlaid  with  slabs  of 
marble.  The  castle  of  Antonio  stood  in  the 
centre  of  this  fortress.  The  workmanship  of  this 
castle  made  it  more  resemble  a  palace,  than  -a 


castle.  A  tower  adorned  each  square  of  this 
fortress  ;  one  of  which  was  seventy  cuhits  high, 
and  commanded  a  full  view  of  the  temple. 

The  temple  was,  in  many  respects,  the  most 
astonishing  fabric  ever  heheld.  Its  site  was  part 
ly  on  a  solid  rock,  originally  steep  on  every  side. 
The  lower  temple  had  a  foundation  of  vast  di 
mensions,  said  to  he  three  hundred  cuhits  from 
its  lowest  base.  This  foundation  was  composed 
of  stones  sixty  feet  in  length;  and  the  lower 
part  of  the  superstructure  was  composed  of 
stones  of  solid  white  marble,  more  than  sixty 
feet  long  ;  and  seven  by  nine  feet  in  bigness. 
Four  furlongs  compassed  the  whole  pile  of  build 
ing  ;  which  was  one  hundred  cubits  high  ;  with 
one  hundred  and  sixty  pillars,  to  afford  both  sup 
port  and  ornament. 

In  the  front  were  spacious,  and  lofty  galleries, 
with  cedar  wainscot,  resting  on  uniform  rows  of 
white  marble  columns.  Josephus  asserts  that 
nothing  could  exceed  the  exterior  part  of  this 
house  of  God,  for  exquisite  workmanship  and 
gancc.  Its  solid  plates  of  gold  seemed  to  strive 
to  out-dazzle  the  rising  sun.  The  parts  of  the 
building  not  covered  with  gold,  had,  at  a  distance, 
the  appearance  of  pillars  of  snow,  or  white 
marble  mountains.  And  the  grandeur  of  the  in 
ternal  workmanship  of  this  magnificent  dome, 
did  not  fail  of  being  fully  equal  to  its  external 
magnificence.  Nothing  superb,  costly,  or  ele 
gant  was  spared.  The  different  parts  of  the 
world  had  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other,  to  pour 
their  most  costly  treasures  into  this  wonderful  trea 
sury  of  Heaven.  The  lower  story  was  decorated 
with  the  sacred  furniture,  the  table  of  shew  bread, 
altar  of  incense,  and  the  candlestick  of  pure 
Veiiten  ^old.  The  altar  and  table  were  overlaid 


10 

with  pure  gold.  Several  doors  of  the  sanctuary 
were  fifty-five  cubits  in  height,  and  sixteen  in 
breadth,  overlaid  also  with  gold.  The  richest 
Babylonian  tapestry,  of  purple,  blue  and  scarlet,, 
and  of  exquisite  workmanship,  waved  within  these 
doors.  Golden  vines,  with  leaves  and  clusters 
of  grapes  of  gold,  were  suspended  from  the  ceil 
ing  live  or  six  feet,  of  curious  workmanship.  The 
temple  had  a  huge  eastern  gate  of  pure  Corin 
thian  brass, — a  metal  in  the  highest  esteem.  It 
would  be  a  task  to  enumerate  all  the  foldings  of 
golden  doors  in  the  chambers  ; — carved  works, 
paintings  and  gildings  ; — vessels  of  gold;  scarlet, 
violet,  and  purple  sacerdotal  vestments  ;  and  all 
the  incalculable  piles  of  riches,  in  this  temple  of 
Jehovah.  The  most  precious  stones,  spices, 
and  perfumes  ; — every  thing  that  nature,  art.  or 
riches  could  furnish,  were  stored  within  those 
stupendous  and  hallowed  walls.  Here  were  the 
e?///,  and  temple  to  be  destroyed,  for  the  infidelity, 
malice,  hypocrisy,  and  persecution  of  the  Lord  of 
glory,  (in  himself,  and  his  followers,)  which  cha 
racterized  its  rulers  and  people.  Here  a  measure 
of  unprecedented  atrociousness,  was  just  filled 
up  ;  which  should  bring  down  wrath  upon  them 
to  the  uttermost. 

This  tremendous  ruin,  our  Lord  foretold,  and 
fulfilled. 

The  last  noted  entrance  into  Jerusalem  of  Him, 
who  was  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  took  place  on 
the  Monday  before  the  scene  of  his  sufferings. 
Amidst  the  acclamation  of  multitudes  he  was  hail 
ed  King  of  Zion,  with  every  token  of  joy  and 
praise.  The  air  rang  again  with  their  praises, 
uttered  for  all  the  mighty  works  they  had  seen. 
They  sang,  Hosanna!  Blessed  be  the  King  that 
cometli  in  the  name  of  the  Lord!  Peace  in  hcav- 


11 

en  ;  and  glory  in  the  highest.  Our  Lord  (supe 
rior  to  all  their  adulation,  and  knowing  how  soon 
the  hosannas  of  some  of  them  would  turn  to, 
"  Crucify  him;" — and  being  touched  with  sym 
pathy  and  pity  for  a  devoted  city,  now  going  to 
till  up  their  guilty  measure  of  iniquity)  "beheld 
the  c>':j.  mi'!  wept  over  it."  He  sa>d  ;  "If  thou 
.•nvn,  even  thou,  in  this  thy  day,  the 
thii  '•  ••  ••  :•':;  to  thy  v»eace  !  but  now  they 

six    ;  'or  the  ::-   i;  -.hall  corne 

when  i;  ch   ;-',u;<t 

thee,  and  ce.  ee  ia 

On  rvery  ^ii.e  :  a.ui  sl-.;i  i  ,  .  .;  the 

groajd,  and  ti»v  clu'drm  v  ,     _.,..,  tiiey 

shall  not  leave  thee  one  stone  'pan  another; 
because  thou  knewcst  not  tht  time  of  thy  visita 
tion."  Tue  day  but  one  alter,  Christ  went  kto 
the  temple  for  the  last  time,  to  instruct  the  peo 
ple.  While  he  was  thus  employed,  the  hi^h 
priest,  elders,  Herodians,  Sadducees,  and  Phari 
sees,  gathered  in  turn  around  him,  with  a  mali 
cious  view,  to  entangle  him  in  his  talk.  Christ 
returned  such  answers,  spake  such  parables,  and 
set  home  such  reproof  and  conviction  to  their 
souls,  as  not  only  to  astonish  and  silence  them; 
but  to  give  them  some  awful  prelibation  of  the  fi 
nal  judgment,  which  awaited  them  at  his  bar. 
He  thus,  in  a  most  free  and  pungent  address  to 
the  disciples,  administered  the  most  dignified  and 
keen  reproofs  for  the  cruelty,  hypocrisy  and  pride 
of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  He  foretold  the 
malicious  treatment  the  disciples  would  meet 
with  at  their  hands ;  and  then  denounced  the 
vengeance  on  that  falling  city,  which  for  ages 
their  crimes  had  been  accumulating.  He  fore 
warned  that  this  cup  of  divine  indignation  should 
be  poured  on  that  generation.  His  tender  feeling* 


12 

of  soul  then  melted  in  a  most  moving  apos 
trophe  :  u  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem  !  thou  that 
killest  the  prophets,  and  ^stonest  them  that  arc 
gent  unto  thee  !  How  often  would  I  have  gather 
ed  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth 
her  chickens  under  her  wings  ;  and  ye  would 
not !  Behold,  your  honse  is  left  unto  you  deso 
late.  For  1  say  unto  you,  ye  shall  not  see  me 
henceforth,  till  ye  shall  say,  "  Blessed  is  lie  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.''  Upon  this 
our  Saviour  left  the  temple.  The  disciples  took 
an  occasion  to  speak  to  Christ  of  the  magnificence 
of  the  sacred  edifice  ; — how  it  was  adorned  with 
goodly  stones  and  gifts.  'Blaster,  (said they,)  see 
what  manner  of  stones  and  buildings  are  here." 
"  Jesus  said  unto  them  ;  See  ye  not  all  these 
things  ?  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  shall  not 
be  left  here  one  stone  upon  another,  tha't  shall 
not  he  thrown  down."  How  very  unlikely  must 
such  an  event  have  seemed  !  But  it  was  indeed 
fulfilled  upon  that  generation. 

Jesus  and  his  disciples  retired  to  the  mount  of 
Olives.  Here  the  temple  rose  before  them  in  all 
its  majestic  elegance.  The  surrounding  scenery 
naturally  suggested  the  conversation  which  fol 
lowed.  The  disciples  petitioned  ; — "  Tell  us, 
when  shall  these  things  be  ?  and  what  shall  be 
the  sign  when  all  these  things  shall  be  fulfilled  ?" 
Their  minds  seem  to  have  been  impressed  with 
the  preceding  discourse ;  and  they  fell  most 
readily  upon  the  same  subject,  and  wished  to 
know  when  such  awful  events  should  come  ;  and 
what  warnings  should  announce  their  approach. 
Our  Lord  replied  :  "  Take  heed  that  no  man  de 
ceive  you;  for  many  shall  come  in  my  iiame, 
saying,  I  am  Christ;  and  siiall  deci-lv  i  ; 
As  though  he  had'  said  :  This  shall  be  one  t 


13 

token  of  the  event,  both  as  my  denunciations  re 
late  to  a  primary  accomplishment  in  the  destruc 
tion  of  Jerusalem  ;  and  to  a  more  general  and 
dreadful  fulfilment  in  the  destruction  of  Antichrist 
in  the  last  days.  Impostors  shall  abound.  False 
revisionists  shall  deceive  and  ruin  many.  This 
was  fulfilled  in  relation  to  Jerusalem.  Not  long 
after  Chri.-i/s  ascension,  the  Samaritan  Dositheus 
appeared  and  declared  himself  the  Messiah 
predicted  by  Moses.  Simon  Magns  also  declar 
ed  himself  ;'  the  Great  power  of  God."  Soon  af 
ter,  another  impostor  appeared  from  the  mongrel 
Samaritans.  The  church  has  ever  been  annoy 
ed  by  such  kind  of  Samaritans,  who  have  ever 
been  fruitful  in  vile  impostors,  crying  "  Lo,  here: 
and  lo,  there.''  This  impostor  promised  to  ex 
hibit  to  the  people  sacred  utensils  said  to  be  cle- 
ported  by  Moses  in  Mount  Gerazim.  Here  a 
new  decision  must  be  given  from  heaven,  to  the 
question  between  the  Jews  and  Samaritans,  as 
to  the  place  of  worship ;  a  thing  of  which  schis 
matics  have  ever  been  exceedingly  fond ;  to  de 
rive  some  new  light  upon  their  party  question  di 
rectly  from  above  ;  as  though  decisions  already 
given  were  insufficient, 

Armed  multitudes  sallied  forth  to  follow  this 
Messiah,  confident  their  Great  Deliverer  had  at 
last  made  his  appearance.  But  Pilate,  the  Ro 
man  governor,  checked  their  fanaticism  with  the 
sword,  and  put  their  fancied  Messiah  to  death. 

Another  impostor,  Theudas,  arose.  He  had 
the  address  to  persuade  multitudes  to  follow  him 
into  the  wilderness,  under  his  promise  that  he 
would  cause  the  river  Jordan  to  divide.  The 
Roman  procurator,  Fadus,  with  a  troop  of  horse, 
pursued  them  ;  slew  the  impostor,  and  many  oth 
ers  ;  and  dispersed  the  faction.  Deceivers.,  un- 


M 

der  (be  government  of  Felix,  were  multiplied, 
leading  off  people  into  the  wilderness  under  the 
promise  and  fanatical  expectation  that  they 
should  there  see  signs  and  wonders.  The  old 
Serpent  often  leads  fanatical  people  into  wilder 
nesses  of  error  and  delusion,  under  similar  ex 
pectations.  The  vigilant  age  of  the  Roman 
governor  rested  on  these  impostors,  and  was  sure 
to  frustrate  their  designs,  as  oft  as  they  appeared. 
In  the  year  55,  arose  a  notable  Egyptian  im 
postor,  named  Felix.  Thirty  thousand  followed 
him,  under  the  persuasion  that  from  mount  Oli 
vet  they  should  see  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  fall  to 
the  ground  at  his  command,  for  their  easy  cap 
ture  of  the  Roman  garrison  there  ;  and  their  tak 
ing  possession  of  Jerusalem.  They  were  attack 
ed  by  the  Roman  governor  :  four  hundred  were 
slain  :  and  the  rest  dispersed.  The  Egyptian 
impostor  escaped  for  his  life.  In  the  year  GO,  an 
other  pretended  Messiah  appeared,  engaging  to 
break  the  Roman  yoke,  if  they  would  follow  him 
into  the  wilderness  ;  but  the  deceiver  and  his 
followers  soon  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  vigilance  of 
Festus,  the  governor.  It  would  he  loo  unwieldy 
to  mention  all  the  vile  impostors  of  this  peri 
od.  They  were  a  just  retribution  of  righteous 
Heaven  upon  the  Jews,  for  having  rejected  and 
put  to  death  the  true  Messiah  :  and  they  fulfill 
ed  the  warning  of  our  Lord,  of  a  host  of  deceiv 
ers  at  that  period.  How  prone  are  men  to  court 
deception.  Christ  had  said  to  the  Jews,  'I  am 
come  in  my  Father's  name,  and  ye  receive  me 
not.  if  another  should  come  in  his  own  name, 
him  will  ye  receive.'  This  was  fulfilled  :  and 
not  only  then,  but  in  every  age  to  this  day.  Those 
who  give  the  best  evangelical  evidence  of  their 
being  ambassadors  of  Christ,  many  will  reject; 


15 

while  the  confident  and  noisy  claims  of  egotists 
are  by  them  fully  allowed.  "  As  in  water  face 
answers  to  face  ;  so  the  heart  of  man  to  man." 

Oar  Lord  proceeds  :  "  And  ye  shall  hear  of 
wars,  and  rumours  of  wars  :  see  that  ye  be  not 
troubled  :  for  all  these  things  shall  come  to  pass; 
but  the  end  is  not  yet.  For  nation  shall  rise  a- 
gainst  nation  ;  and  kingdom  against  kingdom ; 
and  great  earthquakes  shall  be  in  divers  places, 
and  famines,  and  pestilences;  all  these  are  the 
beginning  of  sorrows." 

The  portentous  thunders  of  wars  and  rumours 
of  wars  may  be  said  to  have  occupied  most  of  the 
time  froai  the  death  of  our  Saviour, to  the  destruc 
tion  of  Jerusalem.  The  historic  pages,  which 
treat  of  these  times,  are  stained  with  blood.  A 
war  between  Herod  and  Aretas,  king  of  Arabia, 
opened  the  bloody  scene,  after  a  short  season  of 
peace.  In  Selucia  the  Greeks  and  Syrians  rose 
against  the  Jews,  who  fled  thither  from  the  pes 
tilence  in  Babylon,  and  slew  50,000  of  them. 
Five  years  after,  the  Jews  in  Perea,  and  people 
of  Philadelphia,  contended  about  the  limits  of  a 
city  ;  when  many  of  the  Jews  were  slain.  Four 
years  after  this,  an  insult  being  offered  to  the 
Jews  within  the  precincts  of  the  temple,  by  a 
Roman  soldier  ;  and  being  violently  resented  ;  a 
Roman  force  rushed  upon  them  ;  which  so  terri 
fied  the  Jews,  that  they  fled  in  vast  disorder ; 
and  1 0,000  of  them  lost  their  lives  in  the  streets. 
After  another  four  years,  the  Jews  ravaged  the 
country  of  the  Samaritans,  in  consequence  of 
their  having  murdered  a  Galilean,  who  was  going 
to  keep  the  passover.  Many  were  slain.  Soon 
after,  a  contention  arose  between  the  Jews  iu 
Cesarea  and  the  Syrians,  relative  to  the  govern 
ment  of  C»sar@a.  In  the  firat  encouuter  more 


1C 

than  20,000  Jews  were  slain.  This  contention 
raged  in  many  cities  where  the  Jews  and  Syrians 
dwelt ;  and  mutual  slaughter  prevailed.  And  in 
live  other  cities  the  carnage  among  the  Jews  waa 
dreadful.  At  Damascus  10,000  Jews  were  slain 
in  one  hour.  And  at  Scythopdis  13,000  were 
nlain  in  one  night.  In  Alexandria  the  Jews  rose 
upon  the  Romans  ;  and  had  50,000  of  their  peo 
ple  slain,  without  any  regard  to  infancy  or  age. 
Soon  after,  in  a  contention  at  Totapata,  40,000 
Jovr-  ;)"ri  's'd.  These  contentions  rose  and  in 
creased,  till  ihe  whole  Jewish  nation  took  up 
arms  against  the  Romans,  and  brought  on  thcm- 
.->  their  linal  destruction.  Thus  the  predic 
tion  of  our  Saviour  quoted,  received  in  those  days 
a  striking  primary  fulfilment. 

Our  Saviour  added  :    "  And  great  earthquakes 
•  be  in  divers   places,"       These   significant 
loo.  were  accomplished  in  those    dr. NS. 
;<    recorded  by  Tacitus  ;    one  at  Rome  in 
^ii  of  Claudius  ;    another  at  Apamea,   in 
Syria ,  where  were  many  Jews.     So  destructive 
:::i>  one  at  the  latter  place,  that  the  tribute 
he  Romans,  was  for  live  years  remitted, 
terrific  at  Crete  ;  one  at  Smyrna  ; 
one  ai  (  Chios,  and  one  at  Samos; 

'laces  Jews  dwelt.     These  are  no- 
».i!ji?(ratus.     Soon  after,  in  the  reign  of 
i'acitus  and   Eusebius  inform,  that 
d  Colosse,  as   well  as   Lacdicea, 
were  overthrown  by  earthquakes*      Another  is 
noted  at  Rome  ;  one  at  Campania ;    and  others 
tremendous  are  mentioned  as  taking  place  at  Je- 
!cm  in  the  night,  just  before  the  commence- 
nu.iit  of  the  last  siege  of  that  city.     Of  tlux;  Jo-* 
sephus  gives  the  following  account :     "  A  1  . 
storm  bursi  on  them,  during  the   ni^Jit 


17 

winds  arose,  with  most  excessive  rains,  with  con 
stant  lightning,  most  tremendous  thunders,  and 
dreadful  roarings  of  earthquakes.  It  seemed  as 
if  the  system  of  the  world  had  been  confounded 
for  the  destruction  of  mankind.  And  one  mudit 
well  conjecture  that  these  were  signs  of  no  com 
mon  event." 

The  famines  predicted  by  Christ  were  like 
wise  fulfilled.  The  one  foretold  by  Agabus,  no 
ted  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  was  dreadful,  and 
of  long  continuance.  It  extended  through 
Greece  and  Italy  :  but  was  most  severely  felt  at 
Judea,  and  especially  at  Jerusalem.  The  con 
tributions  noted  as  brought  by  Paul  from  abroad, 
to  relieve  the  poor  brethren  there,  were  sent 
during  this  sore  famine.  Authors  of  that  time 
mention  two  other  famines  in  the  empire,  previ 
ous  to  the  one  occasioned  by  the  siege  of  Jerusa 
lem. 

"Pestilences"  too,  the  Saviour  adds.  Two  in 
stances  of  this  signal  judgment  took  place  before 
the  last  Jewish  war.  The  one  took  place  at 
Babylon,  where  many  Jews  resided  ;  the  other 
at  Rome,  which  swept  off  vast  multitudes.  Oth 
er  lighter  instances  of  this  calamity  occurred,  in 
various  parts  of  the  empire  ;  as  both  Tacitus  and 
Suetonius  record. 

Our  Lord  also  adds  :  "  And  fearful  sights  and 
great  signs  shall  there  be  from  heaven."  Jose- 
plms  (who  can  never  be  suspected  of  wishing  to 
favour  any  prediction  of  Christ ;  and  who  proba^ 
bly  knew  not  of  any  such  prediction,  when  he 
wrote,)  gives  accounts  of  events,  iwhich  strikingly 
answer  to  this  premonition.  Speaking  of  the  in 
fatuation  of  his  countrymen,  in  running  after  im 
postors,  while  they  neglected  the  plainest  admo 
nitions  from  heaven ;  he  gives  account  of  the 
seven  following  events : 


18 

1 .  He  says  ;  "  On  the  8th  of  the  month  Zanthi- 
cus,  (before  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread,)  at  the 
ninth  hour  of  the  night,  there  shone  round  about 
the  altar,  and  the  circumjacent  buildings  of  the 
temple,  a  light  equal   to   the  brightness  of  the 
day  ;  which  continued  for  the  space   of  half  an 
hour." 

2.  "  About  the  sixth  hour  of  the  night,  (says 
Josephus,)  the  eastern  gate  of  the  temple   was 
found  to  open  without  human  assistance."     This 
gate  was  of  solid  brass  ;  and  so  large  and  heavy, 
as  to  require  twenty  men  to  close  it.     And  Jose 
phus  says,  "it  was  secured  by  iron  bolts  and  bars, 
that  were  let  down  into  a  large  threshold  consisting 
of  one  entire  stone."    The  Jews  themselves  con 
cluded,  from  the  miraculous  nature  of  this  event, 
that  the  security  of  their  temple  had  fled.    When 
the  procurator  was  informed  of  this  event,  he  sent 
a  band  of  men  to  close  the  door  ;  who  with  great 
difficulty  executed  their  orders. 

3.  Again,  the  same  celebrated  Jewish  author 
says  :  "At  a  subsequent  feast  of  Pentecost,  while 
the  pivsts  were  going  by  night  into  the  inner  tem 
ple,  to  perform  their  customary  ministrations, 
they  first  felt  (as  they  said,)  a  shaking,  accom 
panied  by  an  indistinct  murmuring  ;  and  after 
wards  voices  as  of  a  multitude,  saying  in  a  dis 
tinct  and  earnest  manner :  "  Let  us  depart 
hence."  How  striking  was  this  miraculous  pre 
monition.  It  commenced  with  a  shaking  ;  to 
oill  and  fix  the  attention  of  these  Jewish  priests. 
Then  was  heard  an  indistinct  murmur.  This 
would  make  them  listen  with  all  possible  heed. 
Then  they  heard  the  distinct  voices,  as  of  a  mul 
titude  in  great  earnestness  and  haste  ; — "  Let  m 
depart  hence  /"  And  their  last  f'ytal  war  with  the 
Romans  commenced  before  the  next  season  for 
celebrating  this  feast. 


19 

4i  Another  sign  was  the  following.  The 
same  author  says :  "  A  meteor,  resembling  a 
sword,  hung  over  Jerusalem,  during  one  whole 
year."  Tfris  could  not  have  been  a  comet,  for 
it  was  stationary  a  whole  year,  and  seems,  from 
the  words  of  Josephus,  to  have  been  much  near 
er  than  a  comet,  and  appeared  to  be  appropria 
ted  to  that  city.  This  reminds  one  of  the  sword 
of  the  destroying  angel,  stretched  out  over  Jeru 
salem,  I.  Chro.  21,  xvi.  This  stationary  posi 
tion  of  the  sword  for  a  year,  was  a  lively  indica 
tion  that  the  impending  ruin  was  fatal. 

5.  Josephus  says  again  :  "As  the  high  priests 
were  leading  a  heifer  to  the  altar  to  be  sacrificed, 
she  brought  forth  a  lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  tem 
ple."  Most  striking  rebuke  to  those  infidel 
priests  who  had  rejected  the  Lamb  of  God,  who 
had  shed  his  blood  once  for  all,  and  abrogated 
the  Levitical  sacrifices ;  which  yet  they  were 
impiously  continuing.  This  wonder  was  exhib 
ited  in  the  temple,  the  type  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
and  at  the  passover,  when  at  a  preceding  passo- 
ver  Jesus  was  arrested  and  sacrificed  ;  and  it 
took  place  before  the  high  priests  and  their  at 
tendants  ;  so  that  they  could  never  complain  fop 
want  of  evidence  of  the  fact. 

6.  This  author  says  :  "  Soon  after  the  feast  of 
the  passover,  in  various  f>arts  of  the  country,  be 
fore  the  setting  of  the  sun,  chariots  and  armed 
men  were  seen  in  the  air  passing  round  about 
Jerusalem."  This  strange  sight  occurring  be 
fore  sunset,  and  being  seen  in  various  parts  of 
the  country,  must  have  been  a  miraculous  por 
tent  ;  a  sign  from  heaven.  The  Jews  had  said, 
'-•  What  sign  showest  thou,  that  we  may  see  and 
believe."  Now  they  had  their  signs  in  abun- 
j  yet  they  would  not  believe. 


2(3 

7.  The  last  and  most  fearful  sign  Josephns  re? 
lates  ;  that  one  Jesus,  son  of  Ananus,  a  rustic  of 
the  lower  class,  appeared  in  the  temple  at  the  feast 
of  tabernacles,  and  suddenly  exclaimed,  "A  voice 
from  the  east — a  voice  from  the  west — a  voice 
from  the  four  winds — a  voice  against  Jerusalem 
and  the  temple — a  voice  against  the  bridegrooms 
and  the  brides — a  voice  against  the  whole  peo 
ple  /"  These  words  he  continued  to  exclaim 
through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  by  day  and  by 
night,  with  no  cessation  (unless  what  was  needed 
for  the  support  of  nature)  for  seven  years  /  He 
commenced  in  the  year  63,  while  the  city  was  in 
peace  and  prosperity,  and  terminated  his  excla 
mations  only  in  his  death,  amidst  the  horrors  of 
the  siege  in  the  year  70.  This  strange  thing, 
when  it  commenced,  soon  excited  great  atten 
tion  ;  and  this  Jesus  was  brought  before  Albinus, 
the  Roman  governor,  who  interrogated  him,  but 
could  obtain  no  answer  except  the  continuation 
of  his  woes.  He  commanded  him  to  be  scourg 
ed,  but  to  no  effect.  During  times  of  festivals, 
this  cry  of  his  was  peculiarly  loud  and  urgent. 
After  the  commencement  of  the  siege,  he  ascen 
ded  the  walls,  and  in  a  voice  still  more  tremen 
dous  than  ever,  he  exclaimed,  "  Wo,  wo  to  this 
city,  this,  temple,  and  this  people  /"  And  he  then 
added,  (for  the  first  time  for  the  seven  years,) 
"  Wo,  wo  to  myself  7"  The  words  were  no  soon 
er  uttered,  than  a  stone  from  a  Roman  machine 
without  the  walls,  struck  him  dead  on  the  spot ! 

Such  were  the  signs  in  the  heavens  and  in  the 
earth,  which  just  preceded  the  destruction  of  Je 
rusalem.  Several  of  them  are  recorded  by  Ta- 
oitus  as  well  as  by  Josephus.  The  veracity  of  Jo- 
sephus  as  a  historian  is  probably  allowed  by  all. 
Scaliger  affirms  that  he  deserves  more  credit  as 


21 

a  writer,  than  all  the  Greek  and  Roman  histori 
ans  put  together. 

From  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  Pornpey, 
sixty  years  before  Christ,  the  Jews  repeatedly 
had  exhibited  a  most  rebellious  spirit  against  the 
Romans.  The  Jews  had  basely  said  to  Pilate, 
concerning  Christ,  "  If  thou  let  this  man  go,  thoa 
art  not  a  friend  to  Caesar."  But  the  fact  was, 
they  persecuted  Christ  because  he  would  not 
erect  a  temporal  throne  in  opposition  to  Csesar. 
Any  impostor  who  seemed  prepared  to  do  this, 
they  were  ready  to  follow  ;  and  were  ready  to 
improve  every  apparent  occasion  to  evince  their 
decided  hostility  to  the  Romans.  And  they 
hardly  needed  a  prophet's  eye  to  discern  that 
this  spirit  and  conduct  (manifested  on  all  occa- 
-}  would  soon  draw  against  them  the  Roman 
sword. 

Judas,  a  Caulonite,  and  Sadduc.  a  Pharisee, 
had  rallied  the  Jews  with  the  idea  that  their  pay 
ing  tribute  to  the  Romans  would  not  fail  to  con 
firm  them  in  the  most  abject  slavery  ;  in  conse 
quence  ef  which,  their  enmity  often  burst  forth 
with  malignant  violence.  Tumults  and  riots  ';.- 
creased,  arid  Florus,  the  F.oaiaii  governor  of  Ju- 


dea,  by  his  crUel  exactioi 
amorte  the  Jews.    Eleazei 


s,  increased  this  spirit 
,  son  of  the  high  priest, 


persuaded  the  officers  of  the  temple  to  reject  the 
offerings  of  foreigners,  and  to  withhold  publick 
prayers  for  them.  The  Roman  government  felt 
the  insult ;  and  a  basis  was  scon  found  to  be  laid 
for  a  Roman  war!  Feuds  and  contentions  in 
creased  in  Judea,  till  Cestius  Callus  marched  an 
army  thither  from  Syria  to  restore  order.  His 
march  was  i^arke'-  with  blood  arid  desolation. — 
The  city  of  ZebuTon,  Joppa.  and  other  villages 
in  his  way,  he  plundered  and  burned.  Ei^ht 


22 

thousand  four  hundred  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
former  place,  he  slew.  The  district  of  Narba- 
tene  he  laid  waste,  and  slew  two  thousand  of  the 
Jews  in  Galilee  ;  reduced  the  city  of  Lydda  to 
ashes,  and  drove  the  Jews,  (who  made  desperate 
sallies  upon  him)  till  he  encamped  within  a  hun 
dred  miles  of  the  capital.  Soon  after,  he  enter 
ed  Jerusalem,  and  burned  some  part  of  the  city. 
But  through  the  treachery  of  his  own  officers,  he 
made  an  unexpected  flight.  The  enraged  Jewt 
pursued  him,  and  slew  about  sixty  thousand  of 
his  men.  Many  of  the  rich  Jews,  alarmed  at  the 
Roman  invasion,  fled  from  Jerusalem,  as  from  a 
foundering  ship.  Some  suppose  many  of  the 
Christians  now  fled  to  a  place  called  Fella  in  the 
mountains  of  Judea. 

Nero  being  informed  of  the  defeat  of  Cestius, 
gave  the  command  to  Vespasian  to  press  the  war 
a.^ainil  the  rebellious  Jews.  lie  and  his  son 
Titus  soon  collected  an  army  of  sixty  thousand 
men.  In  A.  D.  67,  he  marched  from  Ptolemais 
to  Judea,  marking  hi*  steps  with  ravages  and 
desolation.  Ink r<  3  t\nd  age  fell  before  the  fu 
rious  soldiery.  A>1  the  strong  towns  of  Galilee, 
and  many  of  those  of  Judea  fell  before  the  vic 
torious  arms  of  Vespasian,  who  slew  not  les» 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants. 
Signal  vengeance  was  taken  on  Joppa,  which 
had  in  part  been  rebuilt,  after  it  had  been  by 
Cestius  reduced  to  ashes.  Vespasian  was  enra 
ged  at  the  frequent  piracies  of  this  people.  The 
Jews  of  this  place  fleeing  before  him,  betook 
themselves  to  their  shipping.  But  a  furious 
tempest  overtook  those  who  stood  out  to  sea, 
who  were  lost.  The  others  were  dashed  vessel 
against  vessel,  or  against  the  rocks.  Some  in 
their  distress  laid  violent  hands  on  themselves. 


23 

Such  as  reached  the  shore  were  slain  by  the  en 
raged  Romans.  The  sea  for  some  distance  was 
stained  with  their  blood:  four  thousand  two  hun 
dred  were  strewed  along  their  coasts,  and  not 
one- escaped  to  relate  their  catastrophe.  Truly 
this  was  "  distress  of  their  nation,  with  the  sea 
and  the  waves  thereof  roaring  !" 

Vespasian  returned  from  Jericho  to  Caesarea, 
to  prepare  for  a  grand  siege  of  Jerusalem.  Here 
he  received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  the  em 
peror  Nero.  This  led  him  to  suspend  for  the 
present,  the  execution  of  his  plan  against  the 
Jews.  This  respite  to  that  devoted  people  con 
tinued  about  two  years,  and  but  encouraged 
them  to  deeds  of  greater  enormity. 

A  spirit  of  faction  now  appeared  in  Jerusalem. 
Two  parties  first,  and  afterwards  three,  raged 
there ;  each  contending  with  deadly  animosity 
for  the  precedency.  A  part  of  one  of  these  fac 
tions  having  been  excluded  from  the  city,  enter 
ed  it  by  force  during  the  night;  and  to  such  mad 
ness  were  they  abandoned,  that  they  butchered 
(on  that  fatal  night)  not  less  than  eight  thousand 
h've  hundred  of  men,  women  and  children,  whose 
mangled  bodies  appeared  the  next  morning 
strewed  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  These 
abandoned  murderers  plundered  in  the  city; 
murdered  the  high  priests,  Ananus  and  Jesus, 
and  insulted  their  dead  bodies.  They  slew  their 
brethren  of  Jerusalem,  as  though  they  had  been 
wild  animals.  The}7  scourged  and  imprisoned 
the  nobles,  in  hopes  to  terrify  them  to  become  of 
their  party;  and  many  who  could  not  be  thus  won, 
they  slew.  In  this  reign  of  terror,  twelve  thou 
sand  of  the  higher  orders  of  the  people  thus  per 
ished  ;  and  no  relative  dared  to  shed  a  mourning 
tear,  lest  this  should  bring  on  him  a  similar  fate. 


24 

Accusation  and  death  became  the  most  common 
events.  Mciny  fled,  who  were  intercepted  and 
slain.  Piles  of  their  carr^-es  Inv  on  publick 
roads  ;  and  all  pity,  as  v,v!l  :i.-  iv;.-;»rd  i'or  human 
or  divine  authority,  seemed  extinguished. 

To  add  to  the  horrid  calami  Lies  of  the  times, 
occasioned  by  the  bloody  factions,  Judea  was  in 
fested  by  bands  of  robbers  and  murderers,  plun 
dering  their  towns  and  cutting  in  pieces  such  as 
made  any  resistance,  whether  men,  women  or 
children.  Here  were  exhibited  thi;  most  horrid 
pictures  of  what  fallen  man  is  capable  of  perpe 
trating  when  restraints  are  taken  olf;  that  they 
would  turn  their  own.  towns  and  societies  into 
scenes  of  horror,  like  kenncJs  of  mad  animals. 

One  Simon  became  cemmandcr  of  one  of  the/ e 
factions;  John  of  another.  Simon  entered  Je 
rusalem  at  the  head  of  forty  thousand  banditti. 
A  third  faction  rose,  and  discord  blazed  witli  ter- 
rifick  fury.  The  three  factions  were  intoxicated 
with  rage  and  desperation,  who  went  on  slaying 
and  trampling  on  piles  of.  the  dead,  with  an  in 
describable  fury.  People  coining  to  the  temple 
to  worship,  were  murdered,  both  natives  and  for 
eigners.  Their  bodies  lay  in  piles,  and  a  collec 
tion  of  blood  defiled  the  sacred  courts. 

John  of  Gischala.  hea«J  of  a  faction,  burned  a 
store  of  provisions.  Sisron,  at  the  head  of  an 
other  faction,  burned  another.  Thus  the  .lows 
were  wen'  destroying  themselves,  u< :d 

preparing  the  way  for  "wrath  to  come  upon 
them  to  the  uttermost." 

In  the  midst  of  these  most  dismal  events,  an 
alarm  was  made  that  a  Roman  army  was  ap 
proaching  the  city !  Vespasian  becoming  empe 
ror,  and  learning  the  factious  and  horrid  state  of 
the  Jews,  determined  to  proseeule  th;*.  war 


asa hist  them,  and  sent  his  son  Thus  to  reduce 
Jerusalem  and  Judea.    The  Jews,  on  hearing  of 
the  approach  of  the  Roman  army,  were  petrified 
with  horror.  They  could  have  no  hope  of  peace. 
They  had  no  means  of  flight.     They  had  no  time 
for  counsel.     They  had  no  confidence  in  each 
other.     What  could  he  done  ?     Several  things 
they  possessed  in  abundance.    They  had  a  meas 
ure  of  iniquity  filled  up  ;   a  full  ripeness  for  des 
truction.     All  seemed  wild  disorder  and  despair. 
Nothing  could  he  imagined  but  "the  confused 
noise  of  the   warrior,    and  garments   rolled  in 
blood."    They  knew  nothing  was  their  due  from 
the  Romans,  but  exemplary  vengeance.     The 
ceaseless  cry  of  combatants,  and  the  horrors  of 
faction,  had  induced  some  to  desire  the  interven 
tion  of  a  foreign  foe,  to  give  them  deliverance 
from  their  domestick  horrors.   Such  was  the  state 
of  Jerusalem  when   Titus  appeared   before  it 
with  a  besieging  army.     But  he  came  not  to  de 
liver  it  from  its  excruciating  tortures  ;  but  to  ex 
ecute  upon  it  divine  vengeance  ;  to  fulfil  the  fa 
tal  predictions  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that 
"  when  ye  see   the  abomination  of  desolation 
standing  in  the  holy  place — when  ye  see  Jerusa 
lem  compassed  about  with  armies, — then  know 
that  the  desolation  thereof  is  nigh.''     "  Where 
soever  the  carcass  is,  there  shall  the  eagles  be 
gathered  together."      Jerusalem  was  now  the 
carcass  to  be  devoured  ;    the  Roman  eagles  had 
arrived  to  tear  it  as  their  prey. 

The  day  on  which  Titus  had  encompassed 
Jerusalem,  was  the  feast  of  the  passover.  Here 
let  it  be  remembered,  that  it  was  the  time  of  this 
feast,  (en  a  preceding  occasion)  that  Christ  was 
taken,  condemned  and  executed.  It  was  at  the 
time  of  this  feast,  that  the  heifer  in  the  hands  of 
3 


2G 

the  sacrificing  priests,  brought  forth  a  lamb.  And 
just  after  this  feast  at  another  time,  that  the  mirac 
ulous  besieging  armies  were  seen  over  Jerusalem, 
just  before  sunset.  And  now  at  the  time  of  the 
passover,  the  antitype  of  this  prodigy  appears  in 
the  besieging  army  of  Titus.  Multitudes  of 
Jews  had  convened  at  Jerusalem  from  surround 
ing  nations  to  celebrate  this  feast.  Ah,  misera 
ble  people. — going  with  intent  to  feed  on  the 
paschal  lamb;  but  really  to  their  own  linal  slaugh 
ter,  for  rejecting  "  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world !"  The  Jews  had 
imprecated  the  blood  of  the  true  Paschal  Lamb, 
(by  them  wantonly  shed)  on  themselves  and  on 
their  children.  God  was  now  going  in  a  signal 
manner  to  take  them  at  their  word.  He  hence 
providentially  collected  their  nation,  under  sen 
tence  of  death,  as  into  a  great  prison,  for  the  day 
of  execution.  And  as  their  execution  of  Christ 
was  signal,  low,  degrading, — the  death  of  the 
cross  ;  so  their  execution  should  be  signal  and 
dreadful.  The  foiling  city  was  now  crowded 
with  little  short  of  two  millions  of  that  devoted 
people.  The  event  came  suddenly  and  unex 
pectedly  to  the  Jews,  as  the  coming  of  a  thief, 
and  almost  like  lightning.  Josephus  notes  this; 
and  thus  without  design,  shows  the  fulfilment  of 
these  hints  of  Christ,  that  his  coming  should  be 
like  a  thief  in  the  night,  and  like  lightning  shin 
ing  under  the  whole  heavens. 

The  furious  contending  factions  of  the  Jews, 
on  finding  themselves  environed  with  the  Ro 
man  armies,  laid  aside  (for  the  moment)  their 
party  contentions,  sallied  out,  rushed  furiously 
on  their  common  foe,  and  came  near  utterly  de 
stroying  the  tenth  legion  of  the  Roman  army. — 
This  panic  among  the  Romans,  occasioned  a 


27 

short  suspension  of  hostilities.  Some  new  con- 
lidence  hence  inspired,  the  hopes  of  the  Jews  ; 
arid  they  now  determined  to  defend  their  city. 
But  being  a  little  released  from  their  terrors  of 
the  Romans,  their  factious  resentments  again  re 
kindled,  and  broke  out  in  great  fury.  The  fac 
tion  under  Eleazer  was  swallowed  up  in  the  oth 
er  two,  under  John  and  Simon.  Slaughter,  con 
flagration  and  plunder  ensued.  A  portion  of 
the  centre  of  the  city  was  burned,  and  the  in 
habitants  became  as  prisoners  to  the  two  furious 
parties.  The  Romans  here  saw  their  own  pro 
verb  verified  :  "Quos  Deus  vult  perdere  priiis 
elemental."  "Whom  God  will  destroy,  he  gives 
up"  to  madness." 

The  invading  armies  knew  how  to  profit  by 
the  madness  of  the  Jews.  They  were  soon 
found  by  the  Jews  to  have  possession  of  the  two 
outer  walls  of  their  city  :  this  alarm  reached  the 
heart  of  the  factions,  and  once  more  united  them 
against  the  common  enemy.  But  they  had  al 
ready  proceeded  too  far  to  retreat  from  the  ef 
fects  of  their  madness.  Famine,  with  its  ghast 
ly  horrors,  stared  them  in  the  face.  It  had  (as 
might  be  expected)  been  making  a  silent  ap 
proach  ;  and  some  of  the  more  obscure  had  al 
ready  fallen  before  it.  But  even  this  did  not 
annihilate  the  fury  of  faction,  which  again  re 
turned  with  redoubled  fury,  and  presented  new 
scenes  of  wo.  As  the  famine  increased,  the  suf 
ferers  would  snatch  bread  from  each  other's 
mouths,  and  devour  their  grain  unprepared.  To 
discover  handfuls  of  food,  tortures  wcie  inflicted. 
Food  was  violently  taken  by  husbands  from 
wives,  and  wives  from  husbands  ;  and  even  by 
mothers  from  their  famishing  infants.  The  breast 
itself  was  robbed  from  the  famishing  suckling,  as 


our  Lord  denounced  :    "Wo  to  them  that  give 
j-uck  in  those  days." 

This  terror  produced  a  new  scene  of  righteous 
retribution.  Multitudes  of  the  Jews  were  forc 
ed  by  hunger  to  flee  to  the  enemy's  camp.  Here 
instead  of  pitying  and  relieving  them,  the  Ro 
mans  cut  off  the  hands  of  many,  and  sent  them 
hack  ;  but  most  of  them  they  crucified  as  fast  as 
they  could  lay  their  hands  on  them  ;  till  wood 
was  wanting  for  crosses,  and  space  on  which  to 
erect  them !  Behold  here  thousands  of  those  des 
pairing  Jews  suspended  on  crosses  round  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  !  Verily  '"the  Lord  is  known 
by  the  judgments  that  he  executeth  !"  Yea, 
this  did  not  suffice.  Behold  two  thousand  Jews, 
bad  fled  to  the  mercy  of  their  invaders,  rip 
ped  open  alive  (two  thousand  in  one  night!)  by 
Arabs  and  Sv«'«aiis  in  the  Roman  armies,  in  hopes 

"   "  *•_         .  .    *      +l*~ae>     T 2--  '    ' 

01  imaing  golu,  wmcn  n,c~v.  ^^wsnaa  \ortneir 
enemies  fancied  they  had)  swallowed  to  carry  off 
with  them ! 

Titus  being  a  merciful  general,  was  touched 
to  the  heart  at  the  miseries  of  the  Jews  ;  and  in 
person  he  tenderly  entreated  the  besieged  to 
surrender.  But  all  the  answer  he  obtained  for 
u-.mierncss  was  base  revilings.  He  now  re- 
«oivt:d  to  make  thorough  work  with  this  obstin 
ate  people  ;  and  hence  surrounded  the  city  with 
a.  circunrvailation  of  39  furlongs  in  length, 
strengthened  with  thirteen  towers.  This,  by  the 
astonishing  activity  of  the  soldiers,  was  effected 
in  three  days.  Then  was  fulfilled  this  prediction 
of  our  blessed  Lord  :  "  Thine  enemies  shall  cast 
a  trench  about  thee,  and  keep  thce  in  on  every 
side." 

As  the  city  was  now  cut  ofT  from  all  possible 
gup  plies,  famine  became  more  dreadful.    Whole 


29 

families  fell  a  sacrifice  to  it;  and  the  dead  bodies 
of  women,  children,  and  the  aged,  were  seen 
covering  roofs  of  houses,  and  various  recesses. 
Youth  and  the  middle  aged  appeared  like  spec 
tres  ;  and  fell  many  of  them  dead  in  publick  pla 
ces.  The  dead  became  too  numerous  to  be  in 
terred.  Many  died  while  attempting  to  perform 
this  office.  So  great  and  awful  became  the  ca 
lamities,  that  lamentation  ceased  ;  and  an  awful 
silence  of  despair  overwhelmed  the  city.  But 
all  this  failed  of  restraining  the  more  abandoned 
from  most  horrid  deeds.  They  took  this  oppor 
tunity  to  rob  the  tombs  ;  and  with  loud  infernal 
laughter,  to  strip  the  dead  of  their  habiliments 
of  death;  and  would  try  the  edge  of  their  swords 
on  dead  bodies  ;  and  on  some  while  yet  breath 
ing.  Simon  Georas  now  vented  his  rage  against 
Matthias,  the  high  priest,  and  his  three  sons. — 
He  caused  them  to  be  condemned,  as  though  fa 
vouring  the  Romans.  The  father  asked  the  fa 
vour  to  be  first  executed  ;  and  not  sec  the  death 
of  his  sons  ;  but  the  malicious  Simon  reserved 
him  for  the  last  execution.  And  as  he  was  ex 
piring  he  put  the  insulting  question,  whether  the 
Romans  could  now  relieve  him  ? 

Things  being  thus,  one  Mannaeus,  a  Jew,  es 
caped  to  Titus,  and  informed  him  of  the  consum 
mate  wretchedness  of  the  Jews  :  that  in  less 
than  three  months  one  hundred  and  fifteen  thou 
sand  and  eight  hundred  dead  bodies  of  Jews  had 
been  conveyed  through  one  gate,  under  his  care 
and  register;  and  he  assured  him  of  the  ravages 
of  famine  and  death.  Other  deserters  confirmed 
the  account,  and  added,  that  not  less  than  six- 
hundred  thousand  dead  bodies  of  Jews  had  been 
carried  out  at  different  gates.  The  humane 
heart  of  Titus  was  deeply  affected  ;  who,  under 
3* 


30 

those  accounts,  and  while  surveying  the  piles  of 
dead  bodies  of  Jews  under  the  walls,  and  in  the 
visible  parts  of  the  city,  raised  his  eyes  and  hands 
to  heaven  in  solemn  protestation,  that  he  would 
have  prevented  these  dire  calamities  ;  that  the 
obstinate  Jews  had  procured  them  upon  their 
own  heads. 

Josephus,  the  Jew,  now  earnestly  entreated 
the  leader  John  and  his  brethren  to  surrender  to 
the  Romans,  and  thus  save  the  residue  of  the 
Jews.  But  he  received  in  return  nothing  but 
insolent  reproaches  and  imprecations  ;  John  de 
claring  his  lirm  persuasion  that  God  would  never 
suffer  his  own  city,  Jerusalem,  to  be  taken  by 
the  enemy!  Alas,  had  he  forgotten  the  history  of 
his  own  nation,  and  the  denunciations  of  "the 
prophets  ?  Micah  had  foretold  that  in  this  very 
calamity  they  would  presumptuously  "lean  upon 
the  Lord,  and  say,  Is  not  the  Lord  among  us  ? 
No  evil  shall  come  upon  us."  So  blind  and 
presumptuous  are  hypocrisy  and  self-confidence! 
"  The  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  are  these." 

