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.
"Considerest thou not what this people
have spoken, saying, The Two Families which The Lord hath chosen, He
hath even cast them off?
Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not
with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and
earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I
will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob." Jer. 33:24-26.
"We see not our signs" Psa. 74:9
The intent of these pages is to prove
[JML: from the perspective of 1861],
First, that as, England is, in God's
providence, in possession of a Certain Stone, called JACOB'S PILLOW,
which is the seat of the Coronation Throne of the Empire, cherished and
protected by her, in a very special manner, as her Chiefest National Muniment;
so also, if it be the case that the Stone be Jacob's Pillow, [JML: This
stone has been returned to Scotland]
Secondly, there must have been THE
SEED ROYAL OF JUDAH to set upon it, as certainly, if not as
Thirdly, manifestly, she has THE
STANDARD OF JUDAH to wave above it: and, herein, that she is entitled
to be considered "The Remnant of Judah." [JML: now identified
with the modern nation of Israel]
And again, to show that the THREE are, at
the appointed time, - when Judah and Israel are to return to "their own
land," - also to return together to that place from which they, together,
came, now some 2400 years, since, under the care, and leading of the Prophet
JEREMIAH, who established them in Ireland; his mission being a FOURTH point to
be proved: inasmuch as the mission of that illustrious Prophet was, at that
time, to do the will of the Lord in "planting and building" in
another land (Jer. 15:11), that, which he had been equally commissioned to
"pluck up," "root out," and "destroy," in his
own: viz. the Throne, the Seed, and the Polity of Judah (Jer. 1:10; 34:17, 22;
37:8-10).
Considering the extraordinary elevation to
which the nation has raised this Relic of Antiquity - this so-called Jacob's
Pillow upon which so grand an Edifice is thus apparently to be raised, - and
the singular manner in which we guard it and provide for its safety; and that
it is hardly creditable to us as Men, or as a Nation, not to be able to give
some rational and credible account of it; it is held to be no less pious than
reasonable to search out what there is, that is connected with this religious
monument of so remote antiquity, that may throw light on its history, and such
its very curious position.
The proposition and allegations based upon
it, and connected with it, are, it may be, at first sight, somewhat startling:-
1. A Stone from Judea, consecrated to God
3600 years since by the patriarch Jacob;-
2. The Race of Judah to use it as a Throne;
over which, a Prophet of Judah having inaugurated the one, and re-established
the other, planted above them,
3. The Standard of the tribe of Judah;-
and, these three, all to be with us in
honour, and flourishing in positive reality and fullest prosperity, in England
at THE PRESENT TIME! ... and all in full exercise of their respective
functions, without our knowing aught of the last things, and being in entire
disbelief, altogether, of the pretensions of the first: and yet, upon the truth
and reality of which pretensions to be what it professes to be, the proof of
the reality of the other two things may be thought to depend:- all this is
indeed strange!
Strange, however, as it is, it may be,
notwithstanding, not more strange than true: for, it is to be particularly
remembered, in the outset, that there is no physical hindrance, to the FULL
POSSIBILITY of all that is here supposed to Constitute the facts of the case.
Accordingly we hope to prove, that the conspicuous importance we consent to
give to this Ancient Stone ought to be satisfactory to the common sense of all
who are reasonable men as well as earnest Christians.
