“In the opinion of the writer, the Prophet used no seer stone in translating the Book of Mormon, neither did he translate in the manner described by David Whitmer and Martin Harris.” By DR. FRANCIS W. KIRKHAM THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, OCTOBER, 1939
The Lord provided the Urim and Thummim, which is the large breastplate and the clear spectacles, in the same stone box as the Gold Plates. These are the exact two stones that were touched by the finger of the Lord for the Brother of Jared. The Lord touched 16 stones to guide the barges, (Ether 3:1), but few people understand the Lord touched two additional special stones (Ether 3:23), meant for Joseph Smith to use in 1827.
Other seer stones may have been found by Joseph in a hole or a well but that individual seer stone was not in the stone box which makes sense that the Lord only gave to Joseph that which was necessary for translating.
Note: The name Urim and Thummim is never used in the Book of Mormon, only in the Old Testament and the D&C. In the Book of Mormon, they were called “Interpreters”.
You will be inspired by the witness of a man of God who loved the Book of Mormon. Francis W. Kirkham said, “The Prophet declared in October, 1831, that no one knew the manner of the translation, neither was “it expedient for him to relate these things.” Kirkham spoke about David Whitmer and Martin Harris’ description of translation as, “The statements of both of these men are to be explained by the eagerness of old age“. I trust the word of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery above any others about the true method of translation. Below are their quotes.
Two True Quotes of Proper Translation
-1- “In the Wentworth Letter, the Prophet wrote: “With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called “Urim and Thummim,” which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breast plate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God” (History of the Church, 4:537).
-2- In the October 1834 Messenger and Advocate [the Church newspaper in Kirtland, Ohio], Oliver Cowdery wrote: “These were days never to be forgotten to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! 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’” (Messenger and Advocate, 1:14; Also known as Letter I Oliver Cowdery to William W. Phelps, 7 September 1834).
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About Francis W. Kirkham
“Francis W. Kirkham occupies a special place among those who have taken pen in hand to write of the Book of Mormon. At a time when others lacked either the opportunity or the inclination to do so, he set out to gather many early documents related to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon—source materials that were still available but in jeopardy of loss or deterioration. He analyzed these sources and compiled them into a work that has had a lasting impact on our understanding of this book of scripture.” By Keith W. Perkins ChurchofJesusChrist.org
“Francis Washington Kirkham (January 6, 1877 – September 14, 1972)[1] was a prominent educator and the author of New Witness For Christ in America: Evidence of Divine Power in the “Coming Forth” of the Book of Mormon, one of the earliest book-length defenses of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
Kirkham studied business under James E. Talmage at age 15. He later attended Brigham Young Academy (BYA) and then served a three-year mission for the LDS Church in New Zealand. At the end of his mission, Kirkham wrote a grammar to help new missionaries learn the Māori language. After his mission, Kirkham completed his studies at BYA, graduating in 1904 as the valedictorian.[2]
In 1901 Kirkham married Martha Alzina Robison in the Salt Lake Temple. He then worked as a business man in Canada for about three years. After this, he went to the University of Michigan where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Kirkham then taught at Brigham Young University (BYU), which had formerly been BYA, for two years. He next entered law school at the University of Utah, where he was in the law school’s first graduating class. Kirkham pursued graduate studies at Stanford University and then earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Kirkham served as president of LDS Business College, head of vocational education for the state of Utah, and superintendent of Granite School District. While in the last position he wrote the book Educating All the Children of All the People. This gained him national attention and led to his appointment as head of the New York City-based National Child Welfare Association.
It was while working from New York that Kirkham did his studies on the Book of Mormon. This was a result of being able to access the newspapers from western New York and north-east Ohio in the time of Joseph Smith. In 1937, Kirkham published a compilation of these works as Source Material on the Book of Mormon. This material also was the main basis for his seminal work, A New Witness For Christ in America. The main argument of this book is built around using contemporary sources to dispute the main non-divine theories on the origin of the Book of Mormon.” From Wikipedia
A New Witness for the Book of Mormon by Francis W. Kirkham
“Near the time of the setting of the sun, Sabbath evening, April 5th, 1829, my natural eyes for the first time beheld this brother. He then resided in Harmony, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. On Monday, the 6th, I assisted him in arranging some business of a temporal nature and on Tuesday, the 7th, commenced to write the Book of Mormon. These days were never to be forgotten — to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom. 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.”
Further on in his narrative Mr. Cowdery, with the apparent Elders, 10 Priests, and 10 Teachers were in conference at the home of Brother Sirenes Burnett, at Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (October 25, 1831 ). In the minutes of this conference the following appears (Far West Record, p. 16):
Brother Hyrum Smith said, “That he thought best that the information of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon be related by Joseph himself, to the Elders present, that all might know for themselves.”
Brother Joseph Smith, Jr., said “That it was not intended to tell the world all the particulars of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon,” and also said, “that it was not expedient for him to relate these things, etc.” A careful reading of the writings of the Prophet including his messages and sermons fails to reveal any further information regarding the manner of the translation of the Book of Mormon,
Explanations have been advanced by students to explain the diction, form, and construction of the language of the book. Reasons for the appearance of quotations from the King James’ Bible in the Book of Mormon have also been given.