The  famine  in  the  city  became  (as  might  be 
expected)  still  more  deadly.  For  want  of  food 
the  Jews  ate  their  belts,  sandals,  skins  of  their 
shields,  dried  grass,  and  even  ordure  of  cattle. 
JVbav  it  was  that  a  noble  Jewess,  urged  by  the  in 
sufferable  pangs  of  hunger,  slew  and  prepared  for 
food  her  own  infant  child!  She  had  eaten  half 
the  horrible  preparation,  when  the  smell  of  food 
brought  in  a  hoard  of  soldiery,  who  threatened 
her  with  instant  death,  if  she  did  not  produce  to 
them  the  food  she  had  in  possession.  She  being 
thus  compelled  to  obey,  produced  the  remaining 
half  of  her  child !  The  soldiers  stood  aghast, 
:  the  recital  petrified  the  hearers  with  horror: 


31 

and  congratulations  were  poured  on  those  whose 
eyes  death  had  closed  upon  such  horrid  scenes. 
Humanity  seems   ready  to  sink   at  the  recital 
of  the  woful  events  of  that  day.     No  words  can 
reach  the  horrors  of  the  situation  of  the  female 
part  of  the  community  at  that  period.      Such 
scenes  force  upon  our  recollection  the  tender 
pathetic  address  of  our  Saviour  to  the  pious  fe 
males,  who  followed  him,  going  to  the  cross  : — 
"  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me;  but 
weep  for  yourselves  and  for  your  children  ;    for 
behold  the  days  are  coming,  in  which  they  shall 
say,  Blessed  are  the  barren,  and  the  wombs  that 
never  bare,   and    the  breasts   that  never  gave 
suck."       Moses  had   long  predicted  this  verj 
scene.    "The  tender  and  delicate  woman  among 
you,  (said  he,)  who  would  not  venture  to  set  the 
sole  of  her  foot  on  the  ground  for  delicateness  ; 
her  eye  shall  be  evil  towards  her  young  one,  and 
toward  her  children,  which  she  shall  bear ;  for 
she  shall  eat  them,  for  want  of  all  things  secret 
ly  in  the  siege  and  straitness  wherewith  thine  en 
emy  shall  distress  thee  in  thy  gates."     Probably 
the  history  of  the  world  will  not  afford  a  paral 
lel  to  this.      God  prepared  peculiar  judgments 
for  peculiarly  horrid  crimes !     "  These  be  the 
days  of  vengeance  ;   that  all  things  that  are  writ 
ten  may  be  fullillcd.''      Josephus  declares,  that 
if  there  had  not  been  many  credible  witnesses  of 
that  awful  fact,  he  never  would  have  recorded 
it ;    for,  said  he,    "  such  a  shocking  violation  of 
nature  never  has  been  perpetrated  by  any  Greek 
or  barbarian." 

While  famine  thus  spread  desolation,  the  Ro 
mans  finally  succeeded  in  removing  part  of  the 
inner  wall,  and  in  possessing  themselves  of  the 
high  and  commanding  tower  of  Antonio,  which 


32 

seemed  to  overlook  the  temple.  Titus  with  his 
council  of  war  had  formed  a  determination  to 
save  the  temple,  to  grace  his  conquest,  and  re 
main  an  ornament  to  his  empire.  But  God  had 
not  so  determined.  And  "though  there  he  ma 
ny  devices  in  a  man's  heart ;  nevertheless  the 
counsel  of  the  Lord  that  shall  stand."  A  Ro 
man  soldier  violating  the  general  order  of  Titus, 
succeeded  in  hurling  a  brand  of  fire  into  the 
golden  window  of  the  temple ;  and  soon  (as 
righteous  Heaven  would  have  it !)  the  sacred 
edifice  was  in  flames.  The  Jews  perceiving 
this,  rushed  with  horrid  outcries  to  extinguish 
the  fire.  Titus  too,  flew  to  the  spot  in  his  char 
iot,  with  his  chief  officers  and  legions.  With 
loud  command,  and  every  token  of  anxiety,  he 
enforced  the  extinguishing  of  the  fire  ;  but  in 
vain.  So  great  was  the  confusion,  that  no  atten 
tion  was  paid  to  him.  His  soldiers,  deaf  to  all 
cries,  assiduously  spread  the  flames  far  and  wide; 
rushing  at  the  same  time  on  the  Jews,  sword  in 
hand,  slaying  and  trampling  down,  or  crushing 
them  to  death  against  the  walls.  Many  were 
plunged  into  the  flames,  and  perished  in  the  bur 
ning  of  the  temple.  The  fury  of  the  Roman 
soldiers  slaughtered  the  poor,  the  unarmed,  and 
the  rich,  as  well  as  men  in  arms.  Multitudes  of 
dead  bodies  were  piled  round  about  the  altar,  to 
which  they  had  fled  for  protection.  The  way 
leading  to  the  inner  court  was  deluged  with 
blood. 

Titus  finding  the  fire  had  not  yet  reached  the 
inner  temple,  entered  it  with  his  superior  offi 
cers,  and  surveyed  its  magnificence  with  silent 
admiration.  He  found  it  to  exceed  all  lie  had 
heard.  This  view  led  him  to  renew  his  efforts 
to  save  this  itupcridous  pile  of  building,  though 


so  many  of  the  out-buildings  were  gone.  Ifc 
even  entreated  his  soldiers  to  extinguish  the 
flames,  and  appointed  an  officer  to  punish  any 
who  should  disobey.  But  all  his  renewed  ef 
forts  were  still  in  vain.  The  feelings  of  his  sol 
diery  were  utterly  unmanageable,  launder,  re 
venge,  and  slaughter  had  combined  to  render 
them  deaf  and  most  furious.  A  soldier  succeed 
ed  in  firing  the  door  posts  of  the  inner  temple, 
and  the  conflagration  soon  became  general. 

One  needs  almost  a  heart  of  steel  to  contem 
plate  the  scenes  which  followed.      The  trium 
phant  Roman  soldiers  were  in  a  most  ungovern 
able  rage  and  fury.     They  were  indeed  instru 
ments  prepared  for  their  work,  to  execute  the 
most  signal  vengeance  of  Heaven  ;  the  flame  of 
which  was  now  reaching  its  height !     The  Ro- 
i:::;:::  -:1".V  'jfliro  Jev^s  ail  before  them  ;    sparing 
neither  age,  sex  or  rank.      They  seemed  deter 
mined  to  annihilate  the  Jewish  race  on  the  spot. 
Priests  and  common  people  ;  those  who  surren 
dered,  and  those  who  still  fought ;  all  were  alike 
subjects  of  an  indiscriminate  slaughter.      The 
fire  of  the  temple  at  length  completely  envelop 
ed  the  stupendous  pile  of  building.     The  fury  of 
the  flames  exceeded  description.      It  impressed 
on  distant  spectators  an  idea  that  the  whole  city 
was  in  flames.      The  ensuing  disorder  and  tu 
mult,  Josephus  pronounces,  to  have  been  such 
as  to  baffle  description.     The  outcry  of  the  Ro 
man  legions  was  as  great  as  they  could  make. — 
And  the  Jews  finding  themselves  a  prey  to  the 
fury  of  both  fire  and  sword,  exerted  themselves 
in  the  wildest  accents  of  screaming.     The  peo 
ple  in  the  city,  and  those  on  the  hill,  mutually 
responded  to  each  other  in  groans  and  screeches. 
People  who  had  seemed  just  expiring  through 


34 

famine,  derived  new  strength  from  unprecedent 
ed  scenes  of  horror  and  death,  to  deplore  their 
wretchedness.  From  mountain  to  mountain, 
and  from  places  distant,  lamentations  echoed  to 
each  other. 

As  the  temple  was  sinking  under  the  fury  of 
the  raging  element,  the  mount  on  which  it  stood 
seemed  in  that  part  of  it,  (says  the  historian)  to 
impress  the  idea  of  a  lake  of  liquid  fire  !  The 
blood  of  the  slain  ran  in  rivulets.  The  earth 
around  became  covered  with  the  slain  ;  and  the 
victorious  Romans  trampled  over  those  piles  of 
the  dead,  in  pursuit  of  the  thousands  who  were 
fleeing  from  the  points  of  their  swords.  In  a 
word,  the  roar  and  crackling  of  fire  ;  the  shrieks 
of  thousands  in  despair ;  the  dying  groans  of 
ili-)  isands,  and  the  sights  which  met  the  eye 
wherever  it  was  turned,  were  such  as  never  be 
fore  had  any  parallel  on  earth.  They  probably 
as  much  exceeded  all  antecedent  scenes  of  hor 
ror  ;  as  the  guilt  which  occasioned  them,  in 
their  treatment  of  the  Lord  of  Glory,  exceeded 
all  guilt  ever  before  known  among  men. 

A  tragical  event  had  transpired  worthy  of  par 
ticular  detail.  Before  the  temple  was  wrapped 
in  ilamos,  an  impostor  appeared  among  the  Jews, 
asserting  a  divine  commission  ;  and  that  if  the 
people  would  follow  him  to  the  temple,  they 
would  see  signs,  wonders  and  deliverance.  About 
six:  thousand  (mostly  women  and  children)  fol 
lowed  him,  and  were  in  the  galleries  of  the  tem 
ple,  wailing  for  this  promised  deliverance,  when 
fire  wis  set  to  tint  building.  Not  one  escaped. 
All  wore  consumed  in  the  conflagration  of  the 
sacred  edifice  !  What  multitudes  are  by  false 
prophets  plunged  in  eternal  (ire  ! 


35 

The  place  of  the  temple  now  presented  a  va«t 
pile  of  ruins.  Here  terminated  the  glory  and 
existence  of  this  stupendous  building,  this  type 
of  the  hody  of  Christ,  and  of  his  church  ;  this 
type  of  the  Millenium,  and  of  heaven.  Here  it 
reached  its  close,  after  the  period  of  one  thou 
sand  and  thirty  years,  from  the  time  of  its  dedi 
cation  by  Solomon  ;  and  of  six  hundred  and  thir 
ty-nine  years,  from  its  being  rebuilt  in  the  days 
of  Haggai,  after  the  seventy  years  captivity. — 
It  is  singular,  that  it  should  be  reduced  to  ashes 
not  only  soon  after  the  feast  of  the  passovert 
which  convened  so  many  thousands  of  Jews  to 
Jerusalem  to  meet  the  ruins  of  their  city  and  na 
tion  ;  but  that  it  should  be  consumed  on  the 
same  month,  and  same  day  of  the  month,  on 
which  the  Babylonians  had  before  destroyed  it 
by  fire. 

Josephus  records  another  strking  event,  which 
seemed  a  sign  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
He  says;  (addressing  the  Jews  who  survived  this 
ruin)  "  The  fountains  flow  copiously  for  Titus, 
which  to  you  were  dried  up.  For  before  he 
came,  you  know  that  both  Siloam,  and  all  the 
springs  without  the  city,  foiled  ;  so  that  water 
was  brought  by  the  amphora,  (a  vessel.)  But 
now  they  are  so  abundant  to  your  enemies,  as  to 
suffice  for  themselves  and  their  cattle.  This 
wonder  you  also  formerly  experienced,  when  the 
king  of  fiabylon  laid  siege  to  your  city." 

The  priests  of  the  temple,  after  the  destruc 
tion  of  their  sacred  edifice,  betook  themselves 
(those  who  had  thus  far  escaped  the  general 
slaughter)  to  the  top  of  one  of  its  broken  walls, 
where  they  set  mourning  and  famishing.  On  the 
fifth  day  necessity  compelled  them  to  descend, 
tnd  humbly  to  ask  pardon  of  the  Roman  general* 


3o 


But  Titus  at  this  late  period  rejected  their  peti 
tion,  trying;  "As  the  temple,  for  the  sake  of 
which  1  would  have  q-ared  you,  is  destroyed;  it 
is  but  lit  the  priests  should  perish  also."  All 
were  put  to  death. 

The  obstinate  leaders  of  the  great  Jewish  fac 
tions,  beholding  now  the  desperateness  of  their 
cause,  desired  a  conference  with  Titus.     One 
would  imagine  they  would  at  least  now  lay  down 
their  arms.       Their  desiring  an  interview  with 
the    triumphant  Roman    general,   appeared   as 
though  they  would  be  glad  to  do  this.    But  right 
eous  Heaven  designed  their  still  greater  destruc 
tion.     Titus  after  all  their  rnad  rebellions,  kind 
ly  offered  to  spare  the  residue  of  the  Jew.-,  if 
they  would  now  submit.     But  strange  to  relate, 
they  refused  to  comply.      The  noble  general 
then,  as  must  have  been  expected,  was  highly 
exasperated  ;   and  issued  his  general  order,  that 
he  would  grant  no  further  pardon  to  the  insur 
gents.     His  legions  now  were  ordered  to  "  rav- 
'ind  destroy,"      With  the  light  of  the  next 
ling,  arose  the  tremendous  ilame  of  the  cas 
tle  of  Antonio,  the  council  chamber,  register's 
oflice,  and  the  noble  palace  of  the  queen  Helena. 
These  magnificent  piles  were  reduced  to  ashes. 
The  furious  legions,  (executioners  of  divine  ven 
geance,  Ezek.  ix.  5,  6  )  .then  flew  through  the 
lower  city,  of  which  they  soon  became  masters, 
slaughtering  and  burning  in  every  street.     The 
Jews  themselves  aided  the  slaughter.      \\t  the 
royal    palace,   containing  vast   treasures,   ei-iht 
thousand  four  hundred  Jews  were  muidercci  by 
their  seditious  brethren.     Great  numbers  6f  de 
serters  from  the  furious  leaders  of  faction,  flock 
ed  to  the   Romans  :    but  it  was  too  late.     The 
general  order  was  given,  all  should  be  slain. — • 
Such  therefore  fell. 


37 

The  Roman  soldiers,  however,  being  at  length 
weary  with  butchery,  and  more   than  satisried 
with  blood,  fora  short  time  sheathed  their  swords, 
and  betook  themselves  to  plunder.     They  col 
lected  multitudes   of  Jews, — husbands,   wives, 
children,  and  servants  ;    formed  a  market ;  and 
set  them  up  at  vendue  for  slaves.     They  sold 
them  for  any  trifle  ;    while  purchasers  were  but 
few.     Their  law-giver,  Moses,  had  forewarned 
them  of  this  ;  Deut.  xxviii.  68  :    "And  ye  shall 
be  sold  for  bond  men,  and  bond  women  ;  and  no 
man  shall  buy  you."     Tremendous  indeed  must 
the  lot  of  those  be,  who  reject  the  Messiah,  and 
are  found  fignting  against  the  Son  of  God.     Of 
ten  had  these  Jews  heard  read  (but  little  it  seerns 
did  they  understand  the  sense»of  the  tremendous 
passage)   relativ  o    to   the   Jewish    rejectors    of 
C!,i'ist,    "  He  that  sitteth  in  the  Heavens  shall 
laugh ;  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in  derision. — 
Then  shall  he  speak  unto  them  in  his  wrath,  and 
vex  them  in  his  sore  displeasure.      Yet  have  I 
set  my  king  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion.     Thou 
shalt  break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron  ;  thou  shalt 
dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel." — 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  say,  A  sword,  a  sword  is 
sharpened,  and  also  furbished :    it  is  sharpened 
to  make  a  sore  slaughter  ;    it  is  furbished  that  it 
may  glitter;  (said  God  by  the  prophet,  Ezek.  xxi. 
alluding  to  this  very  event;)  the  sword  is  sharpen 
ed,  and  it  is  furbished  to  give  it  into  the  hand  of  the 
slayer.   Cry  and  howl,  son  of  man;  smite  upon  thj 
thigh;  smite  thy  hands  together,and  let  the  sword 
be  doubled  a  third  time  ;  the  sword  of  the  slain. 
I  have  set  the  point  of  the  sword  against  all  their 
gates,  that  their  hearts  may  faint,  and  their  ruins 
be  multiplied  :  Ah,  it  is  made  bright!  it  is  wrap 
ped  up  for  the  slaughter."      Such,  and  much 
4 


38 

more,  were  the  divine  denunciations  of  this  very 
scene,  which  the  infidel  Jews  would  not  escape, 
but  would  incur!  And  even  a  merciful  God 
shrunk  not  from  the  execution  !  Let  antichris- 
tian  powers,  yea  let  all  intidels  and  gospel  des- 
pisers,  consider  this  and  tremble  ! 

The  whole  lower  city,  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Roman  legions,  (after  the  respite  noted,) 
was  set  on  lire.  But  the  insolence  of  the  devo 
ted  Jews  in  a  part  of  the  higher  city,  remained 
unabated.  They  even  insulted  and  exasperated 
their  enemies,  as  though  afraid  the  work  of  ven 
geance  might  not  be  sufficiently  executed. 

The  Romans  brought  their  engines  to  operate 
upon  the  walls  of  this  higher  branch  of  the  city, 
still  standing;  which  soon  gave  way  before  them. 
Before  their  demolition,  Titus  reconnoitred  the 
city,  and  its  fortifications  ;  and  expressed  his  as 
tonishment  that  it  should  ever  fall  before  his 
arms.  He  exclaimed,  "  Had  not  God  himself 
aided  our  operations,  and  driven  the  Jews  from 
their  fortresses  ;  it  would  have  been  absolutely 
impossible  to  have  taken  them.  For  what  could 
men  and  the  force  of  engines  have  done  against 
such  towers  as  these  ?"  Yes,  unless  their  Rock 
had  sold  them  for  their  iniquities,  no  enemy 
could  have  prevailed  against  Jerusalem.  Jose* 
phus,  who  was  an  eye  witness  of  all  the  scene, 
says  ;  "  All  the  calamities,  which  ever  bcfel  any 
nation,  since  the  beginning  of  the  world,  were  in 
ferior  to  the  miseries  of  the  Jews  at  this  awful 
period." 

The  upper  city  too  fell  before  the  victorious 

arms  of  the  Roman  conquerors.      Titus  would 

have  spared  all,  who  had   not  been  forward  in 

'ing  the  Romans  ;    and  gave  his  orders  ac- 

ugjy.      But  his  soldiers,  callous  to  ail  the 


39 

feelings  of  humanity,  slaughtered  the  aged  anft 
sick,  as  well  as  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  tall 
and  most  beautiful  young  men,  however,  were 
spared  hy  Titus  to  grace  his  triumph  at  Rome. 
Of  the  rest,  many  above  the  age  of  seventeen, 
were  sent  in  chains  to  Egypt,  to  be  disposed  of 
as  slaves.  Some  were  reserved  to  be  sacrificed 
on  their  amphitheatres,  as  gladiators;  to  be  slain 
in  sham  tights,  for  the  sport  of  their  conquerors. 
Others  were  distributed  through  the  empire. — 
All  who  survived,  under  the  age  of  seventeen, 
were  exposed  for  sale. 

The  triumphant  general  commanded  what  re 
mained  of  the  city,  to  be  razed  to  its  foundation, 
except  three  of  the  most  stately  towers,  Mariam- 
ne,  Hippocos,  and  Phasael.  These  should  stand 
as  monuments  of  the  magnificence  of  the  place, 
and  of  his  victory.  A  small  part  of  the  wall  of  the 
city  at  the  west  also,  he  commanded  should  be 
spared,  as  a  rampart  for  his  garrison.  The  oth 
er  parts  of  the  city  he  wished  to  have  so  effec 
tually  erased,  as  never  to  be  recognized  to  have 
been  inhabited.  The  Talmud  and  Mamonides 
relate,  that  the  foundations  of  the  temple  were 
so  removed,  that  the  site  of  it  was  ploughed  by 
Terentius  Rufus.  Thus  our  Saviour  predicted, 
that  "  there  should  not  be  left  one  stone  upon 
another." 

One  awful  occurrence  is  noted,  as  transpiring 
during  these  scenes;  that  eleven  thousand  Jews, 
under  the  guard  of  one  Fronto,  a  Roman  gener 
al,  were  (owing  to  their  own  obstinacy,  and  to 
the  scarcity  of  provisions)  literally  starved  to 
death  ! 

Josephus  informs  that  eleven  hundred  thou 
sand  Jews  perished  in  this  siege  of  Jerusalem; 
that  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thousand  per- 


40 

ished  in  that  last  war  in  other  sieges  and  battles: 
besides  multitudes  who  perished  by  famine  and 
pestilence  :  making  a  total  of  at  least  fourteen 
hundred  thousand.  Some  hundreds  of  thou 
sands,  in  sullen  despair,  laid  violent  hands  on 
themselves.  About  ninety-seven  thousand  were 
captured,  and  dispersed.  Relative  to  the  two 
great  leaders  of  the  Jewish  factions,  Simon  and 
John  ;  they  were  led  to  Rome,  to  grace  the  tri 
umph  of  Titus  ;  after  which  Simon  was  scourg 
ed  and  executed  as  a  malefactor  ;  and  John  was 
committed  for  life  to  dungeon.  Thus  ended 
their  violent  factious  contentions. 

The  Roman  army,  before  they  left  Jerusalem, 
not  only  demolished  the  buildings  there,  but  even 
dug  up  their  foundations.  How  fatal  was  the 
divine  judgment  on  this  devoted  city.  Five 
months  before  it  was  the  wonder  of  the  world  ; 
and  contained,  at  the  commencement  of  the  siege, 
more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of  Jews,  natives 
and  visiters  ;  now*  it  lay  in  total  ruins,  with 
not  "one  stone  upon-  another ;"  as  Christ  had 
denounced,  These  ruins  Eusebius  informs  us 
he  beheld.  And  Eleazer  is  infestgluced  by  Jose- 
phus  as  exclaiming  ;  "  Where  is  ''d'ttr.  j-reat  city, 
which  it  was  believed  God  inhabited."  The 
prophet  Micah  had  predicted  ;  "Therefore  shall 
Zion  for  your  sakes  be  ploughed  as  a  field,  and 
Jerusalem  shall  become  heaps,  and  the  moun 
tain  of  the  Lord's  house  as  the  high  places  of  the 
forest."  A  captain  of  the  army  of  Titus,  did  in 
fact  plough  where  some  part  of  the  foundation 
of  the  temple  had  stood,  as  the  Talmud  records, 
and  thus  fulfilled  this  prediction. 

Jesus  Christ  had  foretold  of  this  destruction, 
that  "  there  should  be  great  tribulation,  such  as 
was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  world."  And 


41 

of  the  event  Josephus  says  ;  "  If  the  misfortunes 
of  all  nations  from  the  beginning  of  the  world, 
were  compared  with  those  which  befel  the  JCWF, 
they  would  appear  far  less."  Again  ;  "No  oili 
er  city  ever  suffered  such  things  ;  as  no  other 
generation  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  was 
ever  more  fruitful  in  wickedness." 

Other  parts  of  Judea  were  still  to  be  subdued. 
Macherus  was  attacked.  Seventeen  hundred 
Jews  surrendered  and  were  slain;  also  three 
thousand  fugitives  taken  in  the  woods  of  Jardes. 
Titus  at  Caesarea  celebrated  in  great  splendour 
the  birth  day  of  his  brother  Domitian.  Here  a 
horrid  scene,  according  to  the  bloody  customs  of 
those  times,  was  presented.  To  grace  this  oc 
casion,  more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred 
Jews  fell ;  some  by  burning  ;  some  by  fighting 
with  wild  beasts  ;  and  some  by  mutual  combat 
with  the  sword. 

Massada  was  besieged.  The  Jewish  com 
mander,  in  despair,  induced  the  garrison  first  to 
destroy  their  stores,  and  then  themselves.  They 
(nine  hundred  and  sixty  in  number)  consented 
to  the  horrid  proposal.  Men,  women,  and  chil 
dren  took  their  seats  upon  the  ground,  and  offer 
ed  their  necks  to  the  sword.  Ten  men  were 
selected  to  execute  the  fatal  deed.  The  dread 
ful  work  was  done.  One  of  the  ten  was  then 
chosen  to  execute  the  nine,  and  then  himself. — 
The  nine  being  put  to  death,  and  fire  being  set 
to  the  place,>the  last  man  plunged  his  dagger  in 
to  his  own  heart. 

Seven  persons,  (women  and  children,)  found 
means  to  conceal  themselves,  and  escape  the 
ruin.  When  the  Romans  approached,  these 
seven  related  to  them  these  horrid  events. 

4* 


42 

Most  of  the  remaining  places  now,  through 
sullca  despair,  gave  up  all  opposition,  and  sub 
mitted  to  the  conquerors.  Thus  Judea  became 
as  a  desolate  wilderness  ;  and  the  following  pas 
sage  in  Isaiah  had  at  least  a  primary  accomplish 
ment :  "  Until  the  cities  be  wasted  without  in 
habitant;  and  the  houses  without  man  ;  and  the 
land  be  utterly  desolate  ;  and  the  Lord  have  re 
moved  man  far  away,  and  there  be  a  great  for 
saking  in  the  midst  of  the  land." 

A  line  of  prophecies  is  found  in  the  sacred  or 
acles,  which  relate  to  a  signal  temporal  destruc 
tion  of  the  most  notorious  enemies  of  the  king 
dom  of  Jesus  Christ.  Those  were  to  have  a 
two-fold  accomplishment ;  first  upon  the  Jews  ; 
and  secondly  upon  the  great  Antichrist  of  the 
last  days,  typified  by  the  infidel  Jews.  Accord 
ingly  those  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament  are 
ever  found  in  close  connexion  with  the  Milleni 
um.  The  predictions  of  our  Saviour,  in  Matt, 
xxiv.  Mark  xiii.  and  Luke  xxi.  are  but  a  new 
edition  of  these  sacred  prophecies.  This  has 
been  noted,  as  "  the  destruction  of  the  city  and 
temple  foretold."  It  is  so  indeed  ;  and  more. — 
It  is  also  a  denunciation  of  the  destruction  of  the 
great  Antichrist  of  the  last  days.  The  certainty 
of  this  will  appear  in  the  following  things.  New 
Testament  writers  decide  it.  The  Thessaloni- 
ans,  having  heard  what  our  Lord  denounced,  that 
all  those  things  he  had  predicted  should  take 
place  on  that  generation  ;  were  trembling  with 
the  apprehension,  that  the  coming  of  Christ  pre 
dicted,  would  then  very  soon  burst  upon  the 
world.  Paul  writes  to  them,  (2  Thes.  ii.)  and 
beseeches  them  by  this  coming  of  Christ,  not  to 
be  shaken  in  mind,  or  troubled  with  such  an  ap 
prehension.  For  that  day,  (that  predicted  conr*- 


•43 

ing  of  Christ,  as  it  related  to  others  beside  the 
Jews,)  was  not  to  take  place  on  that  generation. 
It  was  not  to  come  till  the  Antichnstjan  aposta 
sy  come  first ;  that  man  of  sin  was  first  to  be  ro 
vealed.  This  long  apostasy  was  to  be  accomplish 
ed,  before  the  noted  coming  of  Christ  in  its  more 
important  sense  be  fulfilled.  After  the  Roman 
government,  which  hindered  the  rise  of  the  man 
of  sin,  should  be  taken  out  of  the  way,  Paul  says, 
"  Then  shall  that  wicked  one  be  revealed  whom 
the  Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of  his 
mouth,  and  destroy  with  the  brightness  of  his 
comingS"*  Here  then  is  the  predicted  coming  of 
Christ,  in  its  more  interesting  sense,  in  the  bat 
tle  of  that  great  day,  which  introduces  the  Mil 
lenium.  Here  is  a  full  decision  that  these  noted 
denunciations  of  Christ  alluded  more  especially 
(though  not  primarily)  to  a  coming  which  is  still 
future. 

The  same  is  decided  by  Christ  himself,  in 
Rev.  xvi.  After  the  sixth  vial,  in  the  drying  up 
of  the  Turkish  Euphrates,  three  unclean  spirits 
of  devils,  like  frogs,  go  forth  to  the  kings  of  the 
earth,  and  of  all  the  world,  to  gather  them  to  the 
great  battle.  The  awful  account  is  interrupted 
by  this  notice  from  the  mouth  of  Christ ;  verse 
15,  "Behold,  I  come  as  a  thief.  Blessed  is  he 
that  watcheth  and  keepeth  his  garments  ;  lest  he 
walk  naked,  and  they  see  his  shame."  This  is 
as  though  our  Lord  should  say  ;  now  the  time  is 
at  hand,  to  which  my  predictions  of  coming  as  a 
thief,  principally  alluded.  Now  is  the  time  when 
my  people  on  earth  shall  need  to  watch,  as  I  di-* 
rected,  when  predicting  my  coming  to  destroy 
first  the  type  of  Antiekrist,  and  secondly  the  an? 
titype. 


44 

The  predictions  in  the  prophets,  which  re 
ceived  an  incipient  fulfilment  in  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  were  to  receive  a  more  interesting 
fulfilment  in  Christ's  coming  to  destroy  his  anti- 
christian  foes.  Hence  it  is  that  the  seventh  vial 
is  called  (Rev.  xvi.  14.)  "the  battle  of  that  great 
d  iv  of  God  Almighty  ;"  clearly  alluding  to  that 
great  day  noted  through  the  prophets.  And  of  the 
same  event  it  is  said,  Rev.  x.  7  ;  "  the  mysk'rr 
of  God  shall  he  finished,  as  he  hath  declared  to 
his  servants,  the  prophets.™  Here  again  the  al- 
l-.ision  clearly  is  to  the  many  predictions  in  the 
prophets  of  the  destruction  of  the  enemies  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  which  were  to  receive  an  in 
cipient  fulfilment  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusa 
lem ;  and  a  far  more  interesting  one.  in  the 
sweeping  from  the  earth  the  last  antichristian 
powers,  to  introduce  the  millennial  kingdom  of 
Christ.  We  accordingly  find  those  predictions 
through  the  prophets  clearly  alluding  to  the  last 
days,  and  the  introduction  of  the  Millenium. 

Viewing  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  then,  as 
hut  a  type  of  an  event  now  pending  upon  anti- 
Christian  nations,  we  peruse  it  with  new  inter 
est  ;  and  it  must  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  a  most 
impressive  warning  to  this  age  of  the  world. — 
The  factions,  madness,  and  self-ruin  of  the  for 
mer,  give  but  a  lively  practical  comment  upon 
the  various  predictions  of  the  latter.  Three 
great  and  noted  factions  intrbduced  the  destruc 
tion  of  Jerusalem.  And  of  the  destruction  of  An 
tichrist  we  read  (perhaps  alluding  to  that  very 
circumstance)  Rev.  xvi.  19;  "And  the  great 
city  was  divided  into  three  parts."  Then  it  fol 
lows;  "  and  the  cities  of  the  nations  fell;  and 
great  Babylon  came  in  remembrance  before  God 
to  give  unto  her  the  cup  of  the  wine  of  the  fierce- j 


45 

ness  of  his  wrath."  In  the  desolation  of  Gog 
and  his  bands,  faction  draws  the  sword  of  exter 
mination.  "  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."  Ezek.  xxxviii.  21. 

The  great  coalition  against  the  Jews,  in  the 
time  of  Jehoshaphat,  was  destroyed  by  the  sword 
of  mutiny  and  faction  :  See  2  Chro.  xx.  And 
in  allusion  to  this  very  battle  whicli  God  fought 
for  his  church,  the  vast  coalitions  of  Antichrist, 
in  the  last  days,  when  the  Jews  are  restored,  is 
said  to  be  gathered  "  to  the  valley  of  Jehosha 
phat  :"  See  Joel  iii.  The  various  circumstan 
ces  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  afford  a  live 
ly  comment  on  the  many  denunciations  of  the 
battle  of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty,  which 
awaits  the  antichristian  world ;  wrhile  it  is  fully 
evident,  that  they  more  especially  allude  to  the 
tremendous  scenes  of  judgment,  which  shall  in 
troduce  the  Millenium. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE 

CERTAIN  RESTORATION 

OF 

3\3DAH  AKD  ISIIAI^L 


THE  subject  of  this  chapter  is  introduced  with 
a  concise  view  of  the  expulsion  of  the  ten  tribes 
of  Israel  from  the  promised  land.  The  ten 
tribes  revolted  from  the  house  of  David,  early 
in  the  reign  of  Ilehoboam,  son  and  successor  of 
kins;  Solomon.  They  received  from  this  young 
prince  treatment,  which  was  considered  irnpoli- 
tick  and  rough;  upon  which  they  separated  them 
selves  from  that  branch  of  the  house  of  Ls;  <  L 
who,  from  that  time,  have  been  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  Jews.  They  submitted  to  another 
king,  Jeroboam.  And  this  breach  was  never  af 
ter  '.ealctl.  Jeroboam,  to  perpetuate  and  widen 
th:  breach,  and  apprehending  that  if  the  Jews 
and  ten  tribes  amicably  met  for  pubJick  worship, 
according  to  the  law  of  God,  the  rupture  be 
tween  them  would  probably  soon  be  healed,  set 
, olden  calves,  one  in  Dan,  and  one  in 
!  ;  .''id  ordered  that  the  ten  tribes  of  Is- 
•-!•:!  meet  there  for  their  publick  worship. 
He  tli us  ''made  Israel  to  sin."  And  would  to  God 


43 

he  had  been  the  last  who  has  made  the  professed 
worshippers  of  Jehovah  "  to  sir,,"  by  assigning 
them  different  places  of  worship,  from  motives 
not  more  evangelical  than  those  of  Jeroboam. 

The  ten  tribes  thus  weot  off  to  idolatry.  A 
line  of  kings  succeeded  Jeroboam  ;  hat  none  of 
them,  to  the  time  of  the  expulsion,  were  true 
worhippers  of  the  God  of  Israel.  By  their  apos 
tasy,  folly,  and  idolatry,  the  ten  tribes  were  pre 
paring  themselves  for  a  long  and  doleful  rejec 
tion,  an  outcast  state  for  thousands  of  years. — 
This  Moses  had  denounced  ;  Deut.  xxviii.  And 
this  God  fulfilled. 

Tiglah-Pilnczer,  king  of  Assyria,  captured  the 
tribes  of  Reuhen  and  Gad,  and  the  half  tribe  of 
Man  ass  ah,  who  lay  east  of  Jordan,  and  placed 
them  in  Halah,  Harah,  and  Hahor,  by  the  river 
Gozen. — 1  Chro.  v.  2G.  About  twenty  years 
after,  (134  years  before  the  Babylonish  captivity 
of  the  Jews,  and  725  years  before  Christ,)  the 
rest  of  the  ten  tribes  continuing  impenitent. 
Shalmanezer,  the  succeeding  king  of  Assyria,  at 
tacked  Samaria,  took  the  remainder  of  the  ten, 
tribes,  in  the  reign  of  Hoshea,  king  of  Israel, 
carried  them  to  Assyria,  and  placed  them  with 
their  brethren  in  Halah  and  Habor,  by  the  river 
Gozen  in  Media — 2  Kings,  xvii.  This  filial  ex 
pulsion  of  Israel  from  the  promised  land,  was 
about  943  years  after  they  came  out  of  Egypt. 
The  king  of  Assyria  placed  in  their  stead,  in  Sa 
maria,  people  from  Babylon,  Cuiha,  Ava,  Ila- 
inah,  and  Sapharvaim.  llere  was  the  origin  of 
the  monqre!  Samaritans. 

From  this  captivity  the  ten  tribes  were  never 
recovered.  And  they  have  long  seemed  to  have 
been  lost  from  the  earth.  They  seem  to  have 
been  indeed  "  outcast,"  from  the  social  worid, 


49 


and  the  knowledge  of  civilized  man.  The 
Jews,  long  after,  were  dispersed  among  the 
nations  ;  but  have  ever  been  known  as  Jews. 
But  not  so  with  Israel.  They  have  seemed 
strangely  to  disappear  from  the  world ;  and 
for  2500  years  to  have  been  utterly  lost. 

What  are  we  to  believe  concerning  the  ten 
tribes  ?  Are  they  ever  again  to  be  known  as  the 
natural  seed  of  Abraham  ?  Are  they  now  in  ex 
istence  as  a  distinct  people  ?  If  so,  where  are 
they  to  be  found  ?  All  parts  of  the  world  are 
now  so  well  known,  that  one  would  conceive 
the  commonwealth  of  Israel  cannot  now  be 
found  among  the  civilized  nations.  Must  we 
look  for  them  in  a  savage  state  ?  If  so,  the 
knowledge  of  their  descent  must  be  derived  from 
a  variety  of  broken,  circumstantial,  traditionary 
evidence.  Who,  or  where,  then,  are  the  people 
who  furnish  the  greatest  degree  of  this  kind  of 
evidence  ? 

An  answer,  relative  to  their  restoration,  will 
be  involved  in  this  chapter ;  and  an  answer  to 
the  other  questions;  may  be  expected  in  the  chap 
ter  following. 

That  the  Jews  are  to  be  restored  to  Palestine 
as  Jews,  seems  evident  from  a  variety  of  consid 
erations.  And  that  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  will 
there  be  united  with  them,  seems  also  to  be 
plainly  predicted  in  the  prophets. 

Let  the  following  things  be  considered  : 

1.  The  preservation  of  the  Jews,  as  a  dis 
tinct  people,  among  the  many  nations  whither 
they  have  been  dispersed,  now  for  nearly  1 800 
years,  affords  great  evidence,  to  say  the  least, 
that  the  many  predictions,  which  seem  to  fore- 
tel  such  a  restoration,  are  to  have  a  literal  ac 
complishment.  This  their  preservation  is  a 
5  f 


50 

most  signal  event  of  Providence.  Nothing  like 
it  has  ever,  in  any  other  instance,  been  known 
on  earth ;  except  it  be  the  case  with  the  ten 
tribes  of  Israel.  Other  dispersed  tribes  of  men 
have  amalgamated  with  the  people  where  they 
have  dwelt,  and  have  lost  their  distinct  existence. 
And  nothing  but  the  special  hand  of  God  could 
have  prevented  this  in  the  case  of  the  Jews. — 
The  event  then  shows,  that  God  has  great  things 
in  store  for  them,  as  Jews.  What  can  these 
things  be,  but  the  fulfilment  of  those  many  pro- 

Ehecies,  which  predict  their  restoration  to  the 
md  of  their  fathers,  as  well  as  their  conversion 
to  the  Christian  faith  ? 

2.  That  people  have  never,  as  yet,  possessed 
all  the  land  promised  to  them  ;  nor  have  they 
possessed  any  part  of  it  so  long  as  promised. — 
Hence  their  restoration  to  that  land,  is  essential 
to  the  complete  fulfilment  of  those  ancient  pro 
mises.  They  were  to  possess  the  land  to  the 
river  Euphrates,  and  forever  ;  or  to  the  end  of 
the  world*  God  promised  to  Abraham.  Gen.  xv. 
18 — "Unto  thy  seed  have  I  given  this  land,  from 
the  river  of  Egypt,  unto  the  great  river,  the  riv 
er  Euphrates."  Exod.  xxiii.  31 — "And  I 
will  set  thy  bounds  from  the  Red  Sea,  even  un 
to  the  sea  of  the  Philistines,  and  from  the 
desert  unto  the  river  (Euphrates)  ;  for  I  will  de 
liver  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  into  your  hands* 
and  thou  slialt  drive  them  out  before  thee." — 
Deut.  xi.  24 — '•  Every  place  whereon  the  sole 
of  thy  feet  shall  stand,  shall  be  yours,  from  the 
wilderness  and  Lebanon,  from  the  river,  the 
river  Euphrates,  even  unto  the  uttermost  sea, 
shall  your  coast  be."  Here,  then,  are  the  boun-f 
daries  of  this  ancient  divine  grant  to  Abraham] 
and  his  natural  seed.  Beginning  at  tho  river  of 


51 

Egypt,  (a  river  not  far  from  the  north-east  cor- 
ner-of  the  Red  Sea,  and  running  into  the  Medi 
terranean.)  Thence  northward,  on  the  shore  of 
the  said  sea,  as  far  as  the  point  due  west  of 
Mount  Lebanon.  Thence  eastward,  over  said 
mountain,  away  to  the  river  Euphrates.  Thence 
southward,  as  far  as  the  south  line  of  Syria. — 
Thence  westward,  including  the  whole  of  Syria, 
to  the  first  named  river.  The  whole  of  this  ter 
ritory,  the  natural  seed  of  Abraham  were  to  pos 
sess.  "  for  ever."  The  inhabitants  "  should  he 
driven  out  before  them."  But  this  people  an 
ciently  possessed  hut  a  small  part  of  this  terri 
tory.  There  was  indeed  a  kind  of  typical  pos 
session  of  it,  in  the  reign  of  Solomon  ; — which 
reign  was  a  type  of  the  Millennium.  (See  Psalrri 
Ixxii.)  David,  in  his  wars,  which  were  typical 
of  the  wars  that  will  introduce  the  Millennium, 
subdued  and  put  under  tribute  the  Syrians,  Mo- 
abites,  Ammonites,  and  most  of  the  nations 
dwelling  in  the  above  named  territories.  And 
they  continued  in  subjection  in  the  reign  of  So 
lomon.  (See  1  Kings,  iv.  21.)  But  those  na 
tions  were  not  then  driven  out ;  nor  was  their 
land  possessed  by  the  children  of  Abraham. — 
They  afterward  threw  off  their  yoke,  and  were 
extremely  troublesome  to  the  people  of  God. 
They  were  only  made  tributary  during  a  part  of 
two  reigns.  But  God  promised — Exod.  xxiii. 
31 — "I  will  set  thy  bounds  from  the  Red  Sea 
even  to  the  sea  of  the  Philistines,  and  from  the 
desert  unto  the  river  (Euphrates.)  For  I  will  deli 
ver  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  into  your  hands,  and 
thoit  shalt  drive  them  out  before  thee."  The  land 
east  of  Canaan,  and  away  to  the  river  Euphra 
tes,  was  never  possessed  by  Israel.  Their  lite- 


52 

ral  possession  of  that  extent  of  territory,  must 
be  an  event  still  future. 

The  promised  land  was  given  to  Israel  "  for 
an  everlasting  possession ;''  Gen.  xvii.  8.     Surely 
this  must  mean  a  longer  time  than  they  did  in 
ages  past  possess  it.     This  promise  remains  then 
to  be  yet  fulfilled.     It  must  mean  an  undisturbed 
possession  of  it,  so  long  as  the  possession  of  it 
on  earth  may  be  desirable  ;  or  to  the  end  of  the 
world.     We  accordingly  find  that  people,  at  the 
time  of  the  introduction  of  the  Millennium,  ex 
postulating  with  God,  and  pleading  that  ancient 
granf;;  Isa.   Ixiii.   17,   18;  "O  Lord,  why  hast 
thou  made  us  to  err  from  thy  way.  and  hardened 
our  heart  from  thy  fear  ?     Return,  for  thy  ser 
vants'  sake,  the  tribes  of  thine  inheritance.    The 
people  of  thy  holiness  have  possessed  it  (thine 
inheritance)  but  a  little  while  :  our  adversaries 
have  trodden  down  thy  sanctuary.   We  are  thine. 
Thou  never  bearest  rule  over  them ;  they  are 
not  called  by  thy  name."     Here  is  a  plea,  put 
into  the  mouths  of  the  ancient  people  of  the 
Lord,  at  the  time  of  their  restoration,  not  long 
before  the  battle  of  the  great  day,  with  a  de 
scription  of  which  battle  this  chapter  begins. — 
They  expostulate,  relative  to  the  sovereignty  of 
God,  in  the  resting  of  the  veil  of  blindness  and 
hardness  so  long  on  their  hearts,  during  their  long 
infidel  state.     They  plead  that  they  are  God's 
servants,  according  to  the  ancient  entail  of  the 
covenant.       They   plead   for   a    restoration  ;— - 
and  plead  that  their  nation  had  enjoyed  that, 
their  everlasting  inheritance,  but  a  little  while  ; 
but  that  a  people  not  called  by  God's  name,  nor 
governed  by  his  word,  had  trodden  down  the 
sanctuary  ;  a  description  exactly  fulfilled  by  the 
Turks.     This  fully  implies  the  entering  again  of 


53 

the  Jews  upon  their  ancient  inheritance,  in  the 
last  days. 

3.  1  shall  now  adduce  some  of  the  numerous 
express  predictions  of  this  event.     In  the  pro 
phecy  of  Ezekiel,  the  restoration  of  the  Jews 
ajid  of  Israel  to  their  own  land,  as  well  as  their 
conversion  in, the  last  days,  is  clearly  predicted. 
In  chapter  xxxvi.  we  have  their  long  dispersion, 
and  their  guilty  cause  of  it.     But  God,  in  the 
last  days,  works  for  his  own  name's  sake,  and 
recovers  them.  God  says,  "And  I  will  sanctify  my 
great  name,  which  was  profaned  among  the  hea 
then  ;  and  the  heathen  shall  know  that  I  am  the 
Lord, — when  1  shall  be  sanctified  in  you  before 
their  eyes.     For  I  will  take  you  from  among  the 
heathen,  and  gather  you  out  of  all  countries,  and 
will  bring  you  into  your  own  land.     And  I  will 
sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be 
clean  ;  from  all  your  filthiness,  and  from  all  your 
idols  will  I  cleanse  you.     A  new  heart  also  will 
I  give  unto  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  with 
in  you  ;  and  I  will  take  away  the  stony  heart  out 
of  your  flesh,  and  I  will  give  you  an  heart  of 
flesh.     And  I  will  put  my  spirit  within  you,  and 
cause  you  to  walk  in  my  statutes,  and  ye  shall 
keep  my  judgments  and  do  them.     And  ye  shall 
dwell  in  the  land  that  I  gave  to  your  fathers,  and 
ye  shall  be  my  people,  and  I  will  be  your  God. 
Then  shall  ye  remember  your  own  evil  ways — 
and  shall  loathe  yourselves. — Not  for  your  sakes 
do  I  this,  saith  the  Lord  God,  be  it  known  unto 
you.     Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  in 'the  day  that 
I  shall  have  cleansed  you  from  all  your  iniquities, 
I  will  also  cause  you  to  dwell  in  the  cities,  and 
the  wastes  shall  be  builded.     And  the  desolate 
land  shall  be  tilled,  whereas  it  lay  desolate  in  the 
sight  of  all  the  heathen  that  passed  by.    And 
5* 


54 

they  shall  say,  This  land  (hat  was  so  desolate,  is 
become  like  the  garden  of  Eden  ;  and  the  waste 
and  desolate  and  ruined  cities  are  become  fenced 
and  are  inhabited.  Then  the  heathen,  who  are 
left  round  about  you,  shall  know  that  I  the  Lord 
build  the  ruined  places,  and  plant  that  which  was 
desolate.  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it,  and  I  will 
do  it."  Here  is  their  regeneration  ;  having  a 
new  heart ;  being  cleansed  from  all  sin.  Arid 
beside  this,  we  find  expressly  promised,  their  be 
ing  reinstated  in  the  land  of  their  fathers,  which 
had  long  lain  waste.  They  rebuild  their  ancient 
cities.  That  this  is  in  the  last  days,  connected 
with  the  introduction  of  the  Millennium,  the 
connexion  of  the  whole  passage,  and  the  follow 
ing  chapters,  fully  decide.  Both  houses  of  the 
descendants  of  Abraham,  (viz.  Israel  and  Judah.) 
are  recovered,  as  will  be  seen.  Those  predic 
tions  cannot  he  fulfilled  merely  by  the  conver 
sion  of  that  people.  For  over  and  above  their 
express  conversion,  they  are  established  in  the 
land  of  their  fathers.  ^ 

The  prophet  proceeds  further  to  predict  and 
illustrate  the  wonderful  event,  by  the  resurrec 
tion  of  a  valley  of  dry  bones  ;  chap,  xxxvii.  : 
which  figure  God  thus  explains  :  "Son  of  man, 
these  bones  are  the  whole  house  of  Israel.  Be 
hold,  they  say,  our  bones  are  dried,  and  our  hope 
is  lost ;  we  are  cut  off  for  our  parts.  Therefore 
prophecy,  and  say  unto  them ;  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God  ;  Behold,  O  my  people,  I  will  open 
your  graves,  and  cause  you  to  come  up  out  of 
your  graves,  and  bring  you  into  the  land  of  Is 
rael.  And  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord, 
when  I  have  opened  your  graves,  O  my  people, 
and  brought  you  tip  out  of  your  graves,  and  shall 
put  my  spirit  in  you,  and  ye  shall  live,  and  I  shall 
•place  you  in  your  own  land.  Then  shall  ye 


56 

know  that  I  the  Lord  have  spoken  it,  and  per 
formed  it,  saith  the  Lord." 

