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Masonic Golden Plates & Temple Theology (Part 7 of 12)

Table of Contents: Masonic Golden Plates & Temple Theology (Part 7 of 12)

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Historian Don Bradley says that masonic implements were found with the golden plates.  What were these implements, and how are they related to modern LDS temple ceremonies?

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Don:  Joseph, Sr. tells this guy [non-Mormon named Fayette Lapham] about the plates. He tells him that on the top plate there were the implements of masonry, as used by Masons of the present day. So I found this really interesting. Wow, Masonic stuff way back at the beginning of Mormonism.

…

In every single masonic lodge in the world, one of the things that they have in common is that there’s an altar. On that altar, there’s a sacred book, usually the Bible, and in Muslim countries/Islamic countries, it can be the Quran, and so on. There’s a sacred book.  Do you know what’s on top of that book?  A compass and square. You set a compass and the square on top of that sacred book.

…

Joseph, Sr. was very steeped in, at the very least, Masonic lore, but he is apparently also a member of a Masonic Lodge, apparently a Mason.  He’s saying, based on Joseph, Jr.’s descriptions of the plates, and by this time he would have seen them himself, actually, as one of the eight witnesses, he’s saying, the basic Masonic implements, which at minimum, are going to be compass and square, were on the top of the Sacred Book. That’s how it is in masonic lodges. So, the specific Masonic implements that are on top of sacred books in the lodge are compass and square. So of course these are significant symbols for more than just Freemasons. They’re already showing up. Joseph Smith first goes to the hill, first sees the plates, first describes the plates to his father in 1823. Joseph Smith becomes a Freemason in 1842, when he’s 36.  Almost 20 years before Joseph becomes a Freemason, he’s already describing the sacred relics of the Nephites in Masonic terms that have extra-Masonic/more than Masonic relevance for Latter-day Saints of sacred symbols. So again, why is it that it seems that Latter-day Saints would, post-Nauvoo, really recognize as part of our faith? He’s already there in the 1820s.  Everything that I’ve talked about, where these Masonic or Nauvoo temple elements are popping up:  First Vision, Joseph Smith’s first encounter with the plates in 1823, Joseph Smith’s translation of the lost pages in 1828, Joseph Smith’s translation of the extant Book of Mormon text–book of Ether, 1829. That’s all 1829, so far, before he, himself, becomes a Freemason, and already you’ve got loads of symbolic and structural content elements of the Nauvoo endowment.  There’s something going on.  Nauvoo endowment isn’t just Nauvoo.  In fact, Nauvoo Mormonism is not really just Nauvoo.  It’s already there, since you have Nauvoo elements in the stories of the brother of Jared, and Mosiah. [With] the Nauvoo temple, what Joseph is about is trying to bring people into the presence of God. This is what he says in his sermons. So you’re trying to give them keys. You can go talk to God yourself. You can stand in God’s presence.

Check out our conversation….

- Masonic Golden Plates & Temple Theology (Part 7 of 12) - Mormon History Podcast
Joseph Smith, Sr said masonic implements were with the Golden Plates.

Don’t miss our previous conversations with Don!

359: Temple Endowment in Lost Pages

358: Laban Killed During Passover

357: More than 116 Pages Lost?

356: How Much of BoM is Missing?

355: Re-Writing Oliver’s Words: Dirty, Nasty, Filthy Scrape?

354: Dating Fanny Alger

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More Podcasts with these Guests:

  • Joseph’s Magical Masonry (Part 6 of 7)
  • Masonic Legends & Gold Plates (Part 5 of 7)
  • Critics & Apologists (Part 12 of 12)
  • More Details on the Liahona (Part 11 of 12)
  • How Did Nephites Get Priesthood? (Part 10 of 12)

Get more information on the people and things discussed in this episode:

  • Guest: Don Bradley
  • Theology: Book of Mormon
  • LDS Temples, Masonry
  • Historical Mentions Mormon History
  • Tags: Book of Mormon, Church History, Fayette Lapham, freemasonry, golden plates, GT Podcast, iTunes, LDS temple, LDS Temple Worship, Lost 116 Pages, Lost Manuscript, masonic implements, masonry, temple, temple endowment, translation of Book of Mormon

Tell me when the next episode drops!

PrevPrevious EpisodeTemple Endowment in Lost Pages (Part 6 of 12)
Next ExpisodeExonerating Lucy Harris (Part 8 of 12)Next

One Response

  1. Cheryl Bruno says:
    January 17, 2020 at 12:22 am

    I have been reading Don’s book with interest.
    I do read Fayette Lapham’s account a bit differently than Don does, however. In talking about how the compass and square are laid on top of the sacred book on the altar in a Masonic Lodge, he seems to imply that an actual compass and square were placed “on top” of the Golden Plates that Joseph Smith uncovered.

    Fayette Lapham credits Father Smith with saying that under the first plate, or “lid,” lay the spectacles, and “on the next page were representations of all the masonic implements, as used by masons at the present day.” I read this as being drawings, or engravings of the masonic implements, and not the actual implements themselves.

    I agree with Don that it is fascinating how much Masonry we can find in Mormonism early on. With some of the accounts, however, we must use caution, because it seems that the later sources read Masonry back into the story. I think Lapham’s is one of these. It’s still interesting that he (or Joseph Smith, Sr., who he is quoting, attributes Masonic attributes to the Book of Mormon plates. There is a reason for this. For these early Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon was symbolic of the Masonic “Book of the Law, long lost, now found.”

Comments are closed.

  • Date: January 16, 2020
  • Guest: Don Bradley
  • Theology: Book of Mormon
  • LDS Temples, Masonry
  • Historical Mentions Mormon History
  • Tags: Book of Mormon, Church History, Fayette Lapham, freemasonry, golden plates, GT Podcast, iTunes, LDS temple, LDS Temple Worship, Lost 116 Pages, Lost Manuscript, masonic implements, masonry, temple, temple endowment, translation of Book of Mormon
  • Posted By: RickB

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