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William Owen (skeptical account): "Ten persons say they have seen them and hefted them, three declare that an angel of God appeared to them and showed them to them"
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William Owen (skeptical account): "Ten persons say they have seen them and hefted them, three declare that an angel of God appeared to them and showed them to them"
A skeptical account from a reader in 1831 demonstrates that the witnesses' contemporaries understood the experience to be a literal one:
The plates from which Smith, the author translates his book are said to be in his possession. Ten persons say they have seen them and hefted them, three declare that an angel of God appeared to them and showed them to them, and told them that God had given Smith power to be able to read them, understand them, and translate them. The names of those persons are signed to the certificates in the book.[1]
Notes
- ↑ W.O. [William Owen], “Mormon Bible,” Free Enquirer (New York) (3 September 1831): 364.