Monthly Lecture

Feilding Star, Volume V, Issue 75, 5 June 1884, Page 3

Monthly Lecture

"THE^TEIf TEIBES OF ISBAEL.*' " " t^^unda^!^^ the Bey Hi *'&. Murray lectured, according to lsrenous notice, 1 on the " Ten tribes of Israel." He said,, that probably all his audience were familiar with the phrase - ten tribe*?' This points to a remarkable class of belief s, or speculations, which prevail to a large eiteat in the Christian world atthe present day. To most persons these beliefs and sraulatuui^ seem groundless and exfeftrijisn&nd it may seem consequently to ttiem a useless labcr to explain or dis- * cuss them, but it has to.be considered; that opinions in themselves unworthy of attention become important and interesting when they are the creed of multitudes of iajeiligeut and pious persons. Even those : acquainted with scripture know that after Solomon's reign the Hebrew people were divided : into two L . kingdoms, ticnorthern composed jbf the . tear nortbera tribes, and called the kingdom .of Israel, the southern composed of Judah and Benjamin. The inhabitants . of .the northern kingdom were carried ' captive by the -King of Assyria and i--«e«ledin the cities of Media.- After this event, the kingdom of Judah maintained iti . existence iorT3i years, when it also was" overthrown, and the principal ir»--bttbitantsTjarried captive by the King of Babylon. After 70 years the people of Judah were resioreu tovthrir land and Jerusalem, and the temple rebuilt. . The people of the northern kingdom, however, were never restored to their land. The "Sacred Historian says tliafc they continue in the cities of Media "unto Ibis day," and.Josephu ; s,4of) years after, records that in his time they formed a numerous people in. Media. Such aa Israel itish nation' w not found there at present. Where are they P . this is the question _whicli has excited so much interest, among a certain, class of students of prophecy in modern times. Most people would answer, "we don' t'.know, and it does not concern us. 1 ' Many ancient peoples have disappeared, either by absorption among their neighbors or by being scatteredby war. Besides, if these Israelites, ■who were m tainted with idolatry, lost their religion, they would lose their nationality too. This answer, however, by no means satisfies the persons we allude to. They say 'prophecy declares that Israel i« not to be absorbed in other nation*, but to be preserved till it attain to slgiorious destiny which awaits it in the fttture.^lt is /therefore the most interesting of all questions to ascertain where are these lost ten tribes. Accordingly they have rummaged the whole ] world in search of them. ' Savage tribes -: and nations in: every part of the world have been each in their turn fixed upon " : "a* tn^iong lost tribes, the Bed American Indians were at one time the favorite nominees for this honor, subsequently the Maories, but almost air have had their tnrn. But the greatest discovery in thjs field of enquiry, 5 arid the one which seenjs ,to have, put all the others out of court < ?r nai stUl to be mentioned They have come to the conclusion that they theraselven are the lost tribes. The British nation i» [now> proclaimed to be the long los#ten tribes of Israel. The lecturer t ?tlfeiP 'explained how the Anglo-Israelites attempted to show from aacient history that the ancestor* ot the Anglo-Saxons ' and the Israelites were one and the same • people. He showed now wild the conjecture* and how absurd the reasonings t'^eren^offwhich this belief was founded. He showed also what a barefaced per?ersion of scripture was their application of tho words "ge ye to th« lost sheep of the house of Israel" to the" ten tribes as dis- , languished from the Jews. He showed *' how ridiculous was the explanation of how these tribes; were led to give up circumcision .and tribal distinctions. He referred io their belief that all the curses in .the law and the prophets applied to the Jews and all the blessings to Israel i.e., fatthe^Britiah people. These Jjurses were "Ofco^begin-to : descend on the' Jews when they rejected Christ and the blessings oh Israel from tluPtimeMhey became heathens. The Israelites were thus rewarded for utterfy^ abandoning the &ue God and his worship. The lecturer then referred to the difficulties ~the Anglo-Israelites encountered , .in the fact .that Britain* J was, in its origin, not one race, but many, namely, Britons, Celts, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, and n how tlfejf - got. over tnis difficulty. The UnUed States is Manasseh. He explaiar d the use they made of the coronatioa stove, or stone of scone and its -accompanying legend. They believe this • — ftoneis.~np other than the stone which Jacob- put 'for his * pillow air Bethel. At ..the .destruction of Jerusalem it was * takeaautv jof the temple by Jeremiah arid with him to Ireland. Then it was taken to Scotland by Fergus. '"• All tfie" Scottish kings were crowned on it till Edward I. carried it off to Westmin- -■'■' gter, 1 where it haer been ever since. James ' ""IfpuTit tinder the coronation chair, and alloursofereigns since then hare been .- r qrowned: on rit.; Who can we be but >.' Snaet-atnee we have got the stone upon i lf %Hieh Jacob laid his head when he dreamed l^is wonderful dream P The leetunnr remarked in conclusion that every of bejief which: met with large aeceptahce among civilized men had some grain of truth in it which kept it alive^ aricf gave it power, and there was a grain of truth— distorted and disguised in Anjglo-Israelitigm. Britain is in a real andlflgh, 'though not in a literal sense, Israel qf God. Both in providence ;fci yn4 l sn gra^eGod has favored the English apeaiking .^??f mow 'than any other, arid -'.At*, one vpririiegea, are great sp are our ■•• <- "i-- ■/• ui^v c.^ ;