PART III.

THE SEALED REMNANT OF ISRAEL.

'THE Bible contains not only the most authentic record of the past history of God's ancient covenant people, but also the only sure guide respecting their future prosperity. With its inspired pages we commenced our inquiries concerning the ten tribes, and to its testimony we have had occasion to refer at every step of our progress. We have found it "a light shining in a dark place," while, amid the obscurity of the long night of ages, we have sought and found the erring daughter of Zion, purified from her idolatry, waiting in her espousal covenant to be received into perfect fellowship with her Beloved.

Cheering intimations of her future glory, and of consequent blessings upon the Gentile world, have been given, and a prospect has opened before us adapted to inspire our hearts with sentiments of praise and adoration to Israel's God. These prospects impart to our subject its highest value, and with eager interest we seek a nearer view of the transporting

scene.

In the development of Providence we may obtain such a view; for while the Bible has been our polar

star, guiding to the discovery of the lost tribes, their history and present condition reflect back again the light with increased effulgence upon the pages of that inspired book.

This may be our apology for proceeding to the examination of other passages, which the best commentators, unacquainted with these developments, have left in acknowledged obscurity. So long as it was unknown whether the ten tribes were in existence, or whether there was any remnant of the Hebrew-Christian Church to be found, how could the most profound exegetical skill determine the meaning of passages which we have quoted from the prophetical writings, but which are now comparatively clear?

It is not my intention to enter upon an investigation of all of those prophecies which may yet be elucidated by the history and condition of the remnant of Israel; but it is an inquiry of the deepest interest, whether the discovery of them may not throw important light upon the TIMES of the apocalyptic visions, and furnish a key to “the things which must be hereafter."

The tribes of Israel are brought to our notice in the seventh chapter of the Revelation. An angel is seen ascending from the East, having the seal of the living God; and he is commissioned to seal a large number of the servants of God, or converts from all the tribes of the children of Israel. "And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." Till this was

done, the four winds of the earth, the messengers of destruction (Jer. xlix. 36, 37), must be stayed.

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"Sealing," says Fuller, denotes, not conversion, but the preservation of those who are converted. Those who were sealed did not by this become the servants of God, but are supposed to be such already. Instead of signifying the enlargement of the Church, the object is to prevent it from being entirely swept away. It portends danger no less than the striking the doorposts of the Israelites when the destroying angel should pass through the land; or than the marking of those who sighed and cried' when Jerusalem was to be destroyed by the Chaldeans. It was for a preservation of a seed for God' amid the desolating judgments that were to follow. Hence, when those evils had already deluged the Church, we find the sealed servants of God standing in triumph upon Mount Zion, ch. xiv. 1."-Fuller's Works, vol. ii. p. 31.

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We have reviewed the history of the preservation of the lost tribes, and have seen how a remnant has been preserved under "the seal of the living God." But one of those tribes, the tribe of Dan,* is missing from the number; and the very omission of that name in the enumeration goes far to establish the fact that the literal Israel was the subject of the vision.

*This tribe took the lead in idolatry after the return of the Hebrew nation from Egypt, and was among its chief supporters after the revolt of the ten tribes.-1 Kings, xii. 30. Amos, (viii. 14. Hence, on account of its idolatry, as has been supposed by some learned commentators, this tribe was excluded from the blessings of those who had the seal of God in their foreheads.

That tribe, then, must be sought beyond the bounds of the Nestorian Church, or, at least, of the independent tribes. It may perhaps be found among the unconverted portion of Israel, or among the Yezidees, if the proof of their Hebrew origin shall be demonstrated. (See Appendix A.)

A sealed portion of the converts from the two tribes are yet to be found. Whether they have blended with the ten tribes, or are still distinct, is a problem yet to be solved. They may hereafter be discovered among the Jacobite Syrians on the west of the Tigris, or among the Christians of Travancore, or of Abyssinia. We have no evidence that they have obtained an asylum with their brethren of Israel in the Assyrian mountains, unless it be the fact of their existence, and that they have not yet been found. Until their separate existence shall be ascertained, we may regard the Nestorians as the existing Hebrew-Christian Church, and the representatives of the "sealed servants of God," "the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria."

In the prophetical allusions to the future state of the ten tribes, they are everywhere spoken of as a REMNANT. "The remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob;" "A remnant of them shall return." There are many intimations that Israel, in their long trial, were to become very much reduced in number, but God had solemnly promised not to destroy them utterly; and now we have a view of his plan of preserving a considerable number of those who were regarded as his true servants, that