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+Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati
+
+Author: Warren C. Herrick
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26980]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK H. NELSON OF CINCINNATI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Barbara Kosker and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+FRANK NELSON _of_ CINCINNATI
+
+
+  _Writing is the offspring of thought, the lamp of
+  remembrance, the tongue of him that is far-off, and
+  the life of him whose age has been blotted out._
+
+
+  --_Anon_
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+  _Frank H Nelson
+  of CINCINNATI_
+
+
+  _by_
+
+
+  WARREN C. HERRICK
+  _a sometime Assistant_
+
+
+
+  _With A Foreword
+  by Charles P. Taft_
+
+
+  LOUISVILLE · THE CLOISTER PRESS · MCMXLV
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1945, BY
+
+
+  The Cloister Press
+
+
+  _All rights reserved. No part of this
+  book may be reproduced without the
+  written permission of The Cloister Press._
+
+
+  [Illustration: _The Cloister Press_
+  VITAL BOOKS]
+
+
+  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+  _To My Wife_
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+                                                 Page
+
+  1. "Arise, and go into the city"                2
+
+  2. Reclaiming A Church to Meet A New Age       14
+
+  3. The Shepherd Among His Flock                30
+
+  4. The Spokesman of The City's Conscience      42
+
+  5. They Came to Be in His Presence             62
+
+  6. Beyond Cincinnati                           76
+
+  7. The Mystery of Personality                  88
+
+  8. Last Years                                 102
+
+  9. The Afterglow                              110
+
+
+
+
+ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
+
+
+This book is made possible only through the interest and contributions
+of the many friends of Frank H. Nelson. Space does not permit my
+mentioning by name all who have furnished me with material, but I do
+wish to record my gratitude to them. In addition to the years 1925-1928
+as Mr. Nelson's assistant I spent two weeks in the autumn of 1943
+interviewing a cross-section of Cincinnati and Christ Church. Many
+business men gladly gave of their time because they enjoyed recounting
+memories of one whom they loved, and often detained me when I felt I had
+imposed myself long enough. I noticed also that Mr. Nelson's photograph
+occupied a place of honor in more than one office as well as in many
+homes.
+
+There are others far better qualified than I to write this story, and I
+accepted the task, though with a keen sense of my inadequacy, first,
+because Mrs. Nelson honored me with the request, and second because I
+have the strong conviction that it should be done for the sake of those
+who knew Mr. Nelson, and also for those of a succeeding generation who
+ought to know how one minister more than met the requirements of an
+exacting profession. Furthermore, I have written as one who owes an
+incalculable debt, and, therefore, cannot be wholly objective. While I
+have endeavored not to make this biography a eulogy, it is frankly his
+life as I saw it, and depicts one whom I loved, admired, and have tried
+to follow.
+
+For innumerable suggestions and for valuable material I am particularly
+grateful to Mrs. Frank H. Nelson, to Mr. Nelson's sisters, Miss
+Margaret[1] and Miss Dorothea Nelson, and to Mr. Howard N. Bacon, who
+have helped me more than perhaps they know. Then there is the pleasant
+duty of expressing my thanks to Mr. Charles P. Taft, the Junior Warden
+of Christ Church, Cincinnati, for writing the foreword; to the Vestry of
+Trinity Church, Melrose, Massachusetts for gladly granting me a leave of
+absence in 1943, and to Mrs. E. Howard Favor, my secretary, for the
+typing cheerfully undertaken. In the labor of preparing the final draft
+for the publishers I shall ever remember with gratitude the careful
+thought and skillful phrasing of Miss Mary Putnam of the English
+Department of the Melrose High School whose corrections and amendments
+were nothing less than creative. Finally, I wish to let stand my
+heartfelt thanks to the Right Reverend Henry Knox Sherrill, Bishop of
+Massachusetts, without whose encouragement and advice this little book
+could not have been written.
+
+  WARREN C. HERRICK
+
+  _Trinity Church_,
+  _Melrose, Massachusetts_;
+  1945.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Deceased, July 6, 1945.
+
+
+
+
+A FOREWORD
+
+
+How does one life affect another?
+
+I have tried to remember what Frank Nelson directly asked me to do. He
+asked me to teach in the Sunday School, and I did it. Gradually I found
+myself studying out an intellectual foundation for faith in God. He
+never said anything to me about that, except from the pulpit. He wrote
+me asking that I act as captain in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I
+answered that I could not. But the next thing I remember was being a
+visitor in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I was always in it after that.
+He asked me to serve on the Vestry, and somehow made me feel that
+nothing except being really sick was an excuse for not being there.
+
+Certainly he never exhorted people to be civic patriots or reformers,
+and save the city. He just gave you such a human picture of the teeming
+life of a great city that it made a tear come to your eye to think of
+what the city could be at its best, and it made you love it and the
+people in it. Your own actions in civic affairs just naturally followed.
+
+He wasn't an exhorter of virtue, but he made of clean living and noble
+service such a fascinating objective that people went to work on their
+own problems with fresh faith.
+
+The only time I recall he was really annoyed with me was when I had an
+emergency operation for appendicitis in the middle of the night, and
+didn't let him know until the next day. He was my minister, and that
+meant _minister_. After that, when I had a major choice to make, I felt
+I was risking his disappointment unless I went down to talk to him about
+it.
+
+He didn't want me to go to a great school as headmaster. "The city is
+the place that needs service and talents," said he. To that he had given
+his life, in the personal contact with his parish. His life stands as a
+symbol of the way a true love of home and community is tied to a love of
+all God's children everywhere.
+
+  CHARLES P. TAFT
+
+
+
+
+  _Arise, And Go
+  Into The City_
+
+
+  "_Arise, And Go Into The City_"
+
+  --_Acts 9:6_
+
+
+  1
+
+
+"Tell the rector of Christ Church that if he doesn't call off the
+Woman's Club, I'll bring the women of the streets to the polls." And he
+added, "He knows I can do it." The boss of old Ward Eight, in which
+Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Cincinnati is located, had become
+alarmed by a serious threat to his power. Although this incident took
+place long before the coming of universal suffrage, Reverend Frank H.
+Nelson, the young rector, had discovered that women had a legal right to
+vote in public school matters. Following his leadership, the Woman's
+Club of Christ Church was actively supporting as a candidate for the
+Board of Education John R. Schindel, a fearless young lawyer in the
+Ward. This independent action was an open challenge to the dominance of
+the boss of Ward Eight, Mike Mullen. Though the courageous lawyer was
+defeated, and without the aid of the women of the streets, the affair
+was one of many which presaged the uprising that eventually wrenched the
+control of Cincinnati from the hands of one of the most notorious
+political gangs in American democracy.
+
+A second "passage of arms" between the rector and Boss Mullen had its
+origin in the work of Christ Church among boys, and ultimately involved
+the boss of the entire city and his powerful machine. The privilege of
+running gambling games throughout Cincinnati had been alloted to one of
+the higher-ups in the organization. Within a block of the Parish House
+of Christ Church was a flourishing candy store, so-called, but the chief
+"confection" was a crap game run for the boys of the neighborhood under
+the direction of a member of the City Council, and with the knowledge
+and acquiescence of the police department. It was inevitable that some
+members of Christ Church Boys' Clubs should lose their earnings, and
+whatever of character the church was building up was thus broken down.
+To meet this danger, Mr. Nelson organized a good citizenship club among
+his parishioners. The members made a survey of the gambling places which
+were catering especially to boys, and found nearly one hundred
+throughout the city. The publication of their findings was one of many
+"shots heard 'round the ward."[2] When in later years Frank Nelson spoke
+for the City Charter or Reform Party, he knew from first-hand experience
+the moral and spiritual influence of good government in the lives of
+boys and young men. Behind the youthful clergyman's deep concern for
+decent government was a vital religious faith, without which he was
+convinced social service and reform work can never attain the best
+results.
+
+Frank H. Nelson was Rector of Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1900
+to 1939, having been the assistant minister in the year 1899. These
+forty years in the one parish constitute a career seldom paralleled for
+breadth of vision and devoted service. He became one of the first
+citizens of a great city, a crusader for honest municipal government,
+and the foremost Protestant clergyman. For the understanding of his
+ministry and of his religious convictions, one must know something of
+his early life and family, and the preparatory years.
+
+Frank Howard Nelson was born in Hartford, Connecticut on September 6,
+1869. His father, Henry Wells Nelson, the nephew of the Reverend E. M.
+P. Wells, a pioneer in early Christian social service in Boston, was the
+Rector of the Church of The Good Shepherd in Hartford. Before Frank was
+ten years old, his father accepted a call to Trinity Church, Geneva, New
+York, and there exercised a distinguished ministry for twenty-five
+years. Geneva, an attractive college town situated on lovely Seneca
+Lake, was an ideal place in which to bring up a family. There were five
+children: Margaret, George, Frank, Mary, and Dorothea. George now lives
+in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Mary, who married Edward L. Pierce,
+lives in Princeton, New Jersey. After the father's retirement, Margaret
+and Dorothea lived with their parents in the family home at North
+Marshfield, Massachusetts where they still reside. Frank was not a
+strong child, but in the freedom and simplicity of the life which a
+small town affords, he gained strength rapidly. A sister relates that
+he was unusually venturesome, and sometimes horrified timid ladies in
+the parish by walking on stilts on open rafters, and by frequenting the
+canal, where once he fell in and was pulled out by a bargee. As all boys
+do, he roamed the environs of his home with his chums, occasionally
+pilfering fruit and getting into all kinds of mischief; but though other
+boys might go unpunished because of doting parents, he was always firmly
+chastised for his pranks.
+
+The influence of both father and mother upon these strong-minded
+children was vital and enduring. The father possessed that happy
+combination of gaiety and goodness that commends religion. As he was
+deeply and naturally spiritual himself, the expression of religion in
+his home and parish was unusually beautiful and appealing. The last
+twenty-five years of his life were spent in blindness, but his courage
+and his deepened understanding of the ways of God because of this
+affliction led him to a thankful acceptance of his limitation; and his
+continuing interest in people "made the latter years of his ministry,"
+to quote Bishop Lawrence, "as fruitful as the more active ones." His
+devoted wife, who was Hortense Chew Lewis of New London, Connecticut,
+guided the children through their formative years with skill and
+understanding. She was an intelligent mother, discriminating in taste
+and judgment. Because of her abounding love of good literature, the
+family passed many delightful evenings in listening to her readings from
+Scott, Milton, Shakespeare and many other great writers. Her fine gifts
+of interpretation made the masterpieces of English prose and poetry come
+alive. In later years, Christ Church people were to love Frank Nelson's
+readings at Christmas parties in the parish house and in his own home.
+The older he grew the deeper became his appreciation of the character of
+his parents. An intimate friend once said to him, "You are a fortunate
+and a blessed man to have had such a father and mother."
+
+The family was privileged in possessing means beyond a minister's
+salary, and Frank, at the age of thirteen, was sent to aristocratic St.
+Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. The headmaster, Dr. Henry A.
+Coit, an austere and exacting teacher of the old New England type,
+stimulated the natural student, and under his influence Nelson achieved
+a scholastic standing among the first five in his class. He was not
+particularly skillful in athletics, and had even then a cough which
+persisted throughout his life. The lad was not noticeably popular, and
+had more than the average measure of shyness peculiar to adolescence. He
+was extremely sensitive, somewhat unhappy, and in many accomplishments
+and activities was overshadowed by his older brother who was in the same
+school.
+
+In the fall of 1886, upon graduation from St. Paul's School, Frank
+returned to Geneva and entered Hobart College, a small church college of
+considerable standing. There he began to find himself, and became one of
+the popular men in his class and in the Sigma Phi Fraternity. Although
+in college he took more active interest in athletics and participated in
+rowing, tennis, and track, he never excelled in sports. At his
+graduation in 1890 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, _Magna
+Cum Laude_, being valedictorian and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
+Throughout his life he maintained relationships with his Alma Mater,
+coming to know the successive presidents, and in 1907 was instrumental
+in securing a large gift for a new gymnasium. Still later he refused the
+presidency of the college. In 1906 Hobart bestowed upon him the honorary
+degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology.
+
+In the course of his undergraduate days at Hobart, Frank Nelson had
+seriously considered the profession of the ministry, but graduation
+found him still undecided. As it turned out, the summer following the
+close of his college years was one of critical importance to his entire
+life. He accompanied a surveying expedition to the state of Washington.
+The party put up for a while in Merrysville, a rough-mannered,
+tough-living town of the old West. Into this place there came one day a
+circuit rider who fearlessly preached the Gospel in the face of
+opposition and outright hostility. This Methodist minister was utterly
+sincere, and Nelson saw what could be done by the sheer power of the
+spirit against the forces of evil. It surged over him that a man can
+hold the mastery over wrong, an inner conviction which at the same time
+was set aflame by a Communion Service held for the surveyors in the
+out-of-doors. The circumstances and surroundings were strikingly
+different from those associated in his mind with such a service.
+Possibly for the first time in his life he was intensely conscious of
+the presence of God. As in all such experiences the vision illumined and
+deepened his thinking and living. It has been said that in all great
+Christian leaders and reformers are found two elements: "The imperious
+commission from above, and the tumultuous experience within." Both these
+elements were present in the experiences of that eventful summer, and
+all Frank Nelson's doubts and waverings concerning the ministry were
+resolved. He returned East aware of being called to preach the Gospel.
+In the light of this happening one is not surprised that later when a
+professor dogmatically stated that there could be no true Sacrament
+without the Apostolic Succession, Nelson walked out of the classroom
+saying to himself, "It is a lie." To those who knew him through his
+forty years' ministry in Christ Church, this experience in the far West
+sheds light upon his burning sense of mission, for in those hours of
+inward tumult he had come close to God in the breaking of bread and in
+the society of his fellows, conditions which he preached throughout his
+life as being always the essence of fellowship with God.
+
+On September 18, 1890, he matriculated at the General Theological
+Seminary in New York City. The General Seminary is directly under the
+government of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, and while
+it has always been characterized by a conservative type of
+churchmanship, all shades of opinion were and are to be found within its
+faculty and student body. At this time the respectability of the
+Episcopal Church was considered an asset and not a liability, and the
+Seminary community was in the social forefront. When an upstanding man
+like Frank Nelson, whose background was well-known and whose
+intellectual gifts and social graces were obvious, entered this
+environment, it was inevitable that he should immediately take a leading
+place in the undergraduate body. His tall, commanding figure naturally
+attracted notice, and within a few days he was elected president of his
+class. There was magnetism in his personality, and he was soon welcomed
+among the socially distinguished in both seminary and city. His
+fellow-students at General, when speculating about the future, as
+students do, always considered him destined for the highest office of
+the church; throughout those now remote years he clearly revealed the
+qualities of the born leader. His class was a notable one, and through
+the passing years gave a good account of itself, listing four bishops
+and ten honorary degrees, Frank Nelson himself receiving the degree of
+Doctor of Sacred Theology from the General Seminary in 1934.
+
+As a student he excelled in Pastoral Theology, Biblical Learning and
+Evidences, subjects which in their nature give some indication of his
+intensely human interest in all aspects of life. Like many theological
+students, he was groping and feeling his way through the multiple
+problems that center upon man in the light of God. One of his classmates
+says that the curriculum and the methods of instruction in that day bear
+poor comparison to modern standards, but Nelson, unlike many students,
+was never in a state of open or even tacit rebellion. He did his work
+faithfully and well. He was graduated in 1894, but for some reason was
+not present at Commencement to receive the degree of Bachelor of Sacred
+Theology, which is the mark of scholastic distinction at General. On May
+19, 1894, he was made a deacon in his father's church in Geneva, New
+York by the Right Reverend Arthur Cleveland Coxe, the Bishop of Western
+New York. During his senior year he had assumed work on the staff of St.
+George's Church, New York City, and after his ordination was quickly
+absorbed into the work of that great parish. Because he did not feel
+ready, Frank Nelson, at his own request, was not advanced to the
+priesthood until November 14, 1897, when he was so ordered in St.
+George's Church by Bishop Henry Codman Potter of the Diocese of New
+York.
+
+Another important element in Mr. Nelson's preparation for his unique
+ministry in Cincinnati was this experience on the staff of St. George's
+Church from 1894 to 1899 under the prophetic leadership of the Reverend
+William S. Rainsford. This notable rector possessed unusual gifts and
+exerted an incalculable influence upon the Episcopal Church. He gathered
+about him a group of young men the like of whom has never been found
+elsewhere. St. George's stands as the pioneer of what was known as the
+"institutional church," and in the midst of the teeming activities of
+the parish house and a heterogeneous congregation, Dr. Rainsford set
+loose his young and enthusiastic assistants. They experienced a training
+comparable to the clinical instruction gained by an intern in a modern
+hospital. Under his tutelage these men received a course in applied
+religion, and their rector set a standard of preaching, parish
+administration, and pastoral care that not one of his "boys," as he
+called them, failed to practice in an unusual manner. Dr. Rainsford's
+impassioned preaching of the essentials of Christianity as opposed to
+those aspects which are merely traditional, and his forceful efforts,
+radical for those times, to democratize a conventional Episcopal parish
+were significant contributions to church life throughout America.
+
+Although Dr. Rainsford exerted a lasting influence upon all his young
+assistants, he set his stamp to a marked degree upon Frank Nelson. For
+the first time in his life this young man, the choicest flowering of a
+cultured home, lived among the underprivileged, spending his afternoons
+climbing interminable tenement stairs, and his evenings in the parish
+house. He came to know poverty and squalor and the honest worth of
+struggling humanity. If "The Rector," as Dr. Rainsford's "boys" called
+him, bade them preach on the street corners, he himself had done the
+same. His example and his personal religious faith were those of a
+living St. George touched with the heart-stirring Gospel of Love. Under
+him young Nelson found the services and work of the church taking on a
+meaning that was like a cool, refreshing breeze. Things concerning the
+Church, doctrine, and ritual, which had formerly perplexed his youthful
+mind, now seemed subordinate.
+
+Dr. Rainsford evoked a loyalty which held his young men long after they
+had "graduated," and when he died in 1933 at the age of eighty-three,
+many of his former assistants were in the chancel of old St. George's
+for the burial service. One who was present said, "We shall not see a
+service like that again, for we shall never see and know another
+Rainsford." Eulogies are not customary at funerals in Episcopal
+Churches, but on this occasion the tradition was fittingly broken, and
+Mr. Nelson delivered a brief address from the pulpit in a breaking
+voice, barely audible at times. In this very moving tribute, the speaker
+reveals much of himself:
+
+  I am not here to presume to speak of the man we loved in any
+  formal way; to try to weigh the imponderable, to measure the
+  immeasurable--but only to say a word out of our hearts of
+  thanksgiving to God that the rector was our rector in the days
+  that are passed, was The Rector always and will be always, for
+  those who knew him, who loved him, to whom he gave that
+  tremendous love of his.
+
+  A book was written by a friend of his some years ago, and the
+  dedication of that book was this: "To William Stephen Rainsford,
+  who has seen the Christ and has shown Him to men."
+
+  I know of no more perfect description of the rector than that.
+  For twenty years and more of his rectorship in this great parish
+  he showed Christ to men; showed Him in the incomparable words
+  that he poured forth Sunday after Sunday and year after year from
+  this pulpit--in his great concern for the men and women and
+  little children; for the strong and for the weak; for the wise
+  and the foolish; for the saints and the sinners; for those who
+  labor and were hungry and perplexed, and were strained by the
+  tasks of life. They came here week by week; they heard from him
+  the words that refreshed them and sent them back with courage and
+  with faith in God and in man, to the tasks that were breaking
+  them, to the problems that were perplexing them.
+
+  I suppose that to every one of us who knew him in his great days
+  here and have known him in the years since, the one supreme thing
+  that poured out of his life was his love of God. Not the love of
+  God that theologians speak of, that men reason about, but that
+  pure love that a man gives to his friend, to his loved
+  ones--personal, intense, vital, real.
+
+  We came here church people, professing the Christian faith,
+  thinking we believed in God and in His son, Jesus Christ, and as
+  we sat under the rector here Sunday after Sunday, we came to know
+  that our profession was a form of sound words, that in him was
+  the form of unsound words, but that he poured forth _reality_ for
+  the thing that we _professed_ to believe in, and he helped us to
+  see the real work of God, the real passionate love of God for
+  men--not for the chosen few, but the weak, the broken, the
+  struggling--those in sorrow and the hungry--the love of God that
+  drove him to lay down his life as few men had laid down their
+  lives before. He gave of himself without stint, rejoicing in the
+  chance to serve his God and his fellowmen with his whole heart
+  and soul, with such passionate devotion that at last broke
+  through his own conventional beliefs and tore them to shreds, and
+  made him the voice of the living God, to us in St. George's, to
+  New York and to America.
+
+  In the great days of his preaching, he took us who were his
+  clergy--young, inexperienced and conceited--and made us over. He
+  took us, to whom religion was a profession, and made of it a
+  passion. He was ever patient with us, giving us his best; day
+  after day walking with us around Stuyvesant Square in the
+  morning, sometimes for hours, and then pouring out to us as we
+  walked the best religious thought of his time, his judgment on
+  the questions of the day, his interpretations of religion and the
+  tremendous work of the church as a gift that God had put into the
+  souls of men for service to their fellowmen.
+
+  He told us of his thought for men and women, of the problems of
+  the time, of the problems of the church--not conventional, but
+  vital, not formal, but distinctly real--and then he would take us
+  into his study and we would kneel there. And never have I heard a
+  man pray as the rector prayed--without any of the ecclesiastical
+  technique and form of prayer, without any formal discussions of
+  the value of prayer, but pouring out the things that we had been
+  talking of; as real to God as they were real to us, bringing into
+  them God; God's companionship, God's sympathy, God's
+  understanding and patience; God's ruthless will that we should
+  love our fellowmen and serve our fellowmen--without name, without
+  a distinction.
+
+  That is the vivid life, a little of it, that we lived with, which
+  made God real to New York and to us here at St. George's, and to
+  his clergy. God has taken him home, and we meet here, every one
+  of us, because the rector--broken though he was in these later
+  years--because the rector, whose great and lovely smile we had
+  loved to see, as we had loved just to touch his hand to gain
+  strength, courage, faith and joy--because we cannot do that any
+  more. His work is done and God gives him a safe lodging and he
+  shall rest in peace to the last. Thank God who gave him to us, to
+  know and to love, that we might be lifted by him to find God and
+  Jesus through him.
+
+  He wrote a little prayer, and in closing I am going to read it
+  and ask you to join with me in making it our own. Let us pray:
+
+  Heavenly Father, I am trying to do right and be right and help
+  others to be right. Give me my daily bread. I am Thy child; Thy
+  little, weak child. Give me Thy strength; Thy patience; Thy
+  wisdom; Thy love--that with confidence and with joy I may do the
+  work Thou hast given me to do in my home and among men. Amen.[3]
+
+The charter of Frank Nelson's future is set forth in the impression he
+made at the General Theological Seminary, and in the zest and
+enlargement of vision which characterized his five years under Dr.
+Rainsford at St. George's. When the opportunity presented itself to
+create in Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio a work similar to that of St.
+George's, he displayed a characteristically wise judgment in making his
+decision. Henceforth he was to live "in the upper story" of that
+decision, conceiving of his work as a mission to the city, and pursuing
+it with a fidelity and a diligence that ranked him as an unusual servant
+of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] For these stories I am indebted to the Rev. J. Howard Melish, D.D.
+whose forthright denunciations of political corruption in Cincinnati
+were further "shots heard 'round" the city.
+
+[3] _The Churchman_, January 1st, 1934.
+
+
+
+
+  _Reclaiming A Church
+  To Meet A New Age_
+
+
+  "_By the grace of God, and the loyalty of the
+  members of Christ Church I was enabled to
+  carry on the work when Alexis Stein had to
+  give it up._"
+
+  --_Frank H. Nelson_
+
+
+  2
+
+
+The surging currents of city life had left old Christ Church in a back
+eddy, and certain leaders including the senior warden advocated selling
+the property or turning it over to the Diocese for a mission. The
+population, as in many another American city, was shifting from the
+downtown district, and many believed that the parish had seen its best
+days. In those late nineties, parishioners of wealth and prominence were
+moving to the suburbs; the older, conservative members still attended
+the morning service, but the young people either attached themselves to
+churches nearer their residences or were drifting away from church
+affiliations altogether.
+
+Christ Church was established in 1817 when Cincinnati was a small river
+town of nine thousand inhabitants; looking at the present church
+building which seats over one thousand people and is flanked by an
+enormous and ever busy parish house, one finds it difficult to picture
+Bishop Philander Chase meeting in that year with a group of men in the
+home of Dr. Daniel Drake to lay the foundations of what was to become
+one of the largest parishes in the Middle West. The first services were
+held in a cotton factory, and the church slowly developed into a strong
+parish, small in numbers but served by several very able rectors, one of
+whom later became the Bishop of Virginia. As the first Episcopal Church
+to be founded in Cincinnati, it was the parent of a number of other
+parishes; but at the close of the nineteenth century it appeared that
+the "mother-church" was about finished. Churches of other communions
+located in the downtown district were going through the same transition.
+The slump in finances by reason of removals created something akin to
+panic in the fearful and timid vestrymen, but because of some loyal and
+far-sighted women Christ Church was not disbanded. They wanted it to
+mean to their children what it meant to them, and they gave assurance of
+support in substantial ways.
+
+These ardent supporters had a definite vision and plan. In 1897 Dr.
+William S. Rainsford had come on from New York City and had packed old
+Pike's Opera House for a week in Lent, and thrilled his hearers with the
+recital of his efforts to anchor St. George's Church in the heart of
+that great metropolis, and make it free to serve the community. When
+Bishop Vincent of Southern Ohio wrote him about the difficulties of
+Christ Church, he replied with this momentous letter:
+
+  I am going to give you the greatest proof I can of my love and
+  deep interest in Cincinnati. I have a plan for Christ Church.
+  Here it is. Take two of my men--let them work and live together;
+  they could take a mighty strong hold, and do a really good work.
+  I feel sure that in the future many a position of great
+  difficulty can be much better occupied by two men, pulling
+  together, than by one alone. There are two magnificent
+  fellows--dear, dear boys after my own heart--who have been here
+  with me for years; and I shall be lost without them, if you call
+  them. Stein (Alexis) is the ablest preacher of his age (28) in
+  our Church in these United States today. Nelson (Frank) is a
+  strong, capable man, full of energy and charm and a first-class
+  organizer. This is a big idea, my friend; but I believe God may
+  be in it. It is like offering to cut off both my hands for you.
+
+Thus the Reverend Alexis Stein became Rector of Christ Church in
+December, 1898, and within a few weeks of his arrival the people of
+Cincinnati awoke to the mighty fact that a prophet was in their midst;
+the doors of all churches were flung open to him, and everywhere he
+spoke, new interest and hope in the Church were born. Stein has been
+called a modern Savonarola, but, unlike the great reformer, he was
+burned within by the fire of his own consuming message. "He was a
+preacher of most unusual power with a message he burned to give; and a
+vision of truth that made him a leader of men. He loved God and showed
+Him to men; he loved men and led them to God."[4] Before Stein left New
+York, he had asked his friend, Frank Nelson, to join him in the new
+venture, but it was not until May 21, 1899 that he was free to come.
+
+  We came out to Cincinnati because Dr. Rainsford sent us; he told
+  us that we ought to come--not that we wanted to come. Stein and I
+  both had always lived in the East. It was the America that we
+  knew, and it seemed a desirable place to live, just as those of
+  you who have been born here think that Cincinnati is the most
+  desirable place to live, because it is your home. But he, with a
+  larger vision of America, and a larger vision of the calling of
+  God to a man in the ministry, sent us here to do what we
+  could.[5]
+
+In February, 1900, the doctor ordered Alexis Stein out West, a victim of
+tuberculosis. He lived a short twelve years, but was never well enough
+to do more than a little incidental work. This tragedy was a deep,
+personal loss to his young associate, for all through their St. George's
+days they had been the closest of friends. They complemented one another
+and made an ideal team.
+
+Invariably on Good Friday in the course of his address on the Sixth Word
+from The Cross, Frank Nelson spoke of Stein's influence upon him and
+upon Christ Church: "The work he began is witnessed to by you who are
+here. You wouldn't have been here forty years ago or the likes of you
+would not have been here, but he opened the door of life and the spirit
+to the people of this city, as to the members of this church. His work
+goes on. The thing that God wanted him to do he did, and it was
+finished." He expressed himself in more intimate fashion to his friend
+Bishop Touret: "The heart of all its worth (Nelson's own forty years'
+ministry) has been that I was carrying on for Alexis. I've first been
+his assistant in my own mind always, and that has made it possible for
+me to dare to undertake it." If Stein's work was finished, and a prophet
+needs no great length of time, then it was brought to fruition through
+the resolute efforts of this devoted servant who with great humility and
+genuine searchings of heart took up the reins so tragically
+relinquished.
+
+Frank H. Nelson was elected Rector of Christ Church on May 5, 1900. In
+the light of subsequent events his letter of acceptance is of interest:
+
+
+  May 16, 1900
+
+  Gentlemen:
+
+  In a letter from your Secretary, I have been informed of your
+  action of last Saturday, in electing me to succeed the Rev.
+  Alexis Stein, as Rector of Christ Church. That I appreciate very
+  deeply the honor that you have conferred upon me, I do not need
+  to say. I have considered the subject very carefully, and painful
+  to us all though the circumstances are that have led to this, I
+  feel strangely that it is God's work we have undertaken, and that
+  He has led us in it all. I therefore accept the call you have
+  given me, and I believe that working together we can, with God's
+  help, do a real work for Him in this city. For the success of the
+  work I regard two things as essential: the first that the Church
+  shall remain absolutely free, and the second that the lines of
+  work represented by the Parish House shall be continued. I ask
+  your cooperation and support in them both. I am writing the Rev.
+  J. H. Melish to ask him to be my associate. I hope to have him
+  begin his work with us in June. I feel deeply the burden of
+  responsibility, and the great opportunity that your call
+  involves. I can but say that I shall do all in my power to be
+  faithful to both.
+
+Frank Nelson distrusted his own ability. Stein's preaching had packed
+the church, and the numbers drastically declined when his eloquent voice
+was stilled. The Bishop, conscious of the difficult problem confronting
+a downtown church, advised Rev. Mr. Melish not to become associated,
+saying "Stein could have solved it, but Frank Nelson never will." The
+Bishop, however, had not sufficient evidence to gauge the young rector's
+talents, nor could he foresee the capacity of the parish to respond to
+the man's magnetic appeal.
+
+There was at this time not only a break in the center of population in
+the city, but also a shifting of the center of gravity in religion.
+There was dawning a unity of the spirit which led men to break away from
+the orthodox emphasis on creeds, and which strove to express itself in
+many forms; such as parish houses, Christian associations, reforms, and
+educational and missionary movements. Mr. Nelson's mind, being busy with
+the stars, was concerned with the moral and spiritual movement which
+outlasts the stars. He said, "To some of us it seems that Jesus was not
+so much interested in establishing an institution as in revealing a new
+quality of life." Likewise, Frank Nelson was not so much interested in
+being the rector of a large, prosperous parish as in making the church
+an agency for leavening the city's life with the spirit of Jesus Christ.
+He caught the imagination of his people when he pointed to the
+possibility of a church becoming the community center for multitudes in
+the downtown district. In the near neighborhood of Christ Church were
+new offices, factories, and boarding houses, and at the distance of one
+block began the tenement houses where lived the poor and
+underprivileged. He said:
+
+  We owe to them the gift of Christian friendship, of spiritual
+  influence irrespective of religious affiliations. The church
+  should provide not only a place to pray, but to play; a place not
+  only for worship, but for friendship. There are no places for
+  leisure except the streets, saloons, burlesque houses,
+  pool-rooms, public dance halls, or other commercial places of
+  entertainment. The Church is not here for its own sake. It is
+  here to bear witness, and to spread a spirit. It should be the
+  center from which radiate the forces of righteousness and the
+  spirit of brotherhood and every human activity and interest in
+  the community. Therefore, it must speak not to the individual
+  only, but to the business, social, and political problems,
+  dealing with them not from the viewpoint of the economist or
+  political theorist, but from that of the preacher of
+  righteousness. If Christ Church can be a force for righteousness
+  in the city, it matters but little whether it gain in numbers.[6]
+
+"Distinction," it has been said, "is the emphasis put upon qualities by
+circumstances." There were two circumstances which enabled this young
+rector to create in Christ Church, Cincinnati a far-famed chapter in the
+history of American churches and cities. One was his conception of the
+place and function of the modern church in the new age, as just
+outlined. It has been the reproach of the Protestant Churches that they
+have too largely attracted only the well-to-do and middle classes. Frank
+Nelson made Christ Church a place where rich and poor met on equal
+footing. Drawn by his personality, both responded to his vision. There
+was something about working in his parish that gave people a peculiar
+zest and joy in living. There was, for instance, a Jewish lad in the
+Sunday School, (Mr. Nelson never liked the term Church School) who after
+his marriage came every Christmas to Christ Church with his wife and two
+children. He proudly introduced them to Mr. Nelson, saying, "Though I am
+a Jew, this is my church!"
+
+On the other hand, Mr. Nelson's special gifts as a rector were developed
+and brought into full flower in Christ Church because of the many
+remarkable people who formed the backbone of his parish. In point of
+numbers and in ability, they were an unusual group, a group
+characterized by breadth of vision, and by a faith sufficient for them
+to carry through the bold projects outlined by their leader. Many were
+blessed with abundant means, and, above all, were filled with a
+consummate loyalty and affection for their church. In this happy
+partnership of pastor and parish, each inspired the other to great
+accomplishment. The older members who were in the parish at the
+beginning of Mr. Nelson's rectorship were vigorous, strong-minded people
+accustomed to having their own way. They hewed to the old lines,
+suspicious of change. With his deep sense of loyalty, Mr. Nelson felt
+bound to maintain the sort of practices and low-church ceremony which
+prevailed when he took over, but such was his adroitness, skill and tact
+in leading them that he won their complete confidence and trust, and
+they gave him an unreserved support as well as a free hand in many
+things. This unbounded support of his early work he never forgot; nor
+did he let his appreciation diminish with the success of later years. In
+the course of the observances that marked his forty years as rector, he
+said of them:
+
+  We found here, as the days went on, a group of people that I
+  think have never been equaled. Not a very large group of people,
+  but a group of people who gave us freedom--freedom to speak the
+  thing that was in our minds: to do the things that we believed
+  the Church ought to do and to stand for in the heart of a great
+  city.
