Witnesses Saw Gold Plates With Spiritual Eyes

The Three Book of Mormon witnesses offer a fascinating and contradictory window into the authenticity of Joseph Smith’s claims about the gold plates. The accounts of the witnesses—both official and unofficial—regarding whether they saw the plates with their natural eyes or spiritual eyes are highly contentious and have been subject to much debate. The church promotes the idea that the witnesses never denied their experience, even though each of the three witnesses had a falling out with Joseph Smith and were excommunicated from the church. The church claims this strenghtens their witness, because surely if they left, why would they continue defending it if it were a charade.

Official Statement

The official Testimony of Three Witnesses is included in the front of the Book of Mormon and has been since the first edition. The testimony seems straightforward and states that Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris “saw the plates” and that an angel showed them the plates. At first glance, the testimony appears to indicate a tangible, physical experiences. For many members, this is taken at face value as evidence that the plates were real, physical objects.

The Testimony of Three Witnesses

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken. 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. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.

Oliver Cowdery
David Whitmer
Martin Harris

Was the experience as described though? For one, the testimony reads as if the three witnesses each shared the same experience. but reading the Official History of the Church, we see that Martin Harris was not a part of the group experience, and went off to himself to pray due to him feeling unworthy. While he was away, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer allegedly experienced what the testimony describes with Joseph Smith. Afterward, Joseph found Martin and the two of them prayed (even harder) and Martin was able to have the experience too. So at the very least, the written statement is slightly misleading.

Several of the witnesses later clarified—or seemingly contradicted—the nature of their experiences. Many described their visions of the plates as being spiritual rather than physical. There are multiple statements from these men later on that emphasized the spiritual nature of the experience, and they made statements like they saw the plates with their “spiritual eyes” or with their imagination, such as one would see “a city through a mountain.” Here are such statments which seem to deteriorate their testimonies as described in the Book of Mormon.

Martin Harris

Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, was a wealthy farmer from Palmyra, New York, who provided critical financial support to Joseph Smith for the publication of the Book of Mormon. Harris is remembered for his testimony of the Book of Mormon, even after leaving Joseph’s church and joining other religious movements throughout his life. However, his legacy is also marked by his credulity and belief in extraordinary claims.

Harris was known for his visionary experiences and his belief in supernatural signs. Harris believed in folk magic and superstitions common to the early 19th century. He participated in treasure-digging ventures and accepted the use of seer stones as tools for divine communication. He even claimed to have once seen and talked with Jesus in the form of a deer. Harris’s colorful and credulous nature has made him a polarizing figure. Critics argue that his readiness to accept extraordinary claims casts doubt on his reliability as a witness, while defenders point to his lifelong insistence on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon as evidence of his sincerity.

Though the official narrative asserts the Three Witnesses saw the plates, inferring they literally saw them with their physical eyes, Martin Harris repeatedly admits to seeing the plates with the “eye of faith” or his “spiritual eyes” rather than with his physical, naked or bodily eyes.

John H. Gilbert, who worked for Mr. E. B. Grandin and was the typesetter for most of the Book of Mormon, said that he had asked Martin Harris if he’s seen the plates with his naked eyes, and Harris said, ‘No, I saw them with a spiritual eye.’

Martin was in the office when I finished setting up the testimony of the three witnesses,— (Harris—Cowdery and Whitmer) I said to him, —“Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?” Martin looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, “No, I saw them with a spiritual eye.”

Wilford C. Wood, Joseph Smith Begins His Work, Vol. 1, 1958.
https://archive.org/details/josephsmithbegin0001wilf_n3w2/page/n33/mode/2up
Memorandum, made by John H. Gilbert, Esq. Sept 8, 1892, Palmyra New York
https://bhroberts.org/records/nvGFqb-0lxM9l/john_h_gilbert_writes_that_martin_harris_informed_him_in_march_1830_that_he_saw_the_plates_with_a_spiritual_eye

Colonel John H. Gilbert sat up B[ook] of M[omion]. Says he changed nothing about it. He punctuated it. Hyrum Brought manuscript 24 Sheets at a time.

[Martin] Harris was a very honest farmer but very supersticious—He saw the Book with his spiritual eyes.

Early Mormon Documents: Volume 2 by Dan Vogel. William H. and Edmund L. Kelley Collection, Page 86.
https://archive.org/details/volume-2_202011/page/85/mode/2up

How to reconcile the act of Harris in signing his name to such a statement, in view of the character of honesty which had always been conceded to him, could never be easily explained. In reply to uncharitable suggestions of his neighbors, he used to practise a good deal of his characteristic jargon about “seeing with the spiritual eye,” and the like.

Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867), 71 in “Pomeroy Tucker Account, 1867,” Early Mormon Documents, 3: 122.

Other Palmyra residents said that Harris told them that he had seen the plates with “the eye of faith” or “spiritual eyes.”

Despite the apparent claim in the Testimony that the plates were seen with “our eyes,” Harris seems to have repeatedly admitted the internal, subjective nature of his visionary experience… Another Palmyra resident reportedly pressed Harris about his testimony and was told “I saw them with the eye of faith”. Palmyra Presbyterian minister Jesse Townsend reported that Harris claimed to have seen the plates with “spiritual eyes”

Early Mormon Documents: Volume 2 by Dan Vogel. Introduction to Martin Harris, Page 255.
https://archive.org/details/volume-2_202011/page/255/mode/2up

Reuben P. Harmon, a neighbor of Martin Harris in Kirtland, Ohio, said that Harris “never claimed to have seen [the plates] with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision.”

I was well acquainted with Martin Harris, who was often at my house for days at a time. I have questioned him much about the plates from which the “Book of Mormon” purports to have been translated. He never claimed to have seen them with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision.

Early Mormon Documents: Volume 2 by Dan Vogel. Reuben P. Harmon Statement, 1885. Page 385
https://archive.org/details/volume-2_202011/page/385/mode/2up

Martin Harris, who was one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, was living in Smithfield, Cache Valley, with his son Martin. I called to see him and he gave me his history from his youth up. This occurred in the winter of 1875-6. Following is the history as related to me, including all his connections with Joseph Smith, the pretended prophet and the founder of the Mormon church: He told me all about the translating of the Book of Mormon, and said he had given $5,000 towards its publication. He said: “I never saw the golden plates, only in a visionary or entranced state. I wrote a great deal of the Book of Mormon myself, as Joseph Smith translated or spelled the words out in English. Sometimes the plates would be on a table in the room in which Smith did the translating, covered over with a cloth. I was told by Joseph Smith that God would strike him dead if he attempted to look at them, and I believed it. When the time came for the three witnesses to see the plates, Joseph Smith, myself, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery, went into the woods to pray. When they had all engaged in prayer, they failed at that time to see the plates or the angel who should have been on hand to exhibit them. They all believed it was because I was not good enough, or, in other words, not sufficiently sanctified. I withdrew. As soon as I had gone away, the three others saw the angel and the plates. In about three days I went into the woods to pray that I might see the plates. While praying I passed into a state of entrancement, and in that state I saw the angel and the plates.”

Early Mormon Documents: Volume 2 by Dan Vogel. Martin Harris Interview with Anthony Metcalf, 1873-1874. Page 346
https://archive.org/details/volume-2_202011/page/345/mode/2up

To this testimony that of eight other witnesses is added , who profess to have handled the plates, and seen the engravings thereon; but their declaration is brought in without any account of the circumstances under which they were admitted to the sight of a treasure so long and so mysteriously guarded, and they were one and all intimately connected with Joseph Smith, and embarked in his scheme, which they hoped would have been a lucrative one. Besides, though their names continue to appear in the successive editions of the Book of Mormon, of the eleven witnesses, six apostatized from the faith in Joseph’s lifetime; while of the other five, three died before him, and two were his own brothers. No weight whatever, therefore, can attach to this attestation of the existence of the golden plates; on the contrary, it makes rather against the authority of the prophet, since, in his “revelation,” the number of persons who should be permitted to see the plates is expressly limited to three. As regards the value of Harris’s testimony, in particular, the following anecdote is conclusive:—

On one occasion, a sensible and religious gentleman in Palmyra put the following question to Harris: ‘Did you see these plates?’ Harris relied that he did. ‘But did you see the plates and the engravings on them with your bodily eyes?’ Harris replide, ‘Yes, I saw them with my eyes; there were shown unto me by the power of God, and not of man.’ ‘But did you see them with your natural, your bodily eyes, just as you see this pencil-case in my hand? Now say no or yes to this.’ Harris replied, ‘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 distinclty as I see anything around me, though at the time they were covered over with a cloth.’

The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, Volume 21; Origin and History of the Mormonites, Leavitt, Trow, & Company. Page 406.
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=NXzQAAAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA406&hl=en

Later in 1838, Harris told an Ohio congregation that “he never saw the plates with his natural eyes, only in vision or imagination” but that he knew the Book of Mormon to be true. He also said that he “hefted the plates repeatedly in a box with only a tablecloth or a handkerchief over them, but he never saw them” and that one time he saw them “as he saw a city through a mountain” which we can only assume was in his imagination.

