THE TWELVE TRIBES. 225
In the new social order, when we select members for each department whose characters adapt them to its special employments, then we are in reality "Sealing them in twelve tribes," as the prophets foretold in the Old Testament and in the book of Revelation. Is this man deeply religious and devoted? Then he is a Levite and Levi is in the religious department. Is that man ambitious and fond of display? Then he belongs to the tribe of Joseph and the department of rulership. The identification of those who belong to each tribe does not require a miracle, as the Jews supposed. It only requires the art of reading character. The people of all other nations, of all countries, can and must
be arranged into twelve tribes
The Levites were the most religious of all the tribes. The priesthood and the service of the temple was their allotment. Look at the diagram and you will see that their place in the city is directly where the religious faculties are located in the brain.
The work carried on in the department of wealth requires large organs of defense and economy in its members. That makes them like the Benjaminites, and this tribe was located over the group cf wealth. " Benjamin is a wolf, seeking spoil and combat."
The half tribes of Joseph, that is Ephraim and Manasseh, towered above all the rest in ambition. On these faculties of the brain Joseph finds his place.
Dan shall cry for justice, as his name portends; he shall toil in the group of labor, where his place is.
Crouching down between two burdens the "hired ass," Issachar, shall rest in the group of commerce where the prophet places him.
A tiller of the soil, a lover of sense and of the pleasures of home, how could Zebulon be better placed than on the home department.
The artists of Israel were Simeonites, and on the department of art has prophetic foresight given Simeon his location.
A troop, a troop cometh ! It is the tribe of Gad, bearing the myriad facts of history for the department of letters, where he was assigned.
The iron shod and the brass mounted engines of science bring royal dainties from every land, and well was Asher located over the group of science, for these were his identity marks.
Bland words and pleasant manners graced the swift footed Naphtali, and rightly was he placed on the group of culture where these belong.
Let Judah's teeth be white with milk; let him drink the fragrant wine of marriage, and not mix its cup with the blood of gentiles.
May Reuben "see many sons," for the seer bath paced him in the group of familism.
and departments in the same manner. On this head three of the tribes are left light. These now form the people known as Jews. See page 228, farther on. The black shades show the place of the ''lost tribes." But these lost ones Were to be restored, the same as the Jews. This all the prophets assert in a positive manner.
