NAUVOO LODGE

Joseph Smith's Ritual

In Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith continued to expand Mormon salvation concepts, concepts which came to be intertwined with rituals later performed in temples. He defined the principle of "mak[ing your] calling and election sure" in a 27 June 1839 sermon. This was to be accomplished, after a lifetime of service and devotion, by being "sealed up" to exaltation while yet living.¹ This concept was based on 2 Peter 1:10-11: "Wherefore . . . brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (see also v. 19 and Eph. 1:13-14).

This sermon was additionally important because Smith not only tied calling and election to sealing theology but also to the "second comforter" mentioned in John 14:26. According to Smith the second comforter was a personal manifestation of Jesus Christ. These ideas were also tied to the concept of personal revelation and the fact that the twelve apostles and all Mormons could and should follow Smith's steps and "become perfect in Jesus Christ." There was no reference to the temple in this sermon, nor were there functioning temples at this time.

In January 1841, well over two years after Mormons abandoned Kirtland, Joseph Smith announced another revelation. In it the Lord asked, "How shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name?" (D&C 124:37) The Saints were instructed to build another temple "that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people; For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times" (vv. 40-41). Anointed Saints were advised that their Kirtland ordinances were forerunners to ordinances which would be revealed in a Nauvoo temple.

As in Kirtland, Smith elected to administer new rituals, an expanded "endowment," to selected leaders before the temple was finished. In 1842 the new endowment was performed only for men, but in 1843 wives were included. The pre-temple endowed were sometimes referred to as "Holy Order," the "Quorum," the "Holy Order of the Holy Priesthood," or the "Quorum of the Anointed."² Preliminary initiations proved to be providential, since Smith was killed before the temple's dedication.

On Wednesday, 4 May 1842, after two days of preparation in the upper story of his Nauvoo store the prophet gathered together nine men. In a significant departure from the simple washings and anointings received in Kirtland, these men were introduced to new theological instructions and ritual. According to the account recorded in the "The Book of the Law of the Lord," Smith spent the day "In council in the Presidents & General offices with Judge [James] Adams. Hyram Smith Newell K. Whitney. William Marks, Wm Law. George Miller. Brigham Young. Heber C. Kimball & Willard Richards. [blank] & giving certain instructions concerning the priesthood. [blank] &c on the Aronic Priesthood to the first [blank] continuing through the day."³ This was subsequently expanded to read in the History of the Church that Smith

instruct[ed] them in the principles and order of the Priesthood, attending to washings, anointings, endowments and the communication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood, and so on to the highest order of the Melchisedek Priesthood, setting forth the order pertaining to the Ancient of Days, and all those plans and principles by which any one is enabled to secure the fullness of those blessings which have been prepared for the Church of the First Born, and come up and abide in the presence of the Eloheim in the eternal worlds. In this council was instituted the ancient order of things for the first time in these last days....therefore let the Saints...[know] assuredly that all these things referred to in this council are always governed by the principle of revelation.⁴

Joseph and Hyrum Smith received their endowments the next day.

One of the earliest accounts came from apostate John C. Bennett, who described the Holy Order in his 1842 exposé The History of the Saints. Although much of his description is obviously contrived, several specific comments on the ceremony parallel other descriptions published later in the nineteenth century. His account of the oaths, for examples, includes promises of dedication to the Kingdom of God on earth, obedience, chastity, secrecy, a type of vengeance oath, and a penalty. Perhaps the most significant part of Bennett's description is the language borrowed from Psalms 133:1-3 to describe the anointing: "When the oath has been administered, the candidate is clothed with the robe of the order, and the precious ointment, or consecrated oil, poured upon his head, till it runs down upon his beard and the skirts of his garment."⁵ Bennett's book also contains the earliest reference, in a letter from George W. Robinson, about the garments which participants wore: "After they are initiated into the lodge, they have oil poured on them, and then a mark or hole cut in the breast of their shirts, which shirts must not be worn any more, but laid up to keep the Destroying Angel from them and their families, and they should never die."⁶

		The Kirtland (Ohio) House of the Lord, where the ordinances of washings and anointings were first administered to elders in early 1836.

