ATTENTION BOOK OF MORMON BELIEVERS
WHAT IS A “SPIRITUAL EYE”?
According to a memorandum made by John H. Gilbert, Esq., (Mr. Gilbert was the printer who set the type for the Palmyra edition of the Book of Mormon), “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, Preface).
This statement of Martin Harris is explained by details which he gave to some of the church members in public in Ohio. S. Burnett, (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 79:1) in a letter dated April 15, 1838, to Lyman E. Johnson, one of the first twelve apostles, lamenting over the deplorable conditions in the church, wrote, “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 public that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver nor David & 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 week since in the Stone Chapel gave a full history of the church since I became acquainted with it…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 I was followed by W. Parish Luke Johnson & John Boynton all of who concurred with me, after we were done speaking M. 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. And said that he never should have told that the testimony of the eight was false, if it had not been picked out of him, but should have let it passed as it was….” (The original letter of Stephen Burnett to Lyman E. Johnson dated April 15,1838, was copied on May 24,1838, onto pages. 64-66 of a Letter Book which contained copies of Joseph Smith’s letters and others from April 20,1837 to Feb. 9, 1843 with a few for other years. This Letter Book is among the Joseph Smith Collection in the L.D.S. Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah, Box 2, folder 2. A microfilm copy is in the R.L.D.S. Church Archives. Letter copied with spelling and punctuation as it is in the original.
When Martin Harris was asked by Joel Tiffany in January, 1859, “How did the Lord show you these things? He replied, ‘I am forbidden to say anything how the Lord showed them to me, except that by the power of God I have seen them.’” (Joel Tiffany, Tiffany’s Monthly, Vol.5. No. 1, May and June, 1859, New York). Martin Harris did not allow the details to be “picked out of him” in that interview.
William Smith, Joseph Smith’s youngest brother, also supports the statements of Martin Harris concerning the eight witnesses. In an interview between E.C. Briggs and William Smith, in which J.W. Peterson took notes, William is asked if he ever saw the plates. “He replied, ‘I did not see them uncovered but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds. I could tell they were plates of some kind and that they were fastened together by rings running through the back!…. Bro. Briggs then asked, ‘Did any others of the family see them?’ ‘Yes,’ said he; ‘Father and my brother Samuel saw them as I did while in the frock.’” (Zion’s Ensign, Vol. 5, No. 3, Jan. 13, 1894, Page 6).
When one realizes that William’s “Father and my brother Samuel” were two of the eight witnesses which claimed “that Joseph Smith, Jr. the Author and Proprietor of this work, has shewn unto, us the plates and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated, we did handle with our hands and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record…that the said Smith has shewn unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety, that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken…” (Statement which the eight witnesses signed as it appears in the Palmyra edition).
It is easy to understand why the eight witnesses were reluctant to sign the statement and had to be persuaded to do so. For the plates that were handled and seen were all the “while in the frock” or covered with something. The engravings thereon which they were supposed to have seen could have been the copy of characters made for Professor Anthon, which had the appearance of ancient work and of curious workmanship. But on the assurance of what their hands had felt and they had hefted they declared that “Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken. If the plates were real and could be handled by physical hands, why did they have to be protected from the physical eyes of the eleven witnesses? Why did not the statements signed by the witnesses differentiate between what was physical and what was spiritually perceived? Why would one try to deceive, if the work was true? May God help all of us to be honest, for it is only the truth that makes men free. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…”And His “Word is truth.”(Heb. l:l-2 and John l7:17).