Editor’s Note:  The many accounts relevant to the key events of the Restoration are published in the new book Opening the Heavens. To learn more, go to byustudies.byu.edu.

Many have a superficial understanding of how generously the Lord has employed the Law of Witnesses in the last days. This was largely true for me, until I read a publication that changed my outlook. After reading, it caused me to say within myself, “I always knew Joseph was a prophet, but I did not realize he was that much of a prophet.”

The early years of the Restoration of the Gospel were a sunburst of light, knowledge, angels, visions, and miracles that was more profuse than most of us realize. From 1820­–1844, “a cloud of witnesses" — perhaps thousands — were competent that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, for they, along with Joseph, saw visions, angels, healings, transfigurations, and so forth, or at least were very close to the action and wrote about it.

For example, we all marvel that Sidney Rigdon had a vision simultaneously with Joseph Smith concerning the three degrees of glory. This upholds our belief that Joseph was more than a charismatic with a mystical imagination — a second witness is impressive and confirms our faith.

In reality, however, many more witnesses than two were present. They did not see the vision but saw a magnificent glory encircle Sidney and Joseph. Philo Dibble was one of those present and recounts:

“Joseph and Sidney were in the spirit and saw the heavens open, and there were other men in the room, perhaps twelve. I saw the glory and felt the power, but did not see the vision.

“Joseph would, at intervals, say: ‘What do I see?’ as one might say while looking out the window and beholding what all in the room could not see. Then he would relate what he had seen or what he was looking at. Then Sidney replied, ‘I see the same…’

“This manner of conversation was repeated at short intervals to the end of the vision. Not a sound nor motion was made by anyone but Joseph and Sidney, and it seemed to me that they never moved a joint or limb during the time I was there, [which was] for over an hour, to the end of the vision.

“Joseph sat firmly and calmly all the time in the midst of a magnificent glory, but Sidney sat limp and pale, apparently as limber as a rag, observing which, Joseph remarked, smilingly, ‘Sidney is not used to it as I am.’" [i]

So that which is often accounted as a two-witness vision could really be called a fourteen-witness vision. Two saw the full vision, but those among the dozen or so, who felt the power and saw the glory, should not be discounted in the least. This account serves as a good template for a study of the witnesses of the Restoration — it shows that there are always more than we expect.

The Law Cleverly Employed

For many of us, the understanding of the law of witnesses goes something like this:

1. Eleven witnesses saw the golden plates
2. Oliver Cowdery was present when John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John restored the Priesthood, and
3. Oliver was present when Moses, Elias, and Elijah restored the keys of that Priesthood in the Kirtland Temple.

Though these events are central to our doctrine, in relation to the totality of witnesses these episodes barely scratch the surface. We can hardly fathom how extensive and keen the Lord is in establishing the Law of Witnesses in our day.

To illustrate, let us pay careful attention to how the law is employed in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In doing so we will see that God was very particular, clever, and careful in presenting witnesses to the world. This way, investigators of various beliefs and backgrounds are left with so many penetrating arguments that they are certain to be interested, provided they have some semblance of an open mind.

In giving others a witness of the plates, it is apparent the Lord had two main objectives in mind. In saying this I hope I do not give the impression that I would limit Deity’s purposes, just that these purposes seem to be central: first, to prove that the Book of Mormon was of divine origin, and second, to prove that the plates were real and tangible — nothing mystical or symbolic or transcendental about them — for Joseph was dealing with a real recorded history that could be handled and hefted and seen. These two purposes seem to fit in with the dual nature of mankind—the spiritual and the physical.   

Let us deal with the spiritual first. With the Three Witnesses, how does the Lord prove that the Book of Mormon indeed does have a heavenly origin, that the powers of God were indeed present when Joseph Smith translated? The answer appears simple enough:

The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God … because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit [receive] the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5).

The powers of heaven are proven by other powers of heaven. Hence, to show that the medium of heaven was intimately involved in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, it would follow that the Three Witnesses would view the Book of Mormon plates through the power of God. This, of course, is exactly what happened.

