Have the Lamanites Jaredite Blood in Their Veins

Have the Lamanites Jaredite Blood in Their Veins By J. M. Sjodahl In explanation of my statement in the Improvement Era, to the effect that the now living Indians may be descendants of Jaredites and Mulekites,* as well as Ne- phiKs and Lamanites, I want to say that in the Book of Ether, chap. 9, we are told that, during a time of famine, in the land of Heth, the cattle belonging to the people fled southward, pursued by "poi- sonous serp.nts, " and that many perished, while some escaped into the land south- ward. This land is said to be Zarahemla. Then, in chap. 10, we read that the people went southward to hunt for food; that is, they went to Zarahemla, where the cattle had gone before them. They must have moved in great numbers, for they even built a city on "the narrow neck of land by the place where the sea divides the land." And they kept the land southward (Zarahemla) for a hunting pre- serve, while the whole land northward was being filled up with inhabitants. (Eth. 10:19-21). Here we are told that the Jaredites filled the whole land northward, and that many went to Zarahemla, the land south- ward. The descendants of these Jaredites undoubtedly mixed with the Mulekites and the descendants of Lehi later, and they all became "Nephites," as that term was used about the time of Christ (Alma 3:11). This seems to me to justify the con- clusion that the now living "Lamanites" have both Jaredite and Mulekite blood in their veins, as well as Nephite and Laman- ite. That these Indians have a large mixture of Nephite blood is clear from Doc. and Cov. 3:16-19, where we read that the plates of the Book of Mormon had been preserved in order that the testimony of the fathers might come to "the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites * * * and the La- manites and tfa: Lemuelites and Ishmael- ites." The present Indians are con- sequently the descendants of all these an- cestors and not only of Laman. Nephi and his sons are, no doubt, well rep- resented. Those who think the Jaredites were all (every individual) exterminated, refer to Ether, Chap. 13. But that chapter does not say so. In verse '20-22 Ether proph- esies that Coriantumr and his household should be destroyed, except himself, unless he repent. It does not say that all the Jaredites everywhere should be destroyed. In the second place, it might be well to remember that the words "destroyed" and "destruction" do not always mean annihilated. If, for instance, an army is "destroyed" it does not always mean that every unit of it is annihilated. An army may be destroyed although most of the soldiers — those who are sick and wound- ed, those who are in captivity, or have deserted, are still alive. A nation may be destroyed as was the Polish nation when its government was broken up and the country divided between Russia, Germany and Austria. That was the "finis Pol- oniae," although the Poles lived and were re-united in a new Poland. The meaning of the word "destroyed" as used in the Book of Mormon and ap- plied to a people, is given in 2 Nephi 25:9, 10, where we read, "And as on,e generation hath been destroyed among the Jews because of iniquity, even so have they been destroyed from generation to generation according to their iniquities." That is tb: true meaning of the word, and in that sense the Jaredites and Ne- phites were destroyed, but not in the sense *See page 978, September Era, 1927.

HAVE LAMANITES JAREDITE BLOOD? 57 that every individual Jaredite and Neph- ite was annihilated. The battle around Cumorah which was the culmination of a long war, in which "two millions of mighty men, and also :heir wives and children perish:d (Eth. 15: I), was fought between the people of Shiz and the people of Coriantumr (Eth. 15: 6) and their respective allies that they had succeeded in enlisting during four years. The soldiers were drawn from "all the face of the land," which I take to mean all the land over which the two rulers reigned, and not from all the American Continents. The Jaredite armies that fought the final, disastrous battle around Cumorah cannot have been exceedingly large, for on the 5 th day of the battle then.' were only 52 men on one side and 69 on the other; and on the 6th day, this modest number was reduced to 32 and 27. It is not probable that such forces represented an exceedingly large area of America or of the Jaredite race, of which the Lord said, before the departure of its ancestors from the shores of the Old World: "I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth, and there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me in thy seed, upon all the face of the earth." (Ether 1:42, 43.) It seems to me that the fulfilment of this promise embraces all the territory which later has been called the land of Zion. The Jaredites must at one time have been very numerous. I'M Thankful I'm thankful, as I view old myths dispelled, And knowledge grow in majesty of being, That from my heavenly Father's bosom welled A love that gave this age of wonder-seeing. I'm thankful to behold man upward winging, Through sun-lit and through star-lit space, his way. And hear, o'er waves of ether, mortals singing. Though they who sing are many miles away. I'm thankful for all things divinely given, That luminate the mind and make it wise: I'm thankful, though my heart must oft be riven, That I another's woe can realize! I'm thankful for increasing power transcending The fables and the fallacies of youth, That years have yielded strength through comprehending, And taught to me the tolerance of truth. Yes, there is much, so much for which I'm thankful. And ever must be while on earth I live. So, at the year's appointed time and season. My thanks, for all the gifts from God, I give. Provo, Utah. Grace Ingles Frost.