Golden plates

According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates (also called the gold plates or in some 19th-century literature, the golden bible)^[1] are the source from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith.^[2] Some accounts from people who reported handling the plates describe the plates as weighing from 30 to 60 pounds (14 to 27 kg),^[3] gold in color, and composed of thin metallic pages engraved with hieroglyphics on both sides and bound with three D-shaped rings.^[4]

Smith said that he found the plates on September 22, 1823, on a hill near his home in Manchester, New York, after the angel Moroni directed him to a buried stone box. He said that the angel prevented him from taking the plates but instructed him to return to the same location in a year. He returned to that site every year, but it was not until September 1827 that he recovered the plates on his fourth annual attempt to retrieve them. He returned home with a heavy object wrapped in a frock, which he then put in a box. He allowed others to heft the box but said that the angel had forbidden him to show the plates to anyone until they had been translated from their original "reformed Egyptian" language.

Smith dictated the text of the plates while a scribe wrote down the words which would later become the Book of Mormon. Eyewitnesses to the process said Smith translated the plates, not by looking directly at them, but by looking through a transparent seer stone in the bottom of his hat.^[5] Smith published the first edition of the translation in March 1830 as the Book of Mormon, with a print run of 5,000 copies at a production cost of $3,000 (or 60 cents per book).

Smith eventually obtained testimonies from 11 men who said that they had seen the plates, known as the Book of Mormon witnesses.^[6]^[7] After the translation was complete, Smith said that he returned the plates to the angel Moroni; thus, they could never be examined. Latter Day Saints believe the account of the golden plates as a matter of faith, while critics often assert that Smith manufactured them himself.^[8]

^ Use of the terms golden bible and gold bible by both believers and non-believers dates from the late 1820s. See Harris (1859, p. 167) (use of the term gold bible by Martin Harris in 1827); Smith (1853, pp. 102, 109, 113, 145) (use of the term gold Bible in 1827–29 by believing Palmyra neighbors); Grandin (1829) (stating that by 1829 the plates were "generally known and spoken of as the 'Golden Bible'"). Use of those terms has been rare since the 1830s.
^ "History & Culture – Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
^ Vogel (2004, pp. 600n65, 601n96). Vogel estimates that solid gold plates of the same dimensions would weigh about 140 pounds (64 kg).
^ Vogel (2004, p. 98)
^ Bushman (2005, pp. 71–72); Marquardt & Walters (1994, pp. 103–104); Van Wagoner & Walker (1982, pp. 52–53) (citing numerous witnesses of the translation process); Quinn (1998, pp. 169–170, 173) (describing similar methods for both the two-stone Urim and Thummim and the chocolate-colored seer stone). Smith's use of a single stone is well documented (Van Wagoner & Walker 1982, pp. 59–62), although Smith said that his earliest translation used a set of stone spectacles called the Urim and Thummim which he found with the plates (Smith et al. 1839–1843, p. 5). Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, was the only known witness of the Urim and Thummim, which she said she had observed when covered by a thin cloth (Smith 1853, p. 101).
^ Critics question whether Martin Harris physically saw the plates. Harris continued to testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon even when he was estranged from the church, at least during the early years of the movement. He "seems to have repeatedly admitted the internal, subjective nature of his visionary experience." Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2: 255. The foreman in the Palmyra printing office that produced the first Book of Mormon said that Harris "used to practice a good deal of his characteristic jargon and 'seeing with the spiritual eye,' and the like." Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867) p. 71 in EMD, 3: 122. John H. Gilbert was the typesetter for most of the book, and he said that he had asked Harris, "Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?" Harris "looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, 'No, I saw them with a spiritual eye.'" John H. Gilbert, "Memorandum," 8 September 1892, in EMD, 2: 548. Two other Palmyra residents said that Harris told them that he had seen the plates with "the eye of faith" or "spiritual eyes." Martin Harris interviews with John A. Clark, 1827 & 1828 in EMD, 2: 270; Jesse Townsend to Phineas Stiles, 24 December 1833, in EMD, 3: 22. In 1838, Harris told an Ohio congregation that "he never saw the plates with his natural eyes, only in vision or imagination." Stephen Burnett to Lyman E. Johnson, 15 April 1838 in EMD, 2: 291. A neighbor of Harris in Kirtland, Ohio, said that Harris "never claimed to have seen [the plates] with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision." Reuben P. Harmon statement, c. 1885, in EMD, 2: 385.
^ "Book of Mormon/Witnesses/"Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris – FAIR". www.fairlatterdaysaints.org.
^ Vogel (2004, p. 98) "His remark that a plate was not quite as thick as common tin may have been meant to divert attention from the possibility that they were actually made from some material otherwise readily available to him. Indeed, his prohibition against visual inspection seems contrived to the skeptic who might explain that the would-be prophet constructed a set of plates to be felt through a cloth."

