WARREN HARDING - FREEMASON
A Nation is not simply a human encampment, or a business concern. It is both
of these, but much more. It is the fusing of millions of people into a vast
fraternity, a great friendship, into a unity of faith, feeling, purpose and
destiny. It is a collective memory and a collective hope; a thing of spirit,
ideals, sentiment - a fellowship in history, service and that obligation to the
future which is one of the noblest sentiments of mankind, and the most
disinterested.
Of the faith, history, genius and destiny of the Republic, the President is
the embodiment. He is a symbolic figure. When he is running for office he is
only a man like the rest of us, chosen from among ourselves by virtue of his
strength of intellect and nobility of character, as these have developed before
the eyes of his fellow citizens. When he is elected he is something more. He
becomes then the incarnation of the spirit and will and purpose of a great
people, and we need not apologize to any sentiment of equality for regarding him
with reverence. There is, in one way of looking at him, something sacred about
the President, as the instrument of the execution of the organized will of the
nation.
This is not a mere fancy, but a fact of deep import which we need to ponder.
The investure of the President with the power and purpose of millions of people
makes him other than he is in his private capacity. What the President does
before the world he does for and through us, typifying the nation as no mere
ruler could typify it. He is a servant of the people, not a master. His
character as revealed in his stewardship is our character, his work in no real
sense our work, doing things which free people decree shall be done. He stands
for the only Divine right that Republics know - the right of men to rule
themselves. The accolade of the popular will changes him and makes him a High
Priest of humanity in this land, where, are being wrought out the highest ideals
of the race.
The President is the nation brought to a focus of personality, and we see him
walking in a fiercer light than ever beat upon a throne - from humble life to
the highest office a mortal may hold while wearing our morality. We have had
many great Presidents, never a bad one. No one on that great roster has betrayed
his people, or proved unworthy of his mighty trust. Each is known to have been
moved by pure motives - doing with an honest purpose all he could for the glory
of the Republic. Read the life of each President, and, in the light of all the
facts and the posture of the hour, it will be seen that a better choice could
not have been made than was made at the time.
In a manner not merely accidental, but providential, each of our Presidents,
by virtue of his temperament, training, character and personality, has been the
man to match the hour - for, to a degree not realized, the personality of the
President gives and receives the tone and temper of the nation. The names and
services of our Presidents are a testimony to all the world that the plain
common people can be trusted, while showing what kind of men a democracy can
discover and develop. Most of the great Presidents revealed their greatness
after the wise ones wondered why they had been elected. What was then the future
and now the past has vindicated the intuition of the nation, in an almost
miraculous manner.
Into this great tradition of honor and service came President Harding, at a
time of disillusion and confusion, in the wake of a gigantic War, when the world
was feverish and almost fanatical with shell-shock; a quiet, gentle- hearted man
of fraternal instincts and humanitarian sentiments, having wisdom of patience
and the patience of love; conservative, conciliatory, seeking to plant seeds in
the good soil of understanding; friendly of spirit, faithful of heart; a man of
haunting sympathy and healing goodwill; a small-town man, who loved all kind of
folk, at once our neighbor and our President; honored for his character, beloved
for his simple, unveneered humanity, and to be remembered as a man in whom the
spirit of our Republic revealed itself as a great Friendship.
Alas, just as he was striking his stride as a servant and leader of the
people, God touched him and he fell asleep - plunging the nation and the world
into a bereavement as unexpected as it was profound. Each of us, whether we
agree with the politics of the President or not, felt a sense of personal loss,
as if a near neighbor and old friend had suddenly passed away - leaving us to
wonder at the fleetingness of life and the strange ways of God. He brought the
people close to the Government, and the Government close to the people; he
wanted to foster fellowship, understanding, brotherhood, co-operation between
classes, creeds, nations, races. In short, he was a man and a President to whom
Fraternity was the fundamental need, faith and hope of the nation and the world,
without which chaos comes again; and in this he was a true Master Mason.