At present, we seem, as Keepers of this
Stone, to be merely gratifying our pride as the holders of an old curiosity;
not to give our conduct in this respect a worse name. A state of custody not
creditable to us personally as men of sense: nor, nationally, as a practical
people; satisfied to hold what may be the most important sign of the dealings
of God with Israel, past and future, as a "curious fact" (see
quotation later). For such appears to be about the best account our
antiquarians and historians can, at present, give of this Stone to ourselves
and to foreigners! So little, truly, do the people who fail to "look to
the rock whence they were hewed, and to the hole of the pit whence they were
digged," "see their signs" (Isa. 51:1, Ps. 74:9)
A fact, however, it is, - this 'curious
fact" and its belongings, - little as most men know of it, and still less
that those, who do know of it, regard it, - which lies at the bottom of the
greatest and most important National Act, executed from time to time, in our
greatest and most important National Assembly. Not in the great WITENAGEMOT
[JML: supreme council of England in Anglo-Saxon times] of King, Clergy, and
Lords; neither in that other important assembly, the MYKEL GEMOTE, the Commons
of England, by Representatives assembled: but, in that, which combines the fact
of the ancient Wittena Gemote with the principle and fact of the Mykel Gemote;
both convened in common assembly, in Common-Hall, so to speak, - the Wittena
Gemote and the Mykel Gemote together, - at the Coronation of the Monarch of the
Empire: ... that great event, which, those who understand the matter best, have
declared, and well declared, to be, the Safeguard of our Liberties. Why is
this? Because, then, THE NATION assembles in its great Temple, - namely, the
Temple of GOD, Westminster Abbey, at the beginning of each Reign, - Clergy,
Lords, and Representatives of the Commons, - to exact from the Monarch, whom,
seated upon that Stone, they are about to elect for coronation, the Oath, that
he will preserve and maintain, whole and inviolate, the rights and privileges
and liberties of all orders and degrees of men and classes of the community of
our great and imperishable nation.
Imperishable! Why Imperishable?
This Stone, into whose history, past and
prospective, we propose to inquire, will show us why.
For much as all this is, much more remains
behind. It is only half of the subject. It concerns JUDAH; and, in one sense,
Judah only. But "The Stone" is "The Stone of Israel"
(Gen. 49:24) and, that which concerns Judah alone is no more the whole subject,
than the executive of an empire is the administrative; though the executive be,
the manifestation of the other, in itself. "The Everlasting
Covenant" (Jer. 32) is with "the Two Families" in one band (Isa.
11:12), under one Head (Hos. 1:10). "The remnant of Judah," (Jer.
44:14; 55:11, Zeph. 3:10) that important element in the world's future, is
indeed there; the Ordinance Head, it may be, and is, of that Illustrious Power.
The Throne is there; the Seed Royal is there; and the Ensign of the Perpetual
Sceptre withal!
But the Strength of Israel, where is that? -
that has not yet appeared on the stage! Nevertheless, it is there; all
there. For as it is in Joseph, and by Joseph, that "the
Shepherd," "the Stone of Israel," is to appear (Gen. 49:24), in
the clearing up of what has been termed, not unaptly, "the great Asian
mystery;" so does the investigation of this Stone's history, and what the
Stone imports, bring upon the stage, England, as the full development of that
important element of Israel's greatness, viz. "the multitude of nations of
Ephraim;" as the Descendants and Representatives of him upon whom the
Patriarch Jacob named his name, 'his own imparted name (Gen.
48:5, 16), ... the name of ISRAEL, The PRINCE of GOD. And so, England, i.e.,
Israel, in the sense of "the multitude of nations" of Ephraim (Gen.
48:19), now, is the representative of him who had power with God and Man, and
prevailed. (Gen. 32:28)
And England, as ruled over by a descendant
of the house of Judah, is herself, in that Head, the Representative and
Executive of The Two Families whose captivity is to return when the promises of
God to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are to be fulfilled in the land which
"their seed are to have for an everlasting possession:" (Gen. 48:4)
.. even at the time when "men are to buy fields for money, and subscribe
evidences and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin and in the
cities of Judah, (Jer. 32:44) and in the cities of the mountains, and in the
cities of the valleys and of the south;" and when the title-deeds of
Jeremiah to his possessions in Anathoth, sunk (Jer. 32:14), as the evidence of
his faith in a faithful Creator, shall be placed, side by side, with the Stone
of Israel returned from Britain to Jerusalem, in pursuance of the promise of
these words:
"And now therefore thus saith the Lord,
the God of Israel, concerning, this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered
into the band of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by
the pestilence; Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have
driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring
them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: and they
shall be my people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart,
and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their
children after them: and I will make an EVERLASTING COVENANT with them, that I
will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their
hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
"Yea, I will rejoice over them to do
them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and
with my whole soul. For thus saith the Lord;
"Like as I have brought all this great
evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have
promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, 'It is
desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans:' for
I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord." (Jer. 32:36-44)
In order to the better understanding of the
subject, the importance of which few will be disposed to underrate, it will be
best to subdivide it into two parts, viz.: the SIGNS Of JUDAH, and the SIGNS of
EPHRAIM.
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