That was then…                                                           This is now

Another scribe, Martin Harris sat across the table from Joseph Smith and wrote down the words Joseph dictated. Harris later related that as Joseph used the seer stone to translate, sentences appeared. Joseph read those sentences aloud, and after penning the words, Harris would say, “Written.” An associate who interviewed Harris recorded him saying that Joseph “possessed a seer stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone.”30 (Again, this makes no sense, but it is the only rationale that can be given as to why Joseph Smith would discard the Urim and Thummim (that we have no witnesses that ever saw it), and use the 'seer stone.' It also ignores why the gold plates were never actually utilized during the translation process.)

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Martin Harris is an interesting character in the Book of Mormon process. He moved around frequently between various factions of Mormonism and other religions and witnessed miraculous things in each of them. After leaving Mormonism he spent two years in the Shaker church where he was also an eyewitness of that denomination’s angel and sacred book. An acquaintance of Martin said, "Harris declared repeatedly that he had as much evidence for a Shaker book he had as for the Book of Mormon" (The Braden and Kelly Debate, p.173). Harris was also one of the officially documented Three Witnesses of Francis Gladden Bishop, another local prophet who claimed to have gold plates, the Urim and Thummim, and other ancient artifacts (Bishop, A Proclamation From the Lord to His people, scattered throughout all the Earth, 1851). Harris eventually ended up getting heavily involved in spiritualism where he participated in seances and spirit tapping before eventually moving to Utah and rejoining the Saints before his death. Martin was infamous for telling stories of ghosts and strange things he had seen. At one point he claimed that Jesus appeared to him in the form of a deer (Early Mormon Documents, 2: 271).  

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The witnesses eventually fell out of Joseph’s favor and in 1838, Joseph said that, "John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris are too mean to mention" (History of the Church, vol. 3, p. 232). An official letter from church leaders declared Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, “thieves, liars, and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to deceive, cheat, and defraud the saints out of their property” (Senate Document 189, February 15, 1841, pp. 6-9B). We are often told that the witnesses never withdrew their testimonies of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps the relevant questions are, what exactly did they experience and how easily were they persuaded? There are really only four possible reasons why the Three Witnesses never denied their testimonies of the Book of Mormon:1) it all happened exactly as the church manuals say it did, 2) denying their witness would be an admission that they had been duped, 3) one or more of them might have been complicit and in denying the Book of Mormon would have implicated themselves, or the explanation that I believe is most likely, 4) they had no reason to deny an experience that was personally significant to them, even if it was a spiritual, rather than a literal witness.

The principal scribe, Oliver Cowdery, testified under oath in 1831 that Joseph Smith “found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two transparent stones, resembling glass, set in silver bows. That by looking through these, he was able to read in English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraven on the plates.”31 (Oliver was testifying that he had been told of these things which he did not actually witness with his own eyes. We are often told of Oliver’s failed attempt to translate from the gold plates, but we are never told that he made this translation attempt not with the Urim and Thummim, but with his dowsing rod. (Oliver Cowdery’s Gift, history.lds.org) The original version of D&C 8, which talks about the “Rod of Aaron” originally referred to Cowdery’s “Rod of Nature” but was later changed to make it sound more credible. (Book of Commandments 7:3)) In the fall of 1830, Cowdery visited Union Village, Ohio, and spoke about the translation of the Book of Mormon. Soon thereafter, a village resident reported that the translation was accomplished by means of “two transparent stones in the form of spectacles through which the translator looked on the engraving.”32    

This endnote cites an 1881 Deseret News article about how Martin Harris eventually made his way to Utah. All it says about Oliver Cowdery is that “in the company with Joseph Smith, the Prophet, [he] bore the same testimony,” and that “those who have honest hearts and obeyed the gospel should receive the Holy Ghost and signs would follow them.” It appears to quote Martin himself as the “village resident,” more that 50 years after the supposed statement. Another village resident in this article was said to have spoken in tongues which, although we no longer practice this in the church, is cited as further evidence of the truthfulness of the LDS church. The article also talks about the time when Harris claimed that a thicket of blackberry bushes, animated by the devil, attacked and nearly killed him to prevent him from coming west to Utah.

