“Joseph kept the Urim and Thummim Constantly about his Person”
by Lucy Mack Smith
Today I am sharing for the first time, a brand new piece of art I asked to be painted by Anne Marie Oborn. It is called, “Joseph kept the Urim and Thummim Constantly about his Person.” She is the one who also painted two other wonderful pieces for me titled, “Mother, I have Got the Key” and “These Stones Fastened to a Breastplate.” You can see them in this post.
Ann is an amazing artist and I feel has captured the vision of each of there pieces of art in a truly spiritual manner. I love her talent, and the ability of her to showcase three important methods of translation below, as the center piece of each piece of art.
1- “Mother, I have Got the Key”
In this painting, Anne showcased the amazing spectacles where Lucy said, “See here, said he [Joseph], I have got the key. and Lucy also said, “but he [Joseph] seemed to think more of the glasses or the Urim and Thummim than he did of the plates, for, says he, “I can see anything; they are marvelous.” Joseph termed the Urim and Thummim as, “The Key.” To me that indicates that the (key) may have unlocked the “Gift and Power of God” as we understand it.
There is not even one scriptural account that says anything about a stone in a hat as the method of translation. Only the words of Martin Harris, David Whitmer, Emma Smith in 1879, and William McLellin. They may have misstated, embellished, or heard from someone else, as there is no firsthand evidence they ever saw the seer stone in a hat during the translation process as the Lord had commanded. I trust Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith who are the only firsthand witnesses that saw the actual translation. Oliver wouldn’t need his view to be blocked with the hat, as he saw the plates, the spectacles, and the breastplate. 
Perhaps the painting below explains why many like David and Martin may have seen this view above with the hat blocking the scribes view, and a little piece of cloth hiding the very top part of the gold plates. I feel it is likely that is why the theorists claim some witnesses saw a stone in a hat. Joseph’s hat may have seemed to contain something and most people knew Joseph had a seer stone or two, so they may have assumed that his personal peep stone was in the hat. No scripture confirms that. It is hearsay.
2- “These Stones Fastened to a Breastplate.”
In this painting below, Ann showcases the manner in which the Breastplate and the Spectacles were used in conjunction for translation. We know through scripture how these items were a “set” when it came to translation. “There were two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted “seers” in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.” JSH 1:35
William Smith is quoted as saying, “Among other things we inquired minutely about the Urim and Thummim and the breastplate. We asked him what was meant by the expression “two rims of a bow,” which held the former. He said a double silver bow was twisted into the shape of the figure eight, and the two stones were placed literally between the two rims of a bow. At one end was attached a rod which was connected with the outer edge of the right shoulder of the breast-plate. By pressing the head a little forward, the rod held the Urim and Thummim before the eyes much like a pair of spectacles. 
A pocket was prepared in the breastplate on the left side, immediately over the heart. When not in use the Urim and Thummim was placed in this pocket, the rod being of just the right length to allow it to be so deposited. This instrument could, however, be detached from the breastplate and his brother said Joseph often wore it detached when away from home, but always used it in connection with the breastplate when receiving official communications, and usually so when translating as it permitted him to have both hands free to hold the plates.” (J. W. Peterson in The Rod of Iron I:3 (February 1924), 6—7.)
Lastly as we see the painting below, Oliver said, “I beheld with my eyes, and handled with my hands, the gold plates from which it was translated. I also saw with my eyes and handled with my hands the ‘holy interpreters’“ (as cited in Smith, Restoration of All Things, 113).
In a Revelation through Joseph to Oliver stated, “Ask that you may know the mysteries of God, and that you may and receive knowledge from all those ancient records which have been hid up, that are ; and according to your faith shall it be done unto you.”