The  re-union  of  the  two  branches  of  that  peo 
ple  follows,  by  the  figure  of  the  two  sticks,  taken 
by  the  prophet.  On  the  one  he  writes',  "  for 
Judah,  and  for  the  children  of  Israel  his  com 
panions."  Upon  the  other;  "  For  Joseph,  the 
stifk  of  Ephrairn,  and  for  all  the  house  of  Israel, 
In!  companions." 

Lest  any  should  say,  the  prediction  which 
here  seems  to  foretel  the  restoration  of  the  ten 
tribes,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Jews,  were  accom 
plished  in  the  restoration  of  that  few  of  the  Isra 
elites,  who  clave  to  the  Jews  under  the  house  of 
David,  and  the  ten  tribes  are  irrecoverably  lost ; 
it  is  here  expressed  that  the  Jews  and  those  Isra-  > 
elites,  their  companions,  were  symbolized  by  one 
stick ;  and  Ephraim,  all  the  house  of  Israel,  (the 
whole  ten  tribes,)  by  the  other  stick.  These 
sticks  miraculously  become  one  in  the  prophet's 
hand  ;  which  is  thus  explained.  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God  ;  Behold,  I  will  take  the  children  of 
Israel  (their  general  ancient  name,  including  the 
twelve  tribes)  from  among  the  heathen,  whither 
they  be  gone  ;  and  I  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  sh^ll  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.  And  they  shall  dwell 
in  the  land  that  I  gave  unto  Jacob,  my  servant, 
wherein  your  fathers  have  dwelt,  and  they  shall 
dwell  therein,  even  they  and  their  children,  and 
their  children's  children,  forever."  Can  a  doubt 
here  rest  on  the  subject,  whether  the  Jews  and 
the  ten  tribes  shall  be  re-establi*hed  in  Palestine? 


56 

Can  such  divine  testimony  as  this  be  done  away? 
But  similar  testimonies  to  the  point  are  numer 
ous  in  the  prophets.  This  passage  has  ;;ever 
yet  received  a  primary,  or  p^.ri.Inl  fuliiirnent. — 
The  whoio  of  it  remains  to  he  fulfilled*  Some 
of  the  predictions,  which  are  to  have  an  ultimate 
accomplishment  in  this  final  restoration,  had  a 
primary  one  in  the  restoration  from  the  seventy 
years  captivity  in  Babylon.  But  even  this  can 
not  be  said  of  the  prophecy  under  consideration. 
Noae  of  those  written  on  the  second  stick,  in  the 
hand  of  the  prophet,  have  ever  yet  been  recov 
ered.  The  whole  passage  is  intimately  connect 
ed  with  the  battle  of  that  great  day,  which  intro 
duces  the  Millennium;  as  appears  in  the  two  fol 
lowing  chapters.  Here  the  house  of  Israel  enter 
again  upon  their  everlasting  possession  of  the 
land  of  promise,  which  God  engaged  to  Abraham. 
A  reiteration  of  these  predictions  is  intermin 
gled  with  the  predictions  concerning  Gog,  or  the 
powers  of  Antichrist,  to  be  collected  against  the 
Jews,  after  their  restoration,  in  the  two  chapters 
succeeding.  "  In  the  latter  years  thou  (Gog) 
•halt  come  into  the  land  that  is  brought  back 
from  the  sword,  and  gathered  out  of  many  peo- 
xple,  against  the  mountains  of  Israel,  which  have 
been  always  waste,  (or  have  lain  waste  for  so 
many  centuries  during  the  dispersion  of  Israel ;) 
but  it  (that  nation)  is  brought  back  out  of  the 
nations,  and  they  shall  dwell  safely  all  of  them. 
Thou  sha.lt  ascend  and  come  like  a  storm  ;  thou 
shalt  be  like  a  cloud  to  cover  the  land,  thou  and 
all  thy  bands,  and  many  people  withthee.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  God  ;  it  shall  also  come  to  pass, 
that  at  the  same  time,  shall  things  come  into  thy 
janind,  and  thou  shalt  think  an  evil  thought ;  and 
thou  shalt  say,  I  will  go  up  to  the  land  of  unwall- 


57 

ed  villages,  (the  state  of  the  Jews  in  Palestine, 
after  their  restoration) ';  I  will  go  to  them  that  are 
at  rest,  that  dwell  safely,  all  of  them,  dwelling 
without  walls,  and  having  neither  bars  nor  gates  ; 
to  take  a  spoil,  and  to  take  a  prey,  to  turn  thine 
hand  upon  the  desolate  places  that  are  now  in 
habited,  and  upon  the  people  that  are  gathered 
out  of  the  nations,  who  have  gotten  cattle  and 
goods,  who  dwell  in  the  midst  of  the  land." — 
"  Thou  shalt  fall  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel, 
thou  and  all  thy  bands.  So  will  I  make  my  ho 
ly  name  known  in  the  midst  of  my  people  Israel ; 
and  the  heathen  shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord, 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  Behold,  it  is  come,  it 
is  done,  saith  the  Lord  God.  This  is  the  day 
whereof  I  have  spoken.  And  they  that  dwell  in 
the  cities  of  Israel  shall  go  forth,  and  shall  set 
on  fire  and  burn  the  weapons  —  seven  years. 

The  whole  account  is  thus  divinely  summed 
up.  "Therefore,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God;  now 
will  I  bring  again  the  captivity  of  Jacob,  and 
have  mercy  upon  the  whole  house  of  Israel,  and 
will  be  jealous  for  my  holy  name  ;  after,that  they 
have  borne  their  shame,  and  all  their  trespasses 
whereby  they  have  trespassed  against  me,  when 
they  dwelt  safely  in  their  land,  and  none  made 
them  afraid.  When  I  have  brought  them  again 
from  the  people,  and  gathered  them  out  of  their 
enemies'  lands,  and  am  sanctified  in  them  in  the 
sight  of  many  nations  ;  then  shall  they  know  that 
1  am  the  Lord  their  God,  who  caused  them  to  be 
led  into  captivity  among  the  heathen;  but  I  have 
gathered  them  into  their  own  land,  and  left  none 
of  them  there  (among  the  heathen)  any  more  ; 
neither  will  I  hide  my  face  any  more  from  them, 
for  I  have  poured  out  my  spirit  upon  the  house 
©f  Israel,  saith  the  Lord  God."  It  seems  as 


51 

though  this  were  enough,  if  nothing  more  were 
quoted  from  the  prophets  to  prove  our  point.  If 
this  proof  should  be  deemed  insuilicierit,  one 
would  he  apt  to  say,  nothing  that  inspiration  can 
assert  upon  the  point,  could  be  deemed  suffi 
cient  ! 

But  that  it  may  appear  that  the  prophetic 
writings  unite  to  exhibit  this  as  a  great  object  of 
the  Christian's  belief,  I  shall  note  some  of  the 
ether  predictions  of  it. 

In  Isaiah  xi.  the  stem  from  the  root  of  Jesse  is 
promised.  The  Millennium  follows,  when  the 
cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed  together,  and  the 
wolf  and  the  lamb  unite  in  love  ;  and  nothing 
more  shall  hurt  or  offend.  '  "  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass  in  that  day  that  the  Lord  shall  set  his 
hand  again,  the  second  time,  to  gather  the  rem 
nant  of  his  people,  who  shall  be  left,  from  Assy 
ria  and  from  Egypt,  and  from  Pathros,  and  from 
Cush,  and  from  Elam,  and  from  Shinar,  and  from 
Hamah,  and  from  the  isles  of  the  sea.  "  And  he 
shall  set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations,  and  shall 
assemble  the  outcasts  of  Israel,  and  gather  to 
gether  the  dispersed  of  Judah.  from  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth."  Here  just  before  the 
Millennium,  the  Jews  and  ten  tribes  are  collected 
from  their  long  dispersion,  by  the  hand  of  Omni 
potence,  set  a  second  time  for  their  recovery. — 
A  body  of  the  Jews,  and  some  of  several  other 
tribes,  were  recovered  from  ancient  Babylon. 
God  is  goin«f,  in  the  last  days,  to  make  a  second, 
and  more  effectual  recovery  from  mystical  Baby 
lon,  and  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth.  The 
prophet  proceeds ;  #  And  the  Lord  shall  utterly 
destroy  the  tongue  of  the  Egyptian  sea;  and  with 
his  mighty  wind  shall  he  shake  his  hand  overjhe 
river,  and  shall  unite  it  in  the  seven  streams,  and 


59 

make  men  go  over  dry  shod.  And  there  shall 
be  an  highway  for  the  remnant  of  his  people, 
which  shall  he  left  from  Assyria  ;  like  as  it  was 
to  Israel  in  the  day  that  he  came  up  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt."  Mr.  Scott,  upon  this  passage, 
says  ;  "  For  the  Lord  will  then  remove  all  ob 
stacles  hy  the  same  powerful  interposition,  that 
he  vouchsafed  in  behalf  of  Israel,  when  He  sep 
arated  the  tongue,  or  bay  of  the  Red  Sea,  and 
destroyed  that  hindrance  to  the  departure  of  Is 
rael  ;  and  with  a  mighty  wind  he  will  so  sepa 
rate  the  waters  of  the  river  Euphrates,  in  all  its 
streams,  that  men  may  pass  over  dry  shod.  Thus 
an  highway  shall  be  made  for  Israel's  return,  as 
there  was  for  their  ancestors  to  pass  from  Egypt 
into  Canaan.  This  part  of  the  chapter,  contains 
a  prophecy,  which  certainly  remains  yet  to  be 
accomplished."  Bishop  Lowth  says,  the  same; 
and  adds,  as  quoted  by  Mr.  Scott,  t4  This  part  of 
the  chapter,  foretels  the  glorious  times  of  the 
church,  which  shall  be  ushered-  in  by  the  restora 
tion  of  the  Jewish  nation,  when  they  shall  em 
brace  the  gospel,  and  be  restored  to  their  own 
country.  This  remarkable  scene  of  Providence 
is  plainly  foretold  by  most  of  the  prophets  ;  and 
by  St.  Paul.'5  We  thus  have  the  testimony  of 
those  great  men  in  favour  of  a  literal  restoration 
of  the  Jews  to  their  own  land,  being  here  predic 
ted..  And  here  is  a  drying  up  of  a  mighty  river, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  event.  A  river  is 
the  symbol  of  a  nation.  When  Israel  were 
to  be  redeemed  from  Egypt,  the  Red  Sea  was 
to  be  dried  before  them.  When  they  were  to 
be  redeemed  from  Babylon,  the  Euphrates  was 
by  Cyrus  to  be  dried  or  turned,  to  accomplish 
the  event.  And  in  their  last  restoration  to  Pa 
lestine,  (ere  long  to  be  accomplished,)  another 


60 

great  mystical  river  is  to  be  dried  up.  The  sixth 
vial  dries  up  the  mystic  Euphrates,  that  the  way 
of  the  kings  of  the  east  may  be  prepared.  This 
is  to-be  fulfilled  on  the  Turks.  Perhaps  the 
event  is  now  transpiring.  This  river  is  to  be 
smitten  in  its  seven  streams  $  as  stated  in^this 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  ;  perhaps  indicating,  that  the 
Turks,  be  they  ever  so  powerful  in  provinces 
and  resources,  as  seven  is  a  number  of  perfec 
tion,  they  yet  shall  fall  by  the  remarkable  hand 
of  God,  to  accommodate  the  return  of  his  ancient 
people.  These  prophetic  hints  give  an  interest 
to  the  present  struggles  in  the  south-east  of  Eu 
rope. 

In  Jeremiah,  xxiii.  6,  8,  is  the  restoration  of 
Israel.  "Li  his  days,  (i.  e.  under  the  millennial 
reign  of  the  righteous  branch  raised  up  to  Da 
vid,)  Judah  shall  be  saved,  and  Israel  shall  dwell 
safely  :  I  will  gather  the  remnant  of  my  flock  out 
of  all  countries,  whither  I  have  driven  them,  and 
will  bring  them  again  to  their  folds.  Therefore, 
behold  the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  they 
shall  no  more  say,  The  Lord  liveth,  who  brought 
up  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  but,  The  Lord  liveth,  who  brought  up, 
and  who  led  the  house  of  Israel  out  of  the  north 
country,  and  from  all  countries  whither  I  have 
driven  them,  and  they  shall  dwell  in  their  own 
land."  As  this  event  is  under  the  reign  of  Christ; 
so  it  has  never  yet  been  fulfilled.  It  is  an  event 
of  the  last  days  ;  and  plants  the  ancient  people 
of  God  in  their  own  land. 

**  'The  same  comparison  of  the  same  event,  we 
find  in  Isaiah,  xvi.  14,  15.  After  denouncing 
their  long  dispersion,  for  their  sins  ;  God  says, 
"  Therefore,  behold  the  days  come,  saith  the 
Lord,  that  it  shall  no  more  be  said,  The  Lord 


61 

liveth  that  brought  up  the  children  of  Israel  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  hut  the  Lord  liveth  that 
brought  up  the  children  of  Israel  from  the  land  of 
the  north,  and  from  all  the  lands  whither  I  had 
driven  them ;  and  I  will  bring  them  into  their 
land,  that  I  gave  unto  their  fathers." 

In  Isaiah  xviii.  a  land  shadowing  with  wfngs  at 
the  last  days,  is  by  the  Most  High  addressed,  and 
called  to  aid  this  restoration  of thatpeople  of  God. 
"  Go,  ye  swift  messengers,  to  a  nation  scattered 
and  peeled,  to  a  people  terrible  from  the  begin 
ning  hitherto  ;  a  nation  meted  out,  and  trodden 
down  ;  whose  land  the  rivers  have  spoiled.  In 
that  day  shall  the  present  be  brought  unto  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  of  a  people  scattered  and  peeled, 
and  from  a  people  terrible  from  the  beginning 
hitherto  ;  a  nation  meted  out  and  trodden  under 
foot  ;  whose  land  the  rivers  have  spoiled,  to  the 
place  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  Mount  Zion." 
The  people  here  described,  (to  be  brought  by 
that  land  addressed,  as  a  present  to  the  Lord,  to 
Mount  Zion,  or  to  Palestine,)  are  evidently  the 
descendants  of  Abraham,  and  an  event  of  the  last 
days.  A  further  explanation  of  this  chapter,  is 
to  be  given  in  the  last  chapter  of  this  work. 

The  same  thing  is  rioted  in  Isaiah  Ix.  The 
Jewish  church  is  called  upon  ;  "  Arise,  shine,  for 
thy  light  is  come,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is 
risen  upon  thee.  The  gentiles  shall  come  to 
thy  light,  and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  thy  ris 
ing.  Who  are  these  that  fly  as  clouds,  and  as 
doves  to  their  windows  ?  'Surely  the  isles  shall 
wait  for  me,  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish  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."  Here  are  ships  conveying 
6 


62 

the  Jews  to  Palestine,  as  clouds  and  as  doves  to 
their  windows.  Chap.  Ixvi.  20 :  "  And  they  shall 
bring  of  your  brethren  for  an  offering  unto  the 
Lord,  out  of  all  nations,  upon  horses,  and  in 
chariots,  and  in  litters,  and  upon  mules,  and  upon 
swift  beasts,  to  my  holy  mountain  Jerusalem, 
saith  the  Lord,  as  the  children  of  Israel  bring  an 
offering  in  a  clean  vessel  unto  the  house  oYthe 
Lord."  InZephaniah,  iii.  10,  (connected  with 
the  battle  of  the  great  day,  and  the  Millennium,) 
we  read  ;  "  From  the  rivers  of  Ethiopia  my  sup 
pliants  (or  worshippers)  shall  bring  my  offering, 
even  the  daughter  of  my  dispersed  ;"  as  the 
passage  should  be  rendered. 

In  Amos,  ix.  14,  15,  is  a  prediction  of  this 
event.  "  And  I  will  bring  again  the  captivity  of 
my  people  Israel,  and  they  shall  build  the  waste 
cities,  and  inhabit  them ;  and  they  shall  plant 
vineyards,  and  drink  the  wine  thereof;  and  I 
will  plant  them  upon  their  land,  and  they  shall 
no  more  be  pulled  up  out  of  their  land,  which  I 
have  given  them,  saith  the  Lord  God."  This 
restoration  is  surely  future.  For  after  the  res 
toration  from  the  Babylonish  captivity,  they  were 
again  expelled  from  their  land,  now  for  many 
centuries.  But  after  the  restoration  here  prom 
ised,  God  says,  "  They  shall  no  more  be  pulled 
up  out  of  their  land."  This  shows  that  the  res 
toration  here  promised,  is  both  future  and  liter 
al.  Jer.  xxx.  3  ;  "  For  lo,  the  days  come,  saith 
the  Lord,  that  1  will  bring  again  the  captivity  of 
my  people,  Israel  and  Judah,  saith  the  Lord  ; 
and  1  will  cause  them  to  return  to  the  land  that 
I  gave  to  their  fathers,  and  they  shall  possess  it." 
In  the  restoration  from  Babylon,  Israel  was  not 
returned.  And  the  Jews  possessed  their  land 
but  a  short  time.  Hence  this  prophecy  remains 


to  be  fulfilled.  ^Read  the  whole  31st  chapter  of 
Jeremiah,  and  you  will  find  the  restoration  of  the 
Jews,  and  the  ten  tribes,  to  the  land  of  their  fa 
thers,  in  the  last  days  ;  and  their  continuance  in 
it,  so  long  as  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  endure. 
"  If  those  ordinances  depart  iivm  before  me, 
saith  the  Lord,  (i.  e.  of  the  sun,  moon  and  stars) 
then  the  seed  of  Israel  shall  cease  from  being  a 
nation  before  me  forever."  God  here  promises 
"the  city  (Jerusalem)  shall  be  built  to  the  Lord  ; 
it  shall  not  be  plucked  up,  nor  thrown  down  any 
more  forever."  Fie  re  God  engages  that  as 
Ephraim  is  God's  first  born  ;  so  he  will  earnest 
ly  remember  him  still,  and  surely  have  mercy 
upon  him,  for  his  bowels  are  pained  with  his  long 
outcast  slate.  That  he  will  sow  the  house  of  Is 
rael  and  tlie  house  of  Juclah  with  the  seed  of  men; 
and  that  ""like  as  he  had  watched  over  them, 
to  pluck  up,  and  to  break  down,  to  throw  down, 
and  to  destroy  and  afflict ;  so  he  will  watch  over 
them  to  build  and  plant.  That  all  this  shall  be, 
when  the  new  covenant  is  made  with  the  house 
of  Israel  and  the  house  of  Judah,  not  according 
to  the  covenant  that  he  made  with  their  fathers. 
Thus  it  is  an  event  to  take  place  under  the  last, 
the  gospel  dispensation  ;  and  hence  it  must  be 
now  future. 

The  prophet  Joel,  when  foretelling  the  last 
days,  and  the  Millennium,  notes  this  event;  chap, 
iii.  1.  "  For  behold,  in  those  days,  and  at  that 
time,  when  I  shall  bring  again  the  captivity  of 
Judah  and  Jerusalem,  I  will  also  gather  all  na 
tions,  arid  will  bring  them  down  into  the  valley 
of  Jehoshaphat."  The  battle  of  the  great  day 
of  God  follows  ;  verse  9 — 17.  Upon  which  fol 
lows  (he  Millennium.  In  this  series  of  events, 
God  "brings  again  the  captivity  of  Judah  and 
Jerusalem." 


G4 

In  Zecb.  iii.  is  the  same.  A  new  preparatory 
scene  of  judgment  is  predicted;  verse  C,  7.  The 
battle  of  the  great  day  follows  ;  verse  8.  Then 
the  Millennium  ;  verse  9.  To  prepare  the  way 
for  this,  the  noted  restoration  is  promised  ;  verse 
10 — 18.  And  the  scene  closes  thus;  verse  19, 
20.  "  Behold,  at  that  time  1  will  undo  all  that 
afflict  thee  ;  and  I  will  save  her  that  halteth,  and 
gather  her  that  was  driven  out;  and  I  will  get 
rne  praise  and  fame  in  every  land  where  they 
have  been  put  to  shame.  At  that  time  I  will 
bring  you  again,  even  in  the  time  that  I  gather 
you  ;  for  I  will  make  you  a  name  and  a  praise 
among  all  the  people  of  the  earth,  when  I  turn 
back  your  captivity  before  your  eyes,  saith  the 
Lord." 

The  prophet  Hosea  most  decisively  predicts 
this  event.  His  first  son  mast  be  called  Jezrcel ; 
for  God  would  soon  avenge  the  blood  of  Jezrecl; 
"and  I  will.canse  to  cease  the  house  of  Israel." 
This  house  did  cease  ;  and  has  been  banished 
and  lost  to  this  day.  The  name  of  his  daugh 
ter,  Lo-rtrhamah,  is  explained  :  "  Ye  are  not 
my  people;  and  I  will  not  be  your  God."  Here 
is  their  long  dispersion.  But  he  immediately 
proceeds  to  predict  their  restoration.  Chap.  i. 
10,  11;  "  Yet  the  number  of  the  children  of  Is 
rael  shall  be  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  which  cannot 
be  measured  nor  numbered  ;  and  it  shall  come 
to  pass  that  in  the  place,  where  it  was  said  unto 
them,  Ye  are  not  my  people  ;  there  shall  it  be 
said  to  them,  Ye  are  the  sons  of  the  living  God. 
Then  shall  the  children  of  Israel  and  the  chil 
dren  of  Jiidah  he  gathered  together,  and  appoint 
themselves  one  head ;  and  they  shall  come  up 
out  of  the  land  ;  (earth  :)  for  great  shall  be  the 
dav  of  Jezreel."  Iiere  the  ten  tribes  were  to 


65 

be  dispersed,  and  again  restored,  together  with 
the  Jews  ;  and  their  numbers  and  prosperity 
shall  be  immense.  This  prophet  proceeds  in 
the  following  chapters  to  predict  the  same  event. 
See  Hosea,  2d  and  3d  chapters.  The  account 
closes  thus  ;  "  For  the  children  of  Israel  shall 
abide  majiy  days  without  a  king,  and  without  a 
prince,  and  without  a  sacrifice,  and  without  an 
image,  and  without  an  ephod,  and  without  a  ter- 
apliim.  Afterward  shall  the  children  of  Israel 
return  and  seek  the  Lord  their  God.  and  David, 
their  king ;  and  shall  fear  the  Lord  and  his  good- 
ness'in  the  latter  days."  Here  is  a  description 
of  the  present  dispersed  state  of  Israel ;  and  a 
prediction  of  their  national  restoration,  ?;  in  the 
latter  days." 

This  restoration  is  a  great  event  in  the  proph 
ets  ;  and  we  find  it  in  the  New  Testament.  Paul 
(in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  chap,  xi.)  notes 
their  being  again  grafted  into  their  own  olive 
tree^  as  a  notable  event  of  the  last  days,  which 
shall  be  the  "  riches  of  the  gentiles  ;"  yea,  "life 
from  the  dead"  to  them.  See  also  Isaiah  xlix. 
18 — 23.  One  passage  more  I  wrill  adduce  from 
the  writings  of  Moses ;  Deut.  xxx.  The 
long  and  doleful  dispersion  of  this  people  had 
been  predicted  in  the  preceding  chapters.  Here 
their  final  restoration  follows.  "  And  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  when  all  these  things  are  come 
upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt  call  them  to  mind 
among  all  the  nations  whither  the  Lord  thy  God 
hath  driven  thee,  and  shalt  return  unto  the  Lord 
thy  God; — that  then  the  Lord  thy  God  will  turn 
thy  captivity,  arid  have  compassion  upon  thee, 
and  will  return  and  gather  thee  from  all  the  na 
tions  whither  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  scattered 
thee.  And  the  Lord  thy  God  will  bring  thee 


1'iio  the  land,  which  thy  fathers  possessed,  and 
thou  shalt  possess  it,  and  he  wili  do  Ihee  good, 
and  multiply  thee  ahfrcc  Iky  fathers."  This  has 
never  yet  been  fulfilled.  For  the  Jews,  return 
ed  from  Babylon,  were  very  far  from  being  mul 
tiplied  in  their  land  above  their  fathers.  This 
remains  still  to  be  accomplished. 

Thus  the  prophetic  writings  do  clearly  decide, 
that  both  Israel  and  the  Jews  shall,  in  the  last 
days,  before  the  Millennium,  be  literally  restor 
ed  to  their  own  land  of  Palestine  ;  and  be  con 
verted  to  the  Christian  faith. 

4.  To  give  a  mystical  import  to  all  these 
prophecies,  and  say  they  will  be  fulfilled  only  in 
the  conversion  of  these  ancient  people  of  God  to 
Christianity  ;  is  to  take  a  most  unwarrantable 
liberty  with  the  word  of  God.  Some  have  made 
such  pretence  ;  but  far  be  it  from  me  to  follow 
them  !  Why  not  as  well  apply  a  mystical  sense 
to  every  prediction  of  future  events  ?  To  the 
predictions  of  the  battle  of  that  great  day  ;  of  the 
Millennium  ;  of  the  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of 
men  ;  of  the  final  judgment ;  of  the  conflagra 
tion  of  this  world  ;  of  heaven  ;  and  of  hell  ? 
Why  may  not  those  as  well  all  be  fuliilled,  not 
by  a  literal,  but  by  some  mystical  accomplish 
ment  ?  Is  not  this  to  add  and  to  diminish,  with  a 
witness  ?  Paul  says,  (2  Tim.  ii.  16.)  "  But  shun 
profane  and  vain  babblings  ;  for  they  will  in 
crease  unto  more  ungodliness,  and  their  words 
will  eat  as  doth  a  canker;  of  whom  is  Hymeneas 
and  Philetus  ;  who  concerning  the  truth  have 
erred,  saying,  that  the  resurrection  is  past  alrea 
dy  ;  and  overthrow  the  faith  of  some."  What 
was  the  liberty  taken  by  those  arch  heretics  ? 
No  doubt  it  was  this;  applying  to  the  predictions 
ef  a  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of  men  from  the 


grave,  a  mystical  resurrection  of  the  soul  from 
the  death  of  sin.  But  the  predictions  of  the  res 
urrection  are  far  'less  numerous,  and  are  not 
more  express,  than  are  the  predictions  of  the 
restoration  of  the  Jews  and  Israel  to  their  own 
land. 

In  various  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these 
predictions,  we  find  it  distinctly  ascertained  that 
the  Jews  shall   be  converted  ;    shall  have  a  new 
heart*  given  them  ;    shall  have  their  hearts  cir 
cumcised  to 'fear  the  Lord.     And  beside  this,  it 
is  said  that  people  shall  (as  a  distinct  nation.)  be 
restored  to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  shall 
dwell  in  temporal  prosperity  there  through  all 
following  ages',  and  be  more  numerous  than  ever 
were  their  fathers.     To  say  then,  that  all  those 
predictions  of  such  a  restoration  to  Palestine,  are 
to  be  accomplished  only  in  the  bringing  of  that 
people  (in  their  dispersed  state,)  to  embrace  the 
Messiah  ;  is  to  take  a  most  unwarrantable  liber 
ty  with  the  word  of  God!    Look  at  one  passage  ; 
Ezekiel,  36th,   37th,  38th,  and  39th  chapters. 
Are  the  new  heart  ^the  heart  of  flesh,)  there 
promised,  and  God's  gathering  them  out  of  all 
lands  into  their  own  land,  which  had  so  long  lain 
waste,  one  and  the  same  event  ?     What  can  such 
expositors  do  with  the  predictions  of  Gog  and  his 
bands,  gathered  against  them,  and  falling  upon 
the  mountains  of  Israel  ?    Are  these  (and  all  the 
predictions  in  Joel,  Zechariah,  and  other  proph 
ets,  of  the  gathering  of  all  nations  to  Jerusalem,) 
to  be  explained  away,  so  that  no  "  gathering  of 
the  nations  and  assembling  of  the  kingdoms," 
must  be  expected  ?  It  must  be  a  dangerous  expe 
dient  to  explain  away  the  clear  and  express  sen 
timents  of  revelation.     The  old  and  best  exposi 
tors  generally  have  believed  in  a  literal  restora- 


tion  of  Judah  and  Israel.  And  no  material  ob 
jections  can  be  raised  against  it,  which  might  not 
in  its  principle,  operate  as  forcibly  against  all 
predicted  future  events. 

5.  That  the  Hebrews  are  to  have  a  literal  res 
toration,  appears  from  the  fact,  that  the  threat- 
enings  that  God  would  cast  them  oif,  had  their 
fulfilment  in  a  literal  rejection  of  them  from  the 
promised  land.  The  promises  of  their  restora 
tion  appear  to  be  an  exact  counterpart  of  this  ; 
and  hence  must  have  their  effect  in  restoring 
them  again  to  Palestine.  If  such  promises  did 
not  design  to  restore  them  again  to  the  land  of 
their  fathers  ;  why  should  the  threatenings  of 
their  rejection  of  God,  be  designed  to  have  their 
effect  in  expelling  them  literally  from  the  land 
of  promise  ?  Why  should  one  of  them  receive  a 
literal,  and  the  other  a  mystical  construction  ? 
No  account  can  be  given  of  this.  If  there  is  no 
benefit  in  restoring  them  to  Palestine  ;  why  was 
there  any  calamity  in  expelling  them  from  Pales 
tine  ?  Why  did  not  God  let  them  continue  there, 
though  he  withdrew  his  spirit  and  grace  from 
them  ?  But  if,  over  and  above  this,  they  must  be 
expelled  from  the  land  of  promise  ;  then  surely 
their  promised  restoration  must  (over  and  above 
giving  them  the  heart  of  flesh)  bring  them  back 
to  the  Canaan,  which  w.as  given  to  them  for  an 
everlasting  possession. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE 

PRESENT    STATE 


AiYD 


THE  present  state  of  the  Jews  is  so  well  un 
derstood  in  the  Christian  and  literary  world,  that 
very  little  will  here  he  said  on  this  part  of  the 
subject.  While  a  more  particular  attention  will 
be  paid  to  the  present' state  of  the  ten  tribes  of 
Israel,. 

The  whole  present  population  of  the  Jews  has 
boon  calculated  at  five  millions.  But  the  prob 
ability  is,  (as  has  been  thought  by  good  judges,) 
that  they  are  far  more  numerous.  One  noted 
character  says,  that  in  Poland  and  part  of  Tur 
key,  there  are  at  least  three  millions  of  this  peo 
ple  ;  and  that  among  them  generally,  there  is  an 
unusual  spirit  of  enquiry  relative  to  Christianity. 
Mr.  Noah  says,  that  in  the  States  of  Barbary. 
their  number  exceeds  seven  hundred  thousand. 
Their  population  in  Persia,  China,  Tndia,  and 
Tartary.  is  stated  (in  a  report  of  the  London  So~ 
ciety  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews.)  to  be  more 
than  three  hundred  thousand.  In  Western  Asia 


70 

the  Jews  are  numerous ;   and  they  are  found  in 
almost  every  land. 

As  in  Europe  this  remarkable  people  have 
"been    singularly  depressed,   and    in   ages  past> 
made  a  laant,  reproach,  and  by-word,  trodden 
i,  scattered  and  pealed ;    one  would  hope 
quarter  of  the  world  would  feel  themselves 
obligated  to  be  singularly  active  in  bringing  about 
their  restoration.    Considerable  has  been  under 
taken  to  meliorate  their  condition,  and  prepare 
th^e  way  for  their  restoration. 

It  is  fourteen  years  since  a  society  was  formed 
in  London  to  aid  the  Christianization  of  this  peo 
ple.  A  chapel  has  been  erected  by  this  society 
for  their  benefit.  The  New  Testament  they 
have  caused  to  be  translated  into  the  Hebrew 
language ;  also  many  tracts  written  in  Hebrew. 
These  tracts  and  Testaments  have  been  liberal 
ly  distributed  among  tl^  Jews,  and  been  read 
bv  nrihit-raes  of  them  with  no  small  attention. 
.'ii  *  have  been  sent  among  them; — 

schools  opened,  and  various  means  used.  A 
seminary  was  opened  in  1322  for  the  instruction 
of  the  youth  of  (Ills  people.  Four  students  of 
the  seed  of  Abraham  entered  it ;  one  of  them, 
the  celebrated  Mr.  WoiiF,  a  Jewish  convert  and 
rrvs.?:  »  :  u  ••-,  la  various  parts  of  the  Umt-'d. 
Kingdoms,  auxiliary  societies  have  been  formed; 
and  the  amount  of  monies  received  in  1822,  was 
upwards  of  !0,698/.  sterling,  (between  40  and 
$50,000.)  In  the  schools  of  the  society  are  be 
tween  seventy  and  eighty  children  of  the  Jews. 
In  1322  there  were  distributed.  2,459  Hebrew 
Testaments;  81)2  Germrvi  Jewi--h  do.;  2,597 
Polish  Judea  do. ;  800  Hebrew  Psalters;  42.110 
Ilr^-ow  Tracts;  10.000  ft  •.  for  the  Jews; 

13,300  Hebrew  cards.     The  prophets  are  about 


71 

to  be  printed  in  Hebrew,  on  stereotype  plates, 
for  ihc  benefit  of  the  Jews.  Places  of  deposit 
of  book*  for  the  Jews  are  established  extensive 
ly  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  world. 

Other  and  similar  societies  in  favour  of  the 
Jews  are  becoming  numerous.  Only  several 
be  given  in  detail.  One  has  been  formed 
in  Lciiiii  under  the  sanction  of  his  Prussian  ma 
jesty.  This  society  in  an  address  to  the  public, 
observes;  u  Pious  Christians  in  Germany  stem 
themselves  almost  excluded  from  the  work  of 
converting  the  heathen  ;  to  whom  sea-fa rii:^-  ra 
tions  oi)]y  have  an  immediate  access.  May  they 
be  of  good  cheer  in  turning  their  eyes  to  iLe 
ons  of  the  ancient  peopie  of  God,  who  live 
among  them,  or  in  their  vicinity.  There  is  no  na 
tion  provided  with  so  effective  means  now  to  begin 
the  work  of  their  conversion,  as  protestant  Ger 
many.  For  this  country  the  most  glorious  harvest 
*eems  to  be  in  reserve.  Let  us  then  clear  oursel  ves 
from  the  blame  of  ieavi,^  to  perish  these  mill 
ions,  living  among  us,  ;.\tes,  without 
having  ever  made  any  vveJi  regulated  attempt  to 
lead  them  to  that  cross,  upon  which  their  fathers 
crucified  the  Messiah.  This  field  is  our  own, 
ra.d  only  requires  labourers.  According  to  our 
best  information  of  its  state,  we  have  no  doubt 
but  the  soil  will  readily  receive  ti.e  seed  of  the 
divine  word."  The  informations  received  from 
Poland  too,  are  interesting.  The  Jews  there 
seem  to  be  convinced  that  some  important  change 
in  their  condition  is  preparing;  aud  the)  seem 
ready  to  co-operate  ii  !  ans  of  such  a 
cisu  ..;;e.  Count  Von  d(  r  Hecke,  near  Westpha- 
li:-?j  ;:as  established  near  Dasselsdorf.  an  asylum 
for  converted  Jews.  A. id  ruisierous  societies 
have  been  formed  in  Europe  and  America,  to 


72 

aid  this  great  object.  The  American  Meliorat 
ing  Society,  with  its  auxiliaries,  might  he  noted 
in  detail ;  but  they  are  well  known.  The  his 
tory  of  the  Palestine  mission  also  ;  the  noted 
agency  of  Mr.  Frey,  and  the  mission  of  Mr. 
Wolff,  the  Jewish  missionary  to  Palestine  ;  also 
the  remarkable  conversion  of  many  of  the  Jews  ; 
but  this  would  exceed  my  designed  limits  ;  and 
these  things  are  well  known  to  the  Christian 
world. 

My  present  object  is  rather  to  attend  to  the 
present  state  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  This 
branch  of  the  Hebrew  family  have  long  been 
u  outcasts"  out  of  sight ;  or  unknown  as  He 
brews.  The  questions  arise,  are  they  in  exist 
ence,  as  a  distinct  people  ?  If  so,  who.  or  where 
are  they  ?  These  are  queries  of  great  moment,  at 
this  period,  when  the  time  of  their  restoration  is 
drawing  near.  These  queries  may  receive  an 
answer  in  the  following  remarks  : 

1.  It  has  been  clearly  ascertained  in  the  pre 
ceding  chapter,  that  the  ten  tribes,  as  the  Israel 
of  God,  are  in  the  last  days  to  be  recovered,  and 
restored  with  the  Jews.  The  valley  of  dry  bones, 
and  the  two  sticks  becoming  one  in  the  prophet's 
hand,  have  been  seen  clearly  to  ascertain  this  : 
See  Ezek.  xxxix.  as  well  as  the  many  other 
passages  noted  in  that  chapter.  But  as  this  fact 
is  essential  to  our  inquiring  after  the  ten  tribes 
with  confidence  of  their  existence  ;  I  shall  here 
note  several  additional  predictions  of  the  event, 
found  in  the  prophets  ;  and  note  some  passages, 
which  distinguish  between  the  dispersed  state  of 
the  Jews,  and  the  o-nL-avi  si  ate  of  the  ten  tribes  ; 
which  distinction  wiii  aiiord  some  light  in  our 
inquiries. 


73 

When  the  restoration  of  the  Hebrews  is  pre 
dicted,  in  Isaiah  xi.  that  God  will  in  the  last  days 
set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations  ;  it  is  to  ''assem 
ble  the  outcasts  of  Israel ;  and  gather  together 
the  dispersed  of  Judah  from  the  four  corners  of 
the  earth."     Mark  the  distinction;  the  Jews  are 
"  dispersed;"  scattered  over  the  nations  as  Jews, 
as  they  have  long  been  known  to  be  ;  but  Israel 
are  "outcast  ;"  cast  out  from  the  nations  ;  from 
society  ;  from  the  social  world ;  from  the  knowl 
edge  of  men,  as  being  Hebrews.     This  distinc 
tion  is  repeatedly  found  in  the  prophets.      The 
dispersed  state  of  the  Jews,  as  Jews,  is  a  most 
notable  idea  in  the  prophetic  scriptures.     But  of 
Israel,  the  following  language  is  used  ;    as  Isaiah 
Ivi.  8  ;   "  The  Lord  God  who  gathcreth  the  out 
casts  of  Israel,  saith,"  £c.      Accordingly,  when 
Israel  are  recovered,  and  united  with  the  Jews 
at  last;  the  Jews  express  their  astonishment,  and 
inquire  where  they  had  been?     They  had  utterly 
lost  them,  as  is  the  fact.      See  Isaiah  xlix.  18 — 
22.      The  Jews  here,  while  "  removing  to  and 
fro"  through  the  nations,  in  their  dispersed  state, 
had  been  "left  alone,"  i.  e.  of  the  ten  tribes.  The 
latter  being  now  restored  to  the  bosom  of  the 
mother  church,  the  Jews  inquire,   "  Who  hath 
brought  up  these?  Behold,  I  was  left  alone  j  these, 
where  had  they  been .?"     Here  we  learn  that  the 
ten  tribes  had,  during  the  long  dispersion  of  the 
Jews,  been  utterly  out  of  their  sight  and  knowl 
edge,  as  their  brethren.      This  implies  the  long 
outcast  state  of  the  ten  tribes. 

Several  additional  passages  will  be  noted,  to 
show  that  both  the  branches  of  that  ancient  peo 
ple  are  to  be  restored.  In  Isaiah  xi.  after  the 
promise  that  the  dispersed  Jews,  and  outcast  Is 
rael  shall  be  restored ;  the  prophet  adds,  verse 
7 


74 

13  ;  "  The  envy  also  of  Ephraim  shall  depart ; 
Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah,  and  Judah  shall 
not  vex  Ephraim."  Here  the  mutual  jealous 
ies  between  the  two  branches  of  the  house  of  Is 
rael,  which  before  the  expulsion  of  the  ten  tribes 
kept  them  in  almost  perpetual  war,  shall  never 
again  be  revived  ;  which  passage  assures  us  of 
the  restoration  of  Israel  as  Israel. 

In  Jer.  iii.  tbose  two  branches  arc  distinguish 
ed  by  "backsliding  /srr/.t7,  and  her  treacherous 
sister  Judah."  Israel  was  already  put  away  for 
her  spiritual  adulteries,  (having  then  been  re  ect- 
ed  for  nearly  one  hundred  years.)  But  the  same 
backsliding  Israel  is  there  again  recovered  in  the 
last  days.  God  calls  after  them  ;  "Return,  thou 
backsliding  Israel;  for  I  a/n  married  unto  you, 
saith  the  Lord.  And  1  will  take,  you,  one  of  a 
city  and  two  of  a  family ',  and  will  bring  you  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  to  your  fathers."  This 
has  never  yet  had  even  a  partial  accomplish 
ment.  Its  event  is  manifestly  future. 

The  entail  of  the  covenant  must  as  surely  re 
cover  the  ten  tribes,  as  the  Jews.  Paul  shows 
in  Romans  xi.  the  consistency  of  the  rejection  of 
the  Jews,  with  the  entail  of  the  covenant  with 
Abraham.  And  he  makes  their  final  restoration 
in  the  last  days,  essential  to  this  consistency. — 
But  this  inspired  argument  as  forcibly  attaches 
itself  to  the  ten  tribes,  to  ensure  their  recovery, 
as  to  the  Jews.  He  accordingly  there  says,  "and 
so  all  Israel  shall  he  saved  j"**  or  both  branches  of 
the  Hebrews  shnil  be  recovered.  This  some 
point  is  most  positively  decided  in  Jeremiah, 


30th  and  31st  chapters,  as  has  appeared  in  the 
preceding  chapter. 

2.  It  inevitably  follows,  that  the  ten  tribes  of 
Israel  must  now  have,    somewhere  on  earth,  a 
distinct  existence  in  an  outcast  state.     And  we 
justly  infer,  that  God  would,  in  his  holy  provi 
dence,  provide  some  suitable  place  for  their  safe 
keeping,  as  his  outcast  tribes,  though  long  un 
known  to  men  as  such.       There  is  no  avoiding 
this  conclusion.    If  God  will  restore  them  at  last 
as  his  Israel,  and  as  having  been  "outcast"  from 
the  nations  of  the  civilized  world  for  2500  years; 
he  surely  must  have  provided  a  place  for  their 
safe  keeping,  as  a  distinct  people,  in  some  part 
of  the  world,  during  that  long  period.      They 
must,  during  that  period,  have  been  unknown  to 
the  Jews  as  Israelites  ;    and  consequently  un 
known  to  the  world  as  such;  or  the  Jews  would 
not  at  least  (on  their  heing  united  to  them.)  in 
quire,  "  These,  where  had  they  been  ?"     Isaiah 
xlix.  21. 

3.  We  have  an  account  of  the  ten  tribes,  after 
their  captivity,  which  accords  with  the  ideas  just 
stated.     We  receive  not  the  books  of  the  Apoc 
rypha  as  given  by  Inspiration  ;   but  much  credit 
has  been  given  to  historical  facts  recorded  in  it; 
as  in  the  wars  of  the  Maccabees,  and  othci  p:aces. 
In  2  Esdras,  xiii.  40,  and  on,  we  read  ;    u  Those 
are  the  ten  tribes  which  were  carried  away  pris 
oners  out  of  their  own  land,  in  the  time  of  Osea, 
the  king,  whom  Salmanezer,  the  king  of  Assyria, 
led  away  captive  ;  and  he  carried  them  over  the 
Waters,  and  so  carne  they  into  another  laild." 
Here  is  the  planting  them  over  the  Euphrates,  in 
Media.     The  writer  adds  ;  "  But  they  took  this 
counsel  among  themselves,  that  they  would  leave 
the  multitude  of  the  heathen,  and  go  forth  into  a 


7G 

further  country,  where  never  man  dwelt ;    that 
they  might  there  keep  their  statutes  which  they 
never  kept  (i.  e.  uniformly  as  they  ought,)   in 
their  own  land.      There  was  a  great  way  to  go, 
namely,  of  a  year  and  a  half."     The  writer  pro 
ceeds  to  speak  of  the  name  of  the  region  being 
-called  Arsareth,  or  Ararat.    He  must  allude  here 
to  the  region  to  which  they  directed  their  course 
to  go  this  year  and  a  half's  journey.     This  place 
where  no  man  dwelt,  must  of  course  have  been 
unknown  by  any  name.      But  Ararat,  or  Arme 
nia  lay  north  of  the  place  where  the  ten  tribes 
were  planted  .wlien  carried   from  Palestine. — 
Their  journey  then,  was  to  the  north,  or  north 
east.     This  writer  says,  "They  entered  into  the 
Euphrates  by  the  narrow  passages  of  the  river." 
He  must  mean,  they  repassed  this  river  in  its 
upper  regions,  or  small  streams,  away  toward 
Georgia;  and  hence  must  have  taken  their  course 
between  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas.     This  set 
them  olFnorth-east  of  the  Ararat,  which  he  men 
tions.     Though  this  chapter  in  Esdras  be  a  kind 
of  prophecy,  hi  which  we  place  not  confidence  ; 
yet  the  allusion  to  facts  learned  by  the  author, . 
no  doubt  may  be  correct.     And  this  seems  just 
such  an  event  as  might  be  expected,  had  God  in 
deed  determined  to  separate  them  from  the  rest 
of  the  idolatrous  world,   and  banish   them  by 
themselves,  in  a  land  where  no  man  dwelt  since 
the  flood. 

