Quote from Eber Howe. Mormonism Unvailed (1834). P. 80. John Bunyamn personifies “Bountiful” in “Pilgrim’s Progress” in the dialog of Mercy to Prudence: ” “Well, said Mercy, if nobody will have me, I will die unmarried, or my conditions shall be to me as a husband: for I cannot change my nature; and to have one who lies cross to me in this, that I purpose never to admit of as long as I live. I had a sister named Bountiful, that was married to one of these churls, but he and she could never agree; but because my sister was resolved to do as she had begun, that is, to show kindness to the poor, therefore her husband first cried her down at the cross, and then turned her out of his doors.” “Desolation” is described as an end state in Bunyan’s “The Holy War” and “Of Anti-Christ and his Ruin”: “…there are yet of the Diabolonian…that are sturdy and implacable and that…study, plot, contrive, invent, and jointly attempt to bring you to desolation, and so to a state far worse than that of the Egyptian bondage?” Book of Mormon references to the land or City of Desolation plus 1st place/2nd place author attributions are as follows: Alma 22:30, 31, 32 – Rigdon, Spalding; Alma 46:17 – Spalding, Pratt; Alma 50:34– Spalding, Pratt Alma 52:27 – city of Desolation – Spalding, Pratt; Alma 63:55 – Pratt, Spalding; Mormon 3:55 – Rigdon, Spalding; Mormon 4:19 – Pratt, Rigdon; Mormon 4:22 – Pratt, Rigdon ; Ether 7:66 – Pratt, Spalding; 3 Nephi 3:23 –Spalding, Rigdon; Mormon 3:77 – city of Desolation – Rigdon, Spalding; Mormon 4:13, 33, 88 – city of Desolation – Pratt, Rigdon. References to the Land of Bountiful plus 1st place/2nd place author attributions: 1 Nephi 17:55, 66, 77 – Smith, Rigdon; Alma 22:32 – Rigdon, Spalding; Alma 27:22 – Spalding, Rigdon; Alma 50:32– Spalding, Pratt; Alma 51:28, 30 – Spalding, Pratt; Alma 52:15, 17, 18, 39 – city Bountiful – Spalding, Pratt; Alma 53:33 land, or the city, Bountiful. Alma 55:26 – city Bountiful – Spalding, Pratt; Alma 63:55 – Pratt, Spalding; Helaman 1:23, 28, 29 – city Bountiful – Spalding, Pratt; Helaman 4:66– Spalding, Pratt; Helaman 5:14 – Rigdon, Spalding; 3 Nephi 3:23 – Spalding, Rigdon; 3 Nephi 11:11 – Rigdon, Pratt. All together, there are 22 chapters with Desolation or Bountiful In 16 of these chapters, Pratt is first or second author.