But what about those not acquainted with the principle of faith? How shall the Lord plant the tiny seed of curiosity into the hearts of those materialists, scientists and skeptics who look upon life with an analytical and secular mind, and who so easily dismiss reports of divine manifestations as the product of some sort of psychosomatic symptom stemming from way too much religious zealotry?

It appears that the Lord has reached out to those with these nihilistic tendencies as well. Along with the Three Witnesses, eight others signed their names that they had seen and hefted the plates. But with the Eight Witnesses we do not find any heavenly powers involved at all. This was just as it should have been. These eight men retired to the woods with Joseph Smith, where he unceremoniously uncovered the plates. Each man could view them, heft them, and turn over the several leaves that Joseph had translated. No dreams, no visions, no transfigurations, no altered states of mind; but they, in their sober senses and with their natural eyes, examined the plates in broad daylight. Everything was purposefully natural and low-key. Therefore, both the religious and the irreligious, if they are honest, ought to at least be interested in the two accounts of seeing the golden plates.

Also, there was a third type of Book of Mormon witness that we do not think very often about. These were the witnesses that weren’t even supposed to be witnesses. They were not official. They came across the plates by accident, really. There were no official gatherings in the woods, no official signed affidavit or proclamation — just normal people who came across evidence of the plates in everyday life. These accounts smack of authenticity because, like real life, they are unstudied and unpredictable. These people could not be in collusion with Joseph Smith (after all, they were forbidden to be witnesses), yet they became witnesses anyway.

A case in point: Emma is acting as scribe in the translation. Meanwhile, these plates, about which so much excitement has been swirling about, are constantly right in front of her on the table wrapped in cloth. With admirable discipline, Emma doesn’t ever uncover them and look, having been previously forbidden to do so, but she does satisfy her curiosity just enough to become an incidental witness: “The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth, which I had given him to fold them in. I once felt of the plates as they thus lay on the table, tracing their outline and shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one does sometimes thumb the edges of a book."

Other incidental witnesses spoke of hefting the plates while they were in a linen frock, a pillowcase, or a wooden box. All noticed how heavy they were, including Martin Harris’s family: “My daughter said they were about as much as she could lift ... and my wife said they were very heavy." Martin Harris, piqued by their hands-on experience, went to the Smith home for himself and gave this insightful incidental witness: “I knew from the heft that they were lead or gold, and I knew that Joseph had not credit enough to buy so much lead.” If we count all the various incidental experiences with the plates, the total number of witnesses could be double what we normally think. [ii]

Opening the Heavens

Besides what appears to be an ingenious deployment of the Law of Witnesses, the above examples also show that the raw number of witnesses is more substantial than we think. In reality, we hardly realize what we have because it is so voluminous and breathtaking. Because of its massiveness it is not easy to grasp; we cannot wrap our minds around it. A new book, Opening the Heavens, edited by John W. Welch, editor-in-chief at BYU Studies, can help us in our quest to understand just how many early witnesses there were.

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John Welch writes in the preface that Opening the Heavens “strives to bring together, for the first time, all the known contemporaneous documents relevant to the key events of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ that were accompanied by divine manifestations … If these visions, revelations, miracles, and powers were, in fact, received as claimed, nothing surpasses the importance of knowing so” (vii).

Think for a moment, what would happen if one, just one, original, authenticated letter surfaced from the time of Christ—say, a letter written by Mary of Magdala that she did indeed see two angels at the tomb of Jesus, and that she saw the resurrected Christ ascend into heaven — what would happen? If it could truly be authenticated, pandemonium among biblical students would likely ensue; a vast renewal of religious faith would take like wild fire the world over; skeptics and humanists would flit about with all sorts of nervous theories to discount the claim; it would be, to say the least, a sensation.

Ironically, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has thousands of original documents and accounts from contemporaries of Joseph Smith relating such divine manifestations, and no one seems to care.

“Think, for example, how few documents have survived from the time of Mohammed,” writes Welch, “And what would New Testament scholars give for a single letter from Mary about the raising of Lazarus? Or a diary entry by someone who was present when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River? Or a brief report from Peter to the Twelve about what he had just seen and heard on the Mount of Transfiguration? In the case of Joseph Smith and the key events of the Restoration, we enjoy, by comparison, and overwhelming abundance” (viii).