My heart is sickened within me when I reflect upon the manner in which we with many of this Church have been led & the losses which we have sustained all by means of two men in whom we placed implicit confidence, that Joseph Smith & Sidney Rigdon are notorious liars. I do not hesitate to affirm, & can prove by a cloud of witnesses & this is not all, Joseph has prophecied in a public congregation lies in the name of the Lord & by undue religious influence he has filched the monies of the Church from their pockets and brought them nigh unto destruction, leaving helpless innocence destitute of a comfortable support while he has squandered the hard earnings of those to whom it justly belonged. I have reflected long and deliberately upon the history of this church & weighed the evidence for & against it— loth to give it up— but when I came to hear Martin Harris state in a public congregation that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver [Cowdery] nor David [Whitmer] & also that the eight witnesses never saw them & hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but were persuaded to do it, the last pedestal gave way, in my view our foundations was sapped & the entire superstructure fell a heap of ruins, I therefore three weeks since in the Stone Chapel gave a full history of the church since I became acquainted with it, the false preaching & prophecying etc of Joseph together with the reasons why I took the course which I was resolved to do, and renounced the Book of Mormon with the whole scene of lying and deception practiced by [Joseph Smith] & [Sidney Rigdon] in this church, believing as I verily do, that it is all a wicked deception palmed upon us unawares.

I was followed by [Warren Parrish], Luke Johnson & John [F.] Boynton all of who concurred with me, after we were done speaking [Martin] Harris arose & said he was sorry for any man who rejected the Book of Mormon for he knew it was true, he said 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 through a mountain.

Stephen Burnett to Lyman E. Johnson, letter, Apr. 15, 1838, Joseph Smith Papers, Letterbook 2, 65, Church History Library.
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letterbook-2/69

In 1838, a disaffected Church member named Stephen Burnett claimed that Martin Harris denied having seen the plates “with his natural eyes.” Citing the language of the revelation, Burnett asserted that to see by God’s power meant that the witnesses viewed the plates only “in vision or imagination.” Harris felt misrepresented and immediately attempted to clarify his earlier statement. Struggling to put the transcendent experience into words, he stated, according to Burnett, that he saw the plates as if he “saw a city through a mountain.”

LDS Website, Church History Topics: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/witnesses-of-the-book-of-mormon
Stephen Burnett letter to Lyman Johnson, Apr. 15, 1838, in Letterbook 2, 64, josephsmithpapers.org
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letterbook-2/69#josephsmithpapers

Martin Harris, one of the subscribing witnesses, has come out at last, and says he never saw the plates, from which the book purports to have been translated, except in vision, and he further says that any man who says he has seen them in any other way is a liar, Joseph not excepted.

Warren Parrish to E. Holmes, letter, Aug. 11, 1838, The Evangelist 6, Oct. 1, 1838, 226
https://user.xmission.com/~research/central/parrishletters.pdf

In summary, Martin Harris states the following regarding seeing the plates:

• He never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination.
• He never saw the plates except in vision and any man who says he has seen them in any other way is a liar.
• He hefted the plates repeatedly in a box with a tablecloth over them.
• He never saw them, only as he saw a city through a mountain.
• He never claimed to have seen them with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision.
• He saw the Book with his spiritual eyes.
• He saw them with a spiritual eye.
• While praying alone he passed into a state of entrancement, and in that state he saw the angel and the plates.

David Whitmer

David Whitmer met Joseph Smith through his friend Oliver Cowdery. Oliver even married Elizabeth Whitmer, David’s sister. A respected farmer from Fayette, New York, Whitmer was instrumental in facilitating the completion and publication of the Book of Mormon by hosting Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery during the translation process. Despite his foundational role, Whitmer’s legacy is shaped by his estrangement from the church and his unwavering, yet unconventional, testimony of the Book of Mormon. Whitmer was excommunicated for differences with Joseph Smith and was against polygamy. After Joseph was killed, David returned and followed James Strang for a time and then organized his own restoration splinter church claiming that just as God spoke to the three witnesses, he also told him to leave the latter day saints.

He claimed to have visions and even owned a seer stone. He once saw a Nephite on the road in New York and claimed to have seen both divine and demonic manifestations. Whitmer consistently affirmed his testimony that he had seen the gold plates, which he described as a spiritual experience rather than one with his natural eyes.

