Whence Came The 
 Red Man? 
 
 
University of California Berkeley 
 
 GOD, the Great Spirit, is the maker 
 and keeper of all nations. He has 
 revealed himself to all peoples and 
 has left his witness among them. The 
 Indians have a history that tells how 
 God first brought their fathers to 
 America, and how his son visited them 
 and taught them the true religion, and 
 this story was written on plates of gold 
 and preserved for the Indians of today. 
 The Book of Mormon is that history. 
 Will you read it's story? 
 
The True Story of the Indians. 
 
 The Indians are of the Chosen Seed of Israel. The 
 promises of God are rich in their behalf, and he has 
 not left them without a witness of his love nor with- 
 out a record of their past. His watchcare has been 
 over them since time began and he purposes yet to do 
 a mighty work among them. The story of the Indian 
 forefathers is on this wise: 
 
 Long centuries ago, many generations before the 
 white man discovered the shores of America, God led 
 a good man named Lehi, and his four sons and their 
 families, out and away from the great and wicked 
 city of Jerusalem which he was about to destroy, and 
 promised to take them to a new land. God loved 
 Lehi for his righteousness, and he determined to 
 preserve this man and his family, and of Lehi's four 
 sons and their children he said that he would raise up 
 a great nation of people. 
 
 Lehi and his four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Nephi, and 
 Sam, together with their families, traveled many 
 days by land through the wilderness and at length 
 came to the shores of many waters. Here God told 
 them how to build a ship, and out of trees and logs 
 they built a ship of most curious design. It was so 
 
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shaped that it would ride the water in all kinds of 
 weather, and no waves could enter it, even in time of 
 storm. When this wonderful boat was completed, 
 Lehi and his four sons and their families started out, 
 and for many days the Great Spirit caused a wind to 
 blow over the waters and this wind carried the ship 
 steadily forward until the shores of America were 
 reached. 
 
 America was then an uninhabited land. In all the 
 regions north and south ro man was present and all 
 was a great wild. Lehi and his four sons set to work 
 with all their strength to tame this wilderness, and 
 they dug into the mountains for ore and planted seed 
 in the ground for food. They multiplied rapidly and 
 in a few generations they had grown into a large 
 nation of people. They spread out in all directions 
 and built great cities and towns, the ruins of which 
 may be seen to-day. 
 
 Thus it went on for six hundred years, and then 
 one day a great cloud came over the face of the sun ; 
 it became dark at mid-day and in that darkness no 
 man could see his hand. The earth shook as in the 
 grasp of a giant, and where valleys had been, moun- 
 tains were raised, and where great cities had stood, 
 water came and buried them many fathoms deep. All 
 nature groaned out in suffering, for the Son of God 
 had been slain in Jerusalem and his body had been 
 nailed to the cross. 
 
President Frederick M. Smith. 
 
 This is the prophet and leader of the church. 
 Many of the Indians know him well. He has 
 spent much time among them and has great 
 faith in the future of the Indian people. 
 
The people of this land were in a great terror and 
 knew not what to do, when suddenly there came a 
 great light again and Jesus stood in their midst and 
 walked and talked with them and quited their fears. 
 He told them that they were "the other sheep of his 
 fold" of which he had spoken, and he told them he 
 had come among them to bless and help them. 
 
 Thus he talked, and he chose from among them 
 twelve men and made them apostles, and others he 
 chose to be elders among them, and he built his 
 church as he had done at Jerusalem, and when he 
 had finished his work he ascended up into heaven 
 and in his place left the Comforter or the Spirit of 
 peace to dwell with them. Before he left he promised 
 that he would always remember them, and that even 
 though they might wander from his path, he would 
 one day return and that they should have a part in 
 building up his beautiful city of Zion in the last days. 
 
 That was nearly nineteen hundred years ago, but 
 all these facts were written on tablets of gold and 
 the history was handed on from father to son. For 
 many years the people remembered the gentle teach- 
 ings of the Son of God and all lived together in peace, 
 prospering greatly, but at last they divided into two 
 great camps and began to quarrel bitterly among 
 themselves. Part of them became the color of fine 
 copper and the red brethren fought against the 
 white. Finally the white brethren so far forgot the 
 
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Joseph Smith. 
 
