At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, 1827, having gone as usual, at the end of another year, to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to him with this charge, that he should be responsible for them; that if he should let them go carelessly or through any neglect of his, he should be cut off; but that if he would use all his endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected. The same night that Joseph obtained the plates marvelous things appeared in the heavens. It would seem as though all eternity was stirred by the greatness of the events that were about to take place. The powers of light and of darkness were at war; the hosts of heaven were marshaled; Satan's kingdom was tottering; the time had arrived for the commencement of the preparatory work that would usher in the reign of Christ as King over all the earth. The late President Heber C. Kimball relates that on that eventful night he saw a white smoke arise on the eastern horizon, which formed itself, with a noise like that of a mighty wind, into a belt, as it uprose; eventually forming a bow across the heavens from the eastern to the western horizon. He further says: In this bow an army moved, commencing from the east and marching to the west; they continued marching until they reached the western horizon. They moved in platoons, and walked so close that the rear ranks trod in the steps of their file leaders, until the whole bow was literally crowded with soldiers. We could distinctly see the muskets, bayonets and knapsacks of the men, who wore caps and feathers like those used by the American soldiers in the last war with Britain; and also saw their officers with their swords and equipage, and the clashing and jingling of their implements of war, and could discover the forms and features of the men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army; when the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time; I could hear the steps. When the front rank reached the western horizon a battle ensued, as we could distinctly hear the report of arms and the rush. Thus with signs upon earth and wonders in the heavens was the record of the mighty dead of this continent brought forth again by the power and wisdom of God. FOOTNOTES: [36] Joseph Smith's answer to the question, How and where did you obtain the Book of Mormon?--Moroni, who deposited the plates (from whence the Book of Mormon was translated) in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being _dead and raised again_ therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were, and gave me directions how to obtain them. I obtained them, and the Urim and Thummim with them, by the means of which I translated the plates, and thus came the Book of Mormon.