While critics point to his claims of supernatural experiences and his eventual disaffection with the church as evidence of his unreliability, defenders highlight his lifelong insistence that the Book of Mormon was divinely inspired as proof of his sincerity.

In an interview with John Murphy, Whitmer described the angel when seeing the plates as having “no appearance or shape” and more of an “impression” of an angel. He apparently only had a feeling of being visited by an angel.

[John Murphy]: “First of all, I heard you saw an angel. I never saw one. I want your description of [the] shape, voice, brogue and the construction of his language. I mean as to his style of speaking. You know that we can often determine the class a man belongs to by his language.”

[David Whitmer]: “It had no appearance or shape.”

[John Murphy]: “Then you saw nothing nor heard nothing?”

[David Whitmer]: “Nothing, in the way you understand it.”

[John Murphy]: “How, then, could you have borne testimony that you saw and heard an angel?”

[David Whitmer]: “Have you never had impressions?”

[John Murphy]: “Then you had impressions as the quaker when the spirit moves, or as a good Methodist in giving a happy experience, a feeling?”

[David Whitmer]: “Just so.”

Early Mormon Documents: Volume 2 by Dan Vogel. David whitmer interview with John Murphy, June 1880. Page 63
https://archive.org/details/volume-5_202011/page/63/mode/2up

In another interaction, James Henry Moyle discussed the episode with Whitmer:

Mr D[avid] Whitmer Sen[ior] did not handel the plates. Only seen them, says Martin Harris and Cowdry did so they say!

Says he did see them and the angel and heard him speak. But that it was indiscribable that it was through the power of God (and was possibly [in the spirit] at least) he then spoke of Paul hearing and seeing Christ but his associates did not [Acts 9:7; 22:9]. Because it is only seen in the Spirit.

I was not fully satisfied with the explanation. It was more spiritual than I anticipated.

Early Mormon Documents: Volume 5 by Dan Vogel. Interview with Hames Henry Moyle, 1885. Page 141.
https://archive.org/details/volume-5_202011/page/141/mode/2up

In an interview with RLDS Apostle Zenas H. Gurley, Whitmer stated that the plates were seen “by the power of God” and that he did not handle them physically.

Q—Do you know that the plates seen with the Angel (on the table) were real metal, did you touch them?

A— We did not touch nor handle the plates.

Q—Was the table literal wood? or was the whole a vision such as often occurs in dreams etc?

A—The table had the appearence of literal wood as shown in the vision, in the glory of God.

Q—Did you see the Urim and Thummim, what was it?

A—I saw the “Interpreters” in the holy vision. They looked like whitish stones put in the rim of a bow, looked like spectacles only much larger.

Early Mormon Documents: Volume 5 by Dan Vogel. David Whitmer Interview with Zenas H. Gurley, 14 January 1885. Page 135.
https://archive.org/details/volume-5_202011/page/135/mode/2up

Whitmer also described his experience as occurring in a visionary state, comparing it to how one might see a vision through faith.

The official testimony of three details is that they heard the voice of the Lord. David Whitmer also claimed to have heard the voice of the Lord telling him the church had gone astray. Are we to believe his claim here too?

Mormon stood alone for many years, when the whole church of Nephites and Lamanites had every one gone into error and transgression. He stood alone, holding the authority, and prayed to God continually that he might go to them and preach to them; but the Lord forbid him to preach to them. Then let no man judge hastily as to my authority, lest he judge wrongly and continue in error; but go to God in prayer and fasting, and find out the truth, for the Holy Ghost will guide you into all truth. 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, so should it be done unto them.” In the spring of 1838, the heads of the church and many of the members had gone deep into error and blindness. I had been striving with them for a long time to show them the errors into which they were drifting, and for my labors I received only persecutions.

David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ. By A Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon 1887, Page 27
https://archive.org/details/addresstoallbeli00whit/page/26/mode/2up

In summary, David Whitmer’s claimed:

• The angel has no appearance or shape
• David’s experience was more an impression or feeling
• He did not touch nor handle the plates
• The Lord also told him to leave the church since it had apostatized.

Oliver Cowdery

Oliver Cowdery was a distant relative of Joseph Smith, a key figure in the early history of the Mormon Church, and one of its foundational leaders. Cowdery worked as a schoolteacher before becoming involved with Joseph Smith and the translation of the Book of Mormon and is best known for serving as the principal scribe during the translation of the Book of Mormon. Cowdery also claimed to have been visited by angelic beings and of being with Joseph Smith during the alleged restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods.

