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I had heard that much of Smith's ideas came from Thomas Dick, a Scottish theologian and popular science writer who wrote a book called “The Philosophy of a Future State”. So I purchased a copy of his second edition published in 1830 to decide for myself. After reading the book I have come to the conclusion that many of Joseph Smith’s ideas found in the Book of Abraham were influenced by Thomas Dick, once again showing a secular source for Smith's revelations.

The following are passages that stood out as sources of his theology:


Passages on Eternal Progression:

. . .becomes still more glowing and ardent in proportions as the intellect is cultivated and expanded and in proportions as the soul rises to higher and higher degrees of virtue and moral excellence. (p.29)

"...it may be stated, that the soul of man appears to be capable of making a perpetual progress towards intellectual and moral perfection, and of enjoying felicity in every stage of its career, without the possibility of ever arriving at a boundary to its excursions." (p. 44)

Thus I have endeavoured, I the preceding pages, to prove and illustrate the immortality of man, from a consideration of the universal belief which this doctrine has obtained among all nations – the desire of immortality implanted in the human breast – the strong desire of knowledge, and the capacious intellectual powers with which man is furnished the capacity of making perpetual progress towards intellectual and moral perfection. . . (p.101)

As finite intelligences, from their very nature, are progressive beings, and , therefore, cannot be supposed to acquire all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,. . . (p.207)


We have therefore reason to believe, that it is one part of the plan of the government of God, to disclose the history of one species of intellectual beings to another, in such portions, and at such seasons, as may seem most proper to Infinite Wisdom, and best suited to the state and character, and the gradual improvement of his intelligent offspring. (p.208)

No such affections are ever felt in the breast of superior beings who have kept their first estate. (p.249)



Passages on Intelligence:
"A thousand conjectures and inquiries are suggested to the mind, in relation to the systems and worlds which are dispersed through the immensity of space. Are all those vast globes peopled with inhabitants? Are they connected together, under the government of God, as parts of one vast moral system? Are their inhabitants pure moral intelligences, or are they exposed to the inroads of physical and moral evil? What are the gradations of rank or of intellect which exist among them? What correspondence do they carry on with other provinces of the Divine empire?" (p. 48-49)

What variety of sensitive and intellectual beings is to be found in the different systems of the universe? (p.59)

What are the grand and ultimate designs to be accomplished by this immense assemblage of material and intellectual beings… (p.50)

"This amazing structure of the universe, then, with all the sensitive and intellectual enjoyments connected with it, must have been chiefly designed for the instruction and entertainment of subordinate intelligences..." (p. 53)

And, in other systems, in the distant regions of space, we perceive, that its is one great end of the Creator, to diffuse light and splendor throughout all the provinces of his immense empire, in order to unveil his glorious works to the eyes of unnumbered intelligences. (p.60)

It is, therefore, reasonable to believe, that those virtuous benevolent characters which have appeared in our world, have only been in the act of training for a short period, preparatory to their being transported to a nobler scene of action, that their moral powers, which could not be brought into full exercise in this terrestrial sphere, were intended to qualify them for mingling with more exalted intelligences, and co-operating with them in carrying forward the vast system of universal benevolence,. . . (p.61)

Besides the magnificence and variety of the material structures which exist throughout the universe, the organized and intelligent beings which they are peopled, present a vast field of delightful contemplation. (p.196)

The gradation of intellect, or the various orders of intelligences which may people the universal system. That there is a vast diversity in the scale of intellectual existence, . . . (p.196)


Among sentient beings, in this world, we find a regular gradation of intellect, from the muscle, through all the orders of the aquatic and insect tribes, till we arrive at the dog, the monkey, the beaver and the elephant, and last of all, to man, who stands at the top of the intellectual scale, as the lord of this lower world. (p.196)

This writer, in addition to these, states the following properties: -“To be invested with a power capable of displacing the heavenly bodies, or changing the course of nature; and to be possessed of a power and skill capable of organizing matter, of forming a plant, an animal, a world.” (p.197)

Besides the topics to which I have now adverted, namely, the gradation of intellect, and the diversity of corporeal organization. . . (p.204)

. . . it is highly probable, from ascertained facts, from analogy, and from revelation, that each of these worlds has a peculiarity of scenery, and of appendages, which distinguish it from every other – that there is a gradation of intellect, and beings of different orders among the inhabitants of these worlds. . . (p.217)

Infinite intelligence (p. 227)

. . .in the works of creation, in the intelligences which people the material world, their orders, gradations, history, and present state- . . . (p. 235)

His Goodness extends over all his works, and is displayed towards every rank of sensitive and intelligent existence. (p.243)

Celestial intelligences (p.230; 244)

All the holy intelligences in the universe (p.245)

And to every class of holy intelligences (p.246)

-when we reflect on the low station in which we are placed in the scale of intelligent existence – that we are only like so many atoms, or microscopic animaculate, when contrasted with the innumerable myriads of bright intelligences that people the empire of God. . .(p.248)

This amiable disposition forms a peculiar trait in the character of angels and other pure intelligences. (p.249)



Passages on Obedience:

There are certain general laws which are common to all the orders of intellectual beings throughout the universe. . . For we cannot suppose the Deity, in consistency with the sanctity and rectitude of his nature, to reverse these laws, in relation to any class of intelligences, or to exempt them from an obligation to obey them. . . (p.206)

For it is the decree of Heaven, -a decree founded on the moral laws which govern the intelligent universe, and which, like the law of the Medes and Persians, cannot be changed,. . . (p.240)

Great stuff, thanks for posting!

Their are several major problems with this hypothosis:

1. There is no documentary evidence, or any extant public or written works, correspondence, or private writings by Joseph Smith indicating that he was even aware of Dick's book, or that, were he aware, he had read it.

2. A number of the concepts present in Dick's work were common among Protestants of Joseph's era, and were available to Joseph in the religious milieu in which he lived quite without ever having opened the cover of The Philosophy of a Future State.

The ideas seen in the Book of Abraham and other of Joseph's teachings and restored scripture span millennia, and are not centered in the 19th century. Showing correlations or, in classic cultural Mormon style, plausible, assumed, or hypothetical correlations between what was or may have been present in Joseph's immediate cultural mieliu, and what Joseph wrote or taught, is the classic history-by-speculative extrapolation approach common to much liberal cultural Mormon historicism.

The point is: lacking any direct empirical evidence, and approaching the subject from a Bradfordesque, naturalist/sociological perspective, in which LDS religious conviction and faith is bracketed entirely (edited out, in essence) from the subject matter itself and the subject approached as a purely sociocultural phenomena (in which spiritual/metaphysical truth claims are ignored as outside scholarly relevance), since Joseph could not have been a prophet (since these people do not exist, should be assumed not to exist for the purpose of scholarly inquiry), there must be another explanation (19th century cultural influences).

Brodie's purely speculative guesswork regarding Joseph's claimed reading of the text lacks any supporting evidence, and given that many of Joseph's core teachings are inconsistent with, if not contrary to Dick's, this line of attack on Joseph would appear stillborn.

once again showing a secular source for Smith's revelations

Doesn't necessarily follow.

I wonder if he was a Mason or was exposed to Masonry?