Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-11-29
THE RED MESSIAH.

There IS a striking similarity in the
 Indian claims of the coming of their
 Messiah, and those of the birth of our
 Christ. It is striking in respect to the
 divinity with which both have been sur
 rounded; the miraculous powers; and
 the attendant circumstances. To the
 Indian mind, their prophet who is said
 to have appeared to large gathering of
 the chosen ones on the peaceful shores
 of Walker Lake in Nevada. performed
 miracles as wonderful as did the Christ
 ian Master when he raised the
 daughter of Jarius and turned water in
 to wine for the bride of Cana. There Is
 a striking similarity in the report athat
 the red Messiah broke an acorn ard i'd
 the gathered representatives o- .--
 tribes to that of the Galilean who brake
 the loaves and fishes for the multitudes.
 Christ appeared to the Hebrew at a
 time when they were torn and disrupt
 by civil factions; fallen from the holy
 ways of the patriarchs and the divine commands of the prophets; reduced by
 the strong shand of outside oppression
 and sorely in need of a leader. So too, with the Indian Messiah. The whites have been to this unhappy race what the Chaldeans and the PeIsians, Baby- lOnians and Romans were to the Ancient of Israel. They have reached that page in their national existence when a few more turns will reach the end Ii is natural that they should look, as GId the Jews with more faith and zeai than wisdom toward anything which prCmls- es them betterment of an abject con- dition.
 When.Christ came, the chief priests and elders said he was an impOster and that the savior of Gods chosen people would come as great King and warrior to wrestle with the romans and enter up- on career of conquest. But John the Baptist came crying out of the wilder ness that he was a man of peace and | the kingdom which he would rule was not temporal but spiritual. So Sitting Bull, Gall and some of the more ram pant heads of the northern tribes refuse | to believe the theory preached by Chief | Porcupine (the forrunner and Indian John the Baptist) that the new Messiah | comes as man of peace not of war. It is | fn fhair dac1ra Ar TD,r-.- of old could not comprehend a King in the lowly attitude of riding on an ass neither can these sexpecta1ts un-er stand leader who advocates peace and | brothe-l ly love.
 The Indian Messiah claims to be crucitied and shows scares On his wrists. Of course he is either an Imposter CT daft. From the early missionaries he has learned much of the biblical story of | Christ, his mission and death. UucDn 5ciously the Indians have absorbed these doctrines, changing and expanding to suit their surroundings and limited comprehension. And then as q legit mate outgrowth of pershng condition they have been forced to seek some sup powers to aid in what the ns- 5ural has failed.
 A few weeks will pass and the ReJ Messiah will fail to materialize. The shades of departed ancestors will not return from the happy hunting ground The myriads of buffalo, which were to recover the plains will not appear. Then the Indians will re- alize their deception. and their dreams will vanish in thin air. Throughout, there is striking resemblance to the fife of Christ, but the end viii ye far than the scene which ripensd under the procurator Pontius Filate