Cowdery, like Joseph Smith, participated in treasure-seeking activities and believed in the use of divining rods to locate buried treasures. He was reportedly skilled with a “rod of nature” (a dowsing rod) and used it in conjunction with Joseph Smith’s seer stone practices.

Oliver’s faith in the supernatural and his belief in Joseph Smith’s prophetic mission were central to his identity, but they also tied him to the controversial and mystical practices of early Mormonism. These beliefs and experiences, while sincere to him, fuel skepticism and criticism from outsiders and historians alike.

Oliver Cowdery lived in a culture steeped in biblical ideas, language, and practices. The revelation’s reference to Moses likely resonated with him. The Old Testament account of Moses and his brother Aaron recounted several instances of using rods to manifest God’s will. Many Christians in Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery’s day similarly believed in divining rods as instruments for revelation. Oliver was among those who believed in and used a divining rod.

The Lord recognized Oliver’s ability to use a rod: “Thou hast another gift which is the gift of working with the sprout [or rod].” Confirming the divinity of this gift, the revelation stated: “Behold there is no other power save God that can cause this thing of Nature to work in your hands for it is the work of God.”

LDS Website: Church History: Revelations in Context: Oliver Cowdery’s Gift
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/revelations-in-context/oliver-cowderys-gift

Early versions of the revelation in Doctrine and Covenants 8 state that Oliver Cowdery had “the gift of working with the sprout” or the “rod of nature,” indicating that he used a divining rod at some point. The Lord acknowledged Cowdery’s gift, declaring that “there is no other power save God that can cause this thing of Nature to work in your hands.” When Church leaders prepared this revelation for inclusion in the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835, they called Cowdery’s gift “the gift of Aaron,” reflecting its similarity to Aaron’s rod. (The earliest manuscript copy of the revelation now found in D&C 8 calls it a “sprout.” In 1833, when this revelation was prepared for publication, Sidney Rigdon revised the text to refer to a “rod of nature.”)

Other sources likewise suggest that Oliver Cowdery, as well as Joseph Smith Sr. and Joseph Smith Jr., had likely used divining rods. But the revelation does not clarify how Cowdery employed his rod.

LDS Website: Church History: Church History Topics: Diving Rods
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/divining-rods

Before serving as a witness to the Gold Plates, Oliver had already experienced other visions with Joseph, though they were not reported until 1834, they were supposed to have happened during the translation process when they received the priesthood from John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John. Oliver also claimed to have had a vision where he saw the gold plates before even meeting Joseph Smith.

Cowdery’s accounts suggest he believed the experience to be spiritual. He described being overwhelmed by divine power during the experience. He talked about these experiences as visions, and never as a physical experience.

[The] Lord appeared unto a young man by the name of Oliver Cowdry and shewed unto him the plates in a vision and also the truth of the work and what the Lord was about to do through me his unworthy servant therefore he was desirous to come and write for me to translate

Manuscript, Joseph Smith, “A History of the Life of Joseph Smith,” in Dean C. Jessee, Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002)
“The Conversion of Oliver Cowdery” by Larry E. Morris, 2007
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-summer-1832/6
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1414&context=jbms

After Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated from the church, he wanted to join a Methodist church. To join, he recanted his association with the Book of Mormon and Mormonism. He addressed the congregation stating that he was “sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism.”

Some time after Mr. Cowdery’s arrival in Tiffin, we became acquainted with his (Cowdery’s) connection with Mormonism… Mr. Cowdery expressed a desire to associate himself with a Methodist Protestant Church of this city. Rev. John Souder and myself were appointed a committee to wait on Mr. Cowdery and confer with him respecting his connection with Mormonism and the Book of Mormon.

We accordingly waited on Mr. Cowdery at his residence in Tiffin, and there learned his connection, from him, with that order, and his full and final renunciation thereof.

We then inquired of him if he had any objection to making a public recantation. He replied that he had objections; that, in the first place, it could do no good; that he had known several to do so and they always regretted it. And, in the second place, it would have a tendency to draw public attention, invite criticism, and bring him into contempt. “But,” said he, “nevertheless, if the church require it, I will submit to it, but I authorize and desire you and the church to publish and make known my recantation.” We did not demand it, but submitted his name to the church, and he was unanimously admitted a member thereof.

At that time he arose and addressed the audience present, admitted his error and implored forgiveness, and said he was sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism.

