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Show CHAPTER XVII SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The White Mountain Expedition was conceived as an a l t e r n a t i v e solution to a difficult problem-How t o keep the gathering of I s r a e l i n t a c t while a h o s t i le army was invading Zion. When Brigham Young f i n a l l y conceded t h a t fighting the army was hopeless, he d e s p e r a t e l y turned toward tbe i n t e r i o r deserts of tbe Great Basin, hoping t o find a refuge for the embattled Saints. For a few anxious weeks in the spring of I858, the one-time a l t e r n a t i v e plan became the hope of s a l vation for the Mormon kingdom of God. The White Mountain expedition proceeded to the southwestern d e s e r t s of Utah T e r r i t o r y , p e n e t r a t i n g deep i n t o unexplored country. Even a f t e r the danger was believed passed, making the establishment of the desert sanctuary unnecessary, the expedition plowed ahead mapping and surveying t h i s vast t e r r a incognita. The White Mountain Expedition can be viewed as an extension of the Mormon doctrine of the g a t h e r i n g . The Mormons believed the millennium was very near. The second coming of Jesus Christ was seen as i n e v i t a b l e within the near future. Central t o these m i l l e n n i a l concepts was the doctrine of the gathering, for it had been prophesied t h a t the Saints must be gathered t o prepare for the coming of Christ. To accomplish t h i s the "elect of God" were t o be gathered out of the world t o a place appointed by God. Here they could be taught the doctrines of the kingdom, becoming s a n c t i f i e d and welded i n t o tbe Zion society wherin Christ could dwell and form the nucleus of His m i l l e n n i a l kingdom. Maintaining i s o l a t i o n from wicked "Babylon" was a standard theme of nineteenth- century Mormonism. Even today it .? v0 »-!„ thP world but not of the world." i t is a common expression in the church t o *»e i n t n e v o r ia 274 |
