STUDY VIII

THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

The Re-establishment of Israel in Palestine, an Event to be Expected Within This Harvest Period--How, and to What Extent, and With What Class, We Should Expect This Restoration--Date of its Beginning, and Evidences of its Actual Progress Since--Why Millennial Blessings, Intended for All Mankind, Will Reach and Revive the Jew First--The Revival of Jewish Hopes--Observations of Leading Jewish and Gentile Writers--The Harmony of These with Prophecy--Israel's Blindness Respecting Christ Already Turning Away--The Spread and Momentum of the Movement--God Will Help Them.

As a people they still have faith in God, though in their blindness and pride of heart they have stumbled over the humility of God's appointed messenger for the world's salvation; so that, instead of receiving him, they crucified the Savior, the Lord of glory. And yet the apostles and prophets show us that even this flagrant crime, to which their pride and self-will drove them, was not one which could never be forgiven them. Because of it, they have been punished, and that severely. When they condemned the Just One and said, "His blood be upon us and upon our children," they little expected the fearful recompense which followed.

The terrible trouble and loss of life, the destruction of their holy city and temple, the full end of their national existence, and the scattering of the surviving remnant as exiles into all nations, completed the work of their harvest period. It began in factious civil strife and was completed by an invading Roman army. Fire, sword and famine accomplished upon them a fearful recompense.

And since that time Israel has truly been a nation scattered and peeled. Driven as exiles from country to country, and from province to province, they have been deprived of almost every right and privilege which other men enjoyed. Rejecting Christianity, as well in its corrupted as in its pure form, they became the objects of the contempt and relentless persecution of the Church of Rome. Says the historian:

Thus estranged from God and from their fellowmen of every nation, sad and pitiable indeed has been their miserable condition. During the relentless Papal persecutions, they have suffered in common with the saints and martyrs of Jesus--the Christian for his rejection of Antichrist, the Jew for his rejection of both Christ and Antichrist. While God has permitted these afflictions and persecutions to come as a penalty for their national crime of rejection of the gospel and crucifixion of the Redeemer, he will nevertheless in due time reward the constancy of their faith in his promises, to which they have so long and so perseveringly held. God foreknew their pride and hardness of heart, and foretold it as well as the evils which have come upon them; and no less pointedly has he foretold a departing of their blindness and the ultimate fulfilment to them of all the earthly promises declared long ago to Abraham and repeated by one after another of the holy prophets.

The following is a brief summary of the faith of the Orthodox Jews:

"I believe with a true and perfect faith (1) that God is the creator, governor and maker of all creatures, and that he hath wrought all things; (2) that the Creator is one, and that he alone hath been our God, is, and forever shall be; (3) that the Creator is not corporeal, not to be comprehended with any bodily properties, and that there is no bodily essence that can be likened unto him; (4) that nothing was before him, and that he shall abide forever; (5) that he is to be worshiped and none else; (6) that all the words of the prophets are true; (7) that the prophecies of Moses were true; that he was chief of all wise men that lived before him or ever shall live after him; [We may consider them somewhat excusable for this overestimate of such a noble and worthy character.] (8) that all the law which at this day is found in our hands was delivered by God himself to our master, Moses; (9) that the same law is never to be changed, nor any other to be given us of God; (10) that God understandeth all the thoughts and works of men, as it is written in the prophets--'He fashioneth their hearts alike, he understandeth all their works'; (11) that God will recompense good to them that keep his commandments, and will punish them who transgress them; (12) that the Messiah is yet to come; and, although he retard his coming, yet 'I will wait for him till he come'; (13) that the dead shall be restored to life when it shall seem fit unto God, the Creator, whose name be blessed and memory celebrated without end. Amen."

Since the destruction of their temple and their dispersion, the sacrifices have been discontinued; but in all other respects the Mosaic requirements are still observed among the Orthodox Jews. Their worship, as of old, consists in the reading of the Scriptures, prayer and praise. On the second day of their feast of trumpets they read the account of Abraham's offering of his son Isaac and God's blessing on him and his seed. Then they blow the trumpet and pray that God would bring them to Jerusalem.

