God, while the children of the kingdom, such as were degenerate, salt that had lost its savor,-would be cast into outer darkness.

Other Gentile Believers.-Other cases in point are those of Cornelius and the woman of Samaria-Gentiles, in whose veins was the blood that believes, "the salt of the earth," sprinkled over the world for its preservation. The Moabite maiden, Ruth, who was numbered among the ancestors of Jesus Christ, is another example of the same kind. They are of Abraham who do the works of Abraham.

According to Their Faith.—God works among men according to their faith. Jehovah, as Jesus, came unto his own, and his own received him not. He could not do many mighty works among the Jews, "because of their unbelief," at which he marveled, as much, no doubt, as he marveled over the faith of some of the Gentiles. And so, leaving the latter to be converted by the Holy Ghost, he who had been sent to the lost sheep of Israel, turned from Judah unto Joseph, from the Jews unto the Nephites, whose faith was greater, and among whom, in consequence, more if not mightier miracles were performed.

The "Other Sheep."-From the Nephites, the Savior went to "other sheep," not of the Nephite fold, nor of the Jewish fold, but still of the house of Israel, and therefore entitled to his personal ministry. These may have been "the lost tribes," or they may have been other scattered sheep, unknown to man, but known unto God, "keeping watch above his own," in the mystical and remote regions whither his judgments had driven. them.

CHAPTER IV.

The Call of the Shepherd.

“Come out of her, my people.”—(Rev. 18:4.)

All in Christ.-The Savior's personal visits to the various branches of the house of Israel were preliminary to a general gathering of the sheep into one fold, with himself as the Shepherd over all. The prophets who predicted the dispersion,

likewise foretold the return of God's people to their own lands, after "the times of the Gentiles" should be fulfiled. It was to be in the latter days, when God has purposed to "gather together in one all things in Christ." The most notable prophecies pertaining to the gathering of Israel are here presented:

Moses. "The Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee."-(Deut. 30:3.)

David. "Gather my Saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."— (Psalms 50:5.)

Isaiah.—“And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."-(Isaiah 2:2, 3.)

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

"And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

"The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.

"But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west."—(Ibid, 11:11-14.)

"And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."(Ibid, 11:16.)

"Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

"I will say to the north, Give up: and to the south, Keep not back bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”—(Ibid, 43:5, 6.)

"And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

"Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side."(Ibid, 60:3, 4.)

The Ensign.-According to the faith of the Latter-day Saints, the "ensign" referred to by Isaiah was set up, when the Church of Christ was organized on the sixth of April, 1830. Thus far, however, only a portion of the half tribe of Ephraim has been gathered out from the nations.

Shoulders of the Philistines.-"The shoulders of the Philistines" are understood to be the steamships, railroads, and other facilities of the Gentiles, whereby the gathering Saints have been and are being carried westward to American shores and into the tops of the Rocky Mountains.

The Highway. “And there shall be a highway," etc. This part of Isaiah's prophecy seems to have reference to the tribes. that were carried into captivity by the Assyrians, and in connection with whose return a miracle is promised similar to the dividing of the waters of the Red Sea, in the days of Moses, that Israel might go over dryshod.

Jeremiah. "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord: for I am married unto you; and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion;

"And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”—(Jeremiah 3:14, 15.)

"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

"But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

"Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill. and out of the holes of the rocks.

"For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face."

"The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit."—(Ibid, 16:1417, 19.)

"Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; a great company shall return thither.

"They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

"Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock."-(Ibid, 31: 8-10.)

One of a City.-Jeremiah's prediction concerning “one of a city and two of a family" has been literally fulfiled in the experience of many Latter-day Saints, turned out of doors by their own parents or guardians, despised and persecuted by former friends and associates, because they dared to be "one of a city," or "two of a family," in espousing so unpopular a cause. A Stanza on Freedom.-A few lines from an American poet-James Russell Lowell-seem appropriate here. The poem from which they are taken is entitled "Stanzas on Freedom:"

"They are slaves who fear to speak

For the fallen and the weak;

They are slaves who will not choose

Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,

Rather than in silence shrink

From the truth they needs must think;

They are slaves who dare not be

In the right, with two or three."

A Marvel and a Wonder.-Wonderful as has been the work of the gathering, thus far, judging from the words of Jeremiah, it is destined to be more marvelous still.

Ezekiel. "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

"And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

"I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be."-(Ezekiel 34:12-14.)

The Christ. "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."-(Matthew 24:14.)

"And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."-(Ibid, 24:31.)

John the Revelator.—“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.”—(Rev. 14:6.)

66 * * * And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."—(Ibid, 18:4.)

Enoch. One of the most ancient prophecies on the gathering, is that recorded in the Book of Moses-a portion of the Lord's word to Enoch concerning the latter days:

"And righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.

"And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there * * * and there shall be mine abode."-(Moses 7:62-64.)

Keys of the Gathering Restored.-Moses held the keys of Israel's gathering, and he committed them to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in the Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836. (D.