Years later others more directly involved recalled the events of early May 1842. In 1884 Lucius N. Scovil remembered helping Smith prepare the room:

I can testify that on the 3rd day of May, 1842, Joseph Smith the Prophet called upon five or six, viz: Shadrack [sic] Roundy, Noah Rogers, Dimick B. Huntington, Daniel Cairns [sic] and myself (I am not certain but that Hosea Stout was there also) to meet with him (the Prophet) in his business office (the upper part of his brick store). He told us that the object he had was for us to go to work and fit up that room preparatory to giving endowments to a few Elders that he might give unto them all the keys of power pertaining to the Aronic [sic] and Melchisedec [sic] Priesthoods.

We therefore went to work making the necessary preparations, and everything was arranged representing the interior of a temple as much as the circumstances would permit, he being with us dictating everything. He gave us many items that were very interesting to us, which sank with deep weight upon my mind, especially after the temple was finished at Nauvoo, and I had received the ordinances in which I was among the first, as I had been called upon to work in the Temple as one of the hands during the winter. Some weeks previous to the dedication he told us that we should have the privilege of receiving the whole of the ordinances in due time. The history of Joseph Smith speaks for itself. But I can and do testify that I know of a surety that room was fitted up by his order which we finished in the forenoon of the said 4th of May, 1842. And he gave us to understand that he intended to have everything done by him that was in his power while he remained with us. He said his work was nearly done and he should roll the burden of the kingdom upon the shoulders of the Twelve. I am the only one living that I know of, who helped to fit up that room, except Hosea Stout, [who] was there.⁷

Brigham Young reminisced:

When we got our washings and anointings under the hands of the Prophet Joseph at Nauvoo, we had only one room to work in with the exception of a little side room or office where we were washed and anointed, and had our garments placed upon us and received our New Name. After he had performed these ceremonies, he gave the Key Words[,] signs, tokens and penalties. Then after this we went into the large room over the store in Nauvoo. Joseph divided upon the room the best that he could, hung up the veil, marked it, gave us our instructions as we passed along from department to another, giving us signs, tokens, penalties with the key words pertaining to those signs. After we had got through, Brother Joseph turned to me [Pres B. Young] and said, "Brother Brigham this is not arranged right but we have done the best we could under the circumstances in which we are placed . . ."⁸

Under a journal entry entitled "Strange Events, June 1842," Heber C. Kimball recorded his part in the ritual: "I was aniciated [initiated] into the ancient order was washed and annointed and Sealled and ordained a Preast, and so forth in company with nine others."⁹ He also wrote a letter to Parley P. Pratt describing the event a little over a month later:

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 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 masonary. Bro Joseph Ses Masonary was taken from 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] by Masons St Johns day in this country. I think [this crossed through] I think it will result in good. the Lord is with us and we are prosperd.¹⁰

Kimball here posits matter-of-factly a connection with Freemasonry, which Smith joined about the same time he introduced the new endowment. Certainly the Nauvoo endowment ritual was a significant expansion from the washings and anointings of Kirtland. The History of the Church account implies a divine origin for the endowment, which it describes as embracing "the principles and order of the Priesthood, . . . and the communication of keys pertaining to the Aaronic Priesthood, and so on to the highest order of the Melchisedek Priesthood, . . . [and] the ancient order of things for the first time in these last days."¹¹ Believing that priesthood had been restored by angels, members may have assumed that ancient knowledge, like ancient authority, had been lost from the earth and was being restored to the prophet through revelation.¹² But nowhere did Smith leave a direct statement of how the endowment ceremony came to be.

The History of the Church quotes Smith saying, "All these things referred to in this [endowment] council are always governed by the principle of revelation."¹³ This "quotation" is actually a reconstruction¹⁴ by Willard Richards composed between 14-18 April 1845, based on the very brief, incomplete entry from the "Book of the Law of the Lord" quote above. On so important and central an ordinance, it is unfortunate there is no revelatory document nor any known contemporary reference to a revelation by either Smith or his associates. With respect to this issue, most of the Doctrine and Covenants came about as a result of particular needs of the church or individuals. Important doctrines developed when outside forces and movements focused Smith's attention on a problem in a particular way. Thus it seems appropriate to inquire about influences from Smith's life that may have led to development of the temple ceremony.

A good place to begin such an investigation is the framework of the ceremony which, as Elder James Talmage has indicated in The House of the Lord (1912), retells the plan of salvation—the Creation, Fall, and Atonement. As a culmination of Smith's theology that human beings are the offspring of God and potential gods, the temple provided a synthesis of Mormon beliefs in the origin and purpose of men and women as well as a sacred ritual that reunited them with God and each other. This instructional material is drawn directly from scripture introduced by Smith in his revision of the Bible, pertinent sections of which are now published in the books of Moses and Abraham.

