# The Evening and the Morning Star, v1n05, editorial matter attributed to W. W. Phelps (editor)
# Date: October 1832 (Independence, Missouri)
# Source: http://www.centerplace.org/history/ems/v1n05.htm (centerplace.org transcription). Pieces: THE TEN TRIBES; THE FAR WEST; TO THE SAINTS IN THE LAND OF ZION, AND ABROAD; FOREIGN NEWS; THE BOOK OF MORONI; SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Notes: unsigned editorials in Phelps-edited issue (confidence medium; 'To Man' June 1832 signed W. W. PHELPS = high); revelations, scripture extracts, reprints, hymns, and others' letters excluded; quoted matter and detected unmarked scripture paragraphs stripped; transcriber bracket-corrections removed (original spelling retained).

[THE TEN TRIBES]

Perhaps some might think, that we ought to embrace the scattering of the twelve tribes in this article, but a moment's reflection will show the propriety of taking the ten lost tribes first. We have a sufficient foundation for the scattering and gathering of Israel in the 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33rd chapters of Deuteronomy:

The division of Israel was foretold by Ahijah the prophet, in the days of Solomon, when he tore the new garment of Jeroboam into twelve pieces, saying, Take thee ten pieces: for thus said the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee. Some time after this, the destiny of the ten tribes was made known, for Jeroboams' wife went to the same prophet to inquire concerning the life of her sick child, and received for answer that it should die, For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. Some where about 250 years after this prophecy was given, it was fulfilled: Shalmaneser king of Assyria made Hoshea, king of Israel, tributary, and soon after, finding conspiracy in him, he took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets.-So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. This is the captivity of Jacob or Israel, and it happened 124 years before the Babylonish captivity of the tribe of Judah. Ezekiel speaking of the whole captivity, says, Thus said the Lord God, I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant upon a high mountain and eminent: In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it.

The highest branch of the high cedar, is Israel, for Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure: For they are gone up to Assyria, A WILD ASS ALONE BY HIMSELF. Having thus traced Israel to Assyria, where he is figuratively declared by Hosea, to be a wild ass alone by himself, and where he has remained in complete obscurity from the world, 2556 years, let us consider what else is to become of him. The Savior declares that he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and in another place he says: And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. These words admit of no cavil or supposition; if the Savior came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and declared that he had other sheep besides the Jews at Jerusalem, we believe him; let us then take his words to the Nephites as recorded in the Book of Mormon:

While quoting the Book of Mormon let us take a small extract from the parable of the Lord's vineyard, where it is likened unto a tame olive tree, viz:

Here we have a clue to the place where Israel is; for while standing upon the centre of the earth, it would be perfectly natural to call the north, south, east, and west, nethermost, or lowest; and as this branch was the first that the Lord had hid, it would evidently mean the ten tribes as they were the first carried away. Again, when the Lord begins to call home his branches that were hid about in the lower parts of his vineyard, he says to the north first, Give up.-The world has been troubled a good deal to find Israel and to get to the north pole, and to search out the Northern Lights, but when the Lord shall utter his voice out of Zion, and shall speak from Jerusalem; and his voice shall be heard among all people; and it shall be as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, which shall break down the mountains, and the valleys shall not be found, he shall command the great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land; and the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided,-the saints will know how much further the wisdom of God extends on earth, than the knowledge of men.

come and sing in the height of Zion, for it shall come to pass, as the Lord hath watched over them to pluck them up for their iniquity, so also will the Lord watch over them to build them up and to plant them, for good.

We have already brought evidence enough to convince an unprejudiced mind how the ten tribes were scattered; where they went to, and how they will be gathered, but to make the subject still plainer, we add a few more extracts. Firstly, Esdras, (who it may be perceived, by comparing the first chapter of his second book, with the 7th chapter of Ezra, was Ezra, as near as the Hebrew and Greek languages can be defined,) gives this full, and, fair account of the ten tribes.

