On January 21, 1836, Joseph Smith beheld a vision of the celestial kingdom while participating in sacred ordinances in the house of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio. This revelation, now canonized as section 137 of the Doctrine and Covenants, is a fundamental component to the Latter-day Saint understanding of the postmortal salvation of humankind. The canonical version of this revelation is a mere ten verses but is nevertheless a deep well of doctrinal content. The circumstances surrounding this revelation, as well as its publication and reception in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are likewise worthy of examination. What may come as a surprise to many Latter-day Saints is that the canonical revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants was only the first of multiple visions the Prophet received in the Kirtland Temple on that day. These other visions have heretofore remained uncanonized in the Church but are no less worthy of investigation. This study will explore the Prophet’s visions received on January 21, 1836, focusing on his vision of the celestial kingdom but also touching on the other revelations. In addition, an examination of the reception of the vision will be provided to show how Latter-day Saints have generally understood and used it in their theological explications.

Joseph Smith’s 1836 Vision: Text and Commentary

We are greatly benefited by the fact that the Prophet recorded the events immediately preceding his reception of his 1836 vision of the celestial kingdom. In the afternoon of January 21, Joseph and other Church leaders “retired to the loft of the printing office,” where they “attended to the ordinance of washing [their] bodies in pure water.” There they also “perfumed [their] bodies and [their heads] in the name of the Lord.” Later that evening “at early candlelight,” Joseph met with the “presidency” (the First Presidency) in the Kirtland Temple “to attend to the ordinance of anointing [their] heads with holy oil.” Other leaders were in adjoining rooms waiting “in prayer” while Joseph performed the ordinances. Blessings with “consecrated oil” were then sealed upon the heads of those in attendance. Joseph and his father, Joseph Sr., both the presiding patriarch and an assistant president of the Church, took turns anointing each other. Joseph Sr. anointed his son, “sealed upon [him] the blessings of Moses to lead Israel in the latter days,” and pronounced upon him “the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”[1]

Thereafter the vision opened upon Joseph. The earliest extant copy of the vision is preserved in Joseph Smith’s Kirtland-era journal in the handwriting of scribe Warren Parrish.[2] It reads as follows:

The heavens were opened upon us and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof, whether in the body or out I cannot tell,—I saw the transcendant beauty of the gate that enters, through which the heirs of that kingdom will enter, which was like unto circling flames of fire, also the blasing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son,—I saw the beautiful streets of that kingdom, which had the appearance of being paved with gold—I saw father Adam, and Abraham and Michael and my father and mother, my brother Alvin that has long since slept, and marvled how it was that he had obtained this an inheritance <in> this <that> kingdom, seeing that he had departed this life, before the Lord <had> set his hand to gather Israel <the second time> and had not been baptized for the remission of sins —Thus said came the voice <of the Lord un>to me saying all who have died with[out] a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it, if they had been permited to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God— also all that shall die henseforth, with[out] a knowledge of it, who would have received it, with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom, for I the Lord <will> judge all men according to their works according to the desires of their hearts— and again I also beheld the Terrestial kingdom I also beheld that all children who die before they arive to the years of accountability, are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven—[3]

Here is where the canonical version printed in the Doctrine and Covenants and well known to Church members finishes. It is a short, powerful glimpse into the realm of God’s glory and highlights Joseph’s statement that “could you gaze in heaven [for] five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject.”[4] It is not hard to imagine that Joseph’s description of seeing the gate of heaven as “like unto circling flames of fire” and God’s throne as “blasing” informed his teaching that God and exalted Saints dwelt in “everlasting burning.”[5] In any case, immediately after this description, the Prophet recorded a succession of additional visions. The first was about the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

I saw the 12, apostles of the Lamb, who are now upon the earth who hold the keys of this last ministry, in foreign lands, standing together in a circle much fatiegued, with their clothes tattered and feet swolen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus <standing> in their midst, and they did not behold him, he the Saviour looked upon them and wept—

The second was about Elder William McLellin, a member of the original Quorum of the Twelve called in 1835:

I also beheld Elder McLellen [William E. McLellin] in the south, standing upon a hill surrounded with a vast multitude, preaching to them, and a lame man standing before him, supported by his crutches, he threw them down at his word, and leaped as an heart [hart][6] by the mighty power of God

The third was about another Apostle, Brigham Young:

Also Eldr Brigham Young standing in a strange land, in the far southwest, in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of about a dozen men of colour, who, appeared hostile He was preaching to them in their own toung, and the angel of God standing above his head with a drawn sword in his hand protecting him, but he did not see it,—

The fourth vision once again focused on the Twelve collectively:

and I finally saw the 12 in the celestial kingdom of God,—

The record then concludes with Joseph stating somewhat cryptically:

I also beheld the redemption of Zion, and many things which the toung of man, cannot describe in full[.][7]

This was not the end of the revelatory outpouring on that evening. After Joseph’s visions closed, the bishop of Kirtland, Newel K. Whitney, and his counselors, as well as the bishop of Zion (Missouri), Edward Partridge, and his counselors, were also anointed, whereafter “the glories of heaven” were again “unfolded” upon those gathered in the temple.[8] No details were recorded about what was seen in this manifestation. As other leaders received their anointings, “some of them saw the face of the Savior, and others were ministered unto by holy angels,” resulting in outbursts of “loud hosannahs” and shouts of “glory to God in the highest.” “Revelation was poured out in mighty power,” Joseph recorded. After he beheld a final vision of the “presidency” in the celestial kingdom, the Prophet and the company retired “between one and two o’clock in the morning,”[9] meaning this heavenly outpouring lasted at least a few hours from “early candlelight” to well past midnight.