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Second-hand descriptions of the Urim and Thummim are not proof of their existence anymore than someone repeating his uncle’s claim of any other event.There is no question that Joseph claimed at some point to have had ancient spectacles with miraculous powers - that is well documented. None of them, according to the historic record, actually saw any such device with their physical eyes, despite the fact that we have all been led to believe that they did because they gave descriptions of them.  A similar problem exists for the gold plates themselves. Although some of the eight witnesses were later reported to have restated their testimony of the plates, none provided an individual contemporary first-hand account of actually seeing the plates with their physical eyes. Many have concluded that they all saw them the same way as Joseph’s brother William and others claimed to have “seen” them, always while stored in a box or wrapped in a cloth (Gold Plates and Printer’s Ink, Ensign, September, 1976). The only existing source of the testimonies of the Three and Eight Witnesses is a document that was not written by them and has all of their names signed in Oliver Cowdery’s handwriting (Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, circa August 1829–circa January 1830, Joseph Smith Papers). One thing that we need to understand about these witnesses is that this was a common practice that was in no way unique to the Book of Mormon. Pretty much every book that was being published in the region around that time, especially those making remarkable claims of prophecy, visions, angels and commandments from God, had a list of witnesses in the preface. The Shaker Book and Roll has over 60 witnesses of the “Testimonies of eleven mighty Angels, that attended the writing of the Roll,” and other miracles of that book’s coming forth. One of Strangite books includes the signatures of seven witnesses who describe the metal plates from which the book was produced: “We examined them with our eyes, and handled them with our hands. The engravings are beautiful antique workmanship, bearing a striking resemblance to the ancient oriental languages.” It was just what people did to give their book a sense of credibility.

The last straw for a number of early saints was when Martin Harris declared in a public meeting in Kirtland that he “never saw the plates with his natural eyes,” and that “the eight witnesses [also] never saw them & hesitated to sign that instrument (testimony) for that reason, but were persuaded to do it.” (Joseph Smith Letterbook 2:64, 65). On another occasion Harris said, ”I did not see them as I do that pencil-case, yet I saw them with the eye of faith; I saw them just as distinctly as I see any thing around me, though at the time they were covered over with a cloth.” (Early Mormon Documents 2:270). Stephen Burnett, a High Priest at the time, said that Martin admitted he “had hefted the plates repeatedly in a box with only a tablecloth or a handkerchief over them, but he never saw them only as he saw a city throught [sic] a mountain.”(Stephen Burnett, April 15, 1838, in Joseph Smith Letter Book, p. 2).

David Whitmer revealed that the angel who showed him the plates, "had no appearance or shape." When asked how it was that he could claim to have seen and heard an angel, Whitmer replied, "Have you never had impressions? Then you had impressions as the Quaker when the spirit moves, or as a good Methodist in giving a happy experience, a feeling?" "Just so" (Early Mormon Documents, 1: 603-05). We see a pattern in the way artifacts like the gold plates and interpreters were experienced by the early saints, not so much by physical sight as by spiritual impression, or what they commonly called “second sight.” Whitmer also said, "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to "separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, should it be done unto them." If we take Whitmer’s witness of the gold plates at face value then we must also accept his declarations that Joseph became a fallen prophet and the church had fallen into apostasy, since he credits both revelations to God speaking in “his own voice”(Whitmer, 1887, An Address to All believers in Christ).

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There are quotes where some of the witnesses do profess to have seen the plates with their natural eyes, but are also contradicted by quotes from other points of their lives where they refer to only seeing them with their spiritual eyes. Again, it begs the question of how such a miraculous event could be remembered incorrectly on such a grand scale at various points in time by multiple witnesses - either they were seen in a physical form and hefted, or they were seen spiritually - but not both.

