Gathering

“ In speaking of the gathering, we mean to be understood, according to scripture, the gathering of the elect of the Lord, out of every nation on earth; and bringing them to the place of the Lord of hosts, where the city of righteousness shall be built, and where the people shall be of one heart and one mind when the Savior comes ”

“ The gathering was too old and seasoned and miscellaneous for any great displays of enthusiasm, but that was its tone, and with an astonishment that somehow became exhilarating it began to resign, repudiate, and declare its intentions. ”

“ At home there may be two gatherings—the one for the young folks and the other for the old folks, but with us the one gathering lasts at least a week, and includes all ages, from the children in arms to the old men and women. ”

“ The picture is homely, we grant you, but it is pleasant, nevertheless, and it would be hard indeed to find a fashionable gathering that contains so little alloy of envy, pain and hypocrisy as this little congregation of rude, unpolished, but kind and open-hearted people. ”

“ Collection, crowd, gathering, group, and multitude have the unorganized and promiscuous character of the assemblage; the other terms come under the general idea of assembly. Congregation is now almost exclusively religious; meeting is often so used, but is less restricted, as we may speak of a meeting of armed men. Gathering refers to a coming together, commonly of numbers, from far and near; as, the gathering of the Scottish clans.
Antonyms: COMPEL. Synonyms:
To compel one to an act is to secure its performance by the use of irresistible physical or moral force. ”

“ This is a great innovation, it is a bold step, and it has resulted in success thus far. It is not now a novelty, or a new and untried experiment, for the gathering of the people together has been going on for forty years and upwards. ”

“ Social Gatherings When men of the same age, disposition and talents, fond of the same diversions and with the same degree of education, sit together in company with public women, [4.13] or in an assembly of citizens, or at the abode of one among themselves, and engage in agreeable discourse with each other, such is called a Sitting in company or a social gathering. The subjects of discourse are to be the completion of verses half composed by others, and the testing the knowledge of one another in the various arts. ”

“ The guests, among whom were hundreds of men learned in various branches of study, often had new and old ideas to communicate to and exchange with each other. The sages of old utilised the occasion of such unique gatherings not merely for the pleasant whiling away of their time but more particularly for the instruction and mutual enlightenment of the guests. ”

“ The recollection of many pleasant hours spent at the Lambs Club recalls other social gatherings which have lightened my life as a man of letters. Of society, strictly so called, I have known but little. A few occasional excursions into the higher realms have come to me accidentally, and my experiences of such more formal gatherings were never of a kind to tempt me to strive with any earnest ambition for those more dignified joys which must, I presume, be highly prized by those who seek them. ”

“ It must be said that at these gatherings many people, who are too busy to pay one another frequent calls, are pleased to have the opportunity of meeting, the men to talk of politics and business, the women of dress, theatres, gossip, or scandals. ”

“ Many years have passed since those days of harmonious gatherings, but we mention them here to draw the comparison between those delightful gatherings of long ago, and our own drawing-rooms and social circles where brilliant men and women gather and converse on topics of immediate interest. ”

“ What an endless variety of interruptions must have been common! all of a kind eminently calculated to stimulate the imagination. Municipal functions, religious festivals with their splendid gatherings and processions, the exciting events of political contest, often carried to the point of actual combat, to say nothing of the frequent Saint's day holidays, enjoyed by the craftsman in jovial social intercourse. ”

“ They must undertake the arrangement of the regular meetings of the friends, the feasts and the anniversaries, as well as the special gatherings designed to serve and promote the social, intellectual and spiritual interests of their fellow-men. ”

“ In the last years of the twelfth century there appeared at festal gatherings persons mostly habited in richly coloured clothing, who delivered invitations to the guests, and, side by side with the stewards, superintended the festivities. ”

“ Hence it follows that our social gatherings consist, to so lamentable an extent, of pert youngsters or faded oldsters. Thence come those abominable "young people's parties," where a score or two or three of boys and girls meet and manage after their own hearts. ”

“ In giving this book to the public we do so under the same plea which justifies those pleasant gatherings called "reunions," where men of the same regiment, corps, or army, meet to extend friendly greetings to each other, to friends, and all comrades in arms. ”

“ We hear of social gatherings, where the wits of the day, the modish painters and dramatists united in brillant "conversazione". They are now forgotten these literary luminaries of those days; even their names, should I enumerate them, would sound meaningless. ”

“ The elders look to it that provisions are made for the gatherings of the young people on Sunday so that they shall 'have a good time,' with due arrangements for the boys and girls to get together under proper conditions for their love-making. ”

“ Aside from the matter of business, the social part of these gatherings is a distinct feature of the society, which serves to keep alive the interest of its members, bringing together congenial friends and giving "new-comers" an opportunity to become acquainted with their neighbors. ”

“ Our people in the country, live too much apart and alone; and besides the direct advantages of these gatherings together, a mutual acquaintance and a kindly feeling would be promoted, which are of scarcely less importance. ”

“ How different from the crowd which one meets in the saloon of fashion, or at a political meeting, or at any other place, where men are accustomed to congregate! Here we are all jostled together, but gently, decorously. ”

“ The advantages of a weekly meeting, for conversation, might be great enough to repay the trouble of attendance, if they consisted only in supplying a point of union to well-educated and thinking women, in a city which, with great pretensions to mental refinement, boasts, at present, nothing of the kind, and where I have heard many, of mature age, wish for some such means of stimulus and cheer, and those younger, for a place where they could state their doubts and difficulties, with a hope of gaining aid from the experience or aspirations of others. ”

“ How brightly their faces are beaming,
These people who make up the crowd!
How they bow, how they bend, how they flutter,
How they look at each other and smile,
How they glow, and what bon mots they utter! ”

