Lost People and a Vanished Sceptre

When Holy Scripture lands the ten tribes of Israel on the banks of the Caspian Sea, the records of their history cease, and they become, to future ages, the “Lost Tribes.”

INTRODUCTION
By Charles A. Jennings

As further witness to the faithfulness and verity of our God in keeping His Word, the following testimony of Evangelist George O. Barnes is added to a long list of anointed messengers of God. Throughout his ministerial career, Rev. Barnes served as pastor, evangelist and missionary, not only in America but in many countries overseas. During his lifetime, without a doubt, he proved his love and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, not only in the life which he lived, the untiring service which he rendered to others, but also by his study and written testimony. Even after his formal ministerial training was completed at Princeton Theological Seminary, he pursued his intense study of God’s Word and desire for further divine revelation concerning sacred knowledge and truth. The following testimony from his book, “A Lost People and a Vanished Sceptre,” is an example of Rev. Barnes’ interpretational knowledge of the prophecies and fulfillment of God’s holy Word.

In compiling his lectures into printed form in October 1906 in the city of Washington, D.C., Rev. Barnes clearly stated his purpose in his preface in the following words.

“I print these Lectures, on the “Lost Tribes of Israel,” delivered long years ago, for a double purpose. FIRST, to add my feeble protest against what is known, in these day, as the “Higher Criticism”; which, propped by great names, is undermining the Old Testament Scriptures. If unchecked, it promises to leave us without any “Holy Bible,” at all.

SECONDLY, I would like to help on, in a small way, the growing good feeling between the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon family; that now, by constant travel, association, and especially by intermarriages, give promise of ultimate close affiliation, and co-operation in advancing the welfare of “all the families of the Earth.”

I think, I prove, in this little booklet, that this is the “manifest destiny,” because the Scripturally foretold mission, of the English speaking race.”

The following brief biographical sketch of the life and ministry of Rev. Barnes is taken from the “LEAVES OF HEALING” magazine of 1902. That same year he stated “at seventy-five I begin what we call, in Kentucky horse parlance, ‘the last quarter stretch’ of the earthly race.” In his untiring zeal, Rev. Barnes expressed his love and devotion to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, until the day in which he heard the call for his departure from this mortal life into the presence of his Redeemer.

GEORGE OWEN BARNES

George Owen Barnes was born at Paintlick, Gerrard County, Kentucky, on the 22nd of April, 1827.

His father, who was born in Carshalton, Surrey, England, was a pastor of a large country church. George was the youngest of four children. His mother was a native of Elizabeth City, New Jersey.

In 1836 Mr. Barnes, the elder, removed with his family to Dayton, Ohio, where George received his academic education. This was continued in collegiate work in Centre College, at Danville, Kentucky, from which he graduated in 1845.

Mr. Barnes’ early intention was to devote his life to the practice of law, and for two years he studied diligently with this end in view.

Then the Mexican war broke out, and young Barnes volunteered, serving for twelve months in the First Regiment, Volunteer Cavalry.

Of his early spiritual life Elder Barnes says: “I was converted in the hard, old-fashioned way in 1843; backslid soon, of course, and was not restored until 1848.”

But the good seed had been sown in a good and honest heart, and in 1852, at the age of twenty-five, Mr. Barnes determined to give his life to the ministry of God, and accordingly went to Princeton Theological Seminary to be educated for that work.

His heart turned toward the foreign field, and he longed to carry the Gospel to those in heathen darkness who had never seen the blessed light of Christ.

In July, 1854, he was married and sailed for India, under the Presbyterian Board, in September of the same year.

Hard and faithful toil in a tropical climate broke down the health of the faithful missionary and in 1861 he was obliged to return to America. Knowing nothing of Divine Healing he spent thirteen months at the “Cleveland Water Cure,” where he slowly and imperfectly regained his health.

A return to his work in the foreign field being out of the question, he accepted the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Stanford, Kentucky. He occupied this pulpit from 1862 to 1872, when he withdrew from the Presbyterian communion. This was a most important step in the life of this man of God.

For five years following his withdrawal from the Presbyterian Church, Elder Barnes alternated between Kentucky and Chicago, spending half his time in each place.

In 1875 John E. Ousley, a millionaire friend, of Kentucky, built a church in Chicago for Mr. Barnes, furnished a house for him, and paid all the expenses of carrying on the work. In the following year occurred another epoch in the life of this wonderful man. He experienced an uplift from the “wave” of spiritual influence which seemed to go around the world at that time.

As a result of this spiritual uplift, Mr. Barnes felt an especial leading of the Spirit to take up the work of an evangelist. He left his Chicago pastorate and returned to Kentucky.

In January of 1877 there was formed a most beautiful, and as the history of the next twenty years showed, a most blessed fellowship in the work of God between Mr. Barnes and his eldest daughter, Marie.

While the father preached the Everlasting Gospel with convincing power, the daughter’s clear, sweet voice was raised in divine song, with an inspiration which touched many a heart.

During this twenty-three years, father and daughter circumnavigated the globe, preaching and singing the good news.

As soon as she was through with her school work, Mr. Barnes, youngest daughter, Georgia, made the evangelistic duet a trio and continued with her father and sister, a valued helper until her marriage in 1892.

Mr. Barnes’ son also gladdened the heart of his father by entering the ministry. He preached in the mountains of East Tennessee until February 1883, when he joined his father and sisters in the work among the poor in East London, England.

The little family continued for two years in this work, and then sailed for India, where they worked among the British soldiers for a year.

This evangelistic tour was continued for six months, during which the Gospel was preached and sung in Ceylon, in Australia, and in New Zealand. Then the family returned to San Francisco.

During all three and one-half years of work and travel around the world, Elder Barnes and his family depended wholly on the Lord for support, asking no help from any one.

There were five in the family, and the three and one-half years’ tour cost sixteen thousand dollars; but Elder Barnes says, “The Lord sent us the money when He wanted us to ‘move on.’ It almost frightens me to look back at that time. I have never trusted the Lord since as we did then, but at the time it seemed easy to trust Him.”

The blessed results of these twenty years of evangelism are well known to many in all parts of the world who have followed the career of this man of God; and especially to those – aged men and women now – who were deeply interested in God’s work during those years.

During the first eight years of this twenty-three, Elder Barnes and his helpers kept close count of the confessions until the number exceeded fifty thousand.

In the mountains of Kentucky, where Elder Barnes got the title of “Mountain Evangelist” nearly all the converts were from the class technically known as “sinners.”

In 1889 Mr. Barnes, with his family, went to Scotland, where they labored for a year and a half among the Scotch fishermen with continuous success.

In all his work, whether among the rough but sterling mountaineers of Eastern Kentucky or among the working class in the east end of London, or the British soldiers in India, or the Scotch fishermen, God always sent Evangelist Barnes to the poor, “for which” says Elder Barnes, ” I praise Him.”

Since that time Mr. Barnes’ work for God has not ceased, but the advancing years have made it necessary for him to spend them more in quiet, and in study.

Much of his time has been spent in the beautiful island, Sanibel, Florida. Mr. Barnes has also spent some time in New York and Washington, D.C.

During his work in Australia, Elder Barnes heard of the work of John Alexander Dowie, now General Overseer of the Christian Catholic Church in Zion, Illinois.

THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL

Of course, the first appeal, in the discussion will be to Holy Scripture; as the bulk of information springs from that pure source; but all genuine confirmation of its truthfulness, in “profane History,” will be gladly used as a secondary matter. Collateral but invaluable proof has been discovered, in records that, while not bearing the stamp of inspiration, contain such self-evidencing testimony of verity, that they produce profound conviction.

And, allow me to impress it upon your minds, at the outset, that it is not the mere establishment of a fascinating theory, that is involved in this investigation; but no less a matter than the grave and vital defense of the character of God. The question indissolubly joined to this discussion is: Does God speak the truth: and does He fulfill His promises after making them? No true lover of God can be indifferent to the answer of such a question: especially when much external evidence to the contrary is adduced by the skeptic. This swings the subject clear of mere human theories and opinions, however elaborate. A demonstration, not a guess, is demanded. That, I propose to give; for, to me, the subject has long gone past the “theory” stage.

