fii 
 
 -. ^/)3 Hertij, Effianuel 
 ihR Lincoln 2 the great leyeler, 
 
LN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 THE GREAT LEVELER 
 
 Delivered at the Forum of the Ley el Club 
 February 7, 1928 
 
 By 
 EMANUEL HERTZ 
 
Abraham Lincoln 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/abrahamlincolngrOOhert 
 

 7> 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN— THE GREAT LEVELER 
 
 By EMANUEL HERTZ 
 
 T TAKE it that Masonry is one of the many ripe flowers 
 **• blossoming from the Book of books — the best companion 
 of mankind in its travail through the ages. Its long line of 
 descent traced from the very dawn of history, from the reign 
 of the wisest of men, and called into being by one of his in- 
 spired builders, who not only erected the miracle among his- 
 torical edifices — King Solomon's Temple — but also laid the 
 foundation of this historic organization— its religious founda- 
 tions, its ethical concepts, the balm of charity in which it is 
 shrouded, could have none other than Biblical origin. Would 
 you know how it survived, how and why it escaped destruction 
 amidst the wreck of empires — and the overthrow of thrones — I 
 'would say, as did the biographer of the great architect in Lon- 
 don when asked where was the monument of Sir Christopher 
 Wren "Circumspice" — "Look about you" — ^and see these monu- 
 ments, which have made England's imperial city beautiful and 
 awe-inspiring. Look around you in all the deeds of charity, the 
 ties of fellowship, the clean lives, the good citizenship we live 
 and practice, and see how we exemplify the great principle and 
 concept of the ages — "Love thy neighbor as thyself." For has 
 it not been written : "What doth the Lord require of thee, but 
 to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy 
 God." That, in short, is the philosophy of Masonry. 
 
 Where in the world could you find a character who led a life 
 more akin to this, than the man whose one hundred and 
 nineteenth anniversary we are celebrating this week ? 
 
 Brand Whitlock, one of the few men who has attained a 
 glimpse of the soul of Lincoln, says: 
 
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 787399 
 
"The story of Lincoln, perfect in its unities, appealing 
 to the imagination like some old tragedy, has been told 
 over and over, and will be told over and over again. The 
 log cabin where he was born, the axe he swung in the 
 backwoods, the long sweep to which he bent on the flat- 
 boat in the river, the pine knot at midnight, — these are the 
 rough symbols of the forces by which he made his own 
 slow way. Surveyor and legislator, country lawyer riding 
 the circuit, politician on the stump and in Congress, the 
 unwearied rival of Douglas, finally, as the lucky choice of 
 a new party, the President, — ^the story is wholly typical of 
 these States in that earlier epoch when the like was possi- 
 ble to any boy. But the story does not end here. He is in 
 the White House at last, but in an hour when realized am- 
 bitions turn to ashes, the nation is divided, a crisis con- 
 fronts the land, and menaces the old cause of liberty. We 
 see him become the wise leader of that old cause, the sad, 
 gentle captain of a mighty war, the liberator of a whole 
 race, and not only the saviour of a republic, but the creator 
 of a nation; and then, in the very hour of triumph, — the 
 tragedy for which destiny plainly marked him. Rightly 
 told, the story is the epic of America." 
 Some men, indeed, are born Masons. Most of us achieve it. 
 If ever a man lived and acted every Masonic precept, exempli- 
 fied every Masonic virtue, practiced the full Masonic creed, it 
 was Father Abraham, whose heart bled for all; who would 
 suffer if he did not replace the feeble young bird to its nest 
 from which it had fallen — whose hand would not sign the de- 
 cree of execution in any case where the slightest reason existed 
 or could be found for the exercise of clemency — "J^^^^S^ not," 
 said he repeatedly, "lest ye be judged" whose heart revolted 
 at the sight of the auction block, whose life was ultimately given 
 that his fellows be free. 
 
