Twelve Tribes Scattered.--Before the Savior's time, however, the prophets Ezekiel and Zachariah,--the former in exile among the Babylonians, the latter at Jerusalem after the restoration by Cyrus,--had added their predictions to those already uttered relating to the dispersion of Israel. That the fated nation was pretty well dispersed in the days of the apostles, is evident from the Epistle of James, who addresses himself "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad." Dispersion by Titus.--But there were to be other acts of dispersion. One of the most notable occurred in the year 70 A. D., when Titus the Roman came against Jerusalem, besieged and captured it, and sold the inhabitants, such as had survived the horrors of the siege, into slavery, or scattered them through different parts of the empire. To follow the fortunes of this branch of the house of Israel, in all their subsequent wanderings and scatterings, would fill volumes. The Blood that Believes.--Next, let us consider the question: In what way did these calamities upon Israel prove a blessing to the human race? How, by the dispersion of the children of Abraham, was the promise to the patriarch fulfiled, that in him and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed? I answer, that by this dispersion the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--the blood of faith, the blood that believes--with choice spirits, answering to that blood, and selected for that purpose, were sent into those nations where the Gospel was afterwards preached; spirits capable of recognizing the truth, and brave enough to embrace it regardless of consequences; thus setting an example to others and influencing them in the same direction. Manifestly this was of far more importance than the carrying by the captive Israelites of their laws and traditions into those nations; though this would also help to prepare the way for greater blessings to follow. Spread of Christianity.--And such things told in after years. One of the marvels of history is the rapid spread of Christianity in the days of the apostles, who, unlettered as most of them were, and in the midst of the fiercest persecution, planted the gospel standard in all the principal cities of the Roman Empire, spreading the tidings of Christ crucified, from India on the East to Britain on the West, and from Scythia on the North to Ethiopia on the South; all within the short space of fifty years.