When Holy Scripture lands the ten tribes of Israel on the banks of the Caspian Sea, the records of their history cease, and they become, to future ages, the “Lost Tribes.” This was about 580 years before our “Christian Era” began. Do not forget the date.

About the first quarter of the 19th Century lived a “gentleman and a scholar” – Sharon Turner by name – who zealously undertook the Herculean, Historical task of tracing his British ancestry; and we have the result in a book (long out of print, but still found in large public libraries) entitled “A History of the Anglo Saxons.” This amazingly patient investigator took up, seriatim, the various people who had settled in the British Isles – The Saxons, the Danes, the Normans, the Jutes, the Angles, etc. – and traced them all to one source. He found that, varied as were their names, they were one people, and he traced them to the banks of the Caspian, about the close of the Sixth Century, before Christ. “Here,” he declares, “all traces of our ancestors are lost.”

I need not link Scripture and “Profane” History at this startling point, for my intelligent hearers. It is self-evident that the ten tribes on the banks of the Caspian, as left there by Scripture, are the “Anglo Saxons” of Sharon Turner’s book. We may safely shout, “Eureka!” To the vexed question of the ages, viz., “Where are the Lost Tribes of Israel?”

The value of Sharon Turner’s testimony lies, chiefly in this: That he died without knowing what he had done. He never dreamed of the amazing identity he had unwittingly discovered. He told to others where he had found his ancestors, while to himself “all traces of them were lost” on the banks of the Caspian. To us, who read the secret as from an open book, it is almost incredible that such an investigator did not see it at once. But he never did.

We now come to the fountain-head of history, and the “reason why” this outcome must needs be, viz., because God is true to His Word. Four thousand years ago, one man earned the proud title of “The Friend of God” and the “Father of the Faithful,” because he believed God, under very trying tests: and ” it was counted to him for righteousness.” And not only so, but God gave to his “Friend” certain promises, some of which have been wonderfully fulfilled, while others remain, yet to be verified.

These promises were unconditional, as St. Paul fully argues out in the 3rd Chapter of Galatians. And they were very specific. They were reiterated, with added fullness of meaning, to Isaac, and Jacob: and in a very special manner to “David the King” –the “Man after God’s own heart.”

The first promise is in Gen. 12:2-3, where the Lord called “Abram” out of his native land, to go into a strange country. “I will make of thee a great nation, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

The second, is in Gen 13:15-16, when Abram generously and self-forgetfully, gave his greedy nephew, Lot, the choice of the grazing grounds, willing to take what was left, in order to avoid strife. “All the land – North, South, East and West – to thee and thy seed. I will give it, forever.” “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth.”

At this time, Sarai (not yet Sarah), his wife, was barren, and had never borne him a child; but he believed God, though years passed, until both were “well stricken in years,” before Isaac was born. In Rom. 4:17-22, St. Paul makes beautiful mention of this triumph of faith.

In Gen. 15:5, the Lord repeats the promise of multitudinous descendants, comparing them to the “Stars of Heaven for number.”

Then in 17:2-8, besides reiterating the promise of “the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession,” the Lord calls him the “Father of Many Nations,” and that “Kings should come out of him.”

In 22:17, of the same book, the Lord – still comparing Abraham’s seed to the “Stars of Heaven” and, the “sand on the seashore” – utters this remarkable promise: vis., “Thy seed shall possess the gates of his enemies.” Mark that expression please.

To Jacob, fleeing from his brother Esau, and arriving at the city of Luz, after the gates were closed for the night, the “God of all comfort” gave him, from his stony pillow, a vision of angels, ascending and descending from earth to Heaven, and Heaven to earth; and from the top of this wondrous “ladder” came the voice of the Lord, repeating, in set terms, the identical promises made, before, to Abraham; and adding words of personal good cheer to the forlorn fugitive. That stone – at night a “pillow,” and in the morning a “pillar” of witness – we hear of, again, in this romantic story.

