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Eleven Special Witnesses

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. (2 Corinthians 13:1.)

Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word. (2 Nephi 27:14.)

There are many incredible statements in the writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. These include his testimonies that he was instructed in 1820 by God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ; that he received numerous visitations from angelic messenger after 1823; that he was directed by a heavenly being to a prominent hill where he located a set of golden plates buried in a stone box; and that he translated these plates by the gift and power of God. Moreover, he testified that he received (in company with Oliver Cowdery) God's authority to baptize, confirm, ordain, and reestablish Christ's church upon the earth by the laying of hands from John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John.

The uncommon aspects of the restoration movement do not cease with these startling pronouncements. In the summer of 1829, eleven men examined the Book of Mormon plates and wrote testimonies that are unparalleled in the annals of religious history. Three men declared with words of soberness that they not only saw the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated and the engravings thereon, but that they were shown this record by a heavenly being and heard a voice from heaven which verified the correct translation of the book. A day or two after the Three Witnesses saw the plates during a heavenly vision, eight other men walked into a grove where they were shown the plates by Joseph Smith. These men, in the presence of one another, examined the golden plates meticulously. They hefted them, they saw the curious writings on the metal record, and they turned the thin leaves or pages which the Prophet had translated, one by one.

After the eleven witnesses had examined the golden plates, they wrote an account of their experience and signed their names to the document. Since three of the witnesses saw the plates during a vision, beheld an angel, and were instructed by the voice of God, and eight men examined the plates under different circumstances, the eleven special witnesses endorsed two separate accounts of their experiences. Both of these testimonies were published in the first edition of the Book of Mormon which was available for sale in March 1830, less than one year after the eleven had examined the record. The testimonies of these eleven men, with their names attached, have been republished in all subsequent editions of the Book of Mormon. These testimonies were also printed in many newspapers across the land, and were recopied or referred to periodically in the writings of these witnesses and many of their contemporaries.