I have compiled the following list as a snapshot of the documents compiled in Opening the Heavens. The various accounts themselves are in the book, but this list should give you a sense for the magnitude of witnesses:

1. First Vision. There are ten accounts of the First Vision, found in thirteen different documents, which give fascinating details that are not generally known to the public (and no, there are not contradictions that should give any pause, like many debunkers would have you believe).

2. Book of Mormon. There are more than 200 accounts, some by intimate witnesses, others by closely associated onlookers, as well as others opposed to Joseph Smith, which document the miraculous translation of the Book of Mormon.

3. Priesthood. There are 70 contemporaneous accounts of the Restoration of the Priesthood.

4. Visions. Joseph Smith had at least 76 visionary experiences that are documented, most of which are not found in the standard works.

5. Temple. Several wrote lengthy accounts either during or closely following the season of pentecostal visions and miracles experienced in the Kirtland Temple. This is significant because a common criticism of skeptics is that many early church history documents were written well after the incident in question — as if they expected a poverty stricken people who are being driven from place to place to be meticulous autobiographers.

6. Succession. There are more than 120 individuals who gave separate eyewitness accounts that they saw Brigham Young transfigured to look and sound like Joseph Smith, or that they saw the mantle of authority fall on Brigham, signifying him as the rightful successor to Joseph.

The Well-documented Miracle

More than 120! This last event, the transfiguration of Brigham Young, is the kicker that really amazes me, considering the fact that only a few decades ago some historians dismissed it as legend; whereas today, after doing some historical homework, it stands as probably the single most widely documented miracle, not only in modern times, but in all of antiquity as well.

Remember also, of the six key events that Opening the Heavens covers, only the accounts that can be documented are included. I spoke with Lynne Jorgensen just the other day (she was instrumental in compiling the accounts of Brigham Young’s transfiguration), and she told me that there are many more family stories that have been passed down, but the families cannot find sufficient documentation. As a general rule, for every recorded witness, there is likely to be an unrecorded witness. We have many clues that in the case of the transfiguration of Brigham Young there are many unrecorded witnesses, with eyewitnesses such as Zina D. H. Young mentioning that thousands in her day bore testimony of the miracle (Opening the Heavens, 422).

Amazingly, some today seem unimpressed by all the witnesses of Brigham’s transformation because many present did not see a manifestation. But if we are experienced in the things of the Spirit, we know how easy it is to get out of tune; an unkind word we give, our lack of attention, or a simple distraction is enough to disrupt our communion with God. It should not surprise us then if many were not spiritually ready. 

Orson Hyde’s account, speaking of the two others that accompanied him that day, personifies this: “When President Young began to speak, one of them said: ‘It is the voice of Joseph! It is Joseph Smith!’ The exclamation of the other was, — ‘I do not see him, where is he?[’] Well the thought occurred to my mind respecting the Scripture which President Young has just quoted: — ‘My sheep know my voice and follow me.’ Where is the one that recognized the voice of Joseph in President Young? Where is she? She is in the line of her duty. But where is the other? Gone where I wish she were not.”

Besides, even if thousands did not see anything, we must still reckon with the many who did. Orson Hyde went on to give this account of Brigham, representative of the 120 other accounts that cannot lightly be dismissed:

“On his rising to speak, and as soon as he opened his mouth, I heard the voice of Joseph through him, and it was as familiar to me as the voice of my wife, the voice of my child, or the voice of my father. And not only the voice of Joseph did I distinctly and unmistakably hear, but I saw the very gestures of his person, the very features of his countenance, and if I mistake not, the very size of his person appeared on the stand. And it went through me with the thrill of conviction that Brigham was the man to lead this people. And from that day to the present there has not been a query or a doubt upon my mind with regard to the divinity of his appointment; I know that he was the man selected of God to fill the position he now holds” (Opening the Heavens, 422-23).

Conclusion

Once the Law of Witnesses is understood, and the vast amount of testimonies are read and carefully pondered, the effect can only be a marked increase in faith. I have had my share of firsthand encounters with the things of God, and yet I find my convictions deepened and refreshed by the study of these records. So far, the true story of the Latter-day Saints has largely been ignored; at some point, however, the world is going to have to reckon with this “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1).