Apostle Parley. P. Pratt has been called the “Apostle Paul of Mormonism” for a very good reason. He was one of the earliest and most influential converts in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pratt’s most recent biographer, Dr. Terryl Givens, has said that , “after Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the most influential figure in shaping early Mormon history, culture, and theology.” Dr. Robert Paul, in an article that touches upon how Elder Pratt’s ideas have continued to influence common Latter-day Saint theology and beliefs, said that Elder Pratt was, “with the exception of Joseph Smith,” one of “the most significant Mormon thinkers to emerge” during the early days of the church. As a missionary and theologian, Elder Pratt has had one of the largest and most permanent influences on Latter-day Saint thought in all of church history. We are all, in one way or another, the heirs of his inspiration and intelligence.
Between 1839 and 1842, Elder Pratt served a mission to England and it was during this mission that he wrote the following letter to Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of England on May 28, 1841. The letter was later printed in The Improvement Era in 1901, which gives a history of how they obtained and authenticated their copy. It is The Improvement Era’s printing of the letter which I reproduce below. It was probably Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 that motivated the Era’s editors to print the letter.
As a somewhat forgotten classic of Latter-day Saint history it is well worth reading. To give a brief sketch of the letter, Elder Pratt begins by talking about a coming “revolution” that will totally transform all of human life and which has been looked upon by the angels of Heaven with great excitement. He then digs into the Book of Daniel and explains the meaning of the prophet’s visions of the Last Days, including giving a detailed interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the “Great Image” with a head of gold, a breast and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet made of iron and clay that is destroyed by as stone cut out of the mountains without hands which then fills the whole Earth. Then calling upon other scriptures, Elder Pratt explains how all the kingdoms of the world will be destroyed in the Last Days and be replaced by the Kingdom of God.
This great revolution, Elder Pratt teaches, will be started by a time of restoration, when truths lost from the Earth will be restored by the power of God. Then, he explains how this restoration has already begun and explains the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, quotes form it prophecies form the Last Days, and then issues a stark warning not only to Victoria but all of the British Empire. The Restoration has begun, the revolution that will establish the Kingdom of God is already spreading throughout the Earth, and if Victoria and the leaders of the Empire do not repent of their wicked ways and convert to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ then they and everything they have ever worked for – the very British Empire itself – will be totally swept away, “overthrown with the wicked, and perish from the Earth.”
There are many remarkable things in this letter that make it worth reading.
First, I marvel at the absolute steel that Elder Pratt had to tell the most powerful woman on the planet that her empire was a corrupt one made of clay that was destined to be destroyed by the Kingdom of God, which is to say the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the British Empire was to be replaced in every way by the Restored Kingdom of God on Earth.
Second, Elder Pratt’s explication not only of Daniel’s writings, but his way to bring together the writings of a multitude of prophets in order to explain their meaning and lay out the course of history in the final nights before the Second Coming is incredible and every single member would profit from reading his teachings so that they can understand the words of the prophets concerning our days.
Finally, the sins he commands Victoria and her ilk to repent of and what they must do in order to demonstrate true repentance, and thereby avoid to swift judgment and justice of God, are not corruptions and cures that apply only to Great Britain alone. The plagues of pride, greed, power, violence, hate, and apostasy that ran rampant in that age are just as virulent and just as deadly in our own, if not more so. If our own peoples, nations, and tongues wish to avoid the same judgments and the same fate of all the wicked when Christ comes – if we wish to avoid be swept from the face of the Earth and being consumed by the judgments of God (see D&C 87:6) – then we must repent and we must do it now. For that purpose and on that path, Elder Pratt’s teachings, warnings, and injunctions are universal truths to which we should all listen and obey today.
The nations of the world will become the Kingdom of Our God and His Christ. The rulers of the world will bow down and cast their crowns before the Throne of the Lamb. The less time and treasure we waste on the powers of the world and the more time and treasure we give to building the Kingdom – the more we embrace the Revolution of Christ and our roles as His revolutionaries against the times, tides, and thrones of the world – the better.
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