Latter-day Saint commentators, rightfully noticing its importance, have devoted considerable attention to this temple revelation (or at least the canonical portion). They have focused mainly on the historical circumstances surrounding the revelation as well as its importance for the doctrine of the redemption of the dead.[10] There is not much more I wish to add to these past works in this present treatment, but a few observations will suffice. Unquestionably, this 1836 vision was crucial in the unfolding of the Prophet’s theology on the redemption of the dead. Although Joseph would not begin to publicly articulate this doctrine and implement the practice of vicarious baptism for the dead for a few more years, with this revelation we already notice the seedlings of inspiration being planted in his mind that would lead him to that theological outcome. That this revelation profoundly impacted the Prophet is evident from his description of having “marveled” upon seeing his deceased brother Alvin in the celestial kingdom, given that his brother “had departed this life before the Lord had set his hand to gather Israel the second time, and had not been baptized for the remission of sins” (Doctrine and Covenants 137:6). As if sensing his amazement and wishing to set matters straight, the Lord responded to Joseph’s wonder with the declaration “All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God” (v. 7). This was, in fact, a paradigm-changing experience for Joseph, who had his previous thinking in some ways fundamentally overturned. This should come as little surprise, as other prophets such as Moses, Enoch, and the brother of Jared are recorded in scripture as having their own assumptions and worldviews confounded when they too encountered the divine (Moses 1:10; 7:28–29; Ether 3:6–8).

But while this text offers Latter-day Saints an important revelatory source for their doctrine of the salvation of the dead, many questions remain that have yet to be fully resolved. For starters, while it is perhaps understandable that he saw in the vision his deceased brother Alvin, who died over a decade previous on November 19, 1823, it is remarkable that Joseph beheld his own parents in the vision as well, since both were still alive on January 21, 1836.[11] Evidently the vision projected the Prophet’s view forward, as he was seeing those already in God’s glory (his deceased brother) and those who were evidently set to receive that glory in years to come (his living parents).[12] So likewise, it is notable that Joseph does not mention seeing other family members, such as his faithful brother Hyrum or any of his other siblings. Perhaps his parents and his brother were visionary stand-ins for the rest of the Smith family.

Even more perplexing is the Prophet’s mention of having seen in the vision “father Adam, and Abraham and Michael,” as though the three were different figures. Already in revelatory pronouncements given before this vision Joseph had identified Adam and Michael as the same person (compare Doctrine and Covenants 27:11; 107:54);[13] so likewise afterward Joseph would equate the two (e.g., 128:21).[14] Whence this apparent confusion over the identity of these figures? Matthew B. Brown suggests this is an error that arose from a dittography in Parrish’s transcription based on the “Mi” of “Michael” and the “my” of “my father” that follows immediately thereafter (since the two phrases sound similar).[15] While this is plausible and interesting, it remains speculative. For now, there appears to be no immediate or obvious resolution to this question.

Another textual oddity in the journal record of this revelation is in the line “also all that shall die henseforth, with a knowledge of it, who would have received it, with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom” (emphasis added). The journal clearly reads “with a knowledge of this gospel,” but the context and logic of the revelation demand that the preposition without was meant. After all, those who have died with a knowledge of the gospel may of course inherit the kingdom of God. That was not surprising to Joseph. What shocked him is that he saw someone in God’s presence who had died without said knowledge, which is necessary for salvation in the first place. The next clause in the sentence, “who would have received it,” further confirms that this is a counterfactual statement intending to contrast opposing states: those who died with a knowledge of the gospel, and those who died without it. For this reason, The Joseph Smith Papers transcription of this text supplies “[out]” alongside the preposition in question. As we will see below, the nineteenth-century custodians of Joseph Smith’s papers recognized this as well and made the same sensible emendation.

The four additional revelations received by Joseph on the same occasion are likewise fascinating but also raise their own questions. For instance, Joseph recorded seeing the Twelve Apostles together in the celestial kingdom in the uncanonized portion of the vision. But just a few years after this vision several members of that quorum—including John F. Boynton, Lyman E. Johnson, Luke S. Johnson, Thomas B. Marsh, and William E. McLellin—would be excommunicated—although some, such as Marsh and Luke Johnson, would later rejoin the Church.[16] What does this say about what Joseph saw in that vision? Was this a divine assurance of what would invariably transpire, as it might be argued with the case of Alvin and Joseph’s parents, or was it rather a glimpse into just one potential outcome contingent on the faithfulness of those mentioned in the revelation? Does this mean that even those disaffected Apostles ultimately have a place in God’s kingdom, claimed by the redemptive power of Christ’s Atonement despite their falling away? These and similar questions inevitably come to mind. And what about the Prophet seeing William McLellin preaching as an Apostle in the southern United States? As mentioned, William apostatized a short two years after this vision and never returned to the Church. Had he remained faithful, would he have fulfilled what Joseph saw that day in the temple?

