1834

"I have been acquainted with Joseph Smith Jr. for some time: being a relation of his wife, and residing near him, I have had frequent opportunities of conversation with him, and of knowing his opinions and pursuits. From my standing in the Methodist Episcopal Church, I suppose he was careful how he conducted or expressed himself before me. At one time, however, he came to my house, and asked my advice, whether he should proceed to translate the Book of Plates (referred to by Mr. [Isaac] Hale) or not. He said that God had commanded him to translate it, but he was afraid of the people: he remarked, that he was to exhibit the plates to the world, at a certain time, which was then about eighteen months distant. ... Smith frequently said to me that I should see the plates at the time appointed. "After the time stipulated, had passed away, Smith being at my house was asked why he did not fulfil his promise [to] show the Golden Plates and prove himself an honest man? He replied that he, himself was deceived, but that a [I] should see them if I were where they were. I reminded him then, that I stated at the time he made the promise, I was fearful "the enchantment would be so powerful" as to remove the plates, when the time came in which they were to be revealed. ...

[Source: "Mormonism," Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian 9 (1 May 1834): 1. Reprinted in The New York Baptist Register (Utica, New York) 11 (13 June 1834); and E. D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed: or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time (Painesville, Ohio: E. D. Howe, 1834), 266-67., as cited in Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents: Nathaniel Lewis Statement]