To the judgment of statesmen and the verdict of historians we must leave the
final appraisal of the public acts of the President. Leaving these large matters
for some ultimate estimate yet to be made, it is with the more intangible
influences of character and personality that we have to do now; those things
which seem imponderable, but which are more precious that any official act. Such
influences are spiritual, mystical, incalculable, but they are beyond all price
and make it worth our time to live.
As has been said, the President was a great fraternalist, alike by
temperament and by the habit of his life. Brotherliness was native to his
spirit, and he was a Mason in his heart, as all men should be, long before he
was made a Mason, in the Lodge. "I like the atmosphere of Fraternity," he said
in one of his last speeches; and that was no affectation, but the literal truth
of the man. "I think I know the very soul of Masonry," he said in his address to
the Imperial Council of the Shrine; and he rejoiced in the great place which
fraternalism in general, and Masonry in particular, has in America. He saw its
value, both as a bulwark against anti-social forces, and as a constructive force
in behalf of social stability and advance. His estimate of Masonry was shown by
the place he held in its fellowship, and the part he took in the assemblies, his
Masonic affiliations being as follows: Marion Lodge No. 70, F. & A.M., Marion,
Ohio; Marion Chapter No. 62, R.A.M., Marion, Ohio; Marion Commandery No. 36, K.T.,
Marion, Ohio; Scioto Consistory, A. & A.S.R., Columbus, Ohio; Aladdin Temple,
A.A.O.N.M.S., Columbus, Ohio. Honorary Member Albert Pike Lodge No. 36, A.F. &
A.M., Washington, D.C.; Columbia Chapter No. 1, R.A.M., Washington, D.C., and
Almas Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S., Washington, D.C.
The President was elected to receive the Thirty-Third Degree of the Scottish
Rite in 1920, but owing to the illness of Mrs. Harding, was unable to be present
at the conferring of the Degree at Cleveland. It was his intention to attend the
session of the Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction, in New York in the
autumn, to receive the Degree; but in the hearts of his Brethren he had already
been crowned with the highest Degree within the gift of the Fraternity, as much
for his spirit and character as for his devotion to the Craft. At the time of
his raising, and on various Masonic occasions, he left many expressions of his
vision of Masonry, one of which, in his address to the Shrine, is as follows:
"No man ever took the oaths and subscribed to the obligations with greater
watchfulness and care than I exercised in receiving the various rites of
Masonry; and I say it with due deliberation and without fear of breaking faith.
I have never encountered a lesson, never witnessed an example, never heard an
obligation uttered which could not be openly proclaimed to the world. More, if
the lessons taught were heeded, if the obligations read were assumed, if the
relationships urged were adopted men would be infinitely better in their
relationships.
"There is an honest, righteous and just fraternal life in America. It
embraces millions of men and women, and a hundred fraternal organizations extend
their influence into more than a third of our American homes, and make ours a
better Republic for their influences. Fraternity is inherent in man. It is our
obligation to make the most of it for human betterment . . . In the Lodge room
there is molded what becomes public opinion, and contributes to the moving
forces of developing civilization.
"I wish somehow we could have fraternity among nations, as it is taught in
America among men. I do not mean to employ sign, grip and password; which afford
an appealing mystery to our relationship, but the insistent demand for just
dealing, the respect for the rights of others, and the ideals of brotherhood
recited in the Golden Rule, and the righteous fellow- relationship which every
man knows his God approves. Under such a reign of fraternity cruel human warfare
will never come again."
Naturally, the President had a special affinity for the stately Order of the
Knights Templar, in which two of the most beautiful things in the world are
united - Freemasonry and Christianity. He was a Christian, holding his faith
with the simplicity of a little child - wherein he was wiser than any
philosophers - striving to live by its high principles, in private life and
public office; and he died in its great assurance of the life immortal. Three
days prior to his inauguration, at Marion, Ohio, the Order of the Temple was
conferred upon him. After the conclusion of the ceremonies he addressed the
assembled Templars as follows:
"Sir Knights: It seems for a moment as though Masonry must have been designed
for my helpfulness at this particular time. If I have had a thought that I
believed was my own, in all sincerity of a man's soul I believe that I have had
the thought approaching my great responsibility in humility and faith; and I
come tonight to the Temple of this splendid Knighthood and find it teaching me
and empha-sizing those things I have been thinking. And so I have come to the
new assurance and new confidence in the knowledge that the manhood of America
which bears the stamp of Masonry is back of me.
