ribes. Now to the natural seed the Bible
assigns a distinct work and place. This natural seed is divided in the
Bible, the word Israel standing generally for the Ten Tribes, and Judah
for Two Tribes. These divisions have separate paths appointed them to
walk in through the centuries. "All the House of Israel wholly," "the
whole House of Israel," "all the House of Israel," have a special work.
The Ten Tribes are especially called in the Scriptures the seed of
Abraham. Sometimes "My chosen," again "Mine inheritance," and "My
servant." God, in referring to them in their scattered state, and of His
gathering them together, says (Isa. xli. 8): "But thou, Israel, art My
servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen; the seed of Abraham My friend--thou
whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the
chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art My servant; I have chosen
thee and not cast thee away." The Ten Tribes are sometimes designated by
the word Jacob. If we once get a clear idea who the seed are, then we
can search among the people of the earth to find them, because in the
latter day they were to be so different from other people, and distinctly
marked, we will have no great difficulty in finding them. Of the special
marks, one was they were to possess the gates of their enemies. The
multitudinous seed and other characteristics we will pass by for the
present.

This seed were to possess the gates of their enemies; of this we are
assured by the oath of God. The word gate here, you will admit, is used
in a generic sense. It means a place of prominence, a position of
strength, a strategetic point, as the entrance into a city. Remembering
that in olden times the cities were walled around, the gate was an
important point of defence; or, as the narrow entrance into a bay, like
the entrance into New York Bay or port, the Narrows we call them. Here
the cities of New York and Brooklyn could best and first be defended.
Again, a gate in the general vernacular means any stronghold: a tower, an
island, a mountain pass. Now, of this seed it is plainly stated that
they shall possess the gates of their enemies.

The text would be very finely illustrated if we supposed that Mexico held
Governor's Island, in the middle of our bay, and defiantly dictated to us
doctrines of trade, politics, and religion. As arrogant and as impudent
as this would seem, yet such is the case with this seed of Abraham and
other na