Conclusion

Joseph Smith consistently testified that he translated the Book of Mormon by the “gift and power of God.” His scribes shared that testimony. The angel who brought news of an ancient record on metal plates buried in a hillside and the divine instruments prepared especially for Joseph Smith to translate were all part of what Joseph and his scribes viewed as the miracle of translation. When he sat down in 1832 to write his own history for the first time (in his own hand, and able to write the history as he wanted it in 1832, and not necessarily how it was told previously), he began by promising to include “an account of his marvelous experience.”33 The translation of the Book of Mormon was truly marvelous.

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The truth of the Book of Mormon and its divine source can be known today. God invites each of us to read the book, remember the mercies of the Lord and ponder them in our hearts, “and ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true.” God promises that “if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.”34

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The common pattern of the Gospel Topic Essays is to present you with a body of evidence as if they are actually taking an empirical approach to the problem, but then, almost as an admission of the weakness of that evidence or for members who have researched the many problems with their explanations, they ask you to abruptly stop thinking about it and rely instead on emotion-based conclusions.

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If you take into account the actual method of translation, accounts regarding the plates and witnesses, time frame, outside information that was available to Joseph Smith, and Joseph’s actual capabilities, it is not too difficult to come up with a scenario for the creation of the Book of Mormon that is much less miraculous than the one we have been taught. Is it really that difficult to believe that a man who spent his life selling treasure digging services with a magical worldview could create a book that borrows heavily from the King James Bible along with other outside themes that were common to his time? 

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After examining these things and the many archaeological, theological, biological, linguistic, genetic, geographic, textual and other problems with the Book of Mormon, many have been led to conclude, as did LDS historian and General Authority B.H. Roberts, that the Book of Mormon is a 19th century creation and the product of a “young and underdeveloped but piously inclined mind”, and ”a wonder-tale of an immature mind, unconscious of what a test he is laying on human credulity when asking men to accept his narrative as solemn history.”(Roberts, Studies in the Book of Mormon: 271, 283).

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In addition, this essay sidesteps a number of very difficult issues for Joseph Smith's credibility including:

1. Why did Joseph Smith use so many verses from the King James Bible with the translation errors from it? This requires a 'loose translation' theory, which is not addressed at all because it contradicts the translation method completely. Either Joseph Smith was using outside sources (which is denied in *every* account of his translation), or God was giving Joseph Smith translation errors that were not even written until long after the Book of Mormon times. 

2. Why are verses included from Deutero-Isaiah, which were written after Lehi left and thus would not have had any access to them? It is important to note that when the Book of Mormon was written, this information was not known to Joseph Smith.

3. Why are these numerous anachronisms in the Book of Mormon that were from Joseph Smith's time but not from the time of the Book of Mormon? Why would God give Joseph Smith revelations of things that were not here and easily proven to not have been here years later?

4. Why did Joseph Smith change verses that pointed to a trinitarian view in the Book of Mormon? Apologists claim it was simply for clarification, but this fits with Joseph Smith's first account of the first vision where he only saw Jesus because at that time Joseph Smith's teachings were very trinitarian in view. Additionally, this again goes against the tight translation as presented in this essay, because if it was not translated correctly the first time, new words would not have appeared in Joseph's hat.

5. Why are the books that were originally the 'lost 116 pages' written in such a different manner, in a way that appears to avoid giving many specific details in case the original 116 pages were later found. We will write more on this later, but there are massive changes to details in the Book of Mormon as soon as it gets past those 116 pages, almost as if there is no longer a feeling that things have to remain vague for fear of being accused of contradictions from the original.

6. Why does the church continue to promote church-commissioned artwork that shows Joseph Smith translating the gold plates, when they now admit he never used the gold plates in translation? Why do missionaries continue to be trained to tell a story of the translation that is not accurate? How does this line up with the honesty chapter of the church's Gospel Principals manual?

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All of this in and of itself does not necessarily demand that we conclude there could not have been divine inspiration in the creation of the Book of Mormon. It just means that the real story appears to be quite a bit different from the history the church has taught us for over a century, and one that opens up many questions about the authenticity of the Book of Mormon as a book of scriptures from God.