So too with Joseph’s vision of Brigham Young. Had he not assumed the prophetic mantle and the leadership of the Church, would Brigham have filled this mission to a “strange land” in the “far southwest” where he preached with God’s protection? Was his leading the exodus of the Saints to the West perhaps the fulfillment of this part of the vision?[17] Or were these manifestations more like celestial illustrations of something deeper about these men, rather than a prediction of some literal event? For now, we may not know the answer. But this uncertainty does not negate the reality of this vision; it merely suggests the contingent, conditional nature of some of Joseph’s visionary episodes and prophetic pronouncements.[18] So while this vision provides Latter-day Saints important revelatory grounding for their doctrine of the redemption of the dead and rightly deserves a place in the canon, it should also urge us to think carefully about the nature of visionary experiences, including those received by the Prophet, and later textual revisions.

Publication and Canonization of Joseph Smith’s 1836 Vision

After its initial composition, the journal entry that contains the text of the vision and the surrounding narrative context was copied into Joseph Smith’s manuscript history by secretary Willard Richards sometime between October 1, 1843, and the Prophet’s death on June 27, 1844.[19] It was this source that served as the basis for the first published version of the vision in the Deseret News on September 4, 1852, as part of the serial “History of Joseph Smith.”[20] A comparison of the manuscript and print versions of the vision reveals both minor and significant textual variants. As noted earlier, when the journal entry was copied into the manuscript history, the preposition with in the phrase “all who have died with a knowledge of this gospel” was changed to without in the history, an emendation that is entirely appropriate since this is clearly the intended meaning of the line. The manuscript history also omitted the cryptic line “again I also beheld the Terrestial kingdom” that appears in the journal, again for an obvious reason: the strikeout in the journal signals the line was intended to be dropped. The print version as it appeared in the Deseret News further dropped “and Michael” from the list of persons Joseph saw in the vision that appears in the journal and manuscript history, and each subsequent reprinting has followed this omission.

In 1853, a year after its appearance in the Deseret News, the account of the vision was published in the Church’s European periodical the Millennial Star.[21] With the exception of minor orthographic or punctuation changes, the Star reprinting follows the Deseret News version faithfully. Thus, on two continents the Saints had access to the full account of Joseph’s 1836 vision not long after his death, and the documentary record is clear that they were aware of its contents and reacting to its teachings in positive ways (see below). In 1904 the Prophet’s 1836 vision was preserved in its most popular form in the second volume of B. H. Roberts’s History of the Church.[22] An examination of this version reveals that Roberts followed the decision of the 1853 Deseret News and Millennial Star versions in omitting “and Michael,” besides making additional minor orthographic changes (such as rendering William McLellin’s name as “M’Lellin”). This rendition of the vision in the History of the Church served as the default account in print for most of the twentieth century, and Latter-day Saint authors who cited the vision before its canonization routinely cited the Roberts version.

On April 3, 1976, President N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency conducted the sustaining of Church officers at the annual general conference. After the sustaining of the officers, President Tanner announced that nine days earlier on March 25 the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve had authorized the addition of two revelations to the Pearl of Great Price. One of them was “a vision given to President Joseph F. Smith in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 3, 1918, showing the visit of the Lord Jesus Christ in the spirit world and setting forth the doctrine of the redemption of the dead,” what is now section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The second was Joseph Smith’s 1836 vision of the celestial kingdom, which President Tanner described as “deal[ing] with the salvation of those who die without a knowledge of the gospel.” It was proposed that these two texts be canonized “as part of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” The sustaining was unanimous in the affirmative.[23]

The vision first appeared in the standard works in the Pearl of Great Price as “Joseph Smith—Vision of the Celestial Kingdom.” The canonical version ends with the Lord’s declaration that children who die before the age of accountability inherit the celestial kingdom.[24] Entirely omitted are the additional visions of Brigham Young and other Apostles. While we cannot tell for sure why the canonical version ends where it does, it is not hard to imagine because the doctrinal content of the second part of the vision is not nearly as obviously relevant as the first part. As the reception history of this text clearly shows, it is the first part of the vision pertaining to the salvation of the dead that has by far commanded the attention of Latter-day Saint interpreters. While Joseph’s vision of the ministry of the Twelve does raise interesting questions, as mentioned before, those appear to be of far less theological significance than the Lord’s unambiguous pronouncements in the first part of the vision about the potential of salvation for the dead and the status of little children in the afterlife.

In any case, in the latter half of the 1970s, editions of the Pearl of Great Price were printed with the text (and its companion piece, “Joseph F. Smith—Vision of the Redemption of the Dead”) appended at the back after what is now Joseph Smith—History (“Writings of Joseph Smith” in pre-1981 editions of the Pearl of Great Price) but before the Articles of Faith and the index. Additionally, small looseleaf inserts were printed for Church members to insert the two new additions to the canon into their individual scriptures. Then in 1979 the Church announced that these two texts would be moved from the Pearl of Great Price and placed in the Doctrine and Covenants, where they reside today as sections 137 and 138.[25] The vision thus took a rather circuitous route into its current place in the canon.

