prudent o,ccepted the Gospel when it bece,me known to them. Here the wise and prudent diRbelieve, not because things a.re hidden from them, bnt because they are known. It is those who do not know all that their own theory involves who believe. (2) The change of a Semitic race into an Aryan race, of a Semitic language into o,n Aryan language, would be a miracle of the very highest order. Where is the evidence of the miracle .1 It is trifling with faith to believe in e, miracle utterly unsupported by evidence. A nation disappears from history ; after a lapse of many centuries another nation, entirely different in type and language, grows up in quite a different pa.rt of the globe; and we are asked to believe, without anything that can seriously be considered evidence, that the one has become the other. We might as well believe that the rose-trees in the Temple gardens sprang from the olive-trees of Gethsemane, through cuttings brought home by the Crusaders. (3) Even if the theory were true, what would be its valne .1 As o.lready stated, the blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, arid Jacob have passed over to the Christian Church. "He is not an Israelite who is one outwardly." Human generation has nothing to do with spiritual regeneration. " If righteousness comes by the law," if spilitual blessings depend on descent from Abraham, "then Christ died for nothing" (Gal. ii. 17). Thus much with regard to the past seems to be in place :?.nd necessary in the present historical sketch. It would be altogether out of its scope to inquire into the future by discussing the hidden meaning of unfulfilled prophecy. We may leave on one side, therefore, the controversy as to -the restoration of Israel. The prophesied restoration has been at least in part fulfilled by the share which Israel took in ihe return of Judah; and St. Paul seems to intimate (Rom. :d.) that hence- forth the restoration will be spiritual, not literal. The Holy Land to which Israel needs to return is not that which once flowed with mi.I)! and honey, but the kingdom of God. One other point 'remains to be noticed-the condition of the l11nd from which the captive Israelites were withdrawn. The matter is one of considerable obscurity as regards details, but the general outlines are cle11r. That the bnl.k of the Israelite population was withdrawn, that heathen populations were put in its place, and that these formed the large majority, is manifest. It is also certain that it was Tiglath-Pileser who carried away much people from Reuben, Gad, eastern Manasseh, Naphtali, and Galilee (2 Kings xv. 29; 1 Chron. v. 26), and Sargon, who carried 11way a great many more from Samaria (2 Kings xvii. 6). Again, it is certain that it was Esarhaddon, Sargon's grandson, who planted heathen colonists in place of the captive Israelites (Ezra iv. 2), 11nd that a great v11riety of such colonists came under the leadership of " the gree.t and noble Asnapper '' (Ezra iv. 10). What is uncertain is, whether Sargon literally depopulated the country, or left a large number in the rural districts, how long an interval elapsed between the deportation under Sargon and tho first importation, whether there was any importation previous to that under Ese.rhaddon, whether the immigr11nts led by Asnapper were those whom Esarhaddon sent or others. But none of these details are of serious moment. We know that the new inhabitants of central Palestine ILre heathens to so complete a.n extent that a Hebrew priest with assistants has to be sent b11ck from Assyria, in order to " teach them the manner of tho Gotl of the laud" (2 Kings xvii. 27), 90 that the Israelites left bei1iDll by Sargon, if numerous, must have been grossly ignorant. We also know that the nation which xh-iii IN'TBODUCTION TO THE HISTORICAL DOOKS:
grew out of these va1ied heathen elements and this insignificant Israelite element became hostile to the Jews on their return from captivity (Ezra iv. 1, &c.), continued so during New Testament times (Matt. x. 6; Luke ix. 63; John iv.!); Yiii. 48), and remain so to this' day. The religion which prevailed among the Samaritans WRS at first as mixed as the nation themselves. The priest sent back from Assyiia would almost certainly be one of those instituted for the worship of calves, for the original priesthood had from the first retired to the southern king• dom. His settling at Bethel, the chief seat of Jeroboam's calf-worship, confirms this ; and his teaching the new inhabitants to worship after the manner of the land can hardly mean anything but that he taught them to worship Jehovah under the image of a calf, which had been the manner of the land for two centuries and a half. The study of the Pentateuch and the proximity of the Jews after the return would tend to purify the religion of the Samaritans more and more until at last idolatry died out altogether. A people who claimed to keep the Law more strictly and have a purer worship than the Jews themselves would have made themsel\'es ridiculous if they had tolerated idolatry; and this claim the later Samaritans made. But at first the hybrid nation not only worshipped God in a very imperfect, ignorant way, but were idolaters as well: "they feared Jehovah, :i.n.d served their own graven images" (2 Kings xvii. 33, 41). Thus the goodly heritage of Ephraim, with its sacred spots and assooiations-J acob's well, Ebal and Gerizim, Joshua's tomb, Shiloh, and Shechem-passed into the hands of strangers. "What a glorioUB past I '' When Israel was young then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.'' What a miserable present! " Israel is swallowed up : now are they among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure." Yet there is still some hope in the future: " I will heal their falling away, I will gladly love them: for my anger is turned away" (Hosea xi. 1; viii. 8; xiv. 4).