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This essay leads to difficult questions and conclusions,, and as a former member of the church I am still angry that the church continues to be unwilling to tell us these truths in missionary and church lessons but instead continues to ask us to pray for answers. The reality is that the only way to get an answer that these works are from God is to go into prayer already looking for a confirmation that they are true. Taken in totality with the issues concerning the Book of Abraham and the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, the evidence becomes too strong and the issues too large for there to be any reasonable way to conclude these are the works of God. The power of a spiritual witness is difficult to question, which is why the church leans so heavily on it. Unfortunately, it is also one that every church uses, and I refer you to this YouTube video which shows how other churches use it, including a polygamous splinter group from the LDS church. It is a powerful video to show how spiritual witnesses happen, and why the church continues to use it when they have no satisfactory answers about their history.

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Thank you for reading this annotated essay to the end. I know it is long, and I know it is very difficult to read these things that were previously unknown to almost all LDS members. I hope that you will continue to research this issue and that you will be willing to research from both LDS and non-LDS sources to get the full picture. Beyond the translation of the Book of Mormon, there are questions that arise from the problems within the book itself as noted above. That is a painful conclusion to arrive at, but it is better to find the truth than to ignore it, as difficult as it might be at first. There are many resources to help those going through a faith crisis, so please email us if you would like any help. While the church tells us that we will be miserable without it (and "where will you go?"), the reality is that people who do learn the truth and move on are just as (if not more) happy and healthy afterwards.

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Please email us with any suggestions, corrections, or if you have any sources that can provide more information that can help enhance this essay. Thank you again!

Resources

1. Wilford Woodruff journal, Nov. 28, 1841, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.

2. On the identity of the angel, see Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jenson, eds., Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844, vol. 1 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 223 n 56.

3. Davidson et al., Joseph Smith Histories, 223; punctuation regularized; Joseph Smith, “Church History,” Times and Seasons 3 (March 1, 1842): 706-7. See also Joseph Smith—History 1:33–34.

4. Mormon 9:32. See also 1 Nephi 1:2.

5. “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald 26 (Oct. 1, 1879), 290.

6. Joseph Smith History, 1838–ca. 1841, 8–11 (draft 2), in Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jenson, eds., Histories, Volume 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844,vol. 1 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2012), 252–3; available at josephsmithpapers.org; Doctrine and Covenants 3:5–15.

7. Joseph Smith History, ca. summer 1832, in Joseph Smith Histories, 16; Oliver Cowdery to William W. Phelps, Sept. 7, 1834, in Messenger and Advocate 1 (Oct. 1834): 14; italics in original.

8. Most of the manuscript disintegrated or became otherwise unreadable due to water damage between 1841 and 1882, as a result of being placed in the cornerstone of the Nauvoo House in Nauvoo, Illinois. Most of the surviving pages were later archived in the historian’s office of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The extant original manuscript has been published in The Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typographical Facsimile of the Extant Text, ed. Royal Skousen (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2001). A complete copy of this original, known as the printer’s manuscript, was made by Oliver Cowdery and two other scribes between August 1829 and early 1830. It was used to set the type for most of the printing in Palmyra. The printer’s manuscript is published in The Printer’s Manuscript of the Book of Mormon: Typological Facsimile of the Entire Text in Two Parts, ed. Royal Skousen (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2001). Both the printer’s manuscript and the original manuscript will be published in future volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers. (Dean C. Jessee, “The Original Book of Mormon Manuscript,” BYU Studies 10, no. 3 [Spring 1970]: 261–72; Royal Skousen, “Piecing Together the Original Manuscript,” BYU Today 46, no. 3 [May 1992]: 18–24.)

9. For example, when Joseph translated the text that is now in 1 Nephi 13:29, the scribe wrote “&” in one place where he should have written “an.” At 1 Nephi 17:48, the scribe wrote “weed” where he should have written “reed.” (See Royal Skousen, “Translating the Book of Mormon: Evidence from the Original Manuscript,” in Noel B. Reynolds, ed., Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins [Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1997], 67; see also Grant Hardy, “Introduction,” in The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text, ed. Royal Skousen [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009], xv–xix.)

