David Whitmer's Testimony of the Angel and the Plates

On January 7, 1888, President Angus M. Cannon visited the elderly David Whitmer in his home in Richmond, Missouri. Whitmer, who had turned eighty-three that very day, was described as feeble but resolute. In the presence of Cannon, Whitmer raised his hand and bore a solemn, powerful testimony, stating: "My friend, if God ever uttered a truth, the testimony I now bear is true." He explicitly reaffirmed that he had beheld the glory of the Lord, seen the angel of God, and heard the voice of the Lord declare that the Book of Mormon record was true. Cannon felt the manifest power of God during the exchange.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 50, No. 9, 27 February 1888, pp. 139-140):

On the 7th of January, 1888, President Angus M. Cannon, of the Salt Lake Stake, visited Mr. Whitmer at his home in Richmond, Missouri. It was the eighty-third anniversary of Mr. Whitmer's birth. He was found to be very feeble, but his mind was clear and his memory of the events of his early life was remarkably distinct. President Cannon, in the course of the conversation, asked him if he still held to his testimony of the Book of Mormon. Mr. Whitmer, who was lying on his bed, raised his hand and said: 'My friend, if God ever uttered a truth, the testimony I now bear is true. I did see the angel of God and I beheld the glory of the Lord and He spoke and said that Record true.' President Cannon says that as Mr. Whitmer spoke these words, the power of God was so manifest that he felt as though he were in the presence of the Almighty.