“ We are all a crowd of beggars, who were in the broad highway, and have heard the invitation of the King of kings, and have come in in obedience to it. We are now all standing in the outer hall of the eternal banquet, or rather in the banqueting-room itself, waiting for the King to come in, when the music will begin, and all its grandeur be lighted up by His presence. ”

“ It was a favoured season, particularly the last day or closing meeting for public worship, in which the Lord’s presence and power were manifested in an eminent degree, and truth was exalted and a precious solemnity spread over the assembly, con [Pg 326] victing, contriting, and comforting many hearts; to the praise of Him who is calling us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
First day, the 25th. A silent meeting on my part to-day. How comfortable it is to sit silently under the shadow of our own vine and our own fig-tree, where none can make afraid. ”

“ When you enter a drawing-room where there is a party, you salute the lady of the house before speaking to any one else. Even your most intimate friends are enveloped in an opake atmosphere until you have made your bow to your entertainer. [I] You then mix with the company, salute your acquaintances, and join in the conversation. You may converse freely with any person you meet on such an occasion, without the formality of an introduction. ”

“ Let us notice what happens in a public meeting as it develops into a crowd, and see if we can trace some of the steps of the process. Picture a large meeting-hall, fairly well filled with people. Notice first of all what sort of interest it is which as a rule will most easily bring an assemblage of people together. It need not necessarily be a matter of great importance, but it must be something which catches and challenges attention without great effort. ”

“ What an event to them is an evening party! One would think each of the young aspirants to distinction expected to be the centre of a circle, so intense is the interest exhibited by every act of preparation. ”

“ A curious recognition between meeting and passing is bewildering and yet what is it that makes the preparation, it is that, it is the recreation and the law and the spectacle of the electric moon-light and the stars. ”

“ Go into such a prayer meeting, for instance, as you can find in scores of churches in our large cities, where the large numbers present augment the sympathy of each with the common object, where thoughtful, practical, energetic men pour into the common treasury streams of fresh, living thought, where the singing is an inspiration, and say what you will, a man will be stirred and stimulated as he cannot be in the thin assemblies of too many country churches, where the minister is chiefly depended on to give interest to the meeting, where the singing is faint and slow. ”

“ Where we have a horse-race, a barbecue, a whist-party, or a pool at back-gammon, our Yankee brethren have a meeting of some lyceum, or other society for mutual [p. 425] improvement, at which a lecture is given or a debate held, upon some interesting subject, of economy or morals: or an unceremonious evening visit is dedicated to conversation, in which politics engross no unreasonable share. ”

“ Such a banquet and assemblage command the sincere devotion of all present and invite the downpouring of the blessings of God. Therefore, be ye assured and confident that the confirmations of God are descending upon you, the assistance of God will be given unto you, the breaths of the Holy Spirit will quicken you with a new life, the Sun of Reality will shine gloriously upon you, and the fragrant breezes of the rose gardens of divine mercy will waft through the windows of your souls. ”

“ A lady once said to me of a certain gentleman and lady whom she missed from her circle, 'They have been at our house every Wednesday evening for twenty years.' It seems to me that this frequency of meeting is the great secret of agreeable society. ”

“ The Sunday-evening meetings are as attentive and orderly as a church, the week-evening school quiet and studious. All that mass of wild young humanity is kept in perfect order, and brought under a thousand good influences. ”

“ They come together again in the evening, when they have supper and attend to prayers, and spend the remainder of the evening in social conversation or in conversation on business or in arranging their affairs, as the case may be. ”

“ Each lady takes an evening for her receptions, and no one interferes with her arrangements by giving a party on the same night. The individuals of each circle are thus in the habit of being continually in each other's society ”

“ In the New York papers we meet with the verb ‘to concertize,’ which may possibly mean to give a succession of concerts. We remember hearing that process once called ‘going about matinéeing!’ And there is quite as good authority for the one as for the other of these expressions. Another unintelligible phrase, drawn from the same source, is ‘an emergent meeting.’ This word is never used, in modern English, in a concrete sense. We may say an emergent occasion or emergent doubts, but not an emergent candidate or an emergent character. ”

“ If your party is mixed, that is, conversation, dancing, and music are all mingled, remember it is your place to invite a guest to sing or play, and be careful not to offend any amateur performers by forgetting to invite them to favor the company. ”

“ It is rather startling at first when one enters, to find a party of gentlemen and ladies walking about, their heads only above water, and engaged in cheerful conversation. Private baths may be obtained, but the masses prefer passing the hour [528] in society, talking over the affairs of the day and making arrangements for excursions and dinner parties. ”

“ You will see this class of men at meetings, and conventions, both political and religious, without the most distant idea of promoting the objects of the meeting, convention, etc., as the case may be, but with no higher aim than introducing their idea to notice, making the meeting an engine, and men, met under other obligations, and with the ostensible object of the meeting before them, instruments to carry the pet idea on the high road to fame. ”

“ Into a stately banquet hall
⁠Where heroes banqueted;
And it shall all depend therein
⁠Whether you come as slave or lord,
If they acclaim you as their kin
⁠Or spurn you from their board.
So, when the order comes: "Attack!" ”

“ Let us consider the way in which these great forces get to work. I will take the meetings of the Church as my illustration. I am not one who says that the only kind of Friends’ meeting is a meeting for worship. I believe that there are three or four types of Friends’ meetings, in all of which we may have personal responsibility and group fellowship and the spiritual power and guidance of Jesus Christ. ”

“ Even at a small party, the company was a pleasure to behold; the richly varied hues of the assembly in a church or theatre are said to have more than once proved too distracting for our greatest teachers and actors ”