Lecture on The Two Sticks

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it. For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thy hand.

I AM well aware, my brethren, that the views I have of this text will be called by many ultra-biblical, a vagary, or fanciful, at least; and many a man will turn away with disgust, curl the lip, and go to work in imagination, at least, to confute what they have not heard, and think they can destroy at a nod what may be built upon the immutable pillars of truth; so that truth may be cast down in the street, while tradition, bigotry, and falsehood are clasped to our hearts. But wisdom teaches us “to hear and then judge.” “Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good.”  If men were to treat earthly things as bigots do religious subjects, reject every new thing, or new measure, because it is to them new, what would become of the improvements of the present day? or where would be the increase of knowledge spoken of by Daniel the prophet in the latter day? Christ, in speaking of these same characters, calls them “blind guides,” or “blind leaders of the blind.” If any such person should hear or read this discourse, I beg of them to hear, weigh the evidence, and then judge. I shall therefore, I. SHOW WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT DESIGNED BY THE TWO STICKS. II. WHAT IS MEANT BY THEIR BECOMING ONE. Our text is an allegory, as all must agree, for the 18th and 19th verses, “And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand,” thus prove it: “Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?” The Holy Spirit then tells him plainly that the two sticks mean, - 1st. Judah, and the children of Israel his companions; and, 2d. Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows. Thus far we cannot be mistaken. And, say you, the text itself proves it thus, and why call it an allegory? Because we have not yet got the meaning of Judah, Joseph and Ephraim; these must be understood as allegorical; for no one believes a moment that this can mean Judah, Joseph, and Ephraim literally; for they have all been dead many thousand years, and must arise from the dead, and all their companions, in order to be united in one kingdom on the mountains of Israel. See verse 22: “And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.” Then, say you, Judah must mean the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and Joseph and Ephraim must mean the ten tribes, and put them together and they will make the twelve tribes. Then, if Judah and Joseph stand for these tribes, I ask, who are their companions? For the text says, take thee one stick, and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions. It is very evident, then, that Judah and his companions cannot mean the same things; for he tells us plainly what companions mean, “the children of Israel;” these are companions with Judah. Therefore Judah cannot mean the two tribes, for they are the children of Israel. And the same argument will apply to Joseph and Ephraim, and all the house of Israel his companions. Here we have another difficulty: first, the children of Israel are put with Judah; this would include the ten tribes, as well as the two; for they were called the children of Israel in a special sense, while the two tribes were called Jews, and are so called to the present day. Again, they are to be put together and become one kingdom, “and David my servant,” saith the Lord, “shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.”  This does not look like unbelief. Paul tells us, Rom. xi. 23, “If they abide not in unbelief, they shall be graffed in,” with the Gentiles; “for God is able to graff them in again.” Yet our context tells us in 25-27, “And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children, forever: and my servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” How can these things be? They are to dwell in the land given to Jacob, they, and their children, and children's children, forever, and David is to be their prince forever, and God is to be their God, and they are to be his people, with his sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. And all this in a state of unbelief; for if they believe, they are graffed in with the Gentiles, where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but all one in Christ Jesus. And without faith it is impossible to please God: yet the two tribes of the Jews, and the ten tribes of Israel, are to enjoy all these blessings for evermore, in their own land on the mountains of Israel, before the new heavens and new earth - before Christ shall come - before the resurrection of the dead! How, I ask, can the whole house of Israel be there? How can David be there? No more defiled with idols, nor detestable things, nor transgressions? “Saved out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned;” and yet saved in Judea, the very dwelling-place where they committed the great sin of murdering their own Messiah, the son and Lord of David their prince forever! How can these things be? I answer, they cannot be, and understand these two sticks to be the two tribes of the Jews and the ten