Abraham held the keys of a dispensation, and Elias delivered those keys to Joseph the Prophet (Doc. & Cov. 110:12.) Abraham is "the father of the faithful." Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, those great progenitors of the House of Israel, the world had been sprinkled with believing blood, and spirits answering to that blood have been sent through their lineage to minister for the salvation of mankind. This is the reason--the main reason why Israel was dispersed among the nations, and why he still suffers persecution. Through that chosen seed comes salvation, and it comes by no other route. It is the lineage of the one and only Saviour. They who have scattered Israel, and trampled him in the dust, are dependent upon him for their eternal welfare. Christ himself is the model. He died that the human race might live. "Greater love than this hath no man, that he will lay down his life for his friends." More than man is he who lays down his life for his enemies. The Son of God died not only for his friends, but for his foes, that salvation might come to all. In a lesser degree the House of Israel has been martyred for a similar purpose--that the whole world might be blessed. The Latter-day Saints are numbered among Abraham's descendants. The first to embrace the restored Gospel were called out from the nations because they had his blood in their veins. Joseph Smith lifted the Ensign for the gathering of scattered Israel, but lived only long enough to assemble a portion of the half tribe of Ephraim, to which he belonged. The work that he commenced, however, will go on until all the tribes of Israel are gathered and the way prepared before the coming of the Son of God. "The Shoulders of the Philistines." Ephraim, in ancient times, "mixed himself among the people". (Hosea 7:8.) Consequently the Latter-day Saints, who are mostly of Ephraim, also have "Gentile" blood in their veins. "Gentile" is not a term of reproach with us. It springs from "gentilis", meaning "of a nation", and was used anciently to designate those nations that were not of Israel. Japheth, son of Noah, is the sire of the "Gentile" race, while Abraham and his seed are descended from Japheth's brother Shem. We "Mormons" have no quarrel with the "Gentiles". They are virtually our co-laborers in this great work of preparation. We cannot do it alone. It is too vast, too arduous. We need the help of the "Gentiles", their wealth, their power, their wonderful insight into and command over material things, their intelligence and skill in manipulating temporalities. We need their means of rapid transit and communication. We could not gather God's people without the aid of the "Gentiles". "They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the West." So wrote Isaiah concerning Israel, with prophetic eye upon this very period. "The shoulders of the Philistines" are the ships and railroads of the "Gentiles".