10. John A. Tvedtnes, “Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon” and “Names of People: Book of Mormon,” in Geoffrey Kahn, ed., Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (Brill Online, 2013); M. Deloy Pack, “Hebraisms,” in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis L. Largey (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003), 321–25; John A. Tvedtnes, “The Hebrew Background of the Book of Mormon,” in John L. Sorenson and Melvin J. Thorne, eds., Rediscovering the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 77–91; Donald W. Parry, “Hebraisms and Other Ancient Peculiarities in the Book of Mormon,” in Donald W. Parry and others, eds., Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2002), 155–89.

11. You are about to access: http://www.encquran.brill.nl

12. You are now leaving a website maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We provide the link to this third party's website solely as a convenience to you. The linked site has its own terms of use, privacy policies, and security practices that differ from those on our website. By referring or linking you to this website, we do not endorse or guarantee the content, products, or services offered.

13. On the role of the typesetter John Gilbert, see Royal Skousen, “John Gilbert’s 1892 Account of the 1830 Printing of the Book of Mormon,” in Stephen D. Ricks and others, eds., The Disciple as Witness: Essays on Latter-day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2000), 383–405.

14. Some grammatical constructions that sound odd to English speakers were edited out of later editions of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith or others in order to render the translation into more standard current English. See Richard E. Turley Jr. and William W. Slaughter, How We Got the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011), 44–45. Approximately five-sixth of the 1830 first edition of the Book of Mormon was typeset from the printer’s manuscript. The other one-sixth was typeset from the original manuscript. (Royal Skousen, “Editor’s Preface,” in The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text,xxx.)

15. 1 Kings 19:11–12.

16. Acts 9:1–8; 12:7–9.

17. Acts 11:4–17; 16:9–10; Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8; Numbers 21:9.

18. Michael Hubbard MacKay, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, Grand Underwood, Robert J. Woodford, and William G. Hartley, eds., Documents, Volume 1: July 1828–June 1831, vol. 1 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, Richard Lyman Bushman, and Matthew J. Grow (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2013), xxix.

19. Mosiah 28:14–15, 20; see also Mosiah 8:13, 19; and Ether 4:5. Joseph Smith seems to have used the terms “interpreters” and “spectacles” interchangeably during the early years of the Church. Nancy Towle, an itinerant Methodist preacher, recounted Joseph Smith telling her about “a pair of ‘interpreters,’ (as he called them,) that resembled spectacles, by looking into which, he could read a writing engraven upon the plates, though to himself, in a tongue unknown.” (Nancy Towle, Vicissitudes Illustrated in the Experience of Nancy Towle, in Europe and America [Charleston: James L. Burges, 1832], 138-39.) Joseph’s 1832 history referred to “spectacles.” (Joseph Smith History, ca. summer 1832, in Joseph Smith Histories, 16.) In January 1833, the Latter-day Saint newspaper The Evening and the Morning Star, edited by William W. Phelps, equated “spectacles” and “interpreters” with the term “Urim and Thummim”: the Book of Mormon “was translated by the gift and power of God, by an unlearned man, through the aid of a pair of Interpreters, or spectacles— (known, perhaps, in ancient days as Teraphim, or Urim and Thummim).” (“The Book of Mormon,” The Evening and the Morning Star, January 1833, [2].) By 1835 Joseph Smith most often used the term “Urim and Thummim” when speaking of translation and rarely, if ever, used the terms “interpreters” or “spectacles.” (Joseph Smith, Journal, Nov. 9-11, 1835, in Journals: Volume 1: 1832-1839, 89; Joseph Smith, History, 1834-1836, in Davidson et al., Histories, Volume 1, 116; John W. Welch, “The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon,” in John W. Welch, ed., with Erick B. Carlson, Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844 [Provo, UT, and Salt Lake City: Brigham Young University Press and Deseret Book, 2005], 123-28.)

20. Joseph Smith probably possessed more than one seer stone; he appears to have found one of the stones while digging for a well around 1822. (Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism [Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984], 69–70.)

