Sect. 25
The same Prophet, sc. Isa. 43.5, 6. saith, I will bring thy seed from the East, and will gather thee from the West: I will say to the North, Give up; and to the South, Keep not back; bring my Sons from farre, and my Daughters from the ends of the earth. For Media, Persia, and China, lye on the East; Tartary and Scythia on the North; the Kingdome of the Abyssins on the South; Europe on the West, from the Holy Land. But when he saith, Bring ye my sons from farre, he understands America; so that in those verses he understands all those places, in which the Tribes are detained. Also in Chap. 49. from ver. 7. to the end of the Chapter, he saith, that that returne shall be most happy. And in ch. 56. vers. 8. God saith, He that gathers the out-casts of Israel. And the Prophet Jeremiah, in ch. 33. ver. 16. In those dayes shall Juda be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. It is certaine, and Jerome assents to all our Authors, that when Judah is joyned with Israel, by Israel the ten Tribes are meant. The same adds in chap. 31. ver. 15. in the comforting of Rachel, who wept for the carrying away her sons, Joseph, and Benjamin, the first by Salmaneser into Assyria, the last by Nebuchadnezzar into Babilon, he saith, in vers. 16. Refraine thy voyce from weeping, and thine eyes from teares, for thy work shall be rewarded. And it followes in Chap. 33. ver. 7. And I will cause the captivity of Judah, and the captivity of Israel to returne, and I will build them up as at the first. Ezekiel saith the same in Chap. 34.13. and in Chap. 37.16. under the figure of two sticks, on which were written the names of Judah, and Ephraim, by which he proves the gathering together of the twelve Tribes to be subject to Messiah the Son of David, in ver. 22. he saith, And one King shall be King to them all; according as Hosea saith in Chap. 2. So also saith Amos, in chap. 9. vers. 14, 15. And I will bring againe the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the wast Cities, and inhabite them; and they shall plant vine-yards, and drink the wine thereof: they shall make gardens, and eate the fruit of them. And they shall be no more pulled up out of their Land, which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God. So also Mica. in cha. 2.12. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee, I will gather the remnant of Israel, I will also place him as the flock in the sheep-fold. For that in the captivity of Babilon all were not gathered together. The Prophet Zechariah in chap. 8.7. and in chap. 10.6. and all the rest of the Prophets do witnesse the same thing.