"My name is attached to that book, and what I there have said is true," replied Oliver Cowdery with emphasis. "I did see this; I know I saw it, and faith has nothing to do with it, as a perfect knowledge has swallowed up the faith which I had in the work, knowing, as I do, that it is true."[K] [Footnote K: "Historical Record," pp. 200, 201.] And so it was always: Oliver Cowdery never wavered in his testimony. Surely, if he had been under the influence of Joseph Smith at the time of the angelic ministration, he was from under it now. Or if he had connived with Joseph Smith at a monstrous fraud, he was not concerned in it now that he had been cast off by the Church. This one bit of unwilling testimony is alone sufficient to establish the truth of the whole testimony of the three. Oliver Cowdery repented and joined the Church again in 1848, during the troublous days of the expulsion of the Church from Nauvoo. It is worthy of note that these were days of severe tribulation to the Church. Oliver Cowdery could gain nothing by rejoining it then. Moreover, the Prophet was dead. What Oliver Cowdery did in 1848, he did because of the deep conviction of his own soul, and not because of the influence of Joseph Smith. Oliver Cowdery died in 1850. His dying words were a changeless testimony of the divine truth of the "Book of Mormon." David Whitmer, too, testified unchangeably to the truth of the testimony he had signed and given to the world. David Whitmer was born near Harrisburg, Pa., January 7th, 1805. He was baptized, June, 1829. Like Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer rose to prominence in the Church. Like Oliver Cowdery, he became estranged from the Church. On April thirteenth, 1838, several charges were preferred against him and sustained. Accordingly he was excommunicated from the Church. David Whitmer never at any time returned his allegiance to the Church. Yet, he bore an unchangeable, undying testimony to the divine truth of the "Book of Mormon." In 1881, one John Murphy asserted that David Whitmer had denied his testimony as one of the three witnesses to the "Book of Mormon." David Whitmer immediately published in the Conservator of Richmond, Missouri, a refutation of the lie: "That the world may know the truth," he wrote, "I wish now, standing as it were in the very sunset of life, and in the fear of God, once for all to make this public statement: "That I have never at any time denied that testimony or any part thereof, which has so long since been published with that book, as one of the Three Witnesses. Those who know me best, well know that I have always adhered to that testimony. And that no man may be misled or doubt my present views in regard to the same, I do again affirm the truth of all my statements as then made and published."[L] [Footnote L: Quoted in "Historical Record," pp. 210, 211.]