Difference between revisions of "The witness of Samuel Smith"

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Question: Did Samuel Smith, one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, every deny having seen the plates?

Samuel Smith "knew his brother Joseph had the plates...and he had handled them and seen the engravings thereon"

In the spring of 1832:

Elder [Samuel] Smith read the 29th chapter of Isaiah at the first meeting and delineated the circumstances of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, of which he said he was a witness. He knew his brother Joseph had the plates, for the prophet had shown them to him, and he had handled them and seen the engravings theron. His speech was more like a narrative than a sermon.^[1]

Phineas Young (brother to Brigham Young) met Samuel on his first mission, and was given a Book of Mormon:

"Ah," said I, "You are one of the witnesses."

"Yes," said he, "I know the book to be a revelation from God, translated by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, and that my brother Joseph Smith, Jr., is a Prophet, Seer and Revelator."^[2]

Notes

1. ↑ Daniel Tyler, "Incidents of Experience," Scraps of Biography, Faith Promoting Series (Salt Lake City, UT: 1883), 10:23; cited in Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 140. ISBN 0877478465.
2. ↑ Autobiography of Phineas Young, also cit Deseret News (3 February 1858); reproduced in Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 139. ISBN 0877478465.