he should show them to no one, under pain of death and destruction—the place where the plates were deposited meanwhile being clearly revealed to his mental vision—the light in the room grew dim, as Moroni ascended along a pathway of glory into heaven, and finally darkness was there as before. The visit was made three times, the last ending with the dawn, when Joseph arose greatly exhausted and went into the field to work.
His father, observing his condition, sent him home; but on the way Joseph fell in a state of unconsciousness to the ground. Soon, however, the voice of Moroni was heard, commanding him to return to his father, and tell him all that he had seen and heard. The young man obeyed. The father answered that it was of God; the son should do as the messenger had said. Then Joseph, knowing from the vision where the plates were hidden, went to the west side of a hill, called the hill Cumorah, near the town of Manchester, and beneath a large stone, part of whose top appeared above the ground, in a stone box,[1] he found the plates,[2] the urim and thum-
- ↑ Oliver Cowdery stated that he visited the spot, and that ‘at the bottom of this [hole] lay 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 lower 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 surfaces of the four erect or side stones were smooth. The box was sufficiently large to admit a breastplate. From the bottom of the box or from the breastplate arose three small pillars, composed of the same description of cement as that used on the edges; and upon these three pillars were placed the records. The box containing the records was covered with another stone, the lower surface being flat and the upper crowning.’ Mackay's The Mormons, 20.
- ↑ Orson Pratt thus describes the plates, Visions, 14: ‘These records were engraved on plates, which had the appearance of gold. Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches in width and length, being not quite as thick as common tin. They were filled on both sides with engravings in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book, and fastened at one edge with three rings running through the whole. This volume was about six inches in thickness, and a part of it was sealed. The characters or letters upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, as well as much skill in the art of engraving.’ In the introduction to the Book of Mormon (New York ed.), viii., is given essentially the same description. See also Bonwick's Mormons and Silver Mines, 61; Bertrand, Mem. d'un Mor., 25; Olshausen, Gesch. d. Morm., 12–29; Stenhouse, Les Mormons, i.–vii.; Ferris' Utah and The Mormons, 58; Mackay's The Mormons, 15–22; Smucker's Hist. Mormons, 18–28. For fac-simile of writing on golden plates, see Beadle's Life in Utah, 25. For illustrations of the hill, finding the plates, etc., see Mackay's The Mormons, 15; Smucker's Hist. Mormons, 24; Tucker's Origin and Prog. Mor., frontispiece. When sceptics ask, Why are not the plates forthcoming? believers ask in turn, Why are not forthcoming the stone tables of Moses? And yet the ten commandments are to-day accepted.