This plain unvarnished history of the ten tribes, shows itself to be true as much as the account of the creation in the first chapter of Genesis, and for all that has as yet appeared to the contrary, is as much the word of the Lord. Not to quote a tenth part of the prophets in relation to this subject, (for the last paragraph ought to convince the world where Israel went, and when he will return,) we turn to the Savior's parable of the Gentiles and Jacob, which, while it alludes to the whole house of Israel, is so plain that it makes one's heart leap for joy, when he reads it in the spirit of God.

And he said, A certain man had two sons:

Here we have a plain parable of the Gentiles for the elder son, and Israel for the younger son; or, in other words, Esau, and Jacob: For it is written, that Esau is the end of the world, and Jacob is the beginning of it that follows, for when they were born, Jacob's hand held first the heel of Esau. It has been often remarked, that the Two Sons was one of the greatest parables of our Savior, and true it was: For when the younger son came to himself, and said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, who can mistake our day? who, with the love of Jesus Christ in his heart, can view the thousands of meeting houses, chapels, temples and churches, thronged with men, eager to preach; and witness the missionaries sending some to India, some to Africa, some to New Holland, some to one place and some to another; printing the bible in every tongue and language, and blending almost every means on earth with religion,-can mistake the day in which this parable is fulfilled? No one that is lead by the spirit of the Lord. Pardon us, beloved reader! for quoting the parable of the Two Sons, as touching the ten tribes: the allusion is so great; the figure so strong; the reality so true; the language so melting; and the application so merciful, so heavenly and so tender, that we could not omit it, when the Lord left us welcome to it.

Elijah was translated to paradise in a chariot of fire, and Malachi says he shall return before the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers. Now the Savior said he is come already, but the Jews knew it not, so he did not turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the following extract from Ecclesiasticus , chap. 48th, shows that Elijah, as he is called in Hebrew, and Elias in Greek, will yet come and restore the tribes of Jacob:

Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp. He brought a sore famine upon them, and by his zeal he diminished their number.-By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and also three times brought down fire.

We have said enough on so plain a subject, and, will therefore, leave the reader to search for himself, and know for himself:

[THE FAR WEST]

The far west, as the section of country from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains may justly be styled, is not only distant from the Atlantic States, but different. Its principle river, running rapidly from the 48th to the 39th degree of north latitude, is always rily, always wearing away its banks and always making new channels: It is rightly named Missouri; for in plain English, it looks like the waters of misery,-or troubled water:-even as the sea which the prophet said, Casts up mire and dirt. With the exception of the skirts of timber upon the streams of water, this region of country is one continued field, or prairie, (as the French have it, meaning meadows,) and their is something ancient as well as grand about it, too; for while the eye takes in a large scope of clear field, or extensive plains, decorated with here and there a patch of timber, like the orchards which beautify the farms in the east, the mind goes back to the day, when the Jaredites were in their glory upon this choice land above all others, and comes on till they, and even the Nephites, were destroyed for their wickedness: Here pause and look to the east, and read the words of the prophet: Wo to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.-The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: and the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

To return: this beautiful region of country is now mostly, excepting Arkansas and Missouri, the land of Joseph or the Indians, as they are called, and embraces three fine climates: First, like that of New-York; second, like Missouri, neither northern nor southern; and third, like the Carolinas. This place may be called the centre of America; it being about an equal distance from Maine, to Nootka sound; and from the gulf of St. Lawrence to the gulf of California; yea, and about the middle of the continent from cape Horn, south, to the head land at Baffin's Bay, north. The world will never value the land of Desolation, as it is called in the book of Mormon, for any thing more than hunting ground, for want of timber and mill-seats: The Lord to the contrary notwithstanding, declares it to be the land of Zion which is the land of Joseph, blessed by him, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together from the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

When we consider that the land of Missouri is the land where the saints of the living God are to be gathered together and sanctified for the second coming of the Lord Jesus, we cannot help exclaiming with the prophet, O land be glad! and O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord:

But, reader, stop and pause at the greatness of God; and remember that even Moses, when on the top of Pisgah, lifted up his eyes and looked westward first, to view the promised land.

