The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, by Parley P. Pratt, was once a standard in the missionary library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Now, it is simply a great book.#

When Parley was young, he had the following conversation with his father:#

"Father, how is it there is so manifest a difference between the ancient and modern disciples of Jesus Christ and their doctrines? If, for instance, I had lived in the days of the Apostles, and believed in Jesus Christ, and had manifest a wish to become his disciple, Peter or his brethren would have said to me, 'Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.' I should then have known definitely and precisely what to do to be saved. Whereas, now we go to the religious minister for instruction, and he tells us we must experience a mysterious, indefinite and undefinable something called religion before we can repent and be baptized acceptably. But, if we inquire how, or by what means we are to come at this experience, he cannot tell us definitely;..." [p. 24]

When Parley was imprisoned and held on trial for the first time:#

I then observed as follows: "May it please the court, I have one proposal to make for a final settlement of the things that seem to trouble you. It is this: if the witnesses who have given testimony in the case will repent of their false swearing, and the magistrate of his unjust and wicked judgment and of his persecution, blackguardism and abuse, and all kneel down together, we will pray for you, that God might forgive you in these matters." [p. 49]

Parley asks a Baptist minister who does not believe in modern revelation how he became a minister:#

"Why, sir," said he, "I was called by a vocal voice from Heaven."

"Well, Mr. Dotson, there is one exception to your general rule. We come to you with a new revelation, and you reject it, because there can be no new revelation; and yet you profess to have a new revelation, God having spoken from the heavens and called you, and commissioned you to preach eighteen hundred years after the New Testament was written, and all revelation finished! How is this?"

"The New Testament no where calls you by name; neither makes mention of you as a minister of the gospel; but new revelation does, if we are to believe you. And yet you would teach your hearers and us, and all the world, to disbelieve all modern revelation merely because it is new. Consequently, we are all bound by your own rule to reject your call to the ministry, and to believe it is a lie."

He could say no more. [p. 85]

Page 120 starts an amazing blessing given to P. P. Pratt by Oliver Cowdery. It is the first writing of his I've read, and I am incredibly intrigued.#

At Richmond jail, Parley records in more detail the talk that caused Joseph Smith to give his famous rebuke of the guards. [p. 210]#

Parley comments after a temple ritual:#

I had loved before, but I knew not why. But now I loved---with a pureness---an intensity of elevated, exalted feeling, which would lift my soul from the transitory things of this groveling sphere and expand it as the ocean. I felt that God was my heavenly Father indeed; that Jesus was my brother, and that the wife of my bosom was an immortal, eternal companion; a kind ministering angel, given to me as a comfort, and a crown of glory for ever and ever. In short, I could now love with the spirit and with the understanding also. [p. 298]

Parley was an amazing defender of plural marriage.#

It is very interesting that after the Saints moved to Salt Lake, whenever Parley travels he talks about the use of the land he's traveling through for settlement, whereas before he talked about other things.#

When Parley was traveling South America, he wrote an interesting letter to Brigham Young about the need to study languages. Cool! [p. 402]#