tribes of Israel only; for this view of the scripture, (and I mean to speak with reverence of that blessed book,) would contain palpable contradictions. But, in my humble opinion, these two sticks represent the two covenants, or two dispensations, called the Law and the Gospel. These are called two separate kingdoms. One is called the “kingdom of Israel.” This is represented by Judah; for it is said of him, “The sceptre (or rod) shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”  What gathering of the people? The union of the two kingdoms, and the final gathering of the true Israel of God from all nations, the elect from the four winds of heaven. The other kingdom is called the gospel kingdom, or “kingdom of heaven.” This is clearly represented by Joseph; for of him it is said, Gen. xlviii. 24, “His bow (or stick) abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel;”) meaning Christ, the shepherd spoken of in our context; and the stone means the same gospel kingdom, which Daniel tells us will become a great mountain and fill the whole earth; - and, in our context, it is the same kingdom of which David (meaning Christ) will be our king forever. Hear further: “Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above,” (these certainly look like gospel blessings,) “blessings of the deep that lieth under,” (yes, Christ says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,”) “blessings of the breast and of the womb.” Again, Christ says, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”  I will here remark, that the same blessings which Jacob gave to Joseph are in substance repeated to Ezekiel, and afterwards promised by Christ to gospel penitents. Also, let me tum your attention to Moses' blessing Joseph, Deut. xxxiii. 13-17: “And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him who was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” Here we have the gospel blessings again brought to view, in Moses' prophetic blessing of Joseph; all things in heaven and in earth are given into his hands, or placed upon his head. This reminds us of the blessings of Christ, Eph. i. 10, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather in one (kingdom) all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him.” How exactly do these blessings agree: Joseph pushes the people together to the ends of the earth; Christ gathers them in the fulness of time at the end of this dispensation. This is sufficient for my purpose, to show that Joseph is a lively type of Christ, and that in Christ both sticks would be united, and Judah's rod (or stick) swallowed up in the Shiloh when he should come; and then there would be but one stick unto the ends of the earth, and then would our spiritual Joseph push the people together, and to him would the gathering of the people be. “And I will make them one nation, in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all.” This king can be no less than our spiritual Joseph, and his kingdom was typified in the stick of Joseph, as Jacob said in his blessing of Joseph, “From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.”  But you will ask, Why is Joseph's stick in the hand of Ephraim? I will answer you: Joseph's stick, or kingdom, was not yet made manifest, neither could it be while Judah's was yet standing; - as says Paul, Heb. ix. 8-15, Christ must first come, the mediator of the new testament, before the old could be done away, or immerged into the new. Therefore, when Ezekiel gave this prophecy, Ephraim was broken, and was not a people. See Isa. vii. 8. This was about 742 years before Christ, and Ezekiel's prophecy was given only 587, being almost a hundred years after Ephraim was no more a people. Of course, he was a fit type of the gospel church, who were not a people until Jesus came and took the stick of Joseph out of the hand of Ephraim, which then were not a people, and constituted a new covenant people, and made them sons and daughters of God. He then brake off all the dead branches from Judah's stick, and with the living branches under the old covenant, called in our text “the children of Israel his companions,” he called in the Gentiles, which were not a people. Like Ephraim, they were scattered over the whole earth, in all the kingdoms of the world; the moths had eaten them, Hos. v. 12; they were unaccustomed to the yoke, Jer. xxxi. 18. “Ephraim has mixed himself among the people; he is a cake not turned,” says Hosea, vii. 8. That is, he is yet among the peoples the Gentiles; they have not repented, they are not accustomed to the yoke, (the Jewish laws.)  