4.  Let  several  suppositions  now  be  made. 
Suppose  an  extensive  continent  had  lately  been 
discovered,  away  north-east  from  Media,  and  at 
the  distance  of  "  a  year  and  a  half's  journey ;"  a 
place  probably  destitute  of  inhabitants,  since  the 
flood,  till  the  time  of  the  "casting  out"  of  Israel. 
Suppose  a  people  to  have  been  lately  discovered 


77 

in  that  sequestered  region,  appearing  as  we  should 
rationally  expect  the  nation  of  Israel  to  appear 
at  this  period,  had  the  account  given  hy  the  wri 
ter  in  Esdras  been  a  fact.  Suppose  them  to  be 
fouad  in  tribes,  with  heads  of  tribes  ;  but  desti 
tute  of  letters,  and  in  a  savage  state.  Suppose 
among  their  different  tribes  the  following  tradition 
ary  fragments  are  by  credible  witnesses  picked  up; 
some  particulars  among  one  region  of  them,  and 
some  amoag  another  ;  while  all  appear  evident 
ly  to  be  of  the  same  family.  Suppose  them  to 
have  -escaped  the  polytheism  of  the  pagan  world, 
and  to  acknowledge  one,  and  only  One  God  ;  the 
Great  Spirit,  who  created  all  things  seen  and  un 
seen.  Suppose  the  name  retained  by  many  of 
them  for  this  Great  Spirit,  to  be  Ale,  the  old  He 
brew  name  of  God  ;  and  Yohewah,  whereas  the 
Hebrew  name  for  Lord  was  Jehovah  ;  also  they 
call  the  Great  First  Cause,  Yah  ;  the  Hebrew 
name  being  Jah.  Suppose  you  find  most  of  them 
professing  great  reverence  for  this  great  Yohe 
wah  ;  calling  him  "the  great  beneficent  supreme 
holy  spirit,"  and  the  only  object  of  worship. — 
Suppose  the  most  intelligent  of  them  to  be  elat 
ed  with  the  idea  that  this  God  has  ever  been  the 
head  of  their  community;  that  their  fathers  were 
once  in  covenant  with  him  ;  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  were  "the  accursed  people,"  as  out  of 
covenant  with  God.  Suppose  you  find  them,  on 
certain  occasions,  singing  in  religious  dance, 
"  Hallelujah,"  or  praise  to  Jah ;  also  singing 
Yohewah,  Shilu  Yohewah,  and  making  use  of 
many  names  and  phrases  evidently  Hebrew. — 
You  find  them  counting  their  time  as  did  ancient 
Israel,  and  in  a  manner  different  from  all  other 
nations.  They  keep  a  variety  of  religious  feasts, 
which  much  resemble  those  kept  ,in  ancient  Is- 


78 

rael.  You  find  an  evening  feast  among  them,  in 
which  a  bone  of  the  animal  must  not  he  broken ; 
if  the  provision  be  more  than  one  family  can  eat, 
a -neighbour  must  be  called  in  to  help  eat  it,  and 
if  any  of  it  be  still  left,  it  must  be  burned  before 
the  next  rising  sun.  You  find  them  eating  bit 
ter  vegetables,  to  cleanse  themselves  from  sin. 
You  find  they  never  eat  the  hollow  of  the  thigh 
of  any  animal.  They  inform  that  their  fathers 
practised  %  circumcision.  Some  of  them  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  keeping  a  Jubilee.  .They 
have  their  places  answering  to  the  cities  of  re 
fuge,  in  ancient  Israel.  In  these  no  blood  is  ever 
shed  by  any  avenger.  You  find  them  with  their 
temples,  (such  as  they  be,)  their  holy  of  holies 
in  their  temple,  into  which  it  is  death  for  a  com 
mon  person  to  enter.  They  have  their  high 
priests,  who  officiate  in  their  temples,  and  make 
their  yearly  atonement  there  in  a  singular  pontff- 
ical  dress,  which  they  fancy  to  be  in  the  likeness 
of  one  worn  by  their  predecessors  in  ancient 
times  ;  with  their  breast-plate,  and  various  holy 
ornaments.  The  high  priest,  when  addressing 
to  his  people  what  they  call  "  the  old  divine 
speech,"  calls  them  "  the  beloved  and  holy  peo 
ple,"  and  urges  them  to  imitate  their  virtuous 
ancestors  ;  and  tells  them  of  their  "beloved  land 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey."  They  tell  you 
that  Yohewah  once  chose  their  nation  from  all 
the  rest  of  mankind,  to  be  his  peculiar  people. 
That  a  book  which  God  gave,  was  once  theirs  ; 
and  then  things  went  well  with  them.  But  oth 
er  people  got  it  from  them,  and  then  they  fell  un 
der  the  displeasure  of  the  Great  Spirit ;  but  that 
they  shall,  at  some  time,  regain  it.  They  inform 
you,  some  of  their  fathers  once  had  the  spirit  to 
foretel  future  events,  and  to  work  miracles. 


79 

pose  they  have  their  imitation  of  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  where  are  deposited  their  most  sacred 
things;  into  which  it  is  death  for  any  common 
people  to  look.  All  their  males  must  appear  at 
the  temple  at  three  noted  feasts  in  a  year.  They 
inform  you  of  the  ancient  flood  ;  of  the  preser 
vation  of  one  family  in  a  vessel;  of  this  man  in 
the  ark  sending  out  first  a  great  bird,  and  then  a 
little  one,  to  see  if  the  waters  were  gone.  That 
the  great  o:ie  returned  no  more  ;  but  the  little 
one  returned  with  a  branch.  They  tell  you  of 
the  confusion  of  languages,  once  when  people 
were  building  a  great  high  place  ;  and  of  the 
longevity  of  the  ancients';  that  -they  "  lived  till 
their  feet  were  worn  out  with  walking,  and  their 
throats  with  eating."  , 

You  find  them  with  their  traditional  history 
that  their  ancient  fathers  once  lived  where  peo 
ple  were  dreadfully  wicked,  and  that  nine  tenths 
of  their  fathers  took  counsel  and  left  that  wicked 
place,  being  led  by  the  Great  Spirit  into  this 
country  ;  that  they  came  through  a  region  where 
it  was  always  winter,  snow  and  frozen.  That 
they  came  to  a  great  water,  and  their  way  hith 
er  was  thus  obstructed,  till  God  dried  up  that 
water  ;  (probably  it  froze  between  the  islands  in 
Beering's  Straits.)  Yoirfind  them  keeping  an 
annual  feast,  at  the  time  their  ears  of  corn  be 
come  fit  for  use;  and  none  of  their  corn  is  eaten, 
till  a  part  of  it  is  brought  to  this  feast,  and  cer 
tain  religious  ceremonies  performed:.  You  find 
them  keeping  an  annual  feast,  in  which  twelve 
men  must  cut  twelve  saplin  poles,  to  make  a 
booth.  Here  (on  an  altar  made  of  twelve 
stones,  on  which  no  tool  may  pass.)  they  must 
sacrifice.  You  find  them  with  the  custom  of 
washing  and  anointing  their  dead.  And  when 


80 

in  deep  affliction,  laying  their  hand  on  their 
mouth,  a  id  tiieir  mouth  in  the  dust. 

Suppose  you  should  find  things  like  these 
»  people,  without  books  or  letters, 
but  wholly  in  a  savage  state,-  in  a  region  of  the 
world  lately  discovered  away  in  the  direction, 
stated  by  the  aforenoted  writer  in  the  Apocj\  pha; 
and  having  been  ever  secluded  from  the  knowl 
edge  of  the  civilized  world  ;  would  you  hesitate 
to  say  you  had  found  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  ? 
and  that  God  sent  them  to  that  sequestered  re 
gion  of  the  earth,  to  keep  them  there  a  distinct 
people,  during  an  "  outcast"  state  of  at  least 
2500  years  ?  Weuld  you  not  say,  we  have  just 
such  kind  of  evidence,  as  must  at  last  bring  that 
people  to  light  among  the  nations  ?  And  would 
you  not  say,  here  is  much  more  evidence  of  this 
kind,  of  their  being  the  people  of  Israel,  than 
could  rationally  have  been  expected,  after  the 
lapse  of  2500  years  in  a  savage  state  ?  Methinks 
1  hear  every  person  whisper  his  full  assent,  that 
upon  the  suppositions  made,  we  have  found  the 
most  essential  pile  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel's  val 
ley  of  dry  bones  ! 

5.  Those  things  are  more  than  mere  supposi 
tion.  It  is  believed  they  are  capable  of  being 
ascertained  as  facts,  with  substantial  evidence. 
Good  authorities  from  men,  who  have  been  eye 
and  ear  witnesses,  assure  us  that  these  things  are 
facts.  But  you  enquire,  where  or  who  are  the 
people  thus  described  ?  They  are  the  aborigines 
of  our  own  continent !  Their  place,  their  lan 
guage,  their  traditions,  amount  to  all  that  has 
been  hinted.  These  evidences  are  not  all  found 
among  any  one  tribe  of  Indians.  Nor  may  all 
the  Indians  in  any  tribe,  where  various  of  these 
eTidences  are  found,  be  able  to  exhibit  them.  It 


81 

is  enough,  if  what  they  call  their  beloved  aged 
men,  in  one  tribe,  have  clearly  exhibited  some  of 
them  ;  and  others  exhibited  others  of  them  ;  and 
if  among  their  various  tribes,  the  whole  have 
been,  by  various  of  their  beloved  or  wise  men, 
exhibited.  This,  it  is  stated,  has  been  the  fact. 
Men  have  been  gradually  perceiving  this  evi 
dence  for  more  than  half  a  century  ;  and  new 
light  has  been,  from  time  to  time,  shed  on  the 
subject,  as  will  appear,. 

The  North  American  Reviewers,  in  review 
ing  a  sermon  of  Doct.  Jarvis,  on  this  subject,  de 
livered  before  the  New- York  Historical  Society, 
(in  which  he  attempts  to  adduce  much  evidence 
to  show  that  the  natives  of  this  continent  are  the 
tribes  of  Israel)  remark  thus  ;  "  The  history  and 
character  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  North  America, 
which  have  for  some  time  been  a  subject  of  no 
inconsiderable  curiosity  and  interest  with  the 
learned  in  Europe,  have  not  till  lately  attracted 
much  notice  among  ourselves.  But  as  the 
Indian  nations  are  now  fast  vanishing,  and  the  in 
dividuals  of  them  come  less  frequently  under  our 
observation  ;  we  also,  as  well  as  our  European 
brethren,  are  beginning  to  take  a  more  lively  in 
terest  than  ever,  in  the  study  of  their  character 
and  history." 

In  the  course  of  their  remarks  they  add  ;  "To 
the  testimonies  here  adduced  by  Doctor  Jarvis, 
(i.  e.  that  the  Indians  are  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel) 
might  have  been  added  several  of  our  New-Eng 
land  historians,  from  the  first  settlement  of  the 
country."  Some  they  proceed  to  mention ;  and 
then  add,  that  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Samuel  Sewall, 
fellow  of  Harvard  College,  and  Samuel  Willard, 
vice  president  of  the  same,  were,  of  opinion,  that 
"  the  Indians  are  the  descendants  of  Israel." — 


32 

'Doct.  Jarvis  notes  this  as  an  hypothesis,  which 
has  been  a  favourite  topic  with  European  writ 
ers  ;  and  as  a  subject,  to  which  it  is  hoped  the 
Americans  may  be  said  to  be  waking  no  at  last. 

Manasses  Ben  Israel,  in  a  work,  entitled  "The 
'Hope  of  Israel,"  has  written  to  show  that  the 
American  Indians  are  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel. 
But  as  w,e  have  access  to  his  authors,  we  may 
consult  them  for  ourselves.  The  main  pillar  of 
hss  evidence  is  James  Adair,  Esq.  Mr.  Adair 
was  a  man  of  established  character,  as  appears 
from  good  authority.  He  lived  a  trader  among 
the  Indians,  in  the.  south  of  North  America,  for 
forty  years.  He  left  them  and  returned  to  Eng 
land  in  1774,  and  there  published  his  "  History 
of  the  American  Indians  ;"  and  his  reasons  for 
being  persuaded  that  they  are  the  ten  tribes  of 
Israel.  Remarking  on  their  descent  and  origin, 
he  concludes  thus  ;  "  From  the  most  accurate 
observations  I  could  make,  in  the  long  time  I 
traded  among  the  Indian  Americans,  I  was  forc 
ed  to  believe  them  lineally  descended  from  the 
Israelites.  Had  the  nine  tribes  and  a  half  of  Is 
rael,  tint  were  carried  olf  by  Shalrnanexer,  and 
settled  in  Me-lia,  continued  there  long,  it  is  very 
probable  by  intermarrying  with  the  natives,  and 
from  their  natural  fickleness,  and  proneness  to 
idolatry,  and  also  from  the  force  of  example  ; 
that  they  won1.;!  have  adopted  and  bowed  before 
the  gods  of  Media  and  Assyria  ;  and  would  have 
carried  them  along  with  them.  But  there  is  not 
a  trace  of  this  idolatry  amo-ig  the  Indians."  Mr. 
Adair  gives  his  opinion,  tint  the  tea  tribes,  soon 
after  their  banishment  from  the  land  of  Israel, 
left  Media,  a  id  reached  this  continent  from  !he 
north-west,  probably  before  the  carrying  away 
of  the  Jews  to  Babylon. 


83 

A  summary  will  be  given  of  tlie  arguments  of 
Mr.  Adair,  and  of  a  number  of  other  writers  on 
this  subject.  As  the  evidence  given  by  Mr. 
Adair  appears  in  some  respects  the  most  momen.- 
tous  and  conclusive,  I  shall  adduce  a  testimonial 
in  his  behalf.  In  the  "  Star  in  the  West,"  pub 
lished  by  the  lion.  Eaas  Eoudinot,  LL.  D. 
upon  this  subject,  that  venerable  man  sajs; 
<•  The  writer  oi  these  sheets  has  made  a  iiee 
use  of  Mr.  Adair's  history  of  the  Indians  ;  wh  ch 
renders  it  necessary  that  something  further 
should  be  said  of  him.  Sometime  about  the  year 
1774,  Mr.  Adair  came  to  Eli^rabethtown,  (where 
the  writer  lived.)  with  his  manuscript,  and  appli 
ed  to  Mr.  Livingstone,  (afterward  go\en>or  of 
New- Jersey — a  correct  scholar.)  requesting  him 
to  correct  his  manuscript.  lie  brought  ampie 
recommendations,  and  gave  a  good  account  of 
himself.  Our  political  troubles  with  Great  Bri 
tain  then  increasing  (">t  being  the  year  before  the 
comn.ei. cement  of  the  revolutionary  war,)  Mr. 
Adair,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Great  Britain,  was 
advised  not  to  risk  being  detained  from  his  voy 
age,  till  the  work  could  be  critically  examined; 
but  to  set  oil' as  soon  as  possible.  He  according 
ly  took  his  passage  in  the  first  vessel  bound  to 
England.  As  soon  as  the  war  was  over,  (Mr. 
Boudinot  adds  of  himself,)  the  writer  sent  to 
London  to  obtain  a  ccpy^tf  this  work.  After 
reading  it  with  care,  he  strict]}'  examined  a  gen 
tleman,  then  a  member  with  him  in  congress, 
and  of  excellent  character,  who  had  acted  as  our 
agent  among  the  Indians  to  the  southward,  dur 
ing  the  war,  relative  to  the  points  of  fact  stated 
by  Mr.  Adair,  without  letting  him  know  the  de 
sign,  aud  from  him  found  all  the  leading  facts  men- 


84 

tioncd  in  Mr.  Adair's  history,  fully  confirmed 
from  his  own  personal  knowledge." 

Here  are  the  evidences  of  two  great  and  good 
men  most  artlessly  uniting  in  the  leading  facts 
stated  by  Mr.  Adair.  The  character  of  Mr. 
Boudmot  (who  was  for  some  time  President  of 
the  American  Bible  Society.)  is  well  known. — 
He  was  satisfied  with -the  truth  of  Mr.  Adair's 
history,  and  that  the  natives  of  our  land  are  the 
Hebrews,  the  ten  tribes.  And  he  hence  published 
his  "  Star  in  the  West"  on  this  subject ;  which 
is  most  worthy  of  the  perusal  of  ail  men. 

From  various  authors  and  travellers,  among 
the  Indians,  the  fact  that  the  American  Indians 
are  the  ten  tnbes  of  Israel,  will  be  attempted  to 
be  proved  by  the  following  arguments  : 

1.  The  American  natives  have  one  origin. 

2.  Their  language  appears  to  have  been  He 
brew. 

3.  They 'have  had  their  imitation  of  the  ark 
of  the  covenant  in  ancient  Israel. 

4.  They  have  been  in  the  practice  of  circum 
cision. 

5.  They  have  acknowledged  one  and  only  one 
God. 

6.  Their  variety  of  traditions,  historical  and 
religious,  go  to  evince  that    they  are  the  ten 
tribes  of  Israel. 

7.  The  celebrated  William  Penn  gives  ac 
counts  of  the  natives  |£  Pennsylvania,  which  go 
to  corroborate  the  same  point. 

8.  Their  having  a  tribe,  answering  in  various 
respects,  to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  sheds  furthers  light 
on  this  subject. 

9.  Several  prophetic  traits  of  character  given 
of  the  Hebrews,  do  accurately  apply  to  the  abo 
rigines  of  Anaerica. 


15 

10.  The  Indians  being  in  tribes,  with  their 
heads  arid  names  of  tribes,  affords  further  light 
upon  this  subject. 

1 1 .  Their  having  an  imitation  of  the  ancient 
city  of  refuge,  evinces  the  truth  of  our  subject ; 
and 

12.  Other  Indian  rites,  and  various  other  con 
siderations,  go  to  evince  the.  fact,  that  this  people 
are  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel. 

1.  Tfie  American,  natives  have  one  origin. — 
Their  language  has  a  variety  of  dialects  ;  but  all 
are  believed  by  some  good  juydges  to  be  the  same 
radical  lan^ia^e.  Various  noted  authors  a^ree 
in  this.  Charlevoix,  in  his  history  of  Canada, 
says;  "  The  Algonquin  and  the  Huron  langua 
ges,  (which  he  says  are  as  really  the  same,  as  the 
French  and  old  Norman  are  the  sa  ne-)  have  be 
tween  them  the  language  of  ail  thj  savage  na 
tions  we  are  acquainted  with.  Whoever  should 
well  understand  b  >th  of  these,  nvght  travel  With 
out  an  interpreter  more  than  fifteen  hundred 
leagues  of  country,  and  make  himself  understood 
by  an  hundred  diiferent  natiois,  who  have  each 
their  peculiar  tongue  ;"•  meaning  dialect.  The 
Ai'Jm  juin  was  the  dialect  of  the  Wolf  tribe,  or 
the  Mohegan  ;  and  most  of  the  native  tribes  of 
New-England  and  of  Virginia. 

Doctor  Jonathan  Edwards,  son  of  President 
Edwards,  lived  in  his  youth  among  the  Indians  ; 
as  his  father  was  a  missionary  among,  them,  be 
fore  he  was  called  to  Princeton  College  ;  and  he 
became  as  familiar  with  the  Muhegan  dialect,  as 
with  his  mother  tongue.  He  had  also  a  good 
knowledge  of  the  Mohawk  dialect.  He  pro 
nounced  the  Mohegan  the  most  extensive  of  all 
the  Indian  dialects  of  North  America.  He  names 
not  less  than  sixteen  tribes,  besides  the  original 
8 


86 

tribes  of  New-England,  as  agreeing  with  the  Mo- 
hegan.  Herein  the  doctor  agrees  with  the  testi 
mony  of  Charlevoix  just  noted.  Here  we  find 
a  cogent  argument  in  favour  of  the  Indians  of 
North  America,  at  least  as  heing  of  one  origin. 
And  arguments  will  be  furnished  that  the  Indians 
of  South  America  are  probably  of  the  same  ori 
gin- 
Doctor  Boudinot  (who  for  more  than  forty 
years  was  of  opinion  that  the  Indians  are  the  ten 
tribes,  and  who  sought  and  obtained  much  evi 
dence  on  this  subject,  assures  us,  that  the  sylla 
bles  which  compose  the  word  Yohewah,  (Jeho 
vah)  and  Yah,  (Jah)  are  the  roots  of  a  great  num 
ber  of  Indian  words,  through  different  tribes. — 
They  make  great  use  of  these  words,  and  of  the 
syllables  which  compose  the  names  of  God;  also 
which  form  the  word  Hallelujah,  through  their 
nations  for  thousands  of  miles  ;  especially  in 
their  religious  songs  and  dances.  With  beating 
and  an  exact  keeping  of  time,  they  begin  a  reli 
gious  dance  thus  ;  Hal,  hal,  hal ;  then  le,  le,  le  -, 
next  lu,  lu,  lu  ;  and  then  close  yah,  yah,  yah. 
'This  is  their  traditional  song  of  praise  to  the 
Great  Spirit.  This,  it  is  asserted,  is  sung  fh 
South,  as  well  as  North  America.  And  this  au 
thor  says  ;  u  Two  Indians,  who  belong  to  far'dis- 
tant  nations,  may  without  the  knowledge  of  each 
other's  language,  except  from  the  general  idiom 
of  all  their  tribes,  converse  with  each  other,  and 
make  contracts  without  an  interpreter."  This 
shews  them  to  have  been  of  one  origin. 

Du  Pratz  says,  in  his  history  of  Louisiana, 
"  The  nations  of  North  America  derived  their 
origin  from  the  same  country,  since  at  bottom 
they  all  have  the  same  manners  and  usages,  »nd 
ttic  same  manner  of  speaking  and  thinking."  It 


87 

is  ascertained  that  no  objection  arises  against  this, 
from  the  different  shades  of  Complexion  found 
among  different  tribes  of  Indians.  uThe  colour 
of  the  Indians  generally,  (says  Doct.  Boudinot,) 
is  red,  brown,  or  copper,  according  to  the  cli 
mate,  and  the  high  or  low  ground."  Mr.  Adair 
expresses  the  same  opinion  ;  and  the  Indians 
have  their  tradition,  that  in  the  nation  from  which 
they  originally  came,  all  were  of  one  colour. — - 
According  to  all  accounts  given  of  the  Indians, 
there  are  certain  things  in  which  all  agree.  This 
appears  in  the  journals  of  Mr.  Giddings,  of  his 
exploring  tour.  The  most  distant  and  barbarous 
Indians  agree  in  a  variety  of  things  with  all  oth 
er  tribes.  They  have  their  Great  Spirit ;  their 
high  priests  ;  their  sacrificing,  when  going  to,  or 
returning  from  war  ;  their  religious  dance  ;  and 
their  sacred  little  enclosure,  containing  their 
most  sacred  things,  though  it  be  but  a  sack,  in 
stead  of  an  ark.  Messrs.  Lack  and  Escarbotus 
both  assert  that  they  have  often  heard  the  In 
dians  of  South  America  sing  "Hallelujah."  For 
thousands  of  miles  the  North  American  Indians 
hav^  been  abundant  in  this. 

Doctor  Williams,  in  his  History  of  Vermont, 
says  ;  "  In  whatever  manner  this  part  of  the 
earth  was  peopled,  the  Indians  appear  to  have 
been  the  most  ancient,  or  the  original  men  of 
America.  They  had  spread  over  the  whole  con 
tinent,  from  the. fiftieth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
to  the  southern  extremity  of  Cape  Horn.  And 
these  men  every  where  appeared  to  be  the  same 
race  or  kind  of  people.  In  every  part  of  the 
continent,  the  Indians  are  marked  with  a  similar 
ity  of  colour,  features,  and  every  circumstance 
of  external  appearance.  Pedro  de  Cicca  de 
Leon,  one  of  the  conquerors  of  Peru,  and  who 


had  travelled  through  many  provinces  of  Amer 
ica,  says  of  the  Indians  ;  u  The  people,  men  and 
women,  although  there  are  such  a  multitude  of 
trihes  or  nations,  in  such  diversities  of  climates, 
appear  nevertheless,  like  the  children  of  one  fa 
ther  and  mother." 

Uiloa  (rii  -t.'d  hy  Doct.  Williams.)  had  a  great 
acquaintance  with  the  Indians  of  South  America, 
and  some  parts  of  North  America.  Speaking  of 
the  Indians  of  Cape  Breton,  in  the  latter,  he  de 
clared  them  to  he  "  the  same  people  with  the 
Indians  in  Peru."  "If  we  have  seen  one  Amer 
ican,  (said  he)  we  may  he  said  to  have  seen  them 
all."  These  remarks  do  not  apply  to  all  the 
people  in  the  northern  extremities  of  America. 
The  Esquimaux  natives  appear  to  be  a  different 
race  of  men.  This  race  are  found  in  Labrador; 
in  Greenland,  and  round  Hudson's  Bay.  All 
these  appear  evidently  the  same  with  the  Lap 
landers,  Zemblans,  Samoyeds  and  Tartars  in  the 
east.  They  probably  migrated  to  this  western 
hemisphere  at  periods  subsequent  to  the  migra 
tion  of  the  Indians.  They,  or  some  of  them, 
might  *  have  come  from  the  north  of  Europe ; 
from  Norway  to  Iceland,  then  to  Greenland,  and 
thence  to  the  coasts  of  Labrador,  and  farther 
west.  But  the  consideration  of  those  diiferent 
people,  does  not  affect  our  subject. 

2.  Their  language  appears  clearly  to  have 
been  Hebrew.  In  this,  Doctor  Edwards,  Mr. 
Adair,  and  others  were  agreed.  Doct.  Edwards, 
after  having  a  good  acquaintance  with  their  lan 
guage,  gave  his  reasons  for  believing  it  to  have 
been  originally  Hebrew.  Both,  he  remarks,  are 
found  without  prepositions,  and  are  formed  with 
prefixes  and  suffixes  ;  a  thing  probably  known  to 
no  other  language.  And  he.  shows  that  not  only 


89 

the  words,  but  the  construction  of  phrases,  in 
both,  have  been  the  same.  Their  pronouns,  as 
well  as  their  nouns,  Doctor  Edwards  remarks, 
are  manifestly  from  the  Hebrew.  Mr.  Adair  is 
confident  of  the  fact,  that  their  language  is  He 
brew.  And  their  laconic,  bold  arid  command 
ing  figures  of  speech,  he  notes  as  exactly  agree 
ing  with  the  genius  of  the  Hebrew  language. — 
He  says,  that  after  living  forty  years  among  them, 
he  obtained  such  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  idi 
om  of  their  language,  that  he  viewed  the  event 
of  their  having  for  more  than  two  millenaries, 
and  without  the  aid  of  literature,  preserved  their 
Hebrew  language  so  pure,  to  be  but  little  short 
of  a  miracle. 

Relative  to  the  Hebraism  of  their  figures,  Mr. 
Adair  gives  the  following  instance,  from  an  ad 
dress  of  a  captain  to  his  warriors,  going  to  bat 
tle.  "  I  know  that  your  guns  are  burning  in  your 
hands  ;  your  tomahawks  are  thirsting  to  drink 
the  blood  of  your  enemies  ;  your  trusty  arrows 
are  impatient  to  be  upon  the  wing ;  and  lest  de 
lay  should  burn  your  hearts  any  longer,  I  give 
you  the  cool  refreshing  word ;  join  the  holy  ark  ; 
and  away  to  cut  of  the  devoted  enemy  /" 

A  table  of  words  and  phrases,  is  furnished  by 
Doct.  Boudinot,  from  Edwards,  Adair,  and  oth 
ers,  to  show  how  clearly  the  Indian  language  is 
from  the  Hebrew.  Some  of  these  Indian  words 
are  taken  from  one  tribe,  and  some  from  another. 
In  a  long  savage  state,  destitute  of  all  aid  from 
letters,  a  language  must  roll  and  change.  It  is 
strange  that  after  a  lapse  of  2500  years,  a  single 
word  should,  among  such  a  people,  be  preserved 
the  same.  But  the  hand  of  Providence  is  strik 
ingly  seen  in  this,  to  bring  that  people  to  light. 

8* 


90 


The  following  may  afford  a  specimen  of  the 
evidence  on  this  part  of  the  subject. 


English. 
Jehovah 
God 
Jah 
Shiloh 
Heavens 
Father 
Man 
Woman 
Wife 
Thou 
His  wife 
This  man 
JVose 

Roof  of  a  house 
Winter 
Canaan 
To  pray 
JVote 

Hind  part 
Do 

To  blow 
Rushing  wind 
Ararat,  or  high  mount 


Indian. 
Yohewah 
Ale 
Yah 
Shilu 
Chrmim 
Abba 
Wi,  Ishtc 
Ishto 
Awah 
Keah 
Liani 
Uwoh 
Nichiri 
Taubana-ora 
Kora 
Canaai 
Phale 
Na 
Kesh 
Jennais 
Phaubac     • 
Rowah 
Ararat 


PHRASES. 

English,  Indian. 

Very  hot  Heru  hara  or  hala 

Praise  to  the  First  Cause  Halleluwah 
Give  me  food  Natoni  boman 

Go  thy  way  Bayou  boorkaa 

(rood  be  to  you  Halea  tibou 

My  necklace  Yene  hali 

/  am  sick  Nane  guaete 


Hebrew; 
Jehovah 
Ale,  Aleim 
Jah 
Shiloh 
Shemiiu 
Abba 
Ish 
Ishto 

Eweh,  Eve 
Ka 

Lihene 
Huah 
Noheri 
Debonaour 
Cora 

Canaan 

Phalac 

Na 

Kish 

Jannoa 

Phauhe 

Ruach 

Ararat 


Hebrew. 
Hara  hara 
Hallelujah 
Natou.  bamen 
Boua  bouak 
Ye  hali  ettouboa 
Vongali 
Nance  heti 


Who  can  doubt  but  the  above  Indian  words 
and  phrases  were  from  their  corresponding  He 
brew  1  To  t>e  otherwise,  their  adoption  by  sav 
ages  must  be  miraculous.  And  if  they  be  from 
the  Hebrew,  surely  these  Indians  must  be  the 
ten  tribes  of  Israel. 


91 

Governor  Hutchinson  observed,  'that  "  many 
people  (at  the  time  of  the  first  sctiU-snet.it  of  New 
England,)  pleased  themselves  with  a  con.'o; "I;; re, 
that  the  Indians  in  America,  are  th<  !  irf 

of  the  ten  trihes  of  Israel."     Some-'  dis 

covered  so  early,  which  excited  this  \  -..- 

timent.  This  lias  been  noted  as  having  been  the 
sentiment  of  Rev.  Samuel  Sewall,  of  vice  presi 
dent  Willard,  and  others.  Governor  I Inu  liinson 
expresses  his  doubt  upon  the  sub'.ect,  oil  account 
of  the  dissimilarity  of  the  lart^uage  of  the  natives 
of  Massachusetts,  and  the  Hebrew.  Any  lan 
guage  in  a  savage  state,  must,  in  the  course  of 
2^00  years,  have  rolled  and  varied  exceedingly. 
This  is  shown  to  be  the  case  in  the  different  dia 
lects,  and  many  new  words  introduced  among 
those  tribes,  which  are  acknowledged  to  have 
their  language  radically  the  same. 

The  following  facts  are  enough  to  answer  eve 
ry  objection  on  this  ground.  The  Indians  had 
no  written  language.  Hence  the  English  schol 
ar  could  not  see  the  spelling  or  the  root  of  an/ 
Indian  word.  And  the  gutteral  pronunciation  of 
the  natives  was  such  as  to  make  even  the  He 
brew  word,  that  might  still  be  retained,  appear 
wholly  a  .different  word;  especially  to  those 
who  were  looking  for  no  Hebrew  language  among 
them.  And  the  following  noted  idiom  of  the 
Indian  language  was  calculated  to  hide  the  fact 
in  perfect  obscurity,  even  had  it  been  originally 
Hebrew,  viz. ;  the  Indian  language  consists  of  a 
multitude  of  monosyllables  added  together. — • 
Every  properly  or  circumstance  of  a  thing  to  be 
mentioned  by  an  Indian,  must  be  noted  by  a  new 
monosyllable  added  to  its  name.  Hence  it  was 
that  the  simple  word  our  loves,  must  be  express 
ed  by  the  following  long  Indian  word,  Noonom* 


ttntammoontcanunonnash.  Mr.  Golden,  in  his 
history  of  the  five  nations,  observes,  "They  have 
few  radical  words.  But  "they  compound  their 
words  without  end.  The  words  expressive  of 
things  lately  come  to  their  knowledge  (he  says) 
are  all  compounds.  And  sometimes  one  word 
among  them  includes  an  entire  definition  of  the 
thing."*  These  things  considered  of  a  language 
among  savages,  2500  years  after  their  expulsion 
from  Canaan,  must  answer  every  objection  aris 
ing  from  the  fact,  that  the  Indian  language  ap 
pears  very  different  from  the  Hebrew.  And  they 
must  render  it  little  less  than  miraculous  (as  Mr. 
Adair  says  it  is)  that  after  a  lapse  of  so  long  a 
period  among  savages,  without  a  book  or  letters, 
a  word  or  phrase  properly  Hebrew  should  still 
be  found  among  them.  Yet  such  words  and 
phrases  are  found.  And  many  more  may  yet  be 
found  in  the  compounds  of  Indian  words.  I 
have  just  now  observed,  in  dropping  my  eye  on 
a  Connecticut  Magazine  for  1803,  a  writer  on 
the  Indians  in  Massachusetts,  in  its  earliest  days, 
informs,  that  the  name  of  the  being  they  wor 
shipped  was  Abamocko.  Here,  without  any 
perception  of  the  fact,  he  furnishes  a  Hebrew 
word  in  compound.  Ahua-mccko  ;  father-mo- 
cho.  As  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  the  south  call 
God,  Abba-mingo-ishio  ;  Father-chief-man.  In 
the  latter,  we  have  two  Hebrew  words  ;  Abba, 
father,  and  Ish,  man.  Could  we  make  proper 
allowance  for  Pagan  pronunciation,  and  find  how 
the  syllables  in  their  words  ought  to  be  spelled, 
we  might  probably  find  many  more  of  the  Hebrew) 
roots  in  their  language. 

^See  the  Connecticut  Magazine,  Vol.  HI.  p.  367. 


03 

S.  The  Indians  have  had  their  imitation  of  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  in  ancient  Israel.  Different 
travellers,  and  from  different  regions  unite  in 
this.  Mr.  Adair  is  full  in*his  account  of  it.  It 
is  a  small  square  box,  made  convenient  to  carry 
on  the  back.  They  never  se*t  it  on  the  ground, 
but  on  logs  in  low  ground  where  stones  are  not 
to  be  had  ;  and  on  stones  where  they  are  to  be 
found.  This  author  gives  the  following  account 
of  it.  "  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  (he  says.)  that 
they  never  place  the  ark  on  the  ground,  nor  sit 
©n  the  Lare  earth  when  they  are  carrying  it 
against  an  enemy.  On  hilly  ground,  where 
sto'hes  are  plenty,  they  place  it  on  them.  But  in 
level  land,  upon  short  logs,  always  resting  them 
selves  (i.  e.  the  carriers  of  the  ark)  on  the  same 
materials.  They  have  also  as  strong  a  faith  of 
the  power  and  holiness  of  their  ark,  as  ever  the 
Israelites  retained  of  theirs.  The  Indian  ark  is 
deemed  so  sacred  and  dangerous  to  touch,  either 
by  their  own  sanctified  warriors,  or  the  spoiling 
enemy,  that  neither  of  them  dare  meddle  with  it 
on  any  account.  It  is  not  to  be  handled  by  any 
except  the  chieftian  and  his  waiter,  under  penal 
ty  of  incurring  great  evil ;  nor  would  the  most 
inveterate  enemy  dare  to  touch  it.  The  leader 
virtually  acts  the  part  of  a  priest  of  war,  pro  tem- 
pore,  in  imitation  of  the  Israelites  lighting  under 
the  divine  military  banner." 

Dact.  Boudinot  says  of  this  ark,  "  It  may  be 
called  the  ark  of  the  covenant  imitated."  In 
time  of  peace  it  is  the  charge  of  their  high  priests. 
In  their  wars,  tney  make  great  account  of  it. 
The  leader  (acting  as  high  priest  on  that  occa 
sion,)  and  his  darling  waiter,  carry  it  in  turns. — 
They  deposit  in  the  ark  some  of  their  most  con 
secrated  articles.  The  two"  carriers  of  this  sa- 


94 


symbol,  before  setting  off  with  it  for  the 
war,  purify  themselves  longer  than  do  the  rest 
of  the  warriors.  The  waiter  bears  their  ark 
during  a  battle.  It  is  strictly  forbidden  for  any 
one,  but  the  proper  officer,  to  look  into  it.  An 
enemy,  if  they  capture  it,  treat  it  with  the  same 
reverence. 

Doctor  Boudinot  says,  that  a  gentleman,  who 
was  at  Ohio,  in  1756,  informed  him  that  while, 
he  was  there,  he  saw  among  the  Indians,  a  stran 
ger,  who  appeared  very  desirous  to  look  into  the 
ark  of  that  tribe.  The  ark  was  then  standing  on 
a  block  of  wood,  covered  with  a  dressed  deer 
skin.  A  centinel  v,  as  guarding  it,  armed  with  a 
bow  and  arrow.  The  centinel  finding  the  intru 
der  pressing'  on,  to  look  into  the  ark,  drew  his 
arrow  at  his  head,  and  vrould  have  dropped  him 
on  the  spot  ;  but  the  stranger  perceiving  his  dan 
ger,  fled.  Who  can  doubt  ojf  the  origin  of  this 
Indian  custom  ?  And  who  can  resist  the  evidence 
it  furnishes,  that  here  are  the  tribes  of  Israel  ? 
See  Num.  x.  35,  33,  and  xiv.  44. 

4.  The  American  Indians  have  practised  cir 
cumcision.  Doct.  Beat}',  in  his  journal  of  a  visit 
to  the  Indians  in  Ohic,  between  fifty  and  sixty 
years  ago,  says,  that  "  an  old  Indian  informed 
him,  that  an  eld  uncle  of  his.  who  died  about  the 
year  1728,  related  to  him  several  customs  of  for 
mer  times  among  the  Indians  ;  and  among  the  rest, 
that  circumcieion  was  long  ago  practised  among 
them,  but  that  their  young  men  made  a  mock  of  it, 
and  it  fell  into  disrepute  and  was  discontinued." 
Mr.  M'Kenzie  informs,  that  in  his  travels  among 
the  Indians,  he  was  led  to  believe  the  same  fact,  of 
a  tribe  far  to  the  north-west  ;  as  stated  in  the  'Star 
in  the  West.'  Doctor  Boudinot  assures  that  the 
eastern  Indians  inform  of  its  having  been  prac- 


95 

tised  among  them  in  times  past ;  but  that  latter 
ly,  not  being  able  to  give  any  account  of  so 
strange  a  rite,  their  young  men  had  opposed  it, 
and  it  was  discontinued.  Jmmanuei  de  Moraez, 
in.  his  history  of  Brazil,  says  it  was  practised 
among  the  native  Brazilians.  What  savage  na 
tion  could  ever  have  conceived  of  such  a  rite, 
had  they  not  descended  from  Israel. 

5.  The  native  Americans  have  acknowledged 
•ne,  and  only  one  God  ;  and  thty  have  generally 
views  concerning  the  one  Great  Spirit,  of  which 
no  account  can  be  given,  but  that  they  derived 
them  from  ancient  revelation  in  Israel.  Other 
nations  destitute  of  revelation,  have  had  their 
many  gods.  But  little  short  of  three  hundred 
thousand  gods  have  existed  in  the  bewildered 
imaginations  of  the  pagan  world.  Every  thing, 
almost,  has  been  deified  by  the  heathen.  Not 
liking  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  and  pro 
fessing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools  ; 
and  they  changed  the  glory  of  the  one  living  God, 
into  images,  and  beasts,  birds,  reptiles,  and  creep 
ing  things.  There  has  been  the  most  astonishing 
inclination  in  the  world  of  mankind  to  do  thus. 
But  here  is  a  new  world  of  savages,  chiefly,  if  not 
wholly,  free  from  such  wild  idolatry.  Doctor 
Boudinot  (being  assured  by  many  good  witness 
es,)  says  of  the  Indians  who  have  been  known  in 
his  day  ;  "  They  were  never  known  (whate\er 
mercenary  Spanish  writers  may  have  written  to 
the  contrary)  to  pay  the  least  adoration  to  ima 
ges  or  dead  persons,  to  celestial  luminaries,  to 
evil  spirits,  or  to  any  created  beings  whatever." 
Mr.  Adair  says  the  same,  and  assures  that  "none 
of  the  numerous  tribes  and  nations,  from  Hud- 
ion's  LdV  to  the  Mississippi,  have  ever  been 
to  attempt  the  formation  of  any  image  of 


96 

God."  Du  Pratz  was  very  intimate  with  the 
chief  of  those  Indians  called  "  the  Guardians  of 
the  Temple,"  near  the  Mississippi.  He  inquir 
ed  of  them  of  the  nature  of  their  worship.  The 
chief  informed  him  that  they  worshipped  the 
great  and  most  perfect  Spirit;  and  said,  "  He  is 
so  great  and  powerful,  that  in  comparison  with 
him  all  others  are  as  nothing.  Fie  made  all 
things  that  we  see,  and  all  things  that  we  cannot 
see."  The  chief  went  on  to  speak  of  God  as 
having  made  little  spirits,  called  free  servants, 
who  always  stand  before  the  Great  Spirit  ready 
to  do  his  vyill.  That  "the  air  is  filled  with  spirits  ; 
some  good,  some  bad  ;  and  that  the  bad  have  a 
chief  who  is  more  wicked  than  the  rest."  Here 
it  seems  is  their  traditional  notion  of  good  a  ;d 
bad  angels  ;  and  of  Beelzebub,  the  chief  of  the 
latter.  This  chief  being  asked  how  God  made 
man,  replied,  that  "  God  kneaded  some  clay, 
made  it  into  a  little  man,  and  finding  it  was  well 
formed,  he  blew  on  his  work,  and  the  man  had 
life  and  grew  up  !"  .  Being  asked  of  the  creation 
of  the  wo-nan,  he  said,  "their  ancient  speech 
made  no  mention  of  any  (inference,  only  that  the 
man  wjs  made  first."  Moses'  account  of  the 
formation  of  the  woman,  it  seems,  had  been  lost. 
Mr.  Adair  is  very  full  in  this,  that  the  Indians 
have  but  one  God,  the  Great  Yohewah,  whom 
they  call  the  great,  beneficent,  supreme  and  holy 
S^rit,  who  dwells  above  the  clouds,  and  who 
dwells  with  good  people,  and  is  the  only  object 
of  worship."  So  different  are  they  from  all  the 
idolatrous  heathen  upoa  earth.  He  assures  that 
they  hold  this  great  divine  Spirit  as  the  immedi 
ate  head  of  their  community  ;  which  opinion  he 
conceives  they  must  have  derived  from  the  an- 
oieut  theocracy  in  Israel.  He  assures  that  the 


97 

Indians  are  intoxicated  with  religious  pride, 
and  call  all  other  people  the  accursed  people  ; 
and  have  time  out  of  mind  been  accustomed  to 
hold  them  in  great  contempt.  Their  ancestors 
they  boast  to  have  been  under  the  immediate 
government  of  Yohewah,  who  was  with  them, 
and  directed  them  by  his  prophets,  while  the  rest 
of  the  world  were  outlaws,  and  strangers  to  the 
covenant  of  Yohewah.  The  Indians  thus  please 
themselves  (Mr.  Adair  assures  us)  with  the  idea 
that  God  has  chosen  them  from  the  rest  of  man 
kind  as  his  peculiar  people.  This,  he  says,  has 
been  the  occasion  of  their  hating  other  people  ; 
and  of  viewing  themselves  hated  by  all  men. — 
These  things  show  that  they  acknowledge  but 
one  God. 

The  Peruvians  have  been  spoken  of  as  pay 
ing  adoration  to  the  sun  ;  and  as  receiving  their 
race  of  Inr-is.  as  children  of  the  sun.  in  their  sac- 
cession  of  twelve  monarchies.  The  Indians  have 
had  much  of  ai  apprehension  that  their  one 
Great  Spirit  had  a  great  affinity  to  lire.  And  the 
Peruvians,  it  seems,  went  so  far  as  to  embody  him 
in  the  sun.  Here  seems  a  shred  of  mixture  of 
the  Persian  idolatry,  with  the  theocracy  of  Is 
rael.  As  the  more  ancient  Israelites  caught  a 
degree  of  the  idolatrous  distemper  of  Egypt,,  as 
appears  in  their  golden  calf;  so  the  ten  tribes, 
the  time  they  resided  in  Media,  and  before  they 
set  off  for  America,  may  have  blended  some  idea 
of  fire  with  their  or°  God.  But  the  veneration 
the  Peruvians  had  ior  their  Incas,  as  children  of 
the  Most  High,  seems  but  a  shred  of  ancient  tra 
dition  from  Israel,  that  their  kings  were  divinely 
anointed  ;  arid  is  so  far  from  being  an  argument 
against  their  being  of  Israel,  that  it  operates  rath* 
er  in  favour  of  the  fact. 
9 


98 

Doctor  Boudinot  informs  of  the  southern  IB- 
dians  of  North  America,  that  they  had  a  name 
for  God,  which  signifies,  "the  great,  beloved,  ho 
ly  cause."  And  one  of  their  names  of  God,  is 
Mingo  Ishto  Abba  ; — Great  Chief  Father.  Me 
speaks  of  a  preacher's  being  among  the  Indians 
at  the  south,  before  the  American  revolution, 
and  beginning  to  inform  them  that  there  is  a  God 
who  created  all  things.  Upon  which  they  indig 
nantly  replied,  "Go  about  your  business,  you  fool: 
do  not  we  know  there  is  a  God,  as  well  as  you?" 

In  their  sacred  dances,  these  authors  assure  us 
the  Indians  sing  "Halieluyah  Yohewah; — praise 
to  Jah  Jehovah.  When  they  return  victorious 
from  their  wars,  they  sing,  Yo-he-wah  ;  having 
been  by  tradition  taught  to  ascribe  the  praise  to 
God. 

The  same  authors  assure  us,  the  Indians  make 
great  use  of  the  initials  of  the  mysterious  name 
of  God,  like  the  tetragrammanaton  of  the  ancient 
Hebrews  ;  or  the  four  radical  letters  which  form 
the  name  of  Jehovah  ;  as  the  Indians  pronounce 
thus,  Y-O-He-Wah.  That  like  the  ancient 
Hebrews,  they  are  cautious  of  mentioning  these 
together,  or  at  once.  They  sing  and  repeat  the 
syllables  of  this  name  in  their  sacred  dances  thus; 
Yo-yo,  or  ho-ho-he-he-wah-wah.  Mr.  Adair 
upon  the  same,  says  ;  "  After  this  they  begin 
again ;  Hal-hal-le-le-lu-lu-yah-yah.  And  fre 
quently  the  whole  train  strike  up,  hallelu-hallelu 
halleluyah— halleJuyah."  They  frequently  sing 
the  name  of  Shilu  (Shiloh,  Christ)  with  the  syl*- 
lables  of  the  name  of  God  added  ;  thus,  "  Shilu— 
yo-Shilu-yo-Shilu-he-Shilu-he— Shilu-\vah-Shilu 
-wah."  Thus  adding  to  the  name  of  Shilu,  the 
of  Jehovah  by  its  sacred  s)iiables.  Things 


99 

like  these  have  been  found  among  Indians  of  dif* 
ferent  regions  of  America.  Syllables  and  letters 
of  the  name  of  G<3d  have  been  so  transposed  in  dif 
ferent  ways;  and  so  strange  and  gutteral  has  been, 
the  Indian  pronunciation,  that  it  seems  it  took  a 
long  time  to  perceive  that  these  savages  were  by 
tradition  pronouncing  the  names  of  the  God  of  Is 
rael.  Often  have  people  been  informed, and  smil 
ed  at  the  fact,  that  an  Indian,  hurt  or  frightened, 
usually  cries  out  wah !  This  is  a  part  of  his  tradi 
tional  religion  ;  O  Jah !  or  O  Lord  ! 