+
+A new parish house had been erected as Alexis Stein's rectorship closed,
+and Mr. Nelson's organizing abilities made it hum. With the assistance
+of the Rev. J. Howard Melish, the most competent of all his clerical
+assistants, a Men's Club was organized, and became a mecca for the young
+men of the city. For those of small means, it was the only sort of club
+available, and was thrown open to every race and creed. In 1901 the
+yearly attendance was 7,000, and by 1903 it had grown to 16,973. In line
+with the policy of a community center, the Club included members of all
+faiths, Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic. The Roman priest was always
+notified of Catholics joining the club and informed that no proselyting
+was intended, but rather that it was hoped these young men would become
+better members of their own church. Athletic grounds were secured
+together with a field-house, and Christ Church teams won an enviable
+reputation for high standards of sportsmanship. Their spirit may be
+judged by the story of a football player who waxed into colorful
+profanity in the heat of a game and was bawled out by a Roman Catholic
+teammate in terse words: "Don't you know who you represent?" During an
+interim when another parish house was being built, Christ Church
+basketball teams used the Holy Cross Monastery Hall for an entire year,
+with the full approval of the Roman authorities and the gratitude of Mr.
+Nelson. At that time, the captain of the Christ Church team, John M.
+Cronin, was a prefect of the St. Xavier Sodality and also the secretary
+of the Christ Church Men's Club. By 1911 it was necessary to limit the
+Club's membership to six hundred, and there was always a long waiting
+list. The social atmosphere, the entertainments, the athletic record,
+the camp established by the church on the Miami River made this club one
+of the most popular in the city. Mr. Nelson and Mr. Melish spent untold
+hours in the work and gained an intimate knowledge of the individual
+members and their views, particularly on labor questions. The men
+expressed themselves freely, and at the close of an evening's discussion
+Mr. Nelson would gather up the points of argument into a clear and
+effective summary easily understood and remembered. It was in this club
+that a small group once earnestly discussed how they might best help a
+member when he should be released from a prison term which he was
+serving. Nothing gratified the rector more than this sort of human
+comradeship because it is the very essence of the Christian fellowship
+which he was striving to implant.
+
+As time went on, an increasing number of girls and young women entering
+the business world created a social problem which weighed heavily on the
+rector's mind and heart. Knowing the special conditions which these
+young women must meet in a large city, he applied grave thought and much
+energy to the study of their needs and to the opportunity which Christ
+Church had in meeting them. Finding nothing for them socially in the
+city except the Y.W.C.A., some distance away, he sent invitations to
+department stores for a meeting at the parish house. At this meeting he
+proposed to establish a branch of the Girls' Friendly Society which is
+found throughout the Episcopal Church and which exists for social and
+educational purposes. Mr. Nelson gave himself particularly to this
+organization. He gathered a set of workers in the parish, women of
+character and cultural background, who became the leaders and friends of
+the various groups. He was a frequent visitor at meetings and often
+conducted a question box. He encouraged the members to make it one of
+their prime objectives to work for the city's interest. The rapid growth
+of the Society enabled it to support a bed in the Children's Hospital,
+to finance the Vacation House on the Ohio River, and to promote other
+civic projects. The Christ Church organization became one of the largest
+and most active branches in the national society, and had a succession
+of remarkable directors, such as Deaconess Lloyd and Miss Alice Simrall.
+Mr. Nelson's faith and incomparable friendship as well as his careful
+planning made the Girls' Friendly a strong and useful force in
+Cincinnati and an influence in the national body.
+
+In those days the public schools provided nothing in the way of training
+in the practical arts, and a large work along these lines was carried on
+among the boys and girls who lived in the districts adjacent to Christ
+Church. The Sewing School, for instance, grew in membership in three
+years from twenty-four to over two hundred under unfavorable conditions
+in the already cramped parish house. When the College Settlement on
+Third Street closed, the church took over its kindergarten equipment and
+its list of members, and every morning gathered in the children of
+pre-school age.
+
+When some people said it was a mistake to make a parish house a
+community center, because in their minds it was being used only for
+social purposes, Mr. Nelson's scorn was beautiful to hear. He asserted,
+"The Church claims to be the Body of Christ, doesn't it? How did our
+Lord regard His body? He used it freely with no thought of preserving
+it, even to the final extent of hanging it upon a Cross. This is the
+only way, His Way, that the Church will have eternal life."
+
+Not many years passed before it became apparent that the parish house,
+though not an old building, was literally worn out and was entirely
+inadequate for such an extensive work. In 1907 Mr. Nelson announced the
+gift of a new parish house from Mrs. Thomas J. Emery, a devoted member
+of the church. So munificent a gift had rarely been equaled anywhere.
+The six-story building, complete in every detail, was not finished until
+1909. In it are club rooms, a large auditorium, a gymnasium, locker
+rooms, and bowling alleys. At the corner next to the church rises a
+beautiful clock tower which before the day of skyscrapers could be seen
+from distant parts of the city, and which has been sketched by many
+artists. Under the impetus of this gift the parish took on increased
+vigor and extended the work into new fields. A Baby Clinic set up by the
+Visiting Nurses' Association provided one more opportunity for service;
+in 1910 the problem of crowded conditions in the nearby Guilford School
+was solved by the use of Christ Church parish house for Kindergarten
+and Domestic Science classes. It was a long list of services which gave
+Christ Church and Mr. Nelson a far reaching reputation for efficient and
+intelligent social service.
+
+  In the Parish House we meet each other, not as having the same
+  point of view, the same opportunities, but as having a common
+  humanity infinitely various in thought, in faith, in desire. Each
+  may learn from each, and grow in breadth and depth, and the
+  knowledge of God through his brother. It is in recognition of
+  this that we have a free church and free parish house. No
+  distinction of wealth may mar the worship in the one; no
+  distinction of faith may hinder the service in the other.[7]
+
+The passing years brought fresh opportunities which were seized upon
+with tireless energy by this far-seeing rector. In August, 1917 came the
+opportunity to establish a Red Cross unit which through day and evening
+groups enlisted the woman power of the parish. At the close of the war,
+Mr. Nelson envisioned the continuance of this work on a scale far
+exceeding the conventional idea of church missionary work. Tactfully
+overcoming certain prejudices and narrow points of view, he again
+secured the enthusiastic support of the same group of women. This unit
+became one of the largest and most diligent organizations in the parish,
+continuing the indispensable Red Cross work, and enlisting larger
+numbers in the special program of the Woman's Auxiliary as it is
+conducted in Episcopal parishes throughout the country.
+
+In 1913 and again in 1937, floods devastated the Ohio River valley. Mr.
+Nelson quickly organized his parish to do its share in caring for the
+refugees. Committees fed, clothed, and entertained one hundred and fifty
+people on the first occasion, and two hundred on the second. Experienced
+dieticians planned and supervised the meals, a trained nurse was kept on
+constant duty, and doctors gave medical service and examinations. But
+Christ Church did more than provide physical care; it knew the moral
+and spiritual needs of the homeless, and each day, through the
+cooperation of the government agencies (especially in 1937), city
+organizations, and individuals, it provided two hours of entertainment
+for them. Every night Mr. Nelson conducted family prayers, and won the
+undying gratitude of the refugees by his friendliness and personal
+interest in their present comfort and future needs. His reputation
+travelled from New England to California, and checks poured in from all
+over the country for this work. The atmosphere of helpfulness in Christ
+Church was his creation, and many volunteers in this emergency were not
+of the parish at all. One mother and daughter engaged in this relief
+work found the associations so delightful that the mother remarked to
+Howard Bacon, the superintendent of the parish house, "My daughter wants
+to join this place; it is the swellest club in the city!" Another
+instance revealing the sort of spirit which pervaded the parish house
+and filled the people of Christ Church was the serving of dinners to the
+American Legion during their convention because colored Legionnaires at
+that time were not allowed in Cincinnati hotels.
+
+The fact that the people in the immediate vicinity were coming to Christ
+Church and using its privileges in such great measure, calling upon the
+clergy for their services, and joining in the work was immensely
+satisfying to Mr. Nelson, for this kind of thing was the fruitage of
+many years of earnest labor, and amply justified his conception of the
+function of the church and parish house as a community center. The
+rector always held that the work of the parish organizations should be a
+result of inspiration from worship and sermons, something first-hand and
+immediate, so that the impetus of the services would not be lost. In
+1912, to mention only one year, there were more than two hundred
+volunteer workers. In addition, his people were serving in numerous
+organizations throughout the community, such as the Juvenile Protective
+Association, the Bureau of Municipal Research, the Hospital Services,
+the Consumers' League, the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, the Playgrounds,
+Fresh Air Society, and Tenement House Reform. Moreover, there was the
+inspiring fact that the parish house had become a civic center, and by
+channeling the idealism and energy of a group of young men, of whom
+Henry Bentley of City Charter Committee fame was one, the Church created
+comradeship and generated faith in Christian principles which led later
+to far-reaching usefulness throughout the city.
+
+No account of Mr. Nelson's work could possibly be complete without
+recording the place in it of his chief assistant, Howard N. Bacon, who
+has been superintendent of the parish house for thirty-eight years.
+Howard Bacon came to Cincinnati at the age of twenty-two with the
+purpose of pursuing a business career. Through Dr. McKinnon of Kansas
+City, Mr. Nelson learned of Bacon's marked abilities in church and
+social service lines. They had dinner together, and Mr. Nelson outlined
+the plans for the new parish house. Though a relative had advised Bacon
+"to cut-out the soul-saving business," the avenues of service under
+Frank Nelson's leadership impelled him to abandon his planned career. No
+agreement was made about salary until much later when Mr. Nelson said,
+"We cannot give you much. Will you come for a hundred dollars a month
+and live in the parish house?" At the annual meeting of the church on
+Easter Monday, 1908, the rector made the announcement: "I am very glad
+to be able to tell you that Mr. Howard N. Bacon has joined the staff,
+giving up a very promising business future to devote his life to work
+among boys and young men. He will have charge of the camp, and manage
+the parish house as well as working in the Sunday School." It is not the
+slightest exaggeration to say that no appointment to the staff of Christ
+Church was ever more momentous and fruitful. He served Mr. Nelson
+thirty-one years, though many other attractive positions were offered
+him. Upon him Mr. Nelson leaned as on no other. Through the years he has
+performed the larger part of a clergyman's office, and though not
+ordained is often called "Reverend." He took over the multitudinous
+details of a highly organized parish as did or could no other assistant
+or paid parish worker; consequently, Mr. Nelson was able to devote his
+time to many civic enterprises, and to play a vital role in the national
+life of the Episcopal Church. To have rendered such a service means
+that he is completely self-effacing and richly merited Mr. Nelson's
+tribute: "I would not know how to get on without him."
+
+The phenomenal development of the parish house as a community center
+kept pace with the striking growth of the church. During Mr. Nelson's
+rectorship the communicant list of the parish expanded from 599 in 1900
+to 2089 in 1939; the number of contributors to the budget from 200 to
+1002; the parish and missionary budgets from $15,103.00 in 1900 to
+$77,493.00 in 1927, to cite a high year; the Endowment Fund from
+$11,770.00 in 1900 to $531,384.00 in 1939. In a way it seemed as if Mr.
+Nelson had only to walk down Fourth Street and the money met him! In any
+case, in the prosperous years it flowed in steadily from a people given
+to generosity. One morning he met a parishioner who had been abroad
+during the past year, and the man asked Mr. Nelson to accompany him to
+his bank. Taking the rector to his safety deposit box, he handed over a
+thousand dollar bond saying, "I haven't done anything for Christ Church
+in a long time." One Sunday morning in the course of the notices (with
+him, announcements were really an art) Mr. Nelson spoke of his friend,
+Dr. Paul Wakefield, who had been left stranded in China during the
+Communist uprising of 1927, and from whom he had just received a letter.
+The special offering that morning, together with contributions sent in
+over the week, amounted to five hundred dollars.
+
+In the course of the great forty years of Mr. Nelson's ministry, a long
+series of extraordinary gifts was made, including the parish house
+already mentioned, memorial windows, an altar, an organ, and numberless
+others, all indicative of the liberality of the people. These gifts were
+grandly climaxed by the erection of a chapel to commemorate the
+Centennial of Christ Church. It was designed to express the beauty,
+mystery, and nobility of the Christian faith, and to provide for the
+many services for which the large church was unsuited. The Chapel was
+largely a thank-offering on the part of parishioners and many others who
+had found in Christ Church a spiritual home for which they were
+profoundly grateful. Another remarkable aspect of this gift was its
+conception in the uncertain days of 1917.
+
+As the years brought the ever-changing conditions of city life, and as
+civic institutions, social agencies, and the public schools afforded
+gymnasiums, swimming pools, playgrounds, and social centers such as were
+scarcely known in the first decades of Mr. Nelson's ministry, he
+continued to believe in the religious motive which Christ Church gave to
+all these recreational and social activities. To the end of his days he
+held that religious faith gives to social work an enthusiasm, a personal
+fervor, and a genuineness without which the one thing needful is
+lacking. He led his people to see in the drinking fountain outside the
+parish house a symbol of the Church's undying service to the world of
+men. The fact that passers-by, whether on foot or in pleasure car or
+truck, stopped to quaff of its ice-cold water was to him an expression
+of man's eternal need for the water of life, a need which, please God,
+would always be met by a church whose gospel resides in the nether
+springs of God's loving purpose for the children of men.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] Frank H. Nelson.
+
+[5] Frank H. Nelson, _Centennial Address_, May 17, 1917.
+
+[6] Frank H. Nelson, _Year Books_, 1902 and 1903.
+
+[7] Mr. Nelson's report, _Year Book_, 1908.
+
+
+
+
+  _The Shepherd
+  Among His
+  Flock_
+
+
+  "_And he shall stand and feed his flock in the
+  strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the
+  name of the Lord his God: and they shall
+  abide ... and this man shall be our peace._"
+
+  --_Micah 5:4_
+
+
+  3
+
+
+A Cincinnati taxi-cab driver said to me, "Frank Nelson was sure a real
+man. If you had a million dollars, you got a fifteen minute funeral
+service; if you had twenty-five cents, you got a fifteen minute service.
+He was just as concerned over the family with two rooms as the one with
+twenty." This man had lived all his life in the Queen City, and had
+driven Mr. Nelson to innumerable services as far back as the days of
+horse-cabs, and though he was not aware of the restraint and brevity of
+the Prayer Book Service, he unwittingly put his finger on the very pulse
+of Mr. Nelson's ministry.
+
+In all relationships with people, Frank Nelson possessed the true
+instinct of the pastor because he was moved by the zest and pity of
+human life as well as by an eager willingness to spend himself. He
+invariably had the right word for the occasion, and responded with a
+finely balanced emotion to each individual situation. His discerning
+sense of the human element in life's experiences was matchless. He spoke
+humorously when lightness and gaiety were in order, and seriously when
+the word of faith was needed. There is much to be learned from his
+approach. Called one day to a humble dwelling on Mt. Adams where a
+mother was hysterical because her boy had just undergone an emergency
+operation, Mr. Nelson tore a button from his coat before entering the
+room, and said in an off-hand manner, "Oh! this has just come off! Will
+you sew it on?"
+
+In a surpassingly unselfish fashion he thought of himself as the head of
+the Christ Church family, and it mattered not at all to him whether
+people who needed him were on the church register or were connected only
+through a parish house organization. When told of someone's illness,
+though the patient had membership in another church yet belonged to the
+Men's Club for instance, he would say, "Oh! I must go to see him." The
+agent for an Industrial Insurance Company tells of calling in a home
+where the policy was about to lapse. The woman said, "I will see Mr.
+Nelson. Will you come back at five o'clock?" When he returned, she had
+the money.
+
+In these tragic years of World War II we have learned that time is of
+the essence, and Frank Nelson exemplified this principle in an
+extraordinary manner. Through all his years of service he seemed to have
+a special sense of timeliness. He acted when one should act but does not
+always do so. He was what a minister should be yet is not always. He was
+there when needed, not when it suited his convenience. Immediacy again
+and again opened an opportunity that otherwise would have been lost and
+with it the possibilities for widening his circle of usefulness. An
+out-of-town friend telegraphed requesting Mr. Nelson to call on a
+certain man in a hospital, a stranger to Mr. Nelson, and he went at
+once. On another occasion a new member of the choir who had been in
+Cincinnati only a few weeks was suddenly taken ill. The doctors at the
+hospital were some time in deciding to operate, and called the girl's
+roommate. Although not knowing Mr. Nelson, she phoned him of her
+friend's serious condition, and he went immediately to her bedside.
+Though the operation was not until midnight, he stayed with her through
+the hours of waiting, joked to keep up her courage, and saw her through
+the ordeal and was there when she came out of the anesthetic. It turned
+out that the young lady was the daughter of a Methodist Bishop, and one
+can imagine her parents' gratitude when they learned over the phone that
+Mr. Nelson was with her. It was the sort of thing he loved to do, and
+people could not say enough of his help during such times of stress.
+There was a peculiar radiancy to his ministry which issued from this
+alacrity, the special glow that surrounds all lives that are nobly
+unselfish. He never spared himself, not even in his later years when
+illness had laid its relentless hand upon him who had always been robust
+and free of physical infirmities.
+
+In a parish as diverse as that of Christ Church, there were unnumbered
+happenings of a tragic-comic nature, and they all bespoke his special
+place in the hearts of his people. Howard Bacon was once closeted in the
+parish house office on a certain winter's night with a man who became
+definitely and increasingly insane. Greatly alarmed, he succeeded in
+locating Mr. Nelson, who arrived in evening clothes; together they got
+the man into a car and drove him out to the distant suburb of College
+Hill. On the way they were stalled by a flat tire, and Mr. Nelson
+insisted on Mr. Bacon's staying in the car while he himself put on the
+spare. In the midst of all this, the poor man's mind apparently cleared
+briefly for he asked, "Do all great men come way out here to do things
+like this?" In another instance a choir soloist developed melancholia
+and refused to eat, and Mr. Nelson often fed her because she would eat
+for him. Nothing was too trivial to be encompassed by his great heart.
+Everyone, and sometimes it appeared as if everything, that was clothed
+with any need was his responsibility and called out his limitless
+sympathy. A friend jested that even the dog fights required his presence
+and the remark seemed to carry a kernel of truth! Once he prayed with a
+poor, broken-hearted woman who had lost her dearest possession, a pet
+canary bird, and again he sat down and talked as one sportsman to
+another with a friend who had lost a polo game. To this clergyman these
+were the peculiar privileges of his position, and never duties. Parents,
+with a true instinct for loving a man who was really good, wanted him to
+baptize their children, for in laying his hand upon the infant he was
+also laying his hand upon their hearts, and this act was the genuine
+blessing of a father-in-God, the shepherd calling his own by name.
+
+There came to me the following letter from a parishioner whose first
+child lived only a few hours:
+
+  The one thing I wanted to do was to receive the Holy Communion.
+  My husband called the Parish House and left word. We expected his
+  assistant or possibly the deaconess, and you can imagine how
+  honored and comforted we felt when Mr. Nelson came himself. It
+  was indeed comforting to know that such a busy person could take
+  time for one of the most humble of his church. We shall never
+  forget the talk we had with him in the hospital before receiving
+  the Holy Communion. He asked all about our little boy, and told
+  us always to speak of him by name and think of him alive with the
+  Father. Mr. Nelson told us of a baby sister of his who died, and
+  how he felt about her. He said he always visited that tiny grave
+  when he went home. He really stands in our hearts.
+
+The strength of the Lord dwelt in his heart else he never could have
+given himself so indefatigably to the demands of a great city parish.
+There were no barriers of access to him. Until 1919 he did not have a
+private secretary, preferring to answer personally all his mail in long
+hand, and the only times he allowed himself to be out of reach of the
+telephone were during Holy Week and possibly on Saturdays. Everyone who
+came to the office was able to see him without any formality. I remember
+showing him an article in a church paper on the misuse of the title
+"Reverend," and suggesting that it might be well to print it in the
+Sunday leaflet. He was amused and only said, "What does it matter what
+we are called as long as they _call_ us." This intense desire to give of
+himself lay back of his disappointment when friends and parishioners
+failed to communicate with him because they hesitated to trouble so busy
+a man. Former Mayor Russell Wilson remarked that "Frank Nelson was the
+spiritual advisor to many men whom you would not think of as having
+spiritual advisors." The downright sincerity of the man and his
+"at-homeness" with human beings of all kinds made it natural for men to
+talk with him.
+
+There was, however, more in his personality than mere sociability and a
+genial manner, because an indefinable power or strength went forth from
+him. It was in his ministry to the sick that people felt especially a
+certain grace in his faith. He carried about with him "the medicine of a
+merry heart," and patients wanted to see him. He was a door through
+which a person passed to a deeper consciousness of the mystery and
+greatness of life and the infinities which brood over it. Therefore, his
+ministry to the sick commended itself to an unusual degree. One of the
+leading surgeons of Cincinnati, Dr. J. Louis Ransohoff, declared it his
+firm conviction that Frank Nelson gave a patient a double chance. Few
+ministers are welcomed by the medical profession in as intimate a role
+as this pastor took upon himself. Well known in Cincinnati is the story
+of his entering a Roman Catholic Hospital to be greeted by the Mother
+Superior with a hearty "Good-morning, Father Nelson," and the Jewish
+surgeon, "Good-morning, Rabbi Nelson," while the parishioner-patient
+said, "Good-morning, Mr. Nelson." His presence calmed panic-stricken
+patients, and if he had sought to carry further along this line, there
+are those who felt that he could easily have established a clinic or
+healing class. Of no end are those who maintained that they could not
+have undergone an operation without his standing beside them. Because he
+cared he often came out haggard and worn. Such incidents are revealing
+examples of the acceptance on the part of a large portion of the entire
+city of the ministry of one who was utterly sincere, utterly genuine.
+Those who follow the same calling must with pride point to him as
+superbly a man of God.
+
+Frank Nelson was held in the highest respect by the medical profession
+because physicians generally felt, in the words of Dr. Ransohoff, that
+"his life had a spiritual significance; there was no cant, only
+humility." Sometimes he walked to the operating room beside a fearful
+patient, and one man later said, "Something came through him to me. The
+fear was gone." He often went with parishioners to a doctor's office,
+and sent hundreds of others giving them an infinite amount of time and
+thought. Because of Frank Nelson the name "Christ Church" was an open
+sesame for all the little-known workers and assistants on the staff of
+the church. For these countless favors he frequently expressed publicly
+his gratitude saying, "We very often have need of the help of lawyers,
+doctors and nurses. And we never appeal in vain. Without thought of any
+return the doctors and lawyers of the city, the hospitals, and the
+Visiting Nurses' Association give us quick response of their very best."
+
+Those who worked with him have unforgettable memories of the way in
+which he visited the poorest tenements, always with the same courtesy
+and unconsciousness of environment that he showed to wealthy
+parishioners. Whether East Hill or Mt. Adams they were his people, and
+each received the kind of attention, the friendship, the grave dignity
+and consideration that each most wanted. When it was a Communion
+Service for the sick in a poor section of the city, he had a deeply
+sympathetic approach. Usually he himself would clear a little table in
+the dingy room, and when he had placed the fair linen and the silver
+vessels where the sick person could watch him and had donned his
+vestments, the place was transformed. As he commenced the beautiful
+liturgy, read only as the Rector could read it, there was in the humble
+room a Presence for which he was the channel.
+
+In his reading of the Burial Office, there was a play of light and shade
+upon this man of God who, like Moses, "wist not that his face shone."
+The majestic notes of faith and assurance which reverberate in the words
+of this service were, on his lips and in his sympathetic and superb
+reading, like the overtones and rich harmonies of an organ. There was no
+formalism nor coldness, no hesitancy to plumb the stark reality of the
+occasion, but only the vibrant convictions of his own great faith in the
+goodness of God. Few can fail to recall the clarity and feeling with
+which he read St. Paul's immortal passage in 1st Corinthians, nor ever
+forget the prayer he invariably used in this service, "We seem to give
+him back to Thee, dear God."
+
+Frank Nelson made Christ Church known throughout the city, and on
+occasions of trouble and stress, as just mentioned, people other than
+those in his flock turned to him naturally and wistfully. Their desires
+were not always consistent with the customs of the Episcopal Church. In
+one such instance a widow requested a eulogy, but Mr. Nelson told her
+that it was not the procedure of his church and, furthermore, he would
+not know what to say. Not abashed in the slightest, she replied, "Oh,
+that doesn't matter. Just give the address you made at the Mabley-Carew
+Department Store dinner!" However, he did read a poem, and in trying to
+express her sincere appreciation the widow somewhat astounded him by
+saying, "Why, that was enough to make Bob stand up in his coffin."
+
+He knew what was in the human heart, and realized the craving for
+understanding in times of despair and sorrow. Somehow he managed to do
+and say the right thing. At one time the mother of a parishioner had
+died in a distant state, and when the family arrived in Cincinnati, he
+was at the railroad station at seven o'clock in the morning to meet them
+and accompanied the coffin from the baggage car to the hearse. So simple
+an act bespeaks the innate dignity and simplicity of the man. It was his
+custom at the cemetery to walk with the chief mourner, and by such
+little kindnesses and numberless other courtesies he endeared himself to
+each generation in his long ministry. A parishioner whose mother died
+late one Good Friday evening remembers that despite the heavy tax of the
+day Mr. Nelson came to her house shortly before ten o'clock, and, though
+no lights were on, rang the bell, calling, "I want to talk with you." By
+his coming, a sleepless night was shorn of its dread and vastness, and
+confidence and serenity took their place. At another time when a family
+received the fearful word from Washington that a son had been killed in
+the Argonne, Mr. Nelson though confined to his bed with illness went at
+once to call in the home. On the day of the funeral, before going to the
+church, he read the identical service in that suburban home for the
+invalid mother. As many people in Boston have said that until Phillips
+Brooks came to them in their sorrow they never knew what Isaiah meant in
+his words, "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime
+from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from rain,"
+so Christ Church people found in Frank Nelson a stronghold in time of
+trouble.
+
+There are many incidents that illustrate the ideals of this incomparable
+pastor. For instance, the Council of Churches had two social workers in
+the Juvenile Court, one of whom was a parishioner, young and beautiful.
+Mr. Nelson did not really want her to do such work, but her parents
+thought her trained and equipped for it. In his solicitude he went to
+the Executive Secretary and asked, "Do you have staff meetings? I want
+you to have her there in your office. Give her the knowledge that she is
+dealing with the abnormal, and that not all life is perversion." The
+welfare of each individual in his church was his personal concern.
+
+He exercised this same solicitude for us young clergymen, some fourteen
+in number, who were his assistants and to whom he gave a tutelage and
+friendship that continued long after our apprenticeship was ended. He
+was an exacting teacher and beyond us, but like all others who labored
+in his parish, we felt a special joy and pride in working under him. It
+was a tremendous strain to keep up with him, and his own daily stint of
+work often put us to shame; in the fullness of his powers he made as
+many as thirty calls a week. One was never through, one could never do
+enough, and when tempted to let down, there was felt, even when not
+heard, that imperious voice, "Go on! Don't be easy on yourself." His own
+shepherding exemplified his belief that in the ministry honor for one's
+self is nothing, humanity everything. No task, even scrubbing floors,
+was too menial or too hard to be beneath the position of him who is
+God's servant. When the problems and the pressure of work in such a
+large institution weighed upon us, and their full scope inevitably was
+revealed at staff meetings, it was then as we were on our knees that his
+informal, absolutely real prayers lifted and strengthened us. Yes, on
+some rare occasions in his tower study we were on the Mount and gained
+fleeting glimpses of the City of God.
+
+It was difficult at times for those of lesser faith not to be appalled
+by the awful waste and stupidity of human life such as any great city
+unbares. But the Rector used the many instances to illustrate the
+requirements of wide sympathy, and to teach us to reverence the
+qualities of personality even when we could not fathom the reasons for
+apparent foolishness. He would say things like this: "Never forget that
+the development of our free will is what God wants. Love may make
+mistakes, but they are not failures. There are times when one's own life
+is of very little importance compared with the need for sacrifice." The
+assistants, the deaconesses, and parish visitors had, in addition to a
+training in modern social methods, the supreme advantage of religious
+direction. His guidance issued from his own example and experience.
+
+Deaconess Margaret Lloyd writes:
+
+  It seemed in those early years as though all our parish poor
+  lived on the top floors of tenements, and I often thought that
+  climbing the famous penitents' stairway in Rome would have been
+  an easy climb compared with the ascent of Mt. Adams! It was
+  climbed almost daily by some member of the staff, and very
+  frequently by the Rector. It was not only the climb, but the
+  drab, dreary houses of the period. For those were the days of
+  heavy, soft coal smoke, of a yellow, unpurified water supply, and
+  a lack of adequate housing or health laws. The consequences were
+  that a large parish like ours always had typhoid or T. B. folk
+  needing material help as well as sympathy and compassion. The
+  annals of such a parish always contain numberless "human interest
+  stories." There was a very large family which never was able to
+  provide shoes or to have quite enough clothing for six children.
+  We suspected that, despite all efforts, sufficient food was
+  lacking, and especially at those times when the head of the
+  family was on one of his happy-go-lucky sprees. Everyone on the
+  staff felt a sense of relief when this bibulous father died for
+  there was enough insurance money not only to bury him, but to
+  leave funds to tide the family over the next few months, and
+  until the mother and her two eldest children had found jobs.
+  Imagine our feelings when, in less than two weeks after the
+  funeral, the widow appeared at the parish house! She had come to
+  ask Christ Church for a little help until she had work. "But what
+  has become of your insurance money, surely you have not used it
+  all up so soon?" "Oh! yes we have, deaconess! You see we always
+  craved gold band rings for the children, and I always doted on
+  having a pink enamel bed." It was really true! The bed that they
+  had longed for stood in their shabby front room, pink enamel,
+  gold curlicue trimmings and all! Its enormous expanse was covered
+  with tawdry silk pillows and silk spread, and it stood out, the
+  one glorious object in the whole tenement. Also the children with
+  the utmost pride showed their gold band rings which according to
+  the custom of those days each wore on the "wedding finger"; even
+  the five year old displayed his golden trophy. Mr. Nelson did his
+  best to modify the protests of his outraged staff. Finally we did
+  see at least something of his point of view, that to the family
+  these symbols of respectability meant what a Persian rug would
+  have meant in a more sophisticated family. For these friends of
+  ours had "arrived," socially speaking, via the pink enamel bed,
+  and their admiring neighbors could never again refer to them as
+  "poor white trash." It takes a long, long time to change ideas,
+  but the Rector's respect for human personality (foolishness and
+  stupidity notwithstanding) and his method of patience, tact, and
+  a sense of humor did change many of us. And a controlled sense of
+  humor has a marvelous effect at times. There was the instance
+  when the Rector went to conduct a funeral service on Mt. Adams.
+  It was a very hot day, the little rooms were crowded, and family
+  and neighbors were close to the coffin. Mr. Nelson put on his
+  vestments in the stuffy kitchen. He had begun the majestic words
+  of the service when there strolled into the room the small boy of
+  the family nonchalantly carrying a very large slice of
+  watermelon! He found a spot on the floor at the foot of the
+  coffin, and proceeded to eat the juicy treat. The Rector
+  continued with the service, and the mourners gave him absorbed
+  attention until the last prayer. No incongruity could possibly
+  change the beauty and dignity of that service as conducted by our
+  Rector.
+
+Frank Nelson was shepherd to all. To be sure, there were complaints that
+he did not call in every home, and to some who did not have the
+opportunity to experience at first-hand his sympathy and concern, he
+seemed aloof. But when a need arose he met it; and as years were added
+to years he won the confidence of all types of people. To the rich he
+said, "Your money is the smallest gift you can offer. Yes, Christ Church
+needs money, but it needs you yourself far more." He said to the poor,
+"You are splendid in the way you are helping us. The parish could not
+get along without such workers as you. Keep it up!" In the warm climate
+of his enthusiasm and appreciation, young and old, rich and poor
+discovered within themselves an undreamed-of capacity to respond to his
+faith and to his demands for service. In turn he was generous in
+gratitude. At the time of his twenty-fifth anniversary he wrote the
+following acknowledgment to a parishioner who had written to him of all
+that Christ Church and his ministry meant:
+
+  Thank you indeed, and thank you still more for these seventeen
+  years of most extraordinary service, and personal loyalty and
+  friendship. I can never tell you how much I have appreciated
+  them, and do appreciate them. I know I have made life harder for
+  you--both in the work I have put on you--and by the way I have
+  often left you to carry the burden unaided. But I know too that
+  the Spirit has carried you on and filled you with new visions and
+  powers of life. And that makes all the rest worth while. I am so
+  glad that you are coming up to us at Cranberry. I know you will
+  love its loveliness, and in its quiet and the sweep of sea and
+  sky, you will find refreshment and renewed strength. And then we
+  can talk not of plans and work, but what lies beneath them, faith
+  and God and the abundant life.
+
+As his forty years' ministry came to a close, there was throughout the
+entire city a growing crescendo of acclaim, which found fervent
+expression in words like these: "He was our best friend for years."
+Deeper than the affection which drew forth such recognition was his
+profound faith in the Father-God of all mankind. It was Frank Nelson's
+limitless trust in his Heavenly Father that gave him his strength and
+influence. Many an evening on his way home he went into his church or
+chapel to pray, and lay before God the problems and griefs of his people
+which he carried in his great heart.
+
+    "Therefore to thee it was given
+    Many to save with thyself;
+    And, at the end of the day,
+    O faithful shepherd! to come,
+    Bringing thy sheep in thy hand."[8]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] _Rugby Chapel_ by Matthew Arnold. Macmillan Co. Used by permission.