In Gen. 48: 4,16, 19, in connection with the blessing of Joseph’s two sons – Ephraim and Manasseh, we have the old familiar lesson of the younger being preferred to the elder, another repetition of Abraham’s promise, with this variation, that Ephraim should become “A multitude of nations” – a phrase that I call your special attention to.

Gen. 49 is a famous chapter, giving the destinies of the twelve sons of Jacob in the future, of which I only mention for future reference the blessing of Judah, in whom the royal line was to continue unbroken, “until Shiloh comes:” and of Dan, who in some way, not then unfolded, was to “judge” (or rule) “his people.” Of these I ‘cannot now speak particularly,” except to remind you that “Our Lord sprang out of Judah,” and thus Spiritual blessing came, pre-eminently, in that line, as all know. If supreme importance as that is, I must call your particular attention to it, for I wish you to notice, especially, Jacob’s blessing to Joseph; through whom comes, to the ten tribes, such a superabundance of temporal blessing, that even a careless reader must be impressed by it.

“Joseph is a fruitful bough; even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him; have shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hand were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel); even by the God of thy Father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty who shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven above; the blessings of the deep that lieth under; blessings of the breast and of the womb; the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.” (Gen. 49:22-26.)

This was the birthright blessing –forfeited by Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, because of sin–transferred to Joseph, his favorite and petted son, by Rachel, the beloved. As it is written (I Chron. 5:1-2): “The genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s.”

When it is seen, as I shall prove, that this is the germinal promise, from which has sprung England and America, as they exist at this moment, it becomes of thrilling personal interest to us all. It remains then to demonstrate that the promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph exactly fit the Anglo-Saxon race, and no other people of whom authentic History takes notice.

1. Beginning with the first promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3), that in him “all the families of the earth should be blessed,” one’s thoughts at once settle upon the “World’s Redeemer” – Jesus Christ, the blessed – a lineal descendant of the “Friend of God”: though that proves nothing, directly, in substantiation of the Anglo-Saxon claim.

But taking the distribution of the Holy Scriptures as the only source of information to the “families of the earth,” touching their Saviour’s person and work in their behalf, we point to the fact, that the “British and Foreign Bible Society,” and the “American Bible Society” have almost monopolized the stupendous work of translating the Bible into every known tongue, that the world inherited from the “Tower of Babel:” and distributing the same, by immediate agencies, to “all families of the earth.” All other benevolent attempts to aid in this work are dwarfed in the presence of these twin parent societies. We are dealing here with facts that cannot be successfully controverted.

2. Take that promise of unique phraseology, in Gen 35:11: “A nation and a company of nations shall thy seed be;” and find me a fulfillment of it, in any Empire that has existed on the planet, save the British Empire, as we see it today. Leaving out Britain’s eldest daughter, lost through the stupid folly of an obstinate King, we see, to the north of Manasseh (the United States) a “nation” challenging comparison with any; free, progressive, and prosperous; but proud of her connection with the “Mother Country”: held by no other tie than that of kindred love; able if she wished, to sever the connection tomorrow, but holding it as the highest privilege; tell me, is there a parallel in History to it?

Traveling across the Pacific, we land upon the shore of another “nation”: also “free, progressive and prosperous”: held in the same bond of love: no coercion, no occupying army, but as proud to belong to the imperial race, and as willing to acknowledge suzerainty as her sister across the Atlantic Ocean. New Zealand is as loyal to England as Canada. And Australia with her “United States of the Orient, is just the same.

3. Another quite unique promise to Abraham was, that his seed should possess the gates of their enemies. The general meaning of this is clear. In an Eastern city, the one who held the gates, held a victorious position. From the very first moment of imperial expansion, the Anglo-Saxon race have been blindly fulfilling this prophetic word. Their invariable policy has been to “Possess the gates” of other countries.

