BRITAIN IN THE BIBLE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 73, 25 February 1932, Page 10

BRITAIN IN THE BIBLE.

Commencing his address on Sunday night in the new church building in Princess Street, the Pastor of the United Evangelical Church, Mr Wesley E. Richards, stated that the British nation’s history was a very long one indeed. Quoting from Gen. 10, 4, Pastor Richards drew attention to the name Tarshish which was given to a great-grandson of Noah. A tracing of the word throughout the Bible revealed the fact that the name Tarshish became a tribal name, and afterwards the name of a great commercial and Eowerful maritime nation. Mr Richards ere proceeded to trace the origin of the name Britain, intimating that she received her modem name in tho times of the Romans. A well-known standard dictionary said that the word Britannia “originally represented a metallic compound or alloy, consisting chiefly of block tin, with some antimony and a small proportion of copper nnd brass.” It was from the British Isles that such metals then came. “No wonder is it then that it was the name Bratanio or Britain which was given to the country. In tracing tho name Tarshish through the Scriptures wo will find,” stated the speaker, “that the nation it represented runs right through into the millennial reign of Christ on the earth. Tarshish was a great maritime nation in the days of King Solomon (1 Kings, 10, 22; see also Eze 27, 12). It is quite plain to us as wo read the Bible that this nation under the name Tarshish would be the nation to restore God’s ancient people the Jews to their own land, Palestine,” stated Mr Richards. The statement could not be plainer than that found in Is. 60, 0. which reads: “Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy eons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee.” “The isles and the ships of Tarshish are in association in this great project, just as the lion and the young lions should be in God’s servioe, in delivering Jerusalem, as it was in the Great War. (See Is. 31, 4,5). Another very clear identification of Tarshish being Great Britain is found in Eze. 38, 13, where it is unmistakably shown to us that the merchant nation Tarshish in association with the young lions, her colonies, would defend Palestine against the great northern invasion headed up bv Russia. “Although,” said Pastor Richards, “the nation will suffer terribly in the battle of tho Armageddon, she will not be wiped out as some foolishly imagine. For Tarshish Britain is found as one of the leading nations in bringing presents to our Lord Jesus Christ when He is seated on His own throne in Jerusalem, and reigning for one thousand years. (See Ps. 72, 10. 11).” The, inclement weather necessitated removing into the incompletCd ohurch building lft6t Sunday.