21. According to Martin Harris, an angel commanded Joseph Smith to stop these activities, which he did by 1826. (See Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, 64–76; and Richard Lloyd Anderson, “The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Searching,” BYU Studies 24, no. 4 [Fall 1984]: 489–560.) Joseph did not hide his well-known early involvement in treasure seeking. In 1838, he published responses to questions frequently asked of him. “Was not Jo Smith a money digger,” one question read. “Yes,” Joseph answered, “but it was never a very profitable job to him, as he only got fourteen dollars a month for it.” (Selections from Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 43, available at josephsmithpapers.org.) For the broader cultural context, see Alan Taylor, “The Early Republic’s Supernatural Economy: Treasure Seeking in the American Northeast, 1780–1830,” American Quarterly 38, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 6–33.

22. Mark Ashurst-McGee, "A Pathway to Prophethood: Joseph Smith Junior as Rodsman, Village Seer, and Judeo-Christian Prophet," (Master's Thesis, Utah State University, 2000).

23. For example, when Joseph Smith showed a seer stone to Wilford Woodruff in late 1841, Woodruff recorded in his journal: “I had the privilege of seeing for the first time in my day the URIM & THUMMIM.” (Wilford Woodruff journal, Dec. 27, 1841, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.) See also Doctrine and Covenants 130:10.

24. Cornelius Van Dam, The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1997), 9–26.

25. Exodus 7:9-12; 30:25; 40:9; Leviticus 8:10-12; Numbers 21:9; Joshua 3:6-8; John 9:6.

26. Preface to the Book of Mormon, 1830 edition.

27. Minutes, Church conference, Orange, OH, Oct. 25–26, 1831, in Minute Book 2, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, available at josephsmithpapers.org; Welch, “Miraculous Translation,”,121–9.

28. Virtually all of the accounts of the translation process are reproduced in Welch, “Miraculous Translation.” Two accounts of the translation process, including the use of a seer stone, have been written by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and published in Church magazines. Historians have also written about the seer stone in Church publications, both in the Ensign and in The Joseph Smith Papers. (See Neal A. Maxwell, “‘By the Gift and Power of God,’” Ensign,Jan. 1997, 36–41; Russell M. Nelson, “A Treasured Testament,” Ensign,July 1993, 61–63; Richard Lloyd Anderson, “‘By the Gift and Power of God,’” Ensign, Sept. 1977, 78–85; and Documents, Volume 1: July 1828–June 1831, xxix–xxxii.)

29. Alma 37:23-24.

30. “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald 26 (Oct. 1, 1879), 289–90. Some outside reports describe the spectacles being placed in the hat during the translation process. A Palmyra newspaper published the earliest known account of the translation in August 1829: Jonathan Hadley, a Palmyra printer who may have spoken with Joseph Smith about translation, claimed that the plates were found with a “huge pair of Spectacles,” and that “by placing the Spectacles in a hat, and looking into it, Smith could (he said so, at least,) interpret these characters.” (“Golden Bible,” Palmyra Freeman, Aug. 11, 1829, [2].) In the winter of 1831, a Shaker in Union Village, Ohio, spoke of “two transparent stones in the form of spectacles” through which the translator “looked on the engraving & afterwards put his face into a hat & the interpretation then flowed into his mind.” (Christian Goodwillie, “Shaker Richard McNemar: The Earliest Book of Mormon Reviewer,” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 2 [Spring 2011]: 143.)

31. “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” 289–90.

32. “One of the Three Witnesses,” Deseret Evening News, Dec. 13, 1881, 4. Here Martin Harris uses the term “Urim and Thummim” to refer to the interpreters found with the plates.

33. A. W. B., “Mormonites,” Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate 2 (Apr. 19, 1831): 120.

34. Goodwillie, “Shaker Richard McNemar,” 143. For additional accounts of translation by one of the Three Witnesses, see David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness, ed. Lyndon W. Cook (Orem, UT: Grandin Book, 1991).

35. Joseph Smith History, ca. Summer 1832, 1, in Histories, Volume 1, 1832–1844, 10; available at josephsmithpapers.org. Spelling modernized.

36. Moroni 10:3–5.

The Church acknowledges the contribution of scholars to the historical content presented in this article; their work is used with permission.