Latter-day Saints familiar with religions in the ancient Mid-East and classical worlds have pointed out motifs that seem to find echoes in the LDS temple. For example, apocalyptic and pseudepigraphic literature (written between the closing of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament and attributed to important prophets of the past such as Moses, Noah, and Enoch) commonly dealt with the existence of multiple gods, the creation of order out of chaos, the premortal existence of conscious beings, the creation of the earth, the creation of Adam and Eve, light versus darkness (as a symbol of the necessity of exercising free will to choose between opposites), Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven, the fall of Adam and Eve, the influence of angels in the world, the Savior's mission and atonement, his mission to spirit prison, the resurrection, the millennial kingdom, the crucial role of prophets and patriarchs, and secret covenants and "mysteries" by which earnest seekers could reach the highest heaven.

In addition, mystery cults in the ancient world, particularly Nag Hammadi, Qumran, and Greece, ring with such familiar motifs as preparatory purification through ritual bathing, special instruction in secret knowledge given only to initiates, use of sacred symbolic objects related to secret knowledge, narration or dramatic enactment of a sacred story, and fellowhsip in a secret brotherhood with a promise of immortality hereafter. A number of Latter-day Saints have pointed out the similarities between these ancient rites and Mormon rituals, usually suggesting that ancient ceremonies are vestiges, reshaped and distorted by time and cultural change, of an original ceremony first explained to Adam and Eve.¹⁵

Although this list of resemblances is provocative, ancient rites in which these common themes are embedded were based on cosmological beliefs which had no anticipation of Christian eschatology, much less a resurrection of the dead as now believed by Latter-day Saints. As such these are at odds with the theological structure of the Mormon temple.¹⁶ Even though we are accustomed to think of pagan "corruptions" of original truths, it has not proved fruitful to try to reconstruct an ancient Christian temple ceremony from pagan parallels.

It does not appear that Smith had any working knowledge of mystery cultures and apocalyptic/mystery cults from which to have drawn temple ideas. In short ancient sources cannot be considered a direct influence on Smith except as they were revealed to him from a time predating corruption or except as they appear in the ancient scriptures that he brought forth. The influence of the creation accounts in the books of Moses and Abraham on the temple narrative is clear; but the only other scriptural reference directly linking ancient writings with the Mormon temple ceremony is found in Explanatory Note 8 to Facsimile 2 in the book of Abraham.

This facsimile shows a hypocephalus, an object placed by ancient Egyptians under the head of the deceased, the meaning of which is closely linked with Chapter 162 of the Egyptian "Book of the Dead," where instructions for its construction and use are given. Smith's explanation for this portion of Facsimile 2 is: "Contains writings that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God." This illustration was engraved by Reuben Hedlock under Smith's direction for the book of Abraham's publication in February through March 1842 issues of the church's Times and Seasons. (This period just preceded Smith's initiation into Freemasonry and the subsequent introduction of the Nauvoo endowment ceremony.) A literal translation of this section of the hypocephalus is: "O God of the Sleeping Ones from the time of the Creation. O Mighty God, Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Netherworld and his Great Waters, grant that the souls of the Osiris Sheshonk, may live."¹⁷ It is difficult to see how this literal translation relates to the temple ceremony introduced by Smith in Nauvoo.