Reception of Joseph Smith’s 1836 Vision in Theological Discourse

Once the vision was in print and circulating among the Saints, it did not take long for them to recognize its significance. As early as the 1860s, long before it was ever canonized, leaders of the Church were drawing from either the language or concepts of the vision as they discussed the eternal destiny of the Saints and their duty to redeem the dead. In 1861, in an address in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Heber C. Kimball expounded on “the vision that Joseph Smith had, when he saw Adam open the gate of the Celestial City and admit the people one by one.” Paraphrasing but also expanding on the details of the vision, Elder Kimball spoke of Joseph seeing “Father Adam conduct[ing] them to the throne one by one, when they were crowned Kings and Priests of God.” This, he assured, would “apply to every member of the Church” who was faithful.[26] That same decade, in 1867, Daniel H. Wells, Second Counselor to Brigham Young in the First Presidency, echoed the language of the vision when he asked whether those who “died without a knowledge of the gospel” could be saved (compare Doctrine and Covenants 137:7). Elder Wells answered positively and affirmed that “the dispensation of the fullness of times has opened up these great principles to the understanding of the Latter-day Saints.” He went on to state, again echoing what is said in the vision, that “they who have died without the gospel may be saved.”[27]

A few years later in 1872, Brigham Young, speaking of the redemption of the dead, declared, “We shall go forth in the name of Israel’s God and attend to the ordinances for them.” Through the building of temples and the administration of these ordinances, President Young avowed the potential of salvation for “those who would have received the truth if they had had the opportunity” to receive it (compare Doctrine and Covenants 137:7–8).[28] A year later, Elder Orson Pratt observed how “hundreds of millions of people died before God gave” them the opportunity to receive saving ordinances. “Would you deprive them of the blessings of this eternal union, because they did not happen to live in a day when God revealed and restored anew, from the heavens, these ordinances?” Elder Pratt rhetorically asked. “No,” he answered. “God is a consistent being, and to say that people who die in ignorance, without having an opportunity of attending to the ordinances of the house of God, should not be made partakers of the blessings thereof, would be imputing injustice to the great Jehovah.”[29] Although the 1836 vision says nothing explicitly about the dead needing saving ordinances, Elder Pratt’s teaching is a natural, logical outgrowth on the subject, and that his thinking was informed by the vision seems certain. On at least two occasions, John Taylor used concepts from the 1836 vision to inform his teachings about the salvation of the dead. “We are told that all those myriads . . . that would have received the Gospel, but had not the privilege of hearing or receiving it in this world and have died without it, shall have the opportunity of receiving it hereafter,” President Taylor said in an 1881 discourse with language resembling that of the vision.[30] Three years later he would ask an audience “what becomes of those who choose the other path” and stray from the gospel. “They are still God’s children,” he declared, “and He feels interested in them.” So the natural follow-up question was “What will He do with them?” With language echoing that of Doctrine and Covenants 137:9, President Taylor answered, “They will be judged according to the deeds done in the body, and according to the light and intelligence which God communicates to them.”[31] In 1894, when President Wilford Woodruff discontinued the practice of “adoption”—whereby men were sealed to each other in a father-son relationship[32]—he drew on the content of the 1836 vision to inform his decision.[33]

Church leaders continued to quote or otherwise draw on the vision authoritatively in general conference and other venues throughout the twentieth century before its canonization. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith featured the vision prominently in his October 1911 general conference address, as well as in a 1944 address on the doctrine of the salvation of the dead.[34] So too did Elder LeGrand Richards in 1935.[35] Elder Bruce R. McConkie cited it at least twice in conference talks, once in 1948 and again in 1976 (at the same general conference when the vision was canonized).[36] Elder Harold B. Lee drew on the vision in 1953, relating how he used it in a missionary discussion some years previous.[37] Another Apostle, Marion G. Romney, exulted in the truth revealed in the vision. “I rejoice in the vision and the revelation received by the Prophet Joseph Smith on the 21st day of January 1836, which teaches this doctrine” that “those who have had no opportunity to hear and receive the gospel in this life will have that opportunity in the world to come,” he declared in 1954.[38] Elder Milton R. Hunter of the Seventy taught in 1969 that “those who have not had a chance to hear the gospel while here in mortality . . . will have an opportunity in the spirit world and temple work will be done for them,” and as proof of this, Elder Hunter cited Joseph’s 1836 vision.[39] Thus, the vision, even before its entry into the canon, was an immediate and popular source on the subject of the salvation of the dead for Latter-day Saint leaders in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The vision was not only referenced in general conference addresses. Latter-day Saints frequently appealed to it in written works as well. It appeared in the pages of multiple Latter-day Saint periodicals, for instance, to explicate doctrine and answer gospel inquiries.[40] The vision was also featured in multiple gospel compendia and collections of Joseph Smith’s teachings, such as those prepared by William E. Berrett, Melvin R. Brooks, Alma P. Burton, Roy W. Doxey, Nels B. Lundwall, Bruce R. McConkie, Edwin F. Parry, Franklin D. Richards, Joseph Fielding Smith, Orson F. Whitney, and Richard W. Young.[41] So likewise, Bruce R. McConkie, Joseph Fielding Smith, Hyrum M. Smith, and Janne M. Sjodahl all cited the vision in their respective scriptural and doctrinal commentaries.[42] LeGrand Richards, in his immensely popular 1950 book A Marvelous Work and a Wonder—which went through numerous reprintings and editions—directly drew on the 1836 vision in his chapter on eternal marriage, writing, after reproducing the text of the vision, that “the blessings of the celestial kingdom are to be made available to all who would have accepted the same had the opportunity been presented to them. Here again is evidence of the justice or righteousness of God.”[43]