See Hos. viii. 12: “I have written unto him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.” Ephraim is a type, then, of the state of the Gentiles, when Christ came, and called in the believers among the Gentiles, immersed them into one body both Jew and Gentile, and they became one in his hand, that is, one kingdom, and both together constituted the whole house of Israel; that is, the seed of Christ, the companions of the spiritual Joseph. Hos. i. 9-11, has reference to this very thing of which I have been speaking, when he says, “Then said God, call his name Loammi, (not my people;) for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.” That is, “They are not all Israel which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”  See Rom. ix. 6-27. You will there see Paul uses the same arguments as I have used, and for the same purpose, to show the union of the spiritual seed of Judah and Joseph, and who are the true Israel of God. But we will return to Hosea, 10th verse: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place (Jerusalem) where it was said unto them, (Gentiles,) ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, (Gentiles,) ye are the sons of the living God;” at Jerusalem united with the stick of Judah, “it will be said,” &c. “Then (at that time) shall the children of Judah (meaning the companions of Judah) and the children of Israel (the companions of spiritual Joseph, now called sons of God) be gathered together, (united into one stick, one government,) and appoint themselves one head, (Christ, for he is head over all things to the church,) and they shall come up out of the land, (out of all nations;) for great shall be the day of Jezreel,” (the meaning of which is, the seed of God.)  I pray you, my brethren, study this prophecy of Hosea with this view; understand Judah as being the representative of the Jewish kingdom, and Joseph and Ephraim as representatives of the gospel kingdom, and its state; and if you do not find harmony and light in it, and many other parts and prophecies in the Bible, I shall be not a little surprised. I will bring one more proof that Ephraim represents the gospel kingdom among all nations. See Gen. xlviii. 16-20: “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.” You see when Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph, he blessed Ephraim, the younger, above Manasseh, the elder: “he (Manasseh) also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a fulness of nations.”  This is plain and positive proof that Ephraim would be called the head or representative of the gospel seed, which Paul calls the “fulness of the Gentiles,” and which Jacob calls “fulness of nations.”  Paul says, “So all Israel shall be saved,” that is, when the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Our text says, “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.” Here is the same fulness, the same all, and the same Israel, in one case as in the other. II. I SHALL SHOW HOW AND WHEN THESE STICKS WERE UNITED. They are united by Christ, are made one in his hand. John xi. 52: “And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad,” evidently meaning Jews and Gentile believers. Again, John xvii. 22, 23: “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me.” Ezekiel says, verse 28, “And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.”  Again, see 1 Cor. xii. 12: “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, (one stick,) whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free.” See Eph. ii. 14-16: “For he (Christ) is our peace, who hath made both (Jew and Gentile believers) one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, (Jew and Gentile;) having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain (Jew and Gentile) one new man, (one stick,) so making peace;” that is, “Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim.” In what manner are they made one? I answer, by being all born of one Spirit, having one Father and one mother. See Eph. ii. 18: “For through him we both (Jew and Gentile) have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” The context says, verse 27, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  John i. 13: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;” and, “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Gal. iv. 26: “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all,” (Jew and Gentile.) Without this birth, we cannot possibly be called the people of God, and are not entitled to an heirship with Jesus Christ: and if we are born from above, then we, whether Jew or Gentile, are not looking for a Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children, but one from above which is free; for here we have no continuing city, but we look for a city whose builder and maker is God. Again, they are to be made one nation, verse 22: “And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel.” Was this true in the gospel? you may inquire. Christ says, Matt. xxi. 43, “Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof.” If it was to be taken from the Jew, and given to another nation, of course, it would take away the promise of the land, as well as the kingdom of God, and the Jew, as a Jew, would have no more inheritance either in land or mountain, which means kingdom; and then being given to a nation bringing forth fruits, they would be, as Peter says, “a holy nation, a peculiar people.” 1 Pet. ii. 9.	Again, they are to have one king: “And one king shall be king to them all,” says Ezekiel. What says Zech. xiv. 9? “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one.”  