The reader will remember that Alexander Campbell charged that the “question of free masonry” is discussed in the Book of Mormon. Masonry was a very important issue in Joseph Smith’s time. Whitney R. Cross states:

William Morgan became a Mason in Rochester in 1823, but found himself excluded from the Batavia chapter . . . he wrote the Illustrations of Masonry . . . the unfortunate author suffered a series of mysterious persecutions. First the authorities held him briefly on a debt claim, so that his lodgings could be searched for the manuscript. On September 8, 1826, parties of strangers, . . . began appearing in town. Their attempt at arson on the print shop failed. . . . he was kidnapped on the evening of September 12. . . . He may after a time have been released across the Canadian border. More probably he was tied in a weighted cable, rowed to the center of the Niagara River . . . and dropped overboard. In any case, it cannot be proved that he was ever seen again. . . . The event implicated Masons all the way from the Finger Lakes to the Niagara Frontier . . . Thus by 1827 village committees from Rochester westward had begun to organize politically against the accused society. . . . The major issue seemed to be one of morality: Masonry was believed to have committed a crime. Its members had put their fraternal obligations ahead of their duty to state and society, sanctioning both a lawless violation of personal security and a corrupt plot to frustrate the normal constitutional guarantees of justice . . . Its titles and rituals smacked of monarchy as well as infidelity. The secrecy which required such reckless guarding suggested ignoble and dangerous designs. Whence, for instance, came the skulls, reputed to be used for drinking vessels in the ceremony of the Royal Arch degree? Curiosity, fancy, and rumor thus multiplied the apparent threats of Masonry to the peace, order, and spirituality of society. Such reactions grew as expert propagandists played upon the fears and wonderment of the multitude. . . . the Antimasonic excitement . . . may well have been the most comprehensive single force to strike the “infected district” during an entire generation. Charles Finney latter estimated that two thousand lodges and forty-five thousand members in the United States suspended fraternal activity. Most of the groups in western New York must have done so. (The Burned-Over District, by Whitney R. Cross, New York, 1965, pp. 114, 115, 117, 120)

Walter Franklin Prince made this statement concerning the relationship between the Book of Mormon and the excitement over Masonry:

Now in at least twenty-one chapters in seven out of the sixteen “books” of the Book of Mormon are to be found passages, varying from several to sixty-three lines in length, plainly referring to Masonry under the guise of pretended similar organizations in ancient America. (The American Journal of Psychology, vol. 28, 1917, p. 376)

After studying copies of the Wayne Sentinel and the Palmyra Freeman (these are newspapers that were printed in Joseph Smith’s neighborhood), we have become convinced that the controversy over Masonry is reflected in the Book of Mormon. To understand the relationship it is necessary to know how excited the people in New York became after Morgan’s disappearance. In the Wayne Sentinel for March 23, 1827, we find the following quoted from the Rochester Daily Advertizer:

The excitement respecting Morgan, instead of decreasing, spreads its influence and acquires new vigour daily. Scarcely a paper do we open without having our eye greeted by accounts of meetings, together with preambles and resolutions, some of them of a cast still more decided and proscriptive than any we have yet published. . . . The Freemason, too—not only those who took off Morgan, but every one who bears the masonic name—are proscribed, as unworthy of “any office in town, county, state, or United States!” and the institution of masonry, . . . is held up as dangerous and detrimental to the interests of the country!

The controversy over Masonry soon became political. The Wayne Sentinel carried the following statement on November 16, 1827: “The election in this county (says the Ontario Messenger)

has resulted in the choice of the entire anti-Masonic ticket.” On November 9, 1827, Eliphalet Murdock claimed that some years before his father was found with his throat cut. He implied that the Masons had murdered him because they felt he had revealed their secrets:

. . . I believe the Lodge was thus induced to suppose that he had revealed those secrets, and dealt with him accordingly! Thus, I believe my father fell a victim to masonic vengeance, and that without a cause! (Wayne Sentinel, November 9, 1827)

The feeling against Masonry became so strong that many Masons left the fraternity to actively work against it. The following appeared in the Wayne Sentinel on July 18, 1828:

. . . the masonic society has been silently growing among us, whose principles and operations are calculated to subvert and destroy the great and important principles of the commonwealth. . . . It requires the concealment of crime and protects the guilty from punishment. It encourages the commission of crime by affording the guilty facilities of escape. It affords opportunities for the corrupt and designing to form plans against the government and the lives and characters of individuals. . . . An institution, thus fraught with so many and great evils, is dangerous to our government and the safety of our citizens, and it is unfit to exist among a free people. We, therefore, . . . solemnly absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the masonic institution. . . . and in support of these resolutions, . . . and the safety of individuals against the usurpations of all secret societies and open force, and against the “vengeance” of the masonic institution, . . . Resolved, That however beneficial secret societies and combinations may have been considered in the dark ages . . . yet in this enlightened age and country, they become not only useless to their members, but dangerous to the government.

