The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-06-24
Mormonism and Masonry
by Theodore Schroeder, republished
from the Masonic Standard.

The Latter.day Saints believe in con-
tinuous revelations through their PRO
pbet, seer and reve]ator. What is
Mormon doctrine today may not be
such tomorrow. In the Kirkland Tenn
pie the endowment ceremony consisted
chiefly of feet washing, amounting patri-
archs, prophesying and the apparition
Of angels. In Nauvoo, much of the re-
llgious flavor was lost or replaced by
Masonic characteristics, which in their
detail were, Of course, altered 10 fur
ther Smith IS purposes. After the death
the influence of a revengeful feeling,
introduced the reasonable oaths, such
as the avenging of the blood Of the pro-
| phets upon the people Of the United
| States. Since then 1t is quite likely
that further alterations have been made
among MormoDs, or, as they would
claim, TO make the ceremony accord
with the latest expression Of the Di-
vine will
Hyrum Smith and Heber c. Kimball
were both Master Masons in Ontario
county, New York, before becoming
Mormons, (D and Brigham Young, Jo-
| ter Masons, at least before coming TO
Nsuvoo. (2) These soon organized Ma.
sonic lodges IN the Mormon settlements
Of Illinois and Iowa. The prophet
Joseph having successfully convinced
his Followers that the whole body Of
Christians had apostatized from the
teachings of the primitive church, and
that he was divinely appointed TO re
establish it, according to the ancient
pattern, he felt encouraged to do the
same thing for the Masonic fraternity.
Thus it comes that we hear Of an angel
Of the Lord having brought to Joseph
Smith the lost key.words of several
| Il ,.f IL -
lost at the death of the architect Of
the Temple of King Solomon, and by
the help of which, when ''Joseph the
Prophet" appeared among his Masonic
brethren, he was enabled to Hwork
right ahead of the highest of them,
and to show them their ignorance Of
the greatest truths and benefits OF Ma
sonry CD
a dispensation for the Nauvoo lodge
was granted Oct: Is, 1S41, and the
lodge installed March 10, 1912. BY
Aug. IL, 1912, when their labors were
suspended, the lodge initiated CSC can
didates and passed and raised nearly
as many. At the meeting of the Grand
Lodge of Illinois in October. 1912, the
two charges, that of job-lot balloting
for members and admitting a person
of doubtful character, upon promise of
reformation, were sustained, but the
lodge was allowed to continue its
work. .(4)
This demand for an investigation of
the Nauvoo lodge seems to have found
of the Bodley lodge Of Quincy. III,
and no doubt was q part of the general
warfare between the ''Saints5' and
their Gentle neighbors. (5)
The Grand Lodge for 1s43 again in
vestlgated the several Mormon lodges,
but the committee appointed for that
purpose was denied the privileges of
inspecting the record of the Nauvoo
lodge, Without the record the com.
mittee was enabled, upon other evi-
dence, to find irregularities and mat
tiers to your committee uneXplicable.
One named irregularity was "dispo-
sition to accumulate and gather mem
bers without regard to character, and
to push them on through the second
possibly skilled in the first and sec
ond. -, For the contempt shown the
Grand Lodge in refusing TO present
the records of their work to the Grand
Lodge, their diploma was taken from
1t seems that one of their heresies
was claim to have discovered among
tae American Indians. the use of the
Masonic signs and grips, just as they
claim to have discovered that, after the
resurrection, Jesus paid them a visit
on this continent, and organized true
Christianity among them. The medi.
cine-lodge is proclaimed to be Ma
SONIC Temple %, Just as later they
claim their Utah temples to be Masonic
ings of that superior Masonry after
the order of Enoch." (9)
The Mormon lodge at Nauvoo con.
tlnued as clandestine lodge, and not
withstandlng its suspension it is
claimed that the members were NOT
questioned when they appeared as Wis
ltors to the four regular lodges In
was due to the Mormon membership in
those lodges,
the gates the ! prophet u at the time Mroeoof OF
his assassination, gave the Masonic
cry of distress ,QD, and the saints
continued to work in the "Masonry of
God, , (12l Their temples are still
pies, and the Salt Lake temple has
upon It's outer walls several Masonic
emblems. Though not much of real
Masonry WAS allowed to remain. after
the inspired revisons. yet it is true
that Masonry furnished the suggestion
or groundwork for the secret endow-
ment ceremony of the Latterday
Saints.
An apostate in writing of the Nan.
VOC Endowment House saws: "It was
a noticeable feature that the outside
show of some of the regalia and furni-
ture connected with these 'endow~
ments were made to conform TO those
of Masonry, and Mormons are anxious
to have the Gentle associate all they
know of these beastly 'endowments'
with Masonry, or as being modified
form of it, made eligible to woman, as
a blind to cover the real objects of
this Institution. 3" G3)
Footnotes to "Mormonism and Ma
sonry.''
% Life of Heber C. KimbalI 26-27.
(2) Mormon Portraits, 268.
81 Burton S City of the Saints, $50
S57. Mormon Portraits, 26S and 147.
Gunnison s History of the Mormons. so.
go Proceedings Of Grand Lodge of
Illinois, a. l.. 5s42, PIP. IS, 90, 20
90 Masonic Standard, Sept. l, 1906.
Article hv EIor Mnroau,h,