Christ taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” &c. Again Christ, when Pilate inquired of him if he was king of the Jews, answered, “Thou sayest.” And at another time, when the multitude spread their garments in the way, and cried, saying, “Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord,” Christ consented, and even gave encouragement thereto, denying not, but confessing he was king of the Jews: not of the literal Jews; for he has told us plainly that the kingdom of God is taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And Ezekiel further says, “And they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.” Yet your judaizing teachers tell you that the Jews, as Jews, must be brought back into their own land, have their own old Jewish kingdom restored, their city, temple, temple worship, and David their king restored unto them. Well may we say unto the Jew, you do well to reject Jesus of Nazareth; for it is evident he has given his kingdom to believers in him, and your prophets tell you there shall be no more two kingdoms. So says the Jew, “We will wait for our own kingdom, which will, according to your own showing, be restored unto us;” and, “as there cannot be but one kingdom, your Nazarene must be an impostor; he has promised you Nazarenes a kingdom, which will be given unto us, and which will stand forever, as you yourselves confess and acknowledge. We think, then, we are safest, for we know our prophets to be true, and you own it. We know there can be but one kingdom, and that you give to us, and that kingdom will destroy all others and stand forever. Dan. ii. 44: ‘And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.’” Again, the subjects of this kingdom are to possess new hearts and be born of the Spirit. See Ezekiel xxxvi. 24-28: “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall he my people, and I will be your God.” Here we have the same gathering, the same people, the same land, the same cleansing, the same obedience of the same statutes and judgments, the same promise of his being their God and they being his people, together with the surety of a new heart and his Spirit within them, as we have in the chapter under consideration. Where is the difference between these promises and those given to the Gentile believers? 1. Are not Gentile believers promised all these things as much as the Jews? - are they not taken from among the heathen? John says, Rev. v. 9, “And has redeemed us to God out of every nation kindred, tongue, and people.” 2. Are not Gentile believers promised their own land for an inheritance? The apostle says, “They shall inherit all things.” And Christ promises, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” 3. Are not Gentile believers promised to be cleansed from idols as well as Jews? 1 Cor. xii. 2: “For ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.” 1 Thes. i. 9: “And how ye turned to God, from idols, to serve the living and true God.” 4. Hath not God promised to give a new heart to Gentiles as well as Jews, and put his Spirit in them, write his laws there, be their God, and hath declared that they shall be his people? See Paul's arguments in the eighth chapter of Hebrews, verse 10: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” 5. Hath not God promised to raise up the tabernacle of David for the Gentile as well as the Jew? No, say you. If you will prove this, you will gain the point contended for. See Acts xv. 14-17: “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name, (Israel.) And to this agree the prophets,” says James, (and surely his commentary on the prophecies must, and will, take precedence of all the judaizing commentators of our times;) but hear James further: “As it is written, after this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.”  For what purpose? James answers, “That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name (Israel) is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.” Now let our teachers be silent, and learn the first rule of interpreting the prophecies concerning the building again the ruins of Jerusalem. This that the prophets declare, as James acknowledges, began to be done in the days of the apostles; yet who can pretend that Jerusalem, old literal Jerusalem, began to be builded again in the days of the apostles? And it remains as evident to the unbiassed mind, that the prophets allude to the gospel, and to a New Jerusalem, as it is that the sun ever shone. Why is it, say you, that our good, holy, and great men, of the present day, are, as you say, so blinded? Do you set yourself up to be above them? By no means. I am not, nor are they, or you, anything but poor, frail, selfish mortals; but my Master is above all, and his word is true. And to read that word understandingly, we must all have the veil of Judaism taken away; or we shall most assuredly err from the truth. Are we yet to learn that God “takes the weak things of this world to confound the wise and mighty?” And when I see our would-be-great men, boasting like a Goliah,* (* See Dowling's Reply to Miller, page 155: “For I should think it about as rational to triumph for a victory over arguments like Mr. Miller's, as to boast of my strength for demolishing a paper castle.”)  