The Gathering

The doctrine of 'the gathering' is one peculiarly belonging to the people of God, and one which should claim the attention of all who are desirous of glorifying God by keeping his commandments. It is one in its practical operations which excites the attention of the world, and seems to arouse their indignation much. How often do we hear the question -'can we not serve God in this country as well as any where else?' and 'it is the devotion of the heart that the Lord wants, and that is all that is required.' That we can serve God in one country as well as another we doubt not, it if be the will of the Lord that we should do so; but if a commandment be given, as to the Israelites of old, to gather away from bondage and oppression, to give heed to the teachings of his servants, then we would ask, who can serve the Lord yet disobey his commandments?

It was ever the purpose of the Lord in every age, to classify his people by themselves-to separate them from the wicked of the earth-and so to organize and establish them, that he might be able to bestow upon them the blessings of his spirit. And is there no necessity for this separation? Most assuredly there is. We look upon the world as alienated from God by sin-as entirely cut off from the enjoyment of those privileges of which the Saints partake. The Lord has, in his infinite mercy, devised a plan by which a fallen race can be reconciled to himself; and that is effected by the gift of the spirit of God, bestowed upon the faithful in the exercise of obedience to the ordinances of his house. Let us then contemplate for a moment the relative circumstances and conditions of the people of God and of the world: the one is in darkness, and under condemnation in consequence of sin; the other is adopted into the family of heaven, and has received of the spirit of the Lord, filling his whole body with light, opening to his understanding the glories of eternity, and elevating him in dignity according to this faithfulness as a son of God; while his future prospects are sublimely developed to his understanding the full glories of the beatific vision.

What affinity, then, we would ask, has light with darkness? what amalgamation can take place between elements so diverse in their nature? or will not spirit seek its kindred spirit? He that hath the spirit is no longer debtor to the flesh, but would rather be seeking the society of those who can multiply his happiness, who are so many individual reflections of the moral loveliness implanted by the spirit of God.

On these reflections then, do we arrive at the rationality of the doctrine of 'the gathering,' and see the necessity of the servants of God, who are destined to become partakers of his own glory, being associated together in order that they may be preparing for that high elevation, and growing in that wisdom and knowledge without which they cannot be prepared for his presence.

But, again, the last days are the days of vengeauce [vengeance] and judgment upon the wicked. Let us then examine the conduct of God towards man when he was about to pour out his judgments upon them.

When he had determined, in consequence of the iniquity of our antediluvian forefathers, to destroy the race form the face of the earth, he did not do it without a warning unto the people, and without preparation for the safety of all who would give heed not the testimony of the servant, they rejected the offers of mercy and therefore perished. So also in the days of Lot, when he had determined a destruction upon the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, it was neither without a warning to them nor a place of safety for those that would hearken and flee.

We read that in the last days there will be in existence a Babylon, of which the Chaldean city (the lady of kingdoms) was a lively type, in which the pollution of the holy things of the Lord's house showed forth that pollution of the last days, when men should sit in judgment as God, calling upon the people to recognize their authority, and render obedience to their precepts as they would unto the God of heaven. And we read also, that the Babylon of the last days shall fall, shall be utterly destroyed; and the people of the Lord are commanded to come out of her, lest they be partakers of her sins and receive her plagues. Now, we feel no hesitancy in speaking freely of this Babylon, which we affirm to be neither more nor less than that Babel, that confusion of systems which

man has devised in the room of the kingdom of God; for verily as little understood of each other are the builders of the modern Babylon, as were those of antiquity when the Lord confounded their language and scattered them over all the face of the earth. In contemplating the modern buildings of religious systems, we find some declaring one thing necessary as a foundation, others another; and instead of laboring conjointly to build a tower to heaven, each individual party are raising paltry mounds of their own, with the most anxious ambition to look over their neighbor, until all has become confusion and weakness, and by and by all the wrath of heaven shall sweep away every vistige [vestige] of their folly from the face of the earth, for the mouth of the Lord God hath spoken it. And this judgment shall take place in the last days, and it shall be a judgment the like of which hath not been before. And will not the Lord act like himself in providing a place of safety for his people? or when he has commanded them to come out of her, will he not prepare a place of refuge for them-a Goshen in which they may be protected while his fury is poured out upon the nations.

We read, then, in the 24th chapter of Isaiah, that when his fury shall be poured out, when the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned up and few men be left, that there shall be in the midst of the earth a remnant among the people as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the grapes when the vintage is ended. And let us mark the location of those who are preserved: it will be in the midst of the earth, in the very place where Israel of old declared that the children of Joseph should become a multitude of nations, and in that place shall deliverance be. We rejoice, therefore, in the revelations made known in the last days, of the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, and of the land of Joseph, and of the place appointed for the gathering of his people. We read also, in the 4th chapter of Micah, that in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it: and that the law shall go forth from Zion, and also the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And also in the 8th verse of the same we read, that the tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, that unto her shall come the FIRST dominion; and that the kingdom shall also come unto Jerusalem.

