I believe the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe there are many things in this world that attempt to imitate the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whenever there is truth there is error and the adversary has a desire to make evil look good. We read in Alma 41:10, “Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.” I feel there are important reasons to seek the good things of this world. Understanding Freemasonry and some of the good contained in this organization can benefit us. All truth the Lord has given us from the beginning is constantly under attack from the other side. It’s important we learn to discern truth from error in all that we study. I offer some information below about Freemasonry that may assist you in understanding why some early Church leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints respected many tenets of this ancient fraternity.
<img class=”wp-image-1268″ src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aa-mason1.jpg” alt=”” width=”151″ height=”198″> Brigham Young wearing a Mason pin on his shirt
“Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow all were members of the fraternity. All joined while living with the Saints in Nauvoo… Joseph Smith joined the Masons in Nauvoo in March 1842…” <em>LDS Living “Mormons and Masons: 5 Fascinating Connections</em>
<img class=”alignleft wp-image-1269″ src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaa-mason-freemason_washington-440×300-468×312.jpg” alt=”” width=”206″ height=”138″>”George Washington a young Virginia planter, becomes a Master Mason, the highest basic rank in the secret fraternity of Freemasonry. The ceremony was held at the Masonic Lodge No. 4 in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Washington was 21 years old and would soon command his first military operation as a major in the Virginia colonial militia. Freemasonry evolved from the practices and rituals of the stonemasons’ guilds in the Middle Ages. With the decline of European cathedral building, “lodges” decided to admit non-stonemasons to maintain membership, and the secret fraternal order grew in popularity in Europe. In 1717, the first Grand Lodge, an association of lodges, was founded in England, and Freemasonry was soon disseminated throughout the British Empire. The first American Mason lodge was established in Philadelphia in 1730, and future revolutionary leader Benjamin Franklin was a founding member.
<img class=” wp-image-1274″ src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaa-mason-29561.jpg” alt=”” width=”355″ height=”241″> Grunge illuminati freemasonry emblem on dramatic background – masonic square and compass symbol, closeup of old architectural building decoration
There is no central Masonic authority, and Freemasons are governed locally by the order’s many customs and rites. Members trace the origins of Masonry back to the erecting of King Solomon’s Temple in biblical times and are expected to believe in the “Supreme Being,” follow specific religious rites, and maintain a vow of secrecy concerning the order’s ceremonies. The Masons of the 18th century adhered to liberal democratic principles that included religious toleration, loyalty to local government, and the importance of charity. From its inception, Freemasonry encountered considerable opposition from organized religion, especially from the Roman Catholic Church.
For George Washington, joining the Masons was a rite of passage and an expression of his civic responsibility. After becoming a Master Mason, Washington had the option of passing through a series of additional rites that would take him to higher “degrees.” In 1788, shortly before becoming the first president of the United States, Washington was elected the first Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22.” <em>Washington Becomes Master Mason: Author History.com Staff</em>
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<p style=”text-align: left;”><strong>1820 MASONIC APRON (artifact below)</strong>.</p>
Engraving printed in blue, on white leather. At base of design in minuscule letters: “J. T. Porter. Sc[ulpt]. Middletown. Con[necticut].” No date, but ca. 1820.
15 X 14¾ inches. The printed image is identical to an example preserved at St. John’s Lodge No. 1, Free and Accepted Masons, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, illustrated in <em>Bespangled, Painted &</em> <em>Embroidered; Decorated Masonic Aprons in America, 1790-1850. </em>(Lexington, Massachusetts: Scottish Rite Masonic Museum of Our National Heritage, [c.1980]), item 54 (pp. 92-93; illus., p. 92), saying “c[a]. 1810-1830.” Their dating is based on other known work by this engraver while he was in Middletown, 1815 and 1823; Porter is listed there in the 1820 census only (ibid., p. 93). OCLC shows two items engraved by Porter and published in Middletown, in 1815 and 1825. The apron examined retained original hand coloring in green, red, yellow and brown, with bright gilt highlights. It was surrounded except along the top edge by a pleated scarlet silk border. It was in fine condition, with some minor restoration.
