Joseph Smith, Mormonism, and Reincarnation
Looking at whether or not the founder of Mormonism taught the principles of reincarnation.
What follows is a portion of an initial draft on the subject I’m writing with Robert Beckstead.
Feedback is most welcome!
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and his family had connections to these esoteric forms of religion through the family’s involvement in folk magical practices, the occult, Masonry, and Kabbalistic doctrines.1 Through these, it is highly probable that Joseph, even prior to dictating the Book of Mormon, was exposed to the ideas of reincarnation, perhaps seeing it as a valuable addition to his burgeoning cosmological views.
It appears as though the conception of reincarnation can be teased out from some of Joseph’s earliest revelations, including the Book of Mormon. While many apologetic thinkers declare the subject closed due to an account from 1835 where Joseph appears to deny the doctrine of transmigration of souls or reincarnation, we argue that there’s a much more complex and nuanced picture of Joseph’s relationship to this subject.
Joseph’s views on the matter seemingly further evolved towards the last few years of Joseph’s life when he developed a relationship with a Kabbalistic thinker, Alexander Neibaur, who served as Joseph’s teacher. Neibaur’s influence appeared to rekindle Joseph’s interest in the esoteric and he closed out his life teaching the conception of reincarnation to select close associates. The conception of reincarnation was vehemently defended by a few close associates of Joseph Smith who insisted on his elucidation of the doctrine in his teachings to them.
Part 1: Historical Evidence of Joseph’s Interactions With and Teachings of Reincarnation
The idea of the transmigration of souls was not unknown during Joseph Smith’s life. It was particularly of interest to the esoteric traditions that were prevalent including Masonry, Kabbalah, and folk magic.2 However the topic was also being discussed within histories of the Jews and the Pythagorean tradition.3 And while a full treatment of the discussion of the transmigration of souls in these fields during the early 1800s is beyond the scope of this paper, we will offer a few examples of places Joseph would have had direct contact with the concept.
One potential place Joseph could’ve picked up on the idea of reincarnation from was the Ephrata community.4 The founder Johannes Kelpius clearly supported the theory of reincarnation and interest in this continued through the time Joseph would have had connection to the cloister.5 The idea of the transmigration of souls was mentioned briefly in Francis Barrett’s The Magus6 and was also discussed in John Allen’s book, Modern Judaism, which, Stephen Fleming has argued, influenced Joseph’s thinking.7
In fact, Stephen Fleming has argued quite extensively that Platonism and Neoplatonism influenced Joseph Smith’s thinking.8 He argues that Plato’s dialogues Phaedrus and Timaeus are essential pieces of the “Plan of Salvation”. Interestingly, both the Phaedrus and Timaeus deal with Plato’s conception of the transmigration of souls. In fact, Fleming argues in a forthcoming book based on his dissertation that Joseph Smith was reading Plato prior to and during his translation of the Book of Mormon, influencing the theological developments within. Further, Fleming argues in his dissertation that the Timaeus has strong similarities with the Book of Abraham. Notably, the Book of Abraham deals with questions of the nature of the spirit and intelligences.
The first explicit reference we have of the transmigration of souls being directly in Joseph’s field of vision is in 1832 where an article entitled “Transmigration of Souls—Hindooism” was published in The Evening and Morning Star (which was republished again in June 1835, mere months before Joseph’s discussion on the subject with Robert Matthews).9 The first time Joseph directly references the subject occurs in the fall of 1835.
Joseph’s Supposed Rejection of Reincarnation in 1835
In November 1835, a traveler going by the name Joshua the Jewish Minister came to Kirtland to speak with Joseph. He and Joseph spoke for the better part of a day and Joseph records in his journal that he gave an account of his early visions and the coming forth of the Mormon church. Joshua, at Joseph’s invitation, expounded on Daniel’s vision of the figure with feet of iron and clay. The presence of a visitor caused much speculation among the saints who wanted to know who this fellow was. Joseph invited him to give a lecture that evening where Joshua revealed that he was, in fact, Robert Matthews (a fellow who had just been released from jail for a suspected murder), and that Joshua was merely his spiritual name.
