There is something remarkable about this gathering. When people accept the Prophet's teachings they get the spirit of gathering, and they have to be restrained from going in too great haste. While a love for kindred and for native country is natural to the human heart, those who receive the truth of this newly revealed Gospel, become filled with the desire to leave all and gather with the Saints. This is a strong proof that the Lord is working upon the hearts of mankind to bring about the fulfillment of His words through the ancient prophets; and it proclaims the divine calling of Joseph Smith.
The Latter-day Saints also believe that the Jews will eventually be gathered to Jerusalem, as has been predicted in past ages. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught this, and took steps toward the accomplishment of that great event.
EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE SAINTS.
After being driven from their homes several times, and enduring all manner of persecution for the sake of their religion, the Latter-day Saints were finally compelled to leave the confines of civilization and seek a home in the unknown wilderness of the western part of America. By divine guidance they were led to the valleys of the Rocky Mountains. Without any knowledge of the country they planted themselves in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in what is now known as the State of Utah. Here in a desolate waste they determined to make their home, notwithstanding the fact that adventurers who were better acquainted with the country, declared that no civilized men could live there.
WORDS OF THE PSALMIST FULFILLED.
The journey of the Latter-day Saints to this their new home, as well as many other events of their experience, appear to be a fulfillment of ancient prophecy. The Psalmist says:
"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." (Psalm 107).
The Latter-day Saints are the only religious body that has been gathered out "from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south." As before stated they are the only people who advocate the doctrine of gathering. When driven, by persecution, from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, they were "redeemed from the hand of the enemy," they "wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way," and they "found no city to dwell in." They experienced hunger and thirst, and "their soul fainted in them." The Lord "led them forth by the right way," for they knew nothing themselves of the place to which they were being led.
Eventually they came to a place designated by the prophet of the Lord as the spot on which to build "a city of habitation." There they established themselves, and through the marvelous blessings of the Lord, the wilderness has been redeemed and the desert made to "blossom as the rose."