It is more reasonable (and I believe productive) to explore the source suggested by contemporary accounts such as the one quoted above in the letter from Heber C. Kimball: Freemasonry. The complex interplay of Masonic tradition on Mormon temple rites probably had its roots during the mid-1820s, given that Smith's father (apparently) and older brother Hyrum (definitely) had joined the fraternity in 1817 and between 1825 and 1827, respectively. The definitive examination of Mormonism and Freemasonry has yet to be written. The best to date is Michael W. Homer, "‘Similarity of Priesthood in Masonry’: The Relationship between Freemasonry and Mormonism," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27 (Fall 1994). For a general introduction, see Reed C. Durham, Jr., "Is There No Help For the Widow's Son?" This was delivered as the presidential address to the Mormon History Association, 20 April 1974. See the version published in Mormon Miscellaneous 1 (Oct. 1975): 11-16. See also Kenneth W. Godfrey, "Joseph Smith and the Masons," Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 64 (Spring 1971): 79-90; S. H. Goodwin, Mormonism and Masonry: A Utah Point of View (Salt Lake City: Grand Lodge, F. & A. M. of Utah, 1925); and Additional Studies in Mormonism and Masonry (Salt Lake City: Grand Lodge, F. & A. M. of Utah, 1927). Also Mervin B. Hogan, The Origin and Growth of Utah Masonry and Its Conflict with Mormonism (Salt Lake City: Campus Graphics, 1978); Mormonism and Freemasonry: The Illinois Episode (Salt Lake City: Campus Graphics, 1980); Anthony W. Ivins, The Relationship of "Mormonism" and Freemasonry (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1934); Gavin, Mormonism and Masonry; Allen D. Roberts, "Where Are the All-Seeing Eyes? The Origin, Use and Decline of Early Mormon Symbolism," Sunstone 4 (May-June 1979): 22-37; John E. Thompson, The Masons, the Mormons and the Morgan Incident (Iowa Research Lodge No. 2 A. & A.M., 1981); and Robin L. Carr, Freemasonry and Nauvoo, 1839-1846 (Bloomington, IL: Masonic Book Club, 1989).¹⁸ At this time Masonry's appeal, especially to young men in the northeastern United States, was at an all time high.¹⁹ One reason for this popularity was Masonry's role as a surrogate religion for many initiates. Teaching morality (separate from an institutional church) was its most important ideal, a tack which set well with those disenchanted with traditional churches. Furthermore, in the context of the influence of the Enlightenment during this period, Masons purported links between science and their mysteries which made their secret ceremonies attractive.²⁰ The lodge provided benefits of fraternal conviviality, charity, and security when traveling. Freemasonry also provided a form of recreation for members.²¹

The traditional origin of Freemasonry (which "enlightened" Masons view as mythological or legendary) is the construction of Solomon's temple by Master Mason Hiram Abiff. Actually Freemasonry was a development of the craft guilds during the construction of the great European cathedrals during the tenth to seventeenth centuries.²² After the Middle Ages, lodges in Scotland and Great Britain began to accept honorary members and worked out rudimentary ceremonies to distinguish members of trade organizations. In 1717 four fraternal lodges, perhaps actual masons' lodges, united as the Grand Lodge of England, considered the beginning of organized Freemasonry or "speculative Masonry." The order spread quickly to other countries and included such prominent adherents as Mozart, Voltaire, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin. Some historians believe that Masons staged the Boston Tea Party.

Latter-day Saints may feel that Masonry constitutes a biblical-times source of uncorrupted knowledge from which the temple ceremony could be drawn. However, historians of Freemasonry generally agree that the trigradal system of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, as practiced in Nauvoo, cannot be traced further back than the eighteenth century. According to Douglas Knoop and G. P. Jones, two knowledgeable twentieth-century historians, it is "high probable" that the system of Masonry practiced at the organization of the Grand Lodge in London "did not consist of three distinct degrees." They warn, "It would probably not be safe to fix a date earlier than 1723 or 1725 for the origin" of the trigradal system. "Accepted Masonry underwent gradual changes throughout a period of years stretching from well before 1717 to well after that date. . . . The earliest speculative phase of Freemasonry may be regarded as beginning about 1730. . . . Though some symbolism had doubtless crept into Masonry by that date, it would not appear to have reached its full development for another forty or fifty years."²³

The fundamental ceremonies of modern (American) York Rite and Scottish Rite Masonry occur on three distinct levels: (1) Entered Apprentice, (2) Fellow Craft, and (3) Master Mason. Each level contains instruction in morals and Masonic symbolism, coupled with secret signs, passwords, handshakes, and penalties for revealing secrets to non-Masons. Advanced degrees exist for both orders. Nevertheless, the three initial degrees constitute the principal ceremonies experienced by active Masons.