The Non-orthodox or Reformed Jews, "Radicals," differ widely from the Orthodox: many of them are avowed atheists, denying a personal God. They deny that any Messiah is to come; and if they do not deny prophecy entirely, they explain that the Jewish nation is itself the Messiah and is reforming the world gradually, and that the sufferings predicted of Messiah are fulfilled in their persecutions and sufferings as a people. Others of them declare that civilization is the only Savior of the world they expect.

Anglo-Israelites

And here we must express our dissent from the views of those who claim that the Anglo-Saxons are the Israel of promise, in the Scriptures. Briefly stated, they claim that the Anglo-Saxons, the people of the United States, etc., are the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel which separated from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, after Solomon's death, and which are often termed "the ten lost tribes"; because, after the captivity (of the entire twelve tribes) in Babylon, the ten tribes never re-established themselves in the land of Canaan, as "Israel," but became scattered as tribes and as individuals among the various nations. Those whose theory we criticize claim that they can trace their journey toward Great Britain, and that the greatness and influence of the English speaking peoples of the world are traceable to the fact that they belong to Israel, and are inheriting the promises made to Israel.

To this we answer: Some of the evidences offered in proof that they are of the "lost tribes" seem far from strong; but if we should admit all they claim in this, it would not prove their position, that the greatness and influence of the Anglo-Saxon race are attributable to their being Israelites by natural generation, any more than to their being "lost." Their greatness is attributable to their freedom and intelligence, which are traceable, not to their being lost, nor to their being born Israelites according to the flesh, but to the doctrines of Christ--to the light which some of the spiritual seed of Abraham let shine among them.

"Yom Kippur, or the Great Day of Atonement, was a remarkable day with my father; for he not only fasted, prayed and mortified himself on this holy day of expiation, but he actually spent the whole night at the synagogue in devotion. I have often seen my devout parent weep on this great day, when he repeated the pathetic confession following the enumeration of the sacrifices which were appointed by God to be offered up for the sins of omission and commission; and many a time have I shed sympathetic tears as I joined him in lamenting that we have now no temple, no high priest, no altar and no sacrifices. The day before that solemn day, he, in company with the rest of the Jews, took a cock; and, during the repetition of certain forms of prayers, he moved the living fowl round his head three times, repeating these words: 'This be my substitute, this be my exchange, this be my atonement; this fowl shall go to death, and I to a blessed life.' Then he laid his hands on it, as the hands used to be laid on the sacrifices, and immediately after it was given to be slaughtered. This is the only blood that is shed in Israel now. The blood of bulls and goats no longer flows beside the brazen altar.

"The English government undertook to guarantee to Turkey her Asiatic possessions against all invasion,...formally pledged herself to defend and secure Turkey against all invasion and aggression, and occupied Cyprus in order to have a more effectual vantage-ground from which to carry on this project."

The New York Herald, commenting some time ago upon the acquirement by England of the island of Crete, her occupancy of Egypt and the condition of Turkey and her provinces generally, said:

"While, however, the great Christian Powers stand with mail-clad hands to grasp the coveted and tempting bit when the moribund Turk lets go his hold, a historic figure steps forward and declares, 'The land is mine!' And when the powers turn to look at the speaker, they recognize the Jew--the child of the patriarch who lived in Palestine when it was first invaded, and who would himself fain be present to receive it as his own when its possession is disputed thirty-six centuries after!

"As for the Jews themselves, to say how they long for restoration is hardly necessary. On the 9th of their month Ab, they fast for the destruction of their temples and the national calamities attending those events. There is not a morning or an evening but what they pray, 'Gather us together from the four corners of earth'; 'Restore our peoples as of old'; 'Dwell thou in the midst of Jerusalem'; and these words are uttered in every city where the Jew is found--that means throughout the world. Such constancy is almost beyond all bounds, and to this day the Spanish Jews in all lands (even in this distant country) put some of the dust of Palestine or 'tierra santa,' as they call it, on the eyes of their dead--a poetic and pathetic evidence of their love for the sacred soil.

