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typical of the final inferiority of Satan's power at the possession of the world by Christianity.

Hagar and Eliezer, the one an Egyptian and the other a Damascene, were of the Hamitic, or accursed race, so were all the bondmen of the Hebrews. This truth is deducible from the fact, that Hagar, the Egyptian, was a bondmaid, and, with her son, typified the old covenant of works.

It is not a little remarkable, that the family of Ishmael, like that of Jacob, was divided into twelve "Their hand against

branches, from his twelve sons.

every man," is a faithful portraiture of the sin-power of Satan.

CHAPTER IV.

ISRAEL RESTORED IDENTICAL WITH THE UNITED STATES.

THE proposition of the world's redemption was stated to Adam; the divisions of the subject were announced by Noah; the subdivisions were treated of by succeeding prophets; fulfillment has illustrated each point, and the trump of God and the voice of the archangel will eloquently close the subject. As our purpose is to outline the prophetic system, and to amplify on those themes only which are of deepest interest to our own times, we shall take up only the prophecies which affirm the restoration of Israel to nationality in the latter day.

The Jews and speculative theologians have for near eighteen hundred years, believed that Israel would be restored to nationality in Palestine, and that it would then

become the head of the whole world, and be the great agent in its Christianization. We protest against this theory, because it is absurd, fanatical, and repugnant to scripture, as well as to common sense. We believe that the carnal Israel will be, to a certain extent, Christianized, and that it will re-settle in Palestine, and form an integral portion of the Millennial republic, but that it will have no superiority at all over the other Christian states of the Millennial confederacy; we think it will simply be a common beneficiary of good government, as all other Christian states will be. We further believe the United States to be the first fruits of the promised restoration of Israel, and that the Millennial republic will be the salvation of "all Israel," politically speaking. To confirm our views, we submit the following arguments.

SECTION I.

ABSURDITY OF THE COMMON THEORY.

This theory, which we have briefly stated, is too well understood to require an enumeration of its points. It has been, and still is, advocated by many learned men ; but "great men are not always wise," and "learned men, when they err, err egregiously." Our objections lie against the theory, however, and not against its supporters, and are as follows:

First. The geographical position of Palestine is not such as to favor its claim to be the ultimate capital of the world. The capital of the world should be so located as to be easy of access to all nations, and should be above them, or higher than all other portions of the globe.

This can by no means be said of Palestine, which is difficult of access, and has scarcely any one commanding natural feature to recommend it as the physical head of the globe. America is the only country on earth that can by possibility lay any claim to be its natural capital. The researches of Lieut. Maury have demonstrated that, by wind and wave, it is down stream from our country to all the world; and that all nations must ascend to it to reach it. With an ocean on either hand, its power can descend with celerity to every country on the sphere; and that, too, from even the deepest interior of our territory.

Second. It is absurd to suppose that Palestine can be the agricultural capital of the world. It is a very small country, say about the size of some of the counties of our own states; it is broken by mountains, and has but a very small tract of arable land, and under the highest state of cultivation could export comparatively few products, and no great variety even of them.

How could it therefore compare with America! how could the little valley of Jordan compete with the shores of the Amazon! or the vale of Jehoshaphat with the valley of the Mississippi! We need not argue this point any farther, for the very thought of Palestine being the agricultural head of the world is repugnant to

common sense.

Third. It is absurd to suppose that Palestine can ever become the commercial capital of the world. In selecting Palestine as the type of the great Israel, God chose a country without temptations to commerce, lest the people should be scattered and amalgamated, and lose their Hebraic identity. A commercial head of the

world, should be a country of great agricultural and mineral wealth; it should have fine harbors, and many of them, and should be accessible on all sides round. But none of these things can be said of Palestine. Sidon, and Acre, and Joppa are all on one side of its coast, and are comparatively insignificant havens. Without vast productiveness in a country, assisted by good harbors, a commercial headship is utterly impossible, and hence to talk of Old Canaan being the commercial center of the great nations of the earth is all gammon.

Fourth. Palestine can not be the manufacturing head of the world, for it has no natural facilities for such an ascendency.

Fifth. It can not become the intellectual head of the world. Art and science can flourish only where the resources of a country demand their cultivation to develop its native wealth; and in proportion to the diameter of a country's natural advantages, so will be its intellectual advancement, under a free constitution. And certainly, then, little Palestine can not compete with Europe or the Americas.

Neither can it be claimed that the Jews are superior in native genius to the white race generally, since, unaided by inspiration, they have not been equal in intellectual manifestations of power to the Greeks, Romans, French, English, or Americans. Besides this, the white race has, and will continue to have, as great stimulus and as many collateral aids to intellectual culture as the Jews can ever hope to attain. We can think, and invent, and discover, and learn, and write, and print, and read as much as the Jews possibly can; and it is all fustian to talk otherwise.

Sixth. The Jews can not become the political head of the world in Palestine. It requires the greatest elements of power to hold the scepter of the world's dominion. Vast national resources, vast territory, commerce, agriculture, manufactures, and improvements, with great enterprise, must combine with the mightiest intelligence, and the greatest moral power, to rule the world in its present state of advancement; and these, in the highest degree, Palestine, from the very nature of its locality, limits, and native qualities, can never possess. When the world was far less potent than it is now, and was more easy to be controlled, Judea possessed the most insignificant political influence in it; and if, under better advantages, it was a mere cipher in the political world, it certainly, under worse advantages, will not become the head of it. It is most ridiculous to think of such a thing. Will Russia, Britain, Germany, France, and America become the vassals of the Jews? will they give their scepter to a patch of country that could not supply the world with cabbage; and to a people that can never become their mental and political superiors? The very thought is full of absurdity and fanaticism.

If it be contended that this result of supremacy is to occur through miraculous agency, we answer that no promise of such agency exists, and the belief in it is a species of Millerism, and equally as fanatical, though a little more popular. It is averred by some advocates of the theory, who feel its absurdity, that Christ himself will appear and reign in person, in Palestine, and will come at the war of Armageddon. We reply, that Christ says no such thing, but, on the contrary, affirms that his

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