The Gathering

(Continued.)

From the whole of the preceding, it is very evident, that God has had a great design to accomplish, in regard to the human family; that in order to bring about his purposes, he has uniformly gathered his people together; that this gathering was for a two fold object; first for the convenience, happiness, and teaching of the parties immediately concerned; and secondly, for the benefit and salvation of themselves and their posterity, in the future, according to the eternal purposes of God. And whatever may be the opinions of men in regard to the subject, the scriptures are plain and definite, and clearly show not only that he has in different ages collected his people together, and that the people which he calls together are blessed of him; but that the principle of scattering is a curse.

When the children of Noah were all assembled

together they were blessed of God, when they began to work wickedness, and build the Tower of Babel, their language was confounded, and they were scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth, as a curse, that they might be prevented from combining together, to frustrate the purposes of God.

When the Lord pronounced blessings and cursings upon the children for obedience or disobedience, according to Deut. XXVIII, one of the greatest blessings was that they should dwell in peace in their land: "The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee, in thy storehouse, and in all that thou sittest thy hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself:"-Verses 8 and 9. And on the contrary, if they should disobey the commandments of God, the Lord should curse them by scattering them.-"And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you, to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought [naught], and ye shall be plucked from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other:" Verses 63 and 64. Ezekiel speaking on the same subject says, "and I will scatter toward every wind, all that are about him, to help him and all his band, and I will draw out the sword after them, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries."

(To be continued.)