On September 26, 1828, the Wayne Sentinel carried an article in which the following appeared:

If you listen to the party which lately welcomed Don Miguel as their “tutelar angel,”. . . the Freemasons have been the cause of all the “seditions, privy cons[p]iracies, and rebellions,” which, for the last thirty years, have afflicted Europe. . . . The Free-masons are, therefore, radically and essentially, demagogues, jacobins, conspirators, assassins, infidels, traitors, and atheists. Their band of union is formed of the broken cement of existing order—their secret is the watch-word of sedition and rebellion—their object is anarchy and plunder— . . . unless they are suppressed, there will soon be neither religion, morals, literature, nor civilized society left! (Wayne Sentinel, September 26, 1828)

The Morgan Investigator, published in Batavia, New York, carried these statements:

“Beware of Secret Combinations.” These are the dying words of General George Washington . . . there is something in the principles of masonry that tends to distract the mind and lead to the perpetration of crimes . . . (The Morgan Investigator, March 29, 1827, p. 1)

In another article published in the same paper we find the following statement: “I believe the institution of masonry dangerous to our liberties, and I think they have gone far enough in the march towards supreme power to receive a check.” The same paper called the Masons “an organized band of desperadoes” and spoke of the “dark and treasonable plot, formed against the lives of our citizens and the laws of our country.” The following appeared in a book printed in Utica, New York, in 1829:

4. Masonry is a murderous institution . . . the very principles, spirit, and essence, of this ancient fraternity, are murderous! 5. Those who join the institution, solemnly swear that, if they violate “any part” of their oaths, they will submit to be executed in the manner the oaths prescribe. . . . What a disgrace . . . a society should exist which claims the prerogative of sacrificing human beings, . . . 6. The masonic society is inconsistent with our free institutions. . . . 7 . . . If a murderer or any other criminal who is a master mason is brought before the bar of justice to be tried, and gives this singal [signal] of distress; if the judge or prosecutor or any of the jurors are master masons, and see him give this sign, they are under the solemnities of an oath, to risk their lives to save his. (An Inquiry into the Nature and Tendency of Speculative Free-Masonry, by John G. Stearns, pp. 76, 77 and 79)

In an address delivered September 11, 1829, we find the following:

This day has been set apart, as an occasion for assaulting the proud institution simultaneously throughout the state; for lifting against it the voices of freemen in all our borders. . . . He [Morgan] laid down his life for his country; his widow and his orphans, are alive to bear witness. He fell by the hands of masonic violence, . . . the midnight foe of our liberties. . . . The horrors of the Revolution in France are, however, clearly traced to the hand of this midnight Order, and the present convulsed state of Mexico is principally owing to the secret operations of two masonic parties, . . . (The Anti- Masonic Review and Monthly Magazine, vol. 1, no. 10, pp. 296-297)

On March 14, 1828, the Wayne Sentinel reported that an “anti-Masonic” newspaper was to begin publication in Joseph Smith’s neighborhood. It was to be known as The Palmyra Freeman. We have only had access to photographs of a few pages from this paper, but these pages have led us to the conclusion that it was extremely anti-Masonic. On December 2, 1828, this statement appeared in the Palmyra Freeman: “Our Government and Country will be destroyed, unless the people put down Masonry root and branch.”

In the same issue we find the following: “And what will the people of this country think of themselves ten or twenty years hence, if they should suffer themselves to be duped, and do not unite hand and heart, to put down a secret society, which, if again suffered to get fairly the ascendancy will crush them and their liberties together.” On November 10, 1829, this statement appeared in the Palmyra Freeman: “Masonry, thank God, is now before the wor[l] d in all her naked deformity! — a secret combination to destroy liberty and religion, . . .” (Palmyra Freeman, November 10, 1829).