"You will ask, What is the cause of this great change? God has promised that, like as he brought all this evil upon this land, so he will bring great blessings unto it, and these have evidently begun by the sending of more rain than for many centuries past. He sends beautiful showers and heavy dews, where there used not to be any; and he sends clouds in summer, which were never known even twenty years ago. This tempers the heat, so that it does not dry up the ground so. Five years ago he sent, in July and August (months in which it never used to rain), three hours of rain in Jaffa, and sixteen hours in Damascus, and much all around, so that the American papers remarked upon it as a proof that the climate of Palestine is changing. Also when we came here, there were very few Jews coming back to this land, but the persecutions in Russia and Germany and other places began to drive them out; and, in spite of the edicts of the Sultan, they began returning to this land, buying land, planting and building, and getting possession of the trade of the city; and so today there are many thousands more than when we came.

It is evident from the expressions of leading Jewish journals, and from the various movements now in progress for the colonization of Palestine, and for the assistance and advancement of those already settled there, that thousands are now turning with eager eyes to the land of promise. This turn in Jewish affairs has been since 1878; and the shaping of events since that date has caused and is causing a remarkable awakening on this subject, which in itself is a significant sign of the times. From the Jewish World (Aug. 20th, 1886) we quote, for example, the following:

"There are rifts in the clouds which have hitherto cast so dismal a shadow over the Holy Land. The future of that unhappy country, so long wrapped in impenetrable darkness, is beginning faintly to brighten; and the glimmerings of a happier state of things are almost within measurable distance of our forecasts....Two institutions are destined to play a conspicuous part in the amelioration of the condition of the Jews of Palestine--the Agricultural School at Jaffa, and the Lionel De Rothschild institution in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. We might add a third in the shape of the Montefiore Testimonial Fund, which, by its promotion of building societies and its erection of cheap dwellings, has done much to foster thrift and to reduce the miseries and hardships of domestic life in the Holy City....What we are concerned at this moment in noting is, that the prospects of the Jews in Palestine are no longer gloomy. There are, on the one hand, forces at work for the improvement of the condition of our brethren, which have been wisely devised and ingeniously organized, and which are now being assiduously applied; on the other hand, the people are getting tired of their misery and inactivity, and are showing an increasing tendency to take advantage of the efforts made for their rehabilitation. This is a state of things which is fraught with happy consequences, and no Jew will fail to contemplate it with pleasure."

In a succeeding number of the same paper a leading article on "The Future of Palestine" closed with these words:

"With the late influx of an agricultural element in colonies planted by the Montefiore, Hirsch, and Rothschild funds, willing hands should be found to labor at the transformation scene, when 'the desert shall blossom as the rose'; willing hands and willing hearts that shall reclaim the Holy Land from its long night of death, and restore to life and light the national home of the Jews."

Another journal, The Jewish Messenger, says:

"While men are absorbed in their little cares, alternately moved by hopes and fears, the grand and stately march of human events progresses onward and irresistibly to completion, in the fulfilment of an inevitable law which controls all human action. Men here and there raise their puny voices as if to stay this tide of advancement, and arrest this fiat of the Eternal. As well might they attempt to stay the law which governs the universe. Races have as fixed a course to run as have the stars that dazzle in the blue vault above us, and the race of Israel is the bright fixed star amongst them. In all its wanderings it has been true to its course. Its mission has been foreseen and foretold, and its final restoration to the Holy Land prophesied. That this prophecy is being fulfilled, the signs of the times indicate. It is being accomplished so quietly, and so gradually, that only those who have given the subject attention realize the importance of the work done.

"Palestine is a political necessity to the Jewish race. The founding of a nation in the Holy Land once more means the exaltation of all Israel. It places her as a nation amongst the nations of the earth. It gives to the Jew that political power and sovereign right which mean protection. It makes him a citizen of his country, and gives him a passport amongst the nations of the earth....This may look impracticable to the man in the counting-room absorbed in his books, to the man in his store absorbed in figuring up his profits and losses, to the man steeped in the bliss of social pleasures, but it is as clear as the noonday's sun to whoever makes a study of the political horoscope.