The True Origin of The Book of Mormon, Charles A. Shook 1914, Page 58-59
https://solomonspalding.com/docs2/1914Shk1.htm#pg059a

While Oliver Cowdery doesn’t explicitly state that he saw the plates only in a vision, the overlap in language with David Whitmer and Martin Harris’s accounts leaves the possibility open. The official testimony is intentionally framed to be compelling as a statement of testimony but remains ambiguous about whether the experience was physical or spiritual, or based on experience or belief.

Despite his instrumental role in the church’s early development, Cowdery later had a falling out with Joseph Smith and was excommunicated in 1838 due to disagreements over church governance and refusing to ignore Joseph’s adultery with Fanny Alger, whom the church now cites as Joseph’s first secret experimentation with plural marriage. Oliver reconciled with the church before he died in 1850 and his legacy remains a mix of devout contributions to Mormonism and the controversies that surrounded his departure. He likewise never denied his testimony of Joseph Smith’s sexual escapades with Fanny Alger.

So do we believe Oliver Cowdery’s word about his experience as a witness of the gold plates but deny his word about Joseph’s affair with his teenage maid Fanny Alger? Do we believe his word about his dowsing rod?

Never Denied

The church stakes a lot on the claim that none of the witnesses ever denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon. They openly admit that most even left the church (were excommunicated for publicly disagreeing with Joseph), but that they didn’t recant their statements on the plates. Within eight years of printing of the Book of Mormon, all of the Three Witnesses were excommunicated from the church.

The testimony of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon stands forth in great strength. Each of the three had ample reason and opportunity to renounce his testimony if it had been false, or to equivocate on details if any had been inaccurate. As is well known, because of disagreements or jealousies involving other leaders of the Church, each one of these three witnesses was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by about eight years after the publication of their testimony. All three went their separate ways, with no common interest to support a collusive effort. Yet to the end of their lives—periods ranging from 12 to 50 years after their excommunications—not one of these witnesses deviated from his published testimony or said anything that cast any shadow on its truthfulness.

Dallin H. Oaks, The Witness: Martin Harris, General Conference, April 1999
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1999/04/the-witness-martin-harris

The Three Witnesses never denied their testimony of the Book of Mormon. They could not because they knew it was true. They made sacrifices and faced difficulties beyond what most people ever know. Oliver Cowdery gave the same testimony about the divine origin of the Book of Mormon as he lay dying. But in the times of trial, they wavered in their faith that Joseph was still God’s prophet and that the only way to come unto the Savior was through His restored Church. That they continued to affirm what they saw and heard in that marvelous experience, during long periods of estrangement from the Church and from Joseph, makes their testimony more powerful.

Henry B. Eyring, An Enduring Testimony of the Mission of the Prophet Joseph, October 2003, General Conference
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2003/10/an-enduring-testimony-of-the-mission-of-the-prophet-joseph

Despite differences with Joseph Smith that led each of the Three Witnesses to part ways individually with the Church (Cowdery and Harris later returned), they continued to affirm their testimony as witnesses throughout their lives. (Oliver Cowdery was excommunicated in 1838, Martin Harris in 1837, and David Whitmer left the Church in 1838.)

LDS Website, Church History Topics: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/witnesses-of-the-book-of-mormon

The Lord provided for a group of three and then eight men to see the plates. Many of these witnesses helped in some way with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. For example, David Whitmer invited Joseph and Emma to live with them while Joseph translated, Martin Harris mortgaged his farm to pay the printing costs of the Book of Mormon, and Oliver Cowdery served as scribe for much of the translation. Joseph’s father and his brothers Hyrum and Samuel were also witnesses of the plates and helped Joseph in important ways. Although some of these men later left the Church, none of them ever denied their testimonies of the Book of Mormon.

Book of Mormon Seminary Teacher Manual (2024), Introductory Pages of the Book of Mormon, The Testimonies of Three Witnesses and Eight Witnesses: “We… Have Seen the Plates”
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/book-of-mormon-seminary-teacher-manual-2024/02-introductory-pages/024-teacher

Not one of the Three Witnesses ever denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon.

The Last Witness of the Three Witnesses, By Michael R. Morris. New Era January 2020
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2020/01/the-last-witness-of-the-three-witnesses

Only Sometimes Denied

Though the church repeats these witnesses never denied their statement as if a fact, there are accounts of such denials. Oliver Cowdery specifically was “sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism,” how does the church explain that this renunciation is not a denial?