+
+
+
+
+  _The Spokesman
+  of the City's
+  Conscience_
+
+
+  "_He so stirred the very soul of our responsibility
+  for social living that we felt he had
+  come to break the old city's sleep of habit or
+  despair._"
+
+  --_Miss Edith Campbell_
+
+
+  4
+
+
+Frank Nelson loved the city, and was moved by its swift, tumultuous
+life; hence, he was able to stir it. No mere reformer or "up-lifter" who
+sees only ugliness and sordidness can effect very far-reaching changes,
+and retain his faith. Mr. Nelson succeeded in both. He came to
+Cincinnati under the high compulsion of a mission, and relinquished his
+work on the same high plane of faith and vision. To have retained such
+conviction over a period of forty years in the sort of work which was
+his testifies to a quality of realism that is at once impressive and
+authoritative. He knew the vice and corruption that lurked the streets,
+and yet he reiterated to the end that "there is a glory in the city seen
+in the faces of men and women, boys and girls, which is the immortal
+soul growing clean, and entering into paradise." Something of that glory
+he created. Christ Church is located in Ward Six, formerly Ward Eight,
+and there also Mr. Nelson had his residence at 311 Pike Street. One of
+the boys who grew up in the district and is now a successful business
+man declares that this ward would be entirely different today if it had
+not been for Frank Nelson and the work carried on in Christ Church. But
+this clergyman's work and influence spread far outside his parish and
+beyond his ward.
+
+By many Catholics, Jews, and Protestants Frank Nelson was acknowledged
+as "the flaming sword of the Charter Movement"; the man who so
+interpreted the Community Chest that "he made it a platform upon which
+every man could stand"; and in the minds of some of them he so
+o'er-leaped sectarian differences that they considered him their
+minister. His was a position as unique as it was remarkable considering
+the fact that he held no title or high-ranking office such as Bishop.
+This minister quickened the conscience of Cincinnati, and brought into
+full bloom vague, half-formed ideals. Many looked upon him as the
+spokesman of the city's conscience.
+
+Mr. Nelson did not grow up in an age of radical and revolutionary
+economic and social programs. He was not a student of such
+philosophies, yet he had in his heart that particular treasure, namely
+an affection for people, for the fortunate and no less for the poor and
+the dispossessed. Without this love for the common man, these
+philosophies are never translated into the natural order of things nor
+ever become more than intellectual pronouncements. He was neither a
+mystic nor a reformer, but a citizen who was deeply cognizant of
+religious faith as laying upon him and upon everyone a compulsive
+service. This mighty conviction he expressed in varying ways as we shall
+see, but never in more arresting words than in a sermon which he
+preached on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of
+The Covenant from the text, "Ye shall not see my face except your
+brother be with you." Though delivered in 1916, this sermon was recalled
+twenty-three years later on the occasion of Mr. Nelson's retirement as a
+consummate expression of his faith and convictions, namely that we are
+not isolated individuals each to be saved by means of self-centered
+piety, but only through practicing religion in fellowship with one
+another.
+
+A study of his annual reports indicates that from his St. George's days
+he was dominated by the vision of the Church as having a mission to the
+city. As early as 1903 he outlined the conditions that confront
+Christian people, and the relation of the Church to them:
+
+  The city of today is the point of concentration of the forces
+  that are making the character, and determining the standards of
+  our time. So complex is our modern civilization that it is not
+  possible to separate the individual in our estimation of his
+  standards and character from the conditions by which he is
+  surrounded, and in which he lives. For they vitally influence his
+  point of view, his ideals, his efforts to attain them. A boy who
+  grows up in an atmosphere of openly accepted corruption will
+  inevitably lack sensitiveness of moral perception. Our young men
+  and women, our boys and girls are subjected to a moral pressure
+  that is extremely difficult to resist. What is the duty of the
+  Church? The moral welfare of these young people is its intimate
+  concern. It may, and it must, bring to bear a counter pressure of
+  high individual moral standards and ideals. It may, and it must,
+  hold up before them faith in purity and honesty, and persuade
+  them to receive it. But that is not enough. It must utter its
+  word of protest against the rule of the Boss, not because it
+  wishes to enter the arena of politics, not because it differs
+  from him on political questions, not even because he is the
+  denial of democracy, but because he maintains his power of
+  corrupting manhood and womanhood by protecting and fostering vice
+  in order that they may be his allies. It must utter its protest
+  against the dictum, "Whatever pays is right," not because it
+  wishes to dictate business methods, or to set itself up as an
+  authority on economics, but because it finds this corruption in
+  business demoralizing to standards and character. It must utter
+  its protest against overcrowded and unsanitary tenement houses,
+  not because it considers its function to be the censorship of
+  buildings, but because such conditions breed immorality among the
+  boys and girls. The individual message alone is made ineffective
+  by the constant pressure of these conditions. To make that
+  message effective, the conditions must be changed. And it is
+  peculiarly the work of a church, situated as is Christ Church, to
+  say and do what it can to make them intolerable to the conscience
+  of a Christian city. I have said all this because I want you to
+  see clearly the place in the pulpit and church of such preaching
+  and work as we have tried to give and do. We must go forward with
+  increasing energy and purpose, and that whether the results seem
+  great or small. We may, and must, at least sow the seed in the
+  faith that God will inevitably bring it to the harvest.
+
+Again and again he thundered, "The conditions must be made intolerable
+to the conscience of a Christian city," and the spirit of the times
+rolled back the sterile answer, "It can't be done in Cincinnati." But he
+shook himself like a lion and took up the battle.
+
+The fight for honest municipal government in Cincinnati was a mighty one
+and the story of it is fairly well known, but a few pertinent facts are
+essential as a background to Mr. Nelson's part in it. For more than
+thirty years George B. Cox controlled the city by all the devices known
+to the wily, astute politician. Few presumed to run for any office on
+the Republican ticket without his approval. Unburdened by shame, he
+declared, "I am the Boss of Cincinnati ... I've got the best system of
+government in this country. If I didn't think my system was the best, I
+would consider that I was a failure in life." He openly derided
+reformers. Lincoln Steffens had surveyed and written up the city as he
+had many others and declared it under the dominance of "the most vicious
+political gang in any city." Few inroads were made on Cox's preserves
+until after his death in 1916. At the close of World War I, the city
+began to reap the bitterest and most evil results of its contentment
+with benevolent despotism, and in 1922 found itself verging on
+bankruptcy. Aroused citizens were determined not only that Cincinnati
+should have an efficient, economical government but also that its
+reputation as a sink of iniquity should be erased.
+
+When the Republican organization perceived that an investigation was
+inescapable, it determined to name the investigators! The Republican
+Executive and Advisory Committee appointed a survey committee to devise
+a plan to solve the city's and county's most pressing administrative and
+financial problems. A distinguished group was selected; among the
+members were Frank H. Nelson, George H. Warrington, Charles P. Taft, and
+other eminent citizens some twenty-one in number. This committee engaged
+Dr. Lent D. Upson of the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, who
+with a large staff of specialists proceeded to turn the city and county
+governments inside out. The Upson Report furnished the ammunition for
+what turned out to be nothing short of a revolution.
+
+A City Charter Committee had been organized which, after the Upson
+Committee reported, proposed an amendment to the city's home rule
+charter embodying the city manager plan of municipal government and a
+small council of nine elected at large by proportional representation.
+In the fall of 1924 the critical issue was submitted to the electorate,
+and a significant victory won. "This new movement, its representatives
+youthful, clear-eyed, energetic and determined, took its place in the
+books of our history as the first reform enterprise of any permanence
+in a great city of the United States."[9] In this crusade of civic
+warriors Frank Nelson ranked as "a flaming sword," to use the colorful
+phrase of his friend Mr. Ralph Holterhoff. He was a constant worker in
+planting the first seeds of the moral rightness of the cause, the
+crusader whose faith clarified the fundamental religious background
+inherent in good government. During the initial campaign of 1924, Mr.
+Nelson, preaching this gospel from his pulpit, carried his parish with
+him into the righteous cause, and he literally toured the city wards as
+well. When the City Charter Committee was given permanent form,
+following the sweeping victory of November 1924, it is significant that
+the organization meeting was held in the Parish House of Christ Church.
+Among the speakers were Mr. Nelson, Charles P. Taft, John R. Schindel,
+and Henry Bentley, who was known as "the Commander of the legions that
+gave a city a new body and a new soul," all of them leaders in the
+campaign, and members and vestrymen of Christ Church. Another
+parishioner, Ralph Holterhoff, was, almost single-handed, responsible
+for financing the Committee's work for its next fifteen years.
+
+Repeatedly throughout successive years Mr. Nelson spoke at Charter
+rallies, giving a series of remarkably effective addresses which
+assisted immeasurably in sustaining the zest and interest of citizens in
+the reform ideal. As Mr. Murray Seasongood has said, "The technique of
+good local government has been developed by study, but the will to bring
+about good local government has not been infused into the residents of
+our cities." Toward that will and fusion in the city of Cincinnati, men
+are agreed that Frank Nelson's moral and spiritual contribution was
+enormous. Leaders declare that in routing the forces of corrupt
+government from their strongholds, his was the most powerful voice
+raised in the city. His trenchant words, his statesmanlike ability
+spurred the lagging energies and fired men's spirits to greater effort;
+he gave the necessary courage and drive and inspiration to carry through
+and maintain the reform movement. "It is the man of ideals and faith,"
+Frank Nelson reiterated, "who has more courage than any politician. We
+shall set our faces steadfastly to the victory not only for good
+government and efficiency, but for the morality and the righteousness
+and the power of faith in this community." In the opinion of Mr. Ralph
+Holterhoff, the treasurer of the City Charter organization, Mr. Nelson,
+by his extensive contacts with all classes of citizens, radiating not
+only through his parish but throughout the entire fabric of Cincinnati's
+economic and social life, aroused the people with more success than any
+other individual. He literally mustered thousands of recruits who became
+zealous apostles and voters for the cause, although many had not voted
+for years because they felt nothing could be done about the existing
+evils. During the recurring campaigns for councilmen, Mr. Nelson was at
+the beck and call of the organization, giving extravagantly of his time
+and vitality at many rallies, particularly at the opening meeting of
+campaigns, where he either was the keynote speaker or took such part as
+expressed the religious convictions that lay behind the movement.
+"Hearing him," wrote Alfred Segal, a newspaper columnist, "people felt
+that good government was more than a matter of efficiency and economy.
+It had to do with civic self-respect and social morale and bright
+ideals."
+
+Because the issue was clearly moral, this minister did not hesitate to
+use his pulpit and his parish organization to further the cause. It is a
+tribute to his church that he met with only minor criticism. He carried
+his people with him because he enabled them to perceive the relationship
+between religion and politics. Of course he met with criticism from
+those who felt that a clergyman should remain aloof from politics, yet
+at the same time he was genuinely admired and respected by those who did
+not agree with him. Several of his bitterest political critics, such as,
+for example, James Garfield Stewart, and Doc Hagen, a ward politician,
+were not lacking in keen appreciation of his position. And on other
+civic issues where he made no concealment of his opinions he was,
+according to Herbert Bigelow, the minister of The People's Church and a
+former city councilman, "never a trimmer, and those who have seen him in
+tight places never saw him crawl."
+
+Though the Cincinnati Community Chest is not in politics, it has
+definitely influenced the course of good government because of the
+character of the people who carry on the work of the numerous social
+agencies which it comprises. In 1913, these agencies were organized into
+a Council, and Frank Nelson's vision, enthusiasm and tireless efforts
+were determining factors in welding together the diverse religious and
+racial groups engaged in social service throughout the city. Through
+this Council, multiple activities were coordinated, and Jewish,
+Catholic, and Protestant welfare agencies were kindled with new spirit
+and power which resulted in greater efficiency and an increased
+opportunity for reaching larger numbers of people. As a consequence, the
+majority of the social welfare enterprises were able to make a united
+financial appeal, and since 1919 have continued together without a break
+in the ranks. Charles P. Taft says of the Cincinnati Community Chest:
+
+  The executive direction and social vision of C. M. Bookman, and
+  the spiritual leadership of Reverend Frank H. Nelson have given
+  to the campaign and year-round organizations of volunteers a most
+  distinctive quality. It is not that we raise each year an amount
+  greater per capita than most other cities, although we do that;
+  but it seems to one attending our gatherings that all the men and
+  women of good will in our community have come together and that
+  their spirits are welded together in a great cause, the education
+  of the whole city to the highest standards of health, character,
+  and welfare.[10]
+
+The welding together was again the work of many civic-minded men and
+women, and Frank Nelson was the fire which fused the different parts
+into a unity. "He made the Community Chest a platform upon which every
+man could stand," says C. M. Bookman, the Executive Secretary. His work
+in the formative years of the Council, particularly in the raising of
+funds for the first three years, was of untold value. As the Council
+achieved coherence and a consciousness of its identity, he went on to
+the larger work of conveying to the city the idea that in this cause the
+people of Cincinnati could be supremely united, above politics, and
+beyond racial and religious prejudices. It was his ability to interpret
+the spiritual basis of this work that made it a common platform. As a
+result, contributors felt their gifts to have a downright significance.
+"It is," he said, "God's way of making cities good in spite of
+themselves."
+
+Frank Nelson believed so thoroughly in the work of the social agencies
+that the financial drives became a crusade, an adventure in human
+relationships. He took off his coat, so to speak, and plunged into the
+drives as one of the solicitors. The calls assigned him were the general
+run as well as the difficult cases. He canvassed people of modest means
+whom he didn't know as well as the large donors. As the calling was done
+by two men soliciting together, he often found himself teamed with a man
+whose occupation contrasted sharply with his own, once being paired with
+a distiller! In the personal interviews his was not the milk and honey
+approach, and he often became quite indignant if some did not give
+according to their means. On one occasion he called with Mr. William J.
+Shroder on a man who headed a large corporation but who refused to give
+commensurately, using as an excuse the fact that the directors were
+away. Mr. Nelson's feelings blazed forth and he blurted out, "You run
+this corporation, and you can do as you please," and with that he strode
+out of the room leaving his calmer friend to secure a gift of $500.00.
+Sham irritated him beyond measure. Again, at headquarters one day
+Maurice Pollak was holding forth in vivid language on the subject of
+people who refused to contribute, and he did not notice Mr. Nelson
+coming in behind him. When he suddenly stopped in some embarrassment,
+Mr. Nelson exclaimed, "Go ahead, Maurice, you are saying just what I
+feel but can't express so well." As he was a man of intense fervor, it
+is probable that he was better at interpreting the inner significance of
+the cause than in soliciting contributions. In 1922 he was elected the
+General Chairman of the drive, and from 1916 to 1939 was a director of
+the Chest.
+
+As the years went by, Mr. Nelson became something of an "institution" in
+Cincinnati, and his popularity made him "fashionable" to the
+superficial-minded. Yet there was something decidedly spontaneous in the
+acclaim with which he was once greeted by over one thousand canvassers
+at a campaign dinner in the suburban city of Norwood. To a man the great
+audience rose when he stood to speak, and applauded with genuine emotion
+this Christian minister who represented Cincinnati as they wanted it to
+be. Always sensitive to the reactions of a throng, he poured forth such
+utterance as made them see the Community Chest as a great moral force,
+not as just a financial campaign. Their consciences were quickened by
+his graphic portrayal of their desires for righteousness and decency and
+fair opportunity.
+
+He was always one of the speakers held in reserve for the crucial last
+days of the campaigns, and at the large daily luncheons held in the
+Hotel Gibson for the canvassers he was at his best. The following
+sentences from a newspaper report of one such address are typical:
+
+  You know what this Community Chest has done for this great city,
+  how it has been, as the old seer said long ago, the river of
+  life, flowing through the streets of the city, keeping it clean,
+  refreshing it, strengthening it, heartening it, so that the tree
+  of life, bearing all manner of fruits, through all the year,
+  could grow upon its brink and spread forth its branches to
+  shelter and give new vigor and hope to the inhabitants of the
+  city. That river of life which we call social service is more
+  vital, more important and more needed for the steady maintenance
+  of the morale, well-being, and good life of the whole community
+  than the Ohio River is, believe me.
+
+By the power of simple, forceful speech, strengthened by his great love
+for people and his belief in them, he enabled Cincinnati to see beyond
+the horizon, to dream dreams; and by his uncommon labor some of these
+dreams became actualities. He looked at the city's welfare from the
+religious viewpoint, and in so doing commended religion to the
+religiously indifferent. He saw the practical value of spiritual things
+and the spiritual value of practical things. When, for example, he
+addressed the National Conference for Social Workers at Denver in 1925
+and propounded the theme of Immortality, the audience was at first
+aghast, and then enthralled. He maintained that they had nothing to work
+for unless it was for eternity; that their business was concerned with
+souls, and that the souls of the feeble-minded were as much heirs of
+immortality as those of others more fortunate, and that no man has the
+right to condemn or stand in judgment. It was a bold speech to such an
+audience, and held their rapt attention; it was perhaps the more
+stimulating because it had been preceded by the scholarly and very
+formal address of the president of the conference. It was this occasion
+that produced a choice story which Mr. Nelson loved to tell on himself.
+At the close of the long evening two men were overheard commenting on
+the speeches. One of them remarked, "The first man was over my head, and
+the second just plumb crazy."
+
+He not only made the Community Chest common ground for all, but he also
+enabled the churches to see it as their work, calling the social service
+organizations "sub-committees of the Church, doing for the churches the
+work that the churches want done and would have to do themselves if it
+were not for the Chest."
+
+Frank Nelson's influence on the civic and political life of Cincinnati
+cannot be measured, but its power was evident and was revealed time and
+again through the contacts he had with civic leaders. A Roman Catholic
+priest said that many politicians went secretly to Mr. Nelson before
+expressing themselves on certain civic matters or endorsing certain
+projects. If some considered him officious, they could not have known
+his humility, much less his consuming passion for human beings. When he
+addressed public gatherings, one could gauge his power by watching the
+audience; as the sincerity of the man made his words convincing, even
+cynical faces "broke up," and the light shed by his stirring eloquence
+often brought tears.
+
+Among the many tributes paid at the time of Mr. Nelson's death, was one
+given by the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the beloved former minister of the
+Seventh Presbyterian Church, who culled the phrase "An Unmitered
+Bishop," a title which is signally descriptive of the man by reason of
+the many civic causes to which he was spiritual advisor, and thus a
+father-in-God to diverse groups scattered over the seven hills and in
+the "bottoms." He actively furthered many humanitarian causes: the
+Juvenile Protective Association, the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the
+Branch Hospital, the Community Chest, the Council of Social Agencies,
+the Helen S. Trounstine Foundation, the Hospital Social Service, St.
+Michael's Convalescent Home, and many others. Now that he is gone, the
+long list of social enterprises ceases to be a mere string of activities
+and becomes a roll of drums.[11] His whole life seems to exemplify the
+words of the philosopher Bacon: "The nobler a soul is, the more objects
+of compassion it hath." His spirit breathed out upon men, and in his
+lifetime the city felt its beauty and greatness, drawing from his
+constancy the courage to endure. He protested impatiently against the
+nonsense often bandied about concerning the alleged immorality of city
+folk compared with country folk, and cited confuting evidence out of his
+pastoral experience to prove his conviction saying, "Heroes of these
+days are the poor people who live in our big cities."
+
+One of the heroines of Cincinnati, though not one of the poor, was Helen
+S. Trounstine, a remarkable young woman of Jewish faith, who was
+responsible for making Mr. Nelson the first president of the Juvenile
+Protective Association. She was a pioneer in social service work, but
+her career was tragically cut short when she died at the early age of
+twenty-six. At her memorial service held in Christ Church Parish House
+January 21, 1917, Mr. Nelson made the principal address and some of his
+words indirectly reveal much of himself:
+
+  I remember the organization of the Juvenile Protective
+  Association; I first met her then. I had never known her before
+  and I said to myself: "Here is another person with an enthusiasm
+  come to complicate my life." I tried to get out of it, but
+  because I wanted to help little children (I built this parish
+  house for the young people, making my people support it for their
+  sake), and she knew it, with infinite patience and constant humor
+  and courtesy she kept forcing me, until gradually she landed me
+  in the Presidency of the Juvenile Protective Association, utterly
+  ignorant of what I was to do or what was to be done. And with the
+  same humor and patience she went ahead and did the work and made
+  me and the board responsible for it--made us stand behind her,
+  until at last we were ashamed that our consciences were so dull
+  and poor that we had not seen it long ago. And then we set out to
+  do something.
+
+According to the opinion of Miss Edith Campbell, who was thoroughly
+acquainted with his social work, though not a member of Christ Church,
+Frank Nelson's "doing" resulted in legislation for the Court of Domestic
+Relations which was to be in the future a real guardian for unfortunate
+children. His relationship with the Juvenile Protective Association is
+but another instance of the ways in which he not only ministered to the
+city and awoke its conscience, but also helped to foster understanding
+between church people and social workers. Possibly in no other city are
+there such close ties between churches and social agencies, and this
+relationship was Frank Nelson's achievement. He often attended the
+social workers' meetings of the Monday Evening Club; the conference of
+Charities and Philanthropies found a welcome center in his parish house.
+Thus he wove a pattern for social service that came to fruition in
+municipal and state laws, the kind of laws which give such work
+permanence and effectiveness.
+
+Frank Nelson was a chivalrous individual who labored for what he thought
+was right; he championed numerous causes when many people were
+marshalled on the other side. It is in keeping with his character that
+he took a pronounced part in the creation of understanding and the
+removal of prejudices among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Years
+before the National Conference of Jews and Christians was organized, he
+practiced the principles of the inter-faith movement. At one time after
+presiding at a mass meeting in Music Hall held to protest the
+persecution of Jewish people in Europe, he wrote his friend, Dr. J.
+Louis Ransohoff: "I realize how dreadfully you must feel, and I would
+like to tell you that no matter how badly you feel as a Jew, I feel
+worse as a Christian because in the beginning Jews were persecuted in
+the name of Christ." On more than one occasion he preached in the Isaac
+M. Wise synagogue for his friend, Rabbi James G. Heller. In one such
+instance he spoke on his concept of the spiritual life, considering the
+great thing in man to be his soul, and pointing out that the journey is
+superior to the road in the realization of man's destiny. His candor won
+him the respect and admiration of many in all faiths, for they knew that
+he honored their opinions. No more dramatic incident illustrates his
+spirit than the one occurring in the inter-faith meeting at the Rockdale
+Temple Annex when he confessed his faith. Dr. Heller says there had been
+a great palaver of generalities by the two preceding speakers, and Mr.
+Nelson commenced his address by bluntly asking the audience if they
+wanted him to speak as he saw the truth, and they roared back, "Yes!"
+Thereupon he launched forth with the ringing declaration, "Let us be
+honest! I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!" He then proceeded to say
+that he would like all Jews to become Christians just as he knew the
+Jews and Roman Catholics desired universal allegiance to their faiths.
+With one or two exceptions, not a soul in that great audience resented
+his frankness. His ministry was that of one who lived day by day a life
+of good-will rather than of one who merely talked about it.
+
+Some men considered that he reflected too much surprise at the degree
+of harmony already existing among the faiths, and that his expressions
+of pleasure at finding such unanimity thus raised doubts as to its
+reality. However, in his broad spirit and totally Christ-fashioned
+personality, he himself was at home with men of all faiths. In 1939, Mr.
+William J. Shroder, as Chairman of the Community Chest campaign, chose
+for the year's theme or slogan "The Unity of Religion and Democracy." So
+excellent a "sermon" did he preach on numerous occasions that Mr. Nelson
+jestingly told his friend that he must stay out of his parish!
+
+On the rare occasions when Jews change their religion, they usually do
+so because of marriage. One such instance is of special interest. The
+daughter of a leading Jewish citizen married a Gentile, and since her
+rabbi would not perform the ceremony they turned to Frank Nelson,
+admiring as they did his faith and works. In a large sense he was rabbi
+and minister to all sorts and conditions of people. Dean Friedlander of
+the University Medical School, as he lay dying, said to a friend, "I
+have told my students how to treat the dying, but it is different when
+it comes to yourself. Frank Nelson has given me a hand." Again, another
+friend in his trouble found such sane religious counsel that, although a
+devout member of his synagogue, he declared, "It took a Christian
+minister to bring out my soul." He never hesitated to disagree or argue
+with his best friends, always maintaining that "works without faith" are
+not sufficient. Thus all who knew him welcomed him, and in their need
+turned to him with affection, confident of his understanding.
+
+Mr. Nelson was one of the three founders of the Council of Protestant
+Churches. No small detail was above him, and with Jesse Halsey he
+rummaged through second-hand stores for furniture for the first office.
+With the ministers of other churches he worked in closest cooperation,
+and together they fought the Cox Gang, supported the Social Agencies,
+and many other activities to which the civic-minded and church-minded in
+Cincinnati gave unstintingly of their devotion. The Reverend John F.
+Herget, the distinguished former minister of another downtown church,
+the Ninth Street Baptist, says, "For twenty-five years we labored
+together and the passing years only added to my confidence in his
+intellectual and spiritual integrity. He was a real friend, and when my
+only son died, he was the first minister in Cincinnati to step through
+my doorway. I can never forget it. Do you wonder that I loved him and
+cherish his memory? We were very different in many ways but those
+differences never deprived us of mutual respect and deep affection."
+Without a doubt, ministers of all Protestant churches regarded him as
+the foremost clergyman in the city.
+
+In 1901 Mr. Nelson was elected to membership in the Clergy Club of
+Cincinnati, an organization which is composed of many of the leading
+Protestant ministers. On the occasion of the club's twenty-fifth
+anniversary in 1919, Dr. Dwight M. Pratt, then of the Walnut Hills
+Congregational Church, wrote a witty and apt characterization of each
+member. The following is his superb sketch of Mr. Nelson:
+
+  NELSON: The Apollo of the Club, equally recognized as such
+  whether in ecclesiastical robes and millinery or in outing
+  negligee; the physical having its counterpart in athletic
+  qualities of mind and heart; a broad-minded, tolerant Churchman,
+  incapable of surrendering to the artificial in form and ceremony
+  or to the pretentious in self-constituted human authority, even
+  when sanctified by tradition and usage, and aware of its historic
+  affinities to Rome. Fundamentally spiritual in his conceptions of
+  the Church and of the Kingdom; quickly alert to elements in
+  religion that are born of the flesh and vitiated by human pride;
+  unsurpassed in the Club for his exalted conception of historic
+  Christianity and of the glory and prestige of a spirit-filled and
+  spirit-guided church, having a vision of church unity impossible
+  of realization under the assumption and the exclusiveness of
+  Episcopacy; a genial democrat in spite of aristocratic training
+  and environment; intimately acquainted with the trend and quality
+  of modern critical scholarship, and in sympathetic touch with the
+  social movements of the day, in the church and outside of it; too
+  thorough and vital, however, to make the mistake, more common in
+  his church than any other, of substituting social Christianity
+  for evangelistic, thus making the care, culture and comfort of
+  the outer man more important than his spiritual redemption; a
+  student of men and books; an observant traveller, a recent and
+  scholarly resident of the ancient metropolis of the world:[12] a
+  keen interpreter of the movements of history, ancient and modern;
+  endowed as a preacher with homiletic skill and the spiritual art
+  of making life seem large and the Kingdom of God the one supreme
+  reality for man; and all this in spite of the fact that he is far
+  from being Puritan; never showing the marks of an ascetic nor any
+  tendency or inclination to self-martyrdom; as much in need of
+  reform in some things as the time honored secretary of the Club;
+  popular with men because in so many respects like them; popular
+  also as a public speaker and on occasions where grace of speech
+  and manner constitute an essential factor in the program; a
+  conspicuous personality in a pageant, having the note of
+  sincerity, sympathy and appeal that commands assemblies; a man
+  whose promotion will always be in spite of high-churchmen and the
+  favorites of Bishops; a man indispensable to the breadth and
+  representative character of the Club.
+
+There remains one other activity to be mentioned in Mr. Nelson's
+city-wide ministry. In 1930 Mayor Murray Seasongood appointed him to the
+Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati, a board commonly
+known as the Trustees. It was a distinguished appointment,
+characteristic of Mayor Seasongood's primary emphasis on the welfare of
+the city, and indicative of the confidence placed by intellectual and
+civic leaders in Mr. Nelson's judgment and ability. The Board was made
+up of eight business men and lawyers and concerned itself mainly with
+the financial problems of the University. Mr. Nelson's approach was to
+the human element in each situation with which this Board had to deal.
+He served in this capacity for eight years, and became "an acute,
+piercing trustee." The University Medical School has oversight of the
+Cincinnati General Hospital, and Mr. Nelson was troubled by the large
+number of cases of tuberculosis among members of the staff and the
+nurses and interns. The hours were long, the pay poor, and living
+conditions deplorable. He was very active in his support of the efforts
+by the authorities to bring about improvement in these conditions.
+
+He was chairman of the committee which interviewed candidates for the
+office of Dean of Woman, since many on the Board did not feel qualified
+to make such a selection. During the depression in the thirties when
+reduction of salaries and of department personnel became necessary, Mr.
+Nelson was instrumental in securing fair treatment for the individual
+teacher. He would ask if the teacher whose salary reduction was under
+consideration had a family and how many children. His colleagues
+considered him a very important agent in preserving morale during these
+difficult years, and the President and deans frequently sought his
+counsel.
+
+He was a firm believer in academic freedom. When the Engineering College
+arranged lectures for business men, he gave the plan his hearty support,
+and occasionally came under fire because of certain radical speakers. He
+was frequently the choice of the University as its representative on
+public occasions in the city. At the Commencement of 1924, the
+University of Cincinnati bestowed upon Mr. Nelson the honorary degree of
+Doctor of Laws, "as one who has ever striven to advance the government
+of the mind and spirit, and who by his own severe self-discipline and
+true humility has taught all of us to subdue ourselves to the
+imperishable laws of reason and faith."
+
+When one considers the recognition which the entire city whole-heartedly
+and unreservedly accorded Mr. Nelson, it is a sorry commentary on the
+influence of politics that upon the expiration of his second term as a
+trustee of the University the new Republican Mayor, James Garfield
+Stewart, failed to reappoint him. He was deeply hurt, but there was
+satisfaction in the realization that it was because of his continued
+denunciation of party politics that the reappointment did not go
+through. He was a clergyman who never curried favor nor withheld opinion
+when forthrightness was the moral requisite. The people knew where he
+stood, and no office could silence him. To behave as a citizen is "to
+conduct oneself as pledged to some law of life." His faithful obedience
+was recognized on many occasions and in numerous ways. One such
+recognition was his place in a group of fifteen leading citizens
+selected by four Cincinnatians chosen at random by "_The Cincinnati
+Post_." He was described as "having given vision and voice to public
+service, and in the art of human relations a leader in many fields for
+many people."
+
+Few public testimonials have awakened so spontaneous a response as that
+tendered Mr. Nelson on December 3, 1923, in honor of his twenty-five
+years of service to church and city. Originating among his own
+parishioners, the plan quickly developed into a city-wide observance.
+The committee on arrangements was expanded, and included the Reverend
+Doctor Francis J. Finn, Rabbi David Philipson, the Reverend John F.
+Herget, and the Right Reverend Boyd Vincent, as well as a large number
+of prominent laity outside Christ Church. When the evening arrived, one
+thousand one hundred people from all paths of life sat down to dinner in
+the Hotel Gibson. The President of the University, Dr. Frederick C.
+Hicks, presided. The Mayor, then George P. Carrell, cut short a vacation
+in order to be present and speak for the city, Mr. George D. Crabbs
+represented the Social Agencies, Dr. William S. Rainsford came on from
+New York to join in the acclaim. Mayor Carrell voiced a perfect tribute
+when he spoke of Mr. Nelson in these simple words: "Here is a true man.
+He loves his fellows. He does not recognize creed or color. Cincinnati
+is proud of him. Cincinnati loves him." At the conclusion of the
+speeches, Mr. Nelson, visibly affected, rose to speak. The tumultuous
+applause lasted five minutes. With characteristic humility he expressed
+his thanks, and then drew the attention of the audience to the central
+theme of any true public servant's work, namely, that "Faith creates;
+cynicism destroys." This enthusiastic testimonial was a moving
+demonstration of the place Frank Nelson filled in the hearts of his
+fellow-citizens, an exception to the rule that a prophet is without
+honor in his own city. There were two interesting side-lights to the
+occasion. On the morning of the dinner the Reverend Francis J. Finn, a
+particular friend, and the pastor of St. Francis Xavier's Roman
+Catholic Church, offered up the Holy Sacrifice with his Protestant
+friend as his special intention; and in the evening there stood among
+the waiters, but not of them, Detroit Williams, the colored sexton of
+Christ Church, who could not have been present but for Mr. Nelson's
+skillful arrangement.
+
+Such was the spirit of Cincinnati's great Christian citizen. His
+humanity was all inclusive, his spirit discerning, and the city claimed
+him as its own, for he gave voice to its conscience and helped it find
+its soul.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] _City Management_ Charles P. Taft, p. 108 Farrar and Rineheart,
+1933. Used by permission. Other statements on the Charter Movement are
+based upon the report of the Consultant Service of the National
+Municipal League entitled _The Government of Cincinnati, 1924-1944_.
+
+[10] _City Management_ C. P. Taft, p. 30. Farrar and Rineheart. Used
+with permission.
+
+[11] Adaptation of a thought expressed by Alexander Woollcott in _While
+Rome Burns_, p. 7.
+
+[12] Mr. Nelson twice spent a year in Rome on leave of absence.
+
+
+
+
+  _They Came
+  To Be In
+  His Presence_
+
+
+  _In This Church
+  The Reverend Frank Howard Nelson, D.D.
+  Preached The Gospel of Christ
+  for Forty Years
+
+  1899-1939_
+
+
+  "_I thank my God upon every remembrance
+  of you._"
+
+  --_Memorial Plaque at Entrance
+  to Christ Church._
+
+
+  5
+
+
+"You can't change me, old man. I am the last of the black Protestants."
+In this whimsical way Frank Nelson spoke of himself one day in
+conversation with a friend on some point of ritual. It is abundantly
+evident that he was in no way a bigoted churchman, and with all his
+fine, broad sympathies he stood forth as a Protestant. He represented
+that aspect of the Catholic-Protestant structure of the Episcopal
+Church, he conducted the services in Christ Church from that angle, his
+preaching reflected it, and the absence of the clerical collar
+emphasized it. There is a measure of truth in his droll description of
+himself.
+
+In the first decades of this century Mr. Nelson was one of a group of
+broad-churchmen whose influence was just beginning to be felt.
