Gathering Israel
Ezekiel 37
John Corrill
(1794-aft.1863)
A Brief History of the Church
(St. Louis: self-published, 1839)
The work of the gathering Israel
On searching the Scriptures, I found that much was said on the subject, though it was little noticed generally. The thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel speaks very clearly; but it is too lengthy to quote here. Suffice it to say, that it promises to gather the Israelites from every place where they have been scattered; and that they and their children and their children’s children shall inherit the land of Israel forever. Isaiah, 2: 2, 3, and Mich. 4:1, 2, make similar promises. Isaiah, 11:11, 16, also speaks of the same, together with the promises of working great miracles for their safe return, such as drying the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and smiting the river (Nile) in the seven streams thereof, and casting up a highway as it was to Israel in the days that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
When, how, where, and by whom shall this great work be accomplished, unless God calls, qualifies, and sends forth men endowed with power to do it; for the house of Israel is scattered to all parts of the earth, and who shall know who they are, and where to find them, and how to gather them, unless God reveals it to, and send them for that purpose? But this he has promised to do; for Jeremiah says that the Lord will send many fishers, and many hunters, and they shall fish them and hunt them from every mountain and hill, and from the holes of the rocks in every land, whither they have been driven, and bring them again into the land that he gave to their fathers. — (Jer. 16:14, 16.) Not only is the house of Israel to be gathered; but God hath purposed in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he will gather all things whether in heaven or in earth. — Eph. 1:9, 10.
Thence, after considering all these scriptural declarations, and many others that might be named, I came to the conclusion that it was not unreasonable to believe that there was to be a gathering in the last days.
John Corrill
(1794-aft.1863)
A Brief History of the Church
(St. Louis: self-published, 1839)