I have conceived it might be well to inform the reader of this little volume of the manner in which I was first led to the investigation of the subject treated of in this work.

In the fall of 1882 I was preparing a lecture on the Great Pyramid of Geezeh, in Egypt.; and in doing so, I was perusing that great work, Our Inheritance, by Prof. P. Smyth, Astrono­mer Royal to Scotland. Marking such things as seemed adapted to my lecture, I saw, occasionally, things that I did not need, which I passed over without any particular examination. At one time I saw the term "Anglo-Saxon," but as I had no use for that, I passed on without any examination whatever.

At length, having gone through with the perusal of that great work, and having arranged my notes somewhat, the thought occurred to me --What, what did I see about Anglo-Saxons? I could not tell, nor where to find it. I therefore began turning back, scanning every page, if possibly I might find it. At length after a long search I found the place, and read' "The Anglo-Saxon bring the identical descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel"! so and so. What! what'. I said, what under the sun does the man mean? Is he crazy? or am I dreaming? Again and again I read the sentence, but to no benefit; I could make nothing of it. At length, having arranged the materials for my lecture to. my liking, I wrote to Prof. P. Smyth, saying:


"My Dear Sir:

I have been perusing your great work on the Pyramid, with a great deal of interest, and a great deal of profit, too, sir; but I came to a sentence [quoting the same] that completely upset me; as the sailors say, 'threw me on my beam's end.' Now, sir, I want to know if there is any possible evidence of such a thing?"

   Well, in a short time, I received a most charming letter from the Professor, together with a package of tracts--monographs, every one on this identical subject--not written by himself: These I began at once to explore, and that, too, with no ordinary eagerness. But ere I had completed the reading of the package, I no longer needed to inquire, "Is there any possible evidence of that thing?" for the evidence now burst upon me with such divine effulgence as well-nigh utterly to overwhelm me with its dazzling radiance. Amazement filled my mind! Why had I never seen this before?

And now was borne ill upon my inner soul, as by a divine injunction, "This gospel go thou and proclaim, till from on high thou art called home;" and I have not been disobedient to this heavenly vision. Not that there was any perceptible manifestation, as in the case of Saul of Tarsus, but the evidence of the identity of the Anglo-Saxons with the lost tribes of Israel became as convincing to me as the manifestation made to Saul, that Jesus Christ was he whom Saul was then persecuting; and from that time to this, I have endeavored to execute my commission to the utmost of my ability.

Now the inquiry is often raised, "How is it that the truths of the ten tribes of Israel have been so long concealed? Why have they never been known before?" The only answer that I can give to this inquiry is, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." It was in the divine plan that Israel (ten-tribed) should be lost, and that a veil should cover all eyes; that they should not see when reading the prophets, so as to apprehend the full meaning of the prophecy.

Hence, who does not know that it has been the commonly received doctrine, that the Jews only were to be returned to Jerusalem? and that this came from their mode of reading the prophecies? For who, of all the commentators on the prophecies can be named, that has not classed all the prophetic utterances as addressed to the Jews only. Everything is addressed to the Jew's. The Jews alone are to receive, not only all the curses, but all the blessings as well.

Indeed, I myself knew no distinction upon this subject, until by investigation in reading the prophets under a classified schedule, placing each and every prophecy under its own appropriate heading, did I learn that the distinction between Israel and Judah was kept up from the time of the formation of the two kingdoms under Rehoboam -- the one named the Kingdom of Israel, of ten tribes, with Jeroboam as their king, and the other named the Kingdom of Judah, with Rehoboam as king. From this time on, the prophecy is addressed to each separately. And there were the two captivities, entirely distinct one from the other; one was always called the Kingdom, or the House of Israel--meaning always ten-tribed of. Israel--and the other always the Kingdom, or House of Judah. Why this has not always been observed is indeed a marvel.

Hear what Dr. Lyman Abbott says in the last Christian Union (Feb. 11, 1886) on the Sunday - School lesson: "In all ages of the Christian Church, the restoration of the Jew's has served, and rightly, as a historical prophecy. I do not enter here into ally discussion of the question whether there is to come in the future a second restoration of the Jews to their native land. The question is one in which I have never been able to take much interest, and in which I have, perhaps, for that reason never obtained much light."

What better reason could possibly be given why Dr. Abbott should "never have obtained, much light" :No, he says, "he never could take much interest in the question." Neither has any other man who supposed that all these predictions related to the Jews only. But once let the Doctor get his eyes open to the true reading of the prophecies--that not only Judah, but Ephraim also, are both of them "two of a family and one of a tribe," to be brought by God himself and thus planted in the land given to their fathers -- planted there from which they shall nevermore be rooted up, and where they shall be no more two nations, but one nation, and they shall have one King over them, even "my servant David," for thus saith the Lord -- and he will no longer complain of the want of interest, or of the want of light.