or principles, which would remain on the face of the earth, after the "seven months," that is, after the civil power of Papacy should be destroyed, which took place A. D. 1798. And when any should see a man's bone, they were to set up a sign by it, until the buriers should bury it in the valley of Hamon-gog. Who can but see, that the relics of Papacy are to be found in almost every church in our land? The love and practice of slavery is a bone of the old mother; the love and practice of war is another bone; sectarian prejudices, and a tyrannical display of physical force to put down principles not harmonizing with our views, is a great bone. Taking to ourselves titles that belong to God, or calling men Rabbis, which belong only to Christ, are men's bones. Puffing each other in public papers, and passing resolutions in our own favor, are bones of the feet or the hands of man. To preach the traditions of men, instead of the word of God; and the laws and ordinances of the church and councils, instead of the laws of the Scriptures and ordinances once delivered to the saints by Jesus Christ and his apostles, is the backbone of Gog, and must and will be buried, and will no more come into mind. Some may inquire, Is this the same Geg in Ezekiel, as we find in the twentieth chapter of Revelation? I answer, it is the same, with this difference only: this is prophesying of his power, his acts, death and burial; that of his resurrection, judgment, and final and last destruction from the earth. Now, my dear reader, do you want to know whether you belong to Gog, or the saints? Try your spirit. If you are proud, haughty, tyrannical, selfish, worldly, dogmatical, full of bigotry, egotism and wilfulness, prone to misrepresent, deceive and lie against your neighbor, because he cannot see in every point exactly as you do; you may rest assured that your warrant is not a counterfeit, --you belong to the ARMY OF GOG. AMEN.

LECTURE ON

THE TWO STICKS.

EZEK. xxxvii. 15-17.

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 66 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