"ENOCH" ON PROPHECY.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2997, 23 September 1878, Page 3

"ENOCH" ON PROPHECY.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.) Sik,—l am going to demolish you—no, not you, but the stupid fellow who pretends to see Lord Beaconsfie d in. Zechariah's prediction—Chap. 8, r. 23. But, before doing so, I must clear the ground .yourself, has occupied. Ist. How came you to review a proof sheet article? I left it only for your private perusal; not for, any public notice of the same until ', Enoch was published ; then you can Bay what you like about it. I,think this was an error in judgment of yours, and as one error generally leads to another, perhaps a dozen, so your first error has fed to a second. Enoch will be published on Saturday, October 5, not on - next Saturday, as the proof sheet would imply. However, there is not much harm done, so let that pass, I^ow for ihe prediction. " Thus saith the Lord of hosts : In those days, it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out o/all languages of the ' nations, even shall take hold of the skirts :of him thatis a Jew, saying, 1 we will go with you, for we have heard that God is ■fA with you." Now, what we have to disiP cover here, in order, to understand this • prediction is the days referred to by the revealing Holy Spirit through the prophet. "In those days "—what d.ays? The .prophet, previously in the same ! chapter, has shown us in what days the j prediction would be verified, and certainly no one not stone blind,to spiritual verities by prejudice or superstition, after carefully reading the whole of Zecbariah's book, or even the Bth chap, from its beginning would come to such a cbnclasion as that "those days ", were the present days.: O, no }y< Look, sir, at the „3rd verse of that Bth chap.—"Thus saith the Lord (Christ): ' 1 am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the. midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, the. mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain." Has Christ yet returned to Jerusalem ? is Christ dwelling in the midst of Jerusalem? Is; ;Jerusalem now a city of truth?; . Me.thiiiks no one will answer yes to these enquiries. Then the prediction of the .23rd, verse can have nothing to. do with Beaconsfield, for these days are not .the days referred to' in that predic-; tion. '" Those days " are millennial days. ■Even:the previous verse to the 23rd shows ■clearly that these days are- not the days referred toi for "many people and strong nations" do not seek the Lord (Christ) at Jerusalem, for he has not yet arrived from heaven. Those whose eyes are now on Jerusalem have a very different object in view; they seek not the Lord, but simply their own ambition and agrandizemeat. But I will show you what position Lord Beaconsfield now occupies. He is a leader-along to what is predicted in the second verse of that Bth chapter. •' Thus saith the Lord of hosts : I was jealous foe Zion- with great jealousy; I was jealous for her with great fury." Beaconsfield most certainly is the very . first of earthly rulers in the last days that has taken decided action that must hurry on that great fury of the Almighty. The great day of God's wrath must come; the fury of the Lord must be poured out; the terrific tempest and earthquake of John's Apocalypse must break upon a rebellious world, and more particularly upon Jerusalem and the Jews, before the soft sweet word of peace from God and good will to man becomes a manifest fact. Now, we repeat, Beaconsfield, above all other living men, is the man, the leaderalong to this fury of the Almighty, for as we said in our article—" He. that touches Jerusalem for his own vanities sake, •or for a nation's exaltation in the present evil condition of mankind, touches the apple of the eye : 'of tlje Almighty, and brings down upon his ownHeadand upon that nation His terrible, judgment. The real restoration of Jerusalem arid Palestine belongs to Christiwhen he returns in glory ("Come, Lord; Jesus, come quickly ") to the scenes of his former: humiliation and sacrifice.; Woe be to any that would take that" great ■work of restoration out of. His hands! JZeebariah, in his 14th chapter, says: "All cations shall be gathered together against Jerusalem to battle;" "Then shall the Ldrd go forth and fight against those nations 1; "not, however^ with carnal weapons, ■ but with the sword of His mouth : His word-will.destroy them.—Rev. six., 15. They will be destroyed as was the army.. of .Sennacherib, one hundred and; eighty fiVe thousand strong, yet no carnal .came near them. (See Second Kings, xix chapter.) The Lord then defended the cityf-rJerusalem-Tfpr, His own sake and for His servant David's sake, and He will no.w, .in these last days of the Gentile nations, defend.it again for His own sake and for His Son Jesus Christ's sake, though.all the.people of the earth be gathered - together against it. For the Jjord Christ, as the same prophet tell us, " shall be King over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord and His name one." He therefore who fights against Jerusalem* fights against the Lord to his own destruction!jKVit, sir, there is often something in alna'me whether real or assumed. What a curious, combination is the word Beaconsfield. Beacon, a.sign, a light, a warning. Field, a plain, an arena. The Jfield is, Syria and Palestine in this case, and with it the world. But the Be.aeon is a false one. an Ignis Fatuus, a Friar's lantern, a Willo'-the-Wisp ; England is certain to be bogged by trusting this false light yea the whole world will be bogged because they follow, not Christ who is the ■ world, but their own Will-o'-the-Wisps. .To close. Who are the " ten men out of all languages of the nation, that are to take hold of the skirts of the Jew ?" Ah! •That's the rub, it is a.definite number, and who dare make that of Divine inspiration indefinite Yet it is done often by all sectarian teachers who despise God's book as a prophecy. Well, here is a hint: Jacob had 12 sons. The families of 10 of them are lost among the nations, but in ■"those days" they will be found, and in 41 those days" only, and will cleave to the Jews a» the again established ruling power of the.tribes, or all Israel; and not only of the tribes, but of the -whole world; the capital city of the world being Jerusalem. This will be under Christ in His glory, and not under England and her Queen.. When this takes pl^ce Mr Hine and his followers will be nowhere. They who deceive the British people into the flattering belief that they arc, as a " whole, the lost ten tribes, will meet with such reward as they deserve. I cannot pursue this interesting subject further, as

my letter is so long; so close with'the remarkable words oi' i\.ui, the .'Apostle,Romans ii. : "O, the depth «.*' iho riches; - both of "'the wisdom miH kuuwledj <> of God! How unsearchable B've His Jii'k-. ments, and His ways past finding out! " &o. They are revealed, however, to spiritual men like Paul. I am, &c, William YVood. [ [In noticing the advance sheet of the coming.number of " Enoch," we thought we were doing a kindness by way of gratuitous advertisement; we ma,lce flic amende by giving it another. Having provoked Mr Wood, we are obliged tp insert his letter, though when commending the prophecy of Zechariah to his " earnest study," we had no intention.of opening our columns to publish the-result) of that study.—Eu.l