Hyrum Smith's exact involvement on these levels is not known. Any early enthusiasm, however, may have been temporarily checked by widespread anti-Mason feelings which pervaded upstate New York during the late 1820s. This wave of public sentiment was precipitated by the announced publication of William Morgan's exposé of Masonic ceremonies and by his mysterious disappearance and presumed murder in September 1826. A public outcry against Masons who were thought to put themselves above the law followed. For a few years, American Masonic lodges were, for all practical purposes, inactive. Many lodges closed. Renouncements of affiliation were widespread. A number of newspapers dedicated to exposing Masonry were established in New York and other states. The anti-Masonic movement led to the creation of an independent political party where its energies were ultimately diffused. It was disbanded in 1832.²⁴

Some scholars feel that anti-Masonry may be seen in the Book of Mormon and interpret some passages (for example, Alma 37:21-32; Hel. 6:21-22; Ether 8:18-26) as anti-Masonic. These passages condemn secret combinations, secret signs, and secret words in a manner which may be interpreted as reminiscent of anti-Masonic rhetoric prevalent during this period.²⁵

	Brigham Young revised and institutionalized Joseph Smith's temple ceremonies beginning in late 1845 in Nauvoo. Note the Masonic square and compass pin on his shirt.

A few references from contemporary newspapers confirm an early anti-Masonic perception of the Book of Mormon. On 15 March 1831, the Geauga Gazette of Painesville, Ohio, stated that "the Mormon Bible is Anti-masonick" and that "every one of its followers . . . are anti-masons." This newspaper quoted Martin Harris as saying that the Book of Mormon was an "Anti-masonick Bible." A similar story appeared in The Ohio Star in Ravenna, Ohio, on 24 March 1831. Another Painesville paper, The Telegraph, ran an article on 22 March 1831 challenging the 15 March story and claiming that the Book of Mormon was printed by a "Masonic press" in Palmyra, New York. It further asserted that there was "a very striking resemblance between masonry and mormonism. Both systems pretend to have a very ancient origin, and to possess some wonderful secrets which the world cannot have without submitting to the prescribed ceremonies" (see also 24 Mar. 1831). Interestingly, Mormon converts in northeastern Ohio were identified by the press as being as fanatical as the region's anti-Masons.²⁶ Notably the first anti- Mormon book, Mormonism Unvailed, referred to ancient Book of Mormon Nephites as "Anti-masons."²⁷ Despite these Book of Mormon passages and press coverage, no evidence exists to convincingly prove that early converts paid serious attention to anti-Masonry.²⁸

Perhaps more decisively, Freemasonry had little or no discernible influence on the rites practiced in the Kirtland Temple, 1835-36. Reed C. Durham, Jr., has noted, however, that some Masonic influence can be seen in the temple's architectural patterns.²⁹ One quotation in the History of the Church records Smith in 1835 using Masonic terms to condemn the "abominations" of Protestants and praying that his "well fitted" comments "may be like a nail in a sure place, driven by the master of assemblies."³⁰ Smith's familiarity with and positive use of Masonic imagery is paradoxical in light of his anti-secret society rhetoric during the Missouri period.³¹

A full examination of the complex history of the church's transition to Nauvoo and its subsequent embrace of Masonry is beyond the scope of this discussion. Smith's involvement with Masonry is well documented, but the events leading him to consider joining the fraternity and endorsing its practice in Nauvoo are not. His ever-present fear of enemies may have led him to believe that affiliation would give some form of protection to church members. Perhaps he saw an additional level of protection from internal enemies resulting from the secrecy demanded of all initiates.³² It is also possible that amid the translation and publication activities of the book of Abraham in spring 1842, Smith's preoccupation with ancient mysteries may have triggered an interest in tapping Masonic lore.

The influence of personal friends cannot be ignored. In 1838, for example, Smith stayed briefly in Far West, Missouri, with George and Lucinda Harris, eventually becoming close friends with Lucinda.³³ Lucinda had first been married to William Morgan in New York, when he was abducted for threatening to publish Masonic secrets. She became one of Smith's first plural wives.³⁴ Other prominent Freemasons who converted to Mormonism included Deputy Grand Master of Illinois James Adams, Heber C. Kimball, kept locked up."³⁵ Newel K. Whitney, George Miller, John C. Bennett, John Smith, and Brigham Young.³⁶