+Theologically he was a liberal with reservations, and stood in what is
+now called "Central Anglicanism" in the sense of "essential orthodoxy,
+continuity, and breadth and liberality within limits, checked by the
+principle of discipline, and an outlook, above all, theocentric;
+fidelity to Christianity as the religion of the Incarnation, and of the
+Church viewed as Christ's mystical body."[13]
+
+The truth is that he was different from certain brands of so-called
+liberals. Like many of them he was an individualist but not, as in the
+popular conception of that word, an eccentric. His individualism resided
+in his strong personality, whole and complete rather than partial. He
+had an immense scorn of the petty narrow-minded points of view. He said,
+"There is no one so narrow as the broad-minded liberal! Look out! Be
+sure that you do not develop a closed mind toward the other man's point
+of view!" Frank Nelson stood in the stream of the best traditions of
+historic Anglicanism. He had, for instance, a tremendous feeling of
+reverence for the Altar and the appointments for the celebration of the
+Holy Communion; and his manner of conducting the Lord's Supper brought
+that service very close to the most sensitive of worshipers. On the
+first Sunday of each month the Holy Communion was celebrated at eight
+and at eleven A.M., and he made it the chief factor in building
+up the younger members of the parish into the Church. Usually Christ
+Church was crowded for the first as well as the later service, and it
+was immensely impressive to contemplate the congregation that came at
+the early hour of eight o'clock from all parts of the city and from
+distant suburbs. There is communicated serenity as well as reverence in
+the stately, liturgical service, but that feeling-tone is dependent on
+the minister conducting it. Mr. Nelson was a medium for the
+communication of the very spirit of Christ in that service. The ancient,
+familiar words were given a fresh beauty by his manner and his natural,
+virile voice. His methods reflected certain qualities of his character.
+It was his custom to read the service up through the Sanctus from the
+north end of the Altar, moving to the center for the remainder, and at
+the moment of the consecration of the Bread and Wine to turn halfway
+around so that the congregation could see the blessing of the Elements.
+It was in part an observance of the Apostolic custom of the minister's
+standing behind the Altar and facing the congregation, and one which he
+had learned from his days at St. George's under Dr. Rainsford.
+
+In a time of much disparagement, Frank Nelson and his parish upheld the
+fair reputation of the Church. Bishop Hobson says, "Many a minister and
+many a church have taken heart and courage because of his ministry."
+Because he was unafraid to experiment and venture on fresh approaches to
+old problems, he risked misunderstanding and criticism. He had a marked
+sense of the dignity of his office, and all who worked on the staff of
+Christ Church were aware that he was the rector, a czar if you will, but
+one with a gloved hand. He ran the parish, but not for his own sake nor
+from delight in power. As a matter of fact, he distrusted power,
+particularly when wielded by small men in the office of Bishop, and
+because of that distrust, and because of the democratic nature of the
+government of the Episcopal Church, he held the leadership of rectors
+to be equal in value to that of the Episcopate.
+
+In the management of the parish, he was "a man set under authority." He
+expected hard work of those to whom he delegated responsibility. Though
+he occasionally interfered, he invariably backed up his leaders even
+when they were in the wrong. He did not hesitate to criticize: a
+retiring choir-master said to his successor, "He is a tyrant, and you
+won't last three months." After eighteen years, he is still there! There
+were those who sometimes found Mr. Nelson abrupt, but as they came to
+understand his temperament and to appreciate his insistence that things
+should be run decently and in order, they were the very ones who would
+have stood on their heads for him because his nature inspired endless
+devotion. It is easy to lose sight of human values in a large
+institution, but he was the kind of person who was quick to apologize
+for any rudeness, and if the instance had to do with some fine point of
+procedure, he would grin and say, "But I was right!"--and he was. A
+unique thing about his rectorship was his willingness to take the blame
+upon himself when something went wrong. He felt he was at fault for not
+having given his subordinates the right training. The conception he held
+of his office of rector impelled him to give each year a comprehensive
+report of his parish work along with an audited financial accounting of
+all monies that he had handled personally.
+
+In the services of Christ Church, Frank Nelson's individuality found
+complete expression. The Prayer Book offices were marked by an absence
+of ceremonial, but filled with a profound simplicity and a noble
+dignity. People coming from other parishes and accustomed to
+considerable ritual and better architecture (Christ Church has been
+likened to a Moorish mosque!) learned that such externals occupy in
+reality a subordinate position in the Christian life, as the rector's
+manner and forceful preaching lifted them to the plane of spirit-filled
+worship. He was concerned not with the creation of an atmosphere in
+which to bathe with satisfaction one's feelings about God but with the
+living message of the Gospel. One came at last to love the old church
+building because there the spirit was fed, the mind enlightened, and the
+will impelled to action.
+
+People came to be in his presence. They found a new, bright sense of the
+glory of religious faith; they felt how precious is the least of the
+human vessels into which God pours His Spirit. The man in himself
+communicated a personality so wholly infused with the grace of the Lord
+Jesus that his hearers were stirred to action, which result stems from
+the authentic note in preaching. "Effective preaching can only mean
+effective in the sense of doing God's work."[14] Frank Nelson did God's
+work. He stirred people to do God's work. The atmosphere of conviction
+generated by the preacher is due to his whole personality rather than to
+his words; hence the impact made upon his hearers at the moment of his
+speaking is never conveyed through the printed page. Its influence,
+however, continues in their lives, and measured by this standard Frank
+Nelson was a powerful and effective preacher. The gift of swift,
+magnetic, eloquent speech was his. Words with the quality and vigor of
+intuitive imagination poured out of him. Yet preaching was never easy
+for him, and as it was dominated by his characteristic intensity and
+fervor, he was nervous beforehand and exhausted afterward. His emotional
+range sometimes led him off the main thread of a discourse; at times he
+ranted; and more than once preached an entirely different sermon from
+the one outlined in his written notes. His preaching was "feeling warmed
+up to vision," and the word of God passed through him to men. He
+believed tremendously in preaching; there were few services in Christ
+Church at which he did not preach,[15] but he was not a so-called
+popular preacher; crowds did not constantly fill the pews. To some his
+driving power was wearing, and even some of his admirers would exclaim,
+"Oh, I do wish Mr. Nelson would not tear his throat so when he
+preaches." But his very force of delivery, and his vehemence were a part
+of the man, and he no more could have preached in another manner than
+have changed his stature.
+
+But these characteristics had compensations or off-setting factors.
+After Mr. Nelson's exchange with the rector of St. Paul's Church, Rome,
+Italy in 1912, a certain dowager commented, "Mr. Lowrie's sermons made
+me feel comfortable, but Mr. Nelson makes me feel a miserable sinner!" A
+newcomer, on his first Sunday in Cincinnati, went to Christ Church
+intending to "sample" several churches before casting his lot with one.
+The choir came in, followed by a young, boyish-looking clergyman whom
+the man presumed to be the assistant. During the sermon Mr. Nelson
+continually entangled himself in his stole and gave the impression of
+one so inextricably caught up in his message that he was a part of it,
+stole and all! The newcomer was Frederick C. Hicks, later the President
+of the University of Cincinnati. He did not go elsewhere but continued
+at Christ Church and eventually became a vestryman.
+
+Mr. Nelson did not talk in an amiable sort of way about the Christian
+virtues; his sermons, thank God, were not colorless essays on the
+doctrine of God, and the Church. He preached with abandon, and there
+issued forth a fiery stream of conviction that stabbed his hearers into
+life. Within those in whom the seed found good soil there was
+reproduced his hunger for righteousness, his integrity of character.
+What we heard from the pulpit of Christ Church was the product of
+hard-won battles, the forthrightness of a man stirred by his struggle to
+live as a follower of Jesus Christ. He was no respecter of persons but
+of personality, saying "We don't dare to be Christians." Some said Frank
+Nelson did not preach doctrinal sermons, but if not, then church
+doctrine needs another name, for this man preached the Christian faith,
+pouring it forth in great bucketfuls. If after hearing him one didn't
+know something about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, then there
+is no such thing as doctrine.
+
+The rector was sensitive about his failure to attract larger
+congregations, and deprecated his ability as a speaker. He was forever
+saying that he could not preach, and that he preached too long, but
+jested that he was too old to change! Once in the midst of an
+after-dinner speech, he paused to make an aside to his friend, J.
+Hollister Lynch, "Am I talking too long?" "Yes," whispered Dr. Lynch,
+but he kept right on! Cincinnati is not a church-going city like
+Pittsburgh, for instance, but, as one witty observer has remarked,
+"Cincinnati has fewer moral lapses!" In making judgments on this point,
+one should take into consideration the fact that there was a large Roman
+Catholic constituency, and that the predominant German population of
+Cincinnati which came in such large numbers during the middle of the
+nineteenth century, was definitely anti-religious. Christ Church,
+moreover, is a downtown church, and the greater number of the
+communicants live in suburbs. His parish took him for granted as was
+inevitable over a forty-year period, but when we recall his multiple
+civic associations, and the fact that whenever he spoke there was a
+religious foundation to his address and in his presence, we perceive
+that Mr. Nelson's preaching reached far beyond the bounds of Christ
+Church.
+
+The sermons of Frank Nelson were pervaded with a fine ethical
+perception. He was in the succession of the ancient Hebrew prophets in
+their profound love of justice and concern for humanity. He had a keen,
+quick feeling for spiritual values, and succeeded in relating them in
+vital fashion to the throbbing stress of daily living. Beyond his
+piercing eloquence, captivating as it most certainly was, was the
+compelling fact that in his interpretation of the religious significance
+of human experience he stood forth like a pine tree towering above
+scraggly growth. No one can ever forget that tall, dynamic figure in the
+spacious pulpit of Christ Church preaching the Word of God with gripping
+power. It was not merely the power of virility and eloquence, but the
+power of grasp, of comprehension, the ability to communicate truth and
+make it come alive, and cry out for expression in the hearts and lives
+of his hearers. We felt the majesty of the human spirit, the impatience
+of sure faith with the rags and blemishes of doubt and cynicism. "Like
+rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth," Frank Nelson
+poured out his soul, and revealed the grand proportions of human
+destiny.
+
+In his beautiful address at the Helen S. Trounstine Memorial Service, a
+portion of which follows, we find one of the best examples of Mr.
+Nelson's ability to interpret human experience, as well as of his
+intuitive understanding of another's travail of soul:
+
+  And then her courage. There are the lesser courages and the
+  greater. There are many who dare face danger and undertake hard
+  tasks, and face ridicule and failure. It is a fine and a true
+  courage and I do not underrate it. Helen Trounstine had it and
+  had it to the full. She tackled hard tasks; she faced some men
+  whose interests she opposed. She fought out her fights against
+  all comers, and never flinched. She would go into the court or
+  into the saloon or dance hall, the places of commercial
+  recreation, and fight her fight with all, for what she believed
+  to be right; and she won most of the time. It was a noble thing
+  to see that delicate woman unafraid before the problems and evils
+  of the world.
+
+  Yet that was not the finest courage she had. That other finer
+  courage is the one that I would emphasize. It was given her to
+  reconcile a spirit filled with high ideals and great desires,
+  with a body weak, often bent and torn with pain, unsuited to the
+  tasks she longed to do, until at last she was stricken with utter
+  helplessness waiting for the end. For only a few brief years was
+  her body adequate, even a little, to her will. And instead of
+  bending before that limitation and saying that she could do
+  nothing because of it, instead of growing bitter with resentment
+  at a fate that had so burdened her, she but grappled with it the
+  more determinedly. With utter courage of heart and mind, she
+  fought her inner fight and won the victory of cheer and energy
+  and peace. With no excuse and no complaints, and no relaxing of
+  her will before the limitations of her strength, she lived and
+  loved and served as if she had the health she longed for. The
+  limitations of her stricken body meant the giving up of many dear
+  desires, of hopes that would have made life sweet and joyous, of
+  work she yearned to undertake.
+
+  Any of you who have had much to do with one stricken with a sore
+  disease, who knows he never can be well again, know that it is
+  not the sickness, the physical weakness and pain that make the
+  problem and the tragedy. It is the reconciling of the will to
+  surrender life's hopes and the readjustment of the life to the
+  conditions that have got to be, that nothing can change. That was
+  Helen Trounstine's problem and her tragedy. She sat down with her
+  fate and fought that fight and won it. It must have meant many
+  hours of untold darkness and suffering and bitter questioning and
+  struggle. But of such hours she gave us no outward sign. At least
+  I saw none in the years I knew her, except that finest one of
+  all, the victory of her soul in the glad and joyous doing of what
+  remained within her power.
+
+It is not surprising that his addresses on Good Friday and his sermons
+on Easter Day were more nearly adequate to those great days than is
+commonly the case. He cared for these days tremendously, and never
+ceased to be heartened by the throngs that crowded the old church,
+filled up the chancel, and stood in the vestibule through the Three
+Hours on Good Friday. It seemed as if the whole city was aroused as
+people from offices and factories, and from the outlying districts came
+to these special services year after year during his long rectorship. It
+stirs the imagination to think of that gathering, the rich and the poor,
+the highly-cultivated, and the meekly endowed, shop girls and clerks,
+the faithful and those groping for faith, all drawn by the mysterious
+fire kindled by this man of God. There was a concentrated intensity to
+his preaching on these occasions, for he saw clearly and felt deeply the
+tragedies of life. In that vibrant voice and in his passionate concern
+for the soul of men, there burned a white-souled homage to God, and a
+faith and love that spoke to each one's condition. Out of his long
+brooding over the darkly colored stream of history, and the chequered
+progress of Christianity of which his daily contact with the city's life
+as well as his study gave him profound knowledge, there came forth
+"great out-bursts of unshakable certainty which stand up like Alpine
+peaks in the spiritual landscape of humanity." The integrity of the man
+along with the power and dramatic quality of his speech was unveiled for
+all the world to see. One recalls in this particular a certain Good
+Friday after World War I when he took up Sarah Bernhardt's ghastly
+reversal of the First Word from the Cross, "Father, do _not_ forgive
+them for they _know_ what they do," and with terrific intensity
+literally shouted, "That is a lie straight from hell."
+
+His preaching always illumined a fine feeling for the mastery of
+language, and those who heard him over the span of the years were
+conscious that in his Good Friday addresses he employed plain,
+Anglo-Saxon words, fundamental, strong words that lent a cumulative
+effect to his speech. Because of his modesty he never consented to the
+publication of any of his Good Friday addresses, which is lamentable for
+without a doubt they represent his best preaching. A full, stenographic
+report, however, was made of his last addresses in 1939, and certain
+paragraphs from the Third Word may well be quoted. This Word from the
+Cross, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by
+whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then
+saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!", was greatly loved by his
+people because he gave to it an interpretation that was entirely
+original:
+
+  As those of you who have been here on other Good Fridays know, I
+  give that my own interpretation. Some say that I am wrong: that
+  when Jesus Christ said "Woman, behold thy son," He meant He was
+  directing her attention to His friend, St. John, who would be a
+  son to her now that He was going away. Perhaps. But I like to
+  think the other way: that He was revealing to that mother of His
+  the thing that should justify her motherhood, and her faith, and
+  her love. He was saying, as it seems to me, things like this:
+
+  "Behold, your Son, bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh. Known
+  and yet unknown. The Son whom the angel announced to you long ago
+  among the Judean hills. The things that you have treasured and
+  pondered in your heart must be brought out now to allow God to
+  open to you their hidden meaning. For I am your Son, your
+  first-born. In these years of wonder and strangeness I have not
+  forgotten the love and care and protection given me. Through you
+  I grew up in the knowledge of the Scriptures and the love of
+  God's House. No, I have not forgotten those years in the
+  carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and the laboring for daily bread.
+  Neither was it easy to break away, and leave home, but God called
+  me, and deep down in your heart you were glad that God chose
+  me--it was the confirmation of all that the angels had whispered
+  in your heart. You were proud of me, sure that God had somewhat
+  in store for me that had never been known in the world, never
+  known to the mothers of other sons. And then murmurs came to you
+  of opposition, of the hostility of men high up in the synagogues,
+  weird reports of my deeds, and strange teachings, and finally all
+  that I said and did seemed to go against the authority and
+  sanctions of your religion, and you were fearful of my mind. And
+  now I have come to this disgraceful end. This cross is the
+  fruitage of those thirty years spent with you and in the
+  fulfilling of God's pleasure. This fruitage of the Cross is not
+  the fruitage that God gives to the sons of evil as seems to be
+  the just fruitage of these thieves crucified beside me. In
+  reality this Cross is the crown of my life, and some day the
+  world will see it, and take Me unto itself, and the Cross will
+  have become a throne."
+
+  It is the word of justification and comfort that Jesus gives the
+  broken-hearted Mary. It is the word of God to woman. "Now we see
+  through a glass darkly, but then face to face." In Jesus, the son
+  of Mary, we see what the world will be like 'when the years have
+  died away.'
+
+It was on these special occasions that he so frequently was inspired.
+Easter Day, for instance, with its many services and huge congregations
+stimulated him to the utmost, and to many of us it seemed as if we stood
+in one of the vestibules of immortality, certainly in the temple of this
+man's faith. He preached at both the eight and the eleven o'clock
+services, and each time with undiminished vigor and clarity of thought.
+In the interim, he personally greeted all the parishioners who remained
+after the first service for breakfast in the parish house.
+
+Frank Nelson loved the ministry, and his convictions glowed and radiated
+pervasively. Innumerable scenes flood the memory, and I recall an
+ordinary Sunday which included the early celebration of the Holy
+Communion at eight forty-five A.M.; an address to his Chapel
+Class at nine forty-five; and a sermon at eleven o'clock; in addition to
+all these he went, in the afternoon, to a labor union memorial service.
+There he repeated the morning's sermon from the text, "The last enemy
+that shall be destroyed is death." It was the fruit of all his ministry
+to the bereaved, and of his penetrating, sympathetic insight into the
+loneliness and devastation of death's inroads. As he brought the
+Christian faith to bear upon the problem, he imparted by clarity of
+thought and eloquence of words as well as by accent and genuineness of
+emotion that certitude which is possible only for one who himself
+possesses that which he proclaims. This sermon was a notable example of
+Phillips Brooks' definition of preaching, "Truth conveyed through
+personality." The few notes here included give only a glimmer of the
+range of his thought, and do not adequately convey the personal factor
+which made one want to rise up and call him blessed:
+
+  Men have ever striven to conquer death, and never succeeded.
+  Christ too died and though He rose from the dead, He did not
+  return to this life and take up its habits and tasks again. St.
+  Paul was not thinking of overcoming death in this way, but rather
+  of the new consciousness and gift of power that Christ has given
+  men. Christianity is a conquering power. Faces what appears to
+  be the impossible, what experience declares to be impossible, but
+  does so with the word that "all things are subject to Christ."
+  "We see not yet all things put under him--but we see Jesus."
+  There is nothing that may not become subject to the spirit of man
+  through Christ.
+
+  Christ facing human problems: the fear of God's wrath,
+  superstitions arising from doubt of God's moral goodness,
+  sickness, sorrow, hopelessness, sin, worldliness, bitterness of
+  spirit and mind, suffering, and at last conquering death as an
+  enemy by His resurrection.
+
+  Death's mastery over us is not a physical thing. It is its power
+  over our spirits, its apparent defeat of hope, of work begun, of
+  love entered into, of faith laid hold upon, and the bitterness
+  that is the fruit of that defeat. Through Christ the power of
+  achievement was strengthened, and released by death. We resent
+  death perhaps--reason for shrinking is that so impersonal and
+  physical a process should be able to overcome a spiritual
+  consciousness and experience. We resent always the victory of a
+  lower over a higher order. (Feb. 28, 1926)
+
+Frank Nelson combined a happy idealism with common sense, and when the
+occasion moved him to inspired utterance, he drew upon the deep wells of
+his being, and spoke without effort as waters flow from a fountain. This
+quality characterized many of his speeches, such as the one in Music
+Hall after the Armistice of 1918 which he himself considered his best,
+and those at Masonic gatherings when men flocked to drink in his words
+and to be in his presence. He overshadowed other speakers, and what
+Henry Ward Beecher said of another is doubtless applicable to Mr.
+Nelson: "When he speaks first, I do not care to follow him, and if I
+speak first, then when he gets up I wish I had not spoken at all."
+
+The worth of so much preaching troubled him at times, and he too had his
+darker moments. Sometimes he paced up and down Howard Bacon's study
+never saying a word, or perhaps bursting out in boyish petulance, "When
+I am down, the parish is down. Why can't they stay up?" At a staff
+meeting one morning he told the incident of an organization that had
+requested him to address them, and when he asked on what subject, the
+reply was "Oh! just talk!" He passed this off as a sort of reflection on
+his fluency of words.
+
+Preaching was desperate business to him because "the burden of the Word
+of the Lord" lay upon him, and if he rose to great heights, he also was
+dashed down to the depths. To preach for forty years from the same
+pulpit is an exacting task, and the net result of such an experience is
+no better summed up than in the remark of a humble parishioner by whose
+house he was walking one morning with Frederick C. Hicks. It was Monday,
+and the woman was hanging out her wash. Mr. Nelson said, "Let's stop and
+ask her what she remembers of my sermon." The good soul was non-plussed,
+and could not recall even his text. And then with a leap of inspired
+insight she said, "But Mr. Nelson, this cloth is whiter every time I
+pour water over it." Perhaps this is the lasting effect on every humble
+soul who patiently waits as God communicates His truth in earthen
+vessels.
+
+People came to be in Frank Nelson's presence. He never let them down. He
+had said of William S. Rainsford's preaching: We came here as church
+people, professing the faith, and as "we sat before him we saw poured
+forth the reality of the thing we had professed to believe in ... He
+took us to whom religion was a profession, and made it a passion."
+Christ Church people find these words set up poignant echoes of a day
+when they sat before Frank Nelson and heard the living Word of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] _Central Anglicanism_, Charles W. Lowry, Jr. _The Witness_ May 27,
+1943. Used by permission.
+
+[14] _The Servant of The Word_, Farmer p. 6, Charles Scribner's Sons.
+Used by permission.
+
+[15] Farmer in his brilliant book, _The Servant of the Word_, makes this
+illuminating comment on preaching:
+
+"The wisdom of the reformers appears in always associating the speaking
+of the word with the other sacraments, and the protestant habit, which
+is sometimes derided, of always having an address at every meeting is
+seen to have sound reason behind it. It is part of our whole
+understanding and valuation of the person and the personal way in which
+God deals with him. I want the thrusting intrusiveness, the
+interjection, of another's serious speech. I believe there can be no
+substitute for the sermon." _Ibid_ pp. 80-81.
+
+
+
+
+  _Beyond
+  Cincinnati_
+
+
+  _"He was easily the prince of us all in diocese
+  and national church."_
+
+  --_ZeBarney Phillips_
+
+
+  6
+
+
+The diocese of southern Ohio, of which Christ Church is a part, was
+vastly strengthened by the leadership of Frank Nelson. In the earlier
+years of his rectorship he had had little time for diocesan affairs, not
+that he was indifferent, but he was essentially the kind of person who
+did one thing at a time, and never allowed himself to be diverted from
+the immediate task. Moreover, because he was impelled by burning
+convictions to express freely his pronounced views, he was considered
+radical, and was misunderstood and disliked by many churchmen. The
+diocese of those earlier years was conservative and static, and politics
+then played a more weighty part than now. A clerical friend in speaking
+of Mr. Nelson candidly stated, "I had to grow into friendship with him.
+In those early days I had a sort of prejudice against him as a militant
+opponent of things, but I soon saw my mistake and recognized that he was
+of nobler cast." He never sought position, and never until 1916, with
+one exception, was he elected a deputy to the General Convention, which
+is the highest body of authority in the Episcopal Church. Even when the
+Convention met in Cincinnati in 1910 and Christ Church was the host to
+numerous services and meetings, he had no vote. Until 1916 he had
+represented his diocese at the General Convention only in 1904; he was
+defeated for re-election in 1907 because he had defended Dr. Algernon
+Crapsey in a once famous heresy trial.
+
+His larger interest in the diocese probably had its beginning when in
+1908 as a member of the Social Service Commission he visited the Hocking
+Valley, and was shocked by the abominable living conditions of the
+miners and the almost intolerable injustice of their economic
+circumstances. His interest, thus fired, increased with the years until
+he came to be depended upon in every sphere of diocesan life, serving on
+the Standing Committee, the Bishop and Chapter, the Board of Strategy
+and Finance, and in practically every other committee and department of
+importance. He was most insistent on maintaining the missionary program,
+which he held to be the very heart-beat of the life of the Church. Even
+during depressions, Christ Church never lowered its missionary giving
+of $24,000, and one year voted $3000.00 from its parish budget to make
+up a deficit in the missionary budget because as he said "We have failed
+to educate the people." His thorough knowledge and good judgment were of
+infinite value to a succession of bishops. On the occasion of Mr.
+Nelson's Fortieth Anniversary, the present Bishop, Henry Wise Hobson
+said, "In all parts of the Diocese I have heard clergy and lay people
+say such words as these: 'The spirit of honesty, courage, fellowship,
+and service which has grown up in the life of our Diocese is primarily
+the result of the influence of Frank Nelson, whose own spirit has been a
+contagious force in our midst.'" Others who have observed the remarkable
+growth and increasing strength of this Diocese say that its present
+vitality has been generated, not by numbers, nor by wealth, but by the
+passionate spirit of certain recognizable characters of whom Frank
+Nelson was easily the leader. During Bishop Reese's long illness, Mr.
+Nelson largely conducted the business of the Diocese, and for a man with
+such positive convictions, he was extremely fair in presiding at the
+Convention. He leaned over backward to be just, and did not silence even
+those who brought up petty reasons for disagreement on the subjects
+under debate.
+
+When in 1929 the illness of Bishop Reese necessitated his resignation,
+the Diocese spontaneously turned to Frank Nelson as his successor. There
+is a certain piquancy in the contemplation of the change that by this
+time had come over the Diocese. A man who at one time had been
+distrusted, and branded as radical if not reckless, had so won the
+respect and affection of his associates that they desired to express
+their trust and belief in him by electing him to the highest office of
+his Church. Reverend Sidney E. Sweet, now Dean of Christ Church
+Cathedral, St. Louis, nominated Mr. Nelson at the Convention saying, "He
+is a man whose intellectual and spiritual gifts rank him with the finest
+in the Church throughout the United States. It will make the Diocese of
+Southern Ohio proud to present the name of Dr. Nelson to the House of
+Bishops as the representative of this Diocese." Another discerning
+friend, Alfred Segal of _The Cincinnati Post_, put the case
+dramatically when he wrote in his column: "The other day Rev. Frank
+Nelson stood on the threshold of ecclesiastical glory. He needed but to
+take one step and he would have been on his way to the eminence of
+Bishop. But he turned away, though many welcoming hands beckoned him."
+
+In declining the nomination, Mr. Nelson said that his decision came as a
+result of consultation with friends whose opinions he valued, and from
+his own best judgment which counselled against his acceptance. He felt
+that it was desirable to elect a man with no local associations, and his
+own long ties with the diocese made him an unsuitable candidate. He had
+confided in friends his lack of diocesan consciousness, and confessed a
+reluctance to assume at his age another kind of work. Furthermore, the
+parish of Christ Church and the city were by now so deeply embedded in
+his very soul that even a change, if not a severance, of such ties was
+unthinkable. He put forward the name of Dr. Howard Chandler Robbins, who
+later refused the election. The selection of Dr. Robbins, important as
+it was, nonetheless seemed secondary to the insistent attempts of
+leaders to place this humble servant in the office of Bishop. Upon Mr.
+Nelson's entry into the luncheon hall after the convention, he was
+greeted by a tremendous ovation. He was a strong man among strong men.
+The following letter from the late Right Reverend William Lawrence of
+Massachusetts did not dissuade him from his firm decision:
+
+
+  November 22, 1929
+
+  My dear Frank:
+
+  You well know that it is my rule not to "butt in," but as a
+  Pullman conductor once told me, "there ain't no use in having
+  rules that you can't break when you have to."
+
+  I believe that you respect my judgment; my judgment is that you
+  are the one man who has the qualifications to be Bishop of
+  Southern Ohio. I know your loyalty to your parish and your humble
+  estimate of yourself. But the Diocese and the opportunity which
+  the Church will give you as Bishop are greater than your parish.
+  Think of Trinity, Boston, at Brooks' election and its result
+  today. Spaulding of Utah brought into the House of Bishops a
+  breeze of fresh air, a new life and courage which abide there
+  still--You will do the same.
+
+  Think of the cheer that your election will bring to Vincent,
+  Reese, and the whole Diocese.
+
+  Let them have your name and your life. I never wrote such a
+  letter before and no one knows that I am doing it now.
+
+  Yours affectionately,
+
+  William Lawrence.
+
+
+
+
+
+At the succeeding convention another concerted effort was made to induce
+Mr. Nelson to become Bishop. It was refreshing to find the office
+seeking the man, especially a man who had never sought for himself
+positions of prestige, a man never found in the society of office
+seekers. Although he was gratefully aware of the well-meaning intentions
+of his friends, and felt in the proposed honor the warmth of their
+personal affection, he did not want it said that he had permitted the
+election and then declined it. In as tactful a manner as possible he
+labored to prevent the Committee on Nominations from presenting his
+name. During a stormy session of the Committee a movement was under way
+to over-ride Mr. Nelson's wishes and present his name as the nominee of
+the Committee anyway. At this juncture Dr. Hicks, his close friend and a
+Vestryman of Christ Church, rose and protested with considerable
+indignation, "Gentlemen, this means you simply do not know Frank
+Nelson." The debate went on, but Mr. Nelson remained firm, saying on the
+Convention floor, "I _may_ not be Bishop of Southern Ohio," and he used
+the word _may_ in the ancient sense of having "power to prevent." "I
+cherish the tribute, but I tell you without recourse to thought or
+prayer that I cannot do it." Finally, the Convention proceeded to the
+happy election of Henry Wise Hobson, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio
+remembers with gratitude that it owes Bishop Hobson to Frank Nelson.
+
+From 1916 until his death, Mr. Nelson was a deputy to the triennial
+meetings of every General Convention, and became the principal
+spokesman in the House of Deputies. This body is not always as decorous
+and staid in its deliberations as the House of Bishops, but Mr. Nelson
+at all times commanded a respectful hearing among the deputies. He came
+to be one of the leaders who, as a veteran church-paper correspondent
+put it, "could read the signs of the times." His opinions carried
+enormous weight though not habitually swaying votes.
+
+In Diocesan circles as well as in Christ Church, he was absolutely
+fearless in utterance, and was among those who were eager for the
+Episcopal Church to make large ventures of faith. Like Bishop Brent, he
+commanded a vision and a breadth of spirit which were incomprehensible
+to those who could not conceive of a universal Christianity free of
+sectarian doctrines and dogmas. In this respect he reflected and
+perpetuated the greatness of Phillips Brooks who thus stated his
+position: "I cannot live truly with the men of my own church unless I
+also have a consciousness of common life with all Christian believers,
+with all religious men, with all mankind." As a natural consequence of
+such conviction, Mr. Nelson was insistent that the Episcopal Church
+become a constituent member of the Federal Council of Churches, and
+lived to see accomplished that small but significant step towards
+cooperation among the churches.
+
+In the debates that occurred in various years on such subjects as the
+proposal to eliminate the word "Protestant" from the official name of
+the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and on
+the status of the Presiding Bishop, he was very firm but kindly and
+tactful in setting forth the Protestant emphasis in the
+Catholic-Protestant fabric of his church. He argued that the word
+"Protestant" in the title is there to protect the right of every sort of
+churchman. His candor was disarming, and he could get away with such
+unvarnished statements as this: "As you know I am a Protestant of the
+Protestants. I do not belong to the Catholic party in the Episcopal
+Church. I belong to the Protestant party. I believe in Protestantism; I
+do not believe in Catholicism, I never have, and please God, I never
+will. I believe in Protestantism; but I believe more, and deeper, and
+further and broader, and higher in manhood and womanhood. I can see a
+vision of God in the man and in the woman, in the Catholic as well as in
+the Protestant, in the Jew, in the atheist, as well as in the
+Episcopalian."[16] He was alert to any move that threatened the
+democratic basis of the Episcopal Church and diminished the power of the
+clergy and the laity, holding in the instance of the Presiding Bishop's
+status that the proposal for something similar to an archbishopric would
+introduce a monarchical form of government into a church whose
+government closely resembles that of the United States.
+
+At those conventions when the Prayer Book was under revision, Mr.
+Nelson's spiritual discernment, large-heartedness, and wise judgment
+were an important supplement to the work of the liturgical authorities.
+One of the really notable speeches of any General Convention was his
+plea for the church to place the emphasis in the Baptismal Service where
+the Apostles did, namely, on discipleship rather than on Creed. "The
+Creed ought to be on the Altar, not at the door of the Church," he said.
+"I want the Creed in the service, and I believe it will receive more
+emphasis than before if it is inserted where I have proposed to place
+it.[17] The important thing required of Christians is to follow Christ.
+It is harder to follow Christ than to accept a creed, and God forbid
+that I should make membership in the Church easier than Christ made it."
+His earnestness and deep religious feeling made a profound impression,
+but there were those who saw in the proposal an opening wedge for the
+subordination of the creeds, and timidity and caution overcame the surge
+of approbation which followed immediately on his speech.
+
+Commencing in 1925 and continuing until his death, Mr. Nelson served on
+the Joint Commission on Holy Matrimony, which dealt with the highly
+controversial issue of divorce. In upholding the high standards embraced
+in the canons of the Church, he supported that section of the
+Commission which sought to take into account the far-reaching human
+factors involved in marriage and divorce. He was absolutely convinced
+that the Church was not approaching the problem in the right way. To him
+it was not an ecclesiastical problem but a definitely human affair. He
+said he preferred to submit a delicate, ethical problem to a human
+bishop rather than to the arbitrary operation of a rule. He maintained,
+"Divorce is now on a legalistic basis. That was not the way of our Lord,
+and the Commission desires to lift it out of the legal atmosphere into
+the sphere of the fellowship of the Gospel." Towards this end the
+Commission had (in 1931) drawn up a proposed canon which was the result
+of six years' study on the part of an extremely able group of clergymen
+and laymen. Among the latter were some of the great lawyers of America,
+such as George W. Wickersham, Roland Morris, and Professor Joseph Beale
+of the Harvard Law School. This Commission proposed that "any person to
+whom a divorce from a former marriage has been granted for any cause by
+a civil court may apply to his Bishop to marry another person." In other
+words the Commission was endeavoring to have the matter decided not by
+some hard and fast rule which was bound to do many injustices to
+individuals, but by a more general principle to be interpreted by the
+Bishop or Marital Court. The proposal was defeated, but in the battle
+which ensued and has not ceased "Frank Nelson," says Bishop William
+Scarlett of Missouri, "was a leading figure. He was trying to see this
+whole matter through what he believed to be the mind of Christ, and to
+act and legislate accordingly."