It is most likely that Oliver himself saw the translation process without a blanket or covering. Joseph was probably given permission from the Lord to show Oliver all three articles. Two honorable and reputable people are quoted below:
“Elizabeth Anne Whitmer Cowdery, Oliver’s wife, said, “Joseph never had a curtain drawn between him and his scribe” (quoted in John W. Welch and Tim Rathbone, “The Translation of the Book of Mormon: Basic Historical Information,” F.A.R.M.S. report WRR–86, p. 25). Emma likewise said of her days as scribe, early on, that Joseph dictated “hour after hour with nothing between us” (Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” 289)
3- “Joseph kept the Urim and Thummim Constantly about his Person”
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and many others have received a spiritual witness that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and it is a second witness with the Bible as a Testament of Jesus Christ. There may be a difference of opinion with some members of the Church about the method of translation. No one except Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery ever saw the breastplate and the spectacles during translation. Lucy Mack Smith is the only additional witness of the three items found in the stone box on Cumorah; the gold plates, breastplate, and the spectacles, as she saw the last two items under a thin linen and held them and described them before the translation as you see in this beautiful painting by Anne Marie Oborn.
(See picture of the painting below. The printed art will be available at our FIRM Conference Sept 15 and 16 along with the original painting).
Lucy Mack Smith
My favorite woman in Church History is, Lucy Mack Smith who said, “I have myself seen and handled the golden plates; they are about eight inches long, and six wide; some of them are sealed together and are not to be opened, and some of them are loose. They are all connected by a ring which passes through a hole at the end of each plate and are covered with letters beautifully engraved. I have seen and felt also the Urim and Thummim. They resemble two large bright diamonds set in a bow like a pair of spectacles. My son puts these over his eyes when he reads unknown languages, and they enable him to interpret them in English. I have likewise carried in my hands the sacred breastplate. It is composed of pure gold and is made to fit the breast very exactly.” Lucy Mack Smith (in Henry Caswall, The City of the Mormons; or, Three Days at Nauvoo, in 1842, 2nd ed. revised and enlarged, (London: JGF & J. Rivington, 1843, 26) Lucy is an honest and wonderful witness of Joseph’s history.
Lucy also said, “See here, said he [Joseph], I have got the key. I knew not what he meant, but took the article in my hands and, examining it with no covering but a silk handkerchief, found that it consisted of two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set in silver bows connected with each other in much the same way that old-fashioned spectacles are made. He took them again and left me but did not tell me anything of the record…. That of which I spoke, which Joseph termed a key, was indeed nothing more nor less than a Urim and Thummim by which the angel manifested those things to him that were shown him in vision; by which also he could at any time ascertain the approach of danger, either to himself or the record, and for this cause, he kept these things constantly about his person.”
“After bringing home the plates, Joseph now commenced work with his father on the farm in order to be as near as possible the treasure that was committed to his care. Soon after this, he came in from work one afternoon, and after remaining a short time, he put on his great coat and left the house. I was engaged at the time in an upper room in preparing some oil cloths for painting. When he returned, he requested me to come downstairs. I told him that I could not leave my work just then, yet upon his urgent request, I finally concluded to go down and see what he wanted, upon which he handed me the breastplate spoken of in his history. It was wrapped in a thin muslin handkerchief, so thin that I could see the glistening metal and ascertain its proportions without any difficulty. It was concave on one side and convex on the other and extended from the neck downwards as far as the center of the stomach of a man of extraordinary size. It had four straps of the same material for the purpose of fastening it to the breast, two of which ran back to go over the shoulders, and the other two were designed to fasten to the hips. They were just the width of two of my fingers (for I measured them), and they had holes in the end of them to be convenient in fastening. The whole plate was worth at least five hundred dollars. After I had examined it, Joseph placed it in the chest with the Urim and Thummim.” josephsmithpapers.org Lucy Mack Smith History 1844-1845
Historians and researchers can only guess the exact method, but the scriptures are clear. The Church has no doctrine on how the translation happened, so it really shouldn’t matter. The spiritual confirmation that Joseph used the “gift and power of God” is the best understanding of translation. However, I enjoy searching for additional answers as Moroni said, “ye may know the truth of all things.” The stone in the hat is not a scriptural fact, but many historians and Church videos show it as the “New Narrative.” Nowhere in the scriptures does it even speak about a stone in a hat. Church Historians have developed consensus in their thoughts. It’s just like the opinion that there is consensus that man causes global warming, so the intellectuals agree on their non-provable THEORY.
