Source:David Whitmer:Rebuttal to John Murphy 19 March 1881:EMD 5:69:Which has so long since been published with that book as one of the three witnesses

Revision as of 19:53, 9 September 2014 by RogerNicholson (talk | contribs)

David Whitmer: "Which has so long since been published with that book as one of the three witnesses"

Parent page: Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Three witnesses

David Whitmer: "I have never at any time, denied that testimony...which has so long since been published with that book as one of the three witnesses"

The following is a portion of John Murphy's interview with David Whitmer, written from Murphy's perspective.[1]:

[Murphy]: "First of all, I heard you saw an angel. I never saw one. I want your description of [the] shape, voice, brogue and the construction of his language. I mean as to his style of speaking. You know that we can often determine the class a man belongs to by his language."
[Whitmer]: "It had no appearance or shape."
[Murphy]: "Then you saw nothing nor heard nothing?"
[Whitmer]: "Nothing, in the way you understand it."
[Murphy]: "How, then, could you have borne testimony that you saw and heard an angel?"
[Whitmer]: "Have you never had impressions?"
[Murphy]: "Then you had impressions as the quaker when the spirit moves, or as a good Methodist in giving a happy experience, a feeling?"
[Whitmer]: "Just so."

When David Whitmer saw this account published, he published his own rebuttal to John Murphy's portrayal of his witness experience on 19 March 1881. Whitmer vigorously refuted Murphy's account [2]:

  1. ↑ John Murphy to the Editor, undate, Hamiltonian, 21 January 1881, quoted in "David Whitmer Interview with John Murphy, June 1880," Early Mormon Documents 5:63.
  2. ↑ "David Whitmer Proclamation, 19 March 1881," quoted in Early Mormon Documents 5:69