Cowley's Talks on Doctrine

by Matthias F. Cowley

These prophecies could not be fulfilled short of bestowing more revelation upon the children of men to show them how, where and when these great events should be accomplished.

We have quoted from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, in the twelfth verse of which this language is used: "And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah." It will be noticed that the word outcasts applies to Israel, which means that Israel was cast out from the knowledge of the Gentile nations, while the seed of Judah was scattered among the nations of the earth. The reason distinction is made between Israel and Judah, when Judah was one of the tribes of Israel, is that in the days of David and Solomon the Lord divided the kingdom of Israel, making Judah the distinct nation and the remaining tribes another distinct nation, having two separate kings. The tribes of Israel were led away into the north country, and became lost to the knowledge of the world, while Judah and a portion of Ephraim remained in Palestine, and were scattered among the nations. This is why the prophet applies the word "outcast" to Israel and the word "dispersed" to the tribes of Judah.

Zechariah the prophet says: "Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north." (Zech. ii:6.) This return of the tribes of Israel from the land of the north will be attended with much miraculous power. The miracles wrought in the days of Moses will not be the reference made by Israel to show the power of God in their behalf, but this prophecy will be fulfilled: "Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers." (Jer. xvi:14, 15.)

One very interesting feature associated with the gathering of Israel in the last days is expressed in the sixteenth verse of the same chapter, as follows: "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." When men engage in fishing they cast their lines into the water, and know not until drawn to shore whether the fish caught be of one kind or another; but when they go hunting they know exactly the game they shoot at, whether it is a lion or a tiger, a buffalo or a deer. This Scripture is fulfilled in the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentile nations by the elders of Israel; it is not known by them whether the person who embraces the Gospel and gathers to Zion is of the blood of Israel, a Gentile or otherwise, until it is made known by the light of revelation. This, then, is as casting the Gospel net into the sea, which gathers of all kinds, who remain together until the bad are separated from the good and cast back into the sea.

Isaiah says, in chapter xxvii:12, "Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel." This is corroborated in the third chapter of Jeremiah, fourteenth and fifteen verses, which read: "I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion; and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."

How strikingly true it is that in this dispensation only one or two, in many instances, of a numerous family, receive the truth. And frequently but one, or very few, in a whole city. But these, when they receive the Holy Spirit through embracing the Gospel, at the hands of inspired and divinely authorized men, are filled with a desire to gather to Zion, and there are taught by pastors "called of God as was Aaron."

A prophecy very like the foregoing is found in the eighteenth chapter of Revelations, fourth and fifth verses: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." That they are out of Babylon is made clear by the verses preceding the ones quoted. Babylon signifies confusion, and is shown in the preceding chapter of Revelation to apply to "people and multitudes, and nations and tongues." Should there be among the nations of the earth any class of people professing to be the Saints of God, yet who have no desire to gather from Babylon in order to avoid her sins and thus escape her plagues, it would be proof that they had not received, in spirit and truth, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Another prophecy bearing upon the return of the tribes from the north, as well as those scattered among the nations, is found in Jer. xxxi:8, 9, 10: "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together: A great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock." In the twelfth verse it says, "Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion." This latter clause in the prophecy shows that the place of their gathering shall be an elevated region of country. In some instances the term Zion is used with reference to a place or land, as shown in the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah, which the reader can refer to at leisure. And in other instances the word applies to a people. Modern revelation through the prophet Joseph Smith says: "This is Zion, the pure in heart." Using the word in this sense, light is thrown upon the foregoing prophecy of Jeremiah by one found in Isaiah xl:9: "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain." This would not have been verified if the Saints of latter days had remained in a scattered condition among the nations, or even in the lower regions first occupied by them in the United States, for America is the land of Zion. The great events which go to make up the history of the Latter-day Saints furnish indisputable evidence that they were led there by the hand of God, and that, too, in fulfillment of ancient and modern prophecy.

In reference to the saints being led by the rivers of water in a straight way, Isaiah has a similar prophecy, contained in the thirty-second chapter, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth verses: "And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; when it shall hail, coming down on the forests; and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox, and the ass." The prophets foresaw that the gathering place of the saints should be in a section of the country where the rains should not be abundant, and for that reason they would plant beside all waters, that the system of irrigation might be employed to water the crops of the earth, and through this also that grasses and other vegetation might be provided for their domestic animals. It is also an interesting fact that the cities built by the Saints in the valleys, in comparison with the summit of the snow-capped mountains around them, are situated in low places, so that many times when the hail comes down in fury upon the mountain forests above, the city is free from storm.

One feature of the pleasantness which characterizes the Saints of God is their custom, in their mountain homes, of coming together in a social capacity and joining in the dance. In this capacity, as in gatherings of more weighty importance, the old and the young, male and female, mingle together, that parents may rejoice in the innocent recreation of their children and that the children may be under the guiding influence of their parents. Strange as it may seem to the world, even to those professing Christianity and a consequent belief in the Bible, such a condition is in fulfillment of sacred prophecy found in the thirteenth verse of the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah, which reads as follows: "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." This was to be at the time of their getting up into the high mountains, and expressing their praises to the Almighty in the heights of Zion.