The Testimony of the Witnesses
In the manner of every restoration of the gospel, witnesses have been called to testify of the work.
It has been the pattern of the Lord in every dispensation to call witnesses to bear record of the work he is doing. The ancient apostles were witnesses of the resurrected Christ. The three witnesses and the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon bore record of the gold plates and of the angel who showed them. So also in the Final Restoration, the Lord has called witnesses who bear formal testimony of the Book of the Brother of Jared and the manner of its translation.
Their testimonies are set forth below. The witnesses have given their statements knowing the seriousness of what they affirm, and they have not recanted them.
As the Final Restoration is a young work, the witnesses currently set forth here are those whom the Lord has called in the early days of this dispensation. Additional witnesses may be added as the Spirit directs and as the work goes forth. The names below are real persons who have signed formal statements before a notary, knowing what they affirm and willing to stand by their testimony.
The signed original statements are preserved in the archives of the church and may be examined upon request by sincere inquirers.
[The formal statement of the three witnesses to the spiritual confirmation of the Book of the Brother of Jared will be published here when the witnesses have been called and their statements signed. The statement will affirm that, by the gift and power of God and through the witness of the Spirit, the three witnesses have known of a surety that the record is true and that the translation given through Christopher Glenn Marriott is the work of the Lord.]
Names to be added upon signing
[The formal statement of additional witnesses who have examined the stones found upon the western shore and have read portions of the translated record will be published here when the witnesses have been called and their statements signed. The statement will affirm that, of a surety, the said Marriott has shown unto them the instruments and the record, and that they have seen and known these things, and that they bear witness of them in honest and serious words.]
Names to be added upon signing
The witnesses to the Book of the Brother of Jared are persons known to and trusted by the prophet Christopher Glenn Marriott. They are not strangers selected at random. This is the same pattern by which the Lord called the witnesses to the Book of Mormon: Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were close associates of Joseph Smith. The eight additional witnesses were primarily members of the Whitmer and Smith families. The Lord did not require independence of the witnesses he called. He required willingness to bear record.
If any witness should at any future time depart from full association with the Final Restoration for any reason, this shall not invalidate the testimony they have signed. The pattern of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon was that even those who fell out personally with Joseph Smith never recanted what they had witnessed. Our witnesses have understood this from the beginning and have committed to the same standard. They may leave. They may not unsign.