The belief that the Latter-day Saints hold that these tribes are residents of the northern regions of the earth, is sustained by a cloud of scriptural witnesses of _ancient_ and _modern_ days, to whom we now appeal. Our first witness shall be the Prophet Jeremiah. In the third chapter of his prophecies we find the Lord rebuking both Israel and Judah for their treachery and backsliding, yet still proclaiming His long-suffering and mercy to His covenant people. He then gives command to the Prophet, saying: "Go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, return thou, backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and' I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger forever. * * * In those days [the latter days] the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together _out of the land of the north_ to this land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers." Again, in speaking of the mighty works accompanying the final glorious restoration of the house of Jacob, the same prophet declares: "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the _north country_, and from all countries whither I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land." (_Jeremiah xxiii_). Again it is written (_Jeremiah xxxi_): "For thus saith the Lord, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations; publish ye, praise ye, and say, O, Lord save thy people, the remnant of Israel. Behold I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth * * * I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born. We will turn for a moment from the Asiatic to the American continent. There we find Ether, the Jaredite, about 600 years B. C., prophesying of the latter days: "And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the _north countries_ and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father Abraham." But the most definite word on this subject given by any of the ancient writers of the Asiatic continent is contained in Esdras, a book of the Apocrypha (_II Esdras xiii_). Therein is given a dream and its interpretation showing forth the works and the power of the Son of God. It is to Him and His gathering of the people together that the Prophet refers. The verses more particularly bearing on our subject read as follows: