Patheos
January 25, 2025
"In the publisher’s office in the town of Batavia, New York, there were fresh proofs of the most recent printing, an exposé on the secret rites and oaths of Freemasonry by William Morgan. The gang of masked men felt vindicated for the severe beating they delivered to the owner of the printing press, and the destruction of his equipment. It was a warning to all. Nine days later the author of the exposé, William Morgan, was himself abducted. Secretly transported to the town of Canandaigua, he was found guilty in a mock trial by members of the Batavian Masonic Lodge. Morgan never returned home. It was alleged that three fanatical Freemasons tossed the weighted body of Morgan over Niagara Falls on the evening of September 11, 1826, but this was never proven. Nevertheless, it was widely believed that Morgan was murdered by a nefarious network of Freemasons. His mysterious disappearance caused a great deal of public protest. Anti-Masonry became a political crusade that swept Western New York and New England. Opponents of Masonry claimed that the Fraternity was a threat to free government; they portrayed Masons as a dangerous cabal intent on infiltrating the inner machinations of the Republic (with aims exerting a secret agenda.) President Andrew Jackson, a high-ranking Mason, added validity to their concerns. Critics of Jackson leaped at this opportunity and created America’s earliest third party, the “Anti-Masonic Party.” By 1830 there were thirty-three Anti-Masons in the New York Assembly and eight in State Senate. In popularity, it was second only to Martin Van Buren’s political machine, 'The Albany Regency.'"
" ... The people of America were already somewhat familiar with the ideas of Masonry. Among the Masonic works circulating in the new Republic was Thomas Smith Webb’s Freemason’s Monitor. This work had a significant impact on the shaping of the Masonic Ritual in North America, specifically the high degree Masonry of the York Rite. His literature about these Lodges earned him the moniker “Founding Father of the York Rite.” His description of the degree of the “Knights Of The Ninth Arch” even explained the Enochian myth to the rural peoples of the land.
Enoch, the son of Jared, was the sixth son in descent from Adam, and lived in the fear and love of his Maker. Enoch, being inspired by the Most High, and in commemoration of a wonderful vision, built a temple underground, and dedicated the same to God. Methuselah, the son of Enoch, constructed the building, without being acquainted with his father’s motives. This happened in the part of the world, which was afterwards called the land of Canaan, and since known by the name of the Holy Land. Enoch caused a triangular plate of gold to be made, each side of which was a cubit long; he enriched it with the most precious stones, and encrusted the plate upon a stone of agate, of the same form. He then engraved upon it the ineffable characters, and placed it on a triangular pedestal of white marble which he deposited in the deepest arch. When Enoch’s temple was completed, he made a door of stone, and put a ring of iron therein, by which it might be occasionally raised; and placed it over the opening of the arch, that the matters enclosed therein might be preserved from the universal destruction impending. And none but Enoch knew of the treasure which the arches contained. And, behold, the wickedness of mankind increased more, and became grievous in the sight of the Lord, and God threatened to destroy the whole world. Enoch, perceiving that the knowledge of the arts was likely to be lost in the general destruction, and being desirous of preserving the principles of sciences, for the posterity of those whom God should be pleased to spare, built two great pillars on the top of the highest mountain, the one of brass to withstand water, the other of marble, to withstand fire; and he engraved on the pillar of brass the principles of the liberal arts, particularly of masonry.
According to this tradition, after the burial of the plates, many centuries pass until they are re-discovered by Solomon’s Masons while work is being excavated for his Temple to God. Webb states:
The same divine history particularly informs us of the different movements of the Israelites, until they became possessed of the land of promise, and of the succeeding events until the Divine Providence was pleased to give the scepter to David; who, though fully determined to build a temple to the Most High, could never begin it; that honor being reserved for his son. Solomon, being the wisest of princes, had fully in remembrance of his promises of God to Moses, that some of his successors, in fullness of time, should discover his holy name; and his wisdom inspired him to believe, that this could not be accomplished until he erected and consecrated a temple to the living God, in which he might deposit the precious treasures. Accordingly, Solomon began to build, in the fourth year of his reign, agreeably a plan given to him by David his father, upon the ark of alliance. He chose a spot for this purpose, the most beautiful and healthy in all of Jerusalem. The number of the grand and sublime elected , were at first three, and now consisted of five; and continued so until the temple was completed and dedicated; when king Solomon, as a reward for their faithful services, admitted to this degree the twelve grandmasters, who had faithfully presided over the twelve tribes; also one other grand master architect. Nine ancient grand masters, eminent for their virtue, were chosen knights of the royal arch, and shortly afterwards were admitted to the sublime degree of perfection. You have been informed in what manner the number of the grand elect was augmented to twenty-seven, which is the cube of three: they consisted of two kings, three knights of the royal arch, twelve commanders of the twelve tribes, nine elected grandmasters, and one grand master architect. This lodge is closed by the mysterious number.
It was during this public conversation on Masonry that a young man in his early twenties, Joseph Smith, was composing The Book Of Mormon in Western New York. Though born in Vermont, Smith and his family moved to Palmyra, New York, in 1816. At the time there were “wise men” and “cunning persons” engaged in the “supernatural economy” that was popular in that region during this time. Men and women who used divination and occult practices to find lost and stolen objects. The use of seer-stones, scrying for buried treasure, and belief in spirits were commonplace. Among the religious artifacts in the possession of the Smith family were tools to be used in ritual magic acts, like lamens (small, folded parchments used for magical rituals,) a Jupiter talisman, and a dagger ornamented in planetary sigils. The young Joseph Smith was among these practitioners (and something of a treasure seeker.) Smith was reportedly visited by God and Jesus in 1820 and an angel named Moroni in 1823. The latter was a prophet-warrior from an ancient people called the Nephites, a nation that once peopled the Americas according to Moroni. The full history of the Nephites, and other lost stories, were written down on buried Golden Plates. Smith, under the direction of Moroni, retrieved these Golden Plates and, using his seer stones, was able to translate the text into English which he published in 1830 under the title, The Book Of Mormon. The contents of this lost Scripture, if true, revealed (among other things) a history of Jesus in America, and the existence of people known as Nephites and Lamanites (connected to the Lost Tribes of Israel.) This was of particular interest to Americans at the time. As the contemporary chronicler John L. Stephens noted, questions were being asked about the “first peopling of America.” Some said the Native Americans were a separate race, “not descended from the same common father with the rest of mankind.” Others ascribed their origin to “some remnant of the antediluvian inhabitants of the earth who survived the deluge which swept away the greatest part of the human species in the days of Noah.” (In 1807 Alexander Von Humboldt published his theory that South America and Africa were once connected.) Stephens, alluding to Smith, adds: “An enterprising American has turned the tables on the Old World and planted the ark itself within the State of New York.”
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