From: Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Freemasonry and the Origins of Latter-day Saint Temple Ordinances (Orem, Utah: Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2022), 281-82, 528
[On Joseph Smith encountering
three emblems corresponding to the roles of prophet, priest, and king]
Perspectives from Freemasonry. Cheryl Bruno, Jose Steve Swick III, and
Nicholas S. Literski cite early Latter-day Saint critic Alexander Campbell, who
recognized and took issue with the fact that, in the Book of Mormon, Nephi is
portrayed as a “prophet, priest, and king.” [1655] They correctly
observe that this is “a phrase that Christians [like Campbell] have reserved
solely for Jesus Christ.” [1656]
Bruno et al. also cite the
nineteenth0century Christian Mason George Oliver, who concluded that these
three offices were “united in one person” “in the earliest times,” presumably
referring to patriarchs such as Adam, Shem, and Enoch. [1657] However,
Oliver continues by saying that in the legendary tradition of ancient Masonry “a
distinction was made” in “the presiding officers of our [Masonic] Order” so
that—beginning with Noah, Shem, and Japheth—three separate individuals held
these respective offices. Speaking of how this order of things has continued in
our time, Oliver goes on to say that “the same disposition has continued
unaltered and unimpaired down to the present day. . . . If we turn to the
idolatrous mysteries, we find the same unvarying traces of government [by three
principal Officers], which were doubtless derived from the mysteries of Noah,
or in other words, from the science of Freemasonry.” [1658]
The Masonic tradition of
allocating three separate individuals to the offices of prophet, priest, and
king is carried forward in the dramatic narrative of the Royal Arch Masonry
rite. At the end of the rite, the initiate is crowned in likeness of the king.
However, Literski observes that “various commentaries make a point of the fact
that the three officers of a Royal Arch chapter, while each bearing one of
those titles, constitute one Master, directly symbolic of Christ’s roles
of prophet, priest, and king. Exaltation in the Royal Arch degree is considered
the ‘completion’ of the Master Mason degree; thus, the candidate ‘fully’
becomes a master, emblematic of Christ (along with various admonitions toward
moral behavior, etc.). The crown is emblematic of this exaltation, much as
crowns (and their artistic analogue, halos) have always been. Interestingly,
the commentaries I have seen make a point of Jesus growing in his ministry
through the attainment of these three roles—just as Joseph Smith made reference
to advancing from prophet to priest to king.” [1659]
Note that although initiates in
the Royal Arch degree are crowned, they are not ordained or otherwise invested permanently
with any of these three offices. In contrast to temple ordinances, it is
understood that the “priesthood” that administers the rite is figurative,
though in likeness of biblical precedents.
I have not yet been able to
locate sources in the Masonic literature that relate the symbolism of the
square and compass to the sequence of royal, priestly, and prophetic emblems
described in ancient sources, and, seemingly, in the Nauvoo Temple weathervane.
1655 C. L. Bruno et al., Method Infinite,
p. 131. See A. Campbell, Delusions, p. 11.
1656 C. L. Bruno et al., Method Infinite,
p. 131. See also G. Oliver, Signs and Symbols, pp. 78–79.
1657 G. Oliver, Signs and Symbols, p. 209.
1658 Ibid., pp. 209–210.
1659 N. S. Literski, July 22 2022.