"It may be said that, geographically speaking, Palestine is too small to exert much influence as a political, intellectual or moral power among the nations of the earth. We reply that in ancient times Greece was a power, and that in modern times the little island of Britain is a power. Geographically speaking, what are they? It is intellect, moral force and pride of nationality that make nations great, and not the extent of territory. It is intellect and moral power that will make Israel renowned among nations."

The Jewish Chronicle says:

"The movement is irresistible. We cannot suffer ourselves to stand by with folded hands when this new exodus is taking place. We Jews have held, for nearly two thousand years, that the consummation of the ages of suffering we have passed through will be reached only when we again possess the land of our fathers. Is that trust to die away just at the moment when it appears about to be fulfilled? Or, is it to be expected that the return will be brought about by means so mysterious as to be beyond the co-operation of human beings? God works his will through the wills of men; and if the prophecies are to be fulfilled, it will be by human wills and energies. These may seem to be high topics to drag into connection with a practical plan for placing a few Jewish colonies in Palestine. But it is from small beginnings, such as these, that great events often arise; and the return of a small body of Jews to the Holy Land can never fail to bring to mind the possibility and the practicability of the larger return to which all Jewish history and all Jewish aspirations have hitherto pointed."

Others, besides Jews, men of prominence in the world, see and comment upon the rising prominence of Israel. For instance, note the following from the Central Presbyterian:

Lord Shaftesbury of England said recently:

"There is a great jealousy of that wonderful people who are now coming to the front. And what a sign of the times it is, that, wherever the Jews are, they are either the most prominent people to be persecuted, or the most prominent people to take a lead in all the various professions! A prominent citizen of Berlin was asked, 'What is the history of this strong anti-Jewish feeling which you have in Berlin and throughout Germany?' He replied, 'I will tell you: These Jews, if they go into commerce, become the first merchants; if they go into the banking line, they become the first bankers; if they go into law, they become the first lawyers; or if they go into literature, they beat us all. Whatever career they undertake, they drive out the Gentiles; and I tell you, sir, we won't stand it.'

"The persecution of the Jews in Russia and Poland does not depend upon religion or nationality. These have nothing whatever to do with it. The Russians would persecute any people in the same position as the Jews. Bear this in mind, that the Jews hold in mortgage a very considerable part of the landed property of Russia; that they hold in their debt a very large proportion of the peasantry, and very many of the shopkeepers in different parts of the empire. Every single opportunity which now presents itself to the Russian people for plunder and spoilation of the Jews is almost sure to be seized. In the destruction of the Jews, and of their papers, Russians get rid of documents by which they are bound, and which might be brought as evidence against them; and so long as there is property to be laid hold of, so long will you find the Russian people rising against the Jews."

"The Jewish nation, though under a cloud, will eventually resume their ancient territory, which is so evidently kept waiting for them. The prophecies are clear as day on two points: That the Jews are to repossess Palestine, and, indeed, to rule from Lebanon to Euphrates; and that this event is to be the first of a great series of changes leading to a vast improvement in the condition of poor, suffering mankind, and of creation in general. Now, we have here in prospect a glorious event, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. The only difference is, that the sun will rise at a certain hour, and the Jews will occupy Syria and resume their national glory at an uncertain day. No doubt it is the foible of mankind to assume that an uncertain date must be a distant one. But that is unreasonable. Surely it is the duty of wise and sober men to watch precursory signs and lend their humble cooperation, should so great a privilege be accorded to us.

"This sudden persecution of the Jews in the very nation where they are most numerous--may it not be a precursory sign, and a reminder from Providence that their abiding city is not European Tartary? Palestine can be colonized effectually from Russia alone, where there are three millions of Jews trembling for life and property; and the rest would follow. History is a looking-glass at our backs. Whatever Jews have done, Jews may do. They are people of genius; and genius is not confined by nature, but by will, by habit or by accident. What have these people tried and failed in? Warriors, writers, builders, merchants, lawgivers, husbandmen; and supreme in all! In this, history repeats itself.

