“Mr. Miller’s second publication was a sermon preached before the Masonic Grand Lodge of the State of New York, in 1795; which if it does not mark, as most naturally it might, advanced maturity of mind, and actual improvement in thought, diction, and literary taste, certainly gives evidence of more leisurely and careful preparation than the one previously published. Before this date, probably soon after his settlement in New York, Mr. Miller joined the Masonic order; he seems to have taken, for years, an active part in its proceedings, and a deep interest in its prosperity; and he reached the dignity of a Royal Arch Mason. His discourse seems to prove, that his confidence had been already shaken, if not in some of the principles of the order, at least in its practical results.

But whatever may be thus inferred as to his views of Masonry at this time, certain it is that subsequently — perhaps from the date of his removal to Princeton, where there was no Masonic lodge — he renounced all connexion with the order; at least never attended their meetings; and that he distinctly, carefully, and emphatically advised his sons not to become Masons. Whether the abduction of Morgan, in 1826, which brought a reproach upon the institution from which it has never recovered, and probably sealed its doom in the United States, had any influence, even to deepen his disapprobation, cannot now, perhaps, be determined.

But probably his more mature reflections satisfied him, that such a secret order was incompatible with the spirit of good civil government, and especially of our free institutions; and that too easily it might be made a cloak for disorderly, seditious, and treasonable designs; might be abused to base party purposes; might become the active enemy of sound morals, pure Christianity, and the Church of Christ while it must, naturally, ever prove, in some sort, and in a greater or less degree, a rival of that Church, by proposing its own principles as a sufficient religion, drawing men away from church intercourse and worship, and suggesting, by its very existence, that the institutions of Christianity were not adequate to the fulfilment of the grand philanthropic purposes, for which they were founded. If this order might interfere with the normal workings of the commonwealth, it might interfere much more with those of the Redeemer’s visible kingdom.” — Samuel Miller, Jr., The Life of Samuel Miller, D.D., LL.D. (1869), Vol. 1, pp. 98-99