I think of David, my Master, and the smooth stone, and am content to leave the battle in the hands of him, “the Shepherd, the stone of Israel.” Again, Ezekiel says, “And they all shall have one shepherd.” Who shall all have one shepherd? I answer, the whole house of Israel, the two sticks, and their companions. And now we will let Christ tell us who they are. John x. 15, 16: “I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” Does not Christ mean the very same thing as Ezekiel? Christ calls them folds, Ezekiel calls them sticks; Christ unites them into one fold, Ezekiel into one stick; Christ calls them sheep, Ezekiel calls them the whole house of Israel. Christ plainly means Jews and Gentiles; then as plainly do we infer Jews and Gentiles in Ezekiel. Christ will, in process of time, unite all his sheep into the gospel kingdom, whether they be Jew or Gentile, bond or free. Then, as Paul tells us, Eph. iv. 4-6, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ezekiel says, “My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  See Rev. xxi. 3-5: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” Lastly. I will show when these things began to be fulfilled, and when they will be finished. They began when the unbelieving Jews were cut off, and the believing Gentiles began to be grafted in. It began when Jesus nailed the ceremonial law to his cross, and commanded the gospel to be preached in all the world. It began when the old covenant vanished away, and the new covenant was established on better promises. Heb., chapters viii. and ix. It began when Judah's rod ended in the Shiloh, and the gospel ensign was unfurled to the Gentiles. When will it be finished? When the great voice from heaven, from him that sat upon the throne, shall say, “IT IS DONE.” Rev. xxi. 6. Yes, it will be completed when the angel, standing on the sea and on the land, shall lift his hand and swear, that time shall be no longer. Rev. x. 5 and 6. When the last Gentile who ever will be born again has received the Holy Spirit by regeneration, then will the last companion come in, and so all Israel shall be saved. Rom. xi. 25, 26. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, and send his angels unto the four winds of heaven, and gather his elect home into the new heavens, new earth, and New Jerusalem; - then will heaven and earth, men and angels, Judah and Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, Jew and Gentile, all respond the great Amen, saying, “It is done.” Now let me close with a few remarks. And first, to the Jew, let me say, Repent, believe on the dear Jesus of Nazareth, whom your fathers did crucify, or you will never be united with the stick of Joseph. There is no other way, there is no other name under heaven whereby you can be saved - rend the veil from your faces, the covenant which God made with your fathers when he took them by the hand and led them out	of Egypt. You have broken it, yes, in a thousand ways it is broken; you have seen it pass away like the morning cloud, or like the early dew - it is gone and not a wreck of it is left behind. Where is the sceptre in Judah? Your father Jacob said “it should not depart from Judah until Shiloh come.” You know it has departed, and by the same parity of reasoning you ought to know that the Messiah has come. Rend your veil, my brother, and look into this new covenant which God has made for the house of Judah, and the house of Israel, after those days, i.e. after the Shiloh came. Hear, I pray you, the voice of him that spake from heaven, and is yet speaking, saying, “Repent, and be converted, every one of you; that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” And Ezekiel plainly tells you that you must observe his judgments and statutes and do them, in order to be grafted into the stick of Judah and Joseph united. Then let me entreat you to repent, believe on him who has come, in the time and manner your prophets have specified, and you will find rest to your souls. I am awfully afraid your veil will blind you, your Rabbis will deceive you. Our doctors and great men are flattering, and crying peace and safety when sudden destruction cometh. All, all, are combined to destroy the poor unbelieving Jew. Oh, Christian, awake to this subject! The Jews, that were the means of handing down these glorious promises to us Gentiles, are perishing by thousands, and none to lay it to heart. Ho, all ye that pass by, is this nothing to you? Will the priests pass by on one side, and the Levites on the other, and not one Samaritan to help the wounded, down-trodden Jew? I bless God there is a few, a little despised band of Samaritans, who look upon this subject in its proper light, in my humble opinion, who will do all in their power to give the Jew the midnight cry. Go on, my brethren, in the glorious cause; show the Jews and Gentiles their transgressions and danger. Let the trump give a certain sound - prepare to meet your God, Oh Israel! For he will come, and will not tarry. Then will his tabernacle be with men, then will he sanctify the whole house of Israel, then will he be our God, and we shall be his people, and his sanctuary shall be in the midst of us for evermore. AMEN.