Doctor  Williams  upon  the  Indians'  belief  of 
the  being  of  God,  observes  ;  "  They  denominate 
the  deity  the  Great  Spirit;  the  Great  Man  above; 
and  seein  to  have  some  general  ideas  of  his  gov 
ernment  and  providence,  universal  power  and 
dominion.  The  immortality  of  the  soul  was  ev 
ery  where  admitted  among  the  Indian  tribes." 

The  Rev.  Ithamar  Hebard,  formerly  minister 
of  this  place,  related  the  following  :  That  about 
fifty  years  ago,  a  number  of  men  were  sent  from 
New-England  by  the  government  of  Britain  into 
the  region  of  the  Mississippi,  to  form  some  treaty 
with  the  Indians.  That  while  these  commission 
ers  were  there,  having* tarried  for  some  time;  an 
Indian  chief  came  from  the  distance  of  what  he 
called  several  moons  to  the  westward.  Having 
heard  that  white  men  were  there,  he  came  to  in 
quire  of  them  where  the  Great  Being  dwelt,  who 
made  all  things.  And  being  informed,  through  an 
interpreter,  of  the  divine  omnipresence;  he  raised 
his  eyes  and  hands  to  heaven  with  great  awe  and 
ecstacy.and  looking  round,  and  leaping,  he  seem 
ed  to  express  the  greatest  reverence  and  delight. 
The  head  man  of  these  commissioners  had  been 
a  profane  man ;  but  this  incident  cured  him,  so 


100 

that  he  was  not  heard  to  utter  another  profane 
word  on  this  tour.  This  was  related  to  Mr.  He- 
bard  by  one  Elijah  Wood,  who  -was  an  eye  wit 
ness  of  the  scene,  and  who  was  afterward  a 
preacher  of  the  gospel.  The  son  of  Mr.  Hebard, 
a  settled  minister,  gives  this  relation. 

Let  this  fact  of  the  Indians  generally  adhering 
to  one,  ai)d  only  one  God,  be  contrasted  with  the 
polytheism  of  the  world  of  pagans,  and  heathen 
besides  ;  with  the  idle  and  ridiculous  notions  of 
heathen  gods  and  goddesses  ;  and  who  can  doubt 
of  the  true  origin  of  the  natives  of  our  continent? 
They  are  fatally  destitute  of  proper  views  of  God 
and  religion.  But  they  have  brought  down  by 
tradition  from  their  remote  ancestors,  the  notion 
of  there  being  bat  one  great  and  true  God;  which 
affords  a  most  substantial  argument  in  favour  of 
their  being  the  ancient  Israel. 

It  is  apreed  that  within  about  eighty  years,  a 
great  change  has  been  produced  among  the  In 
dians.  They  have,  in  this  period  much  degene 
rated  as  to  their  traditional  religion.  Their  con 
nexions  with  the  most  degenerate  part  of  the 
white  people,  trading  among  them  ;  and  their 
knowledge  and  use  of  ardent  spirit,  have  pro 
duced  the  most  deleterious  effects.  They  hove 
felt  less  zeal  to  maintain  their  own  religion1,  such 
as  it  was  ;  and  to  transmit  their  own  traditions. 
Remarkable  indeed  it  is,  that  they  did  so  dili 
gently  propagate  and  transmit  them,  till  so  com 
petent  a  number  of  good  testimonies  should  be 
furnished  to  the  civilized  and  religious  world,  re 
lative  to  their  origin.  This  must  have  been  the 
great  object  of  divine  Providence  in  causing 
them  so  remarkably  to  transmit  their  traditions 
through  such  numbers  of  ages.  And  when  the 


165 


carefully  retained.     These  are  instead  of 
ic  pages  and  religious  books. 

Some  of  these  Indian  traditions,  as  furnished 
from  good  authorities,  shall  be  given.     Different 
writers  agree  that  the  natives  have  their  historic 
traditions  of  the  reason  and  manner  of  iheir  fa 
thers  coming  into  this  country,  which  agree  with 
the  account  given  in  Esdras,  of  their  leaving  the 
laud  of  Media,  and  going  to  a  land  to  the  north 
east,  to  the  distance  of  a  year  and  a  half's  jour 
ney.     M'Kenzie  gives  the  following  account  of 
the  Chepewyan  Indians,  far  to  the  north-west. 
He  says,  "  They  have  also  a  tradition  among 
them,  that  they  originally  came  from  another 
country,  inhabited  by  very  wicked  people,  and 
had  traversed  a  great  lake,  which  was  in   one 
place,  narr.ow,  shallow,  and  full  of  islands,  where 
they  had  suffered  great  misery  ;    it  being  always 
winter,  with  ice,  and  deep  snows.     At  the  Cop 
per  Mine  River,  where  they  made  the  first  lai  d, 
the  ground  was  covered  with  copper,  over  which 
a  body  of  earth  has  since  been  collected  to  the 
depth  of  a   man's  height."      Doctor  Boudinot 
speaks  of  this  tradition  among  the  Indians,  — 
Some  of  them  call  that  obstructing  water  a  river. 
and  some  a  lake.      Some  give  account  of  their 
getting  over  it  ;    others  not.     What  a  striking 
description  is  here  found  of  the  passing  of  the 
natives  of  this  continent,  over  from  the  north 
east  of  Asia,  to  the  north-west  of  America,  at 
Beering's  Straits.     These  Straits,  all  agree,  are 
less  than  forty  miles  wide,  at  this  period  ;    and 
no  doubt  they  have  been  continually  widening. 
Doctor  Williams,  in  his  history  of  Vermont,  says 
they  are  but  eighteen   miles  wide.       Probably 
they  were  not  half  that  width  2500  years  ago. 
And  they  were  full  of  islands,  the  Indian  tradi- 


106 

t/on  assures  us.  Many  of  those  islands  may  have 
been  washed  away  5  as  the  Indian  tradition  says, 
•*the  sea  is  eating  them  up;"  as  in  Dr.  Boudinot. 

Oiher  tribes  assure  us,  that  their  remote  fa 
thers,  on  their  way  to  this  country,  "  came  to  a 
great  river  which  they  could  not  pass;  when  God 
dried  up  the  river  that  they  might  pass  over." 
Here  is  a  traditionary  notion  among  the  Indians, 
of  God's  anciently  drying  up  rivers  before  their 
ancestors.  Their  fathers  in  some  way  got  over 
Beering's  Straits.  And  having  a  tradition  of 
rivers  being  dried  up  before  the  fathers,  they  ap 
plied  it  to  this  event.  Those  straits,  after  Israel 
had  been  detained  for  a  time  there,  might  have 
been  frozen  over,  in  the  narrows  between  the  isl 
ands;  or  they  might  have  been  passed  by  canoes, 
or  some  craft.  The  natives  of  this  land,  be  they 
who  they  may,  did  in  fact  arrive  in  this  conti 
nent  ;  and  they  probably  must  have  come  over 
those  straits.  And  this  might  have  been  done 
by  Israel,  as  well  as  by  any  other  people. 

Relative  to  their  tradition  of  coming  where 
was  abundance  of  copper  ;  it  is  a  fact,  that  at, 
or  near  Beer'mg's  Straits,  there  is  a  place  called 
Copper  Island,  from  the  vast  quantities  of  this 
metal  there  found.  In  Grieve's  history  we  are 
informed  that  copper  there  covers  the  shore  in 
abundance  ;  so  that  ships  might  easily  be  loaded 
with  it.  The  Gazeteer  speaks  of  this,  and  that 
an  attempt  was  made  in  1770  to  obtain  this  cop 
per,  but  that  the  ice  even  in  July,  was  so  abun 
dant,  and  other  difficulties  such,  that  the  obiect 
was  'relinquished.  Here,  then,  those  natives 
made  their  way  to  this  land  ;  and  brought  down 
the  knowledge  of  this  event  in  their  tradition. 

Doctor  Boudinot  gives  it  as  from  good  author 
ity,  that  the  Indians  have  a  tradition  "  that  the 


167 

book  which  the  white  people  have,  was  onee 
theirs.  That  while  they  had  this  hook,  things 
went  well  with  them  ;  they  prospered  exceed 
ingly  ;  but  that  other  people  got  it  from  them  ; 
Unit  the  Indians  lost  their  credit ;  ofiended  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  suffered  exceedingly  from  the 
neighboring  nations;  and  that  the  Great  Spirit 
then  took  pity  on  them,  and  directed  them  to 
this  country."  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  God 
did,  by  his  special  providence,  direct  them  to 
some  sequestered  region  of  the  world,  for  the 
reasons  which  have  been  already  given.* 

*  We  have  a  prediction  relative  to  the  ten  tribes,  which 
fully  accords  with  the  things  exhibited  of  them,  and  of  the 
natives  of  our  land.  In  Amos  viii.  11,  12,  we  read  "Behold 
the  days  come,  saith  the  Lord  God,  that  1  will  send  a  famine 
in  the  land-;  not  a  famine  of  bread,  nor  a  thirst  for  water,  but 
of  hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord.  And  they  shall  wander 
from  sea  to  sea,  arid  from  the  north  even  unto  the  east;  they 
shall  run  to  and  fro,  to  seek  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  shall 
not  find  it."  This  prophecy  did  relate  to  the  ten  tribes.— 
Amos  was  a  prophet  to  them  :  he  lived  not  long  before  their 
expulsion,  from  which  they  have  never  yet  returned.  He  in 
the  context  predicted  this  expulsion,  as  then  just  at  hand. — 
See  v.  1.2,  14.  The  famine  here  predicted,  was  to  be  fulfill 
ed  while  they  were  in  their  outcast  state.  This  is  cleurly  ev 
ident  from  the  whole  connection. 

The  prediction  implies,  they  should  know  they  had  been 
blessed  with  the  word  of  God,  but  had  Wickedly  lost  it ;  as 
a  man  in  a  famine  knows  he  has  had  bread  or  food,  but  now 
has  it  not.  It  implies,  they  shall  feel  somethmg  what  they 
have  lost,  and  shall  wander.  They  shall  rove  fn.m  sea  to  sea; 
from  the  north  even  to  the  east.  They  shall  set  off  a  north 
cu:ir?R,  and  thence  east ;  or  be  led  to  wander  in  a  north-east 
direction  as  far  as  they  can  wander-;  from  the  Mediterranean, 
whence  they  set  out,  to  the  extremist  sea  in  the  opposite  di 
rection  north-east ;  to  the  Frozen  Ocean  ;  over  its  straits,  to 
the  Pacific;  and  to  the  Atlantic.  They  shall  run  to  and  fro,  over 
all  the  vast  regions,  the  dreary  wild*,  which  lie  between  those 
extreme  seas.  They  shall  retain  some  general  correct  idea 
of  God ;  but  shall  find  they  have  lost  h;s  word.  This  they 
shall  not  reg-ain,  till  their  long  famine  shall  close  in  the  last 
days.  How  exf  cliy  does  this  prophecy  accord  with  the  ac- 


108 

M'Kenzie  adds  the  following  accounts  of-  the 
Chepewyan  nation  :  "  They  believe  also  that  in 
ancient  times,  their  ancestors  lived  till  their  feet 
were  worn  out  with  walking,  and  their  throats 
with  eating.  They  describe  a  deluge,  when  the 
waters  spread  over  the  whole  earth,  except  the 
highest  mountains  ;  on  the  tops  of  which  they 
preserved  themselves."  This  tradition  of  the 
longevity  of  the  ancients,  and  of  the  ilood,  must 
have  been  from  the  word  of  God  in  ancient  Is 
rael. 

Abbe  Ciavigero  assures  us,  that  the  natives  of 
Mexico  had  the  tradition,  that  u  there  once  was 
a  great  deluge  ;  and  Tep/i,  in  order  to  save  him 
self  from  being  drowned,  embarked  in  a  ship, 

ooai.it  noted  in  Esdras,  and  with  the  Indian  tradition, ; which 
meets  it ;  of  their  fathers  being  led  iuto  this  country  !  They 
have  indeed  wandered  north-east,  and  from  north  to  east,  and 
•oath ;  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  to  tlv  end?  of  the 
earth.  They  have  r-in  to  and  fro  in  a  famine  of  the  word; 
retaining  some  general  view  of  God,  and  of  their  ancient 
blessings  under  him.  Eat  their  famine  and  savage  state  have 
still  continued.  From  their  savage  high  priests  they  have 
sought  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  from  their  vague  traditions; 
but  they  have  not  f  und  it. 

Bat  the  following  chapter  in  Amos,  engages  they  shall  find 
aga-ii  the  holy  oracles — v.  13 — 15.  u  Behold,  the  days  come, 
sa^.hthe  Lord,  that  the  ploughman  shall  overtake  the  reaper, 
and  the  treader  of  grapes  him  that  soweth  seed;  and  the 
mountains  shall  drop  sweet  wine  ;  and  all  the  hills  shall  melt. 
And  I  will  br.ng  again  the  captivity  of  my  people  Israel ;  and 
they  shall  build  the  waste  cities  and  inhabit  them,  and  they 
shall  plant  vineyards  and  drink  the  wine  thereof;  they  shall 
also  make  gardens  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them.  And  I  will 
plant  them  upon  their  land  ;  and  they  shall  no  more  be  pull 
ed  up  out  of  their  land,  which  I  have  given  them,  sailh  the 
Lord  thy  God."  Here  aro  the  rapid  scene?,  the  melting  mis 
sionary  events,  of  our  day.  Here  is  the  succeeding  recovery 
of  the  tribes  of  I=rael.  Here  is  thr  planting  of  them  in  their 
own  land,  and  their  permanent  residence  there,  to  the  end  of 
the  world  Never  ha*  this  restoration  had  even  a  primary 
a'eoutuplis  foment. 


109 

with  his  wife  and  children,  and  many  animals.— 
That  as  the  waters  abated,  he  sent  out  a  bird, 
which  remained  eating  dead  bodies.  He  then 
seat  out  a  little  bird,  which  returned  with  a  small 
branch." 

Doctor  Beattj  says,  that  an  Indian  in  Ohio  in 
formed,  that  one  of  their  traditions  was,  "  Once 
the  waters  had  overflowed  all  the  land,  and 
drowned  all  people  then  living,  except  a  few, 
who  made  a  great  canoe  and  were  saved." 

This  Indian  added,  to  Doctor  Beatty,  that  "  a 
long  time  ago,  the  people  went  to  build  a  high 
place  ;  that  while  they  were  building,  they  lost 
their  language,  and  could  not  understand  each 
other." 

Doctor  Bondinot  assures  us  that  two  ministers 
of  his  acquaintance  informed  him,  that  they  be 
ing  among  the  Ind  a-is  away  toward  the  Missis 
sippi,  the  Indians  there  (who  never  before  saw  a 
white  man.)  informed  him,  that  one  of  their  tra 
ditions  was, — a  great  while  ago  they  had  a  com- 
m  )  i  father,  who  had  the  other  people  under  him. 
Tnat  he  .had  twelve  soas  by  whom  he  adminis 
tered  his  government;  but  the  sons  behaving  illy, 
they  lost  this  government  over  the  other  people. 
This  the  two  ministers  conceived  to  be  a  pretty 
evident  traditionary  notion  concerning  Jacob  and 
his  twelve  sons. 

Various  traditions  of  the  Indians  strikingly  de 
note  their  Hebrew  extraction.  Doctor  Beatty 
(mentioned  by  Mr.  Boudinot)  informs  of  their 
feast,  called  the  hunter's  feast ;  answering,  he 
thinks,  to  the  Pentecost  in  ancient  Israel.  He 
describes  it  as  follows  : 

They  choose  twelve  men,  who  provide  twelve 
deer.    Each  of  the  twelve  men  cuts  afcaplin;  with 
these  they  form  a  tent,  covered  with  blankets* 
10 


no 

They  then  choose  twelve  stones  for  an  altar  of 
sacrifice.  Some  tribes,  he  observes,  choose  but 
ten  men,  ten  poles  and  ten  stones.  Here  seems 
an  evident  allusion  to  the  twelve  tribes;  and  also 
to  some  idea  of  the  ten  separate  tribes  of  Israel. 
Upon  the  stones  of  their  altar,  they  suiTcrcd  no 
tool  to  pass.  No  tool  might  pass  upon  a  certain 
altar  in  Israel.  The  middle  joint  of  the  thigh  of 
their  game,  Doctor  Beatty  informs,  the  Indians 
refuse  to  eat.  Thus  did  ancient  Israel,  after  the 
angel  had  touched  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thifch  in 
the  sinew  that  shrank  :  Gen.  xxxii.  25,  31,  32. 
"  In  short,  (says  Doctor  Beatty,)  1  was  astonish 
ed  to  find  so  many  of  the  Jewish  customs  pre 
vailing  among  them  ;  and  began  to  conclude 
there  was  some  affinity  between  them  and  the 
Jews." 

Col.  Smith,  in  his  history  of  New-Jersey,  says 
of  another  region  of  Indians,  "  They  never  cat 
of  the  hollow  of  the  thigh  of  any  thing  they  kill." 
Charlevoix  speaking  of  Indians  still  further  to 
the  north,  says,  he  met  with  people  who  con  id 
not  help  thinking  that  the  Indians  were  descend 
ed  from  the  Hebrews,  and  found  in  even  t\ 
some  affinity  between  them.  Some  things  he 
states;  as  on  certain  meals,  neglecting  the  UFC  of 
knives  ;  not  breaking  a  bone  of  the  animal  they 
eat ;  never  eating  the  part  under  the  lower  oint 
of  the  thigh;  but  throwing  it  away.  Sue: 
their  traditions  from  their  ancient  fathers.  Oth 
er  travellers  among  them  sr<e;.-k  of  their  peculiar 
evening  feast,  in  which  no  bone  of  !!••  ;r 
may  be  broken.  No  I"  ;  be  !m  !><  n  oi  il=o 

ancient  paschal  lamb  in  Israel,  which  was  eaten 
in  the  evening. 

Diilereikt  men  who  had   bef-n  r-vo  witnr 
speak  of  this,  ahd  other  I'tu^ls,  rL-rinbhng  the 


ill 

feasts  in  Israel ;  and  tell  us  relative  to  this  pecul 
iar  evening  feast,  that  if  one  family  cannot  eat  all 
they  have  prepared,  a  neighbouring  family  is  in 
vited  to  partake  with  them  ;  and  if  any  of  it  he 
still  left,  it  must  be  burned  before  the  next  rising 
sun.  None  who  read  the  law  of  the  passover, 
c;n  doubt  the  origin  of  this. 

A  Christian  friend  of  mine  informs  me,  that  he 
'-o rue  time  since  read  in  a  book  which  he  now 
c.rmot  name,  the  account  of  a  man  taken  at  Que- 
b.v,,  in  Montgomery's  defeat;  of  his  being  car 
ried  far  to  the  north-west  by  Indians  ;  and  of  a 
feast  which  they  kept,  iu.  which  each  had  his  por 
tion  in  a  bowl  ;  that  he  was  charged  to  be  very 
careful  not  to  injure  a  bone  of  it;  that  each  must 
cai  all  his  bowl  full,  or  must  burn  what  was  left 
on  a  tire,  burning  in  the  midst  for  this  purpose. 
The  object  of  the  feast  he  knew  not. 

Tiie  Indians  have  their  feasts  of  first  ripe  fruit?,, 
or  of  green  corn  ;  and  will  eat  none  of  their  com 
till  a  part  is  thus  given  to  God.  The  celebrated 
Pean,  Mr.  Adair,  and  Col.  Smith,  with  others, 
unite  in  these  testimonies.  In  these  Indian  feasts 
they  have  their  sacred  songs  and  dances  ;  singing 
Halleluyah,  Yoliewah,  in  the  syllables  which 
compose  the  words.  What  other  nation,  besides 
the  Hebrews  and  Indians  ever,  in  this  manner, 
attempted  the  worship  of  Jehovah  ?  The  author 
of  the  "  Star  in  the  West"  says  ;  "  May  we  not 
suppose  that  these  Indians  formerly  understood 
the  psalms  and  divine  hymns  1  Otherwise,  how 
came  it  to  pass,  that  some  of  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  extensive  regions  of  North  and  South 
America  have,  and  retain,  these  very  expressive 
Hebrew  words,  and  repeat  them  so  distinctly  ; 
,  them  after  the  manner  of  the  Hebrews,  in 
their  religious  acclamations  ?" 


112 

The  Indian  feast  of  harvest,  and  annual  expi 
ation  of  sin,  is  described  by  these  writers  ;  and 
in  a  way  which  enforces  the  conviction  that  they 
derived  them  from  ancient  Israel.  Details  are 
given  in  the  Star  in  the  West.  My  limits  will 
permit  only  to  hint  at  them.  The  detailed  ac 
counts  are  worth  perusing. 

An  Indian  daily  sacrifice  is  described.  They 
throw  a  small  piece  of  the  fattest  of  their  meat 
into  the  fire,  before  they  eat.  They  draw  their 
newly  killed  venison  through  the  fire.  The  blood 
they  often  burn.  It  is  with  them  a  horrid  abom 
ination  to  eat  the  blood  of  their  game.  This  was 
a  Hebrew  law. 

A  particular  or  two  of  their  feasts  shall  be  no 
ted.      Doctor  Beatty  gives  an  account  of  what 
he  saw  among  the  Indians  north-west  of  the  Ohio, 
lie  says  ;   "  Before  they  make  use  of  any  of  the 
first  fruits  of  the  ground,  twelve  of  their  old  men 
meet;    when  a  deer  and  some  of  the  first  fruits 
are  provided.     The  deer  is  divided  into  twelve 
parts  ;  and  the  corn  beaten  in  a  mortar,  and  pre 
pared  for  use  by  boiling  or  baking,  under  the 
ashes,  and  of  course  unleavened.       This   also 
is    divided    into    twelve    parts.       Then    these 
(twelve)  men  hold  up  the  venision,  and  fruits 
and    pray,  with   their  faces   to    the   east,  ack 
nowledging    (as    is    supposed.)    the    bounty   of 
God  to  them.     It  is  then  eaten.     After  this  they 
freely  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  earth.      On  the 
evening  of  the  same  day,  (the  Doctor     '••;•  ;  OJPV 
have  another  public  feast  which  lool  •    i •!<«.•  the 
passover.     A  great  quantity  of  veniso. 
ded,  with  other  things  dressed  in  their   . 
and  distributed  to  all  the  guests  ;    of  v* 
eat  freely  that  evening.     But  that  which  \*  l- 
tbrown  into  the  fire  and  burned  ;    as 


113 

must  remain  till  sun  rise  the  next  day  ;  nor  must 
a  bone  of  the  venison  be  broken." 

Mr.  Boudinot  says,  "  It  is  fresh  in  the  memory 
of  the  old  traders,  (among  the  Indians)  as  we  are 
assured  by  those  who  have  long  lived  among 
them,  that  formerly  none  of  the  numerous  na 
tions  of  Indians  would  eat,  or  even  handle  any 
part  of  the  new  harvest,  till  some  of  it  had  been 
oilered  up  at  the  yearly  festival  by  the  beloved 
man  (high  priest)  or  those  of  his  appointment  at 
the  plantation ;  even  though  the  light  harvest  oi; 
the  past  year  should  almost  have  forced  them  to 
give  their  women  and  children  of  the  ripening 
fruits  to  sustain  life."  Who  that  reads  the  laws 
of  Moses,  can  doubt  the  origin  of  these  Indian 
traditions  ? 

The  Hebrews  were  commanded  to  eat  their 
passover  with  bitter  herbs  :  Exod.  xii.  8.  The 
Indians  have  a  notable  custom  of  purify  ing  them 
selves  with  bitter  herbs  and  roots.  Describing 
one  of  their  feasts^  the  writer  says,  "  At  the  end 
of  the  notable  dance,  the  old  beloved  women  re 
turn  home  to  hasten  the  feast.  In  the  mean  time 
every  one  at  the  temple  drinks  plentifully  of  the 
Cussena,  and  other  bitter  liquids,  to  cleanse  their 
sinful  bodies,  as  they  suppose." 

The  Indians  have  their  traditionary  notion 
clearly  alluding  to  the  death  of  Abel,  by  the  mur 
derous  hand  of  Cain  ;  as  well  as  one  alluding  to 
the  longevity  of  the  ancients. 

More  full  accounts  are  given  by  some  of  these 
authors,  of  the  Archi-magus  of  the  Indians — their 
high  priest.  As  the  high  priest  in  Israel  was  in 
ducted  into  office  by  various  ceremonies,  and  by 
anointing ;  so  is  the  Indian  high  priest  by  purifi 
cation,  and  by  anointing.  When  the  holy  gar 
ments  are  put  upon  him,  bear's  oil  is  poured  on 
10* 


114 

his  head.  And  it  is  slated  that  the  high  priests 
have  their  resemblances  of  the  various  orna 
ments  worn  by  the  ancient  high  priests  ;  and 
even  a  resemblance  of  the  breast-plate.  .These 
men  have  been  called  by  the  white  people,  igno 
rant  of  Indian  customs,  jugglers.  But  they  are 
now  ascertained  by  good  witnesses,  as  a  manifest 
though  corrupt  succession  of  the  high  priesthood 
in  ancient  Israel.  Bartram  says,  those,  with  in 
ferior  priests  and  prophets,  have  been  maintained 
in  most  if  not  all  the  tribes. 

The  Indian  high  priest  makes  his  yearly  atone 
ment  for  sin.     He  appears  at  their  temple,  (such 
as  it  is)  arrayed  in  his  white  deer  skin  garments, 
seeming  to  answer  to  the  ancient  ephod.    Enter 
ing  on  his  duty,  the  waiter  spreads  a  white  seat 
with  a  white  dressed  buckskin,  close  by  the  holi 
est  apartment  of  their  temple;    and  puts  on  his 
white  beads  offered  by  the  people.     A  variety  of 
curious  things  are  described  in  this  dress,  by  Mr. 
Adair,  as  pretty  evidently  designed  imitations  of 
the  parts  of   ancient  pontifical  dress,  which  it 
would  exceed  my  limits  to  describe.     This  dress 
is  left  in  the  holy  place  of  their  temple,  till  the 
hijrh  priest  comes  to  officiate  again.     His  breast 
plate  is  made  of  a  white  conch  shell,  through 
which  two  straps  of  otter  skin  pass  in  two  perfo 
rations  ;  while  white  buttons  of  buck's  horn  are 
superadded,  as  though  in  imitation  of  the  pre 
cious  stones  on  the  ancient  breast-plate, 
skin  wreath  adorns  his  head,  instead  of  t 
cient  plate  of  gold.     And  for  the  ancient 
the  Archi-magus,  has  his  tuft  of  white  ft; 
His  holy  fire  he  obtains  by  rubbing  two  sti 
gether ;    and  his  golden  bells  and  pomcgi 
are  formed  of  the  dried  spurs  of  wild  tn- 
strung  so  as  to  rattle  on  his  line  mocasins* 


/  Mr.  Adair  assures  us,  when  the  Fndian  Archi- 
magus  (high  priest)  is  addressing  his  people,  and 
enforcing  4*  the  divine  speech,"  that  he  calls 
them  "  the  beloved  and  holy  people,"  according 
to  the  language  concerning  ancient  Israel.  He 
urges  them  %cto  imitate  their  virtuous  ancestors," 
asid  "  flourishes  upoa  their  beloved  land,  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey." 

Mr.  Adair  describes  the  Indian  feasts,  and 
speaks  of  them  as  hearing  a  very  near  resem 
blance  of  the  stated  feasts  in  ancient  Israel.  He 
gives  accounts  that  when  the  Indians  are  about 
to  engage  in  war,  they  have  their  preparatory 
sacrifices,  purifications,  and  fastings.  .  He  speaks 
of  their  daily  sacrifice,  their  ablutions,  marriages, 
divorces,  burials,  mournings  for  the  dead,  sepa 
rations  of  women,  and  punishment  of  various 
crimes,  as  being,  in  his  opiaioa,  manifestly  of 
Hebrew  origin. 

Their  reckonings  of  time,  Mr.  Adair  viewed 
as  evidently  Hebrew.  They  begin  their  year, 
as  did  Israel,  at  the  first  appearance  of  new  moon 
after  the  vernal  equinox.  They  reckon  by  the 
foar  seasons,  and  by  the  sub-divisions  of  the 
moons. 

Bartram  says,  the  Indians  believe  their  bigfe 
priests  have  intimate  communion  with  the  world 
of  spirits  ;  and  that  no  great  design  is  formed  by 
the  '  '  is  without  his  counsel. 

Thr  Wmipoils,  far  to  the  west,  we  learn  in 
C'A\r-  ' '  rver's  travels  among  the  western  In 
dia^,  have  their  high  priest,  who  pretends  to 
!macy  with  the  Great  Spirit,  and  to  be 
etel  future  events  ;  as  is  the  case  with 
1'ioes,  at  the  Grand  Portage.  Certain 
he  thus  found  among  different  Indians, 


116 

\vhich  show  them  to  have  been  of  the  same  ori 
gin. 

Within  about  eighty  years,  men  inform,  that 
these  rites  of  the  high  priests  have  been  more 
neglected.  The  Indians  inform,  that  in  1747, 
the  high  priest  in  the  Natchez,  was  struck  dead 
by  lightning,  while  using  his  invocation  for  rain. 
They  suppose  the  Great  Spirit  to  have  been  an 
gry  with  him  for  some  impurity  ;  and  with  the. 
"  darting  fire,  and  threatening  voice,"  took  him 
away ;  arid  forbid  them  to  renew  the  like  at 
tempt. 

Bartram  gives  a  description  of  a  southern  In 
dia:!  temple.  It  is  a  square  of  small  buildings  in 
the  centre  of  their  Indian  town.  The  small 
buildings  of  one  story  cover  perhaps  half  an  acre, 
more  or  less,  according  to  the  strength  of  the 
In  be.  In  one  of  these  buildings  they  hold  their 
councils.  A  part  of  this  building  is  shut  up  as  a 
holy  of  holies ;  and  it  is  death  f^r  any  but  the 
high  priest,  to  enter  it.  Here  they  deposit  their 
most  sacred  things ;  as  the  physic-pot,  rattles, 
vts,  eagle's  tail,  and  pipe  of  peace. 

To  this  temple  u  the  males  (as  in  ancient  Is 
rael)  are  obliged  to  assemble  three  times  a  year  : 
viz.  at  the  feast  of  the  first  ripe  fruits  ;  at  the 
feast  for  the  success  of  hunting,  about  the  time 
of  the  ancient  pentecost ;  and  the  great  feast  for 
the  expiation  of  sins,  about  the  time  of  ripe  corn."' 
No  account  could  be  given  of  these  things,  with 
out  a  complicated  miracle,  unless  the  Indians 
have  descended  from  the  tribes  of  Israel. 

Mr.  Boudinot  informs,  that  '-when  any  of  their 
beloved  people  die,  they  soften  the  thought  ot" 
death  by  saying,  "he  is  gone  to  sleep  with  his  be 
loved  fathers."  The  ancient  pious  Hebrew  cly- 


147 

ing,  "  fell  asleep,  and  was  gathered  to  his  peo 
ple." 

The  Indians,  when  one  dies,  wash  and  anoint 
the  body.  The  Hebrews  did  the  same. 

Some  of  the  southern  Indians  hire  mourners 
to  bewail  and  magnify  the  merits  of  the  dead. 
Thus  did  the  Hebrews  :  Jer.  ix.  1 7.  And  the 
Indians,  as  had  the  Hebrews,  have  their  solemn 
gongs  on  such  occasions.  A  religious  procession 
moves  round  the  corpse,  singing,  Yah,  (Jah.) 
Ho,  is  then  sung  by  the  procession.  The  leader 
then  says  He; — all  follow.  Then  Wah  is  sung 
by  all.  Thus  they  sing  the  syllables  which  com 
pose  Jah,  Jehovah.  The  corpse  is  then  buried 
with  the  face  to  the  east. 

Lewis  and  Clark,  in  their  tour  to  the  Pacific, 
inform  that  they  found  among  the  natives,  in 
those  remote  regions,  receptacles  for  the  dead, 
always  lying  east  and  west;  the  door  of  the  tomb 
to  the  east,  and  the  bodies  in  the  tombs  lying 
with  the  face  to  the  east. 

The  Indians,  often  bury  with  the  corpse  a  va 
riety  of  furniture  ;  and  their  bes>t  things,  if  the 
dead  be  a  first  character.  The  Hebrews  did  the 
same.  Josephus  informs  that  Hyrcaims,  a  Mac- 
cabee,  when  Jerusalem  was  besieged  by  the  Syr 
ian  tyrant,  and  money  was  wanted,  took  from 
King  David's  sepulchre  3000  talents,  which  had 
1300  years  before  been  buried  with  him. 

Another  noted  Hebrew  custom  the  Indians 

Doctor  Boudinot  informs,  that  a  worthy 

rni»ns':er  informed  him,  that  as  he  was  preaching 

vi:'!«  irome  Indians;    between  the  exercises,  ti- 

vvere  brought  to  an  Indian  woman  present, 

tl  .-•'    her  son  was  suddenly  drowned.      In  deep 

s  she  retired  to  a  little  distance,  and  sat 

oil  i      ground.       Female  friends  followed*  and? 


«*(  around  her.  After  sitting  a  season  in  solemn 
Siie  ice,  the  m  >urni  ig  mother  put  her  hand  upon 
her  mouth,  an-i  then  fell  forward  vv  th  her  face 
in  the  dust.  Tlie  rest  all  followed  the  exam  >  f. 
The  men  we-it  by  thernselvres,  and  did  the  same. 
It  is  well  known  that  laying  the  hand  on  the 
mouth,  and  the  mouth  in  the  dust,  is  a  distin 
guished  Hebraism.  See  Micah  vii.  16  ;  Lam. 
iii.  29  ;  Prov.  xxx.  32. 

Thus  the  reader  is  presented  with  a  few  of  the 
historical  and  religious  traditions  of  the  native 
Americans  ;  and  will  judge  for  himself  whether 
they  do  not  exhibit  satisfactory  evidence  that 
these  natives,  are  the  very  tribes  of  Israel  ? 

So  important  an  argument  is  furnished  on  fhi> 
subject,  from  the  Indians'  place  of  refuge   from 
<-tr  of  blood,  tlrat  a  particular  head :$hall 
be  reserved  for  it,  in  a  succeeding  page. 

Among  what  other  people  on  earth  can  such 
traditional  evidence  be  found  of  their  being  the 
descendants  of  the  ten  tribes  ?  It  is  believed  no 
other  nation  exhibits  such  evidence.  Whence 
came  the  natives  of  our  continent,  if  they  be  not 
the  tribes  of  Israel  /  And  where  are  ri-.  ;sc  rrlSji.'s 
to  be  found?  They  are  to  be  found.  UHJ  come 
to-light,  as  Israelites;  and  this  too,  about  the 
present  period.  This  results  from  the  prophetic 
scriptures,  and  the  signs  of  the  times.  The  de- 
lants  of  Abraham  are  now  soon  to  be  recov- 
L  Where  shall  this  branch  of  them  be  found 
as  having  been  providentially  preserved,  now  for 
2,500  years,  if  not  in  this  sequestered  land  ?  Tiu- 
tribes  of  Israel  might  have  found  their  way  hith 
er,  as  well  as  any  other  people.  Some  people 
did  find  their  way  hither,  and  have  brought  down 
ail  these  Hebraisms  and  traditions, which  it  seems 


119 

as  though  could  be  furnished  from  no  other  quar 
ter,  than  from  the  comrnomveaith  of  isn;t'.. 

7.  The  celebratyd  William  P<rm*  gicas  acco-wils 
of  the  natives  of  Pennsylvania.^  which  go  to  cor 
roborate  the  same  point.  Mr.  Perm  saw  the  In 
dians  of  Pennsylvania,  before  they  had  been  af 
fected  with  the  rude  treatment  of  the  white  peo 
ple.  And  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  England, 
he  thus  writes  of  those  natives  ;  u  1  found  them 
with  like  countenances  with  the  Hebrew  race  ; 
and  their  children  of  so  lively  a  resemblance  to 
them,  that  a  man  would  think  himself  in  Duke's 
piace,  or  Barry -street,  in  London,  when  he  sees 
them."  Here,  without  the  least  previous  idea 
of  those  natives  being  Israelites,  that  shrewd 
man  was  struck  with  their  perfect  resemblance 
of  them  ;  and  with  other  things  which  will  be  no 
ted.  He  speaks  of  their  dress  and  trinkets,  as 
notable,  like  those  of  ardent  Israel  ;  their  ear- 
3,  nose  jewels,  bracelets  on  their  aims  and 
Je^s,  rings  (such  as  they  were)  on  their  lingers, 
necklaces,  made  of  polished  shells  foui>d  in  their 
rivers,  and  on  their  coasts;  bands,  slit .•!.-*  ti;  -\ 
feathers  ornamenting  the  heads  of  femaies,  and 
various  strings  of  beads  adorning  several  pans 
of  the  body. 

Mr.  Peim  adds  to  his  friend,  that  "  he  consid 
ered  this  people  as  under  a  dark  night ;  yet 
they  believed  in  God  and  immortality,  without 
the  help  of  metaphysics.  For  he  says,  they  in 
formed  him  that  there  was  a  great  king,  who 
made  them — that  the  souls  of  the  good  shall  go 
to  Siim."  He  adds  ;  u  Their  worship  consists  in 
two  parts,  sacriiice  and  cantieo,  (songs.)  The 
first  is  with  their  first  fruits  ;  and  the  first  buck 

*  Quoted  by  Dr.  Boudiiiot. 


ft* 

they  kill  goes  to  the  fire."  Mr.  Perm  proceeds 
to  describe  their  spjcndid  feast  oi  urn  ripe  iruits, 
one  of  which  he  had  attended.  He  informs  ; 
Ci  Ail  that  go  to  this  feast  must  take  a  piece  of, 
money,  which  is  made  of  the  bone  of  a  fi?li." — 
"  None  shall  appear  before  me  empty."  He 
speaks  of  the  agreement  of  their  rites  with  those 
of  the  Hebrews.  He  adds  ;  "  They  reckon  by 
moons  ;  they  oiler  their  first  ripe  fruits ;  they 
have  a  kind  of  feast  of  tabernacles  ;  they  are 
said  to  lay  their  altars  with  twelve  stones  ;  they 
mourn  a  year;  they  have  their  separations  of 
women  ;  with  many  other  things  that  do  not  now 
occur."  Here  is  a  most  artless  testimony,  given 
by  that  notable  man  drawn  from  his  own  obser 
vations,  and  accounts  given  by  him;  while  the 
thought  of  this  people's  being  actually  Hebrew, 
probably  was  most  distant  from  his  mind. 

8.  Their  having  a  tribe,  answering  in  -carious 
respects,  to  the  tribe  of  Lcvi,  sheds  further  light 
on  this  subject.  The  thought  naturally  occurs, 
that  if  these  are  the  ten  tribes,  and  they  have 
preserved  so  many  of  their  religious  traditions  ; 
should  we  not  be  likely  to  find  among  them  some 
tradition  of  a  tribe  answering  to  the  tribe  of  Le- 
vi  fl  If  we  should  find  something  of  this,  the  evi 
dence  of  their  being  the  tribes  of  Israel  would 
indeed  be  more  striking.  Possibly  this  is  fur 
nished.  The  Mohawk  tribe  were  held  by  the 
other  tribes  in  great  reverence  ;  and  the  other 
tr?bcs  round  about  them  had  been  accustomed  to 
pay  them  an  annual  tribute.  Mr.  Boudiuot  gives 
the  following  account  of  them.  "  Mr.  Golden 
says,  he  had  bee.i  told  by  old  men  (Indians)  in 
New-England,  that  when  their  Indians  were  ;:t 
war  formerly  with  the  Mohawks,  as  soon  as  one 
(a  Mohawk)  appeared,  the  Indians  would  raise  a 


121 

cry,  from  hill  to  hill,  a  Mohawk  !  a  Mohawk  !  up 
on  which  all  would  flee  as  sheep  before  a  wolf, 
without  attempting  to  make  the  least  resistance. 
And  that  all  the  nations  around  them  have  for 
many  years,  entirely  submitted  to  their  advice, 
and  paid  them  a  yearly  tribute.  And  the  tribu 
tary  nations  dared  not  to  make  war  or  peace,  with 
out  the  consent  of  the  Mohawks."  Mr.  Coidea 
goes  on  to  state  an  instance  of  their  speech  to 
the  governor  of  Virginia,  in  which  it  appears  the 
Mohawks  were  the  correctors  of  the  misdoings  of 
the  other  tribes. 

Now,  could  any  thing  be  found  in  their  name, 
which  might  have  an  allusion  to  the  superiority 
of  the  tribe  of  Levi ;  we  should  think  the  evi 
dence  very  considerable,  that  here  are  indeed 
the  descendants  of  the-  part  of  that  tribe  which 
clave  to  the  house  of  Israel.  And  here  too  evi 
dence  seems  not  wholly  wanting.  The  Hebrew 
word  Mkhokkek,  signifies  an  interpreter  of  the  law, 
superior.  We  have,  then,  a  new  view  of  the 
possible  origin  of  the  Mohawks ! 

9.  Several  prophetic  traits  of  character  given  of 
the  Hebrews,  do  accurately  apply  to  the  aborigines 
of  America.  Intemperance  may  be  first  noted. 
Isaiah,  writing  about  the  time  of  the  expulsion  of 
Israel  from  Canaan,  and  about  to  predict  their 
restoration,  says  ;  Isai.  xxviii.  1 — "  Wo  to  the 
crown  of  pride,  the  drunkards  of  Ephraim ; — 
(Ephraim  was  a  noted  name  of  the  ten  tribes  of 
Israel.)  The  crown  of  pride,  the  drunkards  of 
Ephraim,  shall  be  trodden  under  feet.  For  ail 
tables  shall  be  full  of  vomit  and  filthiaess;  so  that 
there  is  no  place  clean." 

In  the  course  of  the  descriptions  of  their  drun 
kenness,  that  of  their  rejection  and  restoration  ig 
ibiended  ;    that  the  Lord  by  a  mighty  one  would 
11 


cast  them  down  to  the  earth  ;  and  their  glorious 
beauty  should  be  like  that  of  a  rich  flower  in  a  fer 
tile  valley,  which  droops,  withers  and  dies.  But 
in  time  God  would  revive  it.  "  In  that  day  shall 
the  Lord  of  hosts  be  for  a  crown  of  glory,  and 
for  a  diadem  of  beauty  unto  the  residue  of  this 
people."  None  who  know  the  character  of  the 
Indians  in  relation  to  intemperance,  need  to  be 
informed  that  this  picture  does  most  singularly 
apply  to  them. 

Doctor  Williams  in  his  history  of  Vermont,  on 
this  trait  of  Indian  character,  says  ;  "  No  sooner 
had  the  Indians  tasted  of  the  spirituous  liquors 
brought  by  the  Europeans,  than  they  contracted 
a  new  appetite,  which  they  were  wholly  unable 
to  govern.  The  old  and  the  young,  the  sachem, 
the  warrior,  and  the  women,  whenever  they  can 
obtain  liquors,  indulge  themselves  without  mode 
ration  and  without  decency,  till  universal  drunk 
enness  takes  place.  All  the  tribes  appear  to  be 
under  the  dominion  of  this  appetite,  and  unable 
to  govern  it." 

A  writer  in  the  Connecticut  Magazine  assures 
us  of  the  Indians  in  Massachusetts,  when  our  fa 
thers  first  arrived  there  ;  "  As  soon  as  they  had 
a  taste  of  ardent  spirits,  they  discovered  a  strong 
appetite  for  them  ;  and  their  thirst  soon  became 
insatiable." 

Another  trait  of  Hebrew  character  which  sin 
gularly  applies  to  the  Indians,  is  found  in  Isai.  iii. 
'"The  bravery  of  their  iir.kiing  oniair.cnts,  about 
their  feet ;  their  cauls,  and  round  tines  like  the 
moon  ;  their  chains,  bracelets,  mufflers,  bonnets, 
ornaments  of  the  legs  ;  head-bands,  tablets,  car- 
.;£>,  and  nose-jewels  ;  the  mantles,  the 
~>&s;  and  the  crisping  pins."  Ore  would 
ine  the  prophet  was  here  indeed  describing 


123 

other  people  on  earth  probably  bear  a  resem 
blance  to  such  a  degree. 

This  description  was  given  just  before  the  ex 
pulsion  of  Israel.  And  nothing  would  be  more 
likely  than  that  their  taste  for  these  fleshy  orna 
ments  should  descend  to  posterity.  For  these 
make  the  earliest  and  deepest  impressions  on  the 
rising  generation. 

1 0.  The  Indians  being  in  tribes,  with  their  heads 
find  names  of  tribes,  affords  further  light  upon 
Ihis  subject.      The  Hebrews  not  only  had  their 
tribes,  and  heads  of  tribes,  as  have  the  Indians; 
but  they  had  their  animal  emblems  of  their  tribes. 
Dan's  emblem  was  a  serpent;  Issachar's  an  ass  ; 
Benjamin's  a  wolf;  and  Judah's  a  lion.    And  this 
trait  of  character  is  not  wanting  among  the  na 
tives  of  this  land.     They  have  their  wolf  tribe  ; 
their  tiger  tribe  ;   panther  tribe  ;    buffalo  tribe  ; 
bear  tribe ;    deer  tribe ;    raccoon  tribe ;    eagle 
tribe,  and  many  others.     What  other  nation  on 
earth  bears  any  resemblance  to  this  ?     Here,  no 
doubt,  is  Hebrew  tradition. 

Various  of  the  emblems  given  in  Jacob's  last 
blessing,  have  been  strikingly  fulfilled  in  the 
American  Indians.  "  Dan  shall  be  a  serpent  by 
the  way  ;  an  adder  in  the  path,  that  biteth  the 
horse  heels,  so  that  the  rider  shall  fall  back 
wards.  Benjamin  shall  ravin  as  a  wolf;  in  the 
morning  he  shall  devour  the  prey;  and  at  night 
he  shall  divide  the  spoil."  Had  the  prophetic 
eye  rested  on  the  American  aborigines,  it  seems 
as  though  no  picture  could  have  been  more  ac 
curate. 