 Within the last two decades, the Grand Master of a nearby 
 jurisdiction, arranged for the creating of one of our chief 
 
executives, a Master Mason at sight. That particular chief 
 executive was so occupied with the tasks in the service of his 
 country, as SoHcitor General, Judge, Proconsul, Cabinet officer, 
 and President, and finally Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
 — that like Lincoln he had no time to enter our craft through 
 the usual portals — unlike his youthful predecessor, who in- 
 sisted and found time for coming into our Order in the manner 
 others have gone before him. If President Taft was prevented 
 by an active life from becoming one of our number in the 
 usual way, how much more occupied was Abraham Lincoln. 
 Before becoming absorbed with the work of his life, he prob- 
 ably was not wanted. And when he came to Washington and 
 assumed office — and the plague had broken out — the States had 
 begun to secede — he stood between the dead and the dying, and 
 the plague was stayed. All who looked up to Lincoln were 
 safe. — remained in the Union, secession was stayed, the border 
 States remained in the Union and the Union was saved; the 
 plague of secession was stopped by the giant grip of Lincoln. 
 He had no time to become a member at such a time — the whole 
 country was ablaze with rebellion. 
 
 Not one of the other twenty-eight Presidents was as worn 
 out with the labors, not only of the office, but by the unending 
 list of tasks which an embattled country forced upon those bur- 
 den-bearing shoulders. The line of petitioners, of widows, of 
 mothers, of common people, of neighbors, of statesmen, and of 
 soldiers never ended — day and night — during his walks, during 
 his meals, on his way to and from the hospitals, on the lawns of 
 the White House, he was hounded and waylaid, interviewed and 
 importuned for a thousand and one things which taxed his 
 powers to the limit. Besides, the Cabinet meetings, the War 
 Office, the hospitals, were his constant abode. Some day he 
 hoped to go to Palestine — the home where our organization 
 was born. When could this man — the most overworked mortal 
 who ever occupied public office — become a candidate for 
 Masonry and go through the usual forms of Masonry? 
 
Have you any doubt whatever that had he had the time, 
 had the opportunity been propitious, that all the State 
 jurisdictions in the land would not only have been happy but 
 eager to make Abraham Lincoln a Mason at sight. 
 
 Masonry levels all of us to a sense and state of fellowship 
 where all are kin — where all are brothers — for "how nice and 
 pleasant it is for brothers to live in harmony" — "For are we 
 not all children of one Father, hath not one God made us all?" 
 In appealing to his departing Southern brethren, did he not 
 plead : "We are not enemies, but friends, my dissatisfied coun- 
 trymen." And then in the most brotherly fashion refrained 
 from giving cause for secession and rebellion, hoping to the end 
 that "the mystic chords of memory stretching from every battle- 
 field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all 
 over this land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when 
 again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of 
 our nature." 
 
 But when his misguided brethren did fire the shot at our 
 flag — which roused every patriot from coast to coast — he was 
 forced into the fratricidal war and brought out of the baptism 
 of fire and blood a recemented Union based upon equality and 
 freedom; and when he spoke again through the Emancipation 
 Proclamation given to the world — the greatest Masonic act in 
 the history of the upward struggle of the race for equality and 
 for freedom — the world heard ; and no words spoken in all his- 
 tory have proven so potential for good, or have so calmed the 
 waters of discontent. His work done — the departing States 
 held in leash, he enters upon the final stage of immortality — 
 the Heavenly gates open and in our religious fervor with which 
 we see his passing on and up, ascending on high "purpling the 
 air with the glory of his name," bearing to Heaven the broken 
 shackles of four millions of slaves and laying them at the foot 
 of the great white throne — a peace-offering for the patriot blood 
 shed in our unnatural strife — would it be profane to suppose 
 
 8 
 
that Heaven's music grew sweeter, and angels quickened their 
 chorus, as the joyous chimes from earthly tower and dome 
 chanted the praises of a race redeemed, and our glorified dead 
 mingled their voices in the choir above. We almost hear the 
 judgment of our Father in Heaven — "Well done, good and 
 faithful servant." And then the afterglow, the black despair— 
 and then our Masonic brethren not only here but all over the 
 world — forty- three foreign Masonic jurisdictions are heard 
 from — enter upon a period of mourning for their departed 
 brother — ^the humble rail-splitter, the poor surveyor, the 
 struggling lawyer, the village postmaster, the modest legislator, 
 the gaunt captain in the Black Hawk War, the one-term Con- 
 gressman, the giant debater, the Cooper Union seer and the 
 martyr President. Every Masonic Lodge in the Union joins in 
 the universal mourning service for the departed brother. 
 
