After journeying for just a few days, Aaron reached the City of Jerusalem where his heart inclined him to tarry, there to preach the Gospel. He lost no time in the commencement of his labors, nor did he leave a thing undone which might hasten the day when the glorious message he bore would bring forth its fruits.
Almost immediately, Aaron began to preach to the Amalekites in the synagogues they had erected. It was not an uncommon practice among nearly all the early American peoples to permit strangers the freedom of their pulpits. How long they extended this courtesy, or to what limits they allowed the speaker to go, we do not know. However, often, even before their would-be benefactors could express the particulars of their calling, they would be driven out and made the objects of scorn and abuse. This was the lot of Aaron and his companions.
The first Nephite annals disclose a worthy comment upon the tolerance exhibited by them when they were a struggling people, intent upon serving the Lord. Jacob, who was a brother of Nephi, the leader of the little colony that bore his name, in a sermon recorded upon the Smaller Plates of Nephi, both asks and answers the question herein involved:
Behold, doth He cry unto any, saying: Depart from Me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but He saith: Come unto Me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey without money and without price.
Behold, hath He commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. (II Nephi 26:25-26.)
Not to turn them away, any who sought the sanctuary of the meetinghouses to declare their own beliefs, was a fundamental or sacred right rigidly adhered to by the Nephites. Even Nephite apostates who affiliated themselves with the Lamanites, perpetuated the observance thereof in their various forms of worship. Thus we have the many synagogues the Amalekites had erected, and into which Aaron went to preach. Also, 500 years after, or about 78 B.C., Jacob uttered his never-forgotten words. We read:
And Alma and Amulek went forth preaching repentance to the people in their temples, and in their sanctuaries, and also in their synagogues, which were built after the manner of the Jews.
And as many as would hear their words, unto them they did impart the word of God, without any respect of persons, continually.
At this same time, or thereabouts, Ammon, after finishing the great mission among the Lamanites which the sons of Mosiah had entered upon, in rejoicing because of the Lord's blessings upon their work, said:
And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their synagogues and taught them ... (Alma 26:29.)
We can see and understand the Lord's purpose in Jacob's words when we read His instructions to the Saints in Bountiful:
Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out from among you, but ye shall minister unto him and shall pray for him unto the Father, in My name; and if it so be that he repenteth and is baptized in My name, then shall ye receive him, and shall minister him of My flesh and blood.
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Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto Me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing Salvation unto them. (32.)