+
+At the Church Congress in Richmond, Virginia, in 1926 in a paper on
+_What Is Loyal Churchmanship?_ he boldly stated:
+
+  Even when it comes to the canon in regard to remarriage of
+  divorced persons, when I find in my conscience, standing before
+  God in the presence of Christ, as I try to do, that a man and a
+  woman have a right to be remarried, I will remarry them and take
+  the consequences. I do not mean that I would go about seeking
+  ways of disobeying the Church. I am putting extreme cases. Of
+  course I do not mean that.... My first loyalty, my highest
+  loyalty is to the Spirit and to the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ
+  as God gives me grace to see it.... The human soul is more sacred
+  than constitution or canons. Canons and forms of worship are used
+  to illuminate and guide men's minds and souls to Christ, not to
+  dominate them or compel them to conform to this or that.[18]
+
+In a few exceptional instances he remarried divorced persons. He held
+the present canon of the church to be utterly ridiculous in permitting
+reinstatement to communicant status following remarriage after divorce:
+"If one commits so grave a sin as to demand excommunication, how can one
+be reinstated while continuing to live in that sin? It is absurd on the
+face of it."[19]
+
+There were those who sneered at his position, saying it was
+individualistic and amounted to the setting up of oneself against the
+law of the church, yet he of all people was most conscious of the sin of
+pride and excessive individualism. At his last Convention in 1937, he
+reemphasized the point that the object of rewriting the marriage canon
+was not to liberalize divorce and remarriage: "We have been trying to
+interpret the mind of our Lord. We have presumed to separate men from
+the love of God by excommunication. This Commission is trying to set
+free to a higher plane this tremendous question which is facing us, to
+lift this tremendous relationship from regulation to the life of the
+spirit. We want this church to face reality." Nevertheless, the
+Commission marched from one defeat to another, but it still marches!
+There was passed in 1931 one constructive piece of legislation bearing
+on instruction in Christian marriage which was enacted largely through
+the extremely forceful defense of Frank Nelson.
+
+The same human touch which guided all his thought and effort was
+apparent in his work on another Commission, namely, the Budget and
+Program. He usually was chosen to present the report in the House of
+Deputies, and it was always a masterly presentation. Like Gladstone, he
+had the faculty of making people like figures, because he set them forth
+in terms of human values or in what the newspaper writer calls
+"human-interest" stories. This same humanness was delightfully manifest
+on occasions when friends endeavoured to make him the presiding officer
+or President of the House of Deputies. He would never consent, and
+humorously said that if he became an official, he would have to attend
+all the extra meetings and couldn't play golf!
+
+In 1937 the General Convention met in Cincinnati. Though far from well
+and worn out after the usual strenuous year in his parish, Mr. Nelson
+gave up a large part of his vacation to assist in the arduous
+preparations always entailed by such affairs. At the opening service in
+the University Stadium he was selected by the Presiding Bishop to read
+one of the Lessons, the deserved recognition of his place in diocese and
+national church.
+
+In the extensive work of forwarding the policies set up by the General
+Conventions he was called upon, as one of the representative rectors, to
+speak in many parts of the country. He was foremost in commending the
+Nation-Wide-Campaign or budget plan of operation instituted in 1919, as
+a means of re-awakening the church to a sense of national
+responsibility. Despite heavy work in parish and city he never spared
+himself, and willingly put his services at the command of the Presiding
+Bishop. Only eight months before his death, he spent an entire week in
+the Diocese of Massachusetts speaking two and three times a day to
+groups of vestrymen on the forward work of the church.
+
+When General Convention met in Kansas City in 1940, the first meeting
+after Mr. Nelson's death, the President of the House of Deputies, the
+late ZeBarney Phillips, said at the opening session:
+
+  Later on we shall have the regular memorial to all members of the
+  Convention who have died during the triennium, but as the
+  Convention opens without them I cannot refrain from paying
+  tribute to some of those whom we loved best and best remember.
+  First you will all agree is Frank Nelson who was the outstanding
+  member of this House at Cincinnati. His genuine Christian
+  devotion, his courtesy, his fairness and his gentleness can never
+  be forgotten. Let me tell you one little thing that shows his
+  character. You all know his type of churchmanship, and yet, for
+  the sake of others he placed candles on his altar for the
+  corporate communion. It was a little thing but it was so like
+  Frank Nelson.[20]
+
+Whether in parish, city, or the whole Episcopal Church, his work was
+affected by a mighty vision of the Kingdom of God on earth which set him
+apart as an unusual servant who humbly read the scroll of life as it is
+unrolled to the children of men. He passed on to others the torch of
+faith which lights the path to the City of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[16] Address at the Centennial of Christ Church, 1917. He spoke in this
+vein at Conventions though I cannot locate exact statements in official
+records.
+
+[17] Mr. Nelson's proposal placed the Creed immediately after the
+Lesson.
+
+[18] _The Church and Truth_, p. 138, Macmillan Co. 1924. Used by
+permission.
+
+[19] Letter to the author, September 12, 1932.
+
+[20] Letter to Mrs. Nelson from Mr. Richard Inglis of Cleveland.
+
+
+
+
+  _The Mystery of
+  Personality_
+
+
+  "_There is not one of us but in some measure
+  is in his debt._"
+
+  --_The Cincinnati Enquirer_
+
+
+  7
+
+
+"All the hold those people have on God is me. It is terrible. It bothers
+me. They love me but they don't come to church." Mr. Nelson confided in
+this vein one night to his intimate friend, Jesse Halsey, into whose
+study he had stopped on his way home from a call in a distant suburb.
+While it was inevitable that some people should use him as a crutch or
+should let him do their climbing for them, the truth of the matter is
+that he was a chosen channel for the communication of the Divine Spirit
+to earth-bound men. Because he was genuinely humble, he was troubled
+about those people who could approach God only through him. If they
+little sensed that what they loved in him was God, they nevertheless
+were compelled by their limitations to think of God in terms of Frank
+Nelson.
+
+He was only a voice in the successive generations of men whom God has
+sent to minister unto this world, but men loved the voice and though it
+is now no longer heard, the mystery and wonder of his personality still
+remain. The happy blend of the spiritual and the human in his nature had
+a profound influence upon those who knew him. Though poor, faltering
+words may suggest the salient outlines of his character, the richness
+and singularity of it defy complete expression.
+
+Mr. Nelson's rare gifts of mind and spirit were enhanced by a robust
+physique. He was tall, well-proportioned, and in his last twenty years
+took on an almost majestic bearing which gave him a distinguished
+appearance in any company. In his manner there was that graciousness
+which men call charm or presence. Those who associated with him, whether
+rich or poor, talented or commonplace, felt his friendliness. He was at
+home with all kinds of people, and though born on the sunny side of the
+street, and by birth and breeding an aristocrat, he became one of the
+most democratic of men. Because of his greatness some approached him
+hesitatingly, but they went away remembering only his kindness of heart.
+He never stood on his dignity in that sense which conveys condescension.
+His gay, infectious laughter which so often filled a room put people
+immediately at ease, and yet he never belittled his calling nor lowered
+himself to meet men.
+
+There was a look of keenness in his eyes that sometimes pierced one
+through and through, but always there shone forth faith and sympathy and
+understanding. It was the warmth of his humanity that drew people, and
+consciously or unconsciously gave them confidence and a stronger
+readiness to meet life. Bishop Edward L. Parsons of California writes,
+"When with him you felt as if you were entirely safe. You knew that his
+judgment would be sound. You knew that he was too big to be dominated by
+personal considerations."
+
+The same warmth expressed itself in his appreciation of other men's
+opinions, and because he was decisive in outlook and views, he found
+pleasure and stimulus in the spirited exchange of ideas and in sprightly
+repartee. In the Episcopal Church there is an amazing diversity of
+thought on ecclesiastical matters. Frank Nelson, for instance,
+represented one conviction, and the Right Reverend Spence Burton, now
+Lord Bishop of Nassau, quite another. "We were the best of friends,"
+writes Bishop Burton, who is a Cincinnatian by birth, "and we often
+disagreed but got on happily together because I think that
+temperamentally we were somewhat alike--what might vulgarly be known as
+whole-hoggers. In that way we understood each other and did not annoy
+each other nearly so much as if we had had the idea that we could have
+only as much affection for each other as we had agreement with one
+another." The admiration and affection which Mr. Nelson elicited was
+pointedly demonstrated at his funeral. Bishop Burton sat in the chancel
+alongside the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the Presbyterian minister. Dr.
+Halsey said: "Bishop Burton, perfect gentleman that he is, not once
+crossed himself in deference to Frank's (to him, atrocious) low church
+prejudices!" Frank Nelson was like that. Respect for him sometimes came
+grudgingly, but it came because there was no personal animosity in the
+man. He was honored because he was a moral and a spiritual force with
+which to be reckoned.
+
+His election to the Commercial Club of Cincinnati in 1923 is another
+indication of his democratic and appealing character. This club is one
+of the city's most exclusive, its membership being comprised entirely of
+business executives, captains of industry, and a small sprinkling of
+professional men. The constitution of the club allows for three honorary
+members, and at the time of Mr. Nelson's election, the only honorary
+member was William Howard Taft. An extract from the Club's minutes
+reads:
+
+  Believing that it would be a merited recognition of one of our
+  most worthy citizens, won by his unselfish zeal for the cause of
+  humanity, and as a leader for higher ideals in our civic life,
+  your Executive Committee unanimously recommend the election of
+  Rev. Frank H. Nelson to be an honorary member of the Commercial
+  Club.
+
+Each year at the Club's Christmas dinner, Mr. Nelson invariably gave an
+address on some contemporary significance of Christmas. His message was
+deeply impressive to this inner circle of representative citizens, for
+he was one with them in spirit, even as he was one with the humblest of
+his parish. In turn, such associations gave him courage and reënforced
+his will to persist in a difficult calling, as the following lines
+penned to a club member reveal:
+
+  I wonder if you and a few men who are like you in real
+  understanding and real goodness, realize what your confidence and
+  friendship do for a minister? It isn't easy for us to keep our
+  faith in what is right and just and true, when successful men
+  tell us we don't know what we are talking about--that our faith
+  is plain foolishness in the face of realities.
+
+He entered into the Club's frolics with huge enjoyment, and on one
+occasion took part in a pageant, dressed in the vestments of a mediaeval
+bishop. During an outing in the South, the Club attended a religious
+service, and while in the church Mr. Walter Draper had his pocket
+picked. After the service, in some excitement he freely expressed his
+indignation, continuing at great length until Mr. Nelson gleefully
+returned the filched article!
+
+Out of his warmth of human feeling there came a real capacity for
+enjoying simple, ordinary things. If he was stirred by the tragedy and
+the immemorial pain of humanity, he was also moved by the elemental ties
+of family and friendship, and by all the simplicity that lends them zest
+and joy. He loved anniversaries, and was deeply appreciative of the
+innumerable remembrances he received on those occasions. Christmas
+parties in his home were a particular delight to friends and to those
+members of the staff fortunate enough to enjoy the hospitality of Mr.
+and Mrs. Nelson. He was child-like at heart, and those close to him were
+warmed by his gaiety and thoughtfulness. He had a feeling for music and
+when he led the carol rehearsals in the parish house hall before
+Christmas and Easter, the boys and girls responded whole-heartedly. He
+took charge in a firm manner; in fact no bronco was ever more
+competently restrained than his youngsters. The chorus of boys and girls
+sang softly or loudly at his will, and enjoyed it, and when he left the
+platform, they did not growl an adieu, they applauded!
+
+Mr. Nelson's interest in people, and the work he accomplished had for a
+background the sort of home environment which enhanced his capacity. In
+1907 he was married to Miss Mary Eaton, the daughter of William Oriel
+Eaton, a Cincinnati artist of distinction. Their adopted daughter, Ruth,
+was an unending delight to him, and he lived to officiate at her
+marriage, and to become a happy grandfather. Mrs. Nelson's admirable
+arrangements of the household left him free of the many details that
+might hamper a man in public office. He did not have to worry about
+bringing home unexpected guests, and when he was not at home Mrs. Nelson
+carried on in a loyal manner expressive of his interest in people. At
+one time before the Travelers' Aid Society was organized, a mother and
+two children arrived at the railroad station in some sort of pressing
+difficulty. Not knowing where to go, the mother inquired of the
+telephone operator, who suggested "Rev. Nelson." The woman in her
+distress went to the rector's home on Pike Street. Mr. Nelson was out of
+the city, but in characteristic fashion, his wife took them in and kept
+them overnight. Mrs. Nelson's interest and work in the parish,
+particularly with the young candidates for the Girls' Friendly Society,
+was of a notable quality, and her fine understanding of their problems
+was not only an important factor in the effectiveness of that
+organization, but also happily supplemented her husband's unceasing
+labors.
+
+Frank Nelson was continually sensitive to his good fortune in possessing
+adequate means, in contrast to the deprivation and financial
+difficulties of many others. He was incapable of concealment and there
+was a refreshing frankness to his acknowledgment one Sunday morning
+when, speaking on the parish budget, he facetiously told his
+congregation that his salary was too large but he did not have the moral
+courage to refuse it! He was also fortunate in many other ways, such as
+being free from illness the larger part of his life, and from personal
+bereavements, for his parents lived to a ripe age. His gift of
+imagination in dealing with many problems not experienced by him
+personally was, therefore, the more unusual. "Genius is the power of
+getting knowledge with the least possible experience, and one of the
+greatest differences between men is in the amount of experience they
+need of anything in order to understand it."[21]
+
+The even tenor of his lot in life did not produce in him
+self-satisfaction and complacency, but often did make him uneasy. He had
+inherited his father's sternness of conscience and moral fibre. At one
+time when a parishioner sold a piece of property and asked Mr. Nelson to
+use the money to buy his first car, he was sorely perplexed as to the
+appropriateness of accepting such a gift and allowing himself the luxury
+of an automobile. He wondered what some of the people in his parish
+would think. When calling in the "Bottoms," he often wore an old, blue
+serge suit. He was acutely aware that his salary came in part from many
+who had little, and to the end of his days his conscience troubled him
+about this, wanting as he did to share the life of the least of his
+people.
+
+Frank Nelson was a singularly modest person. In the early years of his
+ministry one did not hear much about what he was doing. Everywhere
+people talked of Stein's distinguished preaching, and not much was said
+about Mr. Nelson's talents. He belittled his own abilities, and imagined
+that things which were difficult for him came easily to other people. He
+not only deprecated his skill in preaching, but thought he had no
+capacity for meeting intellectuals on their own ground. It cannot be
+said that he had an inferiority complex for that implies weakness, and
+in Frank Nelson power and gentleness were happily and usefully joined.
+The honor and acclaim that came to him from church and city never
+impressed him unduly; in fact, he was saddened by them because they
+represented a seeming success which in comparison with the great ideals
+of the Christian ministry approximates failure. "So likewise ye, when ye
+shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are
+unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do."
+
+His exceptional sense of reality and proportion, which is the very
+essence of humility, made him a forceful leader and at the same time
+congenial company. Because he was completely sincere and unaffected, his
+friends felt no self-consciousness in the presence of "the cloth." They
+in turn could be candid with him. This fact was once amusingly
+demonstrated when the music at Christ Church was not at its customary
+high standard, and Mr. Nelson, happening to meet a parishioner who had
+not been in church for some time, asked her why, and enjoyed a good
+chuckle over her reply: "Oh! I am tired of hearing the choir bawl and
+you bawl!" There was always a lively give and take in his friendships.
+On one occasion at the close of an inter-faith meeting, he was chided by
+a Roman Catholic friend about his poor speech. Admitting that he had
+come unprepared, Mr. Nelson without the slightest sign of resentment
+offered to drive his friend home, and they had a good two hour talk in
+front of the Roman Cathedral.
+
+The range of his friendships was extraordinary for he possessed the
+capacity to kindle admiration and affection. Many a man found him a
+refreshing tonic, and would say, "I felt better for contact with him."
+He was a frequent participant at the Round Table discussions in the
+University Club, and delighted in the exchange of thought that came from
+all sorts. At the time of the death of his friend, Father Finn, the
+Pastor of St. Xavier's Church, which is in the vicinity of Christ
+Church, Mr. Nelson attended the Requiem Mass, and afterwards was
+observed standing by the hearse, head uncovered and tears in his eyes,
+for they had been the best of friends. A great personality is more than
+what he says, and many times brushes aside the trammels of the popular
+conception of the institution which he represents. Frank Nelson had a
+well-nigh perfect concept of what it means to be a Christian; and,
+therefore, in his wide range of friendship among all faiths and those of
+no faith, he carried himself without the faintest hint of disloyalty to
+the Episcopal Church. As he was never colorless, men knew where he
+stood, and though sometimes disagreeing with him, friends and critics
+alike recognized his genuine goodness and knew his motives to be without
+guile. He would say, "Always believe a person right until proved
+otherwise. Take people at face value. I am a fool, but that is the only
+way to begin." Such were the tenets of his quiet pugnacity of faith in
+human beings. It is no wonder that a working-man called him, "The
+greatest Christian in shoe-leather I ever met; a Christian capitalist
+worthy of anyone's emulation"; or that his faithful colored sexton, who
+waited on him, shined his shoes, and served him devotedly to the end of
+his days, should say, "We were pals. He was always tops with me."
+
+Mr. Nelson was often the one called upon when grace of speech, dignity
+of manner and discriminating taste were required. At a community mass
+meeting in Music Hall in 1927, he was chosen to introduce the speaker of
+the evening, Miss Maude Royden, the noted English preacher. He
+accompanied Miss Royden to the center of the platform with all the
+courtliness of a true gentleman, and with that deference due a
+gentlewoman and an eminent personage. His introduction was an instance
+of his singular felicity of expression and his ability to state in
+choice language the sentiments prompted by the event of the moment. Such
+was Mr. Nelson's gift for being master of every occasion. Sitting in
+the back row of the immense hall which was crowded to the doors, I felt
+that the audience quickly sensed the fitness of the presence on the same
+platform of two such estimable representatives of the Christian Church.
+
+To illustrate further his command of language and his absolute candor,
+there is an incident which also neatly tested his tact and truthfulness.
+One sultry evening in Holy Week, when a long-winded clergyman was
+preaching, it appeared to me that the rector dozed. I wondered what he
+could honestly say to the man. After the service when we were in the
+sacristy, he put his arm around the preacher's shoulders, and said, "Old
+man, you set me to thinking!" His tact was never failing, though often
+its diplomatic flavor could be more than faintly sensed!
+
+Accompanying his humility of spirit there was in his nature and his
+opinions an air of authority wholly unecclesiastical, purely personal,
+but immensely impressive. It came in part from his particular type of
+intellect. He had an assimilative mind, which enabled him, for example,
+to acquire rapidly the gist of a book, and to state succinctly and
+clearly a point which he was desirous of making. His was an intuitive
+knowledge rather than a scientific. It was not the kind of knowledge of
+which the dogmatists speak and in which they alone can believe. Mr.
+Nelson's knowledge was the sort which sees into the life of things and
+of men. His intellectual powers were richly developed by his parish work
+and heavy responsibilities, and by his reflection upon all kinds of
+experiences and his understanding insight into other people's problems.
+A forty years' ministry combined with such a type of mind gave him, for
+one thing, a rather fine grasp of medical science. He knew its
+principles, and was able to simplify and help at times when technical
+terms leave the layman baffled and vague. Because of this special kind
+of mind and the sweep of his experience, his general effect on people
+was sometimes overwhelming. To illustrate a minor angle, he was not
+adept in leading discussions; he could not draw out a group because he
+had pretty thoroughly covered the subject himself, and the impact of
+his personality was a bit overpowering.
+
+But above all, the authority one felt most in his personality was that
+which came as a result of his being Christ-fashioned. He of all men
+possessed the kind of nature which cannot live without God. There was
+within him a spontaneity that was entirely himself, impossible of
+duplication, totally socialized. He was not a mystic and maintained that
+he was puzzled by their writings. He admitted that the prayer-life was
+difficult for him, that he could not meditate or think about God for
+long periods. His was not the ascetic or contemplative nature; he did
+not live in reflective calm. In the whirlpool of human relations he was
+an explorer, a bold adventurer bringing people into the presence of God;
+and what does it matter whether one prays in words or acts? He
+exemplified in his life one definition among many, namely, "To labor is
+to pray." The weight of people's needs pressed down upon him so
+relentlessly that he was driven to do something about them. His was the
+temperament which animates an ancient prayer, "Lord, I am so busy this
+day, if I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me." We are disposed to have
+our tight little crystallizations of what prayer should or should not
+be. Frank Nelson was impatient of such, for he ventured upon a scale
+more broad than that envisioned by the average parson or layman. There
+are no theological concepts which fit him.
+
+Mr. Nelson had a natural talent for enjoying people, which implemented
+all his work, but for a man in his position such a gift has its price:
+either one wears himself out or neglects his major task and so spreads
+himself thin. He chose the first course, and as we contemplate this
+record of vast accomplishment who are we to say that he did not choose
+wisely? He was a very busy man, and went about doing good, not just
+doing. His description of Helen Trounstine's life of activity is
+applicable to his own:
+
+  It was not restlessness, the hurrying on from one thing to
+  another, just to be busy. It was the true energy of full-hearted
+  and full-minded interest in life, and all that it holds; the
+  passion to learn that she might teach; to enjoy that she might
+  give joy; to rest that she might have strength to do her work; to
+  serve because men need her service. It was energy of mind and
+  heart so full of the vision of the greatness of life and the
+  opportunity of living, that she could not waste time except as it
+  ministered to the part she was to play.
+
+Mr. Nelson did not scatter his interests indiscriminately but
+concentrated his efforts in the fields where he was most competent:
+social problems and the relation of the Church to the most concrete
+activities of human life. All these fitted into his prime purpose.
+
+The vision which governed his days was strengthened every year in the
+long vacations that he took at his summer home in Cranberry Isles,
+Maine. There beside the sea he dreamed long dreams, and drank in the
+salty air which brought indispensable relaxation, and mental and
+spiritual refreshment. In his small cabin on a point of land overlooking
+the limitless ocean, he could be very much alone. Something of that
+setting and its influence is conveyed in a letter to the Reverend
+Theodore Sedgwick, a life-long friend, which discloses Mr. Nelson in a
+reflective mood:
+
+
+  Sept. 6, 1928
+
+  Dear Ted:
+
+  Many, many thanks for your intensely interesting letter, and its
+  review of Julian Huxley's book. Such a view of life and religion
+  does make one stop and think--and hesitate. It is the terribly
+  earnest spiritual problem that we face today in the ministry. It
+  is the sort of thing I had in mind, in suggesting the subject of
+  "God" for the next Swansea Conference. For we have got to face
+  the issue with eyes open, minds familiar with the biologist's
+  point of view. The old affirmations of formal theology are not
+  adequate to meet the issue. And yet in those affirmations I am
+  sure lies the truth--that God lives, God our Father--conscious of
+  Himself and of us--a person in a very real sense--from Whom we
+  derive personality--from Whom we came--and to Whom we go. If
+  mankind loses that, "his arms _do_ clasp the air" and he drowns
+  in the infinity of time and space and his own nothingness. We
+  have from Christ the truth and somehow we must learn it with a
+  new understanding--or rather with _the_ new understanding that
+  modern science and modern reverent scientific thought have given
+  us. I am sitting at my desk in my cabin at sunset. The day has
+  been cool and grey--a heavy curtain of cloud over the sky--But
+  now--that curtain is thinning and through the break in the
+  west--the whole glory of the sun has colored sky and sea with a
+  golden light beyond description for exquisite beauty. The gulls
+  are winging their way across the sea to a distant island where
+  they rest and go back to each night. As I sit and look, my whole
+  spirit is moved by the beauty and the evening quiet. There is
+  infinity here--of space and imagination. Yet--the gulls--I think,
+  are unconscious of all that--but I am moved by it and keenly
+  conscious of it. It is not just biology--or I would be as the
+  gulls--and I am not. And men are not. They want God--behind the
+  glory--God clothed with the glory--adequate to the glory--that
+  their own imagination and hunger and aspiration may be
+  justified--That is what Christ has given us to preach and it is
+  the truth. Now the gold has turned to a flaming red--thrilling
+  almost to the point of pain. One must believe--and then face the
+  chill grey of the coming night with the memory of it to lighten
+  and interpret it.
+
+  We go a week from tomorrow, back to work, to the men and women
+  who have so bravely gone on working through long, hot summer days
+  in the streets and factories and tenements of the city. And in
+  that bravery and drudgery, there is the same flaming glory of
+  God. It isn't just biology--it is the spirit of God, making the
+  physical the dwelling place of God and glorifying it with His
+  presence.
+
+Frank Nelson had an almost Elizabethan zest for thought and action, and
+even at Cranberry he entered enthusiastically into the local life. He
+preached at least once every summer in the Congregational Church, and in
+that church today are numerous memorials to him: a silver alms bason,
+the Service Book of the Congregational Church beautifully bound in red
+morocco, a United States flag, and several pictures. Each year at Easter
+there is a large cross of geraniums in the church, and after the service
+the flowers are distributed among the families on the island with a
+card saying, "Given in memory of Frank Howard Nelson with the Easter
+message of Christ's Resurrection." When he left Cranberry the last time,
+all the public school children were dismissed to wave their goodbyes.
+His unaffected interest in the affairs of the community expressed itself
+in practical ways, and his unassuming and simple manner gave little
+inkling that he was a foremost citizen of Cincinnati.
+
+"There is nothing comparable," says Coventry Patmore, "for moral force
+to the charm of truly noble manners." Frank Nelson's manner was not only
+the result of a choice family inheritance, but also the rich fruitage of
+a lifetime of faithful obedience to a consuming passion and vision. He
+was a life-giving river flowing in a parched land. In him the ancient
+prophet's words found a fresh fulfillment: "Everything shall live
+whithersoever the river cometh."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] R. L. Nettleship _Lectures on the Republic of Plato_, p. 129,
+published by Macmillan Co. Used with permission.
+
+
+
+
+  _Last
+  Years_
+
+
+  _Then of those shadows, which one made descent
+  Beside me I knew not; but Life ere long
+  Came on me in the public ways, and bent
+  Eyes deeper than of old; Death met I too
+  And saw the dawn glow through._
+
+  --_Anon_
+
+
+  8
+
+
+Frank Nelson never became an old man. Toward the end of his life his
+body could not fulfill the demands of his spirit, and he was not able to
+undertake as much nor see as many people as he wished, but he never
+neglected any responsibility. At times he could not keep going and had
+to stop on the street to rest because too much exertion caused pain, but
+he would not spare himself nor did he ever complain. He was a happy
+soldier who smiled through his closing years.
+
+In 1931-1932 he suffered from a blocking off of the blood vessels that
+drain the leg, a condition which has very serious possibilities. He
+weighed these possibilities, says Dr. Richard S. Austin, but like most
+patients he figured there was always the chance that he might not have
+to pay the price. He was like the physician who when told to practice
+what he preached replied, "Did you ever know a sign-post to walk down
+the road?" He bore his illness with fortitude, concealing from his
+family and friends the vexation that he felt as the activities which
+were life itself to him were curtailed more and more. When entering the
+church in procession with the choir, he would never use a cane though he
+was often suffering acutely, but squaring himself, and throwing back his
+shoulders, he would march resolutely on. As he crossed the chancel to
+enter his pulpit, something of his old vigor was apparent, and as he
+preached, his voice was strong and clear. If he was less animated, he
+was no less intense, no less the tremendously invigorating preacher. One
+day in the parish house Canon Symons met him carrying a heavy bag. He
+was about to leave for one of his frequent periods in the hospital, and
+Canon Symons remonstrated with him and tried to take his bag, but Mr.
+Nelson refused, saying, "No, I won't. I would rather drop in my tracks
+than to save myself and spend endless days in hospitals."
+
+At the Annual Meeting of the Parish on April 10, 1939, Mr. Nelson
+presented his resignation, "not because I want to quit, but I am
+concerned that this parish should not weaken. This church is facing, as
+every church is facing, a new day; and it needs the leadership of
+younger and stronger men." It was accepted with marked reluctance to
+take effect when his successor should be chosen and had arrived. On May
+21st the parish and many of his friends outside Christ Church celebrated
+his forty years' ministry in the one church and city, and there was a
+singular out-pouring of people.
+
+At the conclusion of the observance he wrote a friend:
+
+  Though it was not so stated in the bond, it saved me from a
+  farewell celebration. I preached at all three services, and it
+  saved me the embarrassment of listening to eulogies, and saved
+  others from having to deliver them! But everyone was fine about
+  it. They decorated the Altar with gorgeous red roses, and me with
+  my red Seminary hood (He wore his Doctor's hood rarely and always
+  looked rather sheepish when asking his secretary to take it out
+  of the safe!), and we had the two choirs at eleven o'clock, and
+  lovely music at all the services. So the day went well, and we're
+  all glad it is well over.
+
+In a letter to another friend he said:
+
+  It wasn't easy to speak and to face the services, and that they
+  meant the real end of my rectorship, my active ministry. There
+  were dear friends and very loyal parishioners there. And I think
+  you know my love for Christ Church and for Cincinnati, and my
+  inexpressible appreciation of all that this church and city have
+  given me. It is terribly hard to try to realize that after this
+  summer I shall no longer be rector of Christ Church--and all that
+  that has meant and means--and in very deep gratitude I saw the
+  many, and my mind and heart were very full. Indeed I hope I shall
+  not "retire" from the friendships, and from the life of the
+  people and city. Thank you more than I can say for what only you
+  could so write. I have had a very rare opportunity, and very
+  privileged forty years, and I hope the coming years--or weeks or
+  months, whatever God wills--will bring in their own way the same
+  high things and find me worthy of them, and chief of them, worthy
+  of your friendship and faith.
+
+
+
+
+He had given the church and city a lifetime of service, loyalty, and
+love, and the place he held in the affections of his people had been
+abundantly made known to him.
+
+In July before the last Sunday he was scheduled to preach, he was
+stricken by a heart attack, and so his ministry came to a close without
+further sadness of farewell. He spent a few weeks in the hospital, and
+improved sufficiently to journey to his beloved Cranberry Isles
+accompanied by his wife and daughter. But a doctor, knowing what others
+did not realize, broke down and wept when Mr. Nelson left the hospital.
+His friends and he himself felt confident that a protracted rest would
+do the work of healing. In August he sustained another and a more severe
+attack, and as the chilling, autumn winds blew in from the Atlantic they
+brought him to the Phillips House in Boston. He saw no one at first, but
+then he grew restless, and the doctor permitted visitors. There were
+many, and as he was making no progress, he was moved to the old family
+home in North Marshfield, near Cape Cod. There as a boy he had roamed
+the spacious, rambling house and the bright fields, and there his
+parents had lived the last twenty-five years of their lives. The lovely,
+old home with its atmosphere of peace brought back many tender memories.
+In the absolute quiet of these surroundings which he loved, he lingered
+some two weeks. With another attack he lapsed into unconsciousness, and
+his boyhood friend, the late Dean Philemon F. Sturges of Boston, came
+down to be with the family. On the morning of October 31st as the end
+approached, Dean Sturges knelt beside him and in the dear familiar words
+of the Prayer Book said, "Lift up your hearts," and the family bravely
+responded, "We lift them up unto the Lord." The Dean continued, "It is
+very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and
+_in all places_, give thanks unto Thee, O Lord." It was meet and right
+that Frank Nelson should depart this life on such a note of
+thanksgiving.
+
+At the burial in Cincinnati, November Third, the parish, life-long
+friends, and representatives of the city thronged Christ Church not to
+say "Farewell," but "Hail!", for as Alfred Segal grandly put it, "He was
+like one going away to gather in his victory." For a night and a day
+preceding the service, his body lay in the beautiful chapel of his own
+creation, and great numbers of men, women and children of all faiths
+came to pay a final tribute. The burial service was the same as he
+himself had always used, only read now by his successor, and the Bishop
+of the Diocese. To his friends and beloved people it all seemed passing
+strange if not unreal. Frail beings that we are, we had never sensed
+more than a vague possibility that his ministry would one day terminate.
+It was not past human knowing, of course, but it was beyond the grasp of
+human imagining that the day would come when Frank Nelson would no
+longer walk the city's streets, no longer hurry to the distant suburbs.
+We felt this way because in an unusual sense men loved this servant of
+the servants of God in Cincinnati who had dwelt among them for forty
+years. Yet the great congregation rose above human grief and surmounted
+the consciousness of personal loss in the tremendous note of triumph and
+thankfulness that prevailed throughout the simple service from its
+opening sentences, "I am the resurrection and the life," to the Bishop's
+final words of commitment, "Unto God's gracious mercy and protection."
+They sang only hymns of victory, hymns that he especially loved and
+which were expressive of his faith and spirit: John Bunyan's "He who
+would valiant be," and "There is a wideness in God's mercy." The
+recessional moved to the church door to the triumphant words "For all
+the saints who from their labors rest," set to the stirring tune of R.
+Vaughan Williams. Thus in the simplicity and dignity of the things said
+and done there that afternoon did the passing of this noble minister
+symbolize the destiny of all mankind.
+
+They took him to beautiful Spring Grove Cemetery and laid him beneath a
+majestic sycamore tree whose spreading branches seemed to represent the
+out-reach of his life. Years ago at his behest Christ Church had been
+given a plot of ground for the poor, the friendless, and the forgotten
+of men, "God's Acre." There, by his express wishes, Frank Nelson lies
+among the least of his flock, the faithful shepherd who called his own
+by name. Then every man "went away again unto his own home."
+
+
+
+
+  _The
+  Afterglow_
+
+
+  9
+
+
+It is now more than five years since Mr. Nelson's death, and today the
+old church in the hands of his successor, Nelson M. Burroughs, whose
+first name singularly suggests a prolongation of the Nelson dynasty, and
+whose spirit and abilities are a worthy continuation of an unusual
+rectorship, is still animated by Frank Nelson's vision, his joy in
+service. His ideals live today in the parish of Christ Church, which has
+not failed him but carries out that which he committed unto them in his
+farewell address:
+
+  The Church is the important thing to all of us. We need the
+  Church, for faith, for courage, for guidance. The Diocese needs
+  this Parish--its loyalty--its support--its fellowship--as we need
+  the Diocese. The City needs this Church. You will never forget,
+  will you, the Vision, and the power that came with it, that Mr.
+  Stein gave us forty years ago, viz;--that the Church is the Body
+  of Christ, not a club, to minister, and not to be ministered to.