Here it is emphasized that the only information left us by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, his scribe, may be stated in a sentence. “Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God with the aid of the Urim and Thummim from gold plates entrusted to him by Moroni, who being dead was raised again therefrom.”
Final Word on the Translation from Francis W. Kirkham
“Both David Whitmer and Martin Harris knew positively that they had been shown the plates by Moroni and had so declared since the time of the experience, but the Prophet declared in October, 1831, that no one knew the manner of the translation, neither was “it expedient for him to relate these things.” ( See quotation above. ) When both these men were past eighty years of age, and about fifty years after the event, they undertook to describe the manner of translation, which Elder Brigham H. Roberts has clearly shown is not in harmony with the manner indicated in Section 8 of the Doctrine and Covenants. (See New Witness for God, Vol. II, pages 106- 133 by B. H. Roberts.) Moreover, they refer to the use of a seer stone by the Prophet. But no publication during his life contains such a statement.
A neighbor, Willard Chase, asserted Joseph stole a “singularly appearing stone” which he had found in 1822 when Joseph and his brother Alvin were employed by him in digging a well. “Joseph put it into his hat and then his face into the top of his hat . . . alleging that he could see in it.” — Mormonism Unveiled, Anti-Mormon Book. Eber D. Howe, 1834.
This is an attempt to explain the alleged power of Joseph Smith to translate the plates by a person who denounced him as a fraud and an ignorant deceiver.
In the opinion of the writer, the Prophet used no seer stone in translating the Book of Mormon, neither did he translate in the manner described by David Whitmer and Martin Harris. The statements of both of these men are to be explained by the eagerness of old age to call upon a fading and uncertain memory for the details of events which still remained real and objective to them.” By DR. FRANCIS W. KIRKHAM THE IMPROVEMENT ERA, OCTOBER, 1939
Additional Evidence that Joseph Used the Urim and Thummim only, to translate.
- “The Prophet Joseph Smith used the same Urim and Thummim that was “given to the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face” (D&C 17:1). President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote a brief history regarding the Urim and Thummim: “King Mosiah possessed ‘two stones which were fastened into the two rims of a bow,’ called by the Nephites Interpreters, with which he translated the Jaredite record [Mosiah 28:11–14], and these were handed down from generation to generation for the purposes of interpreting languages. How Mosiah came into possession of these two stones or Urim and Thummim the record does not tell us, more than to say that it was a ‘gift from God’ [Mosiah 21:28]. Mosiah had this gift or Urim and Thummim before the people of Limhi discovered the record of Ether. They may have been received when the ‘large stone’ was brought to Mosiah with engravings upon it, which he interpreted by the ‘gift and power of God’ [Omni 1:20–21]. They may have been given to him, or to some other prophet before his day, just as the Brother of Jared received them—from the Lord. “That the Urim and Thummim, or two stones, given to the Brother of Jared were those in the possession of Mosiah appears evident from Book of Mormon teachings. The Brother of Jared was commanded to seal up his writings of the vision he had when Christ appeared to him, so that they could not be read by his people. … The Urim and Thummim were also sealed up so that they could not be used for the purpose of interpreting those sacred writings of this vision, until such time as the Lord should grant to man to interpret them. When they were to be revealed, they were to be interpreted by the aid of the same Urim and Thummim [Ether 3:21–28]. …“Joseph Smith received with the breastplate and the plates of the Book of Mormon, the Urim and Thummim, which were hid up by Moroni to come forth in the last days as a means by which the ancient record might be translated, which Urim and Thummim were given to the Brother of Jared [D&C 17:1]” (Doctrines of Salvation, 3:223–25).
Read my blog titled, PLATES LAID ON 2,3,OR 4 PILLARS?
Oliver Cowdery- Three Pillars?
“The manner in which the plates were deposited: First, a hole of sufficient depth, (how deep I know not) was dug. At the bottom of this was laid a stone of suitable size, the upper surface being smooth. At each edge was placed a large quantity of cement, and into this cement, at the four edges of this stone, were placed, erect, four others, their bottom edges resting in the cement at the outer edges of the first stone. The four-last named, when placed erect, formed a box, the corners, or where the edges of the four came in contact, were also cemented so firmly that the moisture from without was prevented from entering. It is to be observed, also, that the inner surface of the four erect, or side stones was smoothe. This box was sufficiently large to admit a breast-plate, such as was used by the ancients to defend the chest, &c. from the arrows and weapons of their enemy. From the bottom of the box, or from the breast-plate, arose three small pillars composed of the same description of cement used on the edges; and upon these three pillars was placed the record of the children of Joseph, and of a people who left the tower far, far before the days of Joseph… I must not forget to say that this box, containing the record was covered with another stone, the bottom surface being flat and the upper, crowning. But those three pillars were not so lengthy as to cause the plates and the crowning stone to come in contact. I have now given you, according to my promise, the manner in which this record was deposited; though when it was first visited by our brother, in 1823, a part of the crowning stone was visible above the surface while the edges were concealed by the soil and grass, from which circumstances you will see, that however deep this box might have been placed by Moroni at first, the time had been sufficient to wear the earth so that it was easily discovered when once directed, and yet not enough to make a perceivable difference to the passer-by.” Oliver Cowdery, “Letter VIII,” October 1835