Besides these conference addresses and doctrinal or encyclopedic works, multiple biographies of Joseph Smith and other Church histories reproduced, discussed, or featured the 1836 vision. Universally, the intent of this literature was to either highlight the Prophet’s unfolding doctrine of the salvation for the dead or to emphasize his visionary outpouring. This includes the institutional histories composed by George Q. Cannon, Andrew Jenson, B. H. Roberts, and Joseph Fielding Smith, to name just a few.[44] So too, popular Church histories devoted attention to the vision for basically the same reason, or, in some cases, to highlight the prophetic pronouncements about the foretold mission of the Twelve, as seen in the works of Ivan J. Barrett, William E. Berrett, George Wharton James, and S. Dilworth Young.[45] Finally, the vision was used in Church curriculum, such as the 1967 Sunday School manual Messages of Exaltation, to inform members’ understanding of the celestial kingdom.[46]

From this evidence we can plainly see that even before its entry into the standard works in 1976, the Prophet’s 1836 vision was being used by leaders of the Church as an authoritative source and was understood to carry significant doctrinal weight. In this regard it may not be out of order to compare how this vision was handled before its canonization with how the family proclamation is typically used in the Church today. What may be surprising, if anything, is not that the 1836 vision was eventually canonized but rather how long it took.

Line upon Line: Joseph Smith’s Unfolding Theology of Salvation for the Dead

Joseph Smith’s doctrinal contributions were not suddenly sprung on the Latter-day Saints all at once. Joseph’s preferred method seen throughout his prophetic ministry was to slowly build on preexisting understanding in a gradual unfolding of God’s revelations to his children. The scriptural phrase “line upon line, precept upon precept” is often and not inappropriately invoked to capture the spirit of the Prophet’s process of progressively introducing new and sometimes revolutionary truths to the Saints (compare Isaiah 28:10, 13; 2 Nephi 28:30; Doctrine and Covenants 98:12; 128:21). This is true for Joseph’s teachings about the opportunity for postmortal salvation, and his 1836 vision of the celestial kingdom is just one factor in helping us grasp a fuller picture of God’s infinite plan of salvation.

To be sure, not everything in the 1836 vision was necessarily groundbreaking. For instance, in the Book of Mormon, Abinadi taught that “little children have eternal life” (Mosiah 15:25; compare Moroni 8:7–15), and the doctrine reiterated in the vision that “all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven” (Doctrine and Covenants 137:10). Nevertheless, perhaps the most apparent indication that section 137 provides the foundation for the Latter-day Saint doctrine of the salvation of the dead rather than its consummation is the fact that both the Book of Mormon text and section 137 are silent on the need for proxy ordinances. As recorded, the revelation specifies merely, “All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God” (v. 7). That is the only condition explicitly mentioned: those who died ignorant of the gospel shall not be barred from salvation by virtue of their ignorance. The next verse elaborates on this by pronouncing that those “henceforth” from the time of the vision who die without receiving a knowledge of the gospel but who would have accepted “it with all their hearts” shall be “heirs” of God’s kingdom (v. 8). Again, the need for proxy ordinances is not stated as a condition to receive this inheritance. Indeed, Alvin’s need for a baptism he never received was explicitly on the Prophet’s mind as he “marveled” at seeing his brother in the celestial kingdom, but it did not occur to him then to make the connection with the need for vicarious ordinances (v. 6). It would not be until July 1838 that the Prophet built on this understanding by recognizing the need for an administrative proxy,[47] and not for another two years still after that before he began implementing the practice of baptism for the dead among the Saints.[48] Additional instruction and doctrinal scaffolding for the postmortal salvation for the unevangelized came from the Prophet in September 1842, in what are now two canonized letters addressing the subject (Doctrine and Covenants 127 and 128). In the latter, Joseph wove a rich theological tapestry involving priesthood keys, sealing power, temple rites, and the welding of dispensations into an intricate cosmology that was not elucidated in the 1836 vision.

