“Orson Pratt and Emmeline Wells: Examples of Intellect and Faith,” Liahona, Oct. 2023, United States and Canada Section.
Orson Pratt and Emmeline Wells: Examples of Intellect and Faith
These disciples exemplified the dedication of both heart and mind in the service of God and His children.
In section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord commands His people to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (verse 118). Since the first years of the Church’s organization, members have embraced this command. Orson Pratt (1811–1881) and Emmeline B. Wells (1828–1921) are among those who sought this type of inspired learning and used their learning to serve others.
Orson Pratt: Apostle, Missionary, Theologian of the Restoration
Late in Orson’s life, his fellow Apostle Wilford Woodruff observed, “If there is any man that has travelled more miles in preaching the gospel of Christ, … I do not know who he is.” President Woodruff further explained that while Orson was “unlearned” when he joined the Church, through “diligence and labor” he had become educated. “If there is a man on this continent who is more at home in the starry heavens, … I do not know who he is,” President Woodruff added. “If there is a man more deeply versed in mathematics than Brother Pratt, I do not know who he is.”1
Orson’s desire to learn grew out of his conversion. In November 1830, just a few months after his baptism at age 19, he met Joseph Smith at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. in Fayette, New York. As with some other new converts, Orson desired to know the Lord’s will for him, and thus he asked Joseph for a revelation. Joseph invited him “and John Whitmer to go up stairs … [where] Joseph produced a small stone called a seer stone and putting it into a Hat soon commenced speaking and asked Elder P[ratt] to write as he would speak.” But Orson was “young and timid” and had little formal education. So he asked if John could “write it and the Prophet said that he could. Then came the revelation.”2
The Lord called Orson “to lift up [his] voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance unto a crooked and perverse generation” and promised him guidance “by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Doctrine and Covenants 34:6, 10).
The Lord’s words changed Orson’s life. Orson remembered thinking that “unless the Lord shall pour out his Spirit upon me more fully than anything I ever yet experienced assuredly this [call to cry repentance] is something I never can perform.”3 The Lord did pour out His Spirit upon Orson. Not only did he preach in domestic and foreign lands, but he also worked diligently to educate himself. Perhaps as much or more than any other Church member, Orson used the spoken and written word to tell the world of the Restoration.
He grounded his learning in Joseph Smith’s soaring revelations, which taught that the spiritual encompasses all aspects of life and that the gospel embraces all truth (see Doctrine and Covenants 29:34; 93:23–29). With Joseph’s revelations as his foundation and guide, Orson pursued various fields, including mathematics and science. His life shows how one disciple fulfilled the command to love and serve God and His children with all his “heart, might, mind and strength” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:2, emphasis added).
As a member of the original latter-day Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Orson served a mission to Scotland in 1840, which was perhaps the most important of his more than 20 missions. In addition to preaching the gospel, he wrote and produced an influential pamphlet: A[n] Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions, and of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records (1840). It featured the first published report of Joseph’s first vision of God4 and included a narrative of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and a description of core beliefs, which became the basis for the Articles of Faith.5
Orson went on to write numerous pamphlets on theology, astronomy, and mathematics and compiled new editions of the scriptures, including the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, the 1879 edition of the Book of Mormon, and the 1879 American edition of the Pearl of Great Price. Orson’s contributions to Restoration scripture might be the most enduring testament of his commitment to a life of faith and intellect, made even more remarkable considering his initial fear about writing down the Lord’s revelation to him.
Emmeline B. Wells: Teacher, Editor, Advocate for Women’s Rights
A year after Orson’s death, Emmeline B. Wells memorialized the “beloved Apostle” in the Woman’s Exponent (a newspaper published by Latter-day Saint women from 1872 to 1914). She noted that he had often preached “in the Tabernacle, thrilling his hearers with his wonderful and powerful eloquence.”6 Indeed, in 1875 she had listened to him give “an excellent discourse” on priesthood and a “lecture on gravitation.”7 Emmeline and other Saints described Orson as one who embodied the Lord’s injunction to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:118) and who had fulfilled the command to use his learning to bless God’s children.8
Emmeline also embraced this command. She understood that what the Lord said to one, He said to all (see Doctrine and Covenants 25:1, 16; 82:5). Even before her baptism at age 14 in March 1842, Emmeline had shown a love of learning and a talent for writing. Shortly after her baptism she finished her last term of formal education in Massachusetts and began teaching. After emigrating to Nauvoo, she taught in the common school system there. As Emmeline’s faith led her to join the Saints in other locales, including Winter Quarters and Utah Territory, she continued her educational and literary pursuits, in large part through her involvement in the Relief Society.
The Relief Society deepened Emmeline’s belief that discipleship demanded the cultivation of the intellect. In an 1877 Relief Society meeting, she encouraged the women to “embrace every opportunity for improving ourselves in writing and speaking.”9 Emmeline cared deeply about words and ideas, as demonstrated by her work on the Woman’s Exponent from 1873 to 1914. As a contributor and editor, she reminded Church members that disciples should be committed to using words and ideas to serve God and His children.
Emmeline lived out this commitment, dedicating her mind, pen, voice, and hands to good causes, such as women’s suffrage. She was among the first women to vote in Utah Territory in 1870 after the Utah legislature, including Orson Pratt, conferred that right on women. In 1879 she and Zina Young Williams represented Utah at the National Woman Suffrage Association meeting in Washington, D.C.10 Emmeline forged a strong partnership with suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and continued to pursue women’s rights for several decades.
When the first General Relief Society Presidency was organized in 1880 with Emmeline as its secretary, she reflected on the society’s significance. She believed the society had prepared the way for women’s rights organizations. She described it as a school that gave women “opportunities for expressing [their] own thoughts, views and opinions; all of which has had a tendency to make [them] intelligent in regard to matters which before were considered incompatible with ‘woman’s sphere.’” Echoing the Lord’s instruction to the School of Elders (see Doctrine and Covenants 88:78), she wrote that “all subjects, religious, moral and mental, in their various bearings, are discussed, and instruction is given on all matters pertaining to life, health and happiness.”11
In 1910 Emmeline was called to serve as the Relief Society’s fifth General President. She continued to inspire the sisters and all Saints to seek learning and to use it for good. In 1913 she selected the phrase “charity never faileth” as the Relief Society motto (see 1 Corinthians 13:8). Emmeline served as Relief Society General President for 10 years and lived to see women’s suffrage guaranteed by the US Constitution. Like Orson Pratt, she exemplified the disciple’s dedication of both heart and mind to God and God’s children.12
It remains for us to build on these legacies.