Doctrine and Covenants 32

Doctrine and Covenants 32

Historical Introduction

As excitement surrounding the mission to the Lamanites grew, several new converts expressed interest in accompanying Oliver Cowdery as he led a group to the U.S. border. Among those anxious volunteers were Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson. Several years earlier, before he joined the Church and when he was only nineteen years old, Parley had set out from New York for Ohio with a plan to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the American Indians. Parley later wrote of his desires at this time: “I will win the confidence of the red man; I will learn his language; I will tell him of Jesus; I will read to him the Scriptures; I will teach him the arts of peace; to hate war, to love his neighbor, to fear and love God, and to cultivate the earth. Such were my resolutions.”1

During his travels, Parley became familiar with Sidney Rigdon, a minister associated with the restorationist movement of Alexander Campbell. Campbell’s movement sought to bring back the church of the New Testament in its original purity. Parley became a preacher on behalf of the movement and began to travel and teach others, often accompanied by his wife, Thankful Halsey. In the summer of 1830 Parley and Thankful were traveling on a canal boat near Palmyra when Parley felt a prompting to disembark and travel through the area alone. Soon after, he met with a Baptist deacon who loaned him a copy of the Book of Mormon.

Parley read the book and gained a witness that it was true. He then traveled to Palmyra, enquiring after Joseph Smith; instead he met Hyrum Smith. “We conversed most of the night, during which I unfolded to him much of my experience in seeking after the truth,” Parley later wrote. Hyrum told Parley about the coming forth and translation of the sacred record. As they parted, Hyrum gave Parley a copy of the Book of Mormon to keep for himself. Shortly after speaking with Hyrum, Parley traveled to Fayette, New York, where he met with Oliver Cowdery and other Church members. He was soon baptized and ordained an elder.2

A few weeks later, Parley met Joseph Smith, who received this revelation on behalf of him and Ziba Peterson. Parley later wrote, “A revelation had been given through the mouth of this Prophet, Seer, and Translator, in which Elders Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer Jr., Ziba Peterson, and myself were appointed to go into the wilderness, through the western States, and to the Indian territory. Making arrangements for my wife in the family of the Whitmers, we took leave of our friends and the church late in October, and started out on foot.”3

Historical Introduction, Revelation, October 1830-A [D&C 32]

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

D&C 32:1–3

1 And now concerning my servant Parley P. Pratt, behold, I say unto him that as I live I will that he shall declare my gospel and learn of me, and be meek and lowly of heart.

2 And that which I have appointed unto him is that he shall go with my servants, Oliver Cowdery and Peter Whitmer, Jun., into the wilderness among the Lamanites.

3 And Ziba Peterson also shall go with them; and I myself will go with them and be in their midst; and I am their advocate with the Father, and nothing shall prevail against them.

Parley P. Pratt was among those early converts who were sincerely touched by the teachings of the Book of Mormon. During his travels through the region around Palmyra, he had heard tales “of a book, a STRANGE BOOK, a VERY STRANGE BOOK!” He recalled that when he was loaned a copy and read the book himself, “For the first time, my eyes beheld the ‘BOOK OF MORMON’ that book of books—that record which reveals the antiquities of the ‘New World’ back to the remotest ages, and which unfolds the destiny of its people and the world for all time to come; that Book which contains the fulness of the gospel of a crucified and risen Redeemer; that Book which reveals a lost remnant of Joseph, and which was the principal means, in the hands of God, of directing the entire course of my future life.”

Parley later wrote:

I opened it with eagerness, and read its title page. I then read the testimony of several witnesses in relation to the manner of its being found and translated. After this I commenced its contents by course. I read all day; eating was a burden, I had no desire for food; sleep was a burden when the night came, for I preferred reading to sleep. As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends and knows that he exists. My joy was now full, as it were, and I rejoiced sufficiently to more than pay me for all the sorrows, sacrifices and toils of my life.4

During his lifetime, Parley was instrumental in helping convert a number of important figures, including Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge, and future Church president John Taylor. He was ordained a member of this dispensation’s original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1835. He also authored Voice of Warning (1837) and Key to the Science of Theology (1855), two of the most important missionary and theological texts of the early Church. He suffered a martyr’s death when he was murdered in 1857. According to one observer, his final words were, “I die a firm believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and I wish you to carry this my dying testimony. I know that the Gospel is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Living God. I am dying a martyr to the faith.”5

D&C 32:4–5

4 And they shall give heed to that which is written, and pretend to no other revelation; and they shall pray always that I may unfold the same to their understanding.

5 And they shall give heed unto these words and trifle not, and I will bless them. Amen.

Ziba Peterson was the last of the four missionaries called on the fifteen-hundred-mile journey to the boundary of the United States. Along with the other missionaries, he arrived in Independence, Missouri, in early 1831 and was able to preach briefly to the American Indians. In August 1831 the Lord later chastened him for trying to hide his sins, with a revelation declaring, “Let that which has been bestowed upon Ziba Peterson be taken from him; and let him stand as a member in the church, and labor with his own hands, with the brethren, until he is sufficiently chastened for all his sins; for he confesseth them not, and he thinketh to hide them” (D&C 58:60).

Later in May 1833 Ziba withdrew from the Church, and on June 25, 1833, he was excommunicated. A letter from the First Presidency to Church members in Missouri stated, “We deliver Bro Ziba [Peterson] over to the buffetings of Satan in the name of the Lord, that he may learn not to transgress the commandments of God. We conclude our letter by the usual salutation in token of the new and everlasting covenant.”6

Footnotes

• 1. Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, 2000, 14.
• 2. Autobiography, 2000, 30–39.
• 3. Autobiography, 2000, 49.
• 4. Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, 2000, 30–31.
• 5. cited in Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow, Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism, 2011, 383.
• 6. Letter to Church Leaders in Jackson County, Missouri, 25 June 1833, p. 3, JSP.