The following morning, Joseph Smith had further discussions with this Robert Matthews. During these discussions Matthews told Joseph that
he poss[ess]es the spirit of his fathers, that he is a litteral decendant of Mathias the Apostle that was chosen in the place of Judas that fell and that his spirit is resurected in him, and that this is the way or scheme of eternal life, this transmigration of soul or spirit from Father to Son.10
Joseph, apparently unconvinced, told him that despite Matthews’s claims to “be the spirit of truth itself” and to “posses the soul of Christ” that Matthews’s doctrine “was of the Devil” and “he was in reality in possession of wicked and depraved spirit.” The feelings of contempt were apparently mutual and Joseph told Matthews he must leave. Joseph felt he “cast out the Devil in bodily shape, & I believe a murderer.”
There are a few ways to view this denial of Matthews’s doctrine. The first view is that of the apologists and later LDS prophets who cite this exchange as proof that Joseph never taught the idea of reincarnation.11 However, given Joseph’s later interest in the subject, which we will return to in a moment, and the elucidation of the doctrine of reincarnation in his earlier teachings of the Book of Mormon, this view is highly unlikely.
On the second view, Joseph’s statement is an outright claim that reincarnation as a whole is of the devil, reincarnation is not in the Book of Mormon, but that Joseph revisited this doctrine later on and changed his mind. This view is more likely than the first, but less likely than the following.
The third view is that Matthews’ particular doctrine of the transmigration of souls from Father to Son is of the devil and that Matthews was not both the literal descendent of Mathias the Apostle and his spirit reborn. Given the evidence that reincarnation appeared to be in the Book of Mormon and Joseph would later return to the subject matter, this third view is the most likely of the three options. It has the highest probability of being correct given all the evidence.
Joseph’s Interest in Reincarnation is Reignited
Joseph’s revitalized interest in multiple mortal probations near the end of his life as elucidated by two of his plural wives and his speech the “King Follett Discourse” may have been facilitated by his teacher and friend, Alexander Neibaur.
Alexander Neibaur, a one-time Jewish rabbinical student who converted to Christianity had been troubled by dreams involving a mysterious book. In 1837, LDS missionaries under the direction of Heber C. Kimball arrived in Preston England where they met Alexander whose first question for them was whether they had a "book". Neibaur immediately connected with the Book of Mormon and soon he and his family were baptized. Finally in the spring of 1841 the Neibaurs moved to Nauvoo where Alexander met Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet. Five days after meeting the prophet, on April 26, he went to work for Joseph.12
Neibaur had written an article on Jewish beliefs of resurrection that cited many Kabbalistic texts which had many parallels to Mormonism.13 D. Michael Quinn, Lance Owen, and Stephen Fleming, among others, point out that Neibaur likely influenced some of the words Smith used and most clearly influenced Joseph’s thinking in the King Follett Discourse.14 It is after Neibaur begins working for Joseph that those around him indicate that he was exploring and teaching multiple mortal probations.
Prescendia Huntington Buell who married Joseph Smith in December of 1841 indicated that Joseph spoke with her about "plural probations".15 Mary Elizabeth Rollins, who wed Joseph in February of 1842, claimed that he suggested to her they had an intimate relationship before they met in this life.16 In a conversation with several brethren that probably occurred in late 1842, Joseph L. Robinson reported that the Prophet discussed the “idea that we had passed through probations prior to this” and concluded “that we must have been married and given in marriage in those probations.”17 Robinson indicated that in prior probations both “adultery” and “capital crimes” were possible.
On Sunday April 2, 1843 Joseph gave items of instructions to a group of Saints suggesting the purpose of successive mortal probations or “worlds” was to permit the gradual accumulation of intelligence and knowledge.18 He also approved of Heber C. Kimball teaching that the physical body was like potters clay and would be reworked suggesting a return to the physical body, which will be further explained later in this chapter.19 One and a half months later, on Sunday May 21, 1843, Joseph explained somewhat cryptically to a group of Saints that there was more to God sending us to this world than was generally realized.20
One of those present at this meeting was Alexander Neibaur. Stating that he was continuing a heme introduced by Joseph Smith, Alexander published two short pieces in the June 1843 editions of the Church’s Times and Seasons on the subject of “gilgul” the Kabalistic concept of transmigration and rebirth of souls elucidated by Isaac Luria, which he said was the means the Lord used to “bring to pass this glorious work”.21 What was meant by “this glorious work” was still a mystery to the general membership of the Church.