And as we read in the old translation that from the seed of Joseph should the feder be appointed by the stone of Israel; even so as Joseph the patriarch (though various means were adopted in order to destroy him) through the providence of God, became the savior of his family, so shall his seed become a feder or shepherd unto the people of God and their land, into which the Lord has led them, as he did Joseph into Egypt, become a place of deliverance from the judgments that shall come upon the earth, for all that will hearken unto the tidings of salvation and become obedient unto them.

It is written in the first chapter of Ephesians and the 10th verse, 'that in the dispensation of the fulness [fullness] of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.'

We also read in the second chapter of Daniel, of the setting up of a kingdom by the God of heaven, that should never come to an end; and, as we have before quoted, of the law going forth from mount Zion and also from Jerusalem.-Now the place from whence proceeds a law must be the seat of government, and the seat of government will be attended by subjects acknowledging its authority; and that kingdom which shall never come to an end, cannot be set up unless the people are gathered together in the fulness [fullness] of times, in order to be prepared, instructed, and sanctified that they may be fitted to meet the glorified saints whom the Lord will bring with him at his coming, who are looking forward to the time when they shall reign as kings and priests on the earth, knowing that without us they cannot be perfected, and are longing for the hour when the Lord shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and when his glory shall be before them.

Having made these reflections upon the great doctrine of 'the gathering,' we now bear testimony of what the Lord has commanded in the last days. We bear testimony that the Lord God hath sent the angel beheld by John in his apocalyptic vision, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto all people; that he hath appeared unto some, and shall hereafter appear unto many, that he hath committed a dispensation of that gospel unto men, and commissioned his servants to go forth bearing testimony of these things, and to make proclamation that the hour of his judgment is come; also to proclaim that the hour of his judgment is come; also to proclaim unto the people the gospel in its fulness [fullness], the glorious law of adoption into the kingdom of God, and warning them of the judgments speedily approaching to exhort them to flee out from Babylon, that they be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues; and that the western continent is the place appointed of the Lord for the assembling of his people, that

they may learn his will, receive blessings at his hands, and escape the consequences of the fury that shall be poured out upon the nations.

And while we bear this testimony, how many who may read these reflections will find the spirit within them bearing witness to the truth of these things, and feel its prompting influence bidding them arise and flee while the path is open, and hasten to assist in the building up of Zion, and in the establishment of that kingdom which shall never come to an end; but which, arising on earth, shall continue under the blessing of God to increase in glory and power, until clothed upon by the radiance of heaven, its citizens shall be fitted to blend in harmony with the sons of light, in that glorious gathering of all things both in heaven and on earth, that shall be realized in the dispensation of the fulness [fullness] of times.

Then away to the west, the glorious west,

The land which the Lord hath greatly blest;

Where the soil hath rested for ages past,

To make a rich home for the Saints at last.

Milford, Iroquois County, Indiana,}

September 22, 1843.}

BROTHER TAYLOR:-

Dear Sir-We started on our mission to the State of New York, according to appointment, on the 30th day of May. We arrived in this place on the 15th day of June, and preached once.

The people wishing to hear farther, we stopped and commenced laboring here and in the vicinity, until the Lord, through our instrumentality, caused a few individuals to see the error of their ways, and embrace the truth.

Thus we succeeded, with the assistance of brothers Tate and Monroe, for a short time, in organizing a small branch of the church, in this place, called the Milford Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, consisting of twelve members, one elder, and one priest.

Travelling [traveling] elders are requested to call and instruct them farther in the things of the kingdom.

Yours, in the bonds of the new and everlasting covenant,

NORMAN B. SHEARER.

MARCELLUS L. BATES.

THE JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES.-The Saint Louis Organ says: 'As the number of Jews is greatly increasing in our midst, it may not be altogether uninteresting to learn something concerning their number. The greatest concentration of Jews exists in the Russian dominions, where, according to the latest estimate, they amount to 1,700,000, about one fourth of the Jewish population of the whole world; in France there are 115,000; in Great Britain 30,000, two thirds of which are found in London. The number of Jews in the Holy Land amounts to 40,000. The Jews in this country are estimated at 50,000, the great mass of which may be found in the Atlantic cities. There are six synagogues in New York, three in Philadelphia, and others in Charlestown, Baltimore and Savannah. In Cincinnati the Jewish population is very numerous, so also in Cleveland, where there are two synagogues. Germany and Poland are the countries which exercise the influence over the development of the religious views of the Jews of the present day.