The Lamanites

THE LAMANITES.

[Continued from page 114.]

The writer’s belief is that the personages who are visiting and instructing the Lamanites are those apostles of the Nephites, to whom it was given never to taste of death, but to live to behold the doings of the Father unto the children of men until the coming of Christ in his glory, in the clouds of heaven, when those blessed apostles will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, which means, by comparison, that the transition will be exceedingly quick. These good men had the great desire that they might bring the souls of men to Christ while the world shall stand. This was a very good desire, and the Lord was well pleased with them for having it, and He is not only well pleased with them on that account, but He will also be well pleased with you my readers, if you have it in your hearts to do good to your fellow creatures.

Seeing that the desire to live to bring the souls of men to Christ was granted to those Nephite apostles, is it not reasonable to suppose that they are the ones who are seeking to bring the Lamanites to a knowledge of the Savior? If it be not they, who can it be? For they had the promise of being permitted to do this great work, and it appears that they are being used as instruments in the hands of God in bringing to pass the promises made to the Nephite fathers, that the Lamanites who should live on this land in the latter days should receive the record of their forefathers (the Book of Mormon) and be brought to a knowledge of their Savior. This is bringing souls to Christ.

Since the writer commenced this article regarding the Lamanites he has been enabled to glean some more information on the subject, which he hopes will be as interesting to the general readers of the Instructor as it is to him, to whom it is intensely so, as an important matter connected with the progress and development of the work of God.

It will probably be rememberd by most of the readers that there was some trouble with the Indians of the Uintah Reservation about two years ago, and that, in consequence, General Henry A. Morrow, then commandant at Camp Douglas, held a consultation with them at Springville, in which he was assisted by Elders A.K. Thurber, then Bishop of Spanish Fork, Lyman Weeds, of Springville, and others. The result of the consultation was that several of the leading Indians, or, as they should really be called, Lamanites, went to Washington, to see the President of the United States and other leading men of the nation, that they might lay their grievances before them, with a view to having their condition made better, they being dissatisfied, and probably with good reason, with the Indian agents of the government. After these Indians of the delegation had been to Washington and returned home, one of them related a very curious incident which he said occured to him while there. He told his experience, so the writer is informed on good authority, to Brothers A.K. Thurber, S.P. Davies and A.L. Farnsworth, and the substance of the narrative as told the writer, is to the effect that, while in his room, in a hotel, at Washington, he was visited by a personage, on three different evenings, who conversed with him in a similar strain to what the messengers did who visited Torbuka, as described in the first chapter of this article.

The chief described the visitor as a prison with a very beautiful, bright face, and in every way like a man. His conversation was God-like. He told the chief that it was very wrong to kill people on to steal, and counseled him never to do such things. He also told him about the Book of Mermen being a record of the forefathers of the Indians, and told him that there was still another book about the fathers of the Lamanites that the Lord would reveal, but when it would be brought forth the Lamanites would be a very different people from what they are now. They would be peaceful and industrious and would cultivate the ground like the whites. He also stated that the “Mormons” were the friends of the Indians, and other things of similar purport.

A matter that is coincident with one statement of the Indian regarding what he said the visitor told him about the coming forth of another record, is that the Lord has promised in His due time, when the people are more righteous, to reveal the portion of the plates which were not translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith, but which were sealed, and which are probably still in care of the angel from whom Joseph Smith received the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated; and this was probably the other book or record referred to by the messenger.

[To be continued.]