One of the great contributions of the Book of Abraham is the vision given of pre-mortal life and the council in heaven. In July 1835, Joseph Smith, with the Kirtland saints, purchased mummies and papyri from Michael Chandler, from which the Book of Abraham subsequently came forth. However, in June 1835, W.W. Phelps wrote, "We shall by and bye learn that we were with God in another world, before the foundation of the world, and had our agency: that we came into this world and have our agency, in order that we may prepare ourselves for a kingdom of glory; become archangels, even the sons of God where the man is neither without the woman, nor the woman with the man in the Lord..."1
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1 W.W. Phelps, "Letter No. 8," June, 1835, Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate 1/9 (June 1835):130; Phelps also wrote, "I am truly glad you have mentioned Michael, the prince, who, I understand, is our great father Adam," which corresponds to temple-related doctrine even before the Kirtland temple was finished, much less the Nauvoo temple.