+  The people all about us, the whole city, are our concern, to
+  bring them the Gospel of Christ. So, I pray God you will go
+  forward into the new day with high faith and enthusiasm. You have
+  a mission from God.
+
+The mission goes on in the spirit of readiness to embark on great
+ventures, and of youth not knowing defeat, for on Easter Day, 1941 the
+authorities of Christ Church announced it as their purpose to erect a
+glorious new building on the site of the present edifice as the only
+adequate memorial to Frank Nelson. As in the dark days of 1917 the
+parish audaciously built the Centennial Chapel, so the tragic repetition
+of world war sees in the present rector and people no diminishing of
+that daring and firmness of vision. This plan is, as Mr. Nelson would
+have it, not for his own glory, but for the larger range of the Church
+in the service of the city. He had said, "This is the work of those who
+will come after me."
+
+Christ Church will one day be clothed in garments of new beauty because
+Frank Nelson preached the Gospel that is the hope of a better democracy.
+The grandeur of his accomplishment impels men to undertake this task;
+and thus it is a living fact that his vision is still an influence in
+the city, and is the choice heritage of an unnumbered host.
+
+If because of human frailty we think of heaven as rest, his spirit
+corrects us. If in our partial understanding he seems to deserve release
+from labor, yet for the very reason that he "wrought with tireless hand
+through crowded days,"[22] we know in our moments of vision that for so
+knightly a spirit the only possible reward is authority over ten cities.
+
+From that kingdom of the spirit, he speaks to us across the abyss of
+time, and nowhere is his voice stronger, his thought clearer than in the
+first chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians. Here, forever sealed in
+the enduring words of Saint Paul, is the heart of Frank Nelson's
+ministry, a ministry valiant and without blemish:
+
+  I thank my God upon every remembrance of you ... for your
+  fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being
+  confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
+  work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[22] Inscription on a tablet in the chapel of Phillips Exeter Academy,
+Exeter, N. H.
+
+
+
+
+    +-------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                   |
+    |                                                       |
+    | Research has shown that the copyright on              |
+    | this book was not renewed.                            |
+    |                                                       |
+    | Typographical errors corrected in the text:           |
+    |                                                       |
+    | Page  ix  incalcuable changed to incalculable         |
+    | Page   9  incalcuable changed to incalculable         |
+    | Page   9  interne changed to intern                   |
+    | Page  23  enternal changed to eternal                 |
+    | Page  25  Legionaires changed to Legionnaires         |
+    | Page  35  unconsciouness changed to unconsciousness   |
+    | Page  40  nothwithstanding changed to notwithstanding |
+    | Page  47  immeasureably changed to immeasurably       |
+    | Page  49  Farrer changed to Farrar                    |
+    | Page  58  self-martydom changed to self-martyrdom     |
+    | Page  58  internes changed to interns                 |
+    | Page  59  Gareld changed to Garfield                  |
+    +-------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick
+
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati
+
+Author: Warren C. Herrick
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26980]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK H. NELSON OF CINCINNATI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Barbara Kosker and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="img">
+<a href="images/frontis.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="52%" alt="Frank H. Nelson" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h1><span class="smcap">Frank Nelson</span> <i>of</i> &nbsp;<span class="smcap">Cincinnati</span></h1>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="block2">
+<p class="noin"><i>Writing is the offspring of thought, the lamp of
+remembrance, the tongue of him that is far-off, and
+the life of him whose age has been blotted out.</i></p>
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 1em;"><b>&mdash;<i>Anon</i></b></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="img">
+<a href="images/title.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/title.jpg" width="45%" alt="Front Page" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h1><i>Frank H Nelson</i></h1>
+<h2><i>of CINCINNATI</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h4><i>by</i></h4>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>WARREN C. HERRICK</h2>
+<h3><i>a sometime Assistant</i></h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h3><i>With A Foreword</i></h3>
+<h3><i>by Charles P. Taft</i></h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h3>LOUISVILLE &middot; THE CLOISTER PRESS &middot; MCMXLV</h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1945, By</span></h4>
+<h3>The Cloister Press</h3>
+<h4><i>All rights reserved. No part of this<br />
+book may be reproduced without the<br />
+written permission of The Cloister Press.</i></h4><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="img">
+<img border="0" src="images/logo.png" width="10%" alt="Publisher's Logo" />
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h3><span class="smcap">Printed in the United States of America</span></h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h3><i>To My Wife</i></h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%"><span style="font-size: 80%;">Page</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">1.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#ARISE">"Arise, and go into the city"</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">2</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">2.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#RECLAIMING">Reclaiming A Church to Meet A New Age</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">14</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">3.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#SHEPHERD">The Shepherd Among His Flock</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">30</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">4.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#SPOKESMAN">The Spokesman of The City's Conscience</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">42</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">5.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#THEY">They Came to Be in His Presence</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">62</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">6.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#BEYOND">Beyond Cincinnati</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">76</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">7.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#MYSTERY">The Mystery of Personality</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">88</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">8.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#LAST">Last Years</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">102</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="10%">9.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="80%"><a href="#AFTERGLOW">The Afterglow</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%">110</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 35%;" /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span>
+<br />
+<h2>ACKNOWLEDGMENTS</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>This book is made possible only through the interest and contributions
+of the many friends of Frank H. Nelson. Space does not permit my
+mentioning by name all who have furnished me with material, but I do
+wish to record my gratitude to them. In addition to the years 1925-1928
+as Mr. Nelson's assistant I spent two weeks in the autumn of 1943
+interviewing a cross-section of Cincinnati and Christ Church. Many
+business men gladly gave of their time because they enjoyed recounting
+memories of one whom they loved, and often detained me when I felt I had
+imposed myself long enough. I noticed also that Mr. Nelson's photograph
+occupied a place of honor in more than one office as well as in many
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>There are others far better qualified than I to write this story, and I
+accepted the task, though with a keen sense of my inadequacy, first,
+because Mrs. Nelson honored me with the request, and second because I
+have the strong conviction that it should be done for the sake of those
+who knew Mr. Nelson, and also for those of a succeeding generation who
+ought to know how one minister more than met the requirements of an
+exacting profession. Furthermore, I have written as one who owes an
+incalculable debt, and, therefore, cannot be wholly objective. While I
+have endeavored not to make this biography a eulogy, it is frankly his
+life as I saw it, and depicts one whom I loved, admired, and have tried
+to follow.</p>
+
+<p>For innumerable suggestions and for valuable material I am particularly
+grateful to Mrs. Frank H. Nelson, to Mr. Nelson's sisters, Miss
+Margaret<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and Miss Dorothea Nelson, and to Mr. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>Howard N. Bacon, who
+have helped me more than perhaps they know. Then there is the pleasant
+duty of expressing my thanks to Mr. Charles P. Taft, the Junior Warden
+of Christ Church, Cincinnati, for writing the foreword; to the Vestry of
+Trinity Church, Melrose, Massachusetts for gladly granting me a leave of
+absence in 1943, and to Mrs. E. Howard Favor, my secretary, for the
+typing cheerfully undertaken. In the labor of preparing the final draft
+for the publishers I shall ever remember with gratitude the careful
+thought and skillful phrasing of Miss Mary Putnam of the English
+Department of the Melrose High School whose corrections and amendments
+were nothing less than creative. Finally, I wish to let stand my
+heartfelt thanks to the Right Reverend Henry Knox Sherrill, Bishop of
+Massachusetts, without whose encouragement and advice this little book
+could not have been written.</p>
+
+<p class="right smcap">Warren C. Herrick</p>
+
+<p class="noin"><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Trinity Church</i>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Melrose, Massachusetts</i>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1945.</span><br /></p>
+
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Deceased, July 6, 1945.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 35%;" /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span>
+<br />
+<h2>A FOREWORD</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>How does one life affect another?</p>
+
+<p>I have tried to remember what Frank Nelson directly asked me to do. He
+asked me to teach in the Sunday School, and I did it. Gradually I found
+myself studying out an intellectual foundation for faith in God. He
+never said anything to me about that, except from the pulpit. He wrote
+me asking that I act as captain in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I
+answered that I could not. But the next thing I remember was being a
+visitor in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I was always in it after that.
+He asked me to serve on the Vestry, and somehow made me feel that
+nothing except being really sick was an excuse for not being there.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly he never exhorted people to be civic patriots or reformers,
+and save the city. He just gave you such a human picture of the teeming
+life of a great city that it made a tear come to your eye to think of
+what the city could be at its best, and it made you love it and the
+people in it. Your own actions in civic affairs just naturally followed.</p>
+
+<p>He wasn't an exhorter of virtue, but he made of clean living and noble
+service such a fascinating objective that people went to work on their
+own problems with fresh faith.</p>
+
+<p>The only time I recall he was really annoyed with me was when I had an
+emergency operation for appendicitis in the middle of the night, and
+didn't let him know until the next day. He was my minister, and that
+meant <i>minister</i>. After that, when I had a major choice to make, I felt
+I was risking his disappointment unless I went down to talk to him about
+it.</p>
+
+<p>He didn't want me to go to a great school as headmaster. "The city is
+the place that needs service and talents," said he. To that he had given
+his life, in the personal contact with his parish. His life stands as a
+symbol of the way a true love of home and community is tied to a love of
+all God's children everywhere.</p>
+
+<p class="right smcap">Charles P. Taft</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br /><a name="ARISE" id="ARISE"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<h2><i>Arise, And Go<br />
+Into The City</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="block3">
+<p class="noin">"<i>Arise, And Go Into The City</i>"</p>
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 2em;">&mdash;<i>Acts 9:6</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2><b>1</b></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>"Tell the rector of Christ Church that if he doesn't call off the
+Woman's Club, I'll bring the women of the streets to the polls." And he
+added, "He knows I can do it." The boss of old Ward Eight, in which
+Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Cincinnati is located, had become
+alarmed by a serious threat to his power. Although this incident took
+place long before the coming of universal suffrage, Reverend Frank H.
+Nelson, the young rector, had discovered that women had a legal right to
+vote in public school matters. Following his leadership, the Woman's
+Club of Christ Church was actively supporting as a candidate for the
+Board of Education John R. Schindel, a fearless young lawyer in the
+Ward. This independent action was an open challenge to the dominance of
+the boss of Ward Eight, Mike Mullen. Though the courageous lawyer was
+defeated, and without the aid of the women of the streets, the affair
+was one of many which presaged the uprising that eventually wrenched the
+control of Cincinnati from the hands of one of the most notorious
+political gangs in American democracy.</p>
+
+<p>A second "passage of arms" between the rector and Boss Mullen had its
+origin in the work of Christ Church among boys, and ultimately involved
+the boss of the entire city and his powerful machine. The privilege of
+running gambling games throughout Cincinnati had been alloted to one of
+the higher-ups in the organization. Within a block of the Parish House
+of Christ Church was a flourishing candy store, so-called, but the chief
+"confection" was a crap game run for the boys of the neighborhood under
+the direction of a member of the City Council, and with the knowledge
+and acquiescence of the police department. It was inevitable that some
+members of Christ Church Boys' Clubs should lose their earnings, and
+whatever of character the church was building up was thus broken down.
+To meet this danger, Mr. Nelson organized a good citizenship club among
+his parishioners. The members made a survey of the gambling places which
+were catering especially to boys, and found nearly one hundred
+throughout the city. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>publication of their findings was one of many
+"shots heard 'round the ward."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> When in later years Frank Nelson spoke
+for the City Charter or Reform Party, he knew from first-hand experience
+the moral and spiritual influence of good government in the lives of
+boys and young men. Behind the youthful clergyman's deep concern for
+decent government was a vital religious faith, without which he was
+convinced social service and reform work can never attain the best
+results.</p>
+
+<p>Frank H. Nelson was Rector of Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1900
+to 1939, having been the assistant minister in the year 1899. These
+forty years in the one parish constitute a career seldom paralleled for
+breadth of vision and devoted service. He became one of the first
+citizens of a great city, a crusader for honest municipal government,
+and the foremost Protestant clergyman. For the understanding of his
+ministry and of his religious convictions, one must know something of
+his early life and family, and the preparatory years.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Howard Nelson was born in Hartford, Connecticut on September 6,
+1869. His father, Henry Wells Nelson, the nephew of the Reverend E. M.
+P. Wells, a pioneer in early Christian social service in Boston, was the
+Rector of the Church of The Good Shepherd in Hartford. Before Frank was
+ten years old, his father accepted a call to Trinity Church, Geneva, New
+York, and there exercised a distinguished ministry for twenty-five
+years. Geneva, an attractive college town situated on lovely Seneca
+Lake, was an ideal place in which to bring up a family. There were five
+children: Margaret, George, Frank, Mary, and Dorothea. George now lives
+in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Mary, who married Edward L. Pierce,
+lives in Princeton, New Jersey. After the father's retirement, Margaret
+and Dorothea lived with their parents in the family home at North
+Marshfield, Massachusetts where they still reside. Frank was not a
+strong child, but in the freedom and simplicity of the life which a
+small town affords, he gained <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>strength rapidly. A sister relates that
+he was unusually venturesome, and sometimes horrified timid ladies in
+the parish by walking on stilts on open rafters, and by frequenting the
+canal, where once he fell in and was pulled out by a bargee. As all boys
+do, he roamed the environs of his home with his chums, occasionally
+pilfering fruit and getting into all kinds of mischief; but though other
+boys might go unpunished because of doting parents, he was always firmly
+chastised for his pranks.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of both father and mother upon these strong-minded
+children was vital and enduring. The father possessed that happy
+combination of gaiety and goodness that commends religion. As he was
+deeply and naturally spiritual himself, the expression of religion in
+his home and parish was unusually beautiful and appealing. The last
+twenty-five years of his life were spent in blindness, but his courage
+and his deepened understanding of the ways of God because of this
+affliction led him to a thankful acceptance of his limitation; and his
+continuing interest in people "made the latter years of his ministry,"
+to quote Bishop Lawrence, "as fruitful as the more active ones." His
+devoted wife, who was Hortense Chew Lewis of New London, Connecticut,
+guided the children through their formative years with skill and
+understanding. She was an intelligent mother, discriminating in taste
+and judgment. Because of her abounding love of good literature, the
+family passed many delightful evenings in listening to her readings from
+Scott, Milton, Shakespeare and many other great writers. Her fine gifts
+of interpretation made the masterpieces of English prose and poetry come
+alive. In later years, Christ Church people were to love Frank Nelson's
+readings at Christmas parties in the parish house and in his own home.
+The older he grew the deeper became his appreciation of the character of
+his parents. An intimate friend once said to him, "You are a fortunate
+and a blessed man to have had such a father and mother."</p>
+
+<p>The family was privileged in possessing means beyond a minister's
+salary, and Frank, at the age of thirteen, was sent to aristocratic St.
+Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. The headmaster, Dr. Henry A.
+Coit, an austere and exacting teacher <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>of the old New England type,
+stimulated the natural student, and under his influence Nelson achieved
+a scholastic standing among the first five in his class. He was not
+particularly skillful in athletics, and had even then a cough which
+persisted throughout his life. The lad was not noticeably popular, and
+had more than the average measure of shyness peculiar to adolescence. He
+was extremely sensitive, somewhat unhappy, and in many accomplishments
+and activities was overshadowed by his older brother who was in the same
+school.</p>
+
+<p>In the fall of 1886, upon graduation from St. Paul's School, Frank
+returned to Geneva and entered Hobart College, a small church college of
+considerable standing. There he began to find himself, and became one of
+the popular men in his class and in the Sigma Phi Fraternity. Although
+in college he took more active interest in athletics and participated in
+rowing, tennis, and track, he never excelled in sports. At his
+graduation in 1890 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, <i>Magna
+Cum Laude</i>, being valedictorian and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
+Throughout his life he maintained relationships with his Alma Mater,
+coming to know the successive presidents, and in 1907 was instrumental
+in securing a large gift for a new gymnasium. Still later he refused the
+presidency of the college. In 1906 Hobart bestowed upon him the honorary
+degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of his undergraduate days at Hobart, Frank Nelson had
+seriously considered the profession of the ministry, but graduation
+found him still undecided. As it turned out, the summer following the
+close of his college years was one of critical importance to his entire
+life. He accompanied a surveying expedition to the state of Washington.
+The party put up for a while in Merrysville, a rough-mannered,
+tough-living town of the old West. Into this place there came one day a
+circuit rider who fearlessly preached the Gospel in the face of
+opposition and outright hostility. This Methodist minister was utterly
+sincere, and Nelson saw what could be done by the sheer power of the
+spirit against the forces of evil. It surged over him that a man can
+hold the mastery over wrong, an inner conviction which at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>the same time
+was set aflame by a Communion Service held for the surveyors in the
+out-of-doors. The circumstances and surroundings were strikingly
+different from those associated in his mind with such a service.
+Possibly for the first time in his life he was intensely conscious of
+the presence of God. As in all such experiences the vision illumined and
+deepened his thinking and living. It has been said that in all great
+Christian leaders and reformers are found two elements: "The imperious
+commission from above, and the tumultuous experience within." Both these
+elements were present in the experiences of that eventful summer, and
+all Frank Nelson's doubts and waverings concerning the ministry were
+resolved. He returned East aware of being called to preach the Gospel.
+In the light of this happening one is not surprised that later when a
+professor dogmatically stated that there could be no true Sacrament
+without the Apostolic Succession, Nelson walked out of the classroom
+saying to himself, "It is a lie." To those who knew him through his
+forty years' ministry in Christ Church, this experience in the far West
+sheds light upon his burning sense of mission, for in those hours of
+inward tumult he had come close to God in the breaking of bread and in
+the society of his fellows, conditions which he preached throughout his
+life as being always the essence of fellowship with God.</p>
+
+<p>On September 18, 1890, he matriculated at the General Theological
+Seminary in New York City. The General Seminary is directly under the
+government of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, and while
+it has always been characterized by a conservative type of
+churchmanship, all shades of opinion were and are to be found within its
+faculty and student body. At this time the respectability of the
+Episcopal Church was considered an asset and not a liability, and the
+Seminary community was in the social forefront. When an upstanding man
+like Frank Nelson, whose background was well-known and whose
+intellectual gifts and social graces were obvious, entered this
+environment, it was inevitable that he should immediately take a leading
+place in the undergraduate body. His tall, commanding figure naturally
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>attracted notice, and within a few days he was elected president of his
+class. There was magnetism in his personality, and he was soon welcomed
+among the socially distinguished in both seminary and city. His
+fellow-students at General, when speculating about the future, as
+students do, always considered him destined for the highest office of
+the church; throughout those now remote years he clearly revealed the
+qualities of the born leader. His class was a notable one, and through
+the passing years gave a good account of itself, listing four bishops
+and ten honorary degrees, Frank Nelson himself receiving the degree of
+Doctor of Sacred Theology from the General Seminary in 1934.</p>
+
+<p>As a student he excelled in Pastoral Theology, Biblical Learning and
+Evidences, subjects which in their nature give some indication of his
+intensely human interest in all aspects of life. Like many theological
+students, he was groping and feeling his way through the multiple
+problems that center upon man in the light of God. One of his classmates
+says that the curriculum and the methods of instruction in that day bear
+poor comparison to modern standards, but Nelson, unlike many students,
+was never in a state of open or even tacit rebellion. He did his work
+faithfully and well. He was graduated in 1894, but for some reason was
+not present at Commencement to receive the degree of Bachelor of Sacred
+Theology, which is the mark of scholastic distinction at General. On May
+19, 1894, he was made a deacon in his father's church in Geneva, New
+York by the Right Reverend Arthur Cleveland Coxe, the Bishop of Western
+New York. During his senior year he had assumed work on the staff of St.
+George's Church, New York City, and after his ordination was quickly
+absorbed into the work of that great parish. Because he did not feel
+ready, Frank Nelson, at his own request, was not advanced to the
+priesthood until November 14, 1897, when he was so ordered in St.
+George's Church by Bishop Henry Codman Potter of the Diocese of New
+York.</p>
+
+<p>Another important element in Mr. Nelson's preparation for his unique
+ministry in Cincinnati was this experience on the staff of St. George's
+Church from 1894 to 1899 under the prophetic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>leadership of the Reverend
+William S. Rainsford. This notable rector possessed unusual gifts and
+exerted an incalculable influence upon the Episcopal Church. He gathered
+about him a group of young men the like of whom has never been found
+elsewhere. St. George's stands as the pioneer of what was known as the
+"institutional church," and in the midst of the teeming activities of
+the parish house and a heterogeneous congregation, Dr. Rainsford set
+loose his young and enthusiastic assistants. They experienced a training
+comparable to the clinical instruction gained by an intern in a modern
+hospital. Under his tutelage these men received a course in applied
+religion, and their rector set a standard of preaching, parish
+administration, and pastoral care that not one of his "boys," as he
+called them, failed to practice in an unusual manner. Dr. Rainsford's
+impassioned preaching of the essentials of Christianity as opposed to
+those aspects which are merely traditional, and his forceful efforts,
+radical for those times, to democratize a conventional Episcopal parish
+were significant contributions to church life throughout America.</p>
+
+<p>Although Dr. Rainsford exerted a lasting influence upon all his young
+assistants, he set his stamp to a marked degree upon Frank Nelson. For
+the first time in his life this young man, the choicest flowering of a
+cultured home, lived among the underprivileged, spending his afternoons
+climbing interminable tenement stairs, and his evenings in the parish
+house. He came to know poverty and squalor and the honest worth of
+struggling humanity. If "The Rector," as Dr. Rainsford's "boys" called
+him, bade them preach on the street corners, he himself had done the
+same. His example and his personal religious faith were those of a
+living St. George touched with the heart-stirring Gospel of Love. Under
+him young Nelson found the services and work of the church taking on a
+meaning that was like a cool, refreshing breeze. Things concerning the
+Church, doctrine, and ritual, which had formerly perplexed his youthful
+mind, now seemed subordinate.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Rainsford evoked a loyalty which held his young men long after they
+had "graduated," and when he died in 1933 at the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>age of eighty-three,
+many of his former assistants were in the chancel of old St. George's
+for the burial service. One who was present said, "We shall not see a
+service like that again, for we shall never see and know another
+Rainsford." Eulogies are not customary at funerals in Episcopal
+Churches, but on this occasion the tradition was fittingly broken, and
+Mr. Nelson delivered a brief address from the pulpit in a breaking
+voice, barely audible at times. In this very moving tribute, the speaker
+reveals much of himself:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I am not here to presume to speak of the man we loved in any
+formal way; to try to weigh the imponderable, to measure the
+immeasurable&mdash;but only to say a word out of our hearts of
+thanksgiving to God that the rector was our rector in the days
+that are passed, was The Rector always and will be always, for
+those who knew him, who loved him, to whom he gave that
+tremendous love of his.</p>
+
+<p>A book was written by a friend of his some years ago, and the
+dedication of that book was this: "To William Stephen Rainsford,
+who has seen the Christ and has shown Him to men."</p>
+
+<p>I know of no more perfect description of the rector than that.
+For twenty years and more of his rectorship in this great parish
+he showed Christ to men; showed Him in the incomparable words
+that he poured forth Sunday after Sunday and year after year from
+this pulpit&mdash;in his great concern for the men and women and
+little children; for the strong and for the weak; for the wise
+and the foolish; for the saints and the sinners; for those who
+labor and were hungry and perplexed, and were strained by the
+tasks of life. They came here week by week; they heard from him
+the words that refreshed them and sent them back with courage and
+with faith in God and in man, to the tasks that were breaking
+them, to the problems that were perplexing them.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose that to every one of us who knew him in his great days
+here and have known him in the years since, the one supreme thing
+that poured out of his life was his love of God. Not the love of
+God that theologians speak of, that men reason about, but that
+pure love that a man gives to his friend, to his loved
+ones&mdash;personal, intense, vital, real.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>We came here church people, professing the Christian faith,
+thinking we believed in God and in His son, Jesus Christ, and as
+we sat under the rector here Sunday after Sunday, we came to know
+that our profession was a form of sound words, that in him was
+the form of unsound words, but that he poured forth <i>reality</i> for
+the thing that we <i>professed</i> to believe in, and he helped us to
+see the real work of God, the real passionate love of God for
+men&mdash;not for the chosen few, but the weak, the broken, the
+struggling&mdash;those in sorrow and the hungry&mdash;the love of God that
+drove him to lay down his life as few men had laid down their
+lives before. He gave of himself without stint, rejoicing in the
+chance to serve his God and his fellowmen with his whole heart
+and soul, with such passionate devotion that at last broke
+through his own conventional beliefs and tore them to shreds, and
+made him the voice of the living God, to us in St. George's, to
+New York and to America.</p>
+
+<p>In the great days of his preaching, he took us who were his
+clergy&mdash;young, inexperienced and conceited&mdash;and made us over. He
+took us, to whom religion was a profession, and made of it a
+passion. He was ever patient with us, giving us his best; day
+after day walking with us around Stuyvesant Square in the
+morning, sometimes for hours, and then pouring out to us as we
+walked the best religious thought of his time, his judgment on
+the questions of the day, his interpretations of religion and the
+tremendous work of the church as a gift that God had put into the
+souls of men for service to their fellowmen.</p>
+
+<p>He told us of his thought for men and women, of the problems of
+the time, of the problems of the church&mdash;not conventional, but
+vital, not formal, but distinctly real&mdash;and then he would take us
+into his study and we would kneel there. And never have I heard a
+man pray as the rector prayed&mdash;without any of the ecclesiastical
+technique and form of prayer, without any formal discussions of
+the value of prayer, but pouring out the things that we had been
+talking of; as real to God as they were real to us, bringing into
+them God; God's companionship, God's sympathy, God's
+understanding and patience; God's ruthless will that we should
+love our fellowmen and serve our fellowmen&mdash;without name, without
+a distinction.</p>
+
+<p>That is the vivid life, a little of it, that we lived with, which
+made God real to New York and to us here at St. George's, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>to
+his clergy. God has taken him home, and we meet here, every one
+of us, because the rector&mdash;broken though he was in these later
+years&mdash;because the rector, whose great and lovely smile we had
+loved to see, as we had loved just to touch his hand to gain
+strength, courage, faith and joy&mdash;because we cannot do that any
+more. His work is done and God gives him a safe lodging and he
+shall rest in peace to the last. Thank God who gave him to us, to
+know and to love, that we might be lifted by him to find God and
+Jesus through him.</p>
+
+<p>He wrote a little prayer, and in closing I am going to read it
+and ask you to join with me in making it our own. Let us pray:</p>
+
+<p>Heavenly Father, I am trying to do right and be right and help
+others to be right. Give me my daily bread. I am Thy child; Thy
+little, weak child. Give me Thy strength; Thy patience; Thy
+wisdom; Thy love&mdash;that with confidence and with joy I may do the
+work Thou hast given me to do in my home and among men. Amen.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>The charter of Frank Nelson's future is set forth in the impression he
+made at the General Theological Seminary, and in the zest and
+enlargement of vision which characterized his five years under Dr.
+Rainsford at St. George's. When the opportunity presented itself to
+create in Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio a work similar to that of St.
+George's, he displayed a characteristically wise judgment in making his
+decision. Henceforth he was to live "in the upper story" of that
+decision, conceiving of his work as a mission to the city, and pursuing
+it with a fidelity and a diligence that ranked him as an unusual servant
+of God.</p>
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> For these stories I am indebted to the Rev. J. Howard
+Melish, D.D. whose forthright denunciations of political corruption in
+Cincinnati were further "shots heard 'round" the city.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>The Churchman</i>, January 1st, 1934.</p></div>
+
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+<br />
+<br /><a name="RECLAIMING" id="RECLAIMING"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+
+<h2><i>Reclaiming A Church<br />
+To Meet A New Age</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="block2">
+<p class="noin">"<i>By the grace of God, and the loyalty of the
+members of Christ Church I was enabled to
+carry on the work when Alexis Stein had to
+give it up.</i>"</p>
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 2em">&mdash;<i>Frank H. Nelson</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>2</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>The surging currents of city life had left old Christ Church in a back
+eddy, and certain leaders including the senior warden advocated selling
+the property or turning it over to the Diocese for a mission. The
+population, as in many another American city, was shifting from the
+downtown district, and many believed that the parish had seen its best
+days. In those late nineties, parishioners of wealth and prominence were
+moving to the suburbs; the older, conservative members still attended
+the morning service, but the young people either attached themselves to
+churches nearer their residences or were drifting away from church
+affiliations altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Christ Church was established in 1817 when Cincinnati was a small river
+town of nine thousand inhabitants; looking at the present church
+building which seats over one thousand people and is flanked by an
+enormous and ever busy parish house, one finds it difficult to picture
+Bishop Philander Chase meeting in that year with a group of men in the
+home of Dr. Daniel Drake to lay the foundations of what was to become
+one of the largest parishes in the Middle West. The first services were
+held in a cotton factory, and the church slowly developed into a strong
+parish, small in numbers but served by several very able rectors, one of
+whom later became the Bishop of Virginia. As the first Episcopal Church
+to be founded in Cincinnati, it was the parent of a number of other
+parishes; but at the close of the nineteenth century it appeared that
+the "mother-church" was about finished. Churches of other communions
+located in the downtown district were going through the same transition.
+The slump in finances by reason of removals created something akin to
+panic in the fearful and timid vestrymen, but because of some loyal and
+far-sighted women Christ Church was not disbanded. They wanted it to
+mean to their children what it meant to them, and they gave assurance of
+support in substantial ways.</p>
+
+<p>These ardent supporters had a definite vision and plan. In 1897 Dr.
+William S. Rainsford had come on from New York City <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>and had packed old
+Pike's Opera House for a week in Lent, and thrilled his hearers with the
+recital of his efforts to anchor St. George's Church in the heart of
+that great metropolis, and make it free to serve the community. When
+Bishop Vincent of Southern Ohio wrote him about the difficulties of
+Christ Church, he replied with this momentous letter:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I am going to give you the greatest proof I can of my love and
+deep interest in Cincinnati. I have a plan for Christ Church.
+Here it is. Take two of my men&mdash;let them work and live together;
+they could take a mighty strong hold, and do a really good work.
+I feel sure that in the future many a position of great
+difficulty can be much better occupied by two men, pulling
+together, than by one alone. There are two magnificent
+fellows&mdash;dear, dear boys after my own heart&mdash;who have been here
+with me for years; and I shall be lost without them, if you call
+them. Stein (Alexis) is the ablest preacher of his age (28) in
+our Church in these United States today. Nelson (Frank) is a
+strong, capable man, full of energy and charm and a first-class
+organizer. This is a big idea, my friend; but I believe God may
+be in it. It is like offering to cut off both my hands for you.</p></div>
+
+<p>Thus the Reverend Alexis Stein became Rector of Christ Church in
+December, 1898, and within a few weeks of his arrival the people of
+Cincinnati awoke to the mighty fact that a prophet was in their midst;
+the doors of all churches were flung open to him, and everywhere he
+spoke, new interest and hope in the Church were born. Stein has been
+called a modern Savonarola, but, unlike the great reformer, he was
+burned within by the fire of his own consuming message. "He was a
+preacher of most unusual power with a message he burned to give; and a
+vision of truth that made him a leader of men. He loved God and showed
+Him to men; he loved men and led them to God."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Before Stein left New
+York, he had asked his friend, Frank Nelson, to join him in the new
+venture, but it was not until May 21, 1899 that he was free to come.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>We came out to Cincinnati because Dr. Rainsford sent us; he told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+us that we ought to come&mdash;not that we wanted to come. Stein and I
+both had always lived in the East. It was the America that we
+knew, and it seemed a desirable place to live, just as those of
+you who have been born here think that Cincinnati is the most
+desirable place to live, because it is your home. But he, with a
+larger vision of America, and a larger vision of the calling of
+God to a man in the ministry, sent us here to do what we
+could.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>In February, 1900, the doctor ordered Alexis Stein out West, a victim of
+tuberculosis. He lived a short twelve years, but was never well enough
+to do more than a little incidental work. This tragedy was a deep,
+personal loss to his young associate, for all through their St. George's
+days they had been the closest of friends. They complemented one another
+and made an ideal team.</p>
+
+<p>Invariably on Good Friday in the course of his address on the Sixth Word
+from The Cross, Frank Nelson spoke of Stein's influence upon him and
+upon Christ Church: "The work he began is witnessed to by you who are
+here. You wouldn't have been here forty years ago or the likes of you
+would not have been here, but he opened the door of life and the spirit
+to the people of this city, as to the members of this church. His work
+goes on. The thing that God wanted him to do he did, and it was
+finished." He expressed himself in more intimate fashion to his friend
+Bishop Touret: "The heart of all its worth (Nelson's own forty years'
+ministry) has been that I was carrying on for Alexis. I've first been
+his assistant in my own mind always, and that has made it possible for
+me to dare to undertake it." If Stein's work was finished, and a prophet
+needs no great length of time, then it was brought to fruition through
+the resolute efforts of this devoted servant who with great humility and
+genuine searchings of heart took up the reins so tragically
+relinquished.</p>
+
+<p>Frank H. Nelson was elected Rector of Christ Church on May 5, 1900. In
+the light of subsequent events his letter of acceptance is of interest:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="right">May 16, 1900</p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+Gentlemen:<br />
+
+
+<p>In a letter from your Secretary, I have been informed of your
+action of last Saturday, in electing me to succeed the Rev.
+Alexis Stein, as Rector of Christ Church. That I appreciate very
+deeply the honor that you have conferred upon me, I do not need
+to say. I have considered the subject very carefully, and painful
+to us all though the circumstances are that have led to this, I
+feel strangely that it is God's work we have undertaken, and that
+He has led us in it all. I therefore accept the call you have
+given me, and I believe that working together we can, with God's
+help, do a real work for Him in this city. For the success of the
+work I regard two things as essential: the first that the Church
+shall remain absolutely free, and the second that the lines of
+work represented by the Parish House shall be continued. I ask
+your cooperation and support in them both. I am writing the Rev.
+J. H. Melish to ask him to be my associate. I hope to have him
+begin his work with us in June. I feel deeply the burden of
+responsibility, and the great opportunity that your call
+involves. I can but say that I shall do all in my power to be
+faithful to both.</p></div>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson distrusted his own ability. Stein's preaching had packed
+the church, and the numbers drastically declined when his eloquent voice
+was stilled. The Bishop, conscious of the difficult problem confronting
+a downtown church, advised Rev. Mr. Melish not to become associated,
+saying "Stein could have solved it, but Frank Nelson never will." The
+Bishop, however, had not sufficient evidence to gauge the young rector's
+talents, nor could he foresee the capacity of the parish to respond to
+the man's magnetic appeal.</p>
+
+<p>There was at this time not only a break in the center of population in
+the city, but also a shifting of the center of gravity in religion.