Of these associates, the most influential in accelerating Smith's interest in Freemasonry was John C. Bennett.³⁷ Bennett has typically been characterized as an opportunistic scoundrel whose brief (eighteen-month) sojourn with the Saints at Nauvoo was unfortunate and embarrassing. Actually, Bennett was a powerful confidante to Smith and a key figure in Nauvoo. His accomplishments included: "Assistant President" of the church, first mayor of Nauvoo, Major General in Nauvoo Legion, and secretary of the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge. He was instrumental in gaining the Illinois legislature's approval of the Nauvoo Charter, Nauvoo Legion, and the University of Nauvoo.³⁸ Although his own status as a Mason in good standing prior to Nauvoo has been called into question,³⁹ Bennett may well have advised Smith to adopt Freemasonry as a means to end persecution.⁴⁰ Ebenezer Robinson, editor of the Times and Seasons until February 1842, reminisced: "Heretofore the church had strenuously opposed secret societies such as Freemasons . . . but after Dr. Bennett came into the Church a great change of sentiment seemed to take place."⁴¹

Smith's official experience in Freemasonry began five months before the first Nauvoo endowment. He petitioned for membership in the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge on 30 December 1841. The favorable results of the lodge's investigation in his petition were reported on 3 February 1842.⁴² Smith was initiated as an entered apprentice Mason on 15 March 1842 and received the fellow craft and master degrees the next day. Since the customary waiting period before receiving a new degree is thirty days, Smith's elevation to the "sublime degree" (Master Mason) without prior participation was unusual.⁴³ During the organization of the Female Relief Society one day later in the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge room, Smith filled his founding address with Masonic allusions: "Let this Presidency serve as a constitution"⁴⁴; Smith "proposed that the Society go into a close examination of every candidate....that the Society should grow up by degrees....he was going to make of this Society a kingdom of priests as in Enoch's day."⁴⁵ Kent L. Walgren, a student of Mormon/Masonry connections, concluded from reading other early Female Relief Society minutes that Smith's aim in establishing the Society was to "institutionalize secrecy."⁴⁶ He cites an entry from the minutes where Emma Smith, probably during the organizational period, read an epistle signed by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and four others: "there may be some among you who are not sufficiently skill'd in Masonry to keep a secret....Let this Epistle be had as a private matter in your Society, and we shall learn whether you are good Masons."⁴⁷

Over the next several weeks Smith participated in other lodge meetings, witnessing the Entered Apprentice degree five times, the Fellow Craft degree three times, and the Master Mason degree five times—all prior to his introduction of the extended endowment.⁴⁸ An important sermon on 1 May 1842 contained references carrying Masonic overtones:

The keys are certain signs and words...which cannot be revealed...till the Temple is completed—The rich can only get them in the Temple....There are signs in heaven, earth, and hell, the Elders must know them all to be endowed with power....The devil knows many signs but does not know the sign of the Son of Man, or Jesus. No one can truly say he knows God until he has handled something, and this can only be in the Holiest of Holies.⁴⁹

On 4 and 5 May, forty-nine days after his Masonic initiation, Smith introduced the new endowment ceremony to trusted friends in the upper story of his red brick store.⁵⁰

The clearest evidence of Masonic influence on the Nauvoo temple ceremony is a comparison of texts. Three elements of the Nauvoo endowment and its contemporary Masonic ritual resemble each other so closely that they are sometimes identical. These are the tokens, signs, and penalties. The two accounts which may be most useful for the purposes of comparison are those of Catherine Lewis and William Morgan. Morgan's 1826 account was an exposé of his local York Rite's "Craft" degrees (the same rite introduced in Nauvoo, though the wording differed from state to state).⁵¹ Catherine Lewis joined the LDS church in 1841 in Boston. After Smith's death in 1844, she moved to Nauvoo and was among those who received their endowment in the new temple. Lewis received the ordinance at the urging of Heber Kimball and one of his wives. Repulsed by Kimball's subsequent proposal of plural marriage, she left Nauvoo and published a book in 1848 which includes a description of the temple ceremony.⁵²

NAUVOO ENDOWMENT CEREMONY RITES COMPARED
TO CONTEMPORARY PUBLISHED FREEMASONIC RITES

	The Endowment House in Salt Lake City, built in 1854-55 in the northwest corner of the Temple Block as a "temporary temple." By the time the Endowment House was razed in 1889, more than 54,000 men and women had received their endowments, 694 their second anointings.