[TO THE SAINTS IN THE LAND OF ZION, AND ABROAD]

The Lord chastens them that he loves, and blesses such as keep his commandments. Let us, then, entreat the disciples of the Lord and Savior, to beware of breaking his commandments: Keep them that the world may profit by example. Bring not a reproach upon your Redeemer's cause and kingdom. When vain members transgress, the world stigmatises the whole body, and the innocent suffer wrongfully. Illegal acts and foolish moves pain the sincere. God judges the righteous, and he is angry with the foolish virgins among them, every day.

Brethren in the Lord, good advise is like springs in the wilderness; you may drink at one and drink at another, and pure water always tastes agreeable. Never plan your business on Saturday so that it might interfere with the solemn duties of the Sabbath, for the Lord will not hold you guiltless if you do. His sacred command is: Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The Lord is not well pleased with the disciple that does any thing on that holy day that should be done on laboring day. Nor should a disciple go to meeting one Sabbath here, and another there; let all that can, be strict to attend meeting in their own place, (and let those elders who are faithful, visit the several churches from time to time, instructing them in the knowledge of the truth and in the peaceable things of the kingdom,) that they may surround the sacrament table of the Lord, with a pure heart, as an earnest, that they are at peace with their brethren, and in favor with him whose still, small voice, whispers: Thy sins are forgiven thee. Neither should the children be allowed to slip off and play, rather than meet where they may be trained up in the way they should go to be saved. We are the children of God, and let us not put off his law. When a saint works on the Sabbath, the world can reply: So do we. When the saints travel to do business on the Sabbath, the world can reply: So do we. When the saints go from one meeting to another to see and be seen, the world can reply: So do we. When the children of the saints play on the Sabbath, the world can reply: So do ours. Brethren, watch, that you may enter into the Lord's sacred rest.

[FOREIGN NEWS]

Many of our readers, especially in the land of Zion, may be disappointed because we present them with very little foreign news. Should any thing transpire abroad, more than ordinary, it shall be noticed, but, as we are calculating to make our weekly paper worthy of patronage, and a vehicle of the news of the day, in the course of next year, permit us to say, that the Star, hereafter, will contain more matter for the edification and benefit of the soul, to obtain a glorious resurrection; the gathering of Israel, and whomsoever wishes for godliness, than any thing else:-Therefore, let Caesar have his own, and the Lord his own, for we cannot serve God and mammon, although we make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness.

[THE BOOK OF MORONI]

Every well-wisher to the cause of religion, every soul that is possessed of the least spark of divine love, and every disciple that ever had the Spirit of Christ move him to do good, must bear record of the truth of Moroni's last epistle to the Lamanites. He touches the continuation of the gifts according to the promise of the Savior, so truly; and of their being done away for want of faith, so exactly, according to the unbelief of the world now, that we copy it into the Star, as a fair sample of purity: yea, as a guide by which the world may inquire of the Lord and know of a truth, that these things are so.

Now I Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good; and I write unto my brethren, the Lamanites; and I would that they should know that more than four hundred and twenty years has passed away, since the sign was given of the coming of Christ.

[SIGNS OF THE TIMES]

Our reader will expect from us, some of the signs of the times; and, as watchmen that would strive to be approved in all things before the Lord, we will try to collect a few of the many, and lay them before the world. It is a day of strange appearances to them that are without the true knowledge of God. That the watchful might not be deceived, the Lord while speaking of wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon, by the mouth of Jeremiah, s

To begin: An eastern paper thus peaks of Europe:-Austria has an immense army in the field. Russia an immense force ready to march upon the Rhine, and a fleet of 42 sail ready for sea! Belgium and Holland are both armed for battle. England has a large squadron, for practice, in the north seas. A large number of National Guards has been called out in France, to form a new army. The Emperor of Russia says Christmas dinners will be eaten by some people with long faces. A Napoleonite has said there will be another march to Paris. Lord Durham has gone to Copenhagen to gain the Alliance of the Danes. The Dutch ambassador has very unexpectedly left England, and Joseph Bonaparte has suddenly departed for that country; the Grey ministry are evidently out of favor with the court, and the French ministry are about adopting Soult's project of moving the French army toward the frontiers.