 All masters of Masonic lodges announced in broken-hearted 
 accents why the membership of the lodge had been assembled 
 on that sad evening and ordered the lodge draped in mourning 
 — at a time when the working tools of life — which worked the 
 deliverance of four million souls — and the restoration of the 
 Government of the people — fell from the lifeless hands of 
 Abraham Lincoln — the man who now belongs to the ages. Oh ! 
 that some student of Masonry — some real historian of the ideas 
 and ideals of our craft would gather in book form the tributes 
 of the Masonic lodges and Grand lodges, to the great liberator 
 —the great Leveller — -who was the noblest and most inspired 
 Mason of his day and generation. 
 
 Yes ! we owe it to ourselves, we owe it to that great historic 
 figure — to show the world that we ever function in days of 
 sorrow even as in days of joy. Others have done it — the 
 Church, the law, the statesmen — and only the other day, rather 
 belated it is true — the Synagogue. Why not we? Was there 
 ever subject more attractive — was there ever a piece of historic 
 justice more urgent — in order, if for naught else— to set on 
 edge the teeth of those who criticize and defame us. 
 
 9 
 
Yes, he comforted the widow, as no other mortal did; he 
 guarded the orphan — ^his last plea in his second Inaugural, the 
 one inspired State paper of the Century, was for the widow and 
 orphan. He who was quick to pardon and forgive, and long- 
 suffering before entering upon a quarrel, he whose sole pas- 
 sion was a united country under God, who suffered more in 
 performing his stern tasks than any other human being in our 
 history, who was visited by trials and tribulations, who was 
 tried by the loss of his first love and by the loss of his child, 
 even as he was orphaned by the loss of his angel mother, and 
 yet stood erect, unafraid on the side of God — and emerged 
 victor, emancipator, preserver of his people and pacificator of 
 his country — he was indeed a Mason. 
 
 Was he then a Mason without initiation? You might as 
 well ask was he a lawyer without attending a law school ? Was 
 he a great stylist without attending a University of higher 
 learning? Was he a military strategist of a high order — with- 
 out any military experience? Was he a great executive and 
 master of a multitude of great men, without any previous 
 executive experience ? Was he a diplomat and acquainted with 
 the refinements of diplomatic negotiation — frustrating and 
 holding in check not only the statesmen of the South but a 
 Palmerston, a Gladstone and a Napoleon the Third — without 
 ever having seen a diplomat or having had any experience in 
 the rudiments of that game of kings and princes? Was he an 
 orator and author of an address, the like of which we cannot 
 find except if we go back two thousand years and listen to 
 Pericles, without the study of the classics or the art of oratory? 
 Was he a man of deep religious faith without belonging to a 
 church ? Do you not see that you cannot apply the yardstick to 
 a man of his mold? He acted as a Mason would, he lived as a 
 Mason lives, he was indeed a Mason ! 
 
 The ritual which few of us ever master, and if we do for the 
 time being, never remember, that ritual which only the few 
 select of our craft study and remember — he lived and acted 
 
 10 
 
and exemplified. The Masonic virtues, the practice of which 
 are enjoined on us if we are to be exemplars of our craft, — 
 Lincoln lived and acted and believed and practiced. He was 
 the noblest type of Bible student without being a teacher or 
 preacher of Holy Writ. But he lived in the spirit of the Bible 
 and became one of the inspired seers and leaders of all time. 
 