Now, when we look at the Book of Mormon we see that it is filled with references to secret societies. The Jaredites “formed a secret combination” (Ether 8:18), and the Nephites and Lamanites had a “secret band” known as the Gadianton robbers (Helaman 8:28). Furthermore, the Book of Mormon warns the American people that a “secret combination” (Ether 9:24) would be among them. In the Book of Mormon, Ether 8:14, we read: And it came to pass that they all sware unto him, by the God of heaven, and also by the heavens, and also by the earth, and by their heads, that whoso should vary from the assistance which Akish desired should lose his head; and whoso should divulge whatsoever thing Akish made known unto them, the same should lose his life. According to an expose of Masonry published in the Wayne Sentinel on March 14, 1828, the “Obligation of the Seventh, or Royal Arch degree” contained these words:

. . . I promise and swear, that I will aid and assist a companion Royal Arch mason wherever I shall see him engaged in any difficulty so far as to extricate him from the same, whether he be right or wrong.— Furthermore do I promise and swear, that a companion Royal Arch mason’s secrets given me . . . shall remain as secure and inviolable in my breast as in his own, when he communicated it to me, Murder and Treason not excepted. . . . binding myself under the no less penalty than to have my skull struck off, and my brains exposed . . . Another oath contained the words, “. . . binding myself under no less penalty than to have my head struck off . . .” The same issue of the Wayne Sentinel also stated that “the candidate is . . . presented with a human skull and told he must submit to the degradation of drinking his 5th libation from the skull.” In the Book of Mormon we read:

But behold, Satan did stir up the hearts of the more part of the Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with those bands of robbers, and did enter into their covenants and their oaths, that they would protect and preserve one another in whatsoever difficult circumstances they should be placed, that they should not suffer for their murders, and their plunderings, and their stealings. And it came to pass that they did have their signs, yea, their secret signs, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenant, that whatsoever wickedness his brother should do he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who did belong to his band, who had taken this covenant. (Book of Mormon, Helaman 6:21-22)

The Masons, of course, had secret signs and words. In fact, William Morgan’s expose stated that “the signs, due-guards, grips, words, passwords, and their several names comprise pretty much all the secrets of Masonry . . .” (Freemasonry Exposed, p. 55). On page 68 we find this statement concerning the word “Shibbolett”:

“This word was also used by our ancient brethren to distinguish a friend from foe, . . .” As we have shown, the Masons were accused of being “dangerous to our government,” and some people felt that unless they were “suppressed, there will soon be neither religion, morals, literature, nor civilized society left!” (Wayne Sentinel, September 26, 1828). The Book of Mormon paints a similar picture concerning secret societies:

And they did set at defiance the law and the rights of their country; and they did covenant one with another to destroy the governor, and to establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto kings. (3 Nephi 6:30)

In Ether 8:22 we read that “whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, . . . shall be destroyed.” In verse 25 of the same chapter we read that “whosoever buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries, . . .”

Because of the Morgan affair the Masons were accused of murder and shielding the guilty. John G. Stearns called Masonry “a murderous institution.” The

Book of Mormon speaks of “murderous combinations” (Ether 8:23), “secret murders” (3 Nephi 9:9), and in 3 Nephi 6:29 we read that the wicked entered “into a covenant to destroy them, and to deliver those who were guilty of murder from the grasp of justice, . . .” Moroni, who was supposed to have lived about 400 A.D., claimed that the Lord revealed to him the condition

of the Gentiles in the last days:

And it shall come in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness. Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads? (Book of Mormon, Mormon 8:27 and 40) These verses must have been referring to Freemasonry. Ether 8:23-25 also seems to be warning against Masonry:

Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, . . . suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you . . . to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be. Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combinations which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up. For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, . . . (Ether 8:23-25)

This warning reminds us of the words attributed to George Washington: “Beware of secret combinations” (The Morgan Investigator, March 29, 1827). The words “secret combinations” are found in the Book of Mormon in the following places: 2 Nephi 9:9, 26:22; Alma 37:30-31; Helaman 3:23; 3 Nephi 4:29; Mormon 8:27; Ether 8:19, 22, 9:1, 13:18, 14:8, 10. These words were frequently used with regard to Masonry. In fact, newspapers published in Joseph Smith’s neighborhood speak of “secret combinations” (see Wayne Sentinel, July 18, 1828, and Palmyra Freeman, November 10, 1829). The Wayne Sentinel for July 18, 1828, uses the words “secret societies,” and the Palmyra Freeman, December 2, 1828, calls the Masons a “secret society.” The Book of Mormon uses the words “secret society” in the following places: 3 Nephi 3:9; Ether 9:6, 11:22.

The Masons were sometimes accused of being a “band,” and it was claimed that one of their objects was to “plunder” (Wayne Sentinel, September 26, 1828). The Book of Mormon speaks of the “band of Gadianton” (Helaman 11:10), who “did commit murder and plunder” (Helaman 11:25).