The History of the Church records the event where Martin Harris, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery became the first witnesses to the gold plates after Joseph Smith. Joseph describes how the men gained their witness of the plates in a purely visionary setting…

Joseph Smith, David Whitmer, and Oliver Cowdery saw an angel and the plates after Martin Harris withdrew from the group. Joseph goes on to tell how he left David and Oliver and went in pursuit of Martin Harris, whom he found at a considerable distance fervently  engaged in prayer. Then they both joined in prayer, and according to Joseph, “the same vision was opened to our view.” Remember, the word “vision” means dream not reality. It is important to note that Joseph never claimed to have carried the plates into the woods where they prayed. Praying to see the plates in the woods seems rather odd if Joseph actually possessed physical plates. Why was prayer necessary to see the plates if they were in fact, a physical object? Martin Harris’ behavior also seems strange if the plates actually existed.

Printed in the Book of Mormon is the Testimony of the Three Witnesses. It is not an accurate account of the events, but a reconstruction of multiple experiences.

The language in this statement makes it seem as if all four men experienced this event together. However, the History of the Church passage clearly shows that the Martin Harris’ vision happened separately.

Letter For My Wife: Chapter 3, The Witnesses
https://www.letterformywife.com/part-one-the-early-church#viewer-xh1ka12992

There is a difference between saying you “beheld and saw the plates and the engravings thereon” and saying you “hefted the plates repeatedly in a box with only a tablecloth or a handkerchief over them” or that the plates “were covered over with a cloth” and that you “did not see them as [you] do that pencil-case, yet [you] saw them with the eye of faith” or “with a spiritual eye.” …

According to the above manuscript that Oliver took to the printer for the Book of Mormon, they were not signatures. Since there is no document or evidence of any document whatsoever with the actual signatures of all of the witnesses, the only real testimonies we have from the witnesses are later interviews given by them and eyewitness accounts/affidavits made by others, some of which are shown previously.

From a legal perspective, the statements of the testimonies of the Three and Eight witnesses hold no credibility or weight in a court of law as there are a) no signatures of any of the witnesses except Oliver, b) no specific dates, c) no specific locations, and d) some of the witnesses made statements after the fact that contradict and cast doubt on the specific claims made in the statements contained in the preface of the Book of Mormon.

Jeremy Runnells, CES Letter: Witnesses, No Document of Actual Signatures
https://read.cesletter.org/witnesses/#no-document-of-actual-signatures

In her book No Man Knows My History, Fawn McKay Brodie references Illinois Governor Thomas Ford to shed light on how Smith gathered these witness testimonies.

One of the most plausible descriptions of the manner in which Joseph Smith obtained these eight signatures was written by Thomas Ford, Governor of Illinois, who knew intimately several of Joseph’s key men after they became disaffected and left the church. They told Ford that the witnesses were “set to continual prayer, and other spiritual exercises.” Then at last “he assembled them in a room, and produced a box, which he said contained the precious treasure. The lid was opened; the witnesses peeped into it, but making no discovery, for the box was empty, they said, “Brother Joseph, we do not see the plates.” The prophet answered them, ‘O ye of little faith! how long will God bear with this wicked and perverse generation? Down on your knees, brethren, every one of you, and pray God for the forgiveness of your sins, and for a holy and living faith which cometh down from heaven.’ The disciples dropped to their knees, and began to pray in the fervency of their spirit, supplicating God for more than two hours with fanatical earnestness; at the end of which time, looking again into the box, they were now persuaded that they saw the plates.”

Thomas Ford, Governor of Illinois. No Man Knows My History by Fawn Brodie
https://archive.org/details/NoManKnowsMyHistory/page/n109/mode/2up

Through the sheer force of Smith’s suggestions, coercive threats and their own earnest desire to see what he said was there, yet obscured by their “sinfulness”, the eight men “saw” the plates. This certainly is what Harris meant by seeing “plates” with the “eyes of faith” that did not exist. Cowdery’s own admission that he didn’t see the plates at all during the translation work and his spasms of wavering faith that they existed certainly aren’t faith building for Mormons, but they are disarmingly candid admissions. What all of these men actually did was to help create a bogus set of testimonials to events and objects that never existed, except in their minds.

Rafael Martinez, Behind the Book of  Mormon
https://www.spiritwatch.org/mobehbom.htm

Reliability and Character

The church will hold that these witnesses were honest and accountable for their claims for seeing (at least in vision or with spiritual eyes) the Gold Plates, but they don’t want to believe things these men said that may be contrary to the church. They all disbelieved Joseph Smith at some point, and some thought he was a fallen prophet. The falling out was no secret and Joseph Smith struggled to maintain authority over each of them, eventually being forced to excommunicate them and slander their character. How then does the church still regard them at their word regarding their Witness?