Other similarities with Masonic rites include the prayer circle which required Masonic initiates to assemble around an altar, place their left arm over the person next to them, join hands, repeat the words of the Most Excellent Master, and give all the signs from the initial ceremonial degrees.⁵³ Historian D. Michael Quinn has pointed out that nineteenth-century American Protestant revivals also had prayer circles in which, "when the invitation was given, there was a general rush, the large ‘prayer ring’ was filled, and for at least two hours prayer ardent went up toe God."⁵⁴ Two other Masonic elements with Mormon echoes are initiates' receiving a new name and donning a white apron as part of the rite.⁵⁵ An explanatory lecture always follows the conferral of each Masonic degree ceremony, a practice not unlike the Mormon temple endowment's lecture at the veil.

This pattern of resemblances indicates that Smith drew on Masonic rites in shaping the temple endowment and specifically borrowed tokens, signs, and penalties, as well as possibly the Creation narrative and ritual anointings. Still, the temple ceremony cannot be explained as wholesale borrowing, neither can it be dismissed as completely unrelated. As Mervin Hogan, a Mormon Mason, explained in 1991, "[L]ittle room for doubt can exist in the mind of an informed, objective analyst that the Mormon Temple Endowment and the rituals of ancient Craft Masonry are seeming intimately and definitely involved."⁵⁶

An interesting question is the response of Smith's contemporaries to the temple ceremony, since many were also familiar with Masonry. How did they understand the resemblances? Although modern Latter-day Saints are generally unfamiliar with Masonry, this was not the case in Nauvoo. According to the Manuscript History of Brigham Young, Heber Kimball later said, "We have the true Masonry. The Masonry of today is received from the 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."⁵⁷

Another of Smith's close friends, Joseph Fielding, wrote in 1844: "Many have joined the Masonic Institution this seems to have been a Stepping Stone or Preparation for something else, the true Origin of Masonry."⁵⁸ According to one of Brigham Young's ex-wives, Young "delight[ed] to speak of it [the endowment] as ‘Celestial Masonry.’"⁵⁹ Young's brother Phineas thought that a part of the ceremony referred directly to the "marks of a Master Mason."⁶⁰ John D. Lee, in narrating his duties as a worker in the Nauvoo temple after Joseph Smith's death, used explicitly Masonic words (italicized below) to describe his entrance into the temple:

Tuesday Dec 16th 1845 about 4 oclock in the morning I entered the Poarch in the lower court where I met the Porter who admitted me through the door which led to the foot or nearly so of a great flight of Stairs which by ascending led me to the door of the outer court which I found tyled within by an officer. I having the proper implements of that degree gained admittance through the outer and inner courts which opened and led to the sacred departments....Having entered I found myself alone with the Tyler [guard] that kept the inner courts set about and soon got fires up in the different rooms and setting things in order—for the day—at about 9 oclock in the morning the washing and anointing commenced...⁶¹

More than sixty years later Elder Franklin D. Richards explained to his colleagues in the Quorum of Twelve Apostles,

A Masonic Lodge...was established in Nauvoo and Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow, Orson Hyde, F. D. Richards, and about 1000 others in all became Masons. 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.⁶²

The LDS First Presidency went so far in 1911 as to refer publicly to the "Masonic characters [of] the ceremonies of the temple."⁶³ Apostle Melvin J. Ballard⁶⁴ and historian E. Cecil McGavin⁶⁵ were among early twentieth-century Mormons who believed that Masonry's trigradal degree system of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason dated back to Solomon's temple or to the time of Adam.

To summarize Mormon participation in Freemasonry during the Nauvoo period, it is useful to note that in 1840 only 147 men in Illinois and 2,072 in the United States were Masons.⁶⁶ By the time of the exodus to Utah in 1846-47, approximately 1,366 Mormon males in Nauvoo had been initiated into the Masonic order.⁶⁷ While it is uncertain exactly why Freemasonry was initially embraced, its activities undoubtedly provided fraternal benefits and its ceremonies clearly provided part of the specific wording for the Nauvoo temple endowment, although most nineteenth-century Masonic rituals have no resemblance to early temple ceremonies. It is significant that, following conferral of endowment rites on Nauvoo adults and their subsequent relocation to Utah, Masonry never regained the prominence among Mormons it received in Nauvoo.

