WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF EPHRAIM?
CHAPTER XVI.
"Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake
against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels
are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the
Lord." - Jer. 31:20. Spoken B.C. 587 [JML: Ephraim disappeared in
721 B.C.]
"I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born," Jer 31:9.
F.R.A. Glover: If,
then, these things be such, and, as is affirmed of them, they
are, as constituting "The Remnant of Judah," in power and
permanence here; then is the position of the Monarchs of England of
this Race, that of Perpetuators of the Sceptre of Judah until
SHILOH come, - even of Judah, who is to be Lord over his Brethren
and Victor over all his Enemies (Gen 49:8-9). And, wonderfully
indeed has the Lord blessed the arms of England with victory in the
several conflicts in which she has contended, for Right and
Principle, with the various nations of the world!
But that same section of Scripture which foretells the perpetuity
of the Sceptre of Judah, his dominance over all his brethren, and
that his "hand is to be in the neck of his enemies," also promises
universal dominion to Joseph. His power is to run "to the utmost
bounds of the everlasting hills," to encompass the earth, and he is
to become, in the Ephraim of Israel, "a multitude of nations."
(Gen. 49:26; 48:19).
How can these things be? .. that is How can they co-exist? If
Joseph be dominant, Judah must decline. If Judah is to rule the
nations and is to receive "the praise of his brethren," how can the
power of Joseph be universal? .. how can Joseph be a Lord-Paramount
on Earth?
That England, is, in her royal family, enthroned on the Stone of
Israel, under the mark and the power of the Ensign of Judah, the
Remnant of Judah, and authorized, through those marks and what they
import, to receive the homage of "the dispersed of Judah" as the
Head of their House, wherever they are in dispersion, is manifest
enough. But where is Israel? And how can Judah, how is he, to
receive the homage of the Tribes ? How, of Joseph in particular, ..
the first-born (1 Chron. 5:2), the beloved Ephraim? Where is
Israel? where the Israel of Ephraim? of Ephraim and Manasseh?
entitled above all, to the Name which Israel won (Gen. 48:16)? And
when found, will that Israel bow down to Judah?
And if "Ephraim, remembered of the Lord," (Jer. 31:20) though long
lost, were now to appear, what room is there for him on the face of
the earth, and in power, unless he should possess himself of the
domains of Judah? If Joseph run down and bring Judah to vassalage,
where is the fulfillment of the promise of sceptral power to Judah
over all his brethren, and his immunity from the power of his
enemies (Gen. 48:8)?
Besides, where are we to seek for this grand Joseph? him, whose
greatness is to be equal to that of Judah? Is it in the Russian
Empire? Is it in that of France? either of which have already
handled in conjunction, and in disjunction, Turkey and Syria, the
nucleus of the Land of Promise! Is it in rising Italy? Is it in
waning Austria? Is it in Prussia, looming to a Germanic Empire, a
possible incorporation of all the Tribes save four (to wit:-
Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali,
excluding Judah and Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh. Levi is a
distributable tribe)? Or, is it in The United States [JML: in
1861]? Which of these are likely to volunteer absorption into the
arms of, and to make identity with, England, and become, with her,
one in faith and love, as well as one in Arms and Power? Have they
not all, in turn, shown that jealousy of her, that forbids the
likelihood of any coalition, much less identification by
incorporation? Have not the very favours she has done them all in
turn, been made food for the heaviest revilings, the bitterest of
cursings ? And even among our brethren of the United States, own
cousins though we are, our earnest love towards our own Race, and
anxiety that they might spare themselves the pang of fratricide
[JML: written just pre-Civil War], are returned to us with
bitterness, and cursings, and threats of war!
Let us, however, not be weary in well-doing. Wishing well and doing
well to all mankind, we must be content to heap the coals of fire
of good deeds on their heads, even without the comfort of thinking
that we merit the thanks of God for so doing. We act as we ought to
act; and are, withal, but unprofitable servants to our Master.
But where, in the mean time, are we to find this mighty Joseph,
whose greatness is not to be dimmed by the presence of Judah? This
Israel, blessed, and to be blessed with blessings, spiritual and
temporal, beyond all that man can desire and hardly dare to
conceive? Blessings of the Heaven, the Earth, and the Sea; of the
Breast, and of the Womb! To the utmost bounds of the everlasting
hills they are to extend and run over, and become withal "a
multitude of nations."
If, indeed, Judah and Joseph, - Judah being what he is, and Joseph
equally great somewhere in visible existence, - were to combine and
agree to be one, and it were lawful in the sight of God that this
should be, then indeed would all these difficulties disappear, and
the greatness of each tribe would be the augmentation of that of
the other in this confirmation of the blessing to both.
Now, strange as it may sound to hear this, or difficult as it may
be, to bring one's self to think it, yet, what is tantamount to
this combining, this agreeing of the two to combine, has already
occurred, and can now be hindered by the jealousy of no power on
earth, nor by all of them in combination. Its lawfulness also in
the sight of God must be indisputable: for His Providence has
already brought it to pass. Man's acts have unconsciously wrought
out, in this behalf, the will of God. England is this Joseph!
England is this Ephraim! For, Joseph, long lost, has appeared, and
been, a long time, one with Judah, the substantial representative
of its dignity, the manifestation of its power. Judah and Joseph
are one, in the dignity and power of the State of England. And they
are already full to overflowing with the amplitude of terrestrial
possessions; for, such is England's greatness and power, that any
aggrandizement in the way of territorial or political augmentation
has long been felt by this strange power to be a nuisance and a
hindrance [JML: e.g., England refused to add China to the Empire
after victory in the Opium Wars], and it would now hardly be
voluntarily increased, save under the motion of a divine impulse.
Yes, truly, strange as all this is, yet is it not more strange than
true. Strange indeed, not that the ways of God, Who has planted
"His footsteps in the sea,
His wonders to perform," (vide Chapter XV.)
are greater than man's ways, but that this thing should have been
manifestly set forth before us for now upwards of 250 years, and
that we should not have seen it! And that, while we have been
looking for The Lost Tribes in every corner of the earth, and have
fancied that we have detected them in the presence of every
degraded portion of the human race, we, in the very midst of them,
part of them, - the most important part of them, - should have been
blind to their existence as such; .. should have failed to see them
where certainly Joseph ought to be looked for if not found; viz.
amongst the noblest and grandest [JML: !] of the species that tread
the face of the earth, - in England! In England?
How is England of the Lost Tribes of Israel ? How is England,
Joseph ? How is England, Ephraim? How is England, Manasseh [JML: -
now identified with the USA]? How is Joseph, here, Lord-Paramount?
How is Joseph Lord-Paramount of the Earth? And then, if that be,
How is Judah Lord over his Brethren? i.e., How is the envy of
Ephraim to depart, and Judah to cease to vex Ephraim ? and, How are
the Two Families to agree to choose one Head?
From:
"England, the Remnant of Judah, and the Israel of Ephraim",
written by F.R.A. Glover, M.A., Chaplain to the Consulate at
Cologne. Published by Rivingtons, London, 1861. Based on research
commenced in 1844.