"They shall be great in the arts of peace and war, and their enemies melt away before them like snow off a dyke. Should they seem to require help from any other nation at starting, blessed will be the nation that proffers it; and the nation that persecutes them will be made an example of in some way or other. Therefore, if by any chance recent outrages should decide the Jewish leaders to colonize Palestine from Russia, let us freely offer ships, seamen, money--whatever we are asked for. It will be a better national investment than Egyptian, Brazilian or Peruvian bonds."

"A curious people they are! Like no other Jews on the face of the earth. They are nearer the type that existed here in the past. The numbers who have been forced here by persecution are supported almost entirely by the different Jewish churches over the world.

"One of the great sights of Jerusalem is the Jews' wailing place, where every Friday certain sects meet on the outside of the walls of the Mosque of Omar, which occupies the site of Solomon's temple, and with their heads bent against the stones, sorrow over the loss of Jerusalem, and pray God to give the land back to his chosen people. This custom has been observed since the days of the middle ages, and it is one of the saddest sights. I visited it last week. In a narrow alley surrounded by miserable houses--on stone flags which have been worn with the bare feet of thousands of Jews-- against a wall of great blocks of marble, which reached for fifty or more feet above them, a long line of men in long gowns and of women with shawls over their heads bowed, praying and weeping. Many of the men had white beards, and long curly locks of silver. Others were just in their prime; and I could not but wonder when I saw the forms of these at times almost convulsed with emotion. Each had a well-thumbed Hebrew Bible in his hand, and from time to time the party broke out into a kind of chant, an old gray-haired man acting as leader, and the rest coming in on the refrain. The chant was in a strange tongue, but was translated as follows:

Leader--For the palace that lies desolate--
Response--We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For the walls that are destroyed--
Response--We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For our Majesty that is departed--
Response--We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For our great men who lie dead--
Response--We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For our priests who have stumbled--
Response--We sit in solitude and mourn.
Leader--For our kings who have despised him--
Response--We sit in solitude and mourn.

"The effect of this chant cannot be appreciated without hearing it. The old men and weeping women, who kiss the stones of the wall that separates them from what was once the site of Solomon's temple, and which is even now the holiest part of the earth to the Jew; the genuine feeling expressed by all; and the faith they show in thus coming here, week after week, and year after year, are wonderfully impressive. It is indeed one of the strange sights of this strangest of cities.

"There are eight agricultural colonies in different parts of Palestine. One of these schools near Jaffa has more than seven hundred pupils, and a farm of twenty-eight thousand acres. It is situated on the plains of Sharon, where the Philistines lived, and it has tens of thousands of vines and olive trees. The Turks are very much averse to selling land to the Jews, but the latter show themselves to be as good farmers as they are business men; and the terraced condition of the hills about Jerusalem shows that the Holy Land was far better cultivated under them than it has been under their conquerors. A large amount of land just outside of the city of Jerusalem is now in the hands either of the Jews or of their charitable institutions. Mr. Behar, the head of the Rothschild schools, tells me they have just bought the Jerusalem Hotel, and will add it to their school. Sir Moses de Montefiore, who managed the fund left by a rich New Orleans Israelite, built many good houses for Jews on the road between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and there are a number of Jewish hospitals.

"There is no doubt, whatever, that Jerusalem is improving. The most of its streets are now well paved and the sanitary condition of the city has been greatly improved. The Jerusalem outside the walls is now almost as large as the city within, and I am told that land has risen in value to such an extent that the holy city may be said to have a real estate boom. I learn that along the Jaffa road, just outside of the gate, property has gone up within a year or so several hundred per cent. One piece which belongs to a charitable institution was bought a short time ago for $500. It is now worth $8,000, and cannot be bought for that amount. A telegraph line now runs from here to the sea coast, and a railroad company has been organized to build a line from Jaffa to Jerusalem. For the first time in its history, Jerusalem has a police force, and its order is now as good as that of New York."

The following, clipped from The Hebrew Christian of July '89, is another interesting account of an American Jew's visit to the wailing place of the Jews at Jerusalem. He says:

"'For the palace that lies desolate,' etc.