Two additional ceremonies were introduced in 1843 about a year following the initial conferral of the new endowment: celestial marriage for time and eternity and the fullness of the priesthood or the second anointing. Celestial marriage was applied to and equated with plural marriage until the late nineteenth century.⁶⁸ Although in March 1836 and again in May 1842 Smith declared the endowment complete and the fullness of the priesthood restored, by late August 1842 he prayed that "the Lord Almighty...will continue to preserve me...until I have fully accomplished my mission in this life, and so firmly established the dispensation of the fullness of the priesthood in the last days, that all the powers of earth and hell can never prevail against it."⁶⁹ Almost a year later on 6 August 1843, Brigham Young confirmed that the fullness of the priesthood had not yet been given: "[I]f any in the Church had the fullness of the Melchisedec Priesthood, [I do] not know it." Clearly, Smith had discussed this concept with Young, for Young added, "For any person to have the fulness of that pristhood must be a king & a priest....A person may be anointed king & priest before they receive their kingdom &c." ⁷⁰

Other facets of Mormon thinking had also matured by the time Brigham Young made that statement. Particularly important was a refinement of the Latter-day Saint view of "eternal life." Prior to receiving the "three degrees of glory" vision in February 1832 (now D&C 76), Mormons, including Smith, understood eternal life in the same sense as other Protestants—as an undifferentiated heaven as the only alternative to an undifferentiated hell. Even after February 1832 and possibly as late as 1843, Smith apparently still conceived "eternal life" as dwelling in the presence of Elohim (God) forever. It was not until May 1843 that Smith ostensibly taught that the celestial kingdom⁷¹ contained gradations, with the highest gradation reserved solely for men and women who entered into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage (see D&C 131:1- 4).⁷² In July 1843 Smith dictated another revelation (now D&C 132) which defined those achieving "exaltation" in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom as "gods."⁷³

The importance of this teaching is seen in another sermon given shortly thereafter on 27 August 1843. Significantly, these comments occurred in a discussion of three orders or levels of priesthood: the Levitical or Aaronic order, the patriarchal order of Abraham, and the fullness of the priesthood of Melchizedek which included "kingly powers" of "anointing & sealing—called elected and made sure."⁷⁴ Said Smith: "No man can attain to the Joint heirship with Jesus Christ with out being administered to by one having the same power & Authority of Melchisedec." This authority and power came not from "a Prophet nor apostle nor Patriarch only but of [a] King & Priest [of Jesus Christ]."⁷⁵

During this same sermon Smith said: "Abrahams [sic] Patriarchal power" was the "greatest yet experienced in this church."⁷⁶ His choice of words is particularly revealing, for by this date ten men had received the initiatory washings and anointings, as well as the Aaronic and Melchizedek portions of the endowment of the "Patriarchal Priesthood" on 4 May 1842. Many of these had also received the ordinance of celestial marriage for time and eternity with their wives. Joseph and Emma Hale Smith, for example, were sealed in May 1843, as were James and Harriet Adams, Brigham and Mary Ann Angell Young, Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith, and Willard and Jenetta Richards Richards.⁷⁷ When Joseph Smith said late in August that the Patriarchal Priesthood was the "greatest yet experienced in this church," he was well aware that the fullness of the Melchizedek priesthood was yet to be conferred through a higher ordinance.

In a sense the institution of this higher ordinance was the logical next step. The previous twelve years of pronouncements, sealings, and anointings "unto eternal life" guaranteed a status that, according to Smith's 1843 teachings, was subservient to that of the gods. From the perspective of these teachings, even the Nauvoo endowment administered to members of the Holy Order simply provided that the men who received it would live in the celestial kingdom as angels and servants. Until 1843 women had been excluded from these ordinances, possibly because of Smith's personal reluctance, certainly because of his first wife Emma's rejection of polygamy, as well as because of John Bennett's lurid exposé and/or the apostasy and subsequent reconciliation of Orson and Sarah Pratt over polygamy. Doctrine and Covenants 131 and 132 indicated that this exclusion deprived the men (who had received the previous ordinances) of the highest kingdom of glory—godhood. The higher ordinance was necessary to confirm the revealed promises of "kingly powers" (i.e., godhood) received in the endowment's initiatory ordinances. Godhood was the meaning of this higher ordinance, or second anointing, for the previously revealed promises in Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-26 implicitly referred not to those who had been sealed in celestial marriage but to those who had been sealed and ordained "kings and priests," "queens and priestesses" to God. Such individuals would necessarily have received a higher anointing: "Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them."

This special priesthood ordinance was first administered on 28 September 1843 to Joseph and Emma Smith. The History of the Church gives a discreet account of this event:

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