Three Witnesses

The Three Witnesses is the collective name for three men connected with the early Latter Day Saint movement who stated that an angel had shown them the golden plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon;[1] they also stated that they had heard God's voice, informing them that the book had been translated by divine power.

And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true.

Grant H. Palmer wrote that moderns "tend to read into [the Witnesses'] testimonies a rationalist perspective rather than a nineteenth-century magical mindset ....

Like Smith, who was a distant relative[16], Cowdery was also a treasure hunter who had used a divining rod in his youth [citation needed].

Smith and Cowdery reported that one of the three persons stated he was the Apostle Peter and named the others James and John.

[23] Smith's growing reliance on Sidney Rigdon as his first counselor[24] and differences over the management of finances during the gathering of the Latter Day Saints in Jackson County and Kirtland[25] as well as nine documented grievances, ultimately led to Cowdery's excommunication in April.

[27] After Cowdery's excommunication on April 12, 1838, he taught school, practiced law, and became involved in Ohio political affairs.

In 1848, after Smith's assassination, Cowdery reaffirmed his witness to the golden plates and asked to be readmitted to the church.

[29] Martin Harris was a respected farmer in the Palmyra area who had changed his religion at least five times before he became a Latter Day Saint.

One letter says that Harris thought that a candle sputtering was the work of the devil[31] and that he had met Jesus in the shape of a deer and walked and talked with him for two or three miles.

"[36] The foreman in the Palmyra printing office that produced the first Book of Mormon said that Harris "used to practice a good deal of his characteristic jargon and 'seeing with the spiritual eye,' and the like.

"[37] John H. Gilbert, the typesetter for most of the Book of Mormon, said that he had asked Harris, "Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?"

This account says that recantation of Harris, made during a period of crisis in early Mormonism, induced five influential members, including three apostles, to leave the church.

[47] In a letter of 1870, Harris swore, "no man ever heard me in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mormon, the administration of the angel that showed me the plates, nor the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints under the administration of Joseph Smith, Jun., the prophet whom the Lord raised up for that purpose in these the latter days, that he may show forth his power and glory.

"[48] David Whitmer first became involved with Joseph Smith and the golden plates through his friend, Cowdery, and became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses because of his longevity.

[49] In 1829, before testifying to the truth of the golden plates, Whitmer reported that while traveling with Smith to his father's farm in Fayette, New York, they had seen a Nephite on the road who suddenly disappeared.

To which the interviewer responded, "Then you had impressions as the Quaker when the spirit moves, or as a good Methodist in giving a happy experience, a feeling?"

Whitmer, his brother John, Cowdery, and others were harassed by the Danites, a secret group of Mormon vigilantes, and were warned to leave the county.

After Smith's assassination, Whitmer, like Martin Harris, briefly followed James Strang, who had his own set of supernatural metal plates.

In his pamphlet, "An Address to All Believers in Christ" (1887), Whitmer reaffirmed his witness to the golden plates,[55] but he also criticized Smith, including the introduction of plural marriage.

'"[56] Nevertheless, Whitmer is regarded by Mormons as an "enduring witness to the genuineness of the prophet Joseph Smith and his message.