1 1 .  Their  having  an  imitation  of  the  ancient 
city  of  refuge,  evinces  the  truth  of  our  subject. — 
Their  city  of  refuge  has  been  hinted  from   rrr. 
Adair.    But  as  this  is  so  convincing  an  argument, 


(no  nation  on  earth  having  any  thing  of  the  kind, 
but  the  ancient  Hebrews  and  the  Indians  ;)  the 
reader  shall  be  more  particularly  instructed  on 
this  article.  Of  one  of  these  places  of  refuse, 
Mr.  Boudinot  says  ;  "  The  town  of.  refuge  called 
Choate,  is  on  a  large  stream  of  the  Mississippi, 
five  miles  above  where  Fort  London  formerly 
stood.  Here,  some  years  ago,  a  brave  English 
man  was  protected,  after  killing  an  Indian  war 
rior  in  defence  of  his  property.  He  told  Mr. 
Ad-air  that  after  some  Eioriths  slay  in  this  place  of 
refuge,  he  intended  to  return  to  his  house  in  the 
neighborhood  ;  but  the  chiefs  told  him  it  would 
prove  fatal  to  him.  So  that  he  was  obliged  to 
continue  there,  till  he  pacified  the  friends  of  the 
deceased,  by  presents  to  their  satisfaction.  "  In 
the  upper  country  of  Muskagee,  (says  Doctor 
Boudinot)  was  an  old  beloved  town,  called  Koo- 
sah — which  is  a  place  of  safety  for  those  who  kill 
unclesignedly." 

ul;i  almost  every  Indian  nation  (he  adds)  there 
arc  several  peaceable  towns,  which  are  called  old 
beloved,  holy,  or  white  towns.  It  is  not  within  the 
memory  of  the  oldest  people,  that  blood  was  ever 
frhed  in  them  ;  although'they  often  force  persons 
from  them,  a  ad  put  them  elsewhere  to  death." 
"Who  can  read  this,  and  not  be  satisfied  of  the 

i\  of  this  Indian  tradition. 
The  well  known  trait  of  Indian  character,  that 
thev  will  pursue  one  who  has  killed  any  of  their 
friends,  ever  so  far,  and  ever  so  long,  as  an  aven 
ger  of  the  blood  shed,  thus  lies  clearly  open  to 
view.     It  originated  in  the  permission  given  to 
an  avenger  of  blood  in  the  commonwealth  of  Is 
rael  ;  and  is  found  in  such  a  degree,  probably,  in 
r  nation. 


125 

12.  Other  Indian  rites,  and  various  other  cvn,- 
siderations,  go  to  evince  the  fact,  that  this  people 
are  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  Further  details  are 
given,  and  might  be  enlarged  upon :  as,  religious 
separations  of  Indian  females,  almost  exactly  an 
swering  to  the  law  in  ancient  Israel;  their  beginn 
ing  their  year  as  did  bra  el,  with  the  new  moon  after 
the  vernal  equinox  ;  their  special  attention  paid 
to  new  moons,  as  was  paid  in  Israel;  their  green- 
corn  moon,  the  most  lovely  of  all,  even  as  Israel 
had  their  beloved  month  Abib,  which  signifies 
an  ear  of  green  corn  ;  their  Jubilee  declared  to 
have  been  observed  by  some  of  the  natives  : 
"  Melvenda  and  Acasta  both  affirm,  that  the  na 
tives  keep  a  Jubilee  according  to  the  usage  in 
Israel."  The  testimony  of  Edwards,  in  his 
"  West  Indies,"  that  the  striking  uniformity  of 
the  prejudices  and  customs  of  the  Caribbee  In 
dians,  to  the  practices  of  the  Jews,  has  not  esca 
ped  the  notice  of  historians, — as  Gumella,  Du 
Tertre,  and  others;"  and  the  various  predictions 
of  the  final  restoration  of  Israel,  bringing  them 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  from  the  west,  and 
(as  one  translates  it)  "  from  the  going  down  of 
the  sun."  These  things  open  fruitful  sources  of 
evidence. 

But  I  have  more  than  equalled  my  designed 
limits.  It  is  again  asked,  is  it  possible  to  find  an 
other  people  on  earth  exhibiting  an  equal  degree 
of  evidence  of  their  being  the  ten  tribes  of  Is 
rael  ?  Can  another  people  on  earth  be  found  ex 
hibiting  one  sixth  part  of  the  evidence  adduced 
in  favour  of  the  American  natives  ?  We  expect 
no  new  revelation,  nor  miracles  wrought,  to  in- 
iurm  who  are  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel.  Here  is 
just  such  evidence  as  we  should  rationally  look 
for ;  but  six  times  as  much  of  it,  as  we  should 


126 

dare  to  hare  expected,  after  a  lapse  of  2500 
years,  with  a  people  without  letters.  Our  abo 
rigines  are  essentially  distinguished  from  all  oth 
er  pagans  on  earth,  in  the  uniform  belief  of  most 
of  them  of  one  God  ;  and  their  freedom  from 
false  gods  ;  as  well  as  in  many  other  striking 
things,  which  appear  in  their  history. 

How  prone  have  been  mankind,  in  all  ages,  to 
idolatry.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  false  gods, 
of  every  foolish  description,  have  existed  in  the 
bewildered  imaginations  of  men  destitute  of  rev 
elation.  But  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God 
was  renounced.  "As  they  did  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  up"  to 
almost  every  description  of  idolatry.  How  early 
did  the  world  (in  several  centuries  after  the 
flood)  go  off  to  gross  idolatry,  even  undec  the  in 
structions  of  the  patriarchs,  and  so  soon  after  the 
terrible  admonition  of  the  flood  !  The  natives  of 
one  of  the  greatest  islands  of  the  eastern  ocean, 
are  so  depraved,  that  it  has  not  been  known  that 
they  had  the  least  idea  of  any  Supreme  Being. — 
How  prone  were  the  Jews  and  Israel,  in  ancient 
times,  even  under  all  their  rich  advantages,  to 
unite  in  the  idolatries  of  their  heathen  neigh 
bours  ! 

But  the  70  years  captivity  of  the  Jews  in  Ba 
bylon,  cured  them  utterly  of  idolatry,  from  that 
day  to  this.  While  they  have  been  dispersed, 
and  been  infidels  relative  to  Jesus  Christ ;  they 
have  been  firm  believers  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  in  the  one  God  of  Abraham.  It  is  analogous 
with  this  to  expect,  that  the  ten  tribes  (wherever 
they  are)  would  be  cured,  as  well  as  the  Jews,  of 
their  gross  idolatry,  and  would  be  kept  during 
their  long  outcast  state,  in  a  situation  somewhat 
resembling  that  of  the  Jews,  in  their  speculation 


127 

concerning  God.  Such  has  been  the  case  with 
the  natives  of  this  continent,  at  least  to  as  great 
a  degree  as  could  be  without  a  bible  or  letters  ; 
and  such  has  been  the  case  with  no  other  people 
on  earth  !  Nothing  but  the  very  special  power 
and  mercy  of  God,  could  have  kept  these  natives 
in  this  traditional  habit  of  acknowledging  the  one 
only  living  and  true  God,  as  they  have  done. — 
While  they  have  been  dead  to  the  life  of  religion, 
as  a  valley  of  dry  bones ;  yet  they  have  strangely 
been  kept  from  acknowledging  any  other  God  but 
Jehovah,  the  Great  Spirit,  who  made  them  and 
all  things. 

And  light,  in  these  last  days  of  wonders,  (when 
the  time  for  the  restoration  of  Israel  and  Judah  is 
drawing  near)  has  been  breaking  out  and  accu 
mulating  on  this  subject,  to  exhibit  this  origin  of 
the  American  natives.  It  is  ascertained  in  the 
"  Star  in  the  West,"  that  Spaniards,  Portuguese, 
French,  English,  Jews,  and  Christians,  men  of 
learning,  and  the  illiterate,  and  sea-faring  men  ; 
(til  have  united  in  the  statements  of  facts,  which  go 
to  indicate  that  these  Indians  are  the  descendants 
of  Israel!  Mr.  M'Kenzie  has  travelled  from  the 
Atlantic  very  far  to  the  north-west ;  and  some  of 
his  statements  of  facts  go  to  the  same  point.  Vari 
ous  of  the  European  visitants  to  this  continent, 
early  after  it  was  known  to  the  civilized  world,  ex 
pressed  their  surprise  on  finding  among  the  natives 
things  which  bore  such  a  resemblance  to  the  his 
tory  of  ancient  Israel.  What  account  can  be 
given  of  all  this,  out  that  here  are  Ihe  very  ten 
tribes  ?  These  tribes  must  be  somewhere  on 
earth.  Where  are  they  ?  How  can  they  be 
known  ?  Whence  came  our  native  Americans  ? 
WThat  other  account  can  be  given  of  their  tradi 
tions,  their  language,  Hebrew  words  and  phrases, 


128 

(the  radical  language  of  their  tribes)  and'  the 
broken  fragments  of  the  ancient  economy  of  Is 
rael  running  through  so  many  of  them  ?  It  would 
be  far  wilder  and  more  diflicult  to  account  for 
these  things  on  any  other  principle,  than  to  say 
we  have  evidence  that  is  satisfactory,  of  having 
found  at  last,  the  very  valley  of  the  dry  bones  of 
the  house  of  Israel!  The  facts  stated  of  them, 
must  on  every  other  principle,  appear  most  unac 
countable,  not  to  say  miraculous. 

Before  any  degree  of  confidence  is  admitted 
against  the  evidences  adduced,  as  though  other 
and  more  conclusive  evidence  must  point  out  at 
'last,  the  ten  tribes  ;  let  it  be  recollected,  that  the 
divine  mode  of  affording  evidence  is  not  always 
such  as  human  wisdom  would  dictate.  The  Jewi 
had  their  strong  objections  against  the  evidences 
of  the  divinity,  the  resurrection  and  ascension  of 
Christ.  These  were  not  such  as  they  would  have 
chosen.  In  the  midst  of  such  evidences  as  God 
saw  fit  to  afford,  the  Jews  required  more.  "What 
sign  showest  thou  ?"  "  How  long  dost  thou  make 
us  to  doubt?"  "Let  him  descend  from  the  cross, 
that  we  may  see  and  believe."  Naaman  had 
formed  his  expectations  how  his  cure  would  be 
effected,  by  the  prophet  in  Israel.  He  "  would 
come  out  and  lay  his  hand  on  the  sore,  and  call 
upon  his  God  and  heal  him."  And  for  the  mor 
tifying  reverse  of  this,  he  turned  to  go  away  in  a 
rage. 

Many  things  may  be  very  probably  fancied 
concerning  the  kinds  or  degrees  of  evidence, 
which  must  at  last  exhibit  the  ten  tribes  to  the 
world.  But  Providence  may  adopt  a  different 
method.  The  methods  divinely  adopted  in  eve~ 
ry  point,  have  usually  been  such  as  to  stain  the 
.pride  of  all  human  glory.  The  Afghans  in  Per- 


129 

sia  may  prove  to  be  a  small  part  of  the  ten  tribes. 
But  it  is  doubted  whether  their  evidence  is  by 
any  means  so  full  as  that  of  the  American  na 
tives.  The  latter  have,  to  say  the  least,  very 
considerable  of  just  such  kind  of  evidence,  as  it 
would  naturally  be  supposed  must  bring  to  light 
the  ten  tribes  after  remaining  for  millenaries  in 
a  savage  state.  May  the  subject  be  duly  exam 
ined,  and  a  correct  decision  in  due  time  be  form 
ed. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


AN  ADDRESS 

OF   THE 

PROPHET  ISAIAH, 

RELATIVE  TO  THE  RESTORATION  OF  HIS 
PEOPLE. 


AN  interesting  address  is  found  in  the  18th 
chapter  of  Isaiah  to  some  people  of  the  last  days; 
calling  them  to  have  a  special  agency  in  the  recov 
ery  and  restoration  of  the  ancient  people  of  God. 
Many  years  ago,  while  writing  my  Dissertation  on 
the  Prophecies,  I  hecame  much  interested  in  this 
address  of  Isaiah  ;  and  in  that  dissertation,  gave 
a  paraphrase  .of  it ;  conceiving'  then  it  was  an 
address  to  the  people  of  God  in  Great  Britain. 
I  have  since  become  of  a  different  opinion  ;  and 
now  apprehend  it  to  he  an  address  to  the  Chris 
tian  people  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

To  prepare  the  way  for  the  contemplation  of 
this  address,  let  several  things  be  considered  : 

1.  In  the  pi  :  rings,  many  addresses 

are  made  to  nation--,  or  concerning  them.  Would 

it  no,  if  iio  mention  were  found  in  the 

j.rophec;  s  new  western  world;    which 

was  destined  by  propitious  Heaven  to  make  so 

nguishing  a  figure  both  in  the  political  and 

lous  world,  in  the  last  days  ?     It  certain!/ 


132 

would  seem  unaccountable,  and  the  thought  can 
hardly  be  admitted. 

2.  The  address  in  the  eighteenth  of  Isaiah,  to 
be  contemplated,  is  clearly  an  address  to  some 
people  concerning  events  to  transpire  in  thej#s£ 
days  ;   and  which  are  intimately  connected  with 
the  "  battle  of  that  great  day  of  God  Almighty, 
which  is  still  future  ;    and  which  is  to  introduce 
the  Millennium.     This  appears  in  verses  5,  6,  7, 
of  the  chapter,  which  will  by  and  by  be  noted. 
Hence, 

3.  The  address  cannot  have  been  to  any  an 
cient  nation  or  people  ;  as  some  expositors  have 
inconsiderately  supposed.       But  it  must  be  to  a 
nation  of  the  last  days  ;    a  nation  now  on  earth ; 
a  nation  to  be  peculiarly  instrumental  in  the  res 
toration  of  the  Hebrews  in  the  last  days.     For 
this  is  the  very  object  of  the  address,  as  will  ap 
pear.     The  demand  in  the  address  is,  to  go  and 
restore  that  ancient  people  of  God  in  the  last 
days;  or  at  a  time  intimately  connected  with  the 
tremendous  scenes  on  antic hristian  Europe,  and 
on  the  hostile  wicked  world,  vwhich  shall  sweep 
antichristian  nations  from  the  earth,  and   pre 
pare  the  way  for  the  millennial  kingdom  of  Jesus 
Christ.     This  will  clearly  appear. 

4.  The  address  then,  is  to  a  nation,  that  may- 
seem  to  have  leisure  for  the  important  business 
assigned,  when  the  old  and  eastern  parts  of  the 
world  are  in  the  effervescence  of  revolution,  and 
in  those  struggles  wh:ch  precede  dissolution. — 
This  consideration  fixes  the  address  to  a  people 
distinct  and  distant  from  those  oM  lands;    and 
hence  probably  to  our  new  world. 

5.  If  it  be  a   fact,  as    is  apprehended,  that 
the  aborigines  of  our  co-ili   o:;i   are   indeed  de 
scended  from  the  ten  tribe*  of  Israel      our  ua- 


133 

lion,  no  doubt,  must  be  tbe  people  addressed  to 
restore  them  ;  to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge,  of 
the  gospel,  and  to  do  with  thcnl  whatever  the 
God  of  Abraham  designs  shall  he  done.  The 
great  and  generous  Christian  people,  who  occu 
py  much  of  the  land  of  those  natives,  and  who 
are  on  the  ground  of  their  continent,  and  hence 
are  the  best  prepared  to  meliorate  their  condi 
tion,  and  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  and  order 
of  the  God  of  Israel,  must  of  course  be  the  peo 
ple  to  whom  this  work  is  assigned.  This  one 
consideration  would  do  much  toward  the  decis 
ion  of  our  question,  Who  is  the  nation  address 
ed? 

6.  Various  things  are  found  in  the  predictions 
of  the  restoration  of  God's  ancient  people,  which 
strikingly  accord  with  the  idea  of  a  great  branch 
of  them  being  recovered  from  this  land,  and  by 
the  agency  of  the  people  of  our  States.  A  few 
of  these  shall  be  noted. 

In  the  thirtieth  and  thirty-first  chapters  of  Jer 
emiah,  the  prophet  treats  of  the  united  restora 
tion  of  Judah  and  Israel.  These  chapters  were 
written  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  af 
ter  the  expulsion  of  the  ten  tribes.  And  in  rela 
tion  to  the  ten  tribes,  they  have  never  yet  had 
even  a  primary  accomplishment,  or  any  degree 
of  fulfilment.  The  restoration  there  predicted 
is  to  be  in  "the  latter  days  ;"  chap.  xxx.  24:  and 
at  the  time  near  the  battle  of  the  great  day ;  see 
verse  6 — 8,  23,  24.  Much  of  the  substance  of 
these  chapters  is  appropriated  to  the  ten  tribes 
of  Israel ;  though  Judah  is  expressly  to  be  res 
tored  with  them.  Of  the  former,  (having  then 
been  outcast  for  an  hundred  and  twenty  years,) 
God  says  ;  chap.  xxxi.  20  ;  "  Is  Ephraim  my 
dear  son  ?  Is  he  a  pleasant  child  ?  For  since  I 
12 


134 

spake  against  him,  (or  expelled  him  from  Ca 
naan,)  1  do  earnestly  remember  him  still ;  there 
fore  my  bowels  are  troubled  for  him;  I  will  sure 
ly  have  mercy  upon  him,  sailh  the  Lord."  The 
next  verse  invites  and  predicts  his  final  restora 
tion.  These  yearnings  of  the  divine  compas 
sion  for  Ephraim  (one  noted  name  of  the  ten 
tribes)  are  the  immediate  precursor  of  his  resto 
ration.  "  1  will  surely  have  mercy  upon  him, 
saith  the  Lord.  Set  thee  up  way-marks,  make 
thee  high  heaps,  set  thine  heart  toward  the  high 
way — turn  again,  O  vicgin  of  Israel  ;  turn  again 
to  these  thy  cities."  "  J  will  again  be  the  God 
of  all  the  families  of  Israel  ;  and  they  shall  be 
my  people."  "  For  lo,  the  days  come,  saith  the 
Lord,  that  I  will  bring  again  the  captivity  of  my 
people  Israel  and  Juda'h  ;  and  I  will  cause  them 
to  return  to  the  land  that  I  gave  to  their  fathers, 
and  they  shall  possess  it."  "  Fear  thou  not,  O 
my  servant  Jacob,  saith  the  Lord  ;  neither  be 
dismayed,  O  Israel  ;  for  lo,  I  will  save  thee  from 
ftfar."  "  Behold  I  will  bring  them  from  the 
'north  country,  and  gather  them  from  (he  coasts 
of  the  earth."  In  this  country  "afar"  off,  these 
ki  coasts  of  the  earth,"  they  had  been  in  an  out 
cast  state.  "  Because  they  called  thee  an  outcast^ 
saying  ;  "  This  is  Zion,  whom  no  man  seekcth  af 
ter."  (For  more  than  2000  years  none  sought  af 
ter  the  ten  tribes.)  These  ideas  strikingly  ac 
cord  with  their  having  been  outcasts  from  the 
known  world,  in  America.  This  might  with  sin 
gular  propriety  be  called  the  land  afar  off,  and 
the  coasts  of  the  earth. 

In  the  same  connexion,  when  God  promises  to 
gather  them  "from  the  coasts  of  the  earth,"  and 
says,  "  they  shall  come  with  weeping  and  with 
supplication  j  for  I  am  a  father  to  Israel,  and 


135 

Ephraim  is  my  first  born  ;"  he  adds  ;  "  Hear 
the  word  of  the  Lord,  O  ye  nations,  and  declare 
it  in  the  isles  afar  oif,  and  say,  He  that  scattered 
Israel  will  gather  him,  and  keep  him  as  the  shep 
herd  doth  his  flock."  "Isles  afar  off!"  Isles  in 
the  Hebrew  language,  signify  any  lands,  ever  so 
extensive,  away  over  great  waters.  Where  can 
these  "isles  afar  off,"  (these  "coasts  of  the  earth" 
here  addressed  by  God  in  relation  to  the  restora 
tion  of  lils  outcast  yet  beloved  Ephraim,)  where 
can  they  be  so  naturally  found  as  in  America  ? 

In  other  prophets  the  same  things  are  found. 
In  Isai.  xliii.  God  promises  this  same  restoration 
of  Israel.  "  But  now,  thus  saith  the  Lord,  that 
created  thee,  O  Jacob,  and  he  that  formed  thee, 

0  Israel  ;  Fear  not,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee,  I 
have  called  thee  by  thy  name  ;    thou  art  mine. 
When  thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be 
with  thee.     I  have  loved  thee  with  an  everlast 
ing  love  ;  therefore  will  I  give  men  for  thee,  and 
people  for  thy  life.    Fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee. 

1  will  bring  thy  seed  from  the  east,  and  gather 
thee  from  the  west :  I  will  say  to  the  north,  Give 
up  ;  and  to  the  south,  Keep  not  back  :  bring  my 
sons  from  far,  and  ray  daughters  from  the  ends  of 
Ike  earth."     "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  who  muketh 
a  way  in  the  sea,  and. a  path  in  the  mighty  wa 
ters  ;  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."      In  Isai.  xi.   is  this  wonderful  restora 
tion.      Ephraim  and  Judah  are  both  restored  ; 
the  one  from  his  "dispersed,"  the  other  from  his 
"outcast"  state  ;  and  their  mutual  envies  are  for 
ever  healed.      And  the  places  from  which  they 
are  recovered  are  noted  ;  among  which  are  "  the 
i*les  of  th>>  sen  ;"  or  lands  away  over  the  sea, 


136 

and  "  the  four  corners  of  the  earth. ^  Certainly 
then,  from  America  !  This  surely  is  one  of  the 
four  cornqrs  of  the  earth.  Of  such  a  land  away 
over  sea,  it  is  predicted,  Isai.  Ix.  9 ;  "  Surely  the 
isles  shall  wait  for  me,  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish 
first,  (or  a  power  expert  in  navigation,)  to  bring 
my  sons  from  far."-  In  Zech.  viii.  7,  is  the  same 
event.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  ;  Behold 
I  will  save  my  people  from  the  east  country,  and 
from  the  west  count, -y  ;  and  I  will  bring  them, 
and  they  shall  dwell  in  Jerusalem;  and  they  shall 
be  my  people,  and  I  will  he  their  God."  Here 
they  are  saved  from  the  west  country  ;  or  as  it 
may  be  rendered,  from  the  going  down  of  the  sun. 
The  going  down  of  the  sun  from  Jerusalem, 
would  be  over  America.  In  Zech.  x.  8,  9,  is 
this  same  restoration  of  Ephraim  by  name ; 
meaning  the  ten  tribes.  "1  will  hiss  for  them, 
(or  Caii  them,)  and  gather  them  ;  for  I  have  re* 
deemed  them.  And  they  shall  remember  me  from 
far  countries;  and  they  shall  live,  and  their  chil 
dren,  and  turn  again." 

Such  promises  of  the  restoration  of  Israel  from 
far  countries,  from  the  west,  or  the  going  down  of 
the  sun,  from  the  coasts  of  the  earth,  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  from  isles  afar,  their  being 
brought  in  ships  from  far,,  making  their  way  in 
the  sea,  their  path  in  the  mighty  waters  ;  these 
expressions  certainly  well  accord  with  the  ten 
tribes  being  brought  from  America.  And  such 
passages  imply  an  agency  by  which  such  a  resto 
ration  shall  be  effected.  Where  shall  such  an 
agency  be  so  naturally  found,  as  among  a  great 
Christian  people,  providentially  planted  on  the 
very  ground  occupied  by  the  outcast  tribes  of 
Israel  in  their  long  exilement ;  and  who  are  so 
happily  remote  from  the  bloody  scenes  of  Eu- 


137 

rope  in  the  last  days,  as  to  have  leisure  for  the 
important  business  assigned  ? 

Surely  then,  this  business  would  be  assigned, 
either  tacitly  or  expressly,  to  our  nation.  At  this 
conclusion  we  safely  arrive,  reasoning  a  priori. 
The  circumstances  of  the  case  enforce  it.  And 
we  might  expect  so  interesting  a  duty,  relative 
to  an  event  on  which  the  prophecies  so  abun 
dantly  rest,  would  not  be  left  to  uncertain  deduc 
tions,  but  would  be  expressly  enjoined. 

We  may  then,  open  the  prophetic  scriptures 
with  some  good  degree  of  confidence,  that  the 
assignment  of  such  a  task  is  somewhere  to  be 
found.  And  where  so  natural  to  be  found  as  in 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  ?  He  is  the  most  evan 
gelical  prophet ;  arid  treats  largely  upon  the  res 
toration  of  his  brethren.  He  lived  to  behold  the 
expulsion  of  the  ten  tribes  ;  and  must  have  been 
deeply  affected  with  the  event.  The  expulsion 
of  the  ten  tribes  took  place  725  years  before 
Christ.  Isaiah  is  supposed  to  have  begun  his 
ministry  about  the  year  760  before  Christ ;  35 
years  before  that  expulsion  ;  and  to  have  contin 
ued  it  about  27  years  after  that  event.  It  is  then 
very  natural,  to  consider  his  mind  as  deeply  af 
fected  with  this  event ;  with  the  place  of  the 
long  exilement  of  his  brethren  of  Israel ;  and  as 
delighted  with  a  view  of  their  final  restoration, 
which  he  was  inspired  to  foretel. 

Behold  this  man  of  God  then,  wrapt  in  the  visr 
ions  of  the  Almighty,  casting  an  eye  of  faith  down 
the  lapse  of  time  to  the  days  of  the  final  restora 
tion  of  his  long  rejected  brethren.  He  finds  pre 
sented  in  vision,  away  over  the  Mediterranean, 
and  the  Atlantic,  far  in  the  west^  or  going  down 
of  the  sun,  the  continent  of  their  long  banish 
ment.  He  also  beholds  in  vision  a  great  nation 
12* 


rising  there  in  the  last  days  ;  a  land  of  freedom 
and  religion.  He  hears  the  whisper  of  the  Spir 
it  of  inspiration,  directing  him  to  address  that  far 
sequestered  and  happy  land ;  and  call  their  at 
tention  to  the  final  restoration  of  his  people, 

Isaiah  xviii.  verse  1.  "  Ho,  land  shadowing 
with  wings,  which  is  beyond  the  rivers  of  Ethio 
pia."  Our  translators  render  this  address,  fci  Wo 
to  the  land."  But  this  is  manifestly  incorrect, 
as  the  best  expositors  agree.  The  Hebrew  par 
ticle  here  translated  Wo  to,  is  a  particle  of  friend 
ly  calling,  as  well  as  of  denouncing.  And  the 
connexion  in  any  given  place,  must  decide  which 
rendering  shall  he  given.  In  this  place,  the 
whole  connexion  and  sense  decide,  that  the  word 
is  here  a  friendly  call,  or  address  ;  as  in  this  pas 
sage  ;  "  Ho  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to 
the  waters." 

The  land  addressed,  lies  "  beyond  the  rivers 
of  Ethiopia."  It  is  agreed  that  these  rivers 
mean  the  mouths  of  the  Nile,  which  enter  from 
Egypt  into  the  south  side  of  the  Mediterranean. 
It  is  as  though  the  prophet  had  said  ;  Thou  land 
beheld  in  vision  away  over  the  mouths  of  the  Nile. 
Where  would  such  a  line  strike?  It  would  glance 
over  the  northern  edge  of  the  States  of  Barbary. 
But  could  the  friendly  address  to  a  people  of  the 
last  days,  light  on  those  barbarous  Mohammedan 
shores  ?  Surely  not.  No  land  "  shadowing  with 
zcings,"  or  that  would  aid  the  restoration  of  the 
Hebrews,  is  found  in  those  horrid  regions.  No  : 
the  point  of  compass  and  the  address  must  have 
been  designed  for  a  new  world,  seen  in  that  di 
rection.  This  address  of  Heaven  must  be  to 
our  western  continent ;  or  to  a  hospitable  people 
found  here.  Our  southern  boundary  is  not  far 
from  the  latitude  of  the  mouths  of  the  Nile.  The 


139 

prophetic  eye  glanced  beyond  all  lands  then, 
known  ;  and  hence  no  land  is  named.  It  must 
have  been  a  land  over  the  Mediterranean,  and 
the  Atlantic. 

Thou  land  "  shadowing  with  wings."  The 
above  direction  lands  the  prophetic  vision  at  the 
point  of  the  western  continent,  where  the  two 
great  wings  of  North  and  South  America  meet,  as 
at  the  body  of  a  great  Eagle.  This  at  first  might 
furnish  the  prophetic  imagery  of  a  land  "  shad 
owing  with  wings."  As  though  the  inspiring 
Spirit  had  whispered;  The  continent  of  those  two 
great  wings  shall  be  found  at  last  most  interest 
ing  in  relation  to  your  Hebrew  brethren. 

And  those  two  great  wings  shall  prove  but  an 
emblem  of  a  great  nation  then  on  that  continent; 
far  sequestered  from  the  seat  of  antichrist,  and  of 
tyranny  and  blood  ;  and  whose  asylum  for  equal 
rights,  liberty,  and  religion,  shall  be  well  repre 
sented  by  such  a  national  coat  of  arms. — the  pro 
tecting  wings  of  a  great  Eagle  ;  which  nation  in 
yonder  setting  of  the  sun.  (when  in  the  last  days, 
judgments  shall  be  thundering  through  the  na 
tions  of  the  eastern  continent,)  shall  be  found  a 
realm  of  peaceful  protection  to  all,  who  fly  from 
the  abodes  of  despotism  to  its  peaceful  retreat ; 
even  as  an  eagle  protects  her  nest  from  all  harm. 
Yea,  a  land  that,  when  all  other  lands  shall  be 
found  to  have  trampled  on  the  Jews,  shall  be 
found  to  have  protecting  wings  for  them  ;  free 
from  such  cruelty,  and  ready  to  aid  them. 

Verse  2.  "  Who  sendeth  ambassadors  by  the, 
sea,  even  in  vessels  of  bulrushes  upon  the  face  of 
the  waters."  It  is  to  be  supposed  that  a  great 
difficulty  would  at  once  present  itself  to  the  pro 
phet's  view,  when  beholding  in  vision  this  west 
ern  continent,  over  the  mighty  waters  of  the 


140 

Mediterranean,  and  the  Atlantic,  and  about  to 
be  called  to  restore  his  people.  What  could  be 
done  across  such  mighty  waters  ?  The  difficulty 
at  once  vanishes,  by  the  prophet's  being  ascer 
tained  of  this  characteristic  of  the  people  ad 
dressed.  They  would  be  most  expert  in  navi 
gation.  They  could  traverse  the  Atlantic,  and 
Mediterranean,  and  be  able  to  send  missionaries 
to  Jerusalem,  or  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  in  those 
last  days,  or  convey  the  Hebrews  from  one  conti 
nent  to  another,  with  an  expedition  similar  to 
that  with  which  the  Nile  (beyond  which  this  new 
world  is  beheld)  used  to  be  navigated  with  the 
skiifs  made  of  the  bulrush,  or  the  rind  of  the  pa 
pyrus.* 

Verse  2,  concluded.  "  Saying,  Go  ye  swift 
messengers-  to  a  nation  scattered  and  pealed,  to  a 
people  terrible  from  the  beginning  hitherto  ;  a  na 
tion  meted  out  and  trodden  down,  whose  land  the 
rivers  have  spoiled."  '  Saying?  before  the  com 
mand  Go,  is  interpolated  in  our  translation,  and 
destroys  the  sense;  as  though  the  nation  said  this 
to  her  swift  messengers  ;  whereas  it  is  what  God 
says  to  the  nation  addressed,  q.  d.  Come  thou 
protecting  nation  ;  I  have  a  great  business  for 
you.  Collect  and  restore  my  ancient  people  ; 
that  nation  whose  ancient  history  has  been  so  re 
markable  and  terrible  ;  that  nation  so  long  dis 
persed,  robbed,  and  insulted  in  the  people  of  the 

*Our  ftates  may  claim  the  characteristic  of  expert  naviga 
tion,  equal  at  least  to  any  people  on  earth.  Consider  our 
steam-boat  navigation,  and  such  accounts  as  the  following  ; 
found  in  Niles'  Register,  of  March  22,  1823.  "  Baltimore 
vessels. — The  brig  Thessalian  arrived  at  Baltimore  on  Satur 
day  evening  last,  in  79  days  from  Lima,  and  24  from  the  sight 
of  the  city  of  Pernambuco,  in  Brazil;  a  distance  of  12,000 
miles ;  averaging  six  and  a  quarter  miles  every  hour  of  her 
passage.  This  vessel  was,  less  than  eight  months  ago,  on  th« 
stocks  in  this  city." 


141 

Jews  ;  and  so  long  outcast  in  the  ten  tribes;—-6 
That  people  of  line,  line,  (as  in  the  Hebrew,  and 
in  the  margin  of  the  great  Bible ;)  or.  whose  on 
ly  hope  to  find  their  ancient  inheritance  must  be 
on  the  line  of  divine  promise,  or  the  entail  of  the 
covenant.  As  the  land  addressed  is  described 
as  away  over  the  mouths  of  the  Nile;  so  various 
characteristics  in  the  address  am  suggested  from 
thoughts  associated  with  that  river,  and  the  peo 
ple  on  its  banks  ;  ss  the  bulrush  vessel  just  not 
ed  ;  and  here  the  measuring  line.  The  river 
Nile  periodically  overflowed  its  banks,  and  swept 
away  the  boundaries  of  every  man's  inheritance 
on  its  interval.  Every  man,  then,  had  to  depend 
on  a  noted  line,  to  measure  anew  and  find  his 
land.  So  the  Hebrews,  having  by  their  sins,  and 
expulsion  from  Canaan,  and  from  the  covenant 
of  Abraham,  lost  all  the  visible  boundaries  of 
their  inheritance;  h::re  no  ground  of  hope  of  re 
gaining  their  standing  either  in  Palestine,  or  in 
the  covenant  of  grace,  but  the  line  of  the  mere 
and  sovereign  promise  of  God,  for  their  restora 
tion.  The  word  is  doubled,  line,  line  ;  a  mere 
Hebraism,  to  form  a  superlative.  As  peace,  peace, 
means  perfect  peace, — Isai.  xxvi.  3;  and  as  goody 
good,  means  the  best ;  so  line,  line,  means  super 
latively  of  line,  or  altogether  dependent  on  the 
mere  promise  of  God.  That  the  allusion  is  to 
the  event  noted  is  evident  from  what  follows  : — 
"  Whose  land  the  rivers  have  spoiled."  Whose 
inheritance  (in  the  Holy  Land)  has  been  torn 
from  them,  and  overrun  by  neigbouring  hostile 
nations,  often  symbolized  by  rivers,  even  as  the 
lands  by  the  sides  of  the  Nile  often  had  their 
boundaries  swept  away  by  the  overflowings  of 
that  river.  Thus  the  Romans  first,  then  the  Per 
sians,  the  Saracens,  the  Egyptians  and  the  Turks, 


142 

have  overflowed  and  possessed  the  Holy  Land. 
But  the  line  of  divine  promise  will  restore  it  to 
the  Hebrews.* 

Go  thou  protecting  people  ;  shadow  with  thy 
wings  my  ancient  family,  as  though  Ihe  Most 
High  should  say  ;  For  thus  it  is  written  ;  "Sure 
ly  the  isles  shall  wait  for  me,  (or  lands  away  over 
sea  from  Palest' -e.)  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish 
first,  (a  people  expert  in  navigation;)  to  bring  my 
sons  from  far."  A  far  distant  land  over  sea  thai! 
be  engaged  in  this  work. 

Verse  3.  "All  ue.  inhulita-it.^  cf  the  world*  and 
dwellers  on  ihe  earth,  sec  ye  when  he  liflclh  up  the 
ensign  on  the  mount&ins,  and  when  he  bloweth  a 
trumpet,  hear  yr."  After  the  land  shadowing 
with  wings  is  under  way  in  fulfilment  of  the  di 
vine  requirement;  an  apostrophe  is  made  by  the 
Most  High  to  all  nations,  to  stand  and  behold  the 
banoer  of  salvation  now  erected  for  his  ancient 
people  ;  and  to  hear  the  great  gospel  trumpet, 
the  blessed  Jubilee,  now  to  be  blown  for  their 
collection  and  their  freedom.  The  ancient  sil 
ver  trumpets  in  Israel,  collected  their  solemn  as 
semblies.  And  the  same  trumpets,  with  joyful 
and  peculiar  blasts,  ushered  in  the  Jubilee  morn, 
and  loosed  every  bond  slave  of  the  Hebrews. — 
And  the  antitype  of  the  event  shall  now  be  ac 
complished. 

This  standard  of  salvation  at  that  period,  is  a 
notable  event  in  the  prophets.  See  Isai.  xi.  12, 
where  God  sets  his  hand  a  second  time  to  gather 
his  Hebrew  family  from  all  nations  and  regions 

*  Much  perplexity  had  rested  on  the  paa?agf,  a  nation  nf 
lintel  i  at;  till  the  above  solution  occurred  to  mind.  With 
thi'-  I  am  fully  satisfied.  It  is  natural,  us  is  Ihe  bulrush  urivi- 
gai;on.  It  agrees  with  facts,  and  is  confirmed  by  the  clause 
following:  "whose  laud  the  river8  have  spoiled." 


143 

beyond  sea  ;  doubtless  from  America,  as  well  as 
other  nations  ;  and  it  is  promised, ''"  He  shall  set 
up  an  ensign  for  the  nations,  and  shall  assemble 
the  outcasts  of  Israel,  and  gather  together  the  dis 
persed  of  Judah  from  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth."  If  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  ; 
then  surely  from  America  !  In  this  passage  are 
the  descriptive  situations  from  which  the  two 
great  branches  of  the  Hebrews  are  recovered  : 
Judah  from  being  dispersed  among  the  nations, 
and  Israel  from  being  outcast  from  the  nations  ; 
thrown  out  of  sight  of  the  social  world,  precisely 
as  they  have  been  in  the  wilds  of  America  for 
more  than  two  thousand  years. 

Verse  4.  "For  so  t/ie  Lord  said  unto  me,  I  will 
take  my  rest,  and  I  will  consider  my  dwelling 
place  like  a  clear  heat  upon  herbs,  and  like  a  cloud 
of  dew  in  the  heat  of  harvest."  The  event  and 
the  figures  in  this  passage  are  best  explained  by 
those  found  in  synchrouical  passages,  or  prophe 
cies  alluding  to  the  same  event.  And  according 
to  them,  it  is  as  though  the  Most  High  should  say. 
I  am  now  about  to  renew  my  ancient  dwelling 
place.  I  will  again  have  a  fued  habitation  in 
Canaan;  as  Zech.  i.  16  :  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
I  am  again  returned  to  Jerusalem  with  mercies  ; 
my  house  shall  be  built  in  it;"  ai)d  viii.  3;  aTbus 
saith  the  Lord.  I  am  returned  unto  Zion,  and  will 
dwell  in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem."  And  the  event 
shall  be  as  "  life  from  the  dead"  to  the  nations : 
Rom.  xi.  15.  Therefore,  ye  gentile  lands,  now 
behold.  I  will  now  be  to  rny  ancient  heritage 
like  the  genial  heat  of  the  sun  to  promote  vege 
tation  after  the  death  of  winter;  as  Isai.  xxvi.  19, 
"  Thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs,"  which  in  the 
spring  shall  vegetate.  And  I  will  be  like  the 
fertile,  cooling  cloud  in  the  sultry  heat  of  bar- 


144 

vest."  The  Hebrews  shall  now  become  "as  the 
tender  grass  springing  out  of  the  earth,  by  the 
clear  shining  after  rain  ;"  2  Sarn.  xxiii.  4.  Yes, 
"  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,  aad  his  smell  as  Lebanon  ; 
Hos.  xiv.  5,  6.  The  nations  shall  behold  this 
fulfil rne at  of  divine  grace  to  Israel,  and  shall  find 
instruments  raised  up  adequate  to  the  work. 

Bat  a  tremendous  scene  to  the  antichristian 
world  shall  be  found  intimately  connected. 

Verse  5.  "For  afore  the  harvest,  when  the  bud 
is  perfect,  and  the  sour  grape  is  ripening  in  the 
flower,  he  shall  both  cut  off  the  sprigs  with  prun 
ing  hooks,  and  take  away  and  cut  down  the  bran 
ches^  Or,  near  the  fulfilment  of  this  event  of 
the  last  days,  a  vast  scene  is  to  be  accomplished. 
Prophetic  notice  is  ever  given  relative  to  that 
period,  that  the  salvation  of  the  friends  of  Zion 
shall  be  ushered  in  with  a  proportionable  des 
truction  to  her  enemies.  The  harvest  and  vint 
age  of  divine  wrath,  called  "  the  battle  of  that 
great  day  of  God  Almighty,"  must  be  accomplish 
ed  ;  and  at  the  time  of  the  restoration  of  the 
Hebrews,  that  tremendous  event  shall  be  at  the 
doors.  As  in  the  natural  vineyard,  when  the 
blossom  is  succeeded  by  the  swelled  pulp,  which 
soon  reaches  the  size  of  the  full  grapes,  indicat 
ing  that  the  vintage  is  near;  so  at  the  time  of  the 
service  here  divinely  demanded,  wickedness  shall 
have  blossomed  ;  pride  shall  have  budded  in  an 
tichristian  realms.  The  sour  grapes  of  their 
tyranny,  violence,  and  licentiousness,  will  be 
found  to  be  arriving  at  their  growth  ;  indicating 
that  the  time  for  the  casting  of  the  vine  of  the 


145 

fcarth  into  the  wine  press  of  the  wrath  of  God,  is 
jii^-.t  ai  hand. 

Verse  6.  "  They  shall  be  left  together  unto  tht 
fowls  of  the  mountains,  and  the  beasts  of  the 
earth  ;  and  the  fowls  shall  summer  upon  them, 
and  the  beasts  of  the  earth  shall  winter  upon 
/Acm."  Soon  the  most  prominent  branches  of 
the  antichristian  vine  of  the  earth,  shall  be  col 
lected  arid  trodden  upon  the  mountains  of  Israel, 
in  the  noted  scene  of  Armageddon  ;  Rev.  xvi. 
16.  The  passage  noted  in  Ezek.  xxxix.  17 — 20, 
(at  the  time  of  the  slaughter  of  Gog  and  his 
bands,  and  which  is  given  as  an  illustration  of  the 
text,)  shall  then  be  accomplished.  "  ^nd  thou 
son  of  man,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Speak  unto 
every  feathered  fowl,  and  to  every  beast  of  the 
field,  Assemble  yourselves,  and  come  ;  gather 
yourselves  on  every  side  to  my  sacrifice  that  \  do 
sacrifice  for  you,  even  a  great  sacrifice  upon  the 
mountains  of  Israel,  that  ye  may  eat  flesh,  and 
drink  blood.  Ye  shall  eat  the  flesh  of  the  mighty, 
and  drink  the  blood  of  the  princes  of  the  earth  ;• 
of  rams,  of  lambs,  and  of  goats,  of  bullocks,  all 
of  them  failings  of  Bashau.  And  ye  shall  eat 
fat  till  ye  be  full,  and  drink  blood  till  ye  be  drun 
ken,  of  my  sacrifice  which  I  sacrificed  for  you. 
Thus  ye  shall  be  filled  at  my  table  with  horses 
and  chariots,  with  mighty  men,  and  with  all  men 
of  war,  saith  the  Lord  God."  Also  the  further 
illustration  of  the  same,  Rev.  xix.  17,  18  ;  "And 
1  saw  an  arigel  standing  in  the  sun  ;  and  he  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the  fowls  that  fly 
in  the  midst  of  heaven,  Come  and  gather  your 
selves  together  unto  the  supper  of  the  great  God; 
That  ye  may  eat  the  flesh  of  kings  and  the  flesh 
of  captains,  and  the  flesh  of  mighty  men,  and  the 
flesh  of  horses,  and  of  them  that  sit  on  them,  and 
13 


146 

the  flesh  of  all  men,  both  free  and  bond,  both 
small  and  great." 

Verse  7.  "  At  that  time  shall  the  present  be, 
brought  unto  the  Lord  of  hosts  of  a  people  scatter 
ed  and  pealed,  and  from  a  people  terrible  from 
the  beginning  hitherto  ;  a  nation  meted  out  and 
trodden  under  foot,  whose  land  the ,  rivers  have 
spoiled,  to  the  place  of  the  name  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  the  Mount  Zion."  Just  at  that  period  of 
the  world,  the  present  which  I  claim  of  you  shall 
be  brought  to  the  Lord  of  hosts,  of  that  scatter 
ed  and  outcast  people;  of  that  people  so  terrible 
in  ancient  times  to  their  enemies  by  the  presence 
and  power  of  their  God  with  them  ;  that  people 
of  "/me,  /me,"  or  depending  solely  on  the  meas 
uring  line  of  promise,  or  the  entail  of  the  cove 
nant,  found  in  the  sacred  oracles  for  their  resto 
ration  to  their  ancient  inheritance  in  the  church 
of  God,  arid  in  the  promised  land  ;  inasmuch  as 
the  boundaries  of  their  inheritance  in  both  these 
respects  have  long  since  been  swept  away.  A 
present  of  this  people  must  be  brought  by  you, 
sequestered  land  shadowing  with  wings,  unto  the 
place  of  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the 
Mount  Zion. 

Ye  friends  of  God  in  the  land  addressed  ;  can 
you  read  this  prophetic  direction  of  the  ancient 
prophet  Isaiah,  without  having  your  hearts  burn 
within  you  ?  Surely  you  cannot,  if  you  can  view 
it  as  an  address  of  the  Most  High  to  you.  God 
here  exalts  you,  in  the  last  days,  the  age  of  terror 
and  blood,  as  high  as  the  standard  to  be  raised 
for  the  collection  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  ;  "  on 
the  mountains."  Nor  is  this  the  only  passage,  in 
which  this  your  exaltation  is  recognized.  See 
the  same  honour  alluded  to,  in  Zeph.  iii.  10. — 
There,  nearly  connected  with  the  battle  of  the 


147 

great  day  of  God,  in  which  he  there  asserts  he 
"  will  gather  the  nations,  and  assemble  the  king 
doms,  to  pour  upon  them  his  indignation,  even  all 
his  fierce  anger,  and  all  the  earth  shall  be  devour 
ed  with  the  fire  of  his  jealousy  ;"  and  that  he 
will  then  "  turn  to  the  people  a  pure  language, 
that  they  may  all  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
and  serve  him  with  one  consent ;"  he  informs, 
as  in  the  address  in  Isaiah  ;  "  From  beyond  the 
rivers  of  Ethiopia,  my  suppliants  (or  a  people 
who  are  my  worshippers,)  shall  bring  mine  otter 
ing,  even  the  daughter  of  my  dispersed,  (as  the 
verse  should  be  read.)  Here  is  the  same  peo 
ple,  away  in  the  same  direction,  over  the  mouths 
of  the  Nile,  who  are  called  God's  suppliants,  and 
who,  in  those  days  of  vengeance,  are  to  bring 
their  offering  to  God,  consisting  of  the  descend 
ants  of  his  ancient  people. 

If  these  views  be  correct,  Christians  in  our 
land  may  well  bless  God  that  it  is  their  happy  lot 
to  live  in  this  land  shadowing  with  wings  ;  this 
protecting  realm,  an  asylum  of  liberty  and  reli 
gion;  a  land  so  distant  from  the  seat  of  antichrist 
and  of  the  judgments  to  be  thundered  down  on 
old  corrupt  establishments  in  the  last  days.  And 
their  devout  gratitude  to  Heaven  ought  to  rise, 
for  the  blessing  of  having  their  existence  so  near 
the  period  alluded  to  in  this  sublime  prediction, 
when  this  land  of  liberty  is  beginning  to  feel  her 
distinguishing  immunities  compared  with  the  es 
tablishments  of  tyranny  and  corruption  in  the  old 
continent.  We  may  rejoice  to  have  our  earthly 
lot  with  a  people  of  whom  such  honorable  men 
tion  is  made  by  the  prophetic  spirit  of  old  ;  and 
to  whom  so  noble  a  work  is  assigned.  Our  chil 
dren  coming  upon  the  stage  may  live  to  see  the 
meaning  and  fulfilment  of  this  prophetic  chap- 


143 

ter,  which  is  most  rich  in  sentiment,  and  which 
will  not  fail  of  accomplishment. 

