Scripture: "The stick of Ephraim, and the stick of Judah, I will make them one stick, and they shall be one in Mine hand."—EZER. xxx vii. 19.
If any one were to ask me: "In which of these two do you believe?" my answer would be: "In both." "And why?" "Because God has so willed it." When the small stream of the Africander people, with less than one million souls, was turned into the mighty stream of the British Empire, with its three hun¬dred millions, it was God's will that this should happen. It was His will that in the great stream there should be two streams, side by side. The two nationalities, the smaller as well as the greater, have each their own history, their own national characteristics, and their own special virtues and shortcomings. In God's plan and council there was room for both.
Why has there been such terrible strife and discord over the question: One Stream or Two Streams? Because people would not accept both viewpoints, and accord to each its right. They wanted one or the other, exclusively, in the foreground. They forgot that God had said: "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." One who is really desirous of knowing and doing God's will—in His dealings with our people—must try to understand his twofold calling: to be faithful in preserving his own nationality; and at the same time to show his love and appre¬ciation of the second nationality, with whom, under God's Providence, his lot has been cast.
God has given to His people, in this land, a great and holy calling, in submission to His will, and in the power of His love, to prove what it is to be a true Africander, and yet, at the same time, a faithful subject of the British Empire. Our love to God and to our neighbors will supply the right incentive.
When Ephraim and Judah became one in God's hand, the difference between the two was not destroyed. Each kept his own characteristics. But the oneness was that of true unity and mutual love. "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim." God will fulfil this promise to us; but on one condition: We must place our people in God's hand by our prayers. "They shall be one in Mine hand." Let us, by means of intercession, place our people in God's hand. He can, and will, give the love and mutual forbearance that is needed.