Joseph would once again go public with his plural mortal probation theology when during the April 1844 conference of the Church he discussed the process of gradual accumulation of perfections through what he called “exaltations”. This time he added that the object and end of the “this glorious work” was deification itself. At the end of this explanation, Joseph Smith exclaimed in frustration, “I suppose I am not allowed to go into an investigation of anything that is not contained in the Bible” a possible reference to the Zohar and its doctrine of reincarnation.22
Carrying on Joseph’s Reincarnation Legacy: Heber C. Kimball
After Joseph’s death, Heber C. Kimball, one of the original apostles and the father of Joseph’s plural wife Helen Mar, continued to teach the prophet’s reincarnation theology. When the Nauvoo temple was completed in January 1846, Heber was "ordained” to the “Godhead” and blessed that “he would act as the Savior to a world” an event that would require him to return to the infant state, childhood, and another mortality.23 In October 1852, Heber explained through the analogy of the potter grinding clay in the mill that the soul would have to go through the mill of mortality over and over, being offered the Gospel and salvation each time “until all the human family . . . are redeemed.”24 In November 1852, he told the Saints if they didn’t cultivate their spirits in this state of mortal existence they would “go into another state of existence, and bring your spirits into subjection there.” Bodies, he says, are houses, temples, tabernacles, or places for the spirit.
“Remember,” Kimball tells the saints, “you are not going to leave this earth. . . not one soul of you ever will leave this earth, for if you go to hell, it is on this earth; and if you go to heaven, it is on this earth.” The only way to leave is for the spirit to “become qualified, and capable, and capacitated to become a father of an earth yourselves.” It is not until the spirit becomes subjugated to God that the soul may end its probations.
Speaking in the tabernacle in June 1857, Heber described a series of resurrections, each resurrection being compared to the morning of a new day.25 In November of the same year, Heber explained to the Saints a doctrine received from Joseph Smith himself that souls reincarnate in each dispensation being conducted from one dispensation to another.26
Carrying on Joseph’s Reincarnation Legacy: Eliza R. Snow
Eliza R. Snow first met Joseph Smith in the winter of 1830 and in the spring of 1836 boarded at the Prophet's house. Their relationship continued to develop and they were finally wed on June 29, 1842.27 Although a plural wife, Eliza was happy with her relationship with Joseph whom she called “the choice of my heart and the crown of my life”.28 For his part, Joseph loved Eliza’s sensitive, deeply philosophical poetry frequently calling her "Zion's poetess”.29 Since their relationship was maturing during the same period the Prophet was introducing plural probations, Eliza was likely a recipient of Joseph’s musings on the subject and apparently continued supporting this idea long after Joseph’s death alongside Heber C. Kimball with whom she had a close relationship to.30 Orson F. Whitney recorded in 1889 after Eliza’s death that Lorenzo Snow, the third president of the church and Eliza’s younger brother, said she was a “firm believer in the principle of reincarnation and that she claimed to have received it from Joseph the Prophet, her husband. He [Lorenzo] said he saw nothing unreasonable in it.”31
Carrying on Joseph’s Reincarnation Legacy: Orson F. Whitney
Orson F. Whitney’s 1889 discussion with Lorenzo on reincarnation was precipitated by Orson’s disappointment that then LDS President Wilford Woodruff declared reincarnation to be a false doctrine stating that Whitney himself had long believed it was “true doctrine”.32
Orson was the grandson of Heber C. Kimball, born of Helen Mar, a plural wife of Joseph Smith’s. He was born in July 1855 and was thirteen years old when his grandfather died. However, he was acquainted with Eliza R. Snow as his mother’s friend and read Eliza’s poetry as well as poems of William Wordsworth. Orson carefully studied his grandfather’s life and in November 1888, completed his first book, "The Life of Heber C. Kimball". Undoubtedly Orson carefully reviewed his grandfather’s discourses, including those suggesting multiple probations. During Whitney’s mission to England in 1881, he became close to his companion Charles W. Stayner who was a staunch supporter of reincarnation’s compatibility with the restored gospel. With these many influences, it is not surprising that Orson F. Whitney became a reincarnationist.
