pulsation there vibrated in Babylonia. It was in the most outlying part of that colony, in the wide

plains of Arabia, that Saul of Tarsus spent those three years of silent thought and unknown

labour, which preceded his re-appearance in Jerusalem, when from the burning longing to

labour among his brethren, kindled by long residence among these Hebrews of the Hebrews, he

was directed to that strange work which was his life's mission.67 And it was among the same

community that Peter wrote and laboured,68 amidst discouragements of which we can form

some conception from the sad boast of Nehardaa, that up to the end of the third century it had

not numbered among its members any convert to Christianity.69 In what has been said, no notice

has been taken of those wanderers of the ten tribes, whose trackless footsteps seem as

mysterious as their after-fate. The Talmudists name four countries as their seats. But, even if we

were to attach historic credence to their vague statements, at least two of these localities cannot

with any certainty be identified.70 Only thus far all agree as to point us northwards, through

India, Armenia, the Kurdish mountains, and the Caucasus. And with this tallies a curious

reference in what is known as IV. Esdras, which locates them in a land called Arzareth, a term

which has, with some probability, been identified with the land of Ararat.71 Josephus72 describes

them as an innumerable multitude, and vaguely locates them beyond the Euphrates. The

Mishnah is silent as to their seats, but discusses their future restoration; Rabbi Akiba denying

and Rabbi Eliezer anticipating it.73 74 Another Jewish tradition75 locates them by the fabled river

Sabbatyon, which was supposed to cease its flow on the weekly Sabbath. This, of course, is an

implied admission of ignorance of their seats. Similarly, the Talmud76 speaks of three localities

whither they had been banished: the district around the river Sabbatyon; Daphne, near Antioch;

while the third was overshadowed and hidden by a cloud.