Thus the globe is girded by the “gates of all countries, not to mention Halifax and Vancouver, Bermuda, Jamaica and the Bahama, which would be valuable bases should Ephraim and Manasseh, ever again, “fall out by the way,” from which “the LORD deliver us.” But you must acknowledge that there is something worthy of special notice in the fact, that God promised all this to Abraham’s seed, 4000 years ago! Why should it fit our race and no other?

4. Again and again, and yet again, the multitudinousness of the race is emphasized almost in the language of hyperbole. As the “stars of the sky”: as the “sand of the seashore,” are the figures employed to express this increase in population. Not to dwell on the fact that the Anglo-Saxon race controls largely more than one-fourth of the population of the globe.

But, remember, that “blessings of the breast and of the womb” was part of Joseph’s birthright,” through whom we inherit.

I think I have, fairly made out a case of identity that cannot easily be disproved. We are Israelites, in lineal descent from “Father Abraham,” through Isaac and Jacob; and if hereditary descent, if honorable, is a thing to be proud of – which it is, then we ought to be proud to trace our ancestry, in an unbroken line, to the “Friend of God,” who in an ancient day, when God’s friends were few, was “true” to Him “as steel.”

THE VANISHED SCEPTRE

Having traced the blessings of temporal prosperity through Joseph–in the strict Abrahamic descent–to the greatest nations on Earth–British and American–lineal descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, we come now, to the promise of unbroken royal continuity; first given to Judah by Jacob, speaking as a prophet, and representative of God; and afterwards confirmed to David; who, in Scripture is called by way of emphasis, “the King,” because he was the first King, in the legitimate line of descent from Judah; though preceded by Saul of the tribe of Benjamin.

After the return from Babylon, for a brief season, the glory of the ancient race shone out in the illustrious Judas Macaboeus, who “ruled in righteousness.” But he was a Levite. “Herod the King,” who spent large sums of money in restoring the temple, was an Idumaean, and not of Judah. So in Zedekiah, 425 B.C., the promise to Judah of the continuous sceptre (made by God, through the mouth of Jacob) seemed to fail.

But that we may realize the gravity of the question, that involves nothing less than the truthfulness of God, let us read again the specific word of promise to Judah, and afterwards repeated, more fully in connection with the perpetuity of David’s throne.

In Gen. 49:10, we read: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Now, in seeing the royal line, apparently extinct in Zedekiah, 425 B.C., there is no relief in the violent exposition that some have adopted, in a desperate attempt to support the veracity of God, to wit, that the coming of “Shiloh” was fulfilled in the first advent of our Saviour; who, as a true descendant of Judah, then established a spiritual reign, that has continued unbroken ever since. This amiable shift in exposition bears its desperation on its surface and, not to mention the fact that the almost unanimous decision of the soundest interpreters of Scripture assign the coming of “Shiloh” to the second advent of our Lord; what about the hiatus of 425 years, in which there seemed to be “no King in Israel?” Here is a “departing” of the sceptre from Judah, as far as history informs us, and no skeptic will be convinced to the contrary, but will rather be confirmed in his infidelity, by such a makeshift of a theologian. Far better would it be to acknowledge ignorance, and inability to explain the glaring discrepancy, than to expose truth to a subterfuge.

And then, remember, that if God fails in keeping his word of promise in one thing, away goes our faith in his ability to “make good” any pledge that he has given. We see how the present difficulty strikes at the foundation of all trust in God. True, we may not be able to solve all mysteries, and may, legitimately fall back on: “What I know not now, I shall know hereafter.” But ought we not to welcome every proof on every doubtful subject?

And let us not forget that we are directly responsible for “giving a reason, to every one for the hope that is in us,” as St. Peter says.

“The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah,” in a very dark hour of Israel’s history (when the Chaldeans were thundering at the gates of Jerusalem; and when he knew that the city and royal dynasty were doomed), was, first, an assurance that the national existence of “Abraham’s Seed” was impregnably secure. Listen to this word of promise, Jer. 31:35-36: “Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars, for a light by night, … if these ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel, also, shall cease from being a nation, before me, forever.” If there be a God, that settles the national perpetuity of this favored race, and for the method of it, we have seen His “ways” in the previous lecture. This word is as steadfast as the Sun, the Moon, the Stars.