+There was dawning a unity of the spirit which led men to break away from
+the orthodox emphasis on creeds, and which strove to express itself in
+many forms; such as parish houses, Christian associations, reforms, and
+educational and missionary movements. Mr. Nelson's mind, being busy with
+the stars, was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>concerned with the moral and spiritual movement which
+outlasts the stars. He said, "To some of us it seems that Jesus was not
+so much interested in establishing an institution as in revealing a new
+quality of life." Likewise, Frank Nelson was not so much interested in
+being the rector of a large, prosperous parish as in making the church
+an agency for leavening the city's life with the spirit of Jesus Christ.
+He caught the imagination of his people when he pointed to the
+possibility of a church becoming the community center for multitudes in
+the downtown district. In the near neighborhood of Christ Church were
+new offices, factories, and boarding houses, and at the distance of one
+block began the tenement houses where lived the poor and
+underprivileged. He said:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>We owe to them the gift of Christian friendship, of spiritual
+influence irrespective of religious affiliations. The church
+should provide not only a place to pray, but to play; a place not
+only for worship, but for friendship. There are no places for
+leisure except the streets, saloons, burlesque houses,
+pool-rooms, public dance halls, or other commercial places of
+entertainment. The Church is not here for its own sake. It is
+here to bear witness, and to spread a spirit. It should be the
+center from which radiate the forces of righteousness and the
+spirit of brotherhood and every human activity and interest in
+the community. Therefore, it must speak not to the individual
+only, but to the business, social, and political problems,
+dealing with them not from the viewpoint of the economist or
+political theorist, but from that of the preacher of
+righteousness. If Christ Church can be a force for righteousness
+in the city, it matters but little whether it gain in numbers.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>"Distinction," it has been said, "is the emphasis put upon qualities by
+circumstances." There were two circumstances which enabled this young
+rector to create in Christ Church, Cincinnati a far-famed chapter in the
+history of American churches and cities. One was his conception of the
+place and function of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>modern church in the new age, as just
+outlined. It has been the reproach of the Protestant Churches that they
+have too largely attracted only the well-to-do and middle classes. Frank
+Nelson made Christ Church a place where rich and poor met on equal
+footing. Drawn by his personality, both responded to his vision. There
+was something about working in his parish that gave people a peculiar
+zest and joy in living. There was, for instance, a Jewish lad in the
+Sunday School, (Mr. Nelson never liked the term Church School) who after
+his marriage came every Christmas to Christ Church with his wife and two
+children. He proudly introduced them to Mr. Nelson, saying, "Though I am
+a Jew, this is my church!"</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Mr. Nelson's special gifts as a rector were developed
+and brought into full flower in Christ Church because of the many
+remarkable people who formed the backbone of his parish. In point of
+numbers and in ability, they were an unusual group, a group
+characterized by breadth of vision, and by a faith sufficient for them
+to carry through the bold projects outlined by their leader. Many were
+blessed with abundant means, and, above all, were filled with a
+consummate loyalty and affection for their church. In this happy
+partnership of pastor and parish, each inspired the other to great
+accomplishment. The older members who were in the parish at the
+beginning of Mr. Nelson's rectorship were vigorous, strong-minded people
+accustomed to having their own way. They hewed to the old lines,
+suspicious of change. With his deep sense of loyalty, Mr. Nelson felt
+bound to maintain the sort of practices and low-church ceremony which
+prevailed when he took over, but such was his adroitness, skill and tact
+in leading them that he won their complete confidence and trust, and
+they gave him an unreserved support as well as a free hand in many
+things. This unbounded support of his early work he never forgot; nor
+did he let his appreciation diminish with the success of later years. In
+the course of the observances that marked his forty years as rector, he
+said of them:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>We found here, as the days went on, a group of people that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+think have never been equaled. Not a very large group of people,
+but a group of people who gave us freedom&mdash;freedom to speak the
+thing that was in our minds: to do the things that we believed
+the Church ought to do and to stand for in the heart of a great
+city.</p></div>
+
+<p>A new parish house had been erected as Alexis Stein's rectorship closed,
+and Mr. Nelson's organizing abilities made it hum. With the assistance
+of the Rev. J. Howard Melish, the most competent of all his clerical
+assistants, a Men's Club was organized, and became a mecca for the young
+men of the city. For those of small means, it was the only sort of club
+available, and was thrown open to every race and creed. In 1901 the
+yearly attendance was 7,000, and by 1903 it had grown to 16,973. In line
+with the policy of a community center, the Club included members of all
+faiths, Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic. The Roman priest was always
+notified of Catholics joining the club and informed that no proselyting
+was intended, but rather that it was hoped these young men would become
+better members of their own church. Athletic grounds were secured
+together with a field-house, and Christ Church teams won an enviable
+reputation for high standards of sportsmanship. Their spirit may be
+judged by the story of a football player who waxed into colorful
+profanity in the heat of a game and was bawled out by a Roman Catholic
+teammate in terse words: "Don't you know who you represent?" During an
+interim when another parish house was being built, Christ Church
+basketball teams used the Holy Cross Monastery Hall for an entire year,
+with the full approval of the Roman authorities and the gratitude of Mr.
+Nelson. At that time, the captain of the Christ Church team, John M.
+Cronin, was a prefect of the St. Xavier Sodality and also the secretary
+of the Christ Church Men's Club. By 1911 it was necessary to limit the
+Club's membership to six hundred, and there was always a long waiting
+list. The social atmosphere, the entertainments, the athletic record,
+the camp established by the church on the Miami River made this club one
+of the most popular in the city. Mr. Nelson and Mr. Melish spent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>untold
+hours in the work and gained an intimate knowledge of the individual
+members and their views, particularly on labor questions. The men
+expressed themselves freely, and at the close of an evening's discussion
+Mr. Nelson would gather up the points of argument into a clear and
+effective summary easily understood and remembered. It was in this club
+that a small group once earnestly discussed how they might best help a
+member when he should be released from a prison term which he was
+serving. Nothing gratified the rector more than this sort of human
+comradeship because it is the very essence of the Christian fellowship
+which he was striving to implant.</p>
+
+<p>As time went on, an increasing number of girls and young women entering
+the business world created a social problem which weighed heavily on the
+rector's mind and heart. Knowing the special conditions which these
+young women must meet in a large city, he applied grave thought and much
+energy to the study of their needs and to the opportunity which Christ
+Church had in meeting them. Finding nothing for them socially in the
+city except the Y.W.C.A., some distance away, he sent invitations to
+department stores for a meeting at the parish house. At this meeting he
+proposed to establish a branch of the Girls' Friendly Society which is
+found throughout the Episcopal Church and which exists for social and
+educational purposes. Mr. Nelson gave himself particularly to this
+organization. He gathered a set of workers in the parish, women of
+character and cultural background, who became the leaders and friends of
+the various groups. He was a frequent visitor at meetings and often
+conducted a question box. He encouraged the members to make it one of
+their prime objectives to work for the city's interest. The rapid growth
+of the Society enabled it to support a bed in the Children's Hospital,
+to finance the Vacation House on the Ohio River, and to promote other
+civic projects. The Christ Church organization became one of the largest
+and most active branches in the national society, and had a succession
+of remarkable directors, such as Deaconess Lloyd and Miss Alice Simrall.
+Mr. Nelson's faith and incomparable friendship as well as his careful
+planning made the Girls' Friendly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>a strong and useful force in
+Cincinnati and an influence in the national body.</p>
+
+<p>In those days the public schools provided nothing in the way of training
+in the practical arts, and a large work along these lines was carried on
+among the boys and girls who lived in the districts adjacent to Christ
+Church. The Sewing School, for instance, grew in membership in three
+years from twenty-four to over two hundred under unfavorable conditions
+in the already cramped parish house. When the College Settlement on
+Third Street closed, the church took over its kindergarten equipment and
+its list of members, and every morning gathered in the children of
+pre-school age.</p>
+
+<p>When some people said it was a mistake to make a parish house a
+community center, because in their minds it was being used only for
+social purposes, Mr. Nelson's scorn was beautiful to hear. He asserted,
+"The Church claims to be the Body of Christ, doesn't it? How did our
+Lord regard His body? He used it freely with no thought of preserving
+it, even to the final extent of hanging it upon a Cross. This is the
+only way, His Way, that the Church will have eternal life."</p>
+
+<p>Not many years passed before it became apparent that the parish house,
+though not an old building, was literally worn out and was entirely
+inadequate for such an extensive work. In 1907 Mr. Nelson announced the
+gift of a new parish house from Mrs. Thomas J. Emery, a devoted member
+of the church. So munificent a gift had rarely been equaled anywhere.
+The six-story building, complete in every detail, was not finished until
+1909. In it are club rooms, a large auditorium, a gymnasium, locker
+rooms, and bowling alleys. At the corner next to the church rises a
+beautiful clock tower which before the day of skyscrapers could be seen
+from distant parts of the city, and which has been sketched by many
+artists. Under the impetus of this gift the parish took on increased
+vigor and extended the work into new fields. A Baby Clinic set up by the
+Visiting Nurses' Association provided one more opportunity for service;
+in 1910 the problem of crowded conditions in the nearby Guilford School
+was solved by the use <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>of Christ Church parish house for Kindergarten
+and Domestic Science classes. It was a long list of services which gave
+Christ Church and Mr. Nelson a far reaching reputation for efficient and
+intelligent social service.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>In the Parish House we meet each other, not as having the same
+point of view, the same opportunities, but as having a common
+humanity infinitely various in thought, in faith, in desire. Each
+may learn from each, and grow in breadth and depth, and the
+knowledge of God through his brother. It is in recognition of
+this that we have a free church and free parish house. No
+distinction of wealth may mar the worship in the one; no
+distinction of faith may hinder the service in the other.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>The passing years brought fresh opportunities which were seized upon
+with tireless energy by this far-seeing rector. In August, 1917 came the
+opportunity to establish a Red Cross unit which through day and evening
+groups enlisted the woman power of the parish. At the close of the war,
+Mr. Nelson envisioned the continuance of this work on a scale far
+exceeding the conventional idea of church missionary work. Tactfully
+overcoming certain prejudices and narrow points of view, he again
+secured the enthusiastic support of the same group of women. This unit
+became one of the largest and most diligent organizations in the parish,
+continuing the indispensable Red Cross work, and enlisting larger
+numbers in the special program of the Woman's Auxiliary as it is
+conducted in Episcopal parishes throughout the country.</p>
+
+<p>In 1913 and again in 1937, floods devastated the Ohio River valley. Mr.
+Nelson quickly organized his parish to do its share in caring for the
+refugees. Committees fed, clothed, and entertained one hundred and fifty
+people on the first occasion, and two hundred on the second. Experienced
+dieticians planned and supervised the meals, a trained nurse was kept on
+constant duty, and doctors gave medical service and examinations. But
+Christ Church <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>did more than provide physical care; it knew the moral
+and spiritual needs of the homeless, and each day, through the
+cooperation of the government agencies (especially in 1937), city
+organizations, and individuals, it provided two hours of entertainment
+for them. Every night Mr. Nelson conducted family prayers, and won the
+undying gratitude of the refugees by his friendliness and personal
+interest in their present comfort and future needs. His reputation
+travelled from New England to California, and checks poured in from all
+over the country for this work. The atmosphere of helpfulness in Christ
+Church was his creation, and many volunteers in this emergency were not
+of the parish at all. One mother and daughter engaged in this relief
+work found the associations so delightful that the mother remarked to
+Howard Bacon, the superintendent of the parish house, "My daughter wants
+to join this place; it is the swellest club in the city!" Another
+instance revealing the sort of spirit which pervaded the parish house
+and filled the people of Christ Church was the serving of dinners to the
+American Legion during their convention because colored Legionnaires at
+that time were not allowed in Cincinnati hotels.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that the people in the immediate vicinity were coming to Christ
+Church and using its privileges in such great measure, calling upon the
+clergy for their services, and joining in the work was immensely
+satisfying to Mr. Nelson, for this kind of thing was the fruitage of
+many years of earnest labor, and amply justified his conception of the
+function of the church and parish house as a community center. The
+rector always held that the work of the parish organizations should be a
+result of inspiration from worship and sermons, something first-hand and
+immediate, so that the impetus of the services would not be lost. In
+1912, to mention only one year, there were more than two hundred
+volunteer workers. In addition, his people were serving in numerous
+organizations throughout the community, such as the Juvenile Protective
+Association, the Bureau of Municipal Research, the Hospital Services,
+the Consumers' League, the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, the Playgrounds,
+Fresh Air Society, and Tenement House Reform. Moreover, there was the
+inspiring fact that the parish house had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>become a civic center, and by
+channeling the idealism and energy of a group of young men, of whom
+Henry Bentley of City Charter Committee fame was one, the Church created
+comradeship and generated faith in Christian principles which led later
+to far-reaching usefulness throughout the city.</p>
+
+<p>No account of Mr. Nelson's work could possibly be complete without
+recording the place in it of his chief assistant, Howard N. Bacon, who
+has been superintendent of the parish house for thirty-eight years.
+Howard Bacon came to Cincinnati at the age of twenty-two with the
+purpose of pursuing a business career. Through Dr. McKinnon of Kansas
+City, Mr. Nelson learned of Bacon's marked abilities in church and
+social service lines. They had dinner together, and Mr. Nelson outlined
+the plans for the new parish house. Though a relative had advised Bacon
+"to cut-out the soul-saving business," the avenues of service under
+Frank Nelson's leadership impelled him to abandon his planned career. No
+agreement was made about salary until much later when Mr. Nelson said,
+"We cannot give you much. Will you come for a hundred dollars a month
+and live in the parish house?" At the annual meeting of the church on
+Easter Monday, 1908, the rector made the announcement: "I am very glad
+to be able to tell you that Mr. Howard N. Bacon has joined the staff,
+giving up a very promising business future to devote his life to work
+among boys and young men. He will have charge of the camp, and manage
+the parish house as well as working in the Sunday School." It is not the
+slightest exaggeration to say that no appointment to the staff of Christ
+Church was ever more momentous and fruitful. He served Mr. Nelson
+thirty-one years, though many other attractive positions were offered
+him. Upon him Mr. Nelson leaned as on no other. Through the years he has
+performed the larger part of a clergyman's office, and though not
+ordained is often called "Reverend." He took over the multitudinous
+details of a highly organized parish as did or could no other assistant
+or paid parish worker; consequently, Mr. Nelson was able to devote his
+time to many civic enterprises, and to play a vital role in the national
+life of the Episcopal Church. To have rendered such a service means
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>that he is completely self-effacing and richly merited Mr. Nelson's
+tribute: "I would not know how to get on without him."</p>
+
+<p>The phenomenal development of the parish house as a community center
+kept pace with the striking growth of the church. During Mr. Nelson's
+rectorship the communicant list of the parish expanded from 599 in 1900
+to 2089 in 1939; the number of contributors to the budget from 200 to
+1002; the parish and missionary budgets from $15,103.00 in 1900 to
+$77,493.00 in 1927, to cite a high year; the Endowment Fund from
+$11,770.00 in 1900 to $531,384.00 in 1939. In a way it seemed as if Mr.
+Nelson had only to walk down Fourth Street and the money met him! In any
+case, in the prosperous years it flowed in steadily from a people given
+to generosity. One morning he met a parishioner who had been abroad
+during the past year, and the man asked Mr. Nelson to accompany him to
+his bank. Taking the rector to his safety deposit box, he handed over a
+thousand dollar bond saying, "I haven't done anything for Christ Church
+in a long time." One Sunday morning in the course of the notices (with
+him, announcements were really an art) Mr. Nelson spoke of his friend,
+Dr. Paul Wakefield, who had been left stranded in China during the
+Communist uprising of 1927, and from whom he had just received a letter.
+The special offering that morning, together with contributions sent in
+over the week, amounted to five hundred dollars.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of the great forty years of Mr. Nelson's ministry, a long
+series of extraordinary gifts was made, including the parish house
+already mentioned, memorial windows, an altar, an organ, and numberless
+others, all indicative of the liberality of the people. These gifts were
+grandly climaxed by the erection of a chapel to commemorate the
+Centennial of Christ Church. It was designed to express the beauty,
+mystery, and nobility of the Christian faith, and to provide for the
+many services for which the large church was unsuited. The Chapel was
+largely a thank-offering on the part of parishioners and many others who
+had found in Christ Church a spiritual home for which they were
+profoundly grateful. Another remarkable aspect of this gift was its
+conception in the uncertain days of 1917.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>As the years brought the ever-changing conditions of city life, and as
+civic institutions, social agencies, and the public schools afforded
+gymnasiums, swimming pools, playgrounds, and social centers such as were
+scarcely known in the first decades of Mr. Nelson's ministry, he
+continued to believe in the religious motive which Christ Church gave to
+all these recreational and social activities. To the end of his days he
+held that religious faith gives to social work an enthusiasm, a personal
+fervor, and a genuineness without which the one thing needful is
+lacking. He led his people to see in the drinking fountain outside the
+parish house a symbol of the Church's undying service to the world of
+men. The fact that passers-by, whether on foot or in pleasure car or
+truck, stopped to quaff of its ice-cold water was to him an expression
+of man's eternal need for the water of life, a need which, please God,
+would always be met by a church whose gospel resides in the nether
+springs of God's loving purpose for the children of men.</p>
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Frank H. Nelson.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Frank H. Nelson, <i>Centennial Address</i>, May 17, 1917.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Frank H. Nelson, <i>Year Books</i>, 1902 and 1903.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Mr. Nelson's report, <i>Year Book</i>, 1908.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+<br /><a name="SHEPHERD" id="SHEPHERD"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<h2><i>The Shepherd<br />
+Among His<br />
+Flock</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="block2">
+<p class="noin">"<i>And he shall stand and feed his flock in the
+strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the
+name of the Lord his God: and they shall
+abide ... and this man shall be our peace.</i>"</p>
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 2em">&mdash;<i>Micah 5:4</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>3</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>A Cincinnati taxi-cab driver said to me, "Frank Nelson was sure a real
+man. If you had a million dollars, you got a fifteen minute funeral
+service; if you had twenty-five cents, you got a fifteen minute service.
+He was just as concerned over the family with two rooms as the one with
+twenty." This man had lived all his life in the Queen City, and had
+driven Mr. Nelson to innumerable services as far back as the days of
+horse-cabs, and though he was not aware of the restraint and brevity of
+the Prayer Book Service, he unwittingly put his finger on the very pulse
+of Mr. Nelson's ministry.</p>
+
+<p>In all relationships with people, Frank Nelson possessed the true
+instinct of the pastor because he was moved by the zest and pity of
+human life as well as by an eager willingness to spend himself. He
+invariably had the right word for the occasion, and responded with a
+finely balanced emotion to each individual situation. His discerning
+sense of the human element in life's experiences was matchless. He spoke
+humorously when lightness and gaiety were in order, and seriously when
+the word of faith was needed. There is much to be learned from his
+approach. Called one day to a humble dwelling on Mt. Adams where a
+mother was hysterical because her boy had just undergone an emergency
+operation, Mr. Nelson tore a button from his coat before entering the
+room, and said in an off-hand manner, "Oh! this has just come off! Will
+you sew it on?"</p>
+
+<p>In a surpassingly unselfish fashion he thought of himself as the head of
+the Christ Church family, and it mattered not at all to him whether
+people who needed him were on the church register or were connected only
+through a parish house organization. When told of someone's illness,
+though the patient had membership in another church yet belonged to the
+Men's Club for instance, he would say, "Oh! I must go to see him." The
+agent for an Industrial Insurance Company tells of calling in a home
+where the policy was about to lapse. The woman said, "I will see Mr.
+Nelson. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>Will you come back at five o'clock?" When he returned, she had
+the money.</p>
+
+<p>In these tragic years of World War II we have learned that time is of
+the essence, and Frank Nelson exemplified this principle in an
+extraordinary manner. Through all his years of service he seemed to have
+a special sense of timeliness. He acted when one should act but does not
+always do so. He was what a minister should be yet is not always. He was
+there when needed, not when it suited his convenience. Immediacy again
+and again opened an opportunity that otherwise would have been lost and
+with it the possibilities for widening his circle of usefulness. An
+out-of-town friend telegraphed requesting Mr. Nelson to call on a
+certain man in a hospital, a stranger to Mr. Nelson, and he went at
+once. On another occasion a new member of the choir who had been in
+Cincinnati only a few weeks was suddenly taken ill. The doctors at the
+hospital were some time in deciding to operate, and called the girl's
+roommate. Although not knowing Mr. Nelson, she phoned him of her
+friend's serious condition, and he went immediately to her bedside.
+Though the operation was not until midnight, he stayed with her through
+the hours of waiting, joked to keep up her courage, and saw her through
+the ordeal and was there when she came out of the anesthetic. It turned
+out that the young lady was the daughter of a Methodist Bishop, and one
+can imagine her parents' gratitude when they learned over the phone that
+Mr. Nelson was with her. It was the sort of thing he loved to do, and
+people could not say enough of his help during such times of stress.
+There was a peculiar radiancy to his ministry which issued from this
+alacrity, the special glow that surrounds all lives that are nobly
+unselfish. He never spared himself, not even in his later years when
+illness had laid its relentless hand upon him who had always been robust
+and free of physical infirmities.</p>
+
+<p>In a parish as diverse as that of Christ Church, there were unnumbered
+happenings of a tragic-comic nature, and they all bespoke his special
+place in the hearts of his people. Howard Bacon was once closeted in the
+parish house office on a certain winter's night with a man who became
+definitely and increasingly insane. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>Greatly alarmed, he succeeded in
+locating Mr. Nelson, who arrived in evening clothes; together they got
+the man into a car and drove him out to the distant suburb of College
+Hill. On the way they were stalled by a flat tire, and Mr. Nelson
+insisted on Mr. Bacon's staying in the car while he himself put on the
+spare. In the midst of all this, the poor man's mind apparently cleared
+briefly for he asked, "Do all great men come way out here to do things
+like this?" In another instance a choir soloist developed melancholia
+and refused to eat, and Mr. Nelson often fed her because she would eat
+for him. Nothing was too trivial to be encompassed by his great heart.
+Everyone, and sometimes it appeared as if everything, that was clothed
+with any need was his responsibility and called out his limitless
+sympathy. A friend jested that even the dog fights required his presence
+and the remark seemed to carry a kernel of truth! Once he prayed with a
+poor, broken-hearted woman who had lost her dearest possession, a pet
+canary bird, and again he sat down and talked as one sportsman to
+another with a friend who had lost a polo game. To this clergyman these
+were the peculiar privileges of his position, and never duties. Parents,
+with a true instinct for loving a man who was really good, wanted him to
+baptize their children, for in laying his hand upon the infant he was
+also laying his hand upon their hearts, and this act was the genuine
+blessing of a father-in-God, the shepherd calling his own by name.</p>
+
+<p>There came to me the following letter from a parishioner whose first
+child lived only a few hours:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The one thing I wanted to do was to receive the Holy Communion.
+My husband called the Parish House and left word. We expected his
+assistant or possibly the deaconess, and you can imagine how
+honored and comforted we felt when Mr. Nelson came himself. It
+was indeed comforting to know that such a busy person could take
+time for one of the most humble of his church. We shall never
+forget the talk we had with him in the hospital before receiving
+the Holy Communion. He asked all about our little boy, and told
+us always to speak of him by name and think of him alive with the
+Father. Mr. Nelson told us of a baby sister <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>of his who died, and
+how he felt about her. He said he always visited that tiny grave
+when he went home. He really stands in our hearts.</p></div>
+
+<p>The strength of the Lord dwelt in his heart else he never could have
+given himself so indefatigably to the demands of a great city parish.
+There were no barriers of access to him. Until 1919 he did not have a
+private secretary, preferring to answer personally all his mail in long
+hand, and the only times he allowed himself to be out of reach of the
+telephone were during Holy Week and possibly on Saturdays. Everyone who
+came to the office was able to see him without any formality. I remember
+showing him an article in a church paper on the misuse of the title
+"Reverend," and suggesting that it might be well to print it in the
+Sunday leaflet. He was amused and only said, "What does it matter what
+we are called as long as they <i>call</i> us." This intense desire to give of
+himself lay back of his disappointment when friends and parishioners
+failed to communicate with him because they hesitated to trouble so busy
+a man. Former Mayor Russell Wilson remarked that "Frank Nelson was the
+spiritual advisor to many men whom you would not think of as having
+spiritual advisors." The downright sincerity of the man and his
+"at-homeness" with human beings of all kinds made it natural for men to
+talk with him.</p>
+
+<p>There was, however, more in his personality than mere sociability and a
+genial manner, because an indefinable power or strength went forth from
+him. It was in his ministry to the sick that people felt especially a
+certain grace in his faith. He carried about with him "the medicine of a
+merry heart," and patients wanted to see him. He was a door through
+which a person passed to a deeper consciousness of the mystery and
+greatness of life and the infinities which brood over it. Therefore, his
+ministry to the sick commended itself to an unusual degree. One of the
+leading surgeons of Cincinnati, Dr. J. Louis Ransohoff, declared it his
+firm conviction that Frank Nelson gave a patient a double chance. Few
+ministers are welcomed by the medical profession in as intimate a role
+as this pastor took upon himself. Well known in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>Cincinnati is the story
+of his entering a Roman Catholic Hospital to be greeted by the Mother
+Superior with a hearty "Good-morning, Father Nelson," and the Jewish
+surgeon, "Good-morning, Rabbi Nelson," while the parishioner-patient
+said, "Good-morning, Mr. Nelson." His presence calmed panic-stricken
+patients, and if he had sought to carry further along this line, there
+are those who felt that he could easily have established a clinic or
+healing class. Of no end are those who maintained that they could not
+have undergone an operation without his standing beside them. Because he
+cared he often came out haggard and worn. Such incidents are revealing
+examples of the acceptance on the part of a large portion of the entire
+city of the ministry of one who was utterly sincere, utterly genuine.
+Those who follow the same calling must with pride point to him as
+superbly a man of God.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson was held in the highest respect by the medical profession
+because physicians generally felt, in the words of Dr. Ransohoff, that
+"his life had a spiritual significance; there was no cant, only
+humility." Sometimes he walked to the operating room beside a fearful
+patient, and one man later said, "Something came through him to me. The
+fear was gone." He often went with parishioners to a doctor's office,
+and sent hundreds of others giving them an infinite amount of time and
+thought. Because of Frank Nelson the name "Christ Church" was an open
+sesame for all the little-known workers and assistants on the staff of
+the church. For these countless favors he frequently expressed publicly
+his gratitude saying, "We very often have need of the help of lawyers,
+doctors and nurses. And we never appeal in vain. Without thought of any
+return the doctors and lawyers of the city, the hospitals, and the
+Visiting Nurses' Association give us quick response of their very best."</p>
+
+<p>Those who worked with him have unforgettable memories of the way in
+which he visited the poorest tenements, always with the same courtesy
+and unconsciousness of environment that he showed to wealthy
+parishioners. Whether East Hill or Mt. Adams they were his people, and
+each received the kind of attention, the friendship, the grave dignity
+and consideration that each most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>wanted. When it was a Communion
+Service for the sick in a poor section of the city, he had a deeply
+sympathetic approach. Usually he himself would clear a little table in
+the dingy room, and when he had placed the fair linen and the silver
+vessels where the sick person could watch him and had donned his
+vestments, the place was transformed. As he commenced the beautiful
+liturgy, read only as the Rector could read it, there was in the humble
+room a Presence for which he was the channel.</p>
+
+<p>In his reading of the Burial Office, there was a play of light and shade
+upon this man of God who, like Moses, "wist not that his face shone."
+The majestic notes of faith and assurance which reverberate in the words
+of this service were, on his lips and in his sympathetic and superb
+reading, like the overtones and rich harmonies of an organ. There was no
+formalism nor coldness, no hesitancy to plumb the stark reality of the
+occasion, but only the vibrant convictions of his own great faith in the
+goodness of God. Few can fail to recall the clarity and feeling with
+which he read St. Paul's immortal passage in 1st Corinthians, nor ever
+forget the prayer he invariably used in this service, "We seem to give
+him back to Thee, dear God."</p>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson made Christ Church known throughout the city, and on
+occasions of trouble and stress, as just mentioned, people other than
+those in his flock turned to him naturally and wistfully. Their desires
+were not always consistent with the customs of the Episcopal Church. In
+one such instance a widow requested a eulogy, but Mr. Nelson told her
+that it was not the procedure of his church and, furthermore, he would
+not know what to say. Not abashed in the slightest, she replied, "Oh,
+that doesn't matter. Just give the address you made at the Mabley-Carew
+Department Store dinner!" However, he did read a poem, and in trying to
+express her sincere appreciation the widow somewhat astounded him by
+saying, "Why, that was enough to make Bob stand up in his coffin."</p>
+
+<p>He knew what was in the human heart, and realized the craving for
+understanding in times of despair and sorrow. Somehow he managed to do
+and say the right thing. At one time the mother <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>of a parishioner had
+died in a distant state, and when the family arrived in Cincinnati, he
+was at the railroad station at seven o'clock in the morning to meet them
+and accompanied the coffin from the baggage car to the hearse. So simple
+an act bespeaks the innate dignity and simplicity of the man. It was his
+custom at the cemetery to walk with the chief mourner, and by such
+little kindnesses and numberless other courtesies he endeared himself to
+each generation in his long ministry. A parishioner whose mother died
+late one Good Friday evening remembers that despite the heavy tax of the
+day Mr. Nelson came to her house shortly before ten o'clock, and, though
+no lights were on, rang the bell, calling, "I want to talk with you." By
+his coming, a sleepless night was shorn of its dread and vastness, and
+confidence and serenity took their place. At another time when a family
+received the fearful word from Washington that a son had been killed in
+the Argonne, Mr. Nelson though confined to his bed with illness went at
+once to call in the home. On the day of the funeral, before going to the
+church, he read the identical service in that suburban home for the
+invalid mother. As many people in Boston have said that until Phillips
+Brooks came to them in their sorrow they never knew what Isaiah meant in
+his words, "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime
+from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from rain,"
+so Christ Church people found in Frank Nelson a stronghold in time of
+trouble.</p>
+
+<p>There are many incidents that illustrate the ideals of this incomparable
+pastor. For instance, the Council of Churches had two social workers in
+the Juvenile Court, one of whom was a parishioner, young and beautiful.
+Mr. Nelson did not really want her to do such work, but her parents
+thought her trained and equipped for it. In his solicitude he went to
+the Executive Secretary and asked, "Do you have staff meetings? I want
+you to have her there in your office. Give her the knowledge that she is
+dealing with the abnormal, and that not all life is perversion." The
+welfare of each individual in his church was his personal concern.</p>
+
+<p>He exercised this same solicitude for us young clergymen, some fourteen
+in number, who were his assistants and to whom he gave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>a tutelage and
+friendship that continued long after our apprenticeship was ended. He
+was an exacting teacher and beyond us, but like all others who labored
+in his parish, we felt a special joy and pride in working under him. It
+was a tremendous strain to keep up with him, and his own daily stint of
+work often put us to shame; in the fullness of his powers he made as
+many as thirty calls a week. One was never through, one could never do
+enough, and when tempted to let down, there was felt, even when not
+heard, that imperious voice, "Go on! Don't be easy on yourself." His own
+shepherding exemplified his belief that in the ministry honor for one's
+self is nothing, humanity everything. No task, even scrubbing floors,
+was too menial or too hard to be beneath the position of him who is
+God's servant. When the problems and the pressure of work in such a
+large institution weighed upon us, and their full scope inevitably was
+revealed at staff meetings, it was then as we were on our knees that his
+informal, absolutely real prayers lifted and strengthened us. Yes, on
+some rare occasions in his tower study we were on the Mount and gained
+fleeting glimpses of the City of God.</p>
+
+<p>It was difficult at times for those of lesser faith not to be appalled
+by the awful waste and stupidity of human life such as any great city
+unbares. But the Rector used the many instances to illustrate the
+requirements of wide sympathy, and to teach us to reverence the
+qualities of personality even when we could not fathom the reasons for
+apparent foolishness. He would say things like this: "Never forget that
+the development of our free will is what God wants. Love may make
+mistakes, but they are not failures. There are times when one's own life
+is of very little importance compared with the need for sacrifice." The
+assistants, the deaconesses, and parish visitors had, in addition to a
+training in modern social methods, the supreme advantage of religious
+direction. His guidance issued from his own example and experience.</p>
+
+<p>Deaconess Margaret Lloyd writes:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>It seemed in those early years as though all our parish poor
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>lived on the top floors of tenements, and I often thought that
+climbing the famous penitents' stairway in Rome would have been
+an easy climb compared with the ascent of Mt. Adams! It was
+climbed almost daily by some member of the staff, and very
+frequently by the Rector. It was not only the climb, but the
+drab, dreary houses of the period. For those were the days of
+heavy, soft coal smoke, of a yellow, unpurified water supply, and
+a lack of adequate housing or health laws. The consequences were
+that a large parish like ours always had typhoid or T. B. folk
+needing material help as well as sympathy and compassion. The
+annals of such a parish always contain numberless "human interest
+stories." There was a very large family which never was able to
+provide shoes or to have quite enough clothing for six children.
+We suspected that, despite all efforts, sufficient food was
+lacking, and especially at those times when the head of the
+family was on one of his happy-go-lucky sprees. Everyone on the
+staff felt a sense of relief when this bibulous father died for
+there was enough insurance money not only to bury him, but to
+leave funds to tide the family over the next few months, and
+until the mother and her two eldest children had found jobs.
