Benjamin Franklin, though by adherence a sectarian, nevertheless believed in reincarnation—a return of the soul to earth to perfect itself—as is clearly indicated in the epitaph he himself prepared:

The Body of
B. Franklin, Printer,
(Like the Cover of an old book,
Its Contents torn out
And stript of its Letterings
And Gilding)
Lies here, Food for the Worms,
But the Work shall not be lost;
For it will (as he believed)
Appear once more,
In a new and more
Elegant Edition,
Revised and corrected,
By the Author