MORMONISM & FREEMASONRY
The following quotes come from a variety of sources and are presented in no particular order. They are quotes that I have come across in my readings which I think are noteworthy.
☼ Journal entries made by Joseph Smith, Jr. in March 1842...
Tuesday, 15.-I officiated as grand chaplain at the installation of the Nauvoo Lodge of Free Masons, at the Grove near the Temple. Grand Master Jonas, of Columbus, being present, a large number of people assembled on the occasion. The day was exceedingly fine; all things were done in order, and universal satisfaction was manifested. In the evening I received the first degree in Free Masonry in the Nauvoo Lodge, assembled in my general business office...
Wednesday, March 16.-I was with the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sublime degree.
-Joseph Smith. Diary. History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 4, Ch. 32.
☼ Comment made by Joseph Smith during a Sabbath address in Nauvoo on October 15, 1843.
The secret of masonry is to keep a secret.
-Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vol. 6, Ch. 59
☼ Often quoted, this excerpt from a letter written by Heber C. Kimball says that Joseph Smith taught that Masonry was derived from the Priesthood... (Spelling and grammar follows the original)
Brother Joseph feels as
well as I Ever see him. one reason is he has got a Small company that he
feels safe in thare hands. and that it is not all he can open his bosom to
and feel him Self safe I wish you was here so as to feel and hear fore your
Self. we have recieved some pressious things through the Prophet on the
preasthood that could caus your Soul to rejoice I can not give them to you on
paper fore they are not to be riten. So you must come and get them fore
your Self. -We have organised a Lodge here of Masons since we obtained a
Charter. that was in March since that thare has near two hundred been made
masons Br Joseph and Sidny was the first that was Recieved in to the Lodg.
all of the twelve have become members Except Orson P. he hangs back. he
will wake up soon, thare is a similarity of preast Hood in masonry. Bro
Joseph Ses Masonry was taken from the preasthood but has become degen[e]rated.
but menny things are perfect. we have a prosession on the 24th of June. which is
cold [called] St Johns day in country. I think I think it
will result in good. the Lord is with us and we are prosperd...
-HEBER C. KIMBALL TO PARLEY P. PRATT, 17 JUNE 1842, LDS ARCHIVES. QUOTED IN DAVID JOHN BUERGER'S THE MYSTERIES OF GODLINESS: A HISTORY OF MORMON TEMPLE WORSHIP, Page 40.
☼ Another quote by Heber C. Kimball. This one was given at a special conference on November 9, 1858.
We have the true Masonry. The Masonry of today is received from apostasy which took place in the days of Solomon and David. They have now and then a thing that is correct, but we have the real thing.
-HEBER C. KIMBALL, Manuscript History of Brigham Young, unpublished, November 13, 1858, LDS Church Archives. Quoted in Stanley B. Kimball's Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch & Pioneer.
☼ A second hand account of a comment made by Joseph Smith...
He [Joseph Smith] told me Freemasonry, as at present, was the apostate endowments, as sectarian religion was the apostate religion.
-Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review, p. 96.
☼ Diary entry of a Mormon-Mason in Nauvoo.
Many have joined the Masonic institution. This seems to have been a stepping stone or preparation for something else, the true origin of Masonry. This I have also seen and rejoice in it.
-Joseph Fielding, Diary (1843-1846), Church Archives cited in "`They Might Have Known He Was Not a Fallen Prophet' --The Nauvoo Journal of Joseph Fielding" Transcribed and edited by Andrew F. Ehat. BYU Studies 19 (Winter 1979).
☼ Franklin D. Richards, who recorded many of Joseph Smith's Nauvoo Discourses, made the following statement April 4, 1899:
Joseph, the Prophet, was aware that there were some things about Masonry which had come down from the beginning and he desired to know what they were, hence the lodge. The Masons admitted some keys of knowledge appertaining to Masonry were lost. Joseph enquired of the Lord concerning the matter and He revealed to the Prophet true Masonry, as we have it in our temples. Owing to the superior knowledge Joseph had received, the Masons became jealous and cut off the Mormon Lodge.
-Journal of Rudger Clawson, 1899.
Special thanks to Bro. Nick Literski for bringing this excellent quote to my attention.
☼ One of my favorites. This is Brigham Young's re-reading of the Masonic legend of Hiram Abiff...
It is true that Solomon built a temple for the purpose of giving endowments, but from what we can learn of the history of that time they gave very few if any endowments, and one of the high priests was murdered by wicked and corrupt men, who had already begun to apostatize, because he would not reveal those things appertaining to the Priesthood that were forbidden him to reveal until he came to the proper place...
-Brigham Young. DISCOURSES OF BRIGHAM YOUNG : TEMPLES AND SALVATION FOR THE DEAD, Page 393.
☼ Another quote from Brigham Young. I have no idea what it means!!!
When "Mormonism" was first presented to me, I had not seen one sect of religionists whose doctrines, from beginning to end, did not appear to me like the man's masonry which he had in a box, and which he exhibited for a certain sum. He opened the main box from which he took another box; he unlocked that and slipped out another, then another, and another, and thus continued to take box out of box until he came to an exceedingly small piece of wood; he then said to the spectators, "That, gentlemen and ladies, is free masonry."
-Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. II, April 17, 1853.
☼ Brigham Young's remarks concerning the prohibition of Mormons from joining the Masonic Lodges in Utah because of polygamy.**
There is another class of individuals to whom I will briefly refer. Shall we call them Christians? They were Christians originally. We cannot be admitted into their social societies, into their places of gathering at certain times and on certain occasions, because they are afraid of polygamy. I will give you their title that you may all know whom I am talking about it—I refer to the Freemasons. They have refused our brethren membership in their lodge, because they were polygamists. Who was the founder of Freemasonry? They can go back as far as Solomon, and there they stop. There is the king who established this high and holy order. Now was he a polygamist, or was he not? If he did believe in monogamy he did not practice it a great deal, for he had seven hundred wives, and that is more than I have; and he had three hundred concubines, of which I have none that I know of.
-Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. XI, February 10, 1867.
**This prohibition remained in place until it was lifted in 1984 by the Masonic Grand Lodge of Utah...
?A comment made by Elder Marvin J. Ballard. (Unlike the others above, Elder Ballard was not a Mason.)
What is masonry? Why, a fragment of the old truth coming down perhaps from Solomon's temple of ancient days, and but a fragment, as Christianity is but a fragment of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was only to be had and enjoyed by those who hold the holy priesthood. The prophet Elijah revealed these truths; he possessed them anciently and he gave them in their perfectness, and simplicity and purity to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
-Elder Marvin J. Ballard (President Northwestern States Mission.), General Conference Reports, October 1913/124.
the masonic moroni
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