136

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

are you doing to stop this "wilful waste," which will bring "woeful want," unless we stay such destruction?

It is a fact, that 60,000 persons die every year as the direct or indirect result of our ruinous drinking customs. Brother or sister, are you sitting with folded hands, surrounded by such fearful doings, and saying, "What is that to me?" If not, what are you doing?

It is a fact, that there are, said Mr. Buxton, the brewer, 500,000 homes in England in which home happiness is never felt, entirely through the vice of intemperance. Brother or sister, what are you doing to stop this torrent which may possibly to-morrow rise higher, and cross even the threshold of your own home, and sweep away the dearest idol of your heart, beyond your control?

It is a fact, that the only safe and certain preventive or cure for such direful evils is to get the people totally to abstain from all intoxicating drinks. Brother or sister, what are you doing to bring this mighty change about?

It is a fact, that the liquor traffic of our country is destroying more souls than all the ministers and Sunday school teachers are instrumental in saving. Brother or sister, what are you doing to destroy such a traffic, and so deliver the people from danger

It is a fact, that turn in whatever direction we may to benefit the people, the drink demon starts up and blocks the way. Brother or sister, what are you doing to remove the hindrance? Are you sitting with folded arms, looking idly on, and in effect saying, "What is that to me?"

It is a fact, that by the Bible you profess to love you are exhorted to be ready for every good word and work. This work to which you are called is a good work. Are you ready? Oh, that some voice coming from hearts warmed and filled with true charity-with pity for the tempted and fallen-could awaken you to a due sense of your responsibility, and make you realise that your Master will one day call you to an account, and ask, "What did you do to save the fallen from the terrible evils of intemperance?" Brother, Sister-old and young—What are you doing? The Master says, "Work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no man can work." Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."-(J. W. Kirton.)

( 137 )

CHAPTER XV.

Ten-Tribed Israel and Judah are to be restored to their own land.

Isa. xi. 11. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the ISLANDS OF THE SEA.

Isa. lx. 9. Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee, and the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls.

Jer. iii. 14, 15. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Jer. xxx. 3, 10-11. For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. Fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be thou dismayed, O Israel; for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

Jer. xxxi. 8, 10. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth. . . . Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob. They shall come and sing in the height of Zion.

138

RESTORATION OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH.

Jer. xxxii. 41, 42. 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, 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.

Isa. liv. 7, 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

Amos ix. 14, 15. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inherit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them.

Zech. viii. 12, 13. For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing; fear not, but let your hands be strong.

Rom. xi. 25, 26. A hardening in part hath befallen Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved.

Ezek. xxxiv. II. Behold, I, even I, will both SEARCH my sheep, and SEEK THEM OUT. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock, in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I WILL BRING THEM OUT FROM THE PEOPLE, and gather them from the countries, and will BRING THEM TO THEIR OWN LAND, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. . . . 16. I will SEEK that which was lost, and BRING AGAIN that which was driven away, and wILL strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. 23. I will set up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. . . . I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them. . . 25. I will make with them a covenant of peace. . . . I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; . . . there shall be showers of blessing; . . . they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord; . . they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. THUS SHALL THEY KNOW THAT I THE LORD THEIR GOD AM WITH THEM, AND THAT THEY, EVEN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, are my people, saith the Lord.

THE JORDAN VALLEY.

139

In connection with these verses we refer our readers to what we have written on the subject in our chapter on Objections Answered (page 51): and in drawing the distinctions between Judah and Ten-tribed Israel we trust they will not infer that Judah is irrevocably cut off from the blessings of Abraham, or, that because she has not got the marks of blessed Israel, now, she will not be reinstated and participate with Ten-tribed Israel in all the promised blessings, for God is able to graff them in again; and the context of many of the passages referred to under the head of the Restoration of Israel apply with equal force to Judah. (See Rom. xi. 23, 24; Hosea i. II; Jer. iii. 18; Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 16; Jer. 1. 4, 5.)