 And it is for us to quote the sayings of this member of our 
 craft — to study the lessons of his truly Masonic life, his 
 achievements, his trials, his sufferings, and condense the narra- 
 tive of the achievements of that great mind — pick out his 
 maxims, his rules of life, and proceed to yonder altar — open 
 our priceless and perpetual ornament and source of all life and 
 religion, where the old ends and the new begins — in that twi- 
 light zone where the misunderstandings of the millenia have 
 kept apart brother and brother, have made war between people 
 and people — and acting upon the advice of Brother Ben 
 Altheimer — write upon those blank pages which seem to sepa- 
 rate the old and the new — ^the life, the achievements, the prin- 
 ciples, the priceless maxims of that God- intoxicated soul — and 
 thus add a connecting link of the purest gold between the old 
 Testament and the New, and write the final chapter in that 
 tome which Wycliffe called "a book of the people, by the peo- 
 ple and for the people" — consisting of the life concepts of him 
 who made sure that government of the people, by the people 
 and for the people shall not perish from the earth. 
 
 11 
 
Since the delivery of the foregoing, the following corre- 
 spondence came into my hands, which throws a very illuminat- 
 ing phase on this interesting question. However, I spread it in 
 full for whatever it is worth. 
 
 PROBATE COURT OF COOK COUNTY 
 
 Chambers of 
 
 JUDGE HENRY HORNER 
 
 Chicago 
 
 March 
 
 Thirteenth 
 
 1928 
 
 Mr. Emanuel Hertz, 
 
 149 Broadway, 
 
 New York City, New York 
 
 Dear Mr. Hertz : 
 
 I am enclosing you herewith a copy of the correspondence 
 which I had with Mr. C. H. Spilman, a friend of mine of 
 Edwardsville, Illinois, the publisher of a newspaper there, and 
 who preceded me as Grand Orator of the Grand Masonic Lodge 
 of Illinois. These are the copies of the originals which I have 
 and you may retain them — ^you can see by Mr. Spilman's letter 
 that they are free to use for such purposes as you desire. * * * 
 
 I trust that the enclosed will be of some service to you in 
 your prospective opus. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 HENRY HORNER. 
 
 12 
 
EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCE 
 Intelligencer Company 
 Edwardsville, Illinois 
 
 January 21, 1927. 
 Hon. Henry Horner, 
 Judge of the Probate Court, 
 Chicago, Illinois. 
 
 Dear Judge : 
 
 Even the longest lane has a turning according to tradition, 
 and I bethought me today of my promise to you several years 
 ago and have hunted up my record of the Lincoln incident 
 which you were desirous of receiving. It is inclosed herewith 
 with my apologies for its long delay. 
 
 With personal regards, I am 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 C. H. SPILMAN. 
 CHS-HGS 
 
 13 
 
Seal Supreme Council 
 
 330 A A S R Nor. Mas. Jur. 
 
 USA 
 
 Office of the 
 
 GRAND SECRETARY— GENERAL H. E. 
 
 299 Broadway 
 
 New York, N. Y. 
 
 February 9th, 1927. 
 Judge Henry Horner, 
 Probate Court, 
 Cook County, 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 Dear Brother Horner: 
 
 Acknowledging receipt of your very pleasant letter of Feb- 
 ruary 3rd, wish to say that you are at perfect liberty to use 
 the material you mention in any way or at any time you see 
 fit. 
 
 With personal regards, I am 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 C. H. SPILMAN, 
 Gr. Secretary-General. 
 CHS/HWA 
 
 14 
 
This story was told me by K. D. Gross, of Edwardsville, who 
 well remembers Judge Joseph Gillespie and other friends of 
 Lincoln. It was given to him direct by the man who figured in 
 it — Charles Fisher, of Springfield, Grand Senior Warden of 
 the Grand Lodge of Illinois. They were on their way to Lin- 
 coln, 111., to a commandery meeting one time and Gross men- 
 tioned to Fisher that he had heard various stories concerning 
 Lincoln and Masonry. "You knew Lincoln intimately and 
 well" said Gross, "I wish you'd tell me what his views were." 
 