The  great  argument  found  in  this  sacred  ad 
dress,  to  induce  to  a  compliance  with  the  duty 
demanded,  is,  the  terrors  of  the  days  of  ven 
geance  on  eastern  corrupt  nations  ;  which  seems 
to  imply  some  good  degree  of  exemption  in  our 
own  case,  and  our  happy  leisure  for  the  business 
assigned.  Heaven  will  show  despotic  nations, 
and  old  corrupt  empires,  the  difference  between 
them,  and  a  land  "  shadowing  with  wings;"  a 
happy  asylum  of  liberty  and  religion,  in  the  west. 

Can  a  motive  be  wanting  to  induce  us  to  main 
tain  the  character  implied  in  this  address,  and  to 
obey  the  injunction  of  Heaven  here  urged  upon 
us  ?  Should  any  say,  what  can  he  done  ?  Let 
this  be  the  reply  ;  be  devoutly  disposed  and  pre 
pared  to  obey;  and  Heaven  will,  in  due  time, 
make  the  duty  plain.  By  prayer,  contributions, 
and  your  influence,  be  prepared  to  aid  every  at 
tempt  for  the  conversion  of  the  Jews  and  Israel; 
and  God  will  be  his  own  interpreter,  and  will 
make  the  duty  plain. 

A  leading  step  has  already  been  taken  in  a  Je 
rusalem  mission.  This  may  prove,  in  relation 
to  a  fulfilment  of  our  text,  a  cloud  like  a  man's 
hand,  which  shall  afford  a  sound  of  great  rain  ; 
and  shall  water  the  hills  of  ancient  Zion.  How 
great  effects  spring  from  little  causes  !  A  purling 
stream  from  the  threshold  of  the  sanctuary,  soon 
rises  to  the  ankles,  to  the  knees,  to  the  loins,  to 
an  unfordable  river,  which  heals  the  Dead  sea  ; 
Ezek.  xlvii.  Already  has  the  bulrush  vessel  slip 
ped  from  the  "land  shadowing  with  wings,"  across 
the  mighty  waters,  over  which  the  prophetic  eye 
glanced;  over  the  Atlantic  and  the  Mediterranean, 
by  the  mouths  of  the  "rivers  of  Ethiopia,"  and 


149 

has  landed  her  "  ambassadors^  for  a  Jerusalem 
mission  !  Bless  the  Lord,  O  children  of  Abra 
ham,  for  this  ray  of  light  from  the  land  of  the 
going  down  of  the  sun.  This  may  shed  an  incip 
ient  lustre  on  the  noted  passage  in  our  evangeli 
cal  prophet.  It  may  prove  to  the  children  of 
Abraham,  in  these  days  of  signal  phenomena,  a 
morning  rising  in  the  west!  Let  us,  dear  coun 
trymen,  second  this  attempt  with  our  interces 
sions,  our  contributions,  and  our  influence.  May 
all  societies  formed  in  behalf  of  the  Jews,  and  all 
solicitations  in  their  favour,meet  our  most  fervent 
patronage.  And  God  will  not  fail  of  fulfilling  by 
us  his  gracious  designs.  The  blessed  business 
will  be  brought  within  our  reach,  and  will  be  ac 
complished. 

The  ten  tribes,  as  well  as  the  Jews,  belong  to 
the  "  nation  scattered  and  pealed,  and  terrible 
from  the  beginning."  Yes,  the  stick  of  Ephraim 
is  to  become  one  in  the  hand  of  the  prophet,  with 
the  stick  of  the  Jews  ;  fizek.  xxxvii.  15.  If  it 
is  a  fact,  that  the  aborigines  of  this  "  land  shad 
owing  with  wings,55  are  the  tribes  of  Israel,  we 
perceive  at  once  what  can  be  done  to  fulfil  the 
noted  demand  of  God,  as  it  relates  to  them. — 
And  all  who  fear  God  will  leap  for  joy.  that  as 
the  Jerusalem  mission  is  already  under  way,  so 
missions  to  these  tribes  of  Israel  are  already  un 
der  way ! 

Let  us  then,  in  view  of  the  evidence  providen 
tially  afforded,  that  we  have  found  the  long  ban 
ished  tribes  of  Israel,  seat  ourselves  as  at  the  feet 
of  Isaiah  ;  hear  him  sighing  with  deep  affliction 
at  the  long  exilement  of  his  brethren  of  Israel, 
and  in  vision  beholding  this  land  of  their  banish 
ment.  Hear  the  Spirit  of  Inspiration  suggesting 
to  his  anxious  mind ;  There  is  the  land,  the  long 
13* 


150 

exilement  of  your  brethren  of  Israel.  There  for 
2500  years  shall  they  be  an  outcast  race,  till  about 
the  time  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  that  darling 
object  of  your  prophecy.  Then  their  line  of 
promised  title  to  their  fair  inheritance  shall  take 
effect.  A  great  nation  shall  there  be  found,  at 
that  period,  whose  sequestered  realm  and  peace 
ful  national  character,  shall  afford  a  retreat  for 
liberty  and  religion ;  and  shall  entitle  them  to  the 
appellation  of  a  "  land  shadowing  with  wings/' 
as  the  form  of  their  continent  suggests.  Here  is 
the  people  to  aid  the  restoration  both  of  your 
dispersed,  and  especially  your  outcast  brethren. 
Address  them  therefore,  and  from  me  assign  them 
their  business. 

Ho,  thou  blessed  nation  of  the  last  days  ;  pity, 
instruct,  and  save  my  ancient  people  and  breth 
ren  ;  especially  that  outcast  branch  of  them,  who 
were  the  natives  of  your  soil.  Pity  that  degrad 
ed  remnant  of  a  nation  so  terrible  in  ancient 
times,  but  who  have  been  now  so  long  wretched. 
Bring  a  present  of  them,  ye  worshippers  of  Je 
hovah,  to  the  God  of  Abraham.  Give  not  sleep 
to  your  eyes5  till  a  house  be  builded  to  your  God, 
from  those  ancient  and  venerable  materials. — 
Were  not  your  fathers  sent  into  that  far  distant 
world,  not  only  to  be  (in  their  posterity)  built  up 
a  great  protecting  nation  ;  but  also  to  be  the  in 
struments  of  gathering,  or  recovering  the  miser 
able  remnant  of  my  outcasts  there,  in  the  last 
days  ?  Rejoice,  then,  ye  distinguished  people  in 
jour  birthright,  arrci  engage  in  the  work  by  Heav 
en  assigned.  Let  not  those  tribes  of  my  ancient 
people,  whom  I  have  borne  as  on  eagles'  wings 
for  so  many  a^es  ;  let  them  not  become  extinct 
before  your  eyes  ;  let  them  no  longer  roam  in 
ravage  barbarism  and  death !  My  bowels  yearn 


151 

for  Ephraim,  my  first  born.  "For  since  I  spakf* 
against  him,  I  do  earnestly  remember  him  still." 
"  1  have  seen  his  ways  and  will  heal  him.  I  will 
restore  peace  to  him,  and  to  his  mourners;  peace 
in  the  renewal  of  my  covenant.  I  will  again 
bear  him  on  eagles"  wings,  and  bring  him  to  my 
self.  For  you,  (my  suppliants  in  the  west,)  this 
honour  is  reserved  ;"  Zeph.  iii.  10.  The  wings 
of  your  continent  have  long  borne  him  in  his 
banishment.  Let  now  the  wings  of  your  liberty, 
compassion,  and  blessed  retreat,  bear  him  from 
Ins  dreary  wilds  to  the  temple  of  God. 

Xiook  at  the  origin  of  those  degraded  natives 
of  your  continent,  and  fly  to  their  relief. — 
Send  them  the  heralds  of  salvation.  Send 
ihem  the  word,  the  bread  of  life.  You  receiv 
ed  that  book  from  the  seed  of  Abraham.  Res 
tore  it  to  them,  and  thus  double  your  own  rich 
inheritance  in  its  blessings.  Learn  them  to  read 
the  book  of  grace.  Learn  them  its  history  and 
(heir  own.  Teach  them  the  story  of  their  an 
cestors  :  the  economy  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Ja 
cob.  Sublimate  their  views  above  the  savage 
pursuits  of  the  forests.  Elevate  them  above  the 
wilds  of  barbarism  and  death,  by  showing  them 
what  has  been  done  for  their  nation  ;  and  what 
is  yet  to  be  done  by  the  God  of  their  fathers,  in 
the  line  of  his  promise.  Teach  them  their  an 
cient  history  ;  their  former  blessings  ;  their  be 
ing  cast  away ;  the  occasion  of  it,  and  the  prom 
ises  of  their  return.  Tell  them  the  time  draws 
near,  and  they  must  now  return  to  the  God  of  their 
salvation.  Tell  them  their  return  is  to  be  as  life 
from  the  dead  to  the  gentile  nations.  Tell  them 
what  their  ancient  fathers,  the  prophets,  were  in 
spired  to  predict  in  their  behalf;  and  the  charge 
here  given  for  their  restoration.  Assure  them 


this  talk  of  an  ancient  brother,  is  for  them,  and 
they  must  listen  to  it  and  obey  it.  That  the 
Great  Spirit  above  the  clouds  now  calls  them  by 
you  to  come  and  receive  his  grace  by  Christ  the 
true  star  from  Jacob,  the  Shiloh  who  has  come, 
and  to  whom  the  people  must  be  gathered.  In 
form  them  that  by  embracing  this  true  seed  oi 
Abraham,  you  and  multitudes  of  other  gentile?, 
have  become  the  children  of  that  ancient  patri 
arch;  and  now  they  must  come  back  as  your 
brothers  in  the  Lord.  Unfold  to  them  their  su 
perlative  line  of  the  entail  of  the  covenant ;  that 
*;  as  touching  this  election,  they  are  beloved  for 
the  fathers'  sakes  ;"  that  they  were  for  their  sins 
excluded  for  this  long  period,  until  the  fulness  of 
the  gentiles  be  come  in,  and  so  all  Israel  shall  be 
saved. 

Go,  thou  nation  highly  distinguished  in  the 
last  days  ;  save  the  remnant  of  my  people. — 
Bring  me  a  present  of  them  "  to  the  place  of  the 
name  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  Mount  Zion." 

NOTE. — I  have  lately  been  informed  that  a  Dr.  M'DounaM 
has  published  something  on  this  chapter  similar  to  what  I  have 
written.  What  his  ideas  particularly  are,  I  know  not,  as  I 
have  never  been  favoured  with  a  sight  of  the  book,  nor  seen 
any  one  who  could  give  any  particular  account  of  his  scheme. 


CONCLUSION. 


1.  IT  becomes  us  to  be  deeply  affected  with 
the  excommunication  of  the  ancient  people  of 
God.  In  the  temporary  rejection  of  those  two 
branches  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  the  truth  is  sol 
emnly  enforced,  that  the  God  of  Zion  is  a  God  of 
government ;  and  that  he  will  be  known  by  the 
judgments  that  he  executeth.  The  casting  out 
of  the  ten  tribes  for  their  impious  idolatries,  is 
full  of  instruction.  The  wonders  God  had  done 
for  them,  and  all  their  privileges  in  the  land  of 
promise,  could  not  save,  when  they  rejected  the 
stated  place  of  his  worship,  and  united  in  the 
abominations  of  the  open  enemies  of  God.  They 
should  be  hurled  from  the  promised  land,  and 
abandoned  to  a  state  of  savage  wretchedness,  for 
two  and  a  half  millinaries.  Their  sin  in  those 
dark  ages  of  the  old  dispensation  was  no  trifle. 
Its  consequence  is  held  up  as  an  awful  warning 
to  the  world.  It  impresses  the  following  lan 
guage  ;  "  Know  thou  arid  see  that  it  is  an  evil 
thing  and  bitter  that  thou  hast  forsaken  the 
Lord,"  To  that  event  people  under  evangelical 
privileges  ought  to  turn  their  eyes  and  take  the 
solemn  warning.  The  God  of  Abraham  is  a  God 
of  judgment ;  while  blessed  are  all  they  that  put 
their  trust  in  him. 

The  judgments  of  Heaven  on  the  Jews  were 
still  more  dreadful.  The  Lord  of  that  vineyard 
did  indeed  come  in  a  day  when  they  looked  riot 
for  iiim,  and  in  an  hour  when  they  were  not 


154 

aware  ;  and  did  cut  them  asunder.  He  came 
and  miserably  destroyed  those  husbandmen,  and 
burned  up  their  cities,  as  he  foretold.  Upon 
their  turning  him  off  with  hypocrisy  and  will- 
worship,  and  rejecting  the  Saviour,  the  denuncU 
ation,  "  Cut  it  down  ;  why  cumbereth  it  the 
ground  ?"  was  fulfilled  with  unprecedented  de 
cision.  Let  all  rejectors  of  Christ,  behold  and 
tremble.  The  Jews  were  confident  in  a  fancied 
security,  to  the  last.  But  an  impious  confidence 
can  never  save.  It  is  but  a  dead  calm  before  a 
fatal  catastrophe.  Such  presumptuous  leaning 
upon  the  Lord,  and  saying,  "  Is  not  the  Lord 
among  us  ?  no  evil  shall  come  upon  us  ;"  was  so 
far  from  saving,  that  it  was  a  sure  precursor  of 
perdition,  and  of  the  coming  of  wrath  upon  them 
to  the  uttermost.  Let  gospel  rejectors  beware. 
"  Behold,  ye  despisers,  and  wonder,  and  perish.5' 
"  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standcth,  take  heed 
lest  he  fall." 

2.  How  evident  and  rich  is  the  entail  of  the 
covenant  which  will  recover  the  two  branches  of 
the  house  of  Israel!  Truly  they  are  ua  nation  of 
/me,  line  ;"  (Isai.  xviii.  2,  in  the  Hebrew,  and 
margin  of  the  great  Bible.)  Though  they  be  in 
fidels,  and  rejected,  and  as  touching  the  gospel 
are  enemies  for  our  sakes  ;  yet  as  touching  the 
election,  (the  entail  of  the  covenant,)  they  arc 
beloved  for  the  fathers'  sakes  ;  Rom.  xi.  28. — 
This  entail  ensures  their  ingrafting  again  into 
their  own  olive  tree,  which  shall  be  as  life  from 
the  dead  to  the  nations.  This  is  the  infallible 
hold  upon  them,  which  shall  finally  recover  them 
again  to  Palestine,  and  to  the  covenant  of  their 
God.  It  is  upon  this  covenant-hold  upon  them, 
that  the  God  of  Abraham  promises  to  take  away 
their  stony  heart  out  of  their  flesh,  and  give  them 


155 

a  heart  of  flesh;  to  sprinkle  them  with  clean  wa 
ter,  and  to  make  them  clean  ;  to  put  his  Spirit 
within  them  and  cause  them  to  walk  in  his  stat 
utes,  and  make  them  keep  his  judgments  and  do 
them  ;  Ezek.  xxxvi.  24 — 27.  It  is  upon  this  en 
tail,  that  God  thus  engages  to  bring  them  in  un 
der  his  new  covenant,  or  the  Christian  dispensa 
tion  ;  that  their  children  shall  be  as  aforetimes, 
and  their  congregations  established  before  him; 
and  "  that  all  who  see  them  shall  acknowledge 
they  are  the  seed  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed;" 
"  that  they  are  the  seed  of  the  blessed  of  the 
Lord,  and  their  offspring  with  them."  It  will 
then  be  understood,  that  though  blindness  in  part 
had  happened  to  Israel,  it  was  that  the  gentiles 
might  take  their  place,  and  only  till  the  fulness 
of  the  gentiles  be  come  in  ;  and  then  all  Israel 
shall  be  saved.  The  Jewish  church  will  thence 
be  a  kind  of  capital  and  model  of  the  Christian 
world;  see  Isai.  Ix.  1 — 5;  and  many  other  prom 
ises  of  the  same  tenor. 

The  entail  of  the  covenant  may  be  expected 
thenceforth  to  have  its  proper  and  perfect  effect 
in  the  fulfilment  of  such  promises  as  the  follow 
ing,  which  relate  to  that  period  ;  "  I  will  pour 
my  Spirit  upon  thy  seed,  and  my  blessing  upon 
thine  offspring;  and  they  shall  spring  up  as 
among  the  grass,  as  willows  by  the  water  cours 
es  ;  Isai.  xliv.  3,  4.  "As  for  me,  this  is  my  cov 
enant  with  them,  saith  the  Lord.  My  spirit  that 
is  upon  thee,  and  my  words  which  I  have  put  in 
thy  mouth,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor 
out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the 
mouth  of  thy  seed's  seed,  saith  the  Lord,  from 
henceforth  and  forever;"  Isai.  lix.  21.  This 
will  indeed  bring  a  season  of  salvation  to  man. 


156 

3.  On  reading  the  prophetic  scriptures  rela 
tive  to  the  restoration  of  the  Hebrews,  and  the 
calls  of  Heaven  to  aid  in  the  event ;  the  ques 
tion  becomes  interesting,  What  is  first  to  be  done 
relative  to  this  restoration  ?  The  first  object,  no 
doubt,  must  be,  to  christianize  them,  and  wait 
the  leadings  of  Providence  relative  to  any  fur 
ther  event.  God  will  in  due  time,  be  (to  all  who 
are  willing  to  wait  on  him)  his  own  interpreter; 
and  to  such  he  will  make  the  path  of  duty  plain. 
In  his  own  time  and  way,  after  his  ancient  peo 
ple  shall  be  duly  instructed,  and  taught  the  Chris 
tian  religion,  God  will  open  the  door  for  the  ful 
filment  of  his  designs  relative  to  any  local  resto 
ration  ;  and  will  bring  that  part  of  them,  whom 
he  designs,  to  their  ancient  home.  All  the  Jews 
did  not  return  to  Palestine  from  their  seventy 
years  captivity.  Many  chose  to  continue  where 
they  were  planted  in  the  east.  Something  of  the 
game  may  be  realized  in  the  final  restoration  of 
Judah  and  Israel.  God  will  take  one  of  a  fami 
ly,  and  two  of  a  city,  and  bring  them  to  Zion  '  A 
proportion  of  that  nation  will  in  due  time  be  of 
fered,  to  return  to  the  land  of  their  fathers, 
where  they  may  form  a  kind  of  centre  or  capital 
to  the  cause  of  Christ  on  earth.  Relative  to 
many  particulars  of  the  event,  the  holy  oracles 
have  not  expressed.  They  have  strongly  mark 
ed  the  outlines  or  leading  facts  of  the  n\>tora- 
tion  ;  and  the  unrevealcd  particulars,  the  events 
of  Providence  must  unfold.  That  great  num 
bers  will  return,  there  seems  not  room  U,  doi  bt. 
But  the  actual  proposition  to  return,  will  doubt 
less  be  a  free-will  offering  of  those  whose  hearts 
God  shall  incline,  The  first  duty  :ii':st  be  to  re- 
rover  them  to  the  visible  kingdom  of  Christ,  To 


157 

this  our  prayers,  alms,  and  all  due  exertions  must 
devoutly  tend. 

4.  Viewing  the  aborigines  of  America  as  the  out 
cast  tribes  of  Israel ;  an  interesting  view  is  given 
of  some  prophetic  passages,  which  appear  near 
ly  connected  with  their  restoration. 

In  Isai.  xl.  3,  relative  to  this  restoration  of  the 
ancient  people  of  God,  we  read  ;."  The  voice  of 
him  that  crieth  in  the  wilderness;  Prepare  ye  the 
way  of  the  Lord  ;  make  straight  in  the  desart  a 
high  way  for  our  God."  This  received  a  prima 
ry  and  typical  fulfilment  in  the  ministry  of  John 
the  Baptist,  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea,  to  intro 
duce  Christ.  Hence  the  passage  was  applied  to 
him.  But  it  was  to  receive  its  ultimate  and  most 
interesting  fulfilment  at  a  period  connected  with 
the  commencement  of  the  Millennium,  when  "the 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed,  and  all  flesh 
shall  see  it  together ;"  as  the  subsequent  text 
decides.  It  is  intimately  connected  with  the 
restoration  of  the  Hebrews ;  as  appears  in  its 
context.  u  Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye,  my  people, 
saith  your  God.  Speak  ye  comfortably  to  Jeru 
salem,  (a  name  here  put  for  all  the  Hebrew  fam 
ily,  as  it  was  their  capital  in  the  days  of  David 
and  Solomon,)  and  cry  unto  her  that  her  warfare 
is  accomplished,  that  her  iniquity  is  pardoned  ; 
for  she  hath  received  of  the  Lord's  hand  double 
for  all  her  sins."  Here  is  the  final  Hebrew  res 
toration,  after  the  time  of  their  doubly  long  cor 
rective  rejection  for  their  sins  shall  have  expir 
ed.  The  voice  in  the  wilderness  then  follows, 
as  the  great  means  of  this  restoration. 

A  wilderness  has  justly  been  considered  as  a 
symbol  of  a  region  of  moral  darkness  and  spirit 
ual  death.      It  has  been  considered  as  a  symbol 
of  the  heathen  world  ;    and  it  is  a  .striking  en> 
14 


Mem  of  it.  And  the  emblem  receives  strength 
from  the  consideration,  that  it  is  in  a  sense  liter 
ally  true.  The  voice,  which  restores  Israel,  is 
heard  in  the  vast  wilderness  of  America,  a  literal 
wilderness  of  thousands  of  miles,  where  the  dry 
hones  of  the  outcasts  of  Israel  -have  for  thou 
sands  of  years  heen  scattered.  The  voice  crying 
in  the  wilderness  has  a  special  appropriation  to 
these  Hebrews.  As  it  had  a  kind  of  literal  ful 
filment  in  the  preaching  of  the  forerunner  John, 
for  a  short  time  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea  ;  so  it 
is  to  have  a  kind  of  literal  fulfilment,  upon  a 
much  greater  scale,  in  the  missions,  which  shall 
recover  the  ten  tribes  from  the  vast  wilderness 
of  America. 

Of  the  same  period  and  event,  the  same  evan 
gelical  prophet  says,  Isai.  xxxv.  1.  "  The  wil 
derness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be  glad  for 
them  ;  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and  blossom 
as  the  rose;  it  shall  blossom  abundantly  and 
rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing.  The  glory  of 
Lebanon  shall  be  given  unto  it,  and  tbe  excel 
lency  of  Carmel  and  Sharon  ;  they  shall  see  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  and  the  excellency  of  our 
God."  In  such  passages,  while  the  prediction 
is  to  have  its  mystical  and  full  accomplishment 
in  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  world  to  God ; 
the  prophetic  eye  evidently  rested  with  signal 
pleasure,  on  a  literal  restoration  of  his  long  lost 
brethren,  as  involved  in  the  event,  and  as  fur 
nishing  the  ground  of  the  figure.  They  will  be 
literally*  and  the  fulness  of  the  gentiles  mystical 
ly  restored  and  brought  to  Zion. 

As  the  wilderness  of  Judea  in  a  small  degree 
rejoiced  and  blossomed  as  the  rose,  when  John 
the  Baptist  performed  his  ministry  in  it  ;  so  the 
wilderness  and  solitary  place  of  our  vast  conti 


159 

went,  containing  the  lost  tribes  of  the  house  of 
Israel,  will,  on  a  most  enlarged  scale,  rejoice 
and  blossom  as  the  rose,  when  the  long  lost  tribes 
shall  be  found  there,  and  shall  be  gathered  to 
Zion.      The  event  in  relation  to  these  ancient 
heirs  of  the  covenant,  stated  in  the  last  verse  of 
this  chapter,  will  then  receive  a  signal  fulfilment; 
"And  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  shall  return  and 
come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  up 
on  their  heads  ;    they  shall  obtain  joy  and  glad 
ness,  arid  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away." 
Upon  this  final  restoration  of  his  brethren,  this 
prophet  exults  in  lofty  strains.      Several  of  the 
many  of  these  strains  shall  be  here  inserted.  Isai, 
xlix.  Listen  O  isles  unto  me  ;  (or  ye  lands  away 
over  the  sea)  hearken  ye  people  from  afar.     I 
will  make  all  my  mountains  away  ;  and  my  high 
way  shall  be  exalted.     Behold  these  shall  come 
from  /«r;  and  lo,  these  from  the  north,  and  from 
the  west  /    and  these  from  the  land  of  Sinim. — 
Sing,  O  heavens  ;    and  be  joyful,  O  earth  ;  and 
break  forth  into  singing,  O  mountains  ;    for  the 
Lord  hath  comforted  his  people,  and  will  have 
mercy  upon  his  afflicted."      Such  texts  have  a 
special  allusion  to  the  lost  tribes  of  the  house  of 
Israel.     And  their  being  called  over  mountains, 
arid  over  seas,  from  the  west,  and  from  afar,  re 
ceives  an  emphasis  from   the  consideration  of 
their  being  gathered  from  the  vast  wilds  of  Amer 
ica. 

With  the  prophet  Hosea,  the  rejection  and  re 
covery  of  the  ten  tribes  are  a  great  object.  In 
chapter  2d,  their  rejection,  and  the  cause  of  it, 
are  stated,  and  also  a  promise  of  their  return. 
God  threatens  to  strip  them  naked,  and  make 
them  as  a  wilderness?*  "  And  I  will  visit  upon 
her  the  days  of  Baalim,  wherein  she  burned  in- 


cense  to  them ;"   i.  e.  to  her  false  gods.     This 
visiting  upon  her  her  idolatries,  was  to  be  done 
in  her  subsequent  outcast  state,  in  which  God 
there  says;    "she  is  not  ray  wife,  neither  ami 
her  husband."    But  he  says,  v.  1 4 — "Therefore, 
behold,  I  will  allure  her,  and  bring  her  into  the 
wilderness,  and  speak  comfortably  unto  her. — 
And  I  will  give  her  her  vineyards  from  thence,  and 
the  valley  of  Achor  for  a  door  of  hope  ;  and  she 
shall  sing  there  as  in  the  days  of  her  youth,  and 
as  in  the  day  when  she  came  up  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt."     Here  is  Israel's  restoration  ;  and  it 
is  from  the  wilderness,  where  long  they  had  been 
planted  during  the  period  of  their  outcast  state. 
In  this  wilderness,  God  eventually  speaks  com 
fortably  to  them,  and  restores  them,  as  he  restor 
ed  from  Egypt.     Here  God  gives  them  "the  val 
ley  of  Achor  for  a  door  of  hope."      The  first 
encampment  of  the  Hebrews  in  the  valley  of 
Achor,  was  to  them  a  pledge  of  their  eventual 
possession  of  the  promised  land,  after  the  Lord 
had  there  turned  from  the  fierceness  of  his  wrath; 
Josh.  vii.  26. 

Upon  the  same  event  God  says;  Isai.  xliii.  19, 
20  ;  "  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  beasts  of  the  field  shall  honour 
me;  the  dragons  and  the  owls  ;  because  I  give 
water  in  the  wilderness,  and  rivers  in  the  desert, 
to  give  drink  to  my  people,  to  my  chosen."  If 
such  texts  have  a  glorious,  general,  mystical  ful 
filment  in  the  conversion  of  pagan  lands  ;  yet 
this  does  not  preclude,  but  rather  implies  the 
fact,  that  the  people  whose  restoration  is  in  them 
particularly  foretold,  shall  be  recovered  from  a 
vast  wilderness ;  and  their  conversion  shaJI  be 


161 

almost  like  the  conversion  of  dragons  and  owls 
of  the  desert.  Rivers  of  knowledge  and  grace 
shall  in  such  wilds  be  opened  for  God's  chosen. 
It  will  then  truly  be  fulfilled,  that  God  in  com 
forting  Zion,  will  "make  her  wilderness  like  Eden 
and  her  desert  like  the  garden  of  the  Lord ;" 
Isai.  li.  3.  Such  passages  will  have  a  degree  of 
both  literal  and  mystical  fulfilment. 

A  signal  beauty  will  then  be  discovered  in  such 
passages  as  the  following;  Isai.  xli.  14.  "  Fear 
not,  thou  worm  Jacob,  and  ye  men  of  Israel  ;  I 
will  help  thee,  saith  the  Lord  Gud,  thy  Redeem 
er,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  I  will  open  rivers 
in  the  high  places,  and  fountains  in  the  midst  of 
vallies:  I  will  make  the  wilderness  a  pool  of  wa 
ter,  and  the  dry  land  springs  of  water.  I  will 
plant  in  the  wilderness  the  cedar,  the  shittah 
tree,  and  the  myrtle,  and  the  oil  tree ;  and  I  will 
set  in  the  desert  the  fir  tree,  the  pine,  and  the 
box  tree  together,  that  they  may  see  and  know 
and  understand  together,  that  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  hath  done  this,  and  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
hath  created  it."  The  view  given  of  the  place 
of  the  long  banishment  of  the  ten  tribes,  gives  a 
lustre  to  such  predictions  of  their  restoration.- — 
These  will  have  a  striking  fulfilment  in  the  vast 
wilds  of  our  continent,  when  the  glad  tidings  of 
salvation  shall  be  carried  to  the  natives  of  these 
extensive  dreary  forests,  and  those  regions  of 
wretchedness  and  death  shall  become  vocal  with 
the  high  praises  of  God,  sung  by  his  ancient  Is 
rael. 

5.  If  it  be  a  fact  that  the  native  Americans 
are  the  tribes  of  Israel,  new  evidence  is  hence 
furnished  of  the  divinity  of  our  holy  scriptures. 
A  new  field  of  evidence  is  here  opened  from  a 
race  of  men,  "  outcast"  from  all  civil  society  for 
14* 


162 

a  long  course  of  centuries.     Impressed  on  these 
wild  tenants  of  the  forest,  ^tkese  children  of  na 
ture,  without  books  or  letters,  or  any  thing  but 
gavage  tradition,)  striking  characters  are  found  of 
the  truth  of  ancient  revelation. 

The  intelligent  vindicator  of  the  word  of  God 
has  never  feared  to  meet  the  infidel  on  fail- 
ground.  His  triumph  has  not  been  less  certain 
than  that  of  David  against  Goliah.  But  in  the 
view  taken  of  the  natives  of  our  continent, 
the  believer  will  find  additional  arguments,  in 
which  to  triumph.  He  will  find  more  than  "five 
smooth  stones  taken  out  of  the  brook,"  (1  Sam. 
xvi.  40,)  each  one  of  which  is  sufficient  to  sink 
into  the  head  of  an  impious  Goliah,  challenging 
the  God  of  Israel. 

Let  the  unbeliever  in  revelations  undertake 
lo  answer  the  following  questions. 

Whence  have  the  greater  part  of  the  American 
natives  been  taught  the  being  of  one  and  only 
one  God  ;  when  all  other  heathen  nations  have 
lost  all  such  knowledge,  and  believe  in  many 
false  gods  ? 

Whence  have  the  Indians,  or  most  of  them, 
been  kept  from  gross  idolatry,  which  has  covered 
the  rest  of  the  heathen  world  ?  and  to  which  all 
men  have  been  so  prone  ? 

Whence  have  many  of  them  been  taught  that 
the  name  of  the  one  God,  the  Great  Spirit  above, 
is  Yohewah,  Ale.,  Yah,  (Hebrew  names  of  God,) 
who  made  all  things,  and  to  whom  alone  wor 
ship  is  due  *? 

Who  taught  any  of  them  that  God,  at  first, 
made  one  man  from  earth  ;  formed  him  well  :, 
and  breathed  him  into  life  ?  and  that  God  made 
good  and  bad  spirits  ;  the  latter  of  whom  have 
a  prince  over  th^m  ? 


163 

Whence  was  the  idea  among  these  untutored 
savages,  that  Yohewah  was  once  the  covenant 
God  of  their  nation  ;  and  the  rest  of  the  world 
were  out  of  covenant  with  him, — the  accursed 
people  ? 

Whence  their  ideas  that  their  ancestors  once 
had  the  book  of  God  ;  and  then  were  happy  ; 
but  that  they  lost  it;  and  then  became  miserable; 
but  that  they  will  have  this  book  again  at  some 
time  ? 

Whence  their  notion  that  their  fathers  once 
had  the  Spirit  of  God  to  work  miracles,  and  to 
foretel  future  events  ? 

Who  taught  the  untutored  savage  to  have  a 
temple  of  Yohewah  ;  a  holy  of  holies  in  it,  into 
which  no  common  people  may  enter,  or  look  ? 

Who  taught  him  a  succession  of  high  priests  ? 
that  this  priest  must  be  inducted  into  office  by 
purifications,  and  anointing  ?  that  he  must  appear 
in  an  appropriate  habiliment,  the  form  of  which 
descended  from  their  fathers  of  remote  antiquity  ? 

Whence  their  custom  of  this  priest's  making 
a  yearly  atonement,  in  or  near  the  holy  apart 
ment  of  their  temple  ? 

Whence  their  three  annual  feasts,  which  well 
accord  to  the  three  great  feasts  in  Israel  ? 

Whence  came  their  peculiar  feast,  in  which  a 
bone  of  the  sacrifice  may  not  be  broken  ;  and  all 
that  is  prepared  must  be  eaten  ;  or  burned  before 
the  next  morning  sun  ? 

Whence  a  custom  of  their  males  appearing 
thre^  times  annually  before  God  at  the  temple  ? 

Who  taught  wild  savages  of  the  desert  to  main 
tain  places  of  refuge  from  the  avenger  of  blood  ; 
<;  old,  beloved,  white  towns  /"' 

Who  taught  them  to  keep  and  venerate  a  sa 
cred  ark,  containing  their  most  sacred  things  ; 


164 

to  be  borne  against  their  enemies  by  one  purified 
by  strict  rites  ? — That  no  one  but  the  sanctified 
keeper  might  look  into  this  ark  ;  aad  the  enemy 
feeling  the  same  reverence  for  it,  as  the  friends  ? 

Wheace  came  the  deep  and  extensive  impress 
ion  among  these  savage  tribes,  that  the  hollow  of 
the  thigh  of  no  animal  may  be  eaten  ? 

Let  the  infidel  inform  how  these  savages  (so 
long  excluded  from  all  intercourse  with  the  reli 
gious  or  civilized  world)  came  by  the  rite  of  cir 
cumcision  ?  and  some  of  them  an  idea  of  a  Ju 
bilee  ? 

Whence  their  idea  of  an  old  divine  speech  ; 
that  they  mast  imitate  their  virtuous  ancestors, 
enforced  by  u  flourishing  upon  a  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey  ?" 

Whence  their  notion  of  the  ancient  flood  ?  and 
of  the  longevity  of  the  ancients  ?  also  of  the  con 
fusion  of  the  language  of  man  at  building  a  high 
place  ?  evidently  meaning  the  scene  at  Babel. 

How  came  these  wild  human  herds  of  the  de 
sert  by  various  Hebrew  words,  and  phrases  ;  and 
such  phrases  as  accord  with  no  other  language  on 
earth  ?  See  the  table  furnished,  page  90. 

Who  taught  them  to  sing,  Halleluyah,  Yohe- 
wah,  Yah,  Shilu  Yohewah  ;  and  to  make  the  sa 
cred  use  they  do  of  the  syllables,  which  compose 
the  names  of  God  ?  singing  them  in  their  reli 
gious  dances,  and  in  their  customs  ;  thus  ascrib 
ing  all  the  praise  to  Yohewah  ?  I  ask  not,  who 
taught  them  the  spirit  or  holiness  of  such  reli 
gious  forms  ?  For  probably  they  have  little  or 
no  intelligent  meaning.  But  whence  have  they 
brought  down  these  traditional  forms  ? 

How  came  their  reckoning  of  time  so  well  to 
accord  with  that  of  ancient  Israel? 


165 

Whence  their  tradition  of  twelve  men,  in  prepar 
ing  for  a  feast  similar  to  the  ancient  feast  of  taber 
nacles;  taking  twelve  poles,  forming  their  booths; 
and  their  altar  of  twelve  stones,  on  which  no  tool 
may  pass  ;  and  here  offering  their  twelve  sacri 
fices  ?  and  some  tribes  proceeding  by  the  number 
ten  instead  of  twelve  ?  indicating  their  tradition 
of  the  twelve  tribes  ;  and  their  subsequent  ten, 
after  the  revolt. 

Whence  came  their  tradition  of  purifying  them 
selves  with  bitter  vegetables  ?  also  fasting,  and 
purifying  themselves,  when  going  to  war  ? 

Who  taught  them  that  at  death  their  beloved 
people  sleep,  and  go  to  their  fathers  ? 

Whence  their  custom  of  washing  and  anoint 
ing  their  dead  ;  and  some  of  them  of  hiring 
mourners  to  bewail  them  ;  and  of  singing  round 
the  corpse  (before  they  bury  it)  the  syllables  of 
Yah,  Yohewah  ? 

How  came  they  "by  their  tradition  answering 
to  the  ancient  Jewish  separations  of  women  ? — 
also  a  tradition  of  taking  their  shoes  from  their 
feet  on  solemn  occasions  ? 

Whence  were  some  of  them  taught  in  deep 
mourning  to  lay  their  hand  on  their  mouth,  and 
their  mouth  in  the  dust  ? 

And  whence  came  their  tradition  of  their  an 
cient  father  with  his  twelve  sons,  ruling  over 
others  ?  and  the  malconduct  of  these  twelve 
sons,  till  they  lost  their  pre-eminence  ? 

Let  it  be  remembered,  it  is  not  pretended  that 
all  the  savages  are  in  the  practice  of  all  these  tra 
ditions.  They  are  not.  But  it  is  contended  that 
the  whole  of  these  things  have  been  found  among 
their  different  tribes  in  our  continent,  within  a 
hundred  years.  A  fragment  of  these  Hebrew 
traditions  has  been  found  among  one  tribe  ;  and 


160 

another  fragment  among  another;  and  some  of  tn£ 
most  striking  of  these  traditions  have  been  found 
among  various  and  very  distant  tribes;  as  has  ap 
peared  in  the  recital  from  various  authors,  tra 
ders  and  travellers. 

Let  the  unbeliever  in  revelation  set  himself  to 
account  for  these  events.  No  account  can  be 
given  of  them,  but  that  they  were  derived  from 
ancient  revelation  in  Israel.  And  hence  in  the 
outcast  state  of  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel,  (in  their 
huge  valley  of  dry  bones,  in  this  vast  new  world,) 
we  find  presented  a  volume  of  new  evidence  of 
the  divinity  of  the  Old  Testament ;  and  hence 
of  the  New  ;  for  the  latter  rests  on  the  former, 
as  a  building  rests  on  its  foundation.  If  the  one 
is  divine  ;  the  other  is  divine  ;  for  both  form  a 
perfect  whole. 

We  are  assured  by  the  chief  apostle  to  the 
ger.iilcs.  that  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  people 
of  God  in  the  last  days,  when  "  all  Israel  shall 
be  saved,'*'  shall  be  to  the  nations  "  as  life  from 
the  dead;"  Rom.  xi.  15.  Its  new  and  demon 
strative  evidence  of  the  glorious  truth  of  revela 
tion,  will  confound  infidelity  itself ;  and  fill  the 
world  with  light  and  glory.  These  Indian  tradi 
tions  may  be  viewed  as  beginning  to  exhibit  to 
the  world  their  quota  of  this  new  evidence. 

The  earthquake,  at  the  time  of  our  Savior's  giv 
ing  up  of  the  ghost,  which  rent  the  rocks,  may  be 
said  thus  to  have  opened  many  mouths  (perhaps 
over  the  face  of  the  earth)  tacitly  to  proclaim 
the  event.  It  may  be  said  in  figure  ; — "  The 
stones  cried  out!"  (Luke  xix.  40.)  In  our  sub 
ject,  we  find  a  powerful  corresponding  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  revelation,  extending  through  a 
wild  continent,  in  savage  traditions ;  which  tra 
dition  »n-!.st  ti.-ive  been  or  ••i.:lit  do\vu  from  725 
iKiibi'c  die  Christian  era. 


167 

The  preservation  of  the  Jews,  as  a  distinct 
people,  for  eighteen  centuries,  has  been  justly 
viewed  as  a  kind  of  standing  miracle  in  support 
of  the  truth  of  revelation.  But  the  arguments 
furnished  from  the  preservation  and  traditions  of 
the  ten  tribes,  in  the  wilds  of  America  from  a 
much  longer  period,  must  be  viewed  as  furnish 
ing,  if  possible,  a  more  commanding  testimony. 
And  it  is  precisely  such  evidence  as  must  have 
been  expected  in  the  long  outcast  tribes  of  Is 
rael,  whenever  they  should  come  to  light ;  and 
just  such  evidence  as  must  rationally  be  expected 
to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the  civilized 
world. 

The  evidence  discovered  among  the  various 
tribes  of  Indians,  of  the  truth  of  their  Hebrew 
extraction,  and  of  the  divinity  of  the  Old  Tes 
tament,  seems  almost  like  finding,  in  the  various 
regions  of  the  wilds  of  America,  various  scraps 
of  an  ancient  Hebrew  Old  Testament  ; — one  in 
one  wild;  another  in  another;  inscribed  on  some 
durable  substance  in  evident  Hebrew  language 
and  character,  though  much  defaced  by  the  lapse 
of  ages.  Surely  such  an  event,  when  attended 
with  concomitant  evidence  that  it  could  be  no 
imposition,  must  silence  the  unbeliever  in  ancient 
revelation  ;  and  add  a  new  and  powerful  item 
to  the  evidences  already  furnished  upon  so  in 
teresting  a  subject.  The  evidence,  actually  fur 
nished  in  the  traditions  of  the  savages  of  Ame 
rica,  suggest  the  suppositions  just  made;, but  are 
of  a  far  more  substantial  character.  It  is  con 
tended  that  they  furnish  the  very  evidence,  long 
desired,  of  the  existence,  and  present  state  of  the 
ten  tribes  of  Israel. 


APPENDIX. 


THE  Rev.  Dr.  Morse  in  his  report  of  his  tour  among  the 
Indians  at  the  west,  made  under  commission  from  ow  gov 
ernment,  in  1820,  to  ascertain  the  actual  state  of  the  Indians 
in  our  country,  says  ;  "It  is  matter  of  surprise,  that  the  In 
dians,  situated,  as  they  have  been  for  so  many  successive  ages 
and  generations,  without  hooks  or  knowledge  of  letters,  or  of 
the  art  of  reading  or  writing,  should  have  preserved  their 
various  languages  in  the  manner  they  have  done.  Many  of 
them  are  copious,  capable  of  regular  grammatical  analysis, 
possess  great  strength,  gracefulness,  and  beauty  of  expression, 
They  are  highly  metaphorical  in  their  character  ;  and  in  this 
and  other  respects  resemble  the  Hebrew.  This  resemblance 
in  the  language,  and  the  similarity  of  many  of  their  reli 
gious  customs,  &c.  to  those  of  the  Jews,  certainly  give  plausi 
bility  to  the  ingenious  theory  of  Dr.  Boudinot,  exhibited  in 
his  interesting  work,  entitled  "  The  Star  in  the  West."  A 
faithful  and  thorough  examination  of  the  various  languages 
of  the  Indian  tribes,  wjpuld  probably  show  that  there  are  very 
few  of  them  that  are  throughout  radically  different. — The 
differences  of  these  languages  are  mostly  differences  of 
dialect." 

The  various  Indian  tribes,  visited  by  Dr.  Morse,  had  their 
Great  Spirit.  Speaking  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
Sauks,  Fox  tribe,  Pattowattamies,  and  others,  he  says  :  "Other 
feasts  to  the  Great  Spirit  are  frequently  made  by  these  In 
dians."  Of  one  of  these  feasts,  he  says  ;  "They  seat  them 
selves  in  a  circle  on  the  ground  ; — when  one  of  the  guests 
places  before  each  person  a'wooden  bowl  with  his  portion  of 
the  feast,  and  they  commence  eating.  When  each  man's 
portion  is  eatea;  the  bones  are  collected  and  put  into  a  wood 
en  bowl,  and  thrown  into  the  river,  or  burnt.  The  whole 
of  the  feast  must  be  eate».  If  any  one  cannot  eat  his  part  of 
it,  he  passes  his  dish,  with  a  piece  of  tobacco  to  his  neighbour, 
and  he  eats  it ;  and  the  guests  then  retire.  Those  who  make 
the  feast  never  eat  any  part  of  it  themselves.  They  say  they 
give  their  part  of  it  to  the  Great  Spirit."  Here  seems  man 
ifestly  the  same  feast  noted  by  other  authors  among  other  and 
different  tribes  in  the  different  parts  of  the  continent,  and 
probably  answering  to  the  passover  in  ancient  Israel.  The 

15 


170 

different  and  distant  tribes  have  their  circumstantial  differ 
ences  ;  while  yet  certain  things  indicate  that  the  feast  is  a 
broken  tradition  of  thepassover. 

Another  tradition  from  a  Hebrew  rite  the  Doctor  states, 
lie  says  :  "  The  women  of  these  nations  are  very  particular 
to  remove  from  their  lodges  to  one  erected  for  that  particular 
purpose,  at  such  seasons  as  were  customarily  obseivedby 
Jewish  women,  according  to  the  law  of  Moses.  No  article 
of  furniture  ever  used  in  this  lodge,  is  ever  used  in  any  other  ; 
Dot  even  the  steel  and  the  flint  with  which  they  strike  fire. 
No  man  approaches  this  lodge,  while  a  woman  occupies  it." 
The  existence  of  this  extensive  Indian  rite  is  fully  ascertain 
ed.  And  of  its  origin  there  appears  but  very  little  room  to 
doubt. 

This  writer  says  :  u  The  belief  of  these  Indians  relative  to 
their  creation  is  not  very  unlike  our  own.  Masco,  one  of 
the  chiefs  of  the  Sauk«,  informed  me,  that  they  believed  that 
the  Great  Spirit  in  the  first  place,  created  from  the  dust  of 
the  earth  two  men ;  but  finding  that  these  alone  would  not 
answer  his  purpose,  betook  from  each  man  a  rib,  and  made 
two  women."  Of  the  descendants  of  these  two  pair,  they 
say,  "  th'at  they  were  all  one  nation,  until  they  behaved  so 
badly,  that  the  Great  Spirit  came  among  them,  and  talked 
different  languages  to  them  ;  which  caused  them  to  separate 
and  form  different  nations."  Here  are  manifest  broken  frag 
ments  of  Moses'  history  of  creation,  and  of  the  confusion  of 
language  at  Babel.  "  I  asked  (says  Dr.  M.)  how  they  sup 
posed  white  men  were  made  ?  He  replied  that  Indians  sup 
posed  the  Great  Spirit  made  them  of  the  fine  dust  of  ths 
earth,  as  they  know  more  than  Indians."  Dr.  M.  gives  an 
account  of  their  holding  to  a  future  state  ;  and  to  some  kinds 
of  reward  for  the  good,  and  of  punishments  for  the  wicked. 

He  informs  from  a  Major  Cumming*,  that  the  Indians  arc 
very  suspicious  of  some  evil  intent,  when  questioned  by  the 
Americans  ;  and  that  there  is  no  way  to  obtain  a  full  know 
ledge  of  their  traditions  and  ways,  but  by  a  long  residence  in 
their  country.  This  may  account  for  the  fact  that  their  tra 
ditions  (which  seems  manifestly  Hebrew)  were  kept  so  long 
and  to  so  great  a  degree,  from  the  knowledge  of  our  people. 

Relative  t«  their  manner  of  transacting  their  public  busi 
ness,  they  informed  Dr.  M.  "  We  open  our  council  by  smok 
ing  a  pipe  selected  for  the  occasion  ;  and  we  address  the  au 
dience  through  a  speaker  chosen  for  the  purpose  ;  first  in- 
\-oking  the  Great  Spirit  to  inspire  us  with  wisdom.  We  open 
our  council  in  the  name  of  the  Great  Spirit,  and  close  with 
the  same." 

