Matthew J. Kane, Romantic Reformer Yale, The Book of Mormon served as a powerful instrument in Parley P. He found in the Book of Mormon both a fulfillment of biblical prophecies and a source of additional prophecies pertaining to the latter days, including a restoration of apostolic authority and spiritual gifts, culminating in a literal Millennium. It also confirmed his belief that the American Indians were a remnant of the House of Israel.
Furthermore, he edited and published the second edition, to which he affixed his own testimony in addition to those of the original witnesses. Early adherents were attracted by the personal influence of Joseph Smith, by the testimony of a missionary, or, like Pratt, by reading the Book of Mormon. But even after these believers were converted, there was no comprehensive statement of beliefs or first principles to which they could refer.
The popularity of A Voice of Warning continued throughout the nineteenth century as it went through numerous editions, was translated into several languages, and sold tens of thousands of copies. The third context is the rhetorical influence of antebellum American oratorical culture. Positing heavenly councils, preembodied spirits, Gods who were once human, and humans who could attain to godhood—these and other doctrines blasted asunder the creedal conceptions of God and humans alike.
Givens and Grow trace this process in substantial detail. In a tract published in , Pratt articulated the doctrines of human perfectability and literal theosis later preached by Joseph Smith in the King Follett Discourse. After some initial resistance, Pratt would become one of the most zealous and vocal defenders of polygamy, not only in voice and pen but through ultimately marrying twelve wives.
It is all the more remarkable that Parley P. Pratt produced his most important intellectual works under the severe duress of persecution, dislocation, imprisonment, and an unremitting, grinding poverty. He was constantly in debt, frequently compelled to depend on gifts and loans for housing, clothing, travel expenses, and even food for his growing family. His poverty was not the product of any incapacity or reluctance to engage in physical labor. This route, which today continues to be the main eastern gateway to the Salt Lake Valley, could have become a profitable franchise, but early in Pratt was called on a mission that took him to California and eventually Chile.
It is possible to grant the validity of these parallels between the ancient and modern Apostles but still find the similarities somewhat strained and unsatisfactory. When the Latter-day Saints were expelled from the state of Missouri in —39, Pratt was arrested because of his participation in a battle against Missourians and spent several months in jail in Richmond and Columbia, Missouri, before escaping and joining the main body of the Saints in Illinois.
Then, in , Pratt and John Taylor led a large wagon company across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley, following the trail blazed by the vanguard company a few months earlier.
Pratt had a vision for establishing the Church across the globe. During the early s, he supervised missionary work in the vast Pacific area of the Church, traveling twice to California and corresponding with missionaries throughout the Pacific.
He traveled to Chile, where he studied Spanish and attempted to share the gospel, becoming, along with his wife Phebe and his companion Rufus Allen, the first missionaries in South America. He wrote to Brigham Young, suggesting that all members of the Quorum of the Twelve learn other languages so that they could take the gospel to the world.
When he returned to California, he taught Spanish to others. A gifted writer, Pratt wrote books, pamphlets, newspaper articles, poetry, and hymns to explain and defend his faith. In he wrote A Voice of Warning, one of the most popular missionary books of the 19th century. As he grew older, he wondered at the discrepancies between biblical teachings and contemporary churches. Desiring to follow God, Parley joined a Baptist church at age 18, though he remained dissatisfied.
The following year the Pratts lost their farm, prompting Parley to move to frontier Ohio, where he envisioned conducting missionary work among Native Americans. Parley shared his religious views with her and asked her to marry him. On September 9, , Parley and Thankful were married. She was ten years older than he. He joined a local Campbellite church where Sidney Rigdon was preacher. The Campbellites sought to restore the practices of New Testament Christianity. Still, he felt uneasy, that the authority to act in God's name was not found in the Campbellite Church.
Pratt decided to also become a preacher and sold his property, feeling that if he dedicated himself to the Lord's service, the Lord would provide for his financial needs.
He and Thankful, with ten dollars to their name, left for New York. He read virtually the entire book in one sitting and was convinced that it was true. He later recalled:. Determined to meet Joseph Smith, Parley traveled to Palmyra, where he instead found Hyrum Smith , who instructed him about the Restoration.
In the Church of Jesus Christ, Parley recognized the authority, simplicity, and purity he had long sought. On September 1, , just five months after the Church was founded, Pratt was baptized by Oliver Cowdery.
He was soon ordained an Elder , then left to visit family. His younger brother Orson Pratt became interested in the Church and was baptized just a short time later on September 19, Orson, too, later became an apostle. In October of , Pratt met the Prophet Joseph Smith and was asked to join a missionary group that was going to teach the Native Americans. On their way west, Pratt visited his old minister, Sidney Rigdon, and was successful in converting Rigdon and members of his congregation to the Church in just three weeks.
With this strong congregation established in Ohio, the Church shifted its headquarters there. He taught many people who would later become leaders of the Church, including his brother Orson Pratt, Frederick G. In , along with his brother Orson, he received a call as one of the original Twelve Apostles. The following spring, Parley—deeply in debt and with Thankful seriously ill—hesitated about serving another mission.
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