The word “craft” was frequently used with regard to Masonry. The Book of Mormon tells us that Gadianton was “expert in many words, and also in his craft” (Helaman 2:4).

The Masons claimed that their ceremonies went back to “ancient” times (Mormonism Exposed, p. 68). The Book of Mormon quotes Giddianhi—an evil man—as saying: And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this the secret society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof I know to be good; and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us. (3 Nephi 3:9)

In the Masonic ritual the candidate has “a rope called a Cabletow round his neck” (Freemasonry Exposed, p. 18). In the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 26:22, we read: “And there are also secret combinations, . . . according to the combinations of the devil, . . . and he leadeth them by the neck with a flaxen cord, . . .”

In their ceremonies the Masons wore “a lambskin or white apron” (Freemasonry Exposed, p. 24). According to 3 Nephi 3:7, the Gadianton robbers wore “a lambskin about their loins” (3 Nephi 4:7).

Joseph Smith’s Book of Moses—as published in modern editions of the Pearl of Great Price—also contains material which reflects the controversy over Masonry:

And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, . . . And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, . . .

For Lamech having entered into a covenant with Satan, after the manner of Cain, wherein he became Master Mahan, master of that great secret which was administered unto Cain by Satan; . . . For, from the days of Cain, there was a secret combination, and their works were in the dark, and they knew every man his brother. (Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses, 5:29, 31, 49, 51)

The statement, “Swear unto me by thy throat,” is very interesting, for according to an expose of Masonry published in the Wayne Sentinel, November 10, 1826, the candidate had to swear by his throat: “To all of which I do most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, . . . binding myself under no less penalty, than to have my throat cut across; . . .” Even more interesting, however, are the words “Master Mahan.” They are so similar to the words “Master Mason” (Freemasonry Exposed, p. 70) that we are almost forced to the conclusion that Joseph Smith had these words in mind. S. H. Goodwin, a prominent Mason, made these statements concerning the relationship of the Book of Mormon to Masonry: . . . the present writer is convinced that the years which saw the preparation and publication of the “Golden Bible” of this new faith, also witnesses the very material prenatal influence of Masonry upon Mormonism, proof of which lies thickly sprinkled over the pages of the Book of Mormon. . . . the evidence of the Mormon prophet’s reaction to the anti-Masonic disturbance is as clear and conclusive in the Book of Mormon, as is that which points out, beyond controversy, the region in which that book was produced, and establishes the character of the religious, educational and social conditions which constituted the environment of Joseph Smith. (Mormonism and Masonry, Salt Lake City, 1961, pp. 8-9)

Anthony W. Ivins, who was a member of the First Presidency of the Mormon Church, made this statement in rebuttal to this charge: It is true that during the period of the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon Morgan disappeared. It is also true that the author of “Mormonism and Masonry” does not show that Joseph Smith, or any one of those who were directly associated with him in the translation and publication of the book ever attended an anti-Masonic meeting, had any knowledge whatever of the ritual of the Masonic fraternity, or participated in the most remote manner in the crusade which followed the disappearance of Morgan and consequently could not have made Masonry the basis upon which the book was written. (The Relationship of “Mormonism” and Freemasonry, pp. 175-176)

Actually, any one who could read a newspaper at the time the Book of Mormon was written could have known a great deal about “the ritual of the Masonic fraternity.” As to Ivins’ statement that there is no proof that any one connected with the Book of Mormon was involved in the anti-Masonic movement, it can now be shown that Martin Harris (a witness to the Book of Mormon who provided money for its publication) was deeply involved. The Mormon writer Richard L. Anderson made this statement concerning Martin Harris:

The same point is made by his appointment in 1827 on the Palmyra “committee of vigilance” by the Wayne County anti-Masonic convention, a cause long since discredited but which then attracted many public-spirited individuals. (Improvement Era, February 1969, p. 20)

As a reference for this statement Dr. Anderson cites the Wayne Sentinel for October 5, 1827. In the “anti-Masonic convention” which Dr. Anderson speaks of the following resolution was passed:

Resolved. That we conceive it a dereliction of our duty to give our suffrages for any office within the gift of the people to a freemason who has not publicly renounced the institution and principles of freemasonry, or to any person who approbates the institution or treats with levity, or attempts to palliate or screen the hor[r]id transaction relative to the abduction of William Morgan. (Wayne Sentinel, October 5, 1827)

Thus we see that at least one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon was deeply involved in the anti-Masonic excitement which followed Morgan’s disappearance.