Interview With David Whitmer

Post Date: 24th Dec, 2007 - 7:57pm / Post ID: #

Quote

Interview With David Whitmer

Interview with David Whitmer

Another KoZ2 Topic:

QUOTE

An Interview with David Whitmer
(Deseret News, Friday, August 16, 1878)

We publish the following, the chief portions of a letter received from Dr.
Poulson containing particulars of an interview with David Whitmer. * * *

Ogden City, August 13, 1878, EDITORS, DESERET NEWS:

* * *After a self introduction to David Whitmer and some general
conversation, I remarked to him:

Question: You are one of the three witnesses?
Answer: I am one of them.
Question: And you saw the angel, and he showed you the plates?
Answer: The Book of Mormon is true, as true as any record can be. I saw the
angel, and saw the sword of Laban, and the breast-plate, and the
Urim and Thummim, and the plates, and the director, and the angel
stood before us, and he turned the leaves one by one.
Question: Did the angel turn all the leaves before you as you looked on it?
Answer: No, not all, only that part of the book which was not sealed, and
what there was sealed appeared as solid to my view as wood.
Question: How many of the plates were sealed?
Answer: About the half of the book was sealed. Those leaves which were not
sealed, about the half of the first part of the book, were numerous,
and the angel turned them over before our eyes. There is yet to be
given a translation about Jared's people's doings and of Nephi, and
many other records and books, which all has to be done, when the
time comes.
Question: How large were the plates?
Answer: About eight inches wide and six or seven inches long, as they
appeared a little wider than long, and three rings kept the plates
together; one above, one in the middle and one below, so the angel
could turn every leaf entirely over. The thickness was about of a
common sheet of tin used by tinsmiths.
Question: How did the engravings look?
Answer: They were characters. We copied some, and if you visit my brother
John, one of the eight witnesses, who wrote for Joseph, John can
show you some of the old manuscript which he borrowed from me. I
must have it returned to me again, as it belongs to the Church, in
connection with other records. * * *
Question: How did you know Joseph to be at the time?
Answer: As a very humble and meek man. . . . He did the will of the Lord,
and an arduous task it was to translate the Book of Mormon.
Question: Did Joseph use the Urim and Thummim when he translated?
Answer: The Urim and Thummim were two white stones, each of them cased in as
spectacles are, in a kind of silver casing, but the bow between the
stones was more heavy, and longer apart between the stones, than we
usually find it in spectacles. Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, Emma
and my brother John each at different times, wrote for Joseph as he
translated.
Question: When will the Temple be built in Independence?
Answer: Right after the great tribulation is over.
Question: What do you mean by that?
Answer: A civil war more bloody and cruel than the rebellion. It will be a
smashing up of this nation, about which time the second great work
has to be done, a work like Joseph did, and the translation of the
sealed plates, and peace all over.
Question: Will you live and see those things?
Answer: It was said to us that the second great work should commence when
nearly all the witnesses to the first plates had passed away.* * *

Interview With David Whitmer

Interview David Whitmer - Mormon Doctrine Studies - Posted: 24th Dec, 2007 - 7:57pm

Community Menu

Interview With David Whitmer