"The most touching wailing over Jerusalem is also to be witnessed in the homes of the pious Jews. At midnight they wrap themselves in their prayer garments, put ashes on their heads, and prostrate themselves on the ground. Then in melancholy tones they rehearse:

"'A voice of woe from Ramah's hoary tower,
A voice of wail from Zion's sainted hill;
Alas! my diadem and queenly dower,
The youthful honors I remember still.
Dark is to me the solitary bower
Who did of old a throne of splendor fill.

"'I was surnamed Jehovah's fairest bride;
But now am forced, forlorn, disconsolate,
His heavy wrath and vengeance to abide;
My joys are flown, my heart is desolate.
Come, weep, ye daughters, at my faltering side,
For none draws near my sorrows to abate.

"'Degraded from a peerless eminence,
Victim of pride and wanton vanity,
My beating heart in trembling violence
Strikes at her cage of hopeless misery.
Judah laments in tearful penitence,
A widow mourning in captivity.

"'I was in Solyma a radiant queen,
A golden cloud was I, the mount of God;
But now by infidels despoiled, I ween,
No poorer pilgrim o'er the desert trod,
Wrenched from the bosom all my babes have been,
The elders murdered, steeped the soil in blood.

"'Doth no one lay my wretchedness to heart?
And no one check the swiftly rolling tear?
And no one soothe the soul-empiercing smart?
And no one say, 'The heathen shall not dare
Call him my husband?' Oh, the poisoned dart.
The cruel mockings I am bound to bear!

"'Father of mercies, come, return with grace
To Zion's dwelling beautified again.
Let Israel's eye behold Thy dwelling place
Restored; then list the hallelujah's strain,
The hymning voices of a ransomed race,
Greeting the rising wall of that eternal fane.'

"After this several Psalms are read and prayers offered. When rising from the ground, they say, 'Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.'

"Its development has been such that it can confidently be pronounced no longer a mere experiment with doubtful chances of permanent existence. It has manifested a remarkable vitality; its growth has been steady and healthy, positive in character, yet avoiding all unnatural haste and dangerous extremes. Having been recognized by the Russian authorities as a religio licita, it now has a legal existence and legal rights. Its character stamps it as one of the most unique phenomena in the variegated kaleidoscope of national, social and religious interests that divide the hearts and minds of the Czar's one hundred and sixteen millions of subjects.

"The faith of this new communion is further peculiar in this, that they propose not to form any organic connection with any existing form of Christianity, but, with the avowed aim of ignoring the historical development of doctrines since the Apostolic age, to draw their teachings directly from the New Testament source, without having any special regard for the formulas of doctrines found in the orthodox churches of our times. It claims to be modeled after the Jewish-Christian congregations in the days of the apostles.

When Mr. Rabinowitch began to think that he ought to be an avowed and open believer in Christ, he was much perplexed with the number of sects amongst Christians, and hesitated to join any of them. He says, "As the Jordan must be crossed to reach Canaan, so Jesus is the way to spiritual possession and rest." As to the Lord's Supper, he says that the members of the New Covenant do not celebrate this, except as a Passover Supper. They (like us) do not yet see their way to celebrate it at other times. He says the Lord Jesus Christ did not command his disciples to remember his resurrection, but to remember him. Neither he nor his followers keep Sunday as the Sabbath, but continue the observance of the Jewish Sabbath. Circumcision is still observed; but it is not considered necessary to salvation.

"Mr. Rabinowitch possesses a very gentle, humble, loving spirit, and quickly responds, even to tears, to assurances of Christian affection. He does not desire to identify himself with any sect, but wishes to take his Christianity from the New Testament, and grow out of old habits and doctrines into new ones, as the Holy Spirit may teach him in his continued and prayerful study of the entire Word of God."

Prof. Franz Delitzsch, of Leipzig, the leader of the Jewish missions in Germany and editor of the Saat auf Hoffnung, a quarterly devoted to this work, published a pamphlet of about seventy-five pages on this new religious development, the largest space in which is occupied by original documents, in both the Hebrew and the German translation, on this movement. These documents embrace thirteen theses; a Confession of Faith of the National Jewish Church of the New Testament; Explanation of the Faith in the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, in the sense of this congregation; a Haggada for the Israelites believing on the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth; and, finally, an Order of the Lord's Supper. As appendices are added a declaration of a teacher, Friedmann, to the Jewish believers in Christ, and a declaration adopted by a conference of the latter, held in Kischinev. The little pamphlet contains all the materials for a study of the new movement.