While Orson was undoubtedly relieved by Lorenzo’s response to his concerns about President Woodruff’s comments, the doctrinal tide in the Church was against him. In June 1893, George Q. Cannon, a member of the First Presidency complained in the Church’s Juvenile Instructor, “That a belief in reincarnation should prevail among the Latter-day Saints seems strange … [since these are] ideas entirely foreign to those … of Christendom.”33 Apparently, Lorenzo Snow, who was Church President at the time, did not inform his counselor that according to his sister Eliza, Joseph Smith was the source of those ideas.
Cannon’s belief likely stemmed from Brigham Young’s strong disdain for the concept of reincarnation. Brigham Young, whose own views of resurrection were particularly distinct from Joseph’s, lamented in 1867 that there was yet another member of the Quorum of the Twelve who believed in reincarnation. He commented that this doctrine was “so absurd and foolish that I cannot find language to express my sentiments in relation to it.”34
Despite the direction of the Church, and the excommunication of his former mission companion by Cannon, Apostle Orson Whitney maintained his belief in reincarnation. In 1919 article for the Improvement Era Apostle addressed the déjà vu experience quoting three reincarnationists, William Wordsworth, Eliza R. Snow and Maurice Maeterlinck.35 Maeterlinck was a Belgian playwright and poet awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915. Maeterlinck wrote Our Eternity, a 1913 work that describes the purpose of “reincarnation” and its “successive expiations and purifications”.36 With veiled disappointment, Orson explains, “the American prophet, Joseph Smith, and some who sat at his feet learning wisdom from his lips, taught the same and greater truths long before Maeterlinck was born.”37
By linking Joseph Smith’s teachings to Maeterlinck’s prose, it is clear that Orson believed that Joseph was the source of the reincarnation theology found in his grandfather’s discourses and in the poetry of Eliza R. Snow both of whom “who sat at [Joseph Smith’s] feet” and both of whom, like Maeterlinck believed in reincarnation and “taught the same and greater truths”. Orson’s statement suggests that the majority of those exposed to Joseph’s teachings on reincarnation neither accepted nor advocated it. With the passing of Orson F. Whitney in 1931 all influential advocates for reincarnation theology amongst the general authorities of the LDS Church slipped into history.
For a full treatment of these influences see D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magical World View. Second Edition. (Salt Lake City, Utah. Signature Books, 1998); Lance Owens, “Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection,” Dialogue Vol. 27 (No. 3, Fall 1994):117-194; John L. Brooke, The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844 (Cambridge University Press, 1996); Cheryl L. Bruno, Joe Steve Swick (III), and Ni̤cholas S. Literski, Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration (Greg Kofford Books, 2022).
Francis Barrett, The Magus or Celestial Intelligence Being a Complete System of Occult Philosophy (1801), 11; William Preston, Illustrations of Masonry (Alexandria: Cottom & Stewart, 1804), 119–120 (Book III, Sec. II). See also the following footnote. For more on Joseph’s direct connection to these subjects see John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 (Cambridge University Press, 1994); D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview Second Edition (Signature Books, 1998); Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and the Kabbalah: The Occult Connection,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27, no. 3 (1994): 117–194; Cheryl L. Bruno, Joe Steve Swick (III), and Ni̤cholas S. Literski, Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration (Greg Kofford Books, 2022).
Timothy Kenrick, An Exposition of the Historical Writings of the New Testament 3 Vols. (Boston: Munroe and Francis, 1828), 2:270; John Leland, The Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation 2 Vols. (Philadelphia: Anthony Finley, 1818), 2:453–459; Nathaniel Lardner, The Works of Nathaniel Lardner in Five Volumes (London: T. Bensley, 1815), 4:600–629; M. Malte–Brun, Universal Geography, or A Description of All Parts of the World (London: Adam Black, 1822), 3:139, 290–291; William Carlisle, An Essay on Evil Spirits; Or, Reasons to Prove Their Existence (London, 1825), 69–75.
For more on Joseph’s direct connection to the Ephrata cloister see John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 (Cambridge University Press, 1994), 40–45, 63–80; D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview Second Edition (Signature Books, 1998), 223–240; Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and the Kabbalah: The Occult Connection,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27, no. 3 (1994): 164–165.
See Lee Irwin, Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History (Lexington Books, 2017). Johannes Kelpius, “Diarium of Magister Johannes Kelpius,” in Pennsylvania: The German Influence in Its Settlement and Development. The Pennsylvania-German Society, Part XXVII of a Narrative of Critical History (Lancaster: 1917): 1–95 [Orig. 1706].
