Oliver Cowdery — 'Knowledge Has Swallowed Up Belief': His Law-Practice Testimony in Michigan (c. 1845)

While practicing law in Michigan after leaving the Church, Oliver Cowdery was challenged by a gentleman regarding his name appearing as a witness in the Book of Mormon. When asked if he believed the book, Cowdery initially deflected, but upon being pressed, testified that he saw the angel and the plates, stating that his knowledge of the event had swallowed up his belief, as he knew it was true.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Journal of Discourses, Volume 2, page 258):

A gentleman in Michigan said to him, when he was pleading law, 'Mr. Cowdery, I see your name attached to this book; if you believe it to be true, why are you in Michigan?' The gentleman read over the names of the witnesses, and said, 'Mr. Cowdery, do you believe this book?' 'No, sir,' replied Oliver Cowdery. 'That is very well, but your name is attached to it, and you say here that you saw an angel, and the plates from which this book is said to be translated, and now you say that you do not believe it. Which time was you right?' Mr. Cowdery replied, 'There is my name attached to that book, and what I have there said that I saw, I know that I saw, and belief has nothing to do with it, for knowledge has swallowed up the belief that I had in the work, since I know it is true.'