He  informs  that  the  Indians  "  before  attending  on  treaties, 
great  councils,  or  any  other  important  national  business, 


171 

always  sacrifice  in  order  to  obtain  the  good  will  of  the  G  rent 
Spirit.  And  adds ;  "  There  are  no  people  more  frequent  or 
fervent  in  their  acknowledgements  of  gratitude  to  God.  Their 
belief  in  him  is  universal ;  and  their  confidence  astonishingly 
strong." 

Speaking  of  their  feasts,  he  says;  "  The  principal  festival 
is  celebrated  in  the  month  of  August ;  sooner  or  later,  as  the 
forwardness  of  the  corn  will  admit.  It  is  called  the  Green 
Corn  Dance;  or  more  properly  speaking,  the  ceremony  of 
thanksgiving  for  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth" 

The  question  continually  recurs,  whence  came  things  like 
these  among  the  natives  of  our  continent,  or  the  American 
savages,  unless  these  savages  are  the  very  tribes  of  Israel? 
No  evidence  is  furnished  thut  such  a  variety  of  Hebrew  rites 
is  found  among  any  other  people  on  earth,  except  the  Jews. 
And  it  seems  morally  impossible  they  should  have  derived 
them  from  any  other  source,  than  the  ancient  Hebrew  reli 
gion. 

Mr.  Schoolcvaft,  a  member  of  the  New- York  Historical 
Society,  (in  his  journals  of  travels  among  the  western  Indians, 
round  and  beyond  the  western  lakes,  and  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi,  in  1820.)  gives  some  accounts,  which  confirm 
some  of  the  Indian  traditions  already  exhibited.  He  speaks 
of  attending  a  feast  among  the  Sioux  Indian?  ;  a  feast  of  the 
first  greeu  com..  He  says  ;  "  Our  attention  was  now  drawn 
off  by  the  sound  of  Indian  music  which  proceeded  from  an 
other  large  cabin  at  no  great  distance ;  but  we  found  the 
doors  closed,  and  were  informed  that  they  were  celebrating 
an  annual  feast,  at  which  only  certain  persons  in  the  village 
were  allowed  to  be  present ;  and  that  it  was  not  customary 
to  admit  strangers.  Our  curiosity  being  excited,  we  applied 
to  the  governor,  Cass,  to  intercede  for  us;  and  were  by  that 
means  admitted.  The  first  ^striking  object  presented  was, 
two  large  kettles  full  of  green  corn,  cut  from  the  cofe  and 
boiled.  They  hung  over  a  moderate  fire  in  the  midst  of  the 
cabin  ;  and  the  Indian?,  both  men  and  women,  were  seated 
in  a  large  circle  avound  them.  They  were  singing  a  doleful 
song  in  a  savage  manner.  The  utmost  solemnity  was  depic 
ted  upon  every  countenance.  When  the  music  ceased,  as  it 
frequently  did  for  a  few  seconds,  there  was  a  full  and  myste 
rious  pause,  during  which  certain  pantomimic  signs  were 
made ;  and  it  appeared  as  if  they  pretended  to  hold  commun 
ion  with  invisible  spirits.  Suddenly  the  music  struck  up — • 
but  as  we  did  not  understand  their  language,  it  is  impossible 
to  say  what  they  uttered,  or  to  whom  their  supplications  or 
responses  were  addressed.  When  the  ceremony  ceased,  one 
of  the  older  Indians  divided  out  all  the  boiled  corn  into  sepa 
rate  tlishes  for  as  many  heads  of  families  as  there  were  pres- 


172 

ent,  putting  an  equal  number  of  ladles  full  into  each  di.sh.~- 
Then  while  the  music  continued,  they  one  by  one  took  up 
their  dishes,  and  irtiring  from  the  cabin  by  a  back-ward  step,, 
so  that  they  still  iuced  the  kettles,  they  separated  to  their  res 
pective  lod'ges  ;  and  thus  the  ceremony  ceased." 

This  writer  says,  "The  Indians  believed  in  the  existence  of 
a  great  invisible  Spirit,  who  resides  hi  the  regions  of  the 
clouds,  and  by  means  of  inferior  spirits  throughout  every  part 
of  the  earth." 

Their  word  for  spirit,  he  says,  is  manito,  which  he  ob 
serves,  "  signifies  the  same  thing  among  all  the  tribes  extend 
ing  from  the  Arkansaw  to  the  source?  ot  the  Mississippi ;  and 
according  to  M'Kenzie,  throughout  the  arctic  regions."  This 
word,  Mr.  S.  remarks,with  many  others,  strengthens  the  opin 
ion  "of  which  (he  says)  there  appears  ample  grounds,  that 
the  erratic  tribes  of  the  north-western  region,  and  of  the  val- 
lies  of  the  Mississippi,  are  all  descended  from  one  stock,  which 
is  presumed  to  have  progressed  from  the  north  toward  the 
south,  scattering  into  different  tribes,  and  falling  from  the  pu 
rity  of  a  language,  which  may  originally  have  been  rich  and 
copious."  Here  is  good  testimony  to  some  of  the  points,  ad 
duced  in  this  work,  viz.  that  all  the  Indians  are  from  one  or 
igin  ;  all  originally  of  one  language  ;  all  from  the  north-west, 
the  straits  of  Beering,  leading  from  the  north-east  of  Asia  to 
the  north-west  of  America. 

These  Indians,  Mr.  S.  informs,  "have  their  good  and  bad 
minitoes,"  or  spirits.  The  Old  Testament  informs  of  holy 
and  of  fallen  angels. 

Mr.  S.  speaks  of  the  best  of  authors  allowing  that  great, 
corruptions  have  crept  into  the  Indian  language  ;  and  that 
the  remarks  of  some  upon  the  supposed  poverty  of  the  lan 
guage  of  these  Americans,  are  very  incorrect. 

He  speaks  of  some  of  the  Indians  as  looking  to  the  people 
of  our  states  for  aid,  and  says,  a  council  which  he  attended 
with  the  Sandy  Lake  Indians,  thus  closed  ;  "  The  Americans 
(meaning  the  United  States)  are  a  great  people.  Can  it  be 
possible  they  will  allow  us  to  suffer  f " 

The  Rev.  Lemuel  Haynes  informs,  that  about  60  years 
ago,  he  was  living  in  Granville,  Mass.  A  minister  by  the 
name  of  Ashley,  called  on  an  old  deacon,  with  whom  he  was 
living,  being  on  his  way  from  a  mission  among  the  Indians  iu 
the  west,  where  he  had  been  a  considerable  time.  Mr.  Ash 
ley  stated  his  confident  belief  that  the  Indians  were  the  Is 
raelites  ;  for  he  said  there  were  many  things  in  their  manners 
and  customs,  which  were  like  those  of  ancient  Israel.  Vari 
ous  of  these  he  stated.  Mr.  Haynes  being  then  a  boy,  does 
not  now  recollect  them.  But  the  people  he  mentions  as  be 
ing  impressed  with  the  accounts  ;  and  the  good  old  deacon 
long  spake  of  them  with  much  interest. 


173 

A  brother  minister  informs  meihat  his  father  was  a  lieu 
tenant  in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  was  long  among  the  In 
dians  ;  and  that  he  became  a  firm  believer  that  the  Indians 
were  the  ten  tribes  of  Israel  from  their  traditions  and  rites  ; 
various  of  which  he  used  to  state  ;  but  which  the  minister 
does  not  now  remember. 

The  most  important  evidence  in  relation  to  the  Indians 
being  the  descendants  of  Israel,  the  reader  will  perceive,  is 
James  Adair,  Esqr.  Recollect  he  had  lived  among  them  as  an 
intelligent  trader,  40  years. — That  his  character  was  well 
established  ;  and  his  accounts  well  authenticated  by  colla 
teral  evidence,  by  a  gentleman^  member  of  congress,  who  had 
resided  a  number  of  years  as  an  agent  of  our  government  a- 
mong  those  Indians  where  Mr.  Adair  resided.  Dr.  Boutlinot 
assures  us  that  he  examined  this  congress  member,  without 
letting  him  know  his  design  ;  and  that  from  him  he  found  all 
the  leading  facts  mentioned  in  Mr.  Adair's  history  fully  con 
firmed  from  his  own  personal  knowledge.  [See  page  83d  of 
this  book.] 

I  think  it  therefore  desirable,  that  the  reader  should  see 
more  fully  Mr.  Adair's  arguments,  as  found  in  his  book  ; 
and  a  few  additional  extracts  from  his  work  in  support  of 
them.  He  states  his  sentiment  on  the  subject  thus  :  "  From 
the  most  exact  observation  that  I  could  make  in  the  long 
time  I  traded  among  the  Indian  Americans,  I  was  forced  to 
believe  fhem  lineally  descended  from  the  Israelites."  He 
argues  that  those  of  the  ten  tribes  from  whom  the  American 
Indians  descended,  must  soon  have  removed  from  that  part  of 
Assyria,  where  they  were  lodged,  and  probably  reached  this 
continent  previous  to  the  Babylonish  captivity  of  the  Jews. 

His  arguments  that  the  natives  of  this  continent  are  of  the 
ten  tribes  are  as  follows.  1.  Their  division  into  tribes.  2.  Their 
worship  of  Jehovah.  3.  Their  notion  of  a  theocracy.  4.  Their 
belief  in  the  ministration  of  angels.  5.  Their  language  and 
dialects.  6.  Their  manner  of  counting  time.  7.  Their 
prophets  and  high  priests.  8.  Their  festivals,  fasts,  and  reli 
gious  rites.  9.  Their  daily  sacrifice.  10.  Their  ablutions 
and  anointings.  11.  Their  laws  of  uncleanness.  12,  Their 
abstinence  from  unclean  things.  13.  Their  marriages,  di 
vorces,  and  punishments  of  adultery.  14.  Their  several' pun 
ishments.  15.  Their  cities  of  refuge.  16.  Their  purifications 
and  preparatory  ceremonies.  17.  Their  ornaments.  18.  Their 
manner  of  curing  the  sick.  19.  Their  burial  of  their  dead. 
.20.  Their  mourning  for  th  ir  dead.  21.  Their  raising  seed 
to  a  deceased  brother;  22.  Their  change  of  names  adapted 
to  their  circumstances  and  times.  23.  Their  own  traditions ; 
the  accounts  of  English  writers  ;  and  the  testimonies  given 
by  Spanish  and  other  writers  of  the  primitive  inhabitants  of 
Mexico  and  Peru, 

15* 


174 

Some  of  his  illustrations  of  these  arguments  will  be  here 
subjoined  in  his  own  words.  Under  the  1st  argument.  "  As 
the  nation  hath  its  particular  symbol,  so  each  tribe,  the  badge 
from  which  it  is  denominated.  The  sachem  of  each  tribe  is 
a  necessary  party  in  conveyances,  and  treaties,  to  which  he 
affixes  the  mark  of  his  tribe.  If  we  go  from  nation  to  nation 
among  them,  we  shall  not  find  one,  who  doth  not  lineally  dis 
tinguish  himself  by  his  respective  family.  The  genealogical 
names,  which  they  assume,  are  derived  either  from  the  name 
of  those  animals,  whereof  the  cherubims  are  said  in  revelation 
to  be  compounded,  or  from  such  creatures  as  are  most  familiar 
t.o  them.  The  Indians,  however,  bear  no  religious  respect  to 
the  animals  from  whence  they  derive  their  names.  On  the 
contrary,  they  kill  them  when  opportunity  serves.  "When 
we  consider  that  these  savages  have  been  above  twenty  cen 
turies  without  the  use  of  letters  to  carry  down  their  traditions, 
it  cannot  reasonably  be  expected  that  they  should  still  retain 
the  identical  names  of  their  primogenial  tribes.  Their  main 
customs  corresponding  with  those  of  the  Israelites,  sufficiently 
clears  the  subject.  Besides,  as  hath  been  hinted,  they  call 
some  of  their  tribes  by  the  names  of  cherubinical  figures  that 
were  carried  on  the  four  principal  standards  of  Israel. 

His  illustrations  of  the  second  argument,  blended  with 
those  of  many  others,  have  been  sufficiently  given  in  the 
third  chapter  of  this  work. 

Under  the  3d  argument,  he  says :  "Agreeably  to  the  theoe- 
>-acy  or  divine  government  of  Israel,  the  Indians  think  the 
Deity  to  be  the  immediate  head  of  their  state.  All  the  na 
tions  of  Indians  are  exceedingly  intoxicated  with  religious 
pride,  and  have  an  inexpressible  contempt  of  the  white 
people.*  They  used  to  call  us  in  their  war  orations,  the  ac- 
tursed  people.  But  they  flatter  themselves  with  the  name  of 
the  beloved  people  ;  because  their  supposed  ancestors,  as  they 
affirm,  were  under  the  immediate  government  of  the  Deity, 
who  was  present  with  them  in  a  very  peculiar  manner,  and 
directed  them  by  prophets,  while  the  rest  of  the  world  were 
aliens  and  outlaws  to  the  covenant. — When  theoldArchi* 
magu?,  or  any  one  of  their  magi,  is  persuading  the  people  at 
any  one  of  their  religious  solemnities  to  a  strict  observance  of 
the  old  beloved  or  divine  speech,  he  always  calls  them  the  beloved 
or  holy  people,  agreeably  to  the  Hebrew  epithet,  Ammi  (my 
people)  during  the  theocracy  of  Israel. — It  is  their  opinion  of 
the  theocracy,  that  God  chose  them  out  of  all  the  rest  of  man 
kind  as  his  peculiar  and  beloved  people;  which  alike  animates 
both  the  white  Jew,  and  the  red  American  with  that  steady 

*  Within  20  years  this  trait  of  Indian  character  is  much 
meliorated. 


1 73 

hatred  against  all  the  world  except  themselves  ;  and  renders 
them  (in  their  opinion)  hated  and  despised  by  all." 

His  illustrations  of  the  4th  and  5th  arguments  have  been 
given  with  those  of  other  authors. 

Under  the  6th  argument  he  says  :  "  They  count  time  after 
the  manner  of  the  Hebrews.  They  divide  the  year  into 
spring,  summer,  autumn,  and  winter.  They  number  their 
year  from  any  of  those  four  periods,  for  they  have  no  name 
for  a  year,  and  they  subdivide  these,  and  count  the  year  by 
lunar  months,  like  the  Israelites,  who  counted  by  moons.  The 
number  and  regular  periods  of  the  Indians'  religious  feasts  is 
a  good  historical  proof  (Mr.  Adair  adds)  that  they  counted 
time  by,  and  observed,  a  weekly  Sabbath  long  after  their  ar 
rival  on  the  American  continent.  They  begin  a  year  at  the 
first  appearance  of  the  first  new  moon  of  the  vernal  equinox, 
according  to  the  ecclesiastical  year  of  Moses.  Till  the  70 
years  captivity,  the  Israelites  had  only  numeral  names  for  the 
solar  and  lunar  months,  except  Abib  and  Elhamin  ;  the 
former  signifying  a  green  ear  of  corn  ;  and  the  latter  robust 
or  valiant.  And  by  the  first  of  these,  the  Indians  (as  an  ex 
plicative)  term  their  passover,  which  the  trading  people  call 
the  green  corn  dance."  Mr.  Adair  then  proceeds  to  show 
more  fully  the  similarity  between  the  ancient  Israelites  and 
the  Indians  in  their  counting  time,  as  has  been  noted. 

Under  the  7th  argument  he  says  :  "  In  conformity  to,  or 
after  the  manner  of  the  Jews,  the  Indian  Americans  have 
their  prophets,  high  priests,  and  others  of  a  religious  order. 
As  the  Jews  had  a  sanctum  sanctorum,  (holy  of  holies)  so 
have  all  the  Indian  nations.  There  they  deposit  their  con 
secrated  vessels  ; — none  of  the  laity  daring  to  approach  that 
sacred  place.'  The  Indian  tradition  says,  that  their  forefathers 
were  possessed  of  an  extraordinary  divine  spirit,  by  which 
they  foretold  things  future,  and  controlled  the  common  course 
of  nature:  and  this  they  transmitted  to  their  offspring,  pro 
vided  they  obeyed  the  sacred  laws  annexed  to  it.  Ishtoallo, 
(Mr.  Adair  says  of  those  Indians)  is  the  name  of  all  their 
priestly  order  ;  and  their  pontifical  office  descends  by  inherit 
ance  to  the  eldest.  There  are  some  traces  of  agreement, 
though  chiefly  lost,  in  their  pontifical  dress.  Before  the  In 
dian  Archimagus  officiates  in  making  the  supposed  holy  fire 
for  the  yearly  atonement  for  sin,  the  sagan  (waiter  of  the 
high  priest)  clothes  him  with  a  white  ephod,  which  is  a  waist 
coat  without  sleeves.  In  resemblance  of  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
inim,theAmerican  Archimagus  wears  a  breast  plate  made  of  a 
white  conch-shell  with  two  holes  bored  in  the  middle  oi  it, 
through  which  he  puts  the  ends  of  an  otter  skin  strap,  and 
fastens  a  buck  horn  white  button  to  the  outside  of  each,  as  if 
ia  imitation  of  the  precious  stones  of  the  Urim." 


176 

In  this  statement  Mr.  Adair  exhibits  evidence  of  which  he 
himself  seem  unconscious.  He  says  the  general  name  of  all 
their  priestly  order  is-  Ishtoallo,  And  the  name  of  the  high 
priest's  waiter  is  Sagan.  Mr.  Fabor  (remarking  upon  this) 
thinks  the  former  word  is  a  corruption  of  tsh-da-eloah,  a  man 
of  God  ;  see  original  of  2  Kings,  iv.  21, 22,  25, 27, 40,  and  other 
places.  And  of  the  latter  word  he  says,  "  Sagan  is  the  very 
name  by  which  the  Hebrews  called  the  deputy  of  the  high 
priest,  who  supplied  his  office,  and  who  performed  the  func 
tions  of  it  in  the  absence  of  the  high  priest.  See  Calmefs  Diet, 
vox  Sagan" 

Here  then  is  evidence  to  our  purpose,  that  those  Indians 
should  call  their  order  of  priests,  and  the  high  priest's  waiter, 
by  those  ancient  Hebrew  names  of  a  man  of  God,  and  a  de 
puty  of  the  high  priest.  How  could  these  events  have  oc 
curred,  had  not  -  those  natives  been  Hebrew,  and  brought 
clown  these  names  by  Hebrew  tradition  ? 

Under  the  8th-argumcnt  Mr.  Adair  says  ;  u  The  ceremo 
nies  of  the  Indians  in  their  religious  worship  are  more  after  the 
Mosaic  institution?,  than  of  pagan  imitation  ;  which  could 
not  be,  if  the  majority  of  the  old  nation  were  of  heathenish 
descent.  They  are  uttey  strangers  to  all  the  gestures  practis 
ed  by  the  pagans  in  their  religious  rites.  They  have  another 
appellative  which  with  them  is  the  mysterious  essential  name 
of  God;  the  tetragr -ammaton,  or  great  four  lettered  name, 
which  they  never  name  in  common  speech.  Of  the  time  and 
place,  when  and  where  they  mention- itr  they  are  very  parti 
cular,  and  always  with  a  solemn  air.  It  is  well  known  what 
sacred  regard  the  Jews  had  to  the  four  lettered  divine  name, 
so  as  scarcely  ever  to  mention  it,  but  once  a  year  when  the 
high  priest  went  into  the  sanctuary  at  the  expiation  of  sins. 
Might  not  the  Indians  copy  from  them  this  sacred  invocation, 
Yo — he—wah  ?  Their  method  of  invoking  God  in  a  solemn 
hymn  with  that  reverend  deportment,  and  spending  a  full 
breath  on  each  of  the  two  first  syllables  of  the  awful  divine 
name,  hath  a  surprising  analogy  to  the  Jewish  custom,  and 
such  as  no  other  nation  or  people*  even  with  the  advantage 
of  written  records,  have  retained.  It  may  be  worthy  of  no 
tice  that  they  never  prostrate  themselves,  nor  bow  their  bo 
dies  to  each  other  by  way  of  salute  or  homage,  though  usual 
with  the  eastern  nations  ;  except  when  they  are  making  or 
renewing  peace  with  strangers,  who  come  in  the  name  of 
Yah." 

Mr.  Adair  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  sacred  adjuration  of  the 
Indiana  by  the  great  and  awful  name  of  God  ;  the  question 
being  asked,  and  the  answer  given,  Yah,  with  a  profound  re 
verence  in  a  bowing  posture  of  body  immediately  before  the 
invocation  of  Yo — hc—wah  ;  this  he  considers  to  be  Hebrew?. 


177 

adjuring  their  witnesses  to  give  true  evidence.  He  says, <4  It 
seems  exactly  to  coincide  with  the  conduct  of  the  Hebrew 
witnesses  even  now  on  the  like  occasions." 

Mr.  Adai^s  other  illustrations  under  this  argument,  in  va 
rious  feasts,  fastings,  their  ark,  and  their  ever  refusing  to  eat 
the  hollow  of  the  thigh  of  their  game,  have  been  sufficiently 
given,  in  connexion  with  the  testimonies  of  others  to  the  same 
points. 

Enough  has  also  been  exhibited  under  the  9th,  10th  and 
llth  arguments. 

Under  the  12th  he  says  ;  "  Eagles  of  every  kind  they  es 
teem  unclean  food  ;  likewise  ravens,  crows,  bats,  buzzard?, 
f-wallows,  and  every  species  of  owl."  This  he  considers  as  pre 
cisely  Hebrew  ;  as  also  their  purifications  of  their  priests  ; 
and  purification  for  having  touched  a  dead  body,  or  any  other 
unclean  thing. 

Under  most  of  his  subsequent  arguments  the  quotations  be 
fore  given  have  been  sufficient.  Under  the  16th  he  says  : 
•*  Before  the  Indians  go  to  war,  they  have  many  preparatory 
ceremonies  of  purification  and  fasting  like  what  is  recorded  of 
the  Israelites."  Under  the  21st  he  says;  "  The  surviving 
brother  by  the  Mosaic  law  was  to  raise  seed  to  a  deceased 
brother,  who  left  a  widow  childless.  The  Indian  custom 
looks  the  same  way." 

Under  the  last  argument  he  says  ;  "  The  Indian  tradition 
says  that  their  forefathers  in  very  remote  ages  came  from  a 
far  distant  country,  where  all  the  people  were  of  one  colour  ; 
and  that  in  process  of  time  they  removed  eastward  to  their 
present  settlements."  He  notes  and  confutes  some  idle  fa 
bulous  stories  which  he  says  "  sprung  from  the  innovating 
superstitious  ignorance  of  the  popish  priests  to  the  south 
west  ;"  and  speaks  of  the  Indian  tradition  as  being  altogether 
more  to  be  depended  on.  He  says,  "  They,  (the  rambling 
tribes  of  northern  Indians  excepted,)  aver  that  they  came 
over  the  Mississippi  from  the  westward,  before  they  arrived 
at  their  present  settlements.  This  we  see  verified  in  the 
western  old  towns  they  have  left  behind  them,  and  by  the 
situation  of  their  old  beloved  towns  or  places  of  refuge  lying 
about  a  west  course  from  each  different  nation." 

"Ancient  history  (he  adjs)  is  quite  silent  concerning  Amer 
ica,  which  indicates  that  it  has  been  time  immemorial,  rent 
asunder  from  the  eastern  continent.  The  north-east  parts  of 
Asia  were  also  undiscovered  till  of  late.  Many  geographers 
have  stretched  Asia  and  America  so  far  as  to  join  them  to 
gether;  and  others  have  divided  them  into  two  quarters  of  the 
globe.  But  the  Russsian?,  after  several  dangerous  attempts, 
have  clearly  convinced  the  world  that  they  are  now  divided, 
and  yet  have  a  rucar  communication  together  by  a 


178 

strait,  in  which  several  islands  are  sitnatr  1,  ami  through 
which  there  is  an  easy  passage  from  the  north-east  of  Asia  to 
the  north-west  of  America.  By  this  passage,  it  was  very 
practicable  to  go  to  this  new  world,  and  afterward  to  have 
proceeded  in  quest  of  suitable  climates. 

Those  who  dissent  from  my  opinion  of  the  Indian  Ameri 
can  origin,  (he  adds)  ought  to  inform  ns  how  the  natives 
came  here,  and  by  what  means  they  found  the  long  chain  of 
rites  and  customs  so  similar  to  the  usage  of  the  Hebrew  na 
tion,  and  in  general  dissimilar  to  the  modes  of  the  pagan  world 
Their  religious  rites,  martial  customs,  dress,  music,  dances  and 
domestic  form?  of  life,?e  3m  clearly  to  evince  also,that  they  came 
to  America  in  early  times  before  sects  had  sprung  up  among 
the  Jews  ;  which  was  soon  after  their  prophets  ceased  ;  also 
before  arts  and  sciences  had  arrived  at  any  perfection.  Other 
wise  it  is  likely  they  would  have  retained  some  knowledge 
of  them." 

We  learn  in  Dr.  Robertson's  history  of  America,  that  the 
Mexicans  had  their  tradition  that  "  Their  ancestors  came 
from  a  remote  country  situated  to  the  north-west  of  Mexico. 
The  Mexicans  (he  says)  point  out  their  various  stations  as 
they  advanced  from  this  into  the  interior  provinces ;  and  it  is 
precisely  the  same  rout  which  they  must  have  held>  if  they 
had  been  emigrants  from  Asia."* 

Mr.  Adair  says,  that  though  some  have  supposed  the  Amer 
icans  to  be  descendants  from  the  Chinese  ;  yet  neither  their 
religion,  laws  or  customs  agree  in  the  least  with  those  of  the 
Chinese,  which  sufficiently  proves  that  they  are  not  of  this 
line.  And  he  says  the  remaining  traces  of  their  religious 
ceremonies,  and  civil  and  martial  customs,  are  different  from 
those  of  the  old  Scythians.  He  thinks,  therefore,  that  the 
old  opinion  that  the  Indians  are  descended  from  the  Tartars 
or  ancient  Scythians,  should  be  exploded  as  weak  and  with 
out  foundation.  Those  who  have  advocated  the  affirmative, 
have  not  been  able  to  produce  much,  if  any  evidence,  that 
any  of  the  religious  rites  found  among  the  Indians,  and  re 
sembling  those  of  ancient  Israel,  have  ever  been  found  among 
any  people  in  the  east  of  Asia.  Such  a  thing  cannot  be  ex 
pected.  Those  rites  were  arbitrary,  established  only  in  Is 
rael  ;  and  designed  to  distinguish  them  from  all  other  na 
tions.  It  is  utterly  inadmissible  then,  to  suppose  these  Indian 
rites  may  be  accounted  for,  froih  an  idea  that  the  Indians  may 
have  learned  them  from  other  heathen  nations.  With  very 
similar  propriety  might  the  unbeliever  in  divine  revelation 
say,  that  the  Jews  and  ancient  Israel  derived  their  religion,  not 
from  God,  as  the  bible  purports,  but  from  the  heathen  nations , 

*B.  4,  page  41-2-3, 


173 

*vho  at  that  time  might,for  aught  we  know,  have  had  just  such 
religious  customs. 

It  the  aborigines  derived  these  rites  and  customs  from  an 
cient  Asiatic  heathen ;  why  have  not  some  of  those  heathen 
themselves  retained  some  of  them,  and  disseminated  them 
through  some  other  parts  of  the  world,  besides  the  vast  wilds 
•f  North  and  South  America. 

Capt.  Carver  is  able  to  find  that  some  of  the  people  north 
east  of  Asia  once  presented  to  some  of  the  Russians  their 
pipe  of  peace.  The  people  of  Israel,  as  they  passed  by  that 
people  in  ancient  days,  may  have  caught  this  custom  from 
them  ;  as  none  pretend  this  was  a.  Hebrew  rite.  Or  these 
few  people  thus  noted  in  Asia  may  have  caught  this  custom 
from  the  Indian?  over  Beer  ing's  Straits.  But  this  is  nothing, 
compared  with  the  many  Hebrew  rites  found  among  the  na 
tives  of  America. 

Captain  Carver,  who  travelled  five  thousand  miles  among 
the  Indians  of  North  America,  states  some  customs  observed 
by  some  of  them  in  relation  to  marriage  and  divorce,  which 
seem  much  like  those  of  ancient  Israel.  He  sa^s  ;  u  When 
one  of  their  young  men  has  fixed  on  a  young  woman  he  ap>* 
proves  of,  he  discovers  his  passion  to  her  parents,  who  give 
him  an  invitation  to  come  and  live  with  them  in  their  tent. 
He  accepts  the  offer,  and  engages  to  reside  in  it  for  a  whole 
year  in  the  character  of  a  menial  servant.  This  however  is 
done  only  while  they  are  young  men,  and  for  the;r  first  wife ; 
and  not  repeated  like  Jacob's  servitude.  When  this  period 
is  expired,  the  marriage  is  solemnized." 

44  When  from  any  dislike  (he  adds)  a  separation  takes 
place,for  they  are  seldom  known  to  quarrel,they  generally  give 
their  friends  a  few  days  notice  of  their  intention,  and  some 
times  offer  reasons  to  justify  their  conduct."  Some  little  cer 
emonies  follow;  and  he  says,  "  The  separation  is  carried  on 
without  any  murmurings,  or  ill  will  between,  the  couple  or 
their  relations."  Probably  no  other  nation  has  such  a  resem 
blance  in  this  respect  to  ancient  Israel. 

Capt.  Carver  says  of  the  Indians  "wholly  unadulterated 
with  the  superstitions  of  the  church  of  Rome;"  "It  is  cer 
tain  they  acknowledge  one  Supreme  Being,  or  giver  of  life, 
who  presides  over  all  things — the  Great  Spirit ;  and  they 
look  up  to  him  as  the  source  of  good — who  is  infinitely  good. 
They  also  believe  in  a  bad  spirit,  to  whom  they  ascribe  great 
power.  They  hold  also,  that  there  are  good  spirits  of  a  less 
degree,  who  have  their  particular  departments,  in  which  thej 
are  constantly  contributing  to  the  happiness  of  mortals." — 
"  The  priests  of  the  Indians  (he  adds)  who  are  at  the  same 
time  their  physicians — while  they  heal  their  wounds,  or  cure 
their  diseases,  they  interpret  their  dreams,  and  satisfy  their 


180 

desires  of  searching  into  futurity."  But  Capt.  Carver  unites 
with  other  authors  on  the  subject,  in  speaking  of  the  difficul 
ty  of  strangers  among  them  obtaining  much  knowledge  of 
their  religious  rites.  He  says  ;  "  It  is  very  difficult  to  attain 
to  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  religious  principles  of  the  In 
dians.  They  endeavour  to  conceal  them."  It  is  no  wonder 
then,  that  Capt.  Carver,  passing  by  them  on  a  tour  of  up 
wards  of  five  thousand  miles,  discovered  but  few  of  these 
many  rites  resembling  the  religion  of  ancient  Israel,  stated  by 
Mr.  Adair.  He  says  there  was  "w?,e  particular  female  custom" 
bearing  resemblance  to  the  rites  in  the  Mosaic  law;  alluding 
no  daubt,  to  the  well  known  Indian  separation  of  women. 
Speaking  of  their  "  religious  principles,"  which  he  says  are 
"  few  and  simple,"  he  &dds,  "  they  (the  Indians)  have  not  de 
viated,  as  many  other  uncivilized  nations,  and  too  many  civ 
ilized  ones  have  done,  into  idolatrous  modes  of  worship." — 
"  On  the  appearance  of  the  new  moon  they  dance  and  sing  ; 
but  it  is  not  evident  that  they  pay  that  planet  any  adora 
tion." 

Here  then,  according  to  this  author,  is  their  one  God,  infi 
nitely  good,  the  giver  of  life,  and  of  all  good,  presiding  over 
all,  and  who  is  the  only  object  of  worship ;  though  they  some 
times  beg  of  the  evil  spirit  to  avert  their  calamities,  which, 
in  their  opinion,  he  brings.  Here  are  their  good  angels,  min 
istering  to  the  good  ;  here  their  priests;  and  a  "particular 
female  custom"  inexplicable  unless  by  the  Mosaic  law.  Here 
is  their  firm  adherence  to  their  "  few  simple  doctrines,"  or 
rites,  less  deviating  to  idolatry  than  other  uncivilized,  and 
even  many  civilized  nations.  These  facts  are  far  from 
being  destitute  of  their  favorable  bearing  on  our  subject. — 
How  should  such  things  be  true  of  those  savages,  were  they 
aot  the  descendants  of  ancient  Israel  ? 

It  was  observed  in  page  88  of  this  book,  that  the  Esqimaux 
natives,  and  people  round  Hudson's  Bay  appear  a  different 
race  from  the  American  Indians,  and  may  have  come  from 
the  north  of  Europe.  Capt.  Carver  notes  an  assertion  from 
Grotius,  that  "some  of  the  Norwegians  passed  into  America 
by  way  of  Greenland."  He  also  notes  that  De  Laet  gives 
"  the  following  passage  from  the  history  of  Wales,  written 
by  David  Powel,  in  the  year  1170.  This  history  says,  that 
Madoc,  one  of  the  sons  of  prince  Owen  Gwynnith,  being  dis 
gusted  at  the  civil  wars  which  broke  out  between  his  broth 
ers,  fitted  out  several  vessels,  and  went  in  quest  of  new  lands 
to  the  westward  of  Ireland."  And  he  goes  on  to  speak  of 
of  their  planting  a  colony  there.  Here  may  be  the  origin  of 
the  people  of  Greenland,  Iceland,  and  round  Hudson's  Bay. 
B  ut  it  gives  no  satisfactory  account  of  the  origin  of  the  nu- 
«aerou3  Indian  tribes  of  America. 


181 

Let  us  look  at  the  natives  in  an  extreme  part  of  South 
America,  and  see  if  they  exhibit  any  evidence  similar  to  what 
has  been  adduced  of  the  natives  of  North  America. 

Don  Alonzo  de  Ericilla,  in  his  history  of  Chili,  says  of  th« 
natives  there  ;  "  The  religious  system  of  the  Araucanians  is 
simple.  They  acknowledge  a  Supreme  Being,  the  author  of 
all  things,  whom  they  call  Pillan,  a  word  derived  from  Pulli, 
or  Pilli,  the  soul ;  and  signifies  the  Supreme  Essence.  They 
call  him  also,  Guenu-pillan,  the  Spirit  of  Heaven ;  Bula- 
gen,  the  Great  Being ;  Thalcove,  the  Thunderer ;  Vilvem- 
voe,  the  Omnipotent ;  Mollgelu,  the  Eternal ;  and  Avnolu, 
the  Infinite."  He  adds ;  "  The  universal  government  of  Pil 
lan,  (his  Supreme  Essence,)  is  a  prototype  of  the  Arauca- 
nian  polity.  He  is  the  great  Toqui  of  the  invisible  world." 
He  goes  on  to  speak  of  his  having  subordinate  invisible  be 
ings  under  him,  to  whom  he  commits  the  administration  of 
affairs  of  less  importance.  These,  this  author  sees  fit  to  call 
"subaltern  divinities."  We  may  believe  they  are  but  a  tra 
ditional  notion  of  angels,  good  and  bad  ;  such  as  is  held  by 
the  Indians  of  North  America. 

This  author  says  of  this  people  ;  "  They  all  agreed  in  the 
belief  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  This  consolatory 
truth  is  deeply  rooted,  and  in  a  manner  innate  with  them. — 
They  hold  that  man  is  composed  of  two  substances  essential 
ly  different ;  the  corruptible  body  and  the  soul,  incorporeal 
and  eternal." 

Of  their  funerals,  he  says ;  "  The  bier  is  carried  by  the 
principal  relations,  and  is  surrounded  by  women  who  bewail 
the  deceased  in  the  manner  of  the  hired  mourners  among  the 
Romans." 

He  also  says ;  "  They  have  among  them  a  tradition  of  a 
great  deluge,  in  which  only  a  few  persons  were  saved,  who 
took  refuge  on  a  high  mountain  called  Thegtheg,  which  pos 
sessed  the  property  of  moving  upon  the  water." 

Here  then,  it  seems  the  remote  natives  of  Chili  (a  region 
1260  miles  south  of  Peru,  in  South  America,)  furnish  their 
quota  of  evidence  that  they  originated  in  the  same  family 
wjth  the  North  American  Indians,  and  hold  some  of  their  es 
sential  traditions. 

Whence  could  arise  the  tradition  of  those  natives,  of  one 
"  Supreme  Being,  author  of  all  things  ?"  That  he  is  the  "Su 
preme  Essence  ;  the  Spirit  of  Heaven  ;  the  Thunderer  ;  the 
Omnipotent ;  the  Eternal ;  the  Infinite  ?"  WThence  their 
tradition  of  the  flood,  and  of  several  persons  being  saved  on  a 
floating  mountain,  meaning  no  doubt  the  ark  ?  Whence  their 
ideas  so  correct  of  man's  immortal  soul? 

This  author  says  of  those  native  Chilians,  "  Many  suppose 
that  they  are  indigenous  to  the  country  ;  while  others  sup- 
16 


182 

pose  they  derive  their  origin  from  a  foreign  stock,  and  at  one 
time  say,  that  their  ancestors  came  from  the  north,  and  at  an 
other  time,  from  the  west." 

Their  better  informed  or  wise  men,  it  seems,  retain  some 
impressions  of  their  original  emigration  from  a  foreign  land, 
and  from  the  north-west,  or'  Beering's  Straits.  Is  it  possible 
to  give  a  satisfactory  account  of  such  traditions  among  those 
native  Indians  of  Chili,  short  of  their  having  received  them 
from  the  Hebrew  sacred  scriptures  ?  And  if  from  thence, 
surely  they  must  be  Hebrews. 

In  Long's  expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountain,  we  learn 
that  the  Omawhaw  tribe  of  Indians  (who  inhabit  the  west 
side  of  the  Missouri  River,  fifty  miles  above  Engineer  Can 
tonment,)  believe  in  one  God.  They  call  him  Wahconda  ; 
and  believe  him  "  to  be  the  greatest  and  best  of  beings  ;  the 
Creator  and  Preserver  of  till  things ;  the  Fountain  of  mystic 
medicine.  Omniscience,  omnipresence,  and  vast  power  are 
attributed  to  him.  And  he  is  supposed  to  afflict  them  with 
sickness,  poverty,  or  misfortune,  for  their  evil  deeds.  In  con 
versation  he  is  frequently  appealed  to  as  an  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  their  asseverations — "Wahconda  hears  what  Isay" 

These  Indians  have  many  wild  pagan  notions  of  this  one 
God.  But  they  have  brought  down  by  tradition,  it  seem?, 
the  above  essentially  correct  view  of  him,  in  opposition  to 
the  poly  the  istical  world. 

Their  name  of  God  is  remarkable — Wahconda.  It  has 
been  shown  in  the  body  of  this  work,  that  various  of  the  In 
dians  call  God  Yohewah,  Ale,  Yah,  and  Wah.  doubtless  from 
the  Hebrew  names  Jehovah,  Ale,  and  Jah.  And  it  has  been 
shown  that  these  syllables  which  compose  the  name  of  God, 
are  compounded  in  many  Indian  words,  or  form  the  roots 
from  which  they  are  formed.  Here  we  find  the  fact ;  while 
the  author  from  whom  the  account  is  taken,  it  is  presumed, 
had  no  perception  of  any  such  thing.  Wah-conda  ;  the  last 
syllable  of  the  Indian  Yohewah,  compounded  with  conda. — 
Or  Jah,  Wah,  their  monosyllable  name  of  God  thus  com 
pounded.  Here  is  evidence  among  those  children  of  the  des 
ert,  both  as  to  the  nature  and  the  name  of  their  one  God, 
corresponding  with  what  has  been  exhibited  of  other  tribes  ; 
and  very  unaccountable,  if  they  are  not  of  the  tribes  of  Is 
rael. 

A  religious  custom,  related  by  Mr.  Long,  goes  to  corrobor 
ate  the  opinion  that  thj;se  people  are  of  Israel.  He  relates 
that  from  the  age  of  between  five  and  ten  years,  their  little 
sons  are  obliged  \o  ascend  a  hill  tasting,  once  or  twice  a  week 
during  the  months  of  ?»laich  and  April,  to  pray  aloud  to 
Wahronda.  When  this  season  of  the  year  arrl'-c?,  the  moth 
er  iaionua  the  little  son,  that  the  "ice  is  breaking  up  in  the 


183 


liver  ;  the  ducks  and  geese  are  migrating,  and  it  is  time  for 
you  to  prepare  to  go  in  clay"  The  little  worshipper  then 
rubs  himself  over  with  whitish  clay,  and  at  sun  rise  sets  off 
lor  the  top  of  a  hill,  instructed  by  the  mother  what  to  say  to 
the  Master  of  Life.  From  his  elevated  position  he  cries  aloud 
to  Wahconda,  humming  a  melancholy  tune,  and  calling  on 
him  to  have  pity  on  him,  and  make  him  a  great  hunter,  war 
rior,  &c. 

This  has  more  the  appearance  of  descending  from  Hebrew 
tradition,  than  from  any  other  nation  on  earth  :  teaching 
their  children  to  fast  in  clay,  as  "  in  dust  and  ashes  ;"  and  to 
cry  to  Jah  for  pity  and  protection.  Such  are  the  shreds  of 
evidence  furnished,  one  here  and  another  there,  through  the 
wilds  of  America,  suggesting  what  is  the  most  probable,  if 
not  evident  origin,  of  the  natives  of  this  continent. 

In  the  Percy  Anecdotes,  we  have  an  account  that  the  Shavr- 
ano  Indians  in  an  excursion  captured  the  Indian  warrior  call 
ed  Old  Scranny,  of  the  Muskhoge  tribe,  and  condemned  him 
to  a  fiery  torture.  He  told  them  the  occasion  of  his  falling 
into  their  hands,  was,  he  had  "forfeited  the  protection  of  the 
Divine  Power  by  some  impurity  or  other,  when  carrying  the 
holy  ark  of  war  against  his  devoted  enemy.  Here  he  recogniz 
ed  the  one  God,  his  providence,  speaks  of  his  holy  ark  borne 
against  enemies,  alludes  to  the  purity  of  those  who  bear  it, 
and  if  they  become  impure,  the  Divine  Being  will  forsake 
them.  The  bearing  which  ideas  like  these  have  0»  our  ; 
ject,  ueecls  no  explanation, 


CHAPTER  I.  Page. 

Destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
Description  of  Jerusalem,      - 

"        of  the  Temple, 9 

Christ  foretels  their  destruction,      -  10 

Various  signs  of  the  event,          -----  12 

Seven  miraculous  portents  of  it,               -        -         -  17 

Causes  of  the  war,      -------  2l 

Factions  of  the  Jews, - 

The  Roman  army  under  Titus  approaching,         -         -24 

A  primary  fulfilment  of  prophecies,  42 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  certain  restoration  of  Judah  and  Israel,  47 

The  expulsion  of  the  ten  tribes,            -         -         -         -  47 

Arguments  in  favour  of  a  restoration. 

1.  The  distinct  existence  of  the  Jews,  49 

2.  Their  past  partial  and  short  possession  of  Canaan,     -  50 

3.  Express  predictions  of  the  event,  53 

4.  A  mystical  import  given  to  these,  inadmissible,           -  66 

5.  Their  expulsion  was  literal,  and  their  restoration 

must  be  thus,          -.___.  68 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  present  state  of  Judah  and  Israel,          -        -         -  69 

State  of  the  Jews,            ------  69 

State  of  the  ten  tribes, 72 

Jews  dispersed,  Israel  outcast,            -  72 

Israel  as  such,  is  to  be  restored,.              -         -         -  72 
Hence  they  must  now  have   somewhere  a  distinct  ex 
istence;  and  God  must  have  provided  some 

place  for  them  for  2500  years.  75 

An  account  in  Esdras  of  their  going  to  such  a  place,       -  75 

Some  suppositions  in  relation  to  them,  76 

These  suppositions  are  true,                                             -  80 
16* 


186 

Arguments  to  show  that  the  American  natives  are  the 
tribes  of  Israel — 

1.  They  all  appear  to  have  had  one  origin, 

2.  Their  language  appears  a  corruption  of  Hebrew, 

3.  They  have  their  holy  ark,  - 

4.  They  have  practised  circumcision, 

5.  They  have  one,  and  only  one,  God,       - 

6.  Their  variety  of  traditions  evince  they  are  the  de 

scendants  of  Israel,  .-.-"•'". 

7.  A  prediction  relative  to  their  famine  of  the  word, 

8.  Testimony  of  William  Penn, 

9.  The  tribe  ofLevi, 

10.  Several  appropriate  traits  of  character, 

11.  Their  being  in  tribes,  with  heads  of  tribes, 

12.  Their  places  answering  to  the  cities  of  refuge, 

13.  Other  evidences  and  considerations, 

A  hint  to  objectors,  __---. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

An  address  of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  ...  131 

Preparatory  consideration,          -----  131 

The  18th  Chapter  of  Isaiah  considered,  -        -  183 

An  Address  to  America,  146 

CONCLUSION. 

1.  The  excommunication  of  the  Hebrews  deeply  af 

fecting,                 '-  153 

2.  The  Entail  of  the  Covenant  rich,            ...      -        -  154 

3.  What  is  first  to  be  done  for  the  Hebrews,             -  156 

4.  A  new  view  given  of  some  prophetic  passages,        -  157 

5.  New  evidence  furnished  of   the  Divinity  of  the 

Bible, 161 

APPENDIX,  169 


187 


NAMES  OF  AUTHORS  AND  MEN  QUOTED  AND 
ALLUDED  TO  IN  THE  THIRD  CHAP 
TER  OF  THIS  WORK. 


Charlevoix,  page  85. 
Dr.  Edwards,  85, 88. 
Boudmot,  86, 93, 94,  98,  106, 
109,  113,  116,117,124. 
Du  Pratz,  86, 96. 
Dr.  Williams,  87,  99, 122. 
Pedro,  87. 
Ulloa,  88. 

Adair,  89, 93,  96, 115,  123, 
173, 178. 
Hutchinson,91. 
Beatty,  94, 109, 112. 
M'Kenzie,  94,  108. 
Morez,  95. 
Hebard,  99. 
Giddings,  101, 102. 
Lewis  arid  Clark,  103, 107. 


Hecherwelder,  page  103, 

Gookin,  104. 

R.  Williams,  104. 

Clavigero,  108, 

Col.  Smith,  110. 

Bartram,  115, 116. 

Carver,  115,  179, 

Penn,  119. 

Colden,  120. 

Morse,  169. 

Schoolcraft,  171. 

Long,  182. 

Robertson,  178. 

Powel,  180. 

N.  A.  Review,  81. 

Don  Alonzo  de  Ericilla,  18 1, 

Esdras,  75. 


ERRATA. 

Page  58,  line  1st  from  bottom,  for  unite  read  smite. 
Page  64,  line  1st  from  top,  for  Zech.  read  Zeph. 
Page  72,  line  10th  from  bottom,  for  xxxix*  read  xxxvii. 
Page  75,  line  19th  from  bottom,  for  least  read  last. 
Page  1<22,  line  7th  from  bottom,  for  lines  read  tire*, 
Page  123,   ine  5  from  top,  for  fleshy  read  flashy, 
Page  162|  line  13  from  top,  for  xvi.  read  xvii\ 