Francis Barrett, The Magus or Celestial Intelligence Being a Complete System of Occult Philosophy (1801), 11.
John Allen, Modern Judaism: Or, a Brief Account of the Opinions, Traditions, Rites, and Ceremonies, of the Jews in Modern Times (London, 1816), 209. See Stephen Fleming, “The Fulness of the Gospel: Christian Platonism and the Origins of Mormonism,” Dissertation (University of California Santa Barbara, 2014). D. Michael Quinn also argued for Joseph’s knowledge of Allen’s work. See D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview Second Edition (Signature Books, 1998), 301–302.
See Stephen Fleming, “The Fulness of the Gospel: Christian Platonism and the Origins of Mormonism,” Dissertation (University of California Santa Barbara, 2014).
Transmigration of Souls—Hindooism,” The Evening and Morning Star [Independence, MO] 1 (Oct. 1832): 36, quoting from Edinburgh Cabinet Library; “Transmigration of Souls. Hinduism,” Evening and Morning Star [Kirtland, OH] 1 (Oct. 1832): 76, also 80 (“The Evening and Morning Star, is re-printed and published by F. G. Williams & Co. … Kirtland, Ohio, June, 1835”). See D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview Second Edition (Signature Books, 1998), 297.
Journal, 1835–1836, p. 29, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/journal-1835-1836/30
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/home-page/current-events/the-vallow-daybell-trial/reincarnation-multiple-mortal-probations
Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and the Kabbalah: The Occult Connection,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27, no. 3 (1994): 174, 177.
Alexander Neibaur, “The Jews,” Times and Seasons 4 (June 1, 1843): 221; Stephen Fleming, “The Fulness of the Gospel: Christian Platonism and the Origins of Mormonism” PhD Dissertation UC Santa Barbara, 63–64.
Stephen Fleming, “The Fulness of the Gospel: Christian Platonism and the Origins of Mormonism” PhD Dissertation UC Santa Barbara, 63–64.
Statement of "Aunt Presindia Kimball," 30 Sept 1883, in Orson F. Whitney diary, LDS archives, with photocopy at Lee Library and at Marriott Library.) D. Michael Quinn. Early Mormonism and the Magic world View (Signature Books: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998), 302.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner reported “Joseph said I was his before I came here and he said all the Devils in hell should never get me from him." Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, “Statement” signed Feb. 8, 1902, Vesta Crawford Papers, MS 125, bx1 fd 11.
We also heard him say that God had revealed unto him that any man that ever committed adultery in either of his probations that that man could never be raised to the highest exaltation in the celestial glory and that he felt anxious with regard to himself that he inquired of the Lord that the Lord told him that he, Joseph, had never committed adultery. This saying of the prophet astonished me very much. It opened up to me a very wide field of reflection. The idea that we had passed through probations prior to this and that we must have been married or given in marriage in those probations. Journal of Joseph Lee Robinson, p. 40.
“Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. Instructions given by Joseph Smith, Ramus, Illinois, April 2, 1843. History of the Church 5:323-25.
Heber C. Kimball. Journal of Discourses 5:271f.
“The design of the great God in sending us into this world, and organizing us to prepare us for the eternal worlds, I shall keep in my own bosom at present .” Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976), 306.
Having commenced this sometime since—and having had the privilege, a few Sundays back, to hear our worthy prophet on the same subject, I was determined to go on with it, and hand it over to you. If you think it will be of any interest to your readers, I shall take another time to continue the subject, and tell you the means, as held by my brethren the Jews, whereby the Lord will bring to pass this glorious work.” "The Jews," Times and Seasons 4 (1 June 1843): 220-22; 4 (15 June 1843): 233-34.
For more on the Kabbalistic conception of reincarnation and the use of the term “gilgal” see Shlomo Giora Shoham, And Man Created God (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011), 78. For a discussion of Joseph’s reliance on Alexander Neibaur, John Allen’s Modern Judaism, and Johann Eisenmenger’s Traditions of the Jews see D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview (Signature Books, 1998), 296–306.
Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me…. When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave. Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Published in Times and Seasons, p. 614, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-7-april-1844-as-published-in-times-and-seasons/3
Nauvoo Temple Record, January 1846.
