XXXVI.
Bishop Thomas Newton and the Restoration of Israel
“The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most signal and illustrious acts of divine Providence. They are dispersed among all nations, and yet they are not confounded with any. The drops of rain which fall, nay the great rivers which flow into the ocean, are soon mingled and lost in that immense body of waters: and the same in all human probability would have been the fate of the Jews, they would have been mingled and lost in the common mass of mankind; but, on the contrary they flow into all parts of the world, mix with all nations, and yet keep separate from all. They still live as a distinct people, and yet they no where live according to their own laws, no where elect their own magistrates, no where enjoy the full exercise of their religion.... No people have continued unmixed so long as they have done, not only of those who have sent forth colonies into foreign countries, but even of those who have abided in their own country. The northern nations have come in swarms into the more southern parts of Europe; but where are they now to be discerned and distinguished? The Gauls went forth in great bodies to seek their fortune in foreign parts; but what traces or footsteps of them are now remaining any where? In France who can separate the race of the ancient Gauls from the various other people, who from time to time have settled there? In Spain who can distinguish exactly between the first possessors the Spaniards, and the Goths, and the Moors, who conquered and kept possession of the country for some ages? In England who can pretend to say with certainty which families are derived from the ancient Britons, and which from the Romans, or Saxons, or Danes, or Normans? The most ancient and honorable pedigrees can be traced up only to a certain period, and beyond that there is nothing but conjecture and uncertainty, obscurity and ignorance: but the Jews can go up higher than any other nation, they can even deduce their pedigree from the beginning of the world. They may not know from what particular tribe or family they are descended, but they know certainly that they all sprung from the stock of Abraham. And yet the contempt with which they have been treated, and the hardships which they have undergone in almost all countries, should one would think, have made them desirous to forget or renounce their original; but they profess it, they glory in it: and after so many wars, massacres, and persecutions, they still subsist, they still are very numerous: and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved?
“Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation. For from the beginning who have been the great enemies and oppressors of the Jewish Nation, removed them from their own land, and compelled them into captivity and slavery? The Egyptians afflicted them much, and detained them in bondage several years. The Assyrians carried away captive the ten tribes of Israel, and the Babylonians afterwards the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Syro-Macedonians, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, cruelly persecuted them: and the Romans utterly dissolved the Jewish state, and dispersed the people so as they have never been able to recover their city and country again. And where are now these great and famous monarchies, which in their turns subdued and oppressed the people of God? Are they not vanished as a dream, and not only their power, but their very names, lost in the earth? The Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians, were overthrown, and entirely subjugated by the Persians; and the Persians (it is remarkable) were the restorers of the Jews, as well as the destroyers of their enemies. The Syro-Macedonians were swallowed up by the Romans: and the Roman empire, great and powerful as it was, was broken in pieces by the incursions of the northern nations; while the Jews are subsisting as a distinct people to this day.”[¹]
[¹] Dissertations on the Prophecies ... By Thomas Newton, D.D., ... vol. i., London ... MDCCLIV. pp. 216–219.
XXXVII.
“A Call to the Christians and the Hebrews”
“You are at length to be restored to the land of your forefathers, where, after ages of dispersion and suffering, you will find rest and enjoyment; and will restore, surpass and enjoy, for ever, all that you have ever known, or conceived of happiness and glory.... Ye have sown in tears, ye shall reap in joy.” (Psalm cxxvi, 5.)
“They who deny that you will be restored and re-established in your ancient inheritance, may better deny that you are dispersed; for as certainly as the prophecies of your dispersion and preservation have been verified, so shall the numerous prophecies of your restoration be realized and fulfilled.”