rying away to Babylon; and again, where they were in the fifth century, we certainly may be able to trace them up to this time.

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Josephus, who wrote in the reign of Vespasian, recites a speech made by king Agrippa to the Jews, wherein he exhorts them to submit to the Romans, and expostulates with them in these words: What, do you stretch your hopes beyond the river Euphrates? Do any of you think that your fellow-tribes will come to your aid out of Adiabene? Besides, if they would come, the Parthian will not permit it.'-Jos. de Bell. Lib. ii. c. 28. We learn from this oration, delivered by the Jews themselves, and by a king of the Jews, that the Ten Tribes were then captives in Media, under the Persian Princes.

"In the fifth century, Jerome, author of the Vulgate, treating of the dispersed Jews in his notes upon Hosea, has these words, Unto this day the Ten Tribes are subject to the kings of the Persians, nor has their captivity ever been loosed.'-Tom. vi. p. 7. And again he says, The Ten Tribes inhabit at this day, the cities and mountains of the Medis.'-Tom. vi. p. 80.

"There is no room left for doubt upon this subject. Have we heard of any expedition of the Jews going forth from that country, like the Goths and Huns, to conquer nations? Have we ever heard of their rising in insurrection to burst the bands of their captivity? To this day both Jews and Christians are generally in a state of captivity in these despotic countries. No family dares to leave the kingdom without permission of the king. "Mohammedism reduced the number of the Jews exceedingly. It was presented to them at the point of the sword. We know that multitudes of Christians received it; for example, the chief part of the seven churches of

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Asia;' and we may believe that an equal proportion of Jews were proselyted by the same means. In provinces of Cashmire and Affghanistan, some of the Jews submitted to great sacrifices, rather than change their religion; and they remain Jews to this day but the greater number yielded, in the course of ages, to the power of the reigning religion. Their countenance, their language, their names, their rites and observations, and their history, all conspire to establish the fact. We may judge, in some degree, of the number of those who would yield to the sword of Mohammed, and conform, in appearance at least, to what was called a sister Religion, from the influence of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. Orobio, who was himself a Jew, states in his history, that there were upwards of twenty thousand Jews in Spain alone, who from fear of the Inquisition professed Christianity, some of whom were Priests and Bishops. The tribes of the Affghan race are very numerous, and of different casts; and it is probable, that the proportion which is of Jewish descent is not great. The Affghans extend on both sides of the Indus, and inhabit the mountainous region, commencing in Western Persia. They differ in language, customs, religion, and countenance, and have little knowledge of each other. Some tribes have the countenance of the Persian, and some of the Hindoo; and some tribes are evidently of Jewish extraction.

"Calculating then the number of Jews, who now inhabit the provinces of ancient Chaldea, or the contiguous countries, and who still profess Judaism; and the number of those who embraced Mohammedism, or some form of it, in the same regions, we may be satisfied, that the

greater part of the Ten Tribes, which now exist, are to be found in the countries of their first captivity.'*

"I had many interesting conferences," says the same excellent author, "with the Jews, on the subject of their present state, and have been much struck with two circumstances; their constant reference to the desolation of Jerusalem, and their confident hope that it will be re-built. The desolation of the Holy City is ever present to the minds of the Jews, when the subject is concerning themselves as a nation; for though without a king, and without a country, they constantly speak of the unity of their nation. Distance of time and place seems to have no effect in obliterating the remembrance of the desolation. I often thought of the verse in the Psalms, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.' They speak of Palestine as being close at hand, and easily accessible. It is become an ordinance of their Rabbins in some places, that when a man builds a new house, he shall leave a small part of it unfinished, as an emblem of ruin, and write on it these words,-Zecher Lachorchan, i. e. In memory of the desolation.

"Their hopes of re-building the walls of Jerusalem, the third and last time, under the auspices of the Messiah, or of a second Cyrus, before his coming, are always expressed with great confidence. They have a general impression, that the period of their liberation from the Heathen is not very remote; and they consider the present commotion in the earth as gradually loosening their bonds. It is,' say they, a sure sign of our approaching restoration, that in almost all countries there is a general relaxation of the

• Christian Researches, p. p. 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246.

persecution against us. I pressed strongly upon them the prophecies of Daniel. In former times, that prophet was not in repute among the Jews, because he predicted the coming of the Messiah, at the end of the seventy weeks;' and his book has been actually removed from the list of prophetic writings, and remains to this day among the Hagiographa, such as Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, and Ruth; but he now begins to be popular among those who have studied him, because he has predicted that the accomplishment of the indignation against the holy people,' is near at hand. The strongest argument to press upon the mind of a Jew at this period, is to explain to his conviotion, Daniel's period of twelve hundred and sixty years; and then to show the analogy which it bears to the period of the evangelical John, concerning the Papal and Mohammedan powers, with the state of which the Jews are well acquainted.

"I passed through the burial ground of the Jews the other day. Some of the tombs are handsomely constructed, and have Hebrew inscriptions in prose and verse. This mansion of the dead is called by the Jews, Beth Haiim, or the house of the living.'*

"The restoration of the Jews is the subject of various prophecies, so that we have both the word of God, and the continued miracle of his Providence in their preservation, as a distinct people, for nearly eighteen hundred years after their dispersion, as pledges of their future conversion. By comparing the prophecies of Daniel with those of the apostle John, in his Revelations, it appears that three of the most illustrious events with which the

• Christian Researches, p. p. 238, 259, 240.

hopes of the church of God in this world are intimately connected, are destined to have their accomplishment at the same period of time. These are, the destruction of Antichrist, the subversion of the Mohammedan power, and the restoration of the Jews. The question, which is now in the mouth of every Christian, is that which was asked in the vision of the prophet Daniel, on the same subject: 'How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?'— Dan. xii. 6. When shall the indignation against the holy people be accomplished?'-Dan. xi. 31; that they may "return, and seek the Lord their God, and David, their King.'

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"To Daniel the prophet, and to John the Evangelist, was given a revelation of the great events of the general church, to the end of time. Daniel foretels that the Christian Church shall be oppressed by the persecuting powers, for a time, times, and the dividing of a time.'Dan. vii. 25. The same period he assigns for the accomplishment of the indignation against the holy people, Israel. One said, how long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto Heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever, that it should be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.'-Dan. xii. 7. Now the same form of words is used in the Revelation of St. John, to express the duration of the Papal and Mohammedan powers. Oppressed by them, the church of Christ was to remain desolate in the wilderness, for a time, times, and half a time.' -Rev. xii. 14. Every one who is erudite in sacred prophecy, will understand that this great period of Daniel