IN SEARCH OF "THE BOOK FROM HEAVEN"
by Cecil Abbott

A delegation of four Chiefs, three Nez Perce and one Flathead, came to St. Louis, Missouri in 1831 to see Governor William Clark. Two of them died during their stay, and the survivors took passage up the Missouri the following year on the steamboat, Yellowstone. George Catlin was on board and painted a portrait of the two Indians. Beyond these agreed-upon facts, the story is moot. Interpreters for these seldom-seen tribes in St. Louis were scarce, making understanding difficult. Why did these Indians come from so far away, from west of the Rockies? Historians claim: Probably for better “medicine.”

Historians also claim that: Protestants and Catholics alike, taking the red men's presumed request for religious instruction as a divinely inspired thirst for Christianity, seemed to let their enthusiasm run away with them; in their imaginativeness they likely invented a speech the Indians were too handicapped by language to communicate. Knowing all of this; believing that the historians are wrong; and believing that the words of the Nez Perce chief speak for themselves; here are the words said to Governor William Clark upon their departure:

“I came over the trail of many moons from the setting sun. You were the friend of my fathers who have all gone the long way. I come with one eye partly open, for more light for my people who sit in darkness. I go back with both eyes closed. How can I go back blind to my blind people? I made my way to you with strong arms through many enemies and strange lands that I might carry back much to them. I go back with both arms broken and empty. Two fathers came with us. They were the braves of many winters and wars. We leave them to sleep by your great water and wigwams. They were tired of many moons and their moccasins wore out.

My people sent me to get the white man's Book of Heaven. You took me to where you allow your women to dance, as we do ours, and the Book was not there. You took me to where they worship the Great Spirit with candles and the Book was not there. You showed me the images of the good spirit and the pictures of the good lands beyond, but the Book was not among them to tell us the way. I am going back to the long sad trail to my people in the dark land. You make my feet heavy with gifts and my moccasins will grow old carrying them, yet the Book is not among them. When I tell my poor blind people, after one more snow, in the Big Council, that I did not bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or our young braves. One by one they will rise up and go out in silence. My people will die in darkness, and they will go on the long path to the hunting grounds. No white man will go with them and no white man's Book will make the way plain.”

In looking back at the history of the Restoration and the “First Missionary Trip” to the Indians, I would say that we as Latter Day Saints have much to repent of. It seems obvious to me that the Nez Perce and Flathead tribes received a revelation from the Lord, telling them to go in search of the Book of Heaven.

At the same time, in late October, 1830, the early Restoration church received sections 27 and 31 telling the four missionaries, Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Ziba Peterson and Peter Whitmer to go to the borders of the Lamanites, preach the gospel and establish the church among them. Anyone who is familiar with the story knows that the missionary effort of 1830 failed, with Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt being run out of Indian Territory by the Indian Agent and the Army, under threat of their lives not to return.

My original question was: “Why would the Lord ask those four missionaries to go do a job that was impossible?”  The answer is clear that He (the Lord) would not. Then why did the 1830 Missionary effort fail? The four men didn't do what they were told when they were told to do it. Instead of going straight way to the borders of the Lamanites as they were instructed, Parley P. Pratt wanted to stop at Kirtland, Ohio, to evangelize and baptize 127 people, among them being his mentor, Sydney Rigdon. They spent eight weeks at Kirtland, then another week lost at Cincinnati trying to evangelize everyone there caused them to lose two more weeks near St. Louis because of a severe snowstorm. The 11 weeks lost threw the four missionaries behind schedule and their mission failed because they arrived too late. Permits had already been passed out to the missionaries of other denominations and our men simply didn't have the proper permits allowing them to remain in Indian territory.

I can't help but ask myself what would have happened, had our four missionaries done what they were told and gone straight way to Indian territory and attempted to establish the church among the Tribes. Would the church have been in place when the four chiefs from the Nez Perce and Flathead tribes came through there. You know that the four chiefs had to have come right through what is now the Kansas City-Independence area. They would have followed the Missouri river down, just as they followed it back to go home.

I believe that the four Nez Perce and Flathead Chiefs, would not have had to continue on to St. Louis in search of the "Book of Heaven." And that they would have returned home with both eyes open, full of light and truth, carrying the Book of Mormon to their people. I believe their mission failed because our mission failed. So you can see that we have much to repent of. I only pray that the Lord will allow us a second chance to redeem ourselves; that we may go among the Nez Perce and Flathead and apologize for causing their missionaries trip to fail; and for so many of their people who have gone the long way to the hunting grounds without the “Book of Heaven” to lead their way. Forgive us Lord, for in our ignorance, as a people, we knew not what we had done. Help us Lord now to right those wrongs.