Lucy Mack Smith confirming that Joseph had these articles on his person, even while digging a well said, “Joseph kept the Urim and Thummim constantly about his person and he could by this means ascertain at any moment whether if the plates were in danger or having just looked into them before Emma got there, he perceived her coming and came up out of the well and met her.” [ JSP- Lucy Mack Smith History 1844-1845, paper fragment inserted 10] The above statement suggests the breastplate and glasses were on Joseph’s person as he used them even while working.
Scriptures tell us many times that Joseph used the Interpreters to translate, saying, “these two stones fastened to a breastplate”, or Oliver saying, “Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, Interpreters, the history or record called The Book of Mormon.” Scriptures never mention Joseph using a stone in a hat, but only those items found in the stone box at Cumorah. Plates, Breastplate, & Interpreters. (See JSH 1:35,52,62,75; Mosiah 28:13, 20; Ether 3:22-23; 4:5; Alma 37:21, 24-25)
“After breakfast [on the day he received the plates and the Urim and Thummim], Joseph called me into the other room, and he set his foot on the bed and leaned his head on his hand and says… “it is ten times better than I expected.” Then he went on to tell the length and width and thickness of the plates, and said he, “they appear to be gold.” But he seemed to think more of the glasses or the Urim and Thummim than he did of the plates, for, says he, “I can see anything; they are marvelous.” Lucy Mack Smith in Joseph Knight’s Recollection of Early Mormon History, BYU Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1; spelling modernized.
‘While the statement has been made by some writers that the Prophet Joseph Smith used a seer stone part of the time in his translating of the record, and information points to the fact that he did have in his possession such a stone, yet there is no authentic statement in the history of the Church which states that the use of such a stone was made in that translation. The information is all hearsay, and personally, I do not believe that this stone was used for this purpose. The reason I give for this conclusion is found in the statement of the Lord to the Brother of Jared as recorded in Ether 3: 22-24. These stones, the Urim and Thummim which were given to the Brother of Jared, were preserved for this very purpose of translating the record, both of the Jaredites and the Nephites. Then again, the Prophet was impressed by Moroni with the fact that these stones were given for that very purpose. It hardly seems reasonable to suppose that the Prophet would substitute something evidently inferior under these circumstances. It may have been so, but it is so easy for a story of this kind to be circulated due to the fact that the Prophet did possess a seer stone, which he may have used for some other purposes’ (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation)
Art by Anne Marie Oborn titled,
“Joseph kept the Urim and Thummim Constantly about his Person”
by Lucy Mack Smith.
Visit: BookofMormonEvidence.org or email [email protected]
Why not More about Translation?
I feel the main reason we may not know more, is the process was just too sacred. Saying Joseph used a stone in a hat makes the grand statement of “by the gift and power of God” seem so lacking and so occultic in my opinion. Joseph used the 3 articles in the stone box. The gold plates, breastplate and spectacles. That’s it. If the Lord wanted Joseph to use a stone in a hat he would have provided those non-sacred items in the stone box.
Elder Maxwell says, “Why do we not have more disclosure concerning the process of translation of the Book of Mormon? Perhaps the full process was not disclosed because we would not be ready to understand it, even if given. Perhaps, too, the Lord wanted to leave the Book of Mormon in the realm of faith, though it is drenched with intrinsic evidence. After all, Christ instructed Mormon, who was reviewing the Savior’s own teachings among the Nephites, not to record all of them on the plates because “I will try the faith of my people” (3 Ne. 26:11). Perhaps the details of translation are withheld also because we are intended to immerse ourselves in the substance of the book rather than becoming unduly concerned with the process by which we received it…” (“Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” 289, 290) “By the Gift and Power of God” By Elder Neal A. Maxwell Ensign, Jan 1997, 36