The substitution, or rather the addition of the word “rulers” for the more definite “kings” is significant. Our “presidents,” in Manasseh are “rulers” – not “kings.” And the Presidents of America and the Kings of England are not rulers over a foreign population, but over the “seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” How good of the LORD, to speak these reassuring words to Jeremiah; with his life threatened by his own people, and everything about him ready to tumble into ruin! But the LORD knows well how to “comfort them that are cast down.”

It can readily be seen that in the midst of this scene of destruction, Jeremiah would be exempt, and more than that, high in favor with the Chaldean Monarch. Taking advantage of this, Scripture tells us, he was able to save the “King’s daughters:” and from other sources of information, as hereafter related, we learn that he secured the “Ark of the Covenant,” the “High Priest’s Breastplate” (the “Urim and Thummin,” or the “oracle”): the “Stone of Jacob” (the rear guard in the wilderness journey), and the royal banner of the tribe of Judah.

After much vicissitude and adventure, this grand Prophet and Priest, fled the land of his birth, with the “King’s daughters,” and the priceless mementos of Israel’s departed glory; and sailing along the shores of the Mediterranean, in a ship of Dan, after numerous dangers; and, once, a wreck on a stormy coast (probably in the unquiet waters of the “Bay of Biscay”): he, at last, landed–sailing into the Bay of Belfast with his treasures and accompanied by his faithful Levite secretary Baruch–the companion of many days of peril and adventure.

We must leave them, after their trying voyage, for a while, to bring up other parties, intimately linked with this romance of ancient history.

I wish now to speak of Dan, who, according to the “Word of the LORD,” by the mouth of Jacob, was in some way to be associated with royalty as a “ruler of his people,” though not of the “blood royal.” (Gen. 49:16.)

Scripture says a good deal concerning this adventurous tribe. They were the sailors of Israel; their apportioned territory lying along the seashore; and as they constructed a rude navy, they began a work of exploration, and “exploiting,” among the aboriginal inhabitants; scraping along the shallows of the Mediterranean Coast, at first; then boldly ascending great rivers; and everywhere, we may be sure, making their voyages profitable.

Recorded in Scripture, and therefore important, is this remarkable peculiarity of this rapacious tribe. They put “the name of their father Dan” upon their various conquests; and this fact enables us to trace these bold “freebooters,” in their plundering course. For example, into the Black Sea, in Eastern Russia, we find two large rivers emptying themselves on both of which are the unmistakable brand of the tribe, in the Dan-eiper and Dan-eister: and going westward on the same coast, we find the Dan-ube, showing that Dan had, long ago, explored them all. Whatever “eiper,” eister” and “ube” may mean, “Dan” is not to be mistaken. In the first recorded “raid” of this remarkable tribe, in the north of Palestine, Scripture tells us that 600 Danites found an unguarded city, name Laish, that they took a fancy to; slaughtered the male inhabitants, after the ruthless custom of a murderous age; and settled there, changing its old name to Dan; which henceforth became the northern frontier, Beer-sheeba was the southern. From “Dan to Beersheba,” meant what “from Maine to Florida” does with us.

Thus was the word of Scripture fulfilled, that said: “Dan shall rule his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.”

At this time, of which I now speak, a noble young Danite, named Eochaid, had just been chosen the elective “Heremon,” and just at this time Jeremiah the Prophet-Priest of Israel (with the two “daughters” of King Zedekiah: the “ark of the Covenant;” the “Stone of Jacob;” the “breastplate of the High Priest;” and the royal standard of Judah) sailed into the Bay of Belfast, in a ship of Dan–with its figurehead a serpent–Dan’s Scripture crest, as it is written (Gen. 49:17): “Dan shall be a serpent by the way.” One of these fair “daughters of the King” (Jer. 41:10; 43:6) bore the name Tea-Tamar-Tephi; the central title the same as that of Absalom’s sister–David’s daughter; and Tephi, apparently a pet name, like “beautiful,” or “darling,” with us. “The inevitable happened,” we say (only there is no blind “Fortuna” with God) and Eochaid became enamored with the lovely daughter of Israel, and claimed her for his bride. Jeremiah agreed, with certain sworn provisos, to the union; and the happy young “Heremon” bore his beautiful “Tea-Tephi” to his palace, in Tara.

