The Know

Parley P. Pratt was one of the first apostles called in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was also one of the earliest missionaries, became one of its most articulate advocates, composed several of the first Latter-day Saint hymns, and lived a life devoted to the gospel and Jesus Christ.1 His desire to know the Savior and follow Him was cultivated at an early age, and he had lived his youth in such a way that when he first heard of the Book of Mormon, he was well prepared to wholeheartedly embrace the fullness of the restored gospel.

Parley recalled that when was seven years old, “my mother gave me lessons to read in the scriptures. . . . All this inspired me with love, and with the noblest sentiments ever planted in the bosom of man. . . . I read of Jesus and his Apostles; and O, how I loved them! How I longed to fall at the feet of Jesus; to worship him, or to offer my life for his.”2 Parley was an avid learner and often had “a book at every leisure moment of my life.”3

Furthermore, though his family was religious, they largely did not support one church over another. Parley’s father, Jared, was “sporadic in his own church attendance and committed to no one faith in particular,” and he “imbued his son [Parley] with an openness to genuine religion but a suspicion of clericalism.”4

By 1825, the eighteen-year-old Parley had begun investigating different churches in search for one that taught the gospel as it was found in the New Testament. While he was baptized by the Baptist minister William Scranton, he was still displeased with many of the doctrines in the Baptist faith that he felt were contradictory to the New Testament.5

Eventually, Parley moved to Ohio, where he met Sidney Rigdon, a reformed Baptist preacher and follower of Alexander Campbell.6 Rigdon, along with Campbell, believed in teaching only principles they could establish firmly by the Bible as they sought to restore New Testament Christianity. This had a profound impact on Parley, who wrote, “Here was the ancient gospel in due form. Here were the very principles which I had discovered before; but could find no one to minister in. But still one great link was wanting to complete the chain of the ancient order of things; and that was, the authority to minister in holy things.”7 Despite the lack of priesthood authority that Parley recognized, he and his wife Thankful joined Sidney’s congregation.

In 1830, Parley felt prompted to sell his property and begin preaching in New York. He and Thankful began traveling for Albany, New York, that August with only ten dollars to their name.8 When they reached Rochester, however, “it was plainly manifest by the Spirit . . . [that] I have a work to do in this region of country.”9 In the region, Parley met with a Baptist deacon who told him of a “strange book” that was recently published in Palmyra.10 This deacon let Parley borrow his copy of the Book of Mormon, which Parley eagerly read. Parley would later recall:

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 is true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends and knows 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.11

Parley headed straight for Palmyra, intent on meeting Joseph Smith. When he arrived, he met Hyrum Smith, who told him about the miraculous coming forth of the Book of Mormon and restoration of Christ’s Church and gave him his own copy of the Book of Mormon. Soon thereafter, Parley was baptized by Oliver Cowdery, fully convinced he had finally found the Lord’s church on the earth.

The Why

Shortly after Parley was baptized, he was called on his first mission. The Lord told Parley in a revelation, “As I live I will that he shall declare my gospel and learn of me, and be meek and lowly of heart” (Doctrine and Covenants 32:1). Parley fulfilled this revelation throughout his life until he was murdered while preaching the gospel in 1857.12

When Parley first read from the Book of Mormon, he did not experience a dramatic vision or angelic visitation. Rather, as Parley later testified just a year before he was murdered,

The Spirit of the Lord came upon me, while I read, and enlightened my mind, convinced my judgment, and riveted the truth upon my understanding, so that I knew that the book was true, just as well as man knows the daylight from the dark night, or any other thing that can be implanted in his understanding. I did not know it by any audible voice from heaven, by any ministration of an angel, by any open vision; but I knew it by the spirit of understanding in my heart—by the light that was in me. I knew it was true, because it was light, and had come in fulfillment of the Scriptures; and I bore testimony of its truth to the neighbors that came in during the first day that I was reading it.13

Parley devoted his whole life to the Lord and sought to follow Him from an early age. He had prepared himself to follow the promptings of the Spirit, even when it meant sacrificing almost all his earthly possessions to travel to New York without knowing why. Thus, when he read the Book of Mormon, Parley was well prepared to recognize its truthfulness and feel the Spirit powerfully testify that he had found what he had been looking for most of his life.

The Book of Mormon was and still is a critical tool for missionary work in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It provides a real, tangible witness of the Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith. Much like Alma, who “fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself,” modern readers will have to earnestly seek to know if what they are reading is in fact the word of God (Alma 5:46). By doing so “with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ,” all are able to have the same type of experience that converted Parley P. Pratt to the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ (Moroni 10:4).