"I thought while the Eminent Commander was speaking of the Flag, that he need
not worry about the Flag. All America is consecrated to the Flag, and I promise
you, though I may fail you in many ways, God knows I will not fail you in that
one thing. While I love peace no less than any man on earth - While I think
peace is the greatest thing to be thought of - I should have no hesitancy to
draw this sword in the preservation of our national honor.
"Have you ever stopped to think that tradition seldom preserves anything not
worth while? Oh, how beautiful is the story of Christ, and how you can bring it
home to every man! Every man has his Gethsemane. Every man has his cross to
bear, and the measure of his manhood is the way he bears it. Men are crucified
every day, as was Christ; and, while they do not rise again, perhaps, in the
same great way, any man who performs his service to Christ never fails to live
again.
"Knighthood is no more forgotten today than when it flourished in its outward
manifestation. I believe the world is everlastingly growing better. The Order of
the Temple made a great impression upon me. One of the twelve chosen apostles
privileged to be with the Master daily, failed, and today we do not expect one
man in twelve, or indeed, one in many more than twelve to fail. We are going on
to a finer and better order in the world. The World War isn't chargeable to the
Christian Religion, but to the failure of those who profess it. Too often we
take an obligation carelessly. Too often we do not give it the consideration
which we should. "I am mindful tonight that three days hence I am to take an
oath - a solemn one, one that no man can approach without solemn thought. I mean
to take that obligation to defend and preserve in humility and faith; and in
love of truth. I want your help. I want you to realize that the next
administration of the greatest land on earth is yours, not mine; it's that of
one hundred million, and I want the help of all of them."
His last address, read by his secretary almost at the hour when he passed
away, was in presentation of a traveling banner, of which he was the honored
bearer, from the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar of Ohio, to the Grand
Commandery of California, at Hollywood, on the afternoon of August 2nd. The
banner was inscribed with the text, "Not unto us, O Lord, Not unto us; but unto
Thy Name be the glory;" and the President said:
"We should glorify the Holy Name, not by words, not by praise, not by display
of arms, but by deeds of service in behalf of human brotherhood. Christ, the
great Exemplar of our Order, repeatedly urged this truth upon his hearers. There
was nothing mystical or mythical in the code of living preached by Jesus Christ.
The lessons He taught were so simple and plain, so fashioned to be understood by
the humblest of men, that they appealed to the reason and emo-tions of all. His
words to the fishermen bore conviction to the learned men of the Roman bench.
All his teachings were based upon the broad ground of fraternalism, and justice,
and understanding from which flows peace, always. 'A new commandment I give unto
you, that ye love one another.' Surely this is 'all the Law and the Gospel.'. .
.With the universal observance of Christ's commandment we would have the
essentials of all religions. Perhaps I will best express my thought if I say we
need less of sectarianism, less of demoninationalism, less of fanatical zeal and
its exactions, and more of the Christ spirit, more of the Christ practice, and a
new and abiding consecration to reverence for God."
Thus passed President Harding, Friend and Brother; on his lips words of love
to man and faith to God, leaving a legacy of honorable character and gracious
service. All the Craft unite in the words, "Hail and Farewell, until we meet in
the Great White Lodge," the while we wonder in our hearts what it must be like
to be past death - to have accomplished that one amazing act which we have yet
undone before us, and which awaits our adventure - to know what that awful and
mysterious thing is, and that its pains and terrors are gone past forever. For,
whether we be Presidents or peasants, walking in high or humble lot, these
things will pass away like a dream of the night, leaving only the Eternal God
and the immortal soul, and the loves and fellowships of these many days and
years!
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