“WHERE IS THE WHITE MAN’S BOOK OF HEAVEN?”
In 1831, four Indian chiefs from Idaho made their way over the Rockies and were found on the streets of St. Louis, asking, “Where is the white man’s Book of Heaven?”
General Clark befriended them, took them around the city, where they were shown everything of interest, and they were treated with the utmost kindness. Finally two of the chiefs fell ill and died, and when the remaining Indians were preparing to return to their own tribes, the general gave a feast for them. At the banquet, in a farewell address to General Clark and friends, one of the two Indians poured forth his burden of sorrow in words of pathetic eloquence, as follows:
“I came to you over the trail of many moons from the setting sun. I came with an eye partly open for my people, who sit in great darkness, but 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 through strange lands, that I might carry back to my people much knowledge, for my people sent me to get the white man’s Book of Heaven.
An Indian woman whose attention was attracted and picture taken without her knowledge. Indians are very superstitious and are afraid to have their pictures taken.
“You took me to see many strange things, and to places where you allow your women to dance, as we do not ours, but the Book was not there, and now we are going back the long trail to our people in the dark land. You make my feet heavy with many gifts, and my moccasins will grow old carrying them, but the Book is not among them. What shall I do? Shall my people die in darkness? When I go to them, without the white man’s Book of Heaven, and tell them I could not get it, they will rise up, one by one, and go out, to return no more, for it is for that Book that they have been awaiting my return. How can I return to my people without the Book?”
It is said that the city was searched for a Bible in this man’s language, but there was none to be found, and the Indians went their way. This incident was told in a Methodist Episcopal conference, and an appeal was made for some to carry the Gospel to the Indians. Two young men just starting in the ministry were present, and they arose and said they would go. They married two lovely young women, and loaded an ox-wagon with their belongings and with Bibles translated into the language of the Indians to whom they were going. Many weeks of strenuous travel passed before they reached their destination with the white man’s Book of Heaven.
The first two white women to cross the Rockies were these two young brides, with their husbands. They spent their lives preaching the Gospel to the Indians, hundreds of whom were brought to Jesus through this faithful ministry.
Shall we not learn a great lesson from this story? Shall we not, with all our modern conveniences and greater opportunities, rise up and get the message to the great masses of humanity before Jesus comes?
One time, while preaching to a large crowd of natives in Central America, I told them of the great love of God, and how He had saved us, and put His great love in our hearts which was why we were there to preach to them and tell them of that love. When I finished, an old man arose. He said he was eighty-four years old, and this was the first time he had heard the Gospel. Then he asked, “How long have you people of the United States known of this wonderful love of God?” I answered that we had always known of Jesus, that thousands knew of Him, and were serving Him, and that I had been saved about fifteen years. The old man then asked why, if we had known of this great Savior so long, we had not come sooner to tell his people about Him, for all his relatives had died, and had never heard the Gospel. He continued, “If I had known this Gospel and the wonderful love and power of God to save us from all sin, and if you had known nothing of it, I would have come to you.”
When I began to make preparations to leave their village they held on to my dress and to my arms, begging me not to leave them, with no one to teach them about the Bible, and they would not let me go. Finally I had to pull myself from them and go for my train. As far down the track as I could see, those dear ones were waving and calling me to return to them. Even now I can see those beckoning hands and hear those voices calling, although I am now far away in my homeland.
What? Shall they perish without knowing of God’s great love and of His power and willingness to bless them and lift them up from the awful darkness of sin and idolatry which they are in? I wish my readers might get a peep into the land where the true God is unknown, and where there are no Bibles to guide the people into the right path, I am sure they would give, and so help others, who have been called, to go.