How many shapes do you suppose you are put into before you become Saints, or before you become perfect and sanctified to enter into the celestial glory of God? You have got to be like that clay in the hands of the potter. Do you not know that the Lord directed the Prophet anciently, to go down to the potter's house to see a miracle on the wheel? Suppose the Potter takes a lump of clay, and putting it on the wheel, goes to work to form it into a vessel, and works it out this way, and that way, and the other way, but the clay is refractory and snappish; he still trys [tries] it, but it will break, and snap, and snarl, and thus the potter will work it and work it until he is satisfied he cannot bring it into the shape he wants, and it mars upon the wheel; he takes his tool, then, and cuts it off the wheel, and throws it into the mill to be ground over again, until it becomes passive, (don't you think you will go to hell if you are not passive?) and after it is ground there so many days, and it becomes passive, he takes the same lump, and makes of it a vessel unto honor. Now do you see into that, brethren? I know the potters can. I tell you, brethren, if you are not passive you will have to go into that mill, and perhaps have to grind there one thousand years, and then the Gospel will be offered to you again, and then if you will not accept of it, and become passive, you will have to go into the mill again, and thus you will have offers of salvation from time to time, until all the human family, will, except the sons of perdition, are redeemed. The spirits of men will have the Gospel as we do, and they are to be judged according to men in the flesh. Let us be passive, and take a course that will be perfectly submissive. (Heber C. Kimball. Journal of Discourses 1:160 An address delivered by President Heber C. Kimball, in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, October 9, 1852, at the General Conference.
Heber C. Kimball. Journal of Discourses. 4:336, June 7, 1857
Joseph always told us that we would have to pass by sentinels that are placed between us and our Father and God. Then, of course, we are conducted along from this probation to other probations, or from one dispensation to another, by those who conducted those dispensations. Heber C. Kimball. Journal of Discourses. 6:63, November 22, 1857.
Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, “Eliza R. Snow’s Nauvoo Journal,” Brigham Young University Studies 15 (Summer 1975): 394.
Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, “Eliza R. Snow’s Nauvoo Journal,” Brigham Young University Studies 15 (Summer 1975): 393.
Poetry and the Private Lives: Newspaper Verse on the Mormon Frontier by Maureen Ursenbach Beecher Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 25 (1985), 56.
Eliza was close to Heber and called him “father”. April 8, 1846. “Trail Diary”. Found in the The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow, edited by Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, p. 126.
Lorenzo Snow statement, 8 June 1889 in Orson F. Whitney diary, LDS achieves, with photocopy at Lee Library and at Marriott Library.
Diary of Orson F. Whitney, 3 June 1889, Church Archives.
Nov. 1, 1893, Juvenile Instructor 28:675-76.
In subsequent years Cannon would excommunicate two individuals who were advocating for reincarnation. In March 1894, First Presidency member George Q. Cannon wrote in his journal about a member who was excommunicated and appealed to the First Presidency.
Cannon wrote: “[John Wilkinson] has been teaching the doctrine of reincarnation and other follies, and adheres to this, despite all that the brethren have said to him. We wrote to him that we could not fellowship anyone who taught that doctrine, and that we would sustain the decision [to excommunicate Wilkinson] of the High Council.”
In December 1895, the First Presidency interviewed George Parkinson about claims Charles Stayner, Orson F. Whitney, and others were teaching reincarnation. After listening to Parkinson’s claim he had a vision in which an angel taught him Brigham Young had been the reincarnation of Peter, Cannon records that “If [Brother Parkinson] had any such manifestation, it undoubtedly was from the devil.”
Delivered in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, June 23rd, 1867 Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1854-1886], 12: 66–67.
Orson F. Whitney, “The Undiscovered Country”, Improvement Era, 1919, Vol. 23. November, 1919. No. 2.
Maurice Maeterlinck, Our Eternity (London, 1913). Maeterlinck’s play Bluebird was adapted for the wide screen in 1940. Recently, Sanderson Beck offered this about the movie: Adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's play, a sister and brother seek happiness in the past, a luxurious palace, and the future, but find it at home… This mystical story conveys many spiritual truths about the attitude of happiness and shows the continuity of life after death and before birth. (Maeterlinck also wrote about karma and reincarnation.) The timeless message is that selfishness and greed lead to quarrels and war, while love and understanding nurture peace and happiness.
Orson F. Whitney, “The Undiscovered Country”, Improvement Era, 1919, Vol. 23. November, 1919. No. 2.