 God chose this young man to restore the 
 history of the Indians. He translated the 
 gold plates of the Book of Mormon and or- 
 ganized the true church. A mob killed him in 
 1844. 
 
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 In the pages of this book the Indian will find 
 the true story of his past. He should read it. 
 
good teachings that God permitted them to be 
 destroyed. The last white man of them all was com- 
 manded to take the plates of gold on which the 
 history was written and make a stone box in a hill- 
 side and then bury the plates deep away. God said 
 then that in a future time he would reveal this hid- 
 ing place, and that this record should come forth that 
 the red man might know from whence he cam 3, and 
 that he might realize that God had not forgotten him 
 nor loved him less than his brethren. 
 
 Time went on for many centuries and the red man 
 forgot much of his learning. He divided into many 
 tribes and learned to speak in different tongues. He 
 was free and happy until in 1492 the white man came 
 from Spain, and from that time on the red man was 
 driven from place to place, and his land was taken 
 by strangers. 
 
 It was then that God again remembered the red 
 man. He raised up a young boy in the State of New 
 York and led him to a great hill and on that hill 
 showed him a spot in which to dig. That young man 
 was Joseph Smith, and the stone box he found was 
 the one hidden there many years before. In this 
 box the gold plates were preserved and the Great 
 Spirit commanded the young man that he should 
 take them and by using a wonderful pair of glasses 
 called the Urim and Thummim he would be able to 
 
Apostle Gomer T. Griffiths. 
 
 President Smith appointed this good man to 
 see that the gospel is taught to the Indian. He 
 will have charge of the work among them, and 
 will devote his life ministering to them. 
 
read and translate the plates. This the young man 
 did and the book he translated and published was 
 the Book of Mormon, the history of the Indians. He 
 was commanded to establish God's Church again 
 among men, and the same Comforter that was with 
 the Indian fathers was promised to the members of 
 the true church which he should establish. 
 
 The preachers who worked for their salaries fought 
 the New Church bitterly and finally Joseph Smith, 
 the prophet, was killed, but the church prospered 
 just the same and to-day it has over one hundred 
 thousand members. It is organized just the same as 
 Christ's Church in the early days of America and at 
 Jerusalem. It has a prophet through whom the Lord 
 speaks to his people; it has twelve apostles, one of 
 whom is now going to spend his life among the 
 Indians; it has elders who have power to baptize, 
 power to confer the Comforter by laying on hands, 
 and the power to heal by anointing with oil; it has 
 priests, teachers, and deacons as anciently. This 
 church teaches that all men should have faith in God, 
 the Great Spirit; that they should be baptized in 
 water so that their sins might be forgiven; that 
 they should receive the Comforter; and that finally 
 when they die they will be raised again to a life that 
 never ends. 
 
 All this the Book of Mormon teaches very plainly. 
 It tells the same truths as the Bible and the two 
 
 10 
 
books, one of the Indians and the other of the Jews, 
 testify of Jesus the Son of God. 
 
 The REORGANIZED CHURCH OF JESUS 
 CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS brings the 
 Book of Mormon and restores it to the Indians. Its 
 missionaries come to tell the Indians the story of 
 their past. They come to bring the Indian that 
 Comforter, in which the Indian and his forefathers 
 have always believed. 
 
 Frederick M. Smith, president and chief man of 
 the Church, has great faith in the future of the 
 Indian. He has spent much time among them; he 
 has visited in their homes and they have eaten many 
 times in his. This year he is sending many good men 
 among them and wants his people to be friends and 
 brethren to them all. 
 
 The Great Father will soon send his Son, Jesus, to 
 live again among men. Before that time a great city 
 of Zion. or the place of refuge in time of danger, will 
 be built. The Red Men will take a great part in the 
 Church of God. A place of safety for him will be 
 prepared along with his white brethren, and even 
 now many Indians are helping in the Great Cause. 
 Many already are elders and members of the church. 
 May the Great Comforter always abide with his 
 children, and may he bless and help them all. 
 
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Published under supervision of the 
 Publicity Department 
 
 Printed by 
 
 Ensign Publishing House 
 Independence, Missouri 
 1920