[1] Use of the terms golden bible and gold bible by both believers and non-believers dates from the late 1820s. See Harris (1859, p. 167) (use of the term gold bible by Martin Harris in 1827); Smith (1853, pp. 102, 109, 113, 145) (use of the term gold Bible in 1827–29 by believing Palmyra neighbors); Grandin (1829) (stating that by 1829 the plates were "generally known and spoken of as the 'Golden Bible'"). Use of those terms has been rare since the 1830s.

[2] "History & Culture – Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.

[3] Vogel (2004, pp. 600n65, 601n96). Vogel estimates that solid gold plates of the same dimensions would weigh about 140 pounds (64 kg).

[4] Vogel (2004, p. 98)

[5] Bushman (2005, pp. 71–72); Marquardt & Walters (1994, pp. 103–104); Van Wagoner & Walker (1982, pp. 52–53) (citing numerous witnesses of the translation process); Quinn (1998, pp. 169–170, 173) (describing similar methods for both the two-stone Urim and Thummim and the chocolate-colored seer stone). Smith's use of a single stone is well documented (Van Wagoner & Walker 1982, pp. 59–62), although Smith said that his earliest translation used a set of stone spectacles called the Urim and Thummim which he found with the plates (Smith et al. 1839–1843, p. 5). Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, was the only known witness of the Urim and Thummim, which she said she had observed when covered by a thin cloth (Smith 1853, p. 101).

[6] Critics question whether Martin Harris physically saw the plates. Harris continued to testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon even when he was estranged from the church, at least during the early years of the movement. He "seems to have repeatedly admitted the internal, subjective nature of his visionary experience." Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2: 255. The foreman in the Palmyra printing office that produced the first Book of Mormon said that Harris "used to practice a good deal of his characteristic jargon and 'seeing with the spiritual eye,' and the like." Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867) p. 71 in EMD, 3: 122. John H. Gilbert was the typesetter for most of the book, and he said that he had asked Harris, "Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?" Harris "looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, 'No, I saw them with a spiritual eye.'" John H. Gilbert, "Memorandum," 8 September 1892, in EMD, 2: 548. Two other Palmyra residents said that Harris told them that he had seen the plates with "the eye of faith" or "spiritual eyes." Martin Harris interviews with John A. Clark, 1827 & 1828 in EMD, 2: 270; Jesse Townsend to Phineas Stiles, 24 December 1833, in EMD, 3: 22. In 1838, Harris told an Ohio congregation that "he never saw the plates with his natural eyes, only in vision or imagination." Stephen Burnett to Lyman E. Johnson, 15 April 1838 in EMD, 2: 291. A neighbor of Harris in Kirtland, Ohio, said that Harris "never claimed to have seen [the plates] with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision." Reuben P. Harmon statement, c. 1885, in EMD, 2: 385.

[7] "Book of Mormon/Witnesses/"Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris – FAIR". www.fairlatterdaysaints.org.

[8] Vogel (2004, p. 98) "His remark that a plate was not quite as thick as common tin may have been meant to divert attention from the possibility that they were actually made from some material otherwise readily available to him. Indeed, his prohibition against visual inspection seems contrived to the skeptic who might explain that the would-be prophet constructed a set of plates to be felt through a cloth."

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