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Preface

In 1830, Parley P. Pratt, a young traveling preacher from Ohio, proclaimed to the inhabitants of western New York that God's authority was not upon the earth and that there was a need to restore the primitive purity of the New Testament Church. As he unfolded his message of concern, an old Baptist deacon told him that a "very strange book" had recently been published. This book, he added, is "purported to have been originally written on plates either of gold or brass, by a branch of the tribes of Israel; and to have been discovered and translated by a young man who lived near Palmyra, New York."

"How or where may I obtain this book?" Parley enquired.

"If you return tomorrow," the Baptist responded in essence, "I shall have a copy available."

The next morning, Parley P. Pratt returned to the deacon's home where he was given a book entitled, "The Book of Mormon." "I opened it with eagerness," Parley recalled, "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 . . . as a man comprehends and knows that he exists. My joy was now full."

After receiving a witness that this book contained "the fulness of the gospel of a crucified and risen Redeemer," Parley P. Pratt traveled to Palmyra to seek more information about the coming forth of this ancient record. From there, he was directed to a farm located in Manchester, a few miles south of Palmyra, where Parley met Hyrum Smith, brother of Joseph Smith the latter-day prophet. Hyrum told him the particulars of the discovery of the record, its translation, the restoration of God's authority, and the organization of Christ's church in the latter-days.

"After duly weighing the whole matter in mind," Parley declared, "I saw clearly that these things were true." Believing in the reality of the restoration and in the authenticity of a book that was a new witness for Christ, the itinerant from Ohio sought baptism and joined the restored Church which had recently been organized.

The strange book that had been given to Parley P. Pratt by a Baptist deacon changed the life of this restorationist. "This discovery," he testified, greatly enlarged "his heart and filled his soul with joy and gladness." He declared that the information contained in the Book of Mormon was more precious than all the riches of the world. "Yes," he concluded, "I would not at that time have exchanged the knowledge I then possessed, for a legal title to all the beautiful farms, houses, villages and property which passed in review before me, on my journey through one of the most flourishing settlements of western New York."