Martin Harris/Statements
From FAIRMormon
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This page is a chronology of statements from primary and secondary sources. Sources may be viewed by following the citation links.
Statements made by Martin Harris regarding the Book of Mormon
1831
Source type: secondary, hostile.
Number of years after event described: 2
[Martin Harris] told all about the gold plates, Angels, Spirits, and Jo Smith—He had seen and handled them all, by the power of God.
—, Painsville Telegraph, 15 March 1831.
1838
Source type: secondary, non-hostile.
Number of years after event described: 9
Martin Harris then bore testimony of its truth and said all would be damned that rejected it.
—George A. Smith, Letter from George A. Smith to Josiah Fleming, LDS Church Archives., 30 March 1838.
1841
Source type: secondary, hostile.
Number of years after event described: 12
Martin Harris...gave me a particular description of the plates and of the Urim and Thummim, &c.
—Joseph Fielding, Millennial Star 2 [1841]: 52., 20 June 1841.
1850
Source type: tertiary, hostile.
Number of years after event described: 21
On one occasion, a sensible and religious gentleman in Palmyra put the following question to Harris: 'Did you see these plates?' Harris replied that he did. 'But did you see the plates and the engravings on them with your bodily eyes?' Harris replied,' Yes, I saw them with my eyes; they were shown unto me by the power of God, and not of man.' 'But did yon 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 distinctly as I see anything around me, though at the time they were covered over with a cloth.'
—, "Origin and History of the Mormonites," The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, late 1850. [ off-site off-site]
1871
Source type: primary.
Number of years after event described: 42
I answer emphatically, No, I did not;—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. The Lord has shown me these things by his Spirit—by the administration of holy angels—and confirmed the same with signs following, step by step, as the work has progressed, for the space of fifty-three years.
—Martin Harris, Letter of Martin Harris, Sr., to Hanna B. Emerson, Smithfield, Utah Territory, in Early Mormon Documents, 2: 338., January 1871.
