Commentary
Please see the documentary Statesmen & Symbols: Prelude to the Restoration for a full discussion of this question. https://josephsmithfoundation.org/store/product/statesmen-symbols-prelude-to-the-restoration-dvd/
Supporting Statements
Heber C. Kimball
We have the true Masonry. The Masonry of today is received from the apostasy which took place in the days of Solomon, and David. They have now and then a thing that is correct, but we have the real thing.” (Manuscript History of Brigham Young, 13 November, 1858, 1085, LDS archives; see also Stanley B. Kimball, “Heber C. Kimball and Family, The Nauvoo Years, Brigham Young University Studies 15 (Summer 1975): 458. See also David John Buerger, The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship, Smith Research Associates, San Francisco, 1994, 56.)