The Jordan Valley Route.

We would ask our readers to carefully consider the testimony of the Pyramid, the recent facts of history that have brought about the British Protectorate of Syria, our possession of Cyprus, and tenure of Egypt, the projected schemes for the Euphrates valley railways, and the inevitable downfall of the Turkish power in connection with the 19th chapter of Isaiah. We feel sure that it will be admitted that there are some grounds for considering that the prophecies therein mentioned are in course of fulfilment.

If the security of our passage to India necessitated our interference in Egypt, we consider that our next step will be to secure ourselves from an attack in an easterly direction, and this we can best anticipate by carrying out the proposal for the construction of a canal from Acre to the Sea of Galilee, filling up the valley of the Jordan with the waters of the Mediterranean and connecting the Dead Sea with the Gulf of Akhabah in the Red Sea. If this be done, as we believe it will sooner or later, will not such an undertaking be a fulfilment of Ezekiel xlvii.? Does not this proposal solve the difficulties that cluster around the Eastern Question?" England alone possesses the right, from a political point of view, to construct such a canal. Besides being Israel, she possesses an everlasting inheritance" in the soil,-a God-given heritage; and in carrying out this project she secures to herself a magnificent inland harbour for her fleet, situated in a convenient central position: for the Dead Sea being 1293 feet below the Mediterranean would rise to that level, filling up all the wadies, converting them into navigable rivers and docks, for her war and merchant ships. The curse that is now upon the land would be removed. Trees would grow, "fishes" would come in from "the Great Sea" (v. 10); Palestine, thus insulated, would become the best strategical position for England to occupy; for, if the Suez

66

140

RUSSIA THE ENEMY OF BRITAIN.

Canal route would be in danger, she would have the Jordan valley route to fall back upon, and vice versa.

The project has been objected to, first, on account of the difficulties attending the scheme; and, secondly, on account of the great portion of the land that would be inundated. The first objection is met by the proverb "Perseverance crowns success," and the second by a reference to Amos viii. 8, "Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt."

Very probably this flooding of the valley will not be done by human agency, but by a wonderful display of Divine presence and power, for Amos (ix. 5) states that the Lord God of hosts is He that toucheth the land." (See also Micah i. 3, 4; Joel iii. 18; Zech. xiv. 4, 8.)

Russia is to be Israel's avowed enemy, as detailed in chapters xxxviii. and xxxix. of Ezekiel and other Scriptures, in the latter years. Russia, and Russia alone of all the nations of the earth, is the openly declared enemy of England. All her movements have been directed against our country. During the past few years, her rapid progress in Central Asia has been towards India, taking advantage, step by step, of every political blunder made by our statesmen in their Russo-phobian paroxysms. Under the pretext of defining her frontier on a satisfactory basis" she advanced to the Amu-Darya, on which our writers discussed her hostile intentions. To divert the public mind she attacked Turkey in Europe and advanced on Constantinople; her real ultimate aim being possession of the Holy Land, where on the outskirts of Jerusalem she is building extensively. This design on her part was frustrated by the foresight of our great statesman the late Lord Beaconsfield (himself a Jew), who directed the British fleet to sail to the rescue of the "Gate of the East." On Russia objecting, troops were sent out to Malta and a force held in readiness to land at Aleppo; Cyprus was obtained and garrisoned by British and Indian troops in return for England's guarantee to protect Syria. This, we hold, is the first step in the great series of events which will culminate in the final Union and Restoration of Judah and Israel in Palestine.

To counteract this advantage gained by England, Russia brought on our late war with Afghanstan, a British dependency, by her intrigues, thus enabling her, unmolested, to settle her quarrel with Turkey by securing a favourable position-viz., Erzeroum-for her future final attack on Palestine as stated above. The Afghan war necessitated our advance on Cabul and Candahar; and though we hold that it was a serious mistake to allow ourselves to have been