Joseph said specifically of these three along with William McLellin and John Whitmer (one of the Eight Witnesses) that he’d “liked to have forgotten them.”

And now brethren, we say unto you, what more can we enumerate? Is not all manner of evil of every description spoken of us falsely, yea, we say unto you falsely? We have been misrepresented, and misunderstood, and belied, and the purity and integrity, and uprightness of our hearts have not been known—and it is through ignorance—yea, the very depth of ignorance, is the cause of it; and not only ignorance, but on the part of some, gross wickedness and hypocrisy also—who by a long face and sanctimonious prayers, and very pious sermons, had power to lead the minds of the ignorant and unwary, and thereby obtain such influence, that when we approached their iniquities, the devil gained great advantage,—would bring great trouble and sorrow upon our heads; and in fine we have waded through an ocean of tribulation and mean abuse,—practiced upon us by the ill bred, and the ignorant, such as Hinkle, Corrill, Phelps, Avard, Reed Peck, [John] Cleminson, and various others, who are so very ignorant, that they cannot appear respectable in any decent and civilized society, and whose eyes are full of adultery, and cannot cease from sin. Such characters as McLellin, John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris, are too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them. Marsh and “another,” whose hearts are full of corruption, whose cloak of hypocrisy was not sufficient to shield them or to hold them up in the hour of trouble, who after having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and became again entangled and overcome—their latter end is worse than the first. But it has happened unto them according to the word of the Savior: “The dog has returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” [2 Peter 2:22]

Joseph Smith’s Letter from Liberty Jail, Missouri, December 16, 1838.
History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 232

The language used by the witnesses—particularly phrases like “with spiritual eyes” or “by the power of God”—leads to questions of whether the plates were ever actually seen or handled in a physical sense. The witnesses never actually saw or touched the plates in a tangible, physical sense. Instead, their experiences were visionary or imagined, possibly induced by Joseph Smith’s influence and a strong desire to believe. Joseph Smith’s charisma and the communal pressures of early Mormonism could have easily influenced the witnesses to report seeing the plates, even if their experiences were not physical. The witnesses may have genuinely believed their visionary experiences were as valid as physical ones, blurring the line between the two, since they fully believed in other superstitions and folk magics.

During the 19th century, visionary experiences were not unusual in religious revivals. Many people understood visions and physical realities as overlapping, making the witnesses’ language a product of their cultural and religious worldview.

The distinction between the physical and spiritual experiences of the plates is crucial because the tangible existence of the gold plates is foundational to the LDS Church’s claims. If the witnesses only saw the plates in a spiritual or visionary sense, it undermines the historicity of the Book of Mormon. If the plates were real, tangible objects, then their existence could theoretically be verified through archaeology or evidence. If the plates were only seen spiritually, then the entire foundation of the LDS Church depends on subjective experiences, which are not verifiable and are open to skepticism.

Admitting that they did not physically see or handle the plates might have put the witnesses at odds with Joseph Smith and other church members, creating personal and social conflict.

The witnesses’ accounts leave significant ambiguity about whether the plates were seen and handled physically or only spiritually. For believers, these experiences may affirm the divine nature of the Book of Mormon. For skeptics, the contradictions and the reliance on “spiritual eyes” suggest a lack of concrete evidence for the plates’ existence.

If you’ve navigated questions about the Book of Mormon or struggled with the church’s truth claims, consider sharing your experience at wasmormon.org, where faith journeys are valued and explored.

• https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/empirical-witnesses-of-the-gold-plates/
• https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/brodie-revisited-a-reappraisal-no-man-knows-my-history-by-faun-brodie/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon_witnesses
• https://www.mormonhandbook.com/home/book-of-mormon-witnesses.html
• https://read.cesletter.org/witnesses/#magical-worldview
• http://www.mormonthink.com/witnessesweb.htm
• https://www.bible.ca/mor-witness-book.htm
• https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/06/27/witnessing-the-witnesses/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Witnesses
• https://mit.irr.org/facts-on-book-of-mormon-witnesses-part-2
• https://www.mormonstories.org/home/truth-claims/the-book-of-mormon/book-of-mormon-witnesses/
• https://www.bookofmormonhistory.com/post/oliver-cowdery-one-of-the-three-witnesses-of-the-golden-plates-never-recanted-right
• Fanny Alger, Joseph Smith’s “dirty, nasty, filthy affair” Teen Bride
• https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/r03bvb/mormons_oliver_cowdery_witness_extraordinaire/