| 362 this way. Joseph and Oliver and I were sitting on a log when we were overshadowed by a light more glorious than that of the sun. In the midst of this light, but a few feet from us 'appeared a table upon which were many golden plates, also the sword of Laban and the directors. I saw them as plain as I see you now, and distinctly heard the voice of the Lord declaiming that the records of the plates of the Book of Mormon were translated by the gift and the power of God."
"Who else saw the plates at this time?"
"No one. Martin Harris, the other witness, saw them the same day and the eight witnesses, Christian Whitmer, Hiram Page, Jacob Whitmer, Joseph Smith, Sr., Peter Whitmer, Jr., Hyrum Smith, John Whitmer, and Samuel H. Smith saw them next day."
"Did you see the angel?"
"Yes; he stood before us. Our testimony as recorded in the Book of Mormon is absolutely true, just as it is written there."
"Can you describe the plates?"
"They appeared to be of gold, about six by nine inches in size, about as thick as parchment, a great many in number and bound together like the leaves of a book by massive rings passing through the back edges. The engraving upon them was very plain and of very curious appearance. Smith made facsimiles of some of the plates, and sent them by Martin Harris to Professors Anthon and Mitchell, of New York City, for examination. They pronounced the characters reformed Egyptian, but were unable to read them."
"Did Joseph Smith ever relate to you the circumstances of his finding the plates?"
"Yes; he told me that he first found the plates in the early spring of 1828; that during the fall of 1827 he had a vision, an angel appearing to him three times in one night and telling him that there was a record of an ancient people deposited in a hill near his father's. house, called by the ancients 'Cumorah,' 2 situated in the township of Manchester, Ontario County, New York. The angel pointed out the exact spot, and sometime after he went and found the records or plates deposited in a stone box in the hill, just as had been described to him by the angel. It was some little time, however, before the angel would allow Smith to remove the plates from their place of deposit."
2 These dates are probably typographical errors, as Joseph Smith both saw the vision and viewed the plates in September, 1823.
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