"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.