CHAPTER XI.
REMOVAL TO OHIO.
The scriptures often speak of a time in the latter days when the people of God shall be gathered together to build up the Lord's kingdom and prepare for his second coming. The gospel should be preached to all the world, and those who would believe should go out from Babylon, or the wicked world, and came together with the people of the Lord. Every elder who has been on a mission will tell you that as soon as persons accept the gospel, a desire comes to them to gather with the main body of the Saints. Thus the Lord puts the spirit of gathering into the hearts of the believers, and his purposes are fulfilled.
The Lord told the prophet Joseph that the time for this gathering had come, and that the central gathering place for the Saints on this land was somewhere in the West, though at first the exact location was not told him.
In December, 1830, the word of the Lord came to Joseph that the Saints should gather to Ohio. This was westward and in the proper direction. The western missionaries had raised up large branches in Ohio, so it was not like going into a new place. The Church was growing steadily, and many revelations were given to the Saints. We might say the Lord was assigning lessons for us, which we have not yet learned very well.
Preparations were made for this removal by holding the third conference of the Church at Fayette and setting its affairs in order.
One day, about the 1st of February, 1831, a sleigh containing two men and two women, drove through the streets of Kirtland, Ohio, and stopped at the door of Gilbert and Whitney's store. One of the men alighted, and springing up the steps, walked into the store where one of the owners was standing.
"Newel K. Whitney, thou art the man!" exclaimed the visitor, extending his hand as to an old friend.
"You have the advantage of me," replied the storekeeper, "I could not call you by name as you have me."