<img class=”aligncenter size-full wp-image-1266″ src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaapron.jpg” alt=”” width=”1005″ height=”981″>
[ILLUSTRATION above: A ca.1820 Masonic apron engraved by James T. Porter of Middletown, Connecticut. Described in <em>Mormon Parallels</em>, pp. 1282-83.]
“Displaying numerous familiar “Mormon” symbols, somewhat resembling the apron worn by a certain evil figure in the endowment ceremony as presented live in the Salt Lake Temple in the twentieth century. Covering the apron flap at the top is a large all-seeing eye, beneath which is engraved, “HOLINESS TO THE LORD.” Below the flap appear the sun, moon and stars, and below them the Masonic arch supported by the two pillars between which may be seen a large gold triangle and an altar (on a checkered floor) upon which lies a compass and square. Resting on the ground are the Ark of the Covenant and the triangular plate of gold engraved with the name of God which in Masonic lore was buried underground beyond a stone door by Enoch. In the foreground are the rough and smooth ashlars (stones) to which Joseph Smith compared himself (see <em>Popular Philosophy</em> below). This apron is made of lambskin or similar white leather, referred to as being worn by the Gadianton robbers in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 4:7).” <em>MORMON PARALLELS: A Bibliographic Source. Second Edition, with Index. By Rick Grunder. Lafayette, New York: Rick Grunder – Books, 2014.</em>
<p style=”text-align: left;”><strong>POPULAR PHILOSOPHY</strong></p>
“Joseph Smith spoke of himself as a rough stone. The elaborate analogy to a rough stone rolling down a hill, however (found in the History of the Church 5:401), appears to be a creation of Church historians, based on the meager phrase, “Rough stone roling down hill” in Joseph’s diary entry by Willard Richards for May 21, 1843 (see American Prophet’s Record, 379; for commentary, see Words of Joseph Smith, 282 n. 7). Another diary entry, however, for June 11, 1843, makes a much different “rough stone” analogy:
. . . I [am] a rough stone. The sound of the hammer and chisel was never heard on me nor never will be. I desire the learning and wisdom of heaven alone. [American Prophet’s Record, 383]
Similar thinking had appeared in the Masonic writings of Jeremy Cross: The rough ashler is a stone as taken from the quarry in its rude and natural state. The perfect ashler is a stone made ready by the hands of the workmen, to be adjusted by the working tools of the Fellow Craft. [p. 16] By the rough ashler, we are reminded of our rude and imperfect state by nature; by the perfect ashler, that state of perfection at which we hope to arrive by a virtuous education, our own endeavours, and the blessing of God.” <em>A Bibliographic Source. Second Edition, with Index. By Rick Grunder. Lafayette, New York: Rick Grunder – Books, 2014.</em>
“Ashlar is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared or the structure built of it. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut “on all faces adjacent to those of other stones”, ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.” <em>Ching, Francis D.K.; Jarzombek, Mark M.; Prakash, Vikramaditya (2007). A Global History of Architecture. Hoboken, New Jersey</em>
<img class=”wp-image-1267″ src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaapron.jpg-stones.jpg” alt=”” width=”450″ height=”103″> Ashlar Stone
<p style=”text-align: left;”><strong>THE CHISEL</strong></p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>”Morally demonstrates the advantages of discipline and education. The mind, like the diamond in its original state, is rude and unpolished; but as the effect of the chisel on the external coat soon presents to view the latent beauties of the diamond; so education discovers the latent virtues of the mind . . . [p. 461]” <em>A Bibliographic Source. Second Edition, with Index. By Rick Grunder. Lafayette, New York: Rick Grunder – Books, 2014.</em></p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”><strong><img class=”wp-image-1281 alignleft” src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaa-masonPicture1.jpg” alt=”” width=”228″ height=”194″>THE RING OR CIRCULAR JEWEL TO SYMBOLIZE ETERNITY
</strong>”. . . Joseph Smith used his ring to signify eternity . . .” (Allen D. Roberts, 29). “I take my ring from my finger,” proclaimed Joseph in his famous King Follett Discourse, “and liken it unto the mind of man—the immortal spirit—because it has no beginning or end.” (Larson, 204). In Cross’ chapter on the High Priesthood, we find reference in a “CHARGE to the Chaplain” to “this circular jewel, the badge of your office. It is emblematical of eternity . . . ,” p. 149; see also Henry Dana Ward’s mention of Adam holding the Masonic ring symbol for eternity in Cross’s plate of the small temple (Picture Left- Ward, Free Masonry, Its Pretensions, with illustration).