The provisos, willingly promised by Eochaid–very much in love, and perhaps not as aware of their importance as he might have been–were

1. He was to adopt the religious faith of his new wife. Agreed!

2. There was to be a “School of the Prophets” (“Theological Seminary,” as we call it) established at Tara, to instruct the people in the religion of Jehovah.

3. The third proviso was, that the royal descent must be hereditary and always in the female line. Tea-Tephi’s blood must be the title to reign.

4. Tea-Tephi was to be crowned queen, as all her royal ancestors were, upon the sacred “Stone of Jacob,” to be preserved for the same purpose for all future generations of monarchs.

On that “Stone of Jacob” every King of Israel has been crowned from “David the King” (par excellence) to George V–lineal descendant of David, through Tea-Tephi–daughter of Zedekiah, King of Judah.

In Windsor Castle, today, prepared for Queen Victoria, “of blessed memory,” there hangs upon the wall, her royal pedigree, traced, not through Tudor or Plantaganet, but through James I, of England (before that, James VI of Scotland) up through the Kings of Scotland; then through the Kings of Ireland, to Eochaid III–wedded to Tea-Tephi–daughter of Zedekiah, King of Judah.

Thus, “the sceptre” has not “departed from Judah,” nor “a lawgiver from between his feet,” nor will it, “until Shiloh comes, to whom the gathering of the people shall be.”

“The Stone of Jacob!” How wonderful its history! It is the “Stone of Israel” (Gen. 49:24) on which “our Father Jacob” laid his weary head on that memorable night of nights, when God appeared to him, by a vision of angels, and with His own voice from the top of the heavenly “ladder,” gave promises to the heavy hearted fugitive, that shaped his future life. That stony “pillow” at night, and “pillar of witness” in the morning, while a worthless thing (“rejected by the builders”) became, in after years, the “head of the corner” in Israel’s modern history.

With the single exception of the Queen of England, known as “Bloody Mary,” all the monarchs of England, of Scotland, of Ireland, have been crowned upon it; as well as all the Kings of Judah in Palestine, up to David, the head of the House Royal.

Well! The beautiful Tea-Tephi died–leaving one child. But the dynasty was under the care of God, and could not fail. “David has never lacked one to sit upon his throne,” and never will. God says so. All the powers of earth and hell cannot prevent it. “Scripture cannot be broken.” Ezekiel 17:22-23 is also fulfilled. The tender twig, cropped from the highest branch of the high cedar” was “planted in the mountain of Israel” and has become “a goodly cedar,” under whose shadow “all fowl of every wing” are sheltered.

Tea-Tephi was buried in the Hill of Tara. The Celtic records mention, with great particularity, the size of her sarcophagus, which is called a “Mergech” or Repository. By her side rests the mysterious Box that the Prophet brought with him, and the jewelled breast plate of the High Priest.

Thus far, you will remember, my object has been to defend the character of God for truthfulness, as against the charges of skepticism, by giving historical evidence–sacred and profane: First, that Israel has not ceased from being a nation, of prominence and importance among the nations of the earth; and second, that the royal line of Judah, has been unbroken, through the ages, and that “David has never lacked one to sit upon his throne.”

Taking the Jew, as at present known, as the only representative of Israel, the scoffer may make his sneer good, when he points scornfully to a despised people, “scattered and peeled;” without a government, without a Temple, without a King, and asks: “Is this the way your God keeps His word, to His chosen people?”

And let me ask right here, of every “lover of the LORD,” is it a light thing with you to be confronted with such a question, and have no answer to give? And yet, “ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD.” Think of it. I do not know how your mind is “built.” “Many men of many minds,” is a true proverb. But to my mind (seeking an answer to the question of an infidel), what I have offered in my two preceding lectures is not a “theory,” but a demonstration.