THE JEWISH NATION IN PROPHECY

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 13

THE JEWISH NATION IN PROPHECY

The Rev. 11. E. Wallis, M.A., addressed a large audience iu the Marauatha Hall, 125 Lambton Quay, last evening on the history of the Jewish nation, in the course of which ho described the terrible sufferings and persecutions to which the Jew had been subjected from A.D. 70 right through the centuries. After explaining the parable of the fig tree, and drawing attention to its spiritual significance, Mr. Wallis pointed out that with the recovery of Jerusalem by the Jews in 1917 under General (Lord) Allenby, the fig tree began to bud again. “Everywhere,” .continued the lecturer, “the Jew is rising into prominene’e, the land of Palestine has been opened up to him, and he is being invited back to occupy it, monev is being lent to him if ho is too poor, and the resources of the nation are being laid at his feet to enable him to develop his beloved country. He is beginning to own his own tseamships. "What does t all mean? To the man who knows his Bible properly these are all signs of the imminence of our Lord's Return.” ‘Mr. Wallis then proceeded to trace in detail the awful times of persecution during the period of the Roman Empire under Nero and Vespasian. Between the days of Hadrian and Constantine. however, the Jews had a fairly pood time. If Rome crushed the Jews, England had frowned upon them. There was a time when the only place in England where a Jew could get buried was in Cripplegate, London. Their emancipation in England may be said to date from the time of Oliver Cromwell, who allowed them to return to that country about the year 1550. If. in the providence of God. Rome was permitted to crush them, and England to frown upon them, France was allowed to curse them. In 1683 they were cast out from all the French colonies, and it was not nntil the beginning of the 18th century that Louis XV permitted them to again hold estates. If France cursed them. Spain sought tn stamp out their very life blond. In Germany, ton. there was a reenrd of suffering to add to the dreadful drama. The Jews have been cast out of every country under Heaven. Ultimately a considerable number found n. home in Africa, where thev wore made slaves by the negroes. Finally. England passed a Nationalisation Bill. after which France followed with a measure of emancipation and then with the declaration of American Independence, the Jews found they had equal rights with the rest fofhe nations. “Ono of the most stirring documents.” asid Mr. Wallis, "is that which the Chief Rabbi issued at the time of the entry of the British into Jerusalem, when the Jews began to realise they were to suffer under the heel of a conqueror no longer, and that, in one stroke of the pen, so to speak, thev had come into their own.” Well now, concluded the lecturer, what was the secret of their being preserved among the nations throughout all the centuries of bloodshed, tyranny, and persecution? The answer to that was God. Their wonderful laws kept them virile and strong: even after being nearly annihilated there had been enough strength left in those who had escaped to raise the nation again Another reason was their marvellou* faith in the Promises of God. According to scripture there were still terrible days in store for the world. Everything was hastening to one sharp and dramatic end —even the natural man who did not profess to have the spiri, or mind of Christ could see this in the signs around him, which were abundant and convincing. These things were not fairy tales or cunningly devised fables. In view of all this it was surely incumbent- upon them so to order their lives that they need have no cause to be ashamed at His Coming.