These theses, which are to be regarded as the basis of the new faith, start out with an account of the deplorable state of the Jews in Russia, maintain that the endeavors at improvement on the part of the Jews themselves have all proved futile, and proceed to say:

"There is need of a deep and inner moral renewal, of a spiritual regeneration. We must cast aside our false god-- the love of money--and in the room thereof must establish in our hearts a home for the love of truth, and for the fear of evil." For this, however, a leader is necessary. Who is he to be? In Israel none can be found. "The man who possesses all the qualifications of a leader--love of Israel, sacrificing of life, pureness, deep knowledge of human nature, earnestness in the exposal of the sins and evils of his people--we have, after a careful research in all the books of the history of our people, found only in one man, in Jesus of Nazareth." The wise Israelites in his day could not understand him; "but we can say with certainty that he, Jesus, he alone has sought the welfare of his brethren. Therefore we should sanctify the name of our Brother Jesus." "We should receive the Gospel books into our houses as a blessing, and unite them with all the Holy Scriptures which were handed down to us by our wise men."

One of the most noteworthy of a series of articles of faith which they have drawn up is the following:

The following is an extract from a letter of Mr. Rabinowitch, dated Jan. 2nd, 1885, to a gentleman in London:

"Your valuable letter, etc., were received. My heart rejoiced when I read them and perceived how great and strong the love of your heart is toward the brethren of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, according to the flesh, and how precious the salvation of the Israelitic nation is in your eyes.

"Through the depth of the riches and wisdom of God, the highest, our fathers, who were incumbents of the promise, rebelled against Jesus, so that grace might be bestowed upon the heathen nations, not through any promise, but through grace in the gospel of the Messiah. Now, after the fulness of the Gentiles hath come in, the time has arrived for us, the sons of Israel, to return to the God of Israel and his King, and be his beloved children. We should accept our heritage of Jacob, which is without limit; for we are the legitimate heirs, children of Abraham, disciples of Moses, servants of the house of David in eternity. Thus our fulness (i.e., the coming of many Israelites to Christ) will be our riches and the riches of the nations, according to the words of Jehovah by St. Paul, a firstborn of Israel, and at the same time the foremost among the returning heathen.

"Among my brethren, and in large meetings, I earnestly admonish, 'Shake thyself from the dust; arise, put on thy beautiful garments, my people; through the son of Jesse, Jesus of Nazareth, hath the Lord done great things with thee, O Israel, that he might also work great things among the nations of the earth, who were blessed in our fathers.'

"I greatly thank God that I see thousands who cheerfully listen. Many and worthy sons of Israel are waiting and longing for the hour, the hour of the grace of our God. I implore you, in the name of our brethren in Russia who seek the salvation, that the friends of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherever they be, may not be silent, but that they give counsel and speak out boldly, until Immanuel be with us also, until Jehovah show us him and his dwelling.

"These are humble words written from afar off."

Joseph Rabinowitch

In addition to this remarkable awakening, a similar movement has been progressing in Siberia, of which we have the following account from the Presbyterian Witness:

Thus we see remarkable indications of God's returning favor to Israel: in driving them out of other countries by great persecutions, in opening up Palestine to receive them, inviting them thither by special providences in their favor in the way of benevolent enterprises for their improvement and assistance, and also in this significant movement which is the beginning of the turning away of Israel's blindness. And how evidently it is all of God! In this work for the restoration of Fleshly Israel, as well as in the great harvest work for the gathering of Spiritual Israel, the agency of the now cast-off nominal church is entirely ignored. In both of these great works now in progress the various organizations of nominal "Christendom" are quietly set aside; and in his own time and way, and by new, humble, untitled instruments, as in the Jewish harvest, God is causing his great work to prosper and progress.

"The President listened attentively to Mr. Blackstone's remarks, and promised to give the subject serious consideration."