All of this is to say, as Brigham Young himself recognized, that “when Joseph received the revelation that we have in our possession concerning the dead, the subject was opened to him, not in full but in part, and he kept on receiving.” Himself being a firsthand recipient of Joseph’s Nauvoo-era teaching on the salvation of the dead, Brigham acknowledged that “there was little by little given” in its earliest stages of introduction among the Saints, “but little was given at once.”[49] This unfolding nature of revelation is a hallmark feature of the Restoration, and one necessary to ensure the Saints were and are prepared to receive new light and knowledge. If Joseph himself had “marveled” at the prospect of the postmortal salvation of humankind, how much more might the Saints have?[50] As the Prophet put it in an 1844 discourse, he at times struggled with the “great difficulty” he faced in “getting anything into the heads of this generation.” As he memorably quipped, “It has been like splitting hemlock knots with a corn dodger for a wedge and a pumpkin for a beetle.” Even the Saints, he lamented, were sometimes “slow to understand” and were not always “prepared to receive the things of God.”[51] There was thus undeniable prudence and wisdom in God’s granting Joseph just a portion of understanding in the 1836 vision of the celestial kingdom—understanding that would gradually evolve into the full-fledged soteriology and temple praxis that Latter-day Saints now cherish.

Notes

[1] Joseph Smith, Journal, 21 January 1836, pp. 135–36, spelling standardized, in Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen, eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 1: 1832–1839, vol. 1 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman(Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2008), 166–67; hereafter JSP, J1.

[2] Visions, 21 January 1836 [D&C 137], in Brent M. Rogers et al., eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 5: October 1835–January 1838, vol. 5 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey, 157–60; hereafter JSP, D5.

[3]JSP, D5:158–59.

[4] Joseph Smith, Discourse, 9 October 1843, in Andrew H. Hedges, Alex D. Smith, and Brent M. Rogers, eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Volume 3: May 1843–June 1844, vol. 3 of the Journals series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin and Matthew J. Grow, 109; spelling and punctuation standardized.

[5] See, for instance, Joseph Smith, Discourse, 7 April 1844, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff, and Discourse, 12 May 1844, as Reported by Thomas Bullock, in Alex D. Smith et al., eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 14: 1 January–15 May 1844, vol. 14 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Matthew C. Godfrey, R. Eric Smith, and Ronald K. Esplin, 338, 484; hereafter JSP, D14.

[6] A hart is a male deer. See The Oxford English Dictionary, 20 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1989), 7:1134.

[7]JSP, D5:158–59.

[8]JSP, J1:166–67; spelling standardized.

[9]JSP, J1:166–67; spelling standardized.

[10] See the representative treatments in Robert L. Millet, “Salvation Beyond the Grave (D&C 137 and 138),” in Studies in Scripture, Volume One: The Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson (Salt Lake City: Randall Book, 1984), 549–63; Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 302–5; Leland Gentry, “Redemption for the Dead,” in Doctrines for Exaltation: The 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989), 83–84; Joseph Fielding McConkie and Craig James Ostler, Revelations of the Restoration: A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants and Other Modern Revelations (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1137–42; Richard O. Cowan, “The Kirtland Temple,” in Joseph: Exploring the Life and Ministry of the Prophet, ed. Susan Easton Black and Andrew C. Skinner (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 257–58; Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, vol. 4 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 295–99; Steven C. Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2008), 504–7; Steven C. Harper, “Joseph Smith and the Kirtland Temple, 1836,” in Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, ed. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Kent P. Jackson (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 242–46; and R. Devan Jensen, Michael A. Goodman, and Barbara Morgan Gardner, “‘Line upon Line’: Joseph Smith’s Growing Understanding of the Eternal Family,” Religious Educator 20, no. 1 (2019): 40–41.

[11] Joseph Smith Sr. died on September 14, 1840, and Lucy Mack Smith died on May 14, 1856.

[12] Compare the observation made in “Editor’s Table: A Supposed Inconsistency,” Improvement Era, (September 1898), 846: “The point is here: Alvin Smith, the prophet’s eldest brother, died when he was a young man, before the new dispensation of the gospel had been committed to his younger brother. He died without a knowledge of the gospel, and therefore had not obeyed the ordinance of baptism—without which, according to the words of Jesus himself, no man can enter into the kingdom of God; and yet, according to the vision, Alvin Smith, without having been baptized, was in the celestial kingdom, together with Adam, Abraham, and also the prophet’s own father and mother. The fact is that the vision was given to show what would be the condition of those parties in the future; it did not relate to the situation of the parties at the time the vision was given—January, 1836;—for in the vision the prophet saw both his father and mother in the celestial kingdom as well as his brother Alvin, and that father and mother were then both alive in the flesh, consequently they were not then in the celestial kingdom of God, nor in company with Adam or Abraham. The father of Alvin and Joseph did not die until the 14th of August, 1840; and the mother lived on until some time after, 1853 [sic]—so that the vision relates to the future” (emphasis in original).

[13] See Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Kirtland, OH: F. G. Williams, 1835), 86, 180.

[14] Compare Joseph Smith, Letter to the Church, 7 September 1842, in Spencer W. McBride et al., eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 11: September 1842–February 1843, vol. 11 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Matthew C. Godfrey, R. Eric Smith, Matthew J. Grow, and Ronald K. Esplin (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2020), 67; see also Joseph Smith, Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 4 August 1839–A, as Reported by Willard Richards, in Mark Ashurst-McGee et al., eds., The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 6: February 1838–August 1839, vol. 6 of the Documents series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Ronald K. Esplin, Matthew J. Grow, and Matthew C. Godfrey (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017), 542.