Such is the prospect of affairs in the East, upon rumor, and our own country is not exactly in a state of peace; for besides the Indian war, which has been a source of considerable trouble upon the frontiers of Illinois, there is raging, to an alarming extent, a war of opinion for political power and party continuance. Our politics are wild. Mark that, our politics are wild! The extremes to which men resort to obtain office, in any present party, is certainly barren of that honor and honesty which produced the exalted privilege. It is said to be an enlightened day and age, but the depravity of the times would argue a state of wickedness similar to that which brought the flood. The United State boasts of the freest constitution, and the happiest government, in the world, but if the county prisons and state penitentiaries, may number their citizens of affliction and crime, especially for the last four or five years, without reference to the many murderers that have filled a large share of the chapter of atrocities, and the keen revenge that has been practiced between freemasons and their opponents:-they might as well fall to the dust, with the other crumbling nations of the earth, and cry, unclean! unclean!

Again: Are they free from censure, that pretend to worship God? Is there not something strange, or, at least, a falling away from the ancient order of divine things? In the days of Christ and the apostles, religion was preached and practiced for the sake of eternal life in the world to come: But now religion is preached and practiced for the sake of this present world and the things that are in it. Christ said: Follow me, but now the language is: Follow ME! Christ asked no aid of the governments of the earth to spread the gospel. He rendered to Caesar his own, and to God his own. Now nearly all denominations are eager to obtain converts for temperance societies, and bible societies, when a large portion of these proselytes are unbelieving, and probably die so, with a full knowledge that Christ said, except a man be born again he can not enter into the kingdom of God. When no such societies existed, we were at war for our liberty and the blessings that have resulted from it, and it has been told us that our ancestors prayed to the Lord, for assistance, and he granted it, and we believe it, for it is thus recorded in the Book of Mormon:

As to so many appendaged societies to the gospel, we must say, that neither the Savior, nor his apostles, nor the Scriptures, have taught any thing more necessary, than to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus, and be baptized for the remission of sins; to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; and continue faithful to the end, to inherit eternal life. Camp-meetings and protracted meetings, like the wind that blows before a storm, seem to increase, as the judgments of the Almighty are sent forth to purify the world. Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord, is a command from the most High, but when we observe, ministers and members, among almost every sect upon the globe, not only mingling in all the political rancor, and crowding themselves into the contentions and broils of the day; not only engaged in nearly every speculation that the love of money urges the avaricious into, but, as often as the world that lays no claim to goodness, found guilty of every crime that disgraces the human family, they might, with all them that pestilence is hurrying to their long home, shrink from their greatness, and cry: God be merciful to us sinners!

Such are the signs of the times, from the king upon the throne to the beggar upon his knees.-Such is the commotion of the world; her pain has begun, and trouble succeeds trouble, as wave follows wave upon the ocean. Instead of the good old times, when men would inquire of the Lord on all great matters, and pray to the Lord when trials come, the faithless days have arrived when the majority of men seek for Public Opinion, whether it comes from wise men or fools; from the moral or wicked. All flesh in the world seems to trust in an arm of flesh, even while the Lord is feeding the inhabitants with judgments. From the east comes a rumor; from the west comes a rumor; from the north comes a rumor, from the south comes a rumor, while the Lord is sending forth judgment unto victory, among the nations, great are the times with events, for this generation: And while the solemnities of eternity are thus bursting upon our minds, we do humbly beseech the disciples, the wicked, yea, all flesh, to watch, for the signs in heaven, and the signs on earth, like the hand writing upon the wall of Belshazzar, declare that the world has been weighed in the balances, and is found wanting.

The set time to favor Zion, is come; and when the righteous are gathered, the wicked will be cutoff, for the earth must rest from sin.