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<strong>MORMONS AND MASONS</strong>
<img class=”size-medium wp-image-1280 alignright” src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaa-mason-slc-temple-right-hand-of-fellowship-300×225.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”225″>Below is some abbreviated information from an article by LDS Living titled “Mormons and Masons: 5 Fascinating Connections” By Jamie Armstrong
“Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow all were members of the fraternity. All joined while living with the Saints in Nauvoo… Joseph Smith joined the Masons in Nauvoo in March 1842…
Why would the Prophet join the Masons? In his essay “Freemasonry and the LDS Temple Endowment,” as found in the new book A Reason for Faith, Stephen C. Harper writes, “Joseph likely pondered the fraternal ceremony as he contemplated how he could prepare his followers for what awaited them in the new temple, how he might best teach them what he had learned over time from angels, from translating ancient records by the power of God, and from what he called ‘time, and experience, and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts.’”
He continues, “Joseph knew that preparing hearts and minds to receive all that God had in store couldn’t be done easily. But he was not one to conclude that it couldn’t be done at all. So, as angels had done with him, and he had done with his followers before, he started with what he had and used what the Saints found familiar to lead them to further light and knowledge.”
“Some people reason that Joseph Smith initiated men and women into the endowment ordinances after he was initiated into Freemasonry; therefore, the temple rituals derived from Masonry. One problem in this theory is that Freemasonry itself borrowed much of its ritual and ceremony from elements preserved since antiquity,” Harper explains in his essay “Freemasonry and the LDS Temple Endowment,” as found in A Reason for Faith.
Though the same symbols are used, there are many references to these symbols in LDS history occurring well before Joseph Smith became a Freemason. In fact, Matthew B. Brown, author of Exploring the Connections Between Mormons and Masons, has found several references prior to 1842. For example:
<strong><img class=” wp-image-1277 alignleft” src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaa-mason35031-300×184.jpg” alt=”” width=”212″ height=”130″>All-Seeing Eye</strong>
1828–29: “I pray the God of my salvation that He view me with His all-searching eye” (2 Nephi 9:44).
May 1836: “God is not mocked with impunity. His all-seeing eye beholds you at all times. . . . His all-seeing eye surveys the whole of His vast creation” (remark by John Whitmer).
<strong>Handclasp</strong>
27 June 1839: Joseph Smith taught the members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles one of “the keys of the kingdom of God,” which was how to detect the nature of an otherworldly visitor by means of a handclasp.
22 July 1840: Joseph Smith Jr. had a scribe write in a letter to William W. Phelps, “I shall be happy once again to give you the right hand of fellowship.”
<strong><img class=”alignright wp-image-1279″ src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaa-masonp46588278-3.jpg” alt=”” width=”206″ height=”137″>Holiness to the Lord</strong>
April 1830: “walking in holiness before the Lord” (D&C 20:69).
25 June 1833: The First Presidency of the Church wrote in a letter that each of the 24 temples in Jackson County, Missouri, was to be adorned with the inscription, “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” (History of the Church, 1:359).
<strong><img class=” wp-image-1275 alignleft” src=”https://www.bofm.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/aaa-mason-salt-lake-temple-lds-661115-wallpaper-300×225.jpg” alt=”” width=”174″ height=”131″>Bees</strong>
1829: Honeybees called “deseret” (Ether 2:3).
November 1832: The disciple of Jesus Christ is to have “industry” like the “bees” (Evening and Morning Star, vol. 1, no. 6).”
To read the full article <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”><span style=”color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;”><a style=”color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;” href=”http://www.ldsliving.com/Mormons-and-Masons-5-Fascinating-Connections/s/80329?page=1#story-content”>visit here</a></span></span> LDS Living called Mormons and Masons: 5 Fascinating Connections By Jamie Armstrong
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Faith, Repentance, Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As we research and study from the best books may we remember to keep our eye on these simple truths as taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Speaking of best books, the Book of Mormon is true and a very special witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This blog is intended to witness to these truths.