 Fisher said that he would and proceeded to do so. This was 
 several years before Fisher's death and his mind was clear and 
 entirely normal. 
 
 He said that the Grand Lodge of Illinois met at Springfield 
 in the fall of 1860. Lincoln had been nominated for the 
 presidency at the convention in Chicago that summer. In con- 
 sequence his name was on many lips and thoughts of him were 
 in many minds ,as the election was near at hand. 
 
 The Grand Lodge in those days was not the tremendous 
 convention of the present but a small, compact organization, 
 whose members knew each other as Jim or Bill, and was char- 
 acterized at times by considerable informality. The first morn- 
 ing, after routine business had been disposed of, general topics 
 were discussed and somebody mentioned Lincoln. 
 
 One and then another said that they had never met him but 
 would like to very much. Presently it was decided that all 
 would like to see the sturdy figure then so near to the national 
 honors. It was suggested and decided that if suitable arrange.- 
 ments could be made the Grand Lodge would recess and they'd 
 all go over and visit him. Charles Fisher, who I believe was 
 not Grand Master at that time but in the line, was asked to 
 arrange it. 
 
 Fisher went across to the capital, where the "Governor's 
 room" so called, on the south side, had been put at the dis- 
 
 15 
 
posal of Mr. Lincoln for his political conferences. His law 
 offices were across from the capital on the west side if I re- 
 member rightly, and there he attended to business, but in this 
 office room in the capital he met his political visitors. He said 
 that he would be delighted to meet the gentlemen, and he and 
 Fisher arranged for the visit to be on the following day. 
 
 Accordingly, next day at the appointed hour the Grand Lodge 
 filed down the street to the capital and into Mr. Lincoln's office. 
 It was a bare, barn like room, and in anticipation of the coming 
 of the visitors there had been in from other offices round-about 
 a lot of the hard wooden chairs such as at present grace the 
 wash house on Monday. They retailed at fifty cents apiece at 
 the cross roads stores until the war intervened. 
 
 Each of the visitors was introduced by Fisher. Greetings 
 were exchanged all around and the party was seated. Mr. Lin- 
 coln wrapped his legs around each other in a manner which he 
 had, and the conversation became general. 
 
 Presently in a lull Mr. Lincoln with recognition of the 
 fraternal relations of his visitors made this observation: 
 "Gentlemen, I have always entertained a profound respect for 
 the Masonic fraternity, and I have long cherished a desire to 
 become a member, but I have never petitioned because I have 
 felt my own unworthiness to do so.*' 
 
 Of course, there was a chorus of protest, the visitors assert- 
 ing that he must not let this modesty prevent the realization of 
 the desire he professed. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln continued: "I might be overcoming my hesi- 
 tancy and be petitioning at the present time, but 1 am a candi- 
 date for a political office, and by some such action would be 
 misconstrued. For this reason, because my motives would be 
 misconstrued, I must for the time being refrain." 
 
 The conversation then turned to other channels. Lincoln 
 was elected, became engrossed in the war problems, was 
 
 16 
 
assassinated, and so far as his friends in Springfield ever 
 learned, never presented a petition to a Masonic Lodge. He 
 maintained his home at Springfield, and so would have had 
 to petition there. Fisher was deeply interested in all the 
 Masonic bodies there and would have known if Lincoln had 
 ever petitioned. Gross' brother was secretary of the second 
 lodge, which was not organized until '59. It was known as 
 Tyrian Lodge. Fisher was master of Springfield, No. 4. Gross 
 asked Fisher direct if Lincoln had ever petitioned a Masonic 
 lodge and was told positively that he never had. 
 
 I mention this because of reports which are from time to 
 time current to the effect that Lincoln had been rejected as an 
 applicant for Masonry, that he did not favor the order, etc. 
 Fisher knew Lincoln well and knew the Gross family well. 
 K. D. was the youngest son of Elder A. Gross, a notable figure 
 of Central Illinois in the early days. 
 
 17 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63GH44A C001 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE GREAT LEVELER NY 
 
 3 0112 03 
 
 819169 
 
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