From Cheryl L. Bruno, Joe Steve Swick III, and Nicholas S. Literski, Method Infinite: Freemasonry and the Mormon Restoration (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2022), xvii
Some writers have attempted to explain Smith’s involvement in Masonry as a nineteenth-century equivalent of social and political networking. [20] However, to allege that he became a Mason in order to court social connections or political power is defamatory. In his petition to receive the degrees of Freemasonry, Smith would have submitted a written statement that he had no mercenary motive for entering the Fraternity. [21] Thus, to claim that “Joseph Smith and his brethren sought membership in the Masonic lodge” because they “desired the prestige, protection, and power such an alliance should have guaranteed” is to argue against the integrity of the Prophet and his companions. [22] Furthermore, the proceedings of the Nauvoo Lodge under Smith’s direction demonstrate his unmitigated lack of concern for making friends and cementing alliances among local Freemasons. Still, this reasoning has been accepted among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the present day.
[20 David John Buerger, “The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony,” 87-99.
[21] “The subscriber, residing in the City of Nauvoo, State of Illinois, of lawful age, and by occupation, a [unreadable], begs leave to state that, unbiased by friends, and uninfluenced by mercenary motives, he freely and voluntarily offers himself as a candidate for the mysteries of Masonry, and the he is prompted to solict this privilege by a favourable opinion conceived of the Institution, a desire of knowledge, and a sincere wish of being serviceable to his fellow creatures. Should his petition be granted, he will cheerfully conform to all the ancient established usages and customs of the Fraternity.” See the 1840 Petition of Stephen A. Douglas to Springfield Lodge No. 26 of Free and Accepted Masons, reproduced in Everett R. Turnbull, The Rise and Progress of Freemasonry in Illinois, 1783-1952, illustration facing page 240.
[22] McGavin, Mormonism and Masonry, 13.