The Memorial

The text of the memorial is as follows:

"What shall be done for the Russian Jews? It is both unwise and useless to undertake to dictate to Russia concerning her internal affairs. The Jews have lived as foreigners in her dominions for centuries, and she fully believes that they are a burden upon her resources and prejudicial to the welfare of her peasant population, and will not allow them to remain. She is determined that they must go. Hence, like the Sephardim of Spain, these Ashkenazim must emigrate. But where shall two millions of such poor people go? Europe is crowded, and has no room for more peasant population. Shall they come to America? This would be a tremendous expense and would require years.

"Why not give Palestine back to them again? According to God's distribution of nations it is their home--an inalienable possession from which they were expelled by force. Under their cultivation it was a remarkably fruitful land, sustaining millions of Israelites, who industriously tilled its hillsides and valleys. They were agriculturists and producers as well as a nation of great commercial importance --the center of civilization and religion. It is said, to, that rains are increasing, and there are many evidences that the land is recovering its ancient fertility.

"Why shall not the powers which, under the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, gave Bulgaria to the Bulgarians and Servia to the Servians, now give Palestine back to the Jews? These provinces, as well as Roumania, Montenegro and Greece, were wrested from the Turks and given to their natural owners. Does not Palestine as rightfully belong to the Jews?

"If they could have autonomy in government, the Jews of the world would rally to transport and establish their suffering brethren in their time-honored habitation. For over seventeen centuries they have patiently waited for such a privileged opportunity. They have not become agriculturists elsewhere because they believed they were sojourners in the various nations, and were yet to return to Palestine and till their own land. Whatever vested rights, by possession, may have accrued to Turkey can be easily compensated for, possibly by the Jews assuming an equitable portion of the national debt.

"We believe this is an appropriate time for all nations, and especially the Christian nations of Europe, to show kindness to Israel. A million of exiles, by their terrible sufferings, are piteously appealing to our sympathy, justice and humanity. Let us now restore to them the land of which they were so cruelly despoiled by our Roman ancestors.

"To this end we respectfully petition His Excellency, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, and the Hon. J. G. Blaine, Secretary of State, to use their good offices and influence with the governments of their imperial majesties --Alexander III, Czar of Russia; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India; William II, Emperor of Germany; Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austro-Hungary; Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey; Her Royal Majesty, Marie Christina, Queen Regent of Spain; with the government of the Republic of France; and with the governments of Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Roumania, Servia, Bulgaria and Greece, to secure the holding, at an early date, of an international conference to consider the condition of the Israelites and their claims to Palestine as their ancient home, and to promote in all other just and proper ways the alleviation of their suffering condition."

[The memorial is signed by prominent men of all professions and creeds from Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington.]

The Anglo-Israelitish Question

To the Editor of The Banner of Israel--

Dear Sir: A recent article in your journal, reviewing Scripture Studies, Vol. III, and especially its reference to the Anglo-Israel Question in connection with the return of the Jews to Palestine, has come to my attention; and as it seems to inquire for a reply, I hasten to answer it briefly.

During the Gospel age the New Covenant and its blessed heart-writing and spirit-teaching is not for the ten tribes, nor for the two. It must first be sealed by the blood (death) of the Mediator--Head and Body, from Jews and Gentiles. The fleshly seed (Ishmael) must wait until the spiritual seed (Isaac) has inherited all, and must then get his portion through Isaac. In those days--when the fleshly seed receives its portion--the blessed Millennial privileges, mentioned in verses 29 and 30, will be realized.

Beloved, let us make our calling and election sure by the obedience of faith, and not hope for spiritual blessings to come to us because of fleshly connections--which the Lord's Word clearly shows us cannot be. If the Anglo-Saxon races are the literal descendants of the ten lost tribes, it certainly is to their advantage that the Lord will overlook the relationship and count them as Gentiles; for his favor was withdrawn from the natural seed when the remnant had been selected, and he turned to take out the people for his name from among the Gentiles, who previously were not his people; and, as we have seen, no return of his favor is promised until the elect Church shall have been completed, in the Millennial dawn.