[15] Matthew B. Brown, “Brigham Young’s Teachings on Adam,” 22n54, www.fairlatterdaysaints.org.

[16] William Shepard and H. Michael Marquardt, Lost Apostles: Forgotten Members of Mormonism’s Original Quorum of Twelve (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2014), 131–96.

[17] As was tacitly suggested in “Questions and Answers: The Missing Revelations,” Improvement Era, May 1906, 570. Compare J. E. Hickman, “Does God’s Church Possess Definite Proof of Its Own Authenticity?,” Millennial Star, February 23, 1922, 125, in which Hickman interprets the vision’s portrayal of Brigham Young in a “strange land” and a “desert place” as a prophetic utterance of the Saints’ eventual exodus to the West under the leadership of President Young.

[18] Consider, for comparative purposes, the Prophet’s pronouncement on April 11, 1838, that Apostle David W. Patten should “perform a mission” that next spring (Doctrine and Covenants 114:1), only for Patten to perish later that year during a violent skirmish with the Missouri state militia.

[19] See History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 (1 September 1834–2 November 1838): 694–97, www.josephsmithpapers.org. The historical introduction to this source explains how work on this volume of the manuscript history recommenced on October 1, 1843, and that by the time of Joseph Smith’s death the historical work had advanced chronologically to August 5, 1838. This means that the vision was copied into Joseph’s history while he was still alive.

[20] “History of Joseph Smith,” Deseret News, September 4, 1852, [1].

[21] “History of Joseph Smith,” Millennial Star, September 17, 1853, 620–21.

[22] B. H. Roberts, comp., History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1904), 2:378–81.

[23] In Conference Report, April 1976, 1, 29; and N. Eldon Tanner, “The Sustaining of Church Officers,” Ensign, May 1976, 19.

[24] It is unknown who precisely made the decision to end the canonical text at this point, as well as who versified the text. An apostolic committee of Thomas S. Monson, Boyd K. Packer, Marvin J. Ashton, and Bruce R. McConkie oversaw the production of this edition of the Pearl of Great Price and in fact proposed several more additions to the text that were ultimately rejected. See Thomas S. Monson et al., “Proposed Additions to the Pearl of Great Price,” internal memorandum, January 25, 1974; “New Version of the Pearl of Great Price,” internal memorandum, The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve (ca. 1976). A draft of this proposed edition of the Pearl of Great Price dated to 1976 was even prepared for consideration and review (per instructions given in the accompanying memorandum). For more information on the contents of this proposed revision to the Pearl of Great Price, see Stephen O. Smoot, “Appendix III: Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s Proposed Additions to the Pearl of Great Price,” in The Pearl of Great Price: A Study Edition for Latter-day Saints (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2022), 162–67.

[25] “Additions to D&C Approved,” Church News, June 2, 1979, 3; and Conference Report, October 1982, 75–76.

[26] Heber C. Kimball, “Submission to Reproof, &c.” (March 17, 1861), in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–86), 9:41.

[27] Daniel H. Wells, “Eternal Life” (August 18, 1867), in Journal of Discourses, 12:136. In another address given in 1882, Wells again made the point that “in the economy of God, those who would have received [the gospel] when the opportunity was not afforded them in the flesh, will receive it when it shall be presented to them in the spirit.” Daniel H. Wells, “‘Mormonism’ as True Now as Ever” (October 6, 1882), in Journal of Discourses, 23:303–4.

[28] Brigham Young, “One-Man Power” (April 8, 1871), in Journal of Discourses, 14:97.

[29] Orson Pratt, “Temples to the Built in the Name of the Lord” (October 7, 1873), in Journal of Discourses, 16:259.

[30] John Taylor, “Duties of the Saints” (August 28, 1881), in Journal of Discourses, 22:309.

[31] John Taylor, “Design of God in Relation to the Earth and Its Inhabitants” (October 6–7, 1884), in Journal of Discourses, 25:306.

[32] On the “law of adoption” in the early Church, see generally Gordon Irving, “The Law of Adoption: One Phase of the Development of the Mormon Concept of Salvation, 1830–1900,” BYU Studies 14, no. 3 (1974): 291–314; Samuel M. Brown, “Early Mormon Adoption Theology and the Mechanics of Salvation,” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 2 (Summer 2011): 3–52; and Jonathan A. Stapley, “Adoptive Sealing Ritual in Mormonism,” Journal of Mormon History 37, no. 2 (Summer 2011): 53–118.

[33] Wilford Woodruff, in “Law of Adoption,” Deseret News Weekly, April 21, 1894, 543.

[34] Joseph Fielding Smith, in Conference Report, October 1911, 118–19; and The Restoration of All Things (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1944), 230.

[35] Le Grand Richards, in Conference Report, April 1935, 41–42.

[36] Bruce R. McConkie, in Conference Report, April 1948, 48–49; and “Joseph Smith—The Mighty Prophet of the Restoration,” Ensign, May 1976, 95.

[37] Harold B. Lee, in Conference Report, April 1953, 25.

[38] Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, April 1954, 134.

