Nephi or Moroni?
Who did Joseph see?
There are numerous reports in Church history that the angel Moroni was also called Nephi. What are these accounts?
Times and Seasons
15 April 1842
He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from thepresence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi. That God had a work forme to do, and that my name should behad for good and evil, among all nations, kindreds, and tongues; or that it shouldbe both good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book deposited written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang.
Millennial Star
August 1842
On page 53, we find this:
"He called me by name and said unto me, that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi. That God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations..."
Millennial Star
August 1842
In this same edition of the Millennial Star,
on page 71 we find this:
"Again, when we read the history of our beloved brother, Joseph Smith, and of the gloriouis ministry and message of the angel Nephi, which has finally opened a new dispensation to man, and commenced a revolution in the moral, civil, and religious government of the world, which will be consummated in effectually overturning the dominion of anti-Christ, which has long prevailed with almost universal sway, and in bringing Jew and Gentil under the peaceable government of Messiah, while all the kingdoms of the world bow to his sceptre and own his authority..."
The Pearl of Great Price
1851
"He called me by name and said unto me, that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi."
[Pearl of Great Price, 1851 edition, page 41]
Walter L. Whipple, in his thesis written at BYU, stated that Orson Pratt "published The Pearl of Great Price in 1878, and removed the name of Nephi from the text entirely and inserted the name Moroni in its place." He goes on to say that "this discrepancy is merely due to a clerical error, and not a change in historical doctrine, as some have made it out to be, was made clear to the writer when he examined the original “Manuscript History.” It is on page 5 of this history, that the name of Nephi was erroneously written." However, as depicted below, what was originally written in Joseph Smith History was the name "Nephi."
Textual Changes in the Pearl of Great Price, typed copy, p.125]
JS, History
1838-1856
"He called me by name and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me and that his name was Nephi <Moroni>. That God had a work for me to do, and that my <name> should be had for good and evil among all nations kindreds and tongues."
Lucy Mack Smith
1853
Biographical Sketches, pg. 79
In Lucy's own book published in 1853, she also referred to the angel by the name of Nephi:
"He called me by name, and said unto me me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi; that God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations kindreds and tongues..."
Mary Whitmer
Mary Musselman, Mary Musselman Whitmer was reportedly the only woman who saw the plates of the Book of Mormon,
“I have heard my grandmother (Mary Musselman Whitmer) say on several occasions that she was shown the plates of the Book of Mormon by a holy angel, whom she always called Brother Nephi. (She undoubtedly refers to Moroni, the angel who had the plates in charge.) It was at the time, she said, when the translation was going on at the house of the elder Peter Whitmer, her husband. Joseph Smith with his wife and Oliver Cowdery, whom David Whitmer a short time previous had brought up from Harmony, Pennsylvania, were all boarding with the Whitmers, and my grandmother in having so many extra persons to care for, besides her own large household, was often overloaded with work to such an extent that she felt to be quite a burden. One evening, when (after having done her usual day’s work in the house) she went to the barn to milk the cows, she met a stranger carrying something on his back that looked like a knapsack. At first she was a little afraid of him, but when he spoke to her in a kind, friendly tone and began to explain to her the nature of the work which was going on in her house, she was filled with unexpressible joy and satisfaction. He then untied his knapsack and showed her a bundle of plates, which in size and appearance corresponded with the description subsequently given by the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. This strange person turned the leaves of the book of plates over, leaf after leaf, and also showed her the engravings upon them; after which he told her to be patient and faithful in bearing her burden a little longer, promising that if she would do so, she should be blessed; and her reward would be sure, if she proved faithful to the end. The personage then suddenly vanished with the plates, and where he went, she could not tell. From that moment my grandmother was enabled to perform her household duties with comparative ease, and she felt no more inclination to murmur because her lot was hard. I knew my grandmother to be a good, noble and truthful woman, and I have not the least doubt of her statement in regard to seeing the plates being strictly true. She was a strong believer in the Book of Mormon until the day her death.” Mother Whitmer died in Richmond, Ray county, Missouri, in January 1856. (see also sketch of David Whitmer and Peter Whitmer; “Historical Record,” vol. 7, p. 621; “Juvenile Instructor,” Vol. 24, p. 22.)
[Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 1:283]
Mary Whitmer
Another Record
David Whitmer, Mary's son, before his death, testified on several occasions that his mother had seen the plates, and when the writer visited Richmond, Missouri, a few weeks ago, John C. Whitmer, a grandson of the lady in question testified in the following language:
“I have heard my grandmother (Mary M. Whitmer) say on several occasion that she was shown the plates of the Book of Mormon by an holy angel, whom she always called Brother Nephi. (She undoubtedly refers to Moroni, the angel who had the plates in charge.) It was at the time, she said, when the translation was going on at the house of the elder Peter Whitmer, her husband, Joseph Smith and his wife and Oliver Cowdery, whom David Whitmer a short time previous had brought up from Harmony, Pennsylvania, were all boarding with the Whitmers, and my grandmother in having so many extra persons to care for, besides her own large household, was often overloaded with work to such an extent that she felt it to be quite a burden. One evening, when (after having done her usual day’s work in the house) she went to the barn to milk the cows, she met a stranger carrying something on his back that looked like a knapsack.
At first she was a little afraid of him, but when he spoke to her in a kind, friendly tone, and began to explain to her the nature of the work which was going on in her house, she was filled with unexpressible joy and satisfaction. He then untied his knapsack and showed her a bundle of plates, which in size and appearance corresponded with the description subsequently given by the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. This strange person turned the leaves of the book of plates over, leaf after leaf, and also showed her the engravings upon them; after which we hold her to be patient and faithful in bearing her burden a little longer, promising that if she would do so, she should be blessed; and her reward would be sure, if she proved faithful to the end. The personage then suddenly vanished with the plates, and where he went, she could not tell. From that moment my grandmother was enabled to perform her household duties with comparative ease, and she felt no more inclination to murmur because her lot was hard. I knew my grandmother to be a good, noble and truthful woman, and I have not the least doubt of her statement in regard to seeing the plates being strictly true. She was a strong believer in the Book of Mormon until the day of her death.”
[The Historical Record, vol. 7:621, Edited by Andrew Jensen]
Whitmer Family History
The experience of Mother Whitmer would have been known by family members, and Elvira was an interested teenager at that time. This is the way the story appears in our family history:
“Elvira Pamela Mills”, Cox Bulletin II (1958), written by Orville Cox Day (O C Day):
Grandma stopped telling a story of Mother Whitmer till 1900 when B. H. Roberts printed it in his “New Witness for God.” Then she said, “I’m so glad I can tell it again.”
David Whitmer had invited Joseph and Oliver to live in his father’s home while translating the Book of Mormon. When Oliver’s hand and Joseph’s eye grew tired they went to the woods for a rest. There they often skated rocks on the pond.
Mary Whitmer, with five grown sons and a husband to care for, besides visitors, often grew tired. She thought they might just as well carry her bucket of water or chop a bit of wood as to skate rocks on a pond.
She was about to order them out of her home.
One morning, just at daybreak, she came out of her cow stable with two full buckets of milk in her hands, when a short, heavy-set, gray haired man carrying a package met her and said,
“My name is Moroni. You have become pretty tired with all the extra work you have to do. The Lord has given me permission to show you this record:” turning the golden leaves one by one!
[Another Account of Mary Whitmer’s Viewing of the Golden Plates]
This account records Mary as referring to the angel as Moroni. Her grandson, David, said that she had never done so, but he seemed so certain that she had meant Moroni. Perhaps he could have changed the story throughout the family, with no ill intention. But then, why would Mary Whitmer insist on calling this angel Nephi?
The Prophet of Palmyra
Thomas Gregg
1890
“He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Nephi. That God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil, among all nations, kindreds and tongues.”
We can well believe that this vision was, at least, partly true ; for his name has been had for "evil ” among many nations.
And then the angel Nephi went on to reveal to him the existence of the “golden plates,” the “Urim and Thummim,” and the “breastplates,” and “ silver bows,” and that the possession and use of these was what constituted seers in olden times, and that God had prepared these for his use. Then Nephi read to him long chapters from Scripture: third chapter of Malachi, the fourth with variations, the eleventh of Isaiah, the third of Acts, the second of Joel, and many others “too numerous to mention.” But — he so charged him — when these golden plates were obtained, and the breastplate, and the Urim and Thummim, he was not to show them to any person on pain of utter destruction. And while the angel was still talking, his vision caused him to behold the exact spot where these wonderful things were deposited — in “Cumorah hill,” two miles away.
The angel appeared to him twice more that night, relating “ the very same things which he had done at the first visit, without the least variation,” and adding more concerning the judgments to come upon this generation. And this not being enough, on the next day, in the field, he had another vision in which the angel appeared as be¬ fore, and repeated the whole story. — Times and Seasons, vol. 3, 753.
What may have been the acquirements of Nephi when in the flesh, according to the Book of Mormon, he certainly exhibited great volubility as an angel, in the presence of our vision-seeing prophet; for here we find him reading five chapters from Scripture, “and many others,” three times in one night, besides much other talk, “ Avithout the least variation.”
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