[39] Milton R. Hunter, in Conference Report, October 1969, 79.

[40] See for instance “Different Glories,” Millennial Star 42, no. 5 (February 1, 1900): 65–67; “Supposed Inconsistency,” 845; “Missing Revelations,” 570; Orson F. Whitney, “The Undiscovered Country: A Dissertation on Spiritual Themes: IV.—The Goal Eternal,” Improvement Era, March 1920, 413; Joseph Fielding Smith, “Salvation for the Living and the Dead,” Relief Society Magazine, December 1918, 679; Susa Young Gates, “Temples in Modern Times,” Young Woman’s Journal, November 1908, 615; “Glorious Visions,” Liahona—The Elders’ Journal, August 29, 1908, 249–51; D. M. McAllister, “Temple Work,” Liahona—The Elders’ Journal, September 22, 1925, 125; and George F. Richards, “Genealogy and Temple Work,” Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, July 1922, 101–2.

[41] William E. Berrett and Alma P. Burton, comp., Readings in L.D.S. Church History from Original Manuscripts, vol. 1 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1953), 205–8; Melvin R. Brooks, L.D.S. Reference Encyclopedia (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1960), 176; Alma P. Burton, comp., Doctrines from the Prophets: Choice Selections from Latter-day Leaders (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1970), 65; Roy W. Doxey, The Latter-day Prophets and the Doctrine and Covenants, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1964), 2:485–86; N. B. Lundwall, Temples of the Most High (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1941), 21–22; Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1st ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958), 618; Edwin F. Parry, comp., Joseph Smith’s Teachings: A Classical Arrangement of the Doctrinal Sermons and Writings of the Great Latter-day Prophet (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1912), 19; Franklin D. Richards, A Compendium of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Liverpool: Orson Pratt, 1857), 116; Joseph Fielding Smith, comp., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1938), 106–8; Orson F. Whitney, Gospel Themes: A Treatise on the Salient Features of “Mormonism” (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1914), 44; and Richard W. Young, “Mission and Teachings of Joseph Smith,” Improvement Era, March 1903, 338.

[42] Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, vol. 3, Colossians—Revelation (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1973), 312–14; Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1955), 181–82, and Answers to Gospel Questions, vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1958), 34–35; Hyrum M. Smith, The Doctrine and Covenants: Containing Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jr., The Prophet (Liverpool: George F. Richards, 1919), 571–72; and Hyrum M. Smith and Janne M. Sjodahl, The Doctrine and Covenants: Containing Revelations Given to Joseph Smith, Jr., The Prophet (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1923), 571–72.

[43] LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and A Wonder (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1950), 166.

[44] George Q. Cannon, The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1888), 193–94; Andrew Jenson, “Kirtland,” Historical Record, May 1886, 64–65; B. H. Roberts, “Chapter XXXVIII,” Americana, February 1911, 181, reprinted in Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1930), 2:75; Roberts, History of the Church, 4:xxxvii; and Joseph Fielding Smith, Essentials in Church History (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1922), 188–89.

[45] Ivan J. Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1967), 247, reprinted as Joseph Smith and the Restoration: A History of the Church to 1846 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1973), 322; William E. Berrett, The Restored Church: A Brief History of the Growth and Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1936), 241–42; George Wharton James, Utah: The Land of Blossoming Valleys (Boston: The Page Company, 1922), 94–95; and S. Dilworth Young, Here Is Brigham . . . (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964), 141–43.

[46]Messages for Exaltation: Eternal Insights from the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Sunday School Union, 1967), 347.

[47]Elder’s Journal, July 1838, 43.

[48] On the early implementation of baptism for the dead, see Alexander L. Baugh, “‘For Their Salvation Is Necessary and Essential to Our Salvation’: Joseph Smith and the Practice of Baptism and Confirmation for the Dead,” in An Eye of Faith: Essays in Honor of Richard O. Cowan, ed. Kenneth L. Alford and Richard E. Bennett (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, BYU; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015), 113–37.

[49] Brigham Young, “The Gospel Incorporates all Truth” (August 31, 1873), in Journal of Discourses, 16:165.

[50] Compare with how Saints reacted to “the Vision” (Doctrine and Covenants 76) shortly after its reception in early 1832, as discussed in Casey Paul Griffiths, “Universalism and the Revelations of Joseph Smith,” in The Doctrine and Covenants: Revelations in Context, ed. Andrew H. Hedges, J. Spencer Fluhman, and Alonzo L. Gaskill (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2008), 168–87. Brigham Young famously captured the feeling of many Saints who struggled with this new, revolutionary vision of the afterlife in an 1873 discourse: “When God revealed to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to the light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice of good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because God was not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and infants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all, and would bless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged to any church or not. It was a new doctrine to this generation, and many stumbled at it, but Joseph continued to receive revelation upon revelation, ordinance upon ordinance, truth upon truth, until he obtained all that was necessary for the salvation of the human family.” Brigham Young, “Unbelief” (May 18, 1873), in Journal of Discourses, 16:42–43.

[51] Joseph Smith, Discourse, 21 January 1844, as Reported by Wilford Woodruff, in JSP, D14:106; spelling standardized.