+Imagine our feelings when, in less than two weeks after the
+funeral, the widow appeared at the parish house! She had come to
+ask Christ Church for a little help until she had work. "But what
+has become of your insurance money, surely you have not used it
+all up so soon?" "Oh! yes we have, deaconess! You see we always
+craved gold band rings for the children, and I always doted on
+having a pink enamel bed." It was really true! The bed that they
+had longed for stood in their shabby front room, pink enamel,
+gold curlicue trimmings and all! Its enormous expanse was covered
+with tawdry silk pillows and silk spread, and it stood out, the
+one glorious object in the whole tenement. Also the children with
+the utmost pride showed their gold band rings which according to
+the custom of those days each wore on the "wedding finger"; even
+the five year old displayed his golden trophy. Mr. Nelson did his
+best to modify the protests of his outraged staff. Finally we did
+see at least something of his point of view, that to the family
+these symbols of respectability meant what a Persian rug would
+have meant in a more sophisticated family. For these friends of
+ours had "arrived," socially speaking, via the pink enamel bed,
+and their admiring neighbors could never again refer to them as
+"poor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>white trash." It takes a long, long time to change ideas,
+but the Rector's respect for human personality (foolishness and
+stupidity notwithstanding) and his method of patience, tact, and
+a sense of humor did change many of us. And a controlled sense of
+humor has a marvelous effect at times. There was the instance
+when the Rector went to conduct a funeral service on Mt. Adams.
+It was a very hot day, the little rooms were crowded, and family
+and neighbors were close to the coffin. Mr. Nelson put on his
+vestments in the stuffy kitchen. He had begun the majestic words
+of the service when there strolled into the room the small boy of
+the family nonchalantly carrying a very large slice of
+watermelon! He found a spot on the floor at the foot of the
+coffin, and proceeded to eat the juicy treat. The Rector
+continued with the service, and the mourners gave him absorbed
+attention until the last prayer. No incongruity could possibly
+change the beauty and dignity of that service as conducted by our
+Rector.</p></div>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson was shepherd to all. To be sure, there were complaints that
+he did not call in every home, and to some who did not have the
+opportunity to experience at first-hand his sympathy and concern, he
+seemed aloof. But when a need arose he met it; and as years were added
+to years he won the confidence of all types of people. To the rich he
+said, "Your money is the smallest gift you can offer. Yes, Christ Church
+needs money, but it needs you yourself far more." He said to the poor,
+"You are splendid in the way you are helping us. The parish could not
+get along without such workers as you. Keep it up!" In the warm climate
+of his enthusiasm and appreciation, young and old, rich and poor
+discovered within themselves an undreamed-of capacity to respond to his
+faith and to his demands for service. In turn he was generous in
+gratitude. At the time of his twenty-fifth anniversary he wrote the
+following acknowledgment to a parishioner who had written to him of all
+that Christ Church and his ministry meant:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Thank you indeed, and thank you still more for these seventeen
+years of most extraordinary service, and personal loyalty and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>friendship. I can never tell you how much I have appreciated
+them, and do appreciate them. I know I have made life harder for
+you&mdash;both in the work I have put on you&mdash;and by the way I have
+often left you to carry the burden unaided. But I know too that
+the Spirit has carried you on and filled you with new visions and
+powers of life. And that makes all the rest worth while. I am so
+glad that you are coming up to us at Cranberry. I know you will
+love its loveliness, and in its quiet and the sweep of sea and
+sky, you will find refreshment and renewed strength. And then we
+can talk not of plans and work, but what lies beneath them, faith
+and God and the abundant life.</p></div>
+
+<p>As his forty years' ministry came to a close, there was throughout the
+entire city a growing crescendo of acclaim, which found fervent
+expression in words like these: "He was our best friend for years."
+Deeper than the affection which drew forth such recognition was his
+profound faith in the Father-God of all mankind. It was Frank Nelson's
+limitless trust in his Heavenly Father that gave him his strength and
+influence. Many an evening on his way home he went into his church or
+chapel to pray, and lay before God the problems and griefs of his people
+which he carried in his great heart.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Therefore to thee it was given<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Many to save with thyself;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And, at the end of the day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O faithful shepherd! to come,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Bringing thy sheep in thy hand."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Rugby Chapel</i> by Matthew Arnold. Macmillan Co. Used by
+permission.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br /><a name="SPOKESMAN" id="SPOKESMAN"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<h2><i>The Spokesman<br />
+of the City's<br />
+Conscience</i></h2><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="block2">
+<p class="noin">"<i>He so stirred the very soul of our responsibility
+for social living that we felt he had
+come to break the old city's sleep of habit or
+despair.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 2em;">&mdash;<i>Miss Edith Campbell</i></p>
+</div>
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>4</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>Frank Nelson loved the city, and was moved by its swift, tumultuous
+life; hence, he was able to stir it. No mere reformer or "up-lifter" who
+sees only ugliness and sordidness can effect very far-reaching changes,
+and retain his faith. Mr. Nelson succeeded in both. He came to
+Cincinnati under the high compulsion of a mission, and relinquished his
+work on the same high plane of faith and vision. To have retained such
+conviction over a period of forty years in the sort of work which was
+his testifies to a quality of realism that is at once impressive and
+authoritative. He knew the vice and corruption that lurked the streets,
+and yet he reiterated to the end that "there is a glory in the city seen
+in the faces of men and women, boys and girls, which is the immortal
+soul growing clean, and entering into paradise." Something of that glory
+he created. Christ Church is located in Ward Six, formerly Ward Eight,
+and there also Mr. Nelson had his residence at 311 Pike Street. One of
+the boys who grew up in the district and is now a successful business
+man declares that this ward would be entirely different today if it had
+not been for Frank Nelson and the work carried on in Christ Church. But
+this clergyman's work and influence spread far outside his parish and
+beyond his ward.</p>
+
+<p>By many Catholics, Jews, and Protestants Frank Nelson was acknowledged
+as "the flaming sword of the Charter Movement"; the man who so
+interpreted the Community Chest that "he made it a platform upon which
+every man could stand"; and in the minds of some of them he so
+o'er-leaped sectarian differences that they considered him their
+minister. His was a position as unique as it was remarkable considering
+the fact that he held no title or high-ranking office such as Bishop.
+This minister quickened the conscience of Cincinnati, and brought into
+full bloom vague, half-formed ideals. Many looked upon him as the
+spokesman of the city's conscience.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson did not grow up in an age of radical and revolutionary
+economic and social programs. He was not a student of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>such
+philosophies, yet he had in his heart that particular treasure, namely
+an affection for people, for the fortunate and no less for the poor and
+the dispossessed. Without this love for the common man, these
+philosophies are never translated into the natural order of things nor
+ever become more than intellectual pronouncements. He was neither a
+mystic nor a reformer, but a citizen who was deeply cognizant of
+religious faith as laying upon him and upon everyone a compulsive
+service. This mighty conviction he expressed in varying ways as we shall
+see, but never in more arresting words than in a sermon which he
+preached on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of
+The Covenant from the text, "Ye shall not see my face except your
+brother be with you." Though delivered in 1916, this sermon was recalled
+twenty-three years later on the occasion of Mr. Nelson's retirement as a
+consummate expression of his faith and convictions, namely that we are
+not isolated individuals each to be saved by means of self-centered
+piety, but only through practicing religion in fellowship with one
+another.</p>
+
+<p>A study of his annual reports indicates that from his St. George's days
+he was dominated by the vision of the Church as having a mission to the
+city. As early as 1903 he outlined the conditions that confront
+Christian people, and the relation of the Church to them:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The city of today is the point of concentration of the forces
+that are making the character, and determining the standards of
+our time. So complex is our modern civilization that it is not
+possible to separate the individual in our estimation of his
+standards and character from the conditions by which he is
+surrounded, and in which he lives. For they vitally influence his
+point of view, his ideals, his efforts to attain them. A boy who
+grows up in an atmosphere of openly accepted corruption will
+inevitably lack sensitiveness of moral perception. Our young men
+and women, our boys and girls are subjected to a moral pressure
+that is extremely difficult to resist. What is the duty of the
+Church? The moral welfare of these young people is its intimate
+concern. It may, and it must, bring to bear a counter pressure of
+high <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>individual moral standards and ideals. It may, and it must,
+hold up before them faith in purity and honesty, and persuade
+them to receive it. But that is not enough. It must utter its
+word of protest against the rule of the Boss, not because it
+wishes to enter the arena of politics, not because it differs
+from him on political questions, not even because he is the
+denial of democracy, but because he maintains his power of
+corrupting manhood and womanhood by protecting and fostering vice
+in order that they may be his allies. It must utter its protest
+against the dictum, "Whatever pays is right," not because it
+wishes to dictate business methods, or to set itself up as an
+authority on economics, but because it finds this corruption in
+business demoralizing to standards and character. It must utter
+its protest against overcrowded and unsanitary tenement houses,
+not because it considers its function to be the censorship of
+buildings, but because such conditions breed immorality among the
+boys and girls. The individual message alone is made ineffective
+by the constant pressure of these conditions. To make that
+message effective, the conditions must be changed. And it is
+peculiarly the work of a church, situated as is Christ Church, to
+say and do what it can to make them intolerable to the conscience
+of a Christian city. I have said all this because I want you to
+see clearly the place in the pulpit and church of such preaching
+and work as we have tried to give and do. We must go forward with
+increasing energy and purpose, and that whether the results seem
+great or small. We may, and must, at least sow the seed in the
+faith that God will inevitably bring it to the harvest.</p></div>
+
+<p>Again and again he thundered, "The conditions must be made intolerable
+to the conscience of a Christian city," and the spirit of the times
+rolled back the sterile answer, "It can't be done in Cincinnati." But he
+shook himself like a lion and took up the battle.</p>
+
+<p>The fight for honest municipal government in Cincinnati was a mighty one
+and the story of it is fairly well known, but a few pertinent facts are
+essential as a background to Mr. Nelson's part in it. For more than
+thirty years George B. Cox controlled the city by all the devices known
+to the wily, astute politician. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>Few presumed to run for any office on
+the Republican ticket without his approval. Unburdened by shame, he
+declared, "I am the Boss of Cincinnati ... I've got the best system of
+government in this country. If I didn't think my system was the best, I
+would consider that I was a failure in life." He openly derided
+reformers. Lincoln Steffens had surveyed and written up the city as he
+had many others and declared it under the dominance of "the most vicious
+political gang in any city." Few inroads were made on Cox's preserves
+until after his death in 1916. At the close of World War I, the city
+began to reap the bitterest and most evil results of its contentment
+with benevolent despotism, and in 1922 found itself verging on
+bankruptcy. Aroused citizens were determined not only that Cincinnati
+should have an efficient, economical government but also that its
+reputation as a sink of iniquity should be erased.</p>
+
+<p>When the Republican organization perceived that an investigation was
+inescapable, it determined to name the investigators! The Republican
+Executive and Advisory Committee appointed a survey committee to devise
+a plan to solve the city's and county's most pressing administrative and
+financial problems. A distinguished group was selected; among the
+members were Frank H. Nelson, George H. Warrington, Charles P. Taft, and
+other eminent citizens some twenty-one in number. This committee engaged
+Dr. Lent D. Upson of the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, who
+with a large staff of specialists proceeded to turn the city and county
+governments inside out. The Upson Report furnished the ammunition for
+what turned out to be nothing short of a revolution.</p>
+
+<p>A City Charter Committee had been organized which, after the Upson
+Committee reported, proposed an amendment to the city's home rule
+charter embodying the city manager plan of municipal government and a
+small council of nine elected at large by proportional representation.
+In the fall of 1924 the critical issue was submitted to the electorate,
+and a significant victory won. "This new movement, its representatives
+youthful, clear-eyed, energetic and determined, took its place in the
+books of our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>history as the first reform enterprise of any permanence
+in a great city of the United States."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> In this crusade of civic
+warriors Frank Nelson ranked as "a flaming sword," to use the colorful
+phrase of his friend Mr. Ralph Holterhoff. He was a constant worker in
+planting the first seeds of the moral rightness of the cause, the
+crusader whose faith clarified the fundamental religious background
+inherent in good government. During the initial campaign of 1924, Mr.
+Nelson, preaching this gospel from his pulpit, carried his parish with
+him into the righteous cause, and he literally toured the city wards as
+well. When the City Charter Committee was given permanent form,
+following the sweeping victory of November 1924, it is significant that
+the organization meeting was held in the Parish House of Christ Church.
+Among the speakers were Mr. Nelson, Charles P. Taft, John R. Schindel,
+and Henry Bentley, who was known as "the Commander of the legions that
+gave a city a new body and a new soul," all of them leaders in the
+campaign, and members and vestrymen of Christ Church. Another
+parishioner, Ralph Holterhoff, was, almost single-handed, responsible
+for financing the Committee's work for its next fifteen years.</p>
+
+<p>Repeatedly throughout successive years Mr. Nelson spoke at Charter
+rallies, giving a series of remarkably effective addresses which
+assisted immeasurably in sustaining the zest and interest of citizens in
+the reform ideal. As Mr. Murray Seasongood has said, "The technique of
+good local government has been developed by study, but the will to bring
+about good local government has not been infused into the residents of
+our cities." Toward that will and fusion in the city of Cincinnati, men
+are agreed that Frank Nelson's moral and spiritual contribution was
+enormous. Leaders declare that in routing the forces of corrupt
+government from their strongholds, his was the most powerful voice
+raised in the city. His trenchant words, his statesmanlike ability
+spurred <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>the lagging energies and fired men's spirits to greater effort;
+he gave the necessary courage and drive and inspiration to carry through
+and maintain the reform movement. "It is the man of ideals and faith,"
+Frank Nelson reiterated, "who has more courage than any politician. We
+shall set our faces steadfastly to the victory not only for good
+government and efficiency, but for the morality and the righteousness
+and the power of faith in this community." In the opinion of Mr. Ralph
+Holterhoff, the treasurer of the City Charter organization, Mr. Nelson,
+by his extensive contacts with all classes of citizens, radiating not
+only through his parish but throughout the entire fabric of Cincinnati's
+economic and social life, aroused the people with more success than any
+other individual. He literally mustered thousands of recruits who became
+zealous apostles and voters for the cause, although many had not voted
+for years because they felt nothing could be done about the existing
+evils. During the recurring campaigns for councilmen, Mr. Nelson was at
+the beck and call of the organization, giving extravagantly of his time
+and vitality at many rallies, particularly at the opening meeting of
+campaigns, where he either was the keynote speaker or took such part as
+expressed the religious convictions that lay behind the movement.
+"Hearing him," wrote Alfred Segal, a newspaper columnist, "people felt
+that good government was more than a matter of efficiency and economy.
+It had to do with civic self-respect and social morale and bright
+ideals."</p>
+
+<p>Because the issue was clearly moral, this minister did not hesitate to
+use his pulpit and his parish organization to further the cause. It is a
+tribute to his church that he met with only minor criticism. He carried
+his people with him because he enabled them to perceive the relationship
+between religion and politics. Of course he met with criticism from
+those who felt that a clergyman should remain aloof from politics, yet
+at the same time he was genuinely admired and respected by those who did
+not agree with him. Several of his bitterest political critics, such as,
+for example, James Garfield Stewart, and Doc Hagen, a ward politician,
+were not lacking in keen appreciation of his position. And <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>on other
+civic issues where he made no concealment of his opinions he was,
+according to Herbert Bigelow, the minister of The People's Church and a
+former city councilman, "never a trimmer, and those who have seen him in
+tight places never saw him crawl."</p>
+
+<p>Though the Cincinnati Community Chest is not in politics, it has
+definitely influenced the course of good government because of the
+character of the people who carry on the work of the numerous social
+agencies which it comprises. In 1913, these agencies were organized into
+a Council, and Frank Nelson's vision, enthusiasm and tireless efforts
+were determining factors in welding together the diverse religious and
+racial groups engaged in social service throughout the city. Through
+this Council, multiple activities were coordinated, and Jewish,
+Catholic, and Protestant welfare agencies were kindled with new spirit
+and power which resulted in greater efficiency and an increased
+opportunity for reaching larger numbers of people. As a consequence, the
+majority of the social welfare enterprises were able to make a united
+financial appeal, and since 1919 have continued together without a break
+in the ranks. Charles P. Taft says of the Cincinnati Community Chest:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The executive direction and social vision of C. M. Bookman, and
+the spiritual leadership of Reverend Frank H. Nelson have given
+to the campaign and year-round organizations of volunteers a most
+distinctive quality. It is not that we raise each year an amount
+greater per capita than most other cities, although we do that;
+but it seems to one attending our gatherings that all the men and
+women of good will in our community have come together and that
+their spirits are welded together in a great cause, the education
+of the whole city to the highest standards of health, character,
+and welfare.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>The welding together was again the work of many civic-minded men and
+women, and Frank Nelson was the fire which fused the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>different parts
+into a unity. "He made the Community Chest a platform upon which every
+man could stand," says C. M. Bookman, the Executive Secretary. His work
+in the formative years of the Council, particularly in the raising of
+funds for the first three years, was of untold value. As the Council
+achieved coherence and a consciousness of its identity, he went on to
+the larger work of conveying to the city the idea that in this cause the
+people of Cincinnati could be supremely united, above politics, and
+beyond racial and religious prejudices. It was his ability to interpret
+the spiritual basis of this work that made it a common platform. As a
+result, contributors felt their gifts to have a downright significance.
+"It is," he said, "God's way of making cities good in spite of
+themselves."</p>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson believed so thoroughly in the work of the social agencies
+that the financial drives became a crusade, an adventure in human
+relationships. He took off his coat, so to speak, and plunged into the
+drives as one of the solicitors. The calls assigned him were the general
+run as well as the difficult cases. He canvassed people of modest means
+whom he didn't know as well as the large donors. As the calling was done
+by two men soliciting together, he often found himself teamed with a man
+whose occupation contrasted sharply with his own, once being paired with
+a distiller! In the personal interviews his was not the milk and honey
+approach, and he often became quite indignant if some did not give
+according to their means. On one occasion he called with Mr. William J.
+Shroder on a man who headed a large corporation but who refused to give
+commensurately, using as an excuse the fact that the directors were
+away. Mr. Nelson's feelings blazed forth and he blurted out, "You run
+this corporation, and you can do as you please," and with that he strode
+out of the room leaving his calmer friend to secure a gift of $500.00.
+Sham irritated him beyond measure. Again, at headquarters one day
+Maurice Pollak was holding forth in vivid language on the subject of
+people who refused to contribute, and he did not notice Mr. Nelson
+coming in behind him. When he suddenly stopped in some embarrassment,
+Mr. Nelson exclaimed, "Go ahead, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>Maurice, you are saying just what I
+feel but can't express so well." As he was a man of intense fervor, it
+is probable that he was better at interpreting the inner significance of
+the cause than in soliciting contributions. In 1922 he was elected the
+General Chairman of the drive, and from 1916 to 1939 was a director of
+the Chest.</p>
+
+<p>As the years went by, Mr. Nelson became something of an "institution" in
+Cincinnati, and his popularity made him "fashionable" to the
+superficial-minded. Yet there was something decidedly spontaneous in the
+acclaim with which he was once greeted by over one thousand canvassers
+at a campaign dinner in the suburban city of Norwood. To a man the great
+audience rose when he stood to speak, and applauded with genuine emotion
+this Christian minister who represented Cincinnati as they wanted it to
+be. Always sensitive to the reactions of a throng, he poured forth such
+utterance as made them see the Community Chest as a great moral force,
+not as just a financial campaign. Their consciences were quickened by
+his graphic portrayal of their desires for righteousness and decency and
+fair opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>He was always one of the speakers held in reserve for the crucial last
+days of the campaigns, and at the large daily luncheons held in the
+Hotel Gibson for the canvassers he was at his best. The following
+sentences from a newspaper report of one such address are typical:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>You know what this Community Chest has done for this great city,
+how it has been, as the old seer said long ago, the river of
+life, flowing through the streets of the city, keeping it clean,
+refreshing it, strengthening it, heartening it, so that the tree
+of life, bearing all manner of fruits, through all the year,
+could grow upon its brink and spread forth its branches to
+shelter and give new vigor and hope to the inhabitants of the
+city. That river of life which we call social service is more
+vital, more important and more needed for the steady maintenance
+of the morale, well-being, and good life of the whole community
+than the Ohio River is, believe me.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>By the power of simple, forceful speech, strengthened by his great love
+for people and his belief in them, he enabled Cincinnati to see beyond
+the horizon, to dream dreams; and by his uncommon labor some of these
+dreams became actualities. He looked at the city's welfare from the
+religious viewpoint, and in so doing commended religion to the
+religiously indifferent. He saw the practical value of spiritual things
+and the spiritual value of practical things. When, for example, he
+addressed the National Conference for Social Workers at Denver in 1925
+and propounded the theme of Immortality, the audience was at first
+aghast, and then enthralled. He maintained that they had nothing to work
+for unless it was for eternity; that their business was concerned with
+souls, and that the souls of the feeble-minded were as much heirs of
+immortality as those of others more fortunate, and that no man has the
+right to condemn or stand in judgment. It was a bold speech to such an
+audience, and held their rapt attention; it was perhaps the more
+stimulating because it had been preceded by the scholarly and very
+formal address of the president of the conference. It was this occasion
+that produced a choice story which Mr. Nelson loved to tell on himself.
+At the close of the long evening two men were overheard commenting on
+the speeches. One of them remarked, "The first man was over my head, and
+the second just plumb crazy."</p>
+
+<p>He not only made the Community Chest common ground for all, but he also
+enabled the churches to see it as their work, calling the social service
+organizations "sub-committees of the Church, doing for the churches the
+work that the churches want done and would have to do themselves if it
+were not for the Chest."</p>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson's influence on the civic and political life of Cincinnati
+cannot be measured, but its power was evident and was revealed time and
+again through the contacts he had with civic leaders. A Roman Catholic
+priest said that many politicians went secretly to Mr. Nelson before
+expressing themselves on certain civic matters or endorsing certain
+projects. If some considered him officious, they could not have known
+his humility, much less his consuming passion for human beings. When he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>addressed public gatherings, one could gauge his power by watching the
+audience; as the sincerity of the man made his words convincing, even
+cynical faces "broke up," and the light shed by his stirring eloquence
+often brought tears.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many tributes paid at the time of Mr. Nelson's death, was one
+given by the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the beloved former minister of the
+Seventh Presbyterian Church, who culled the phrase "An Unmitered
+Bishop," a title which is signally descriptive of the man by reason of
+the many civic causes to which he was spiritual advisor, and thus a
+father-in-God to diverse groups scattered over the seven hills and in
+the "bottoms." He actively furthered many humanitarian causes: the
+Juvenile Protective Association, the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the
+Branch Hospital, the Community Chest, the Council of Social Agencies,
+the Helen S. Trounstine Foundation, the Hospital Social Service, St.
+Michael's Convalescent Home, and many others. Now that he is gone, the
+long list of social enterprises ceases to be a mere string of activities
+and becomes a roll of drums.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> His whole life seems to exemplify the
+words of the philosopher Bacon: "The nobler a soul is, the more objects
+of compassion it hath." His spirit breathed out upon men, and in his
+lifetime the city felt its beauty and greatness, drawing from his
+constancy the courage to endure. He protested impatiently against the
+nonsense often bandied about concerning the alleged immorality of city
+folk compared with country folk, and cited confuting evidence out of his
+pastoral experience to prove his conviction saying, "Heroes of these
+days are the poor people who live in our big cities."</p>
+
+<p>One of the heroines of Cincinnati, though not one of the poor, was Helen
+S. Trounstine, a remarkable young woman of Jewish faith, who was
+responsible for making Mr. Nelson the first president of the Juvenile
+Protective Association. She was a pioneer in social service work, but
+her career was tragically cut short when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>she died at the early age of
+twenty-six. At her memorial service held in Christ Church Parish House
+January 21, 1917, Mr. Nelson made the principal address and some of his
+words indirectly reveal much of himself:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I remember the organization of the Juvenile Protective
+Association; I first met her then. I had never known her before
+and I said to myself: "Here is another person with an enthusiasm
+come to complicate my life." I tried to get out of it, but
+because I wanted to help little children (I built this parish
+house for the young people, making my people support it for their
+sake), and she knew it, with infinite patience and constant humor
+and courtesy she kept forcing me, until gradually she landed me
+in the Presidency of the Juvenile Protective Association, utterly
+ignorant of what I was to do or what was to be done. And with the
+same humor and patience she went ahead and did the work and made
+me and the board responsible for it&mdash;made us stand behind her,
+until at last we were ashamed that our consciences were so dull
+and poor that we had not seen it long ago. And then we set out to
+do something.</p></div>
+
+<p>According to the opinion of Miss Edith Campbell, who was thoroughly
+acquainted with his social work, though not a member of Christ Church,
+Frank Nelson's "doing" resulted in legislation for the Court of Domestic
+Relations which was to be in the future a real guardian for unfortunate
+children. His relationship with the Juvenile Protective Association is
+but another instance of the ways in which he not only ministered to the
+city and awoke its conscience, but also helped to foster understanding
+between church people and social workers. Possibly in no other city are
+there such close ties between churches and social agencies, and this
+relationship was Frank Nelson's achievement. He often attended the
+social workers' meetings of the Monday Evening Club; the conference of
+Charities and Philanthropies found a welcome center in his parish house.
+Thus he wove a pattern for social service that came to fruition in
+municipal and state laws, the kind of laws which give such work
+permanence and effectiveness.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>Frank Nelson was a chivalrous individual who labored for what he thought
+was right; he championed numerous causes when many people were
+marshalled on the other side. It is in keeping with his character that
+he took a pronounced part in the creation of understanding and the
+removal of prejudices among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Years
+before the National Conference of Jews and Christians was organized, he
+practiced the principles of the inter-faith movement. At one time after
+presiding at a mass meeting in Music Hall held to protest the
+persecution of Jewish people in Europe, he wrote his friend, Dr. J.
+Louis Ransohoff: "I realize how dreadfully you must feel, and I would
+like to tell you that no matter how badly you feel as a Jew, I feel
+worse as a Christian because in the beginning Jews were persecuted in
+the name of Christ." On more than one occasion he preached in the Isaac
+M. Wise synagogue for his friend, Rabbi James G. Heller. In one such
+instance he spoke on his concept of the spiritual life, considering the
+great thing in man to be his soul, and pointing out that the journey is
+superior to the road in the realization of man's destiny. His candor won
+him the respect and admiration of many in all faiths, for they knew that
+he honored their opinions. No more dramatic incident illustrates his
+spirit than the one occurring in the inter-faith meeting at the Rockdale
+Temple Annex when he confessed his faith. Dr. Heller says there had been
+a great palaver of generalities by the two preceding speakers, and Mr.
+Nelson commenced his address by bluntly asking the audience if they
+wanted him to speak as he saw the truth, and they roared back, "Yes!"
+Thereupon he launched forth with the ringing declaration, "Let us be
+honest! I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!" He then proceeded to say
+that he would like all Jews to become Christians just as he knew the
+Jews and Roman Catholics desired universal allegiance to their faiths.
+With one or two exceptions, not a soul in that great audience resented
+his frankness. His ministry was that of one who lived day by day a life
+of good-will rather than of one who merely talked about it.</p>
+
+<p>Some men considered that he reflected too much surprise at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>the degree
+of harmony already existing among the faiths, and that his expressions
+of pleasure at finding such unanimity thus raised doubts as to its
+reality. However, in his broad spirit and totally Christ-fashioned
+personality, he himself was at home with men of all faiths. In 1939, Mr.
+William J. Shroder, as Chairman of the Community Chest campaign, chose
+for the year's theme or slogan "The Unity of Religion and Democracy." So
+excellent a "sermon" did he preach on numerous occasions that Mr. Nelson
+jestingly told his friend that he must stay out of his parish!</p>
+
+<p>On the rare occasions when Jews change their religion, they usually do
+so because of marriage. One such instance is of special interest. The
+daughter of a leading Jewish citizen married a Gentile, and since her
+rabbi would not perform the ceremony they turned to Frank Nelson,
+admiring as they did his faith and works. In a large sense he was rabbi
+and minister to all sorts and conditions of people. Dean Friedlander of
+the University Medical School, as he lay dying, said to a friend, "I
+have told my students how to treat the dying, but it is different when
+it comes to yourself. Frank Nelson has given me a hand." Again, another
+friend in his trouble found such sane religious counsel that, although a
+devout member of his synagogue, he declared, "It took a Christian
+minister to bring out my soul." He never hesitated to disagree or argue
+with his best friends, always maintaining that "works without faith" are
+not sufficient. Thus all who knew him welcomed him, and in their need
+turned to him with affection, confident of his understanding.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson was one of the three founders of the Council of Protestant
+Churches. No small detail was above him, and with Jesse Halsey he
+rummaged through second-hand stores for furniture for the first office.
+With the ministers of other churches he worked in closest cooperation,
+and together they fought the Cox Gang, supported the Social Agencies,
+and many other activities to which the civic-minded and church-minded in
+Cincinnati gave unstintingly of their devotion. The Reverend John F.
+Herget, the distinguished former minister of another downtown church,
+the Ninth Street Baptist, says, "For twenty-five years we labored
+together and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>passing years only added to my confidence in his
+intellectual and spiritual integrity. He was a real friend, and when my
+only son died, he was the first minister in Cincinnati to step through
+my doorway. I can never forget it. Do you wonder that I loved him and
+cherish his memory? We were very different in many ways but those
+differences never deprived us of mutual respect and deep affection."
+Without a doubt, ministers of all Protestant churches regarded him as
+the foremost clergyman in the city.</p>
+
+<p>In 1901 Mr. Nelson was elected to membership in the Clergy Club of
+Cincinnati, an organization which is composed of many of the leading
+Protestant ministers. On the occasion of the club's twenty-fifth
+anniversary in 1919, Dr. Dwight M. Pratt, then of the Walnut Hills
+Congregational Church, wrote a witty and apt characterization of each
+member. The following is his superb sketch of Mr. Nelson:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>NELSON: The Apollo of the Club, equally recognized as such
+whether in ecclesiastical robes and millinery or in outing
+negligee; the physical having its counterpart in athletic
+qualities of mind and heart; a broad-minded, tolerant Churchman,
+incapable of surrendering to the artificial in form and ceremony
+or to the pretentious in self-constituted human authority, even
+when sanctified by tradition and usage, and aware of its historic
+affinities to Rome. Fundamentally spiritual in his conceptions of
+the Church and of the Kingdom; quickly alert to elements in
+religion that are born of the flesh and vitiated by human pride;
+unsurpassed in the Club for his exalted conception of historic
+Christianity and of the glory and prestige of a spirit-filled and
+spirit-guided church, having a vision of church unity impossible
+of realization under the assumption and the exclusiveness of
+Episcopacy; a genial democrat in spite of aristocratic training
+and environment; intimately acquainted with the trend and quality
+of modern critical scholarship, and in sympathetic touch with the
+social movements of the day, in the church and outside of it; too
+thorough and vital, however, to make the mistake, more common in
+his church than any other, of substituting social Christianity
+for evangelistic, thus making the care, culture and comfort of
+the outer man more important than his spiritual redemption; a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>student of men and books; an observant traveller, a recent and
+scholarly resident of the ancient metropolis of the world:<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> a
+keen interpreter of the movements of history, ancient and modern;
+endowed as a preacher with homiletic skill and the spiritual art
+of making life seem large and the Kingdom of God the one supreme
+reality for man; and all this in spite of the fact that he is far
+from being Puritan; never showing the marks of an ascetic nor any
+tendency or inclination to self-martyrdom; as much in need of
+reform in some things as the time honored secretary of the Club;
+popular with men because in so many respects like them; popular
+also as a public speaker and on occasions where grace of speech
+and manner constitute an essential factor in the program; a
+conspicuous personality in a pageant, having the note of
+sincerity, sympathy and appeal that commands assemblies; a man
+whose promotion will always be in spite of high-churchmen and the
+favorites of Bishops; a man indispensable to the breadth and
+representative character of the Club.</p></div>
+
+<p>There remains one other activity to be mentioned in Mr. Nelson's
+city-wide ministry. In 1930 Mayor Murray Seasongood appointed him to the
+Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati, a board commonly
+known as the Trustees. It was a distinguished appointment,
+characteristic of Mayor Seasongood's primary emphasis on the welfare of
+the city, and indicative of the confidence placed by intellectual and
+civic leaders in Mr. Nelson's judgment and ability. The Board was made
+up of eight business men and lawyers and concerned itself mainly with
+the financial problems of the University. Mr. Nelson's approach was to
+the human element in each situation with which this Board had to deal.
+He served in this capacity for eight years, and became "an acute,
+piercing trustee." The University Medical School has oversight of the
+Cincinnati General Hospital, and Mr. Nelson was troubled by the large
+number of cases of tuberculosis among members of the staff and the
+nurses and interns. The hours were long, the pay poor, and living
+conditions deplorable. He was very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>active in his support of the efforts
+by the authorities to bring about improvement in these conditions.</p>
+
+<p>He was chairman of the committee which interviewed candidates for the
+office of Dean of Woman, since many on the Board did not feel qualified
+to make such a selection. During the depression in the thirties when
+reduction of salaries and of department personnel became necessary, Mr.
+Nelson was instrumental in securing fair treatment for the individual
+teacher. He would ask if the teacher whose salary reduction was under
+consideration had a family and how many children. His colleagues
+considered him a very important agent in preserving morale during these
+difficult years, and the President and deans frequently sought his
+counsel.</p>
+
+<p>He was a firm believer in academic freedom. When the Engineering College
+arranged lectures for business men, he gave the plan his hearty support,
+and occasionally came under fire because of certain radical speakers. He
+was frequently the choice of the University as its representative on
+public occasions in the city. At the Commencement of 1924, the
+University of Cincinnati bestowed upon Mr. Nelson the honorary degree of
+Doctor of Laws, "as one who has ever striven to advance the government
+of the mind and spirit, and who by his own severe self-discipline and
+true humility has taught all of us to subdue ourselves to the
+imperishable laws of reason and faith."</p>
+
+<p>When one considers the recognition which the entire city whole-heartedly
+and unreservedly accorded Mr. Nelson, it is a sorry commentary on the
+influence of politics that upon the expiration of his second term as a
+trustee of the University the new Republican Mayor, James Garfield
+Stewart, failed to reappoint him. He was deeply hurt, but there was
+satisfaction in the realization that it was because of his continued
+denunciation of party politics that the reappointment did not go
+through. He was a clergyman who never curried favor nor withheld opinion
+when forthrightness was the moral requisite. The people knew where he
+stood, and no office could silence him. To behave as a citizen is "to
+conduct oneself as pledged to some law of life." His <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>faithful obedience
+was recognized on many occasions and in numerous ways. One such
+recognition was his place in a group of fifteen leading citizens
+selected by four Cincinnatians chosen at random by "<i>The Cincinnati
+Post</i>." He was described as "having given vision and voice to public
+service, and in the art of human relations a leader in many fields for
+many people."</p>
+
+<p>Few public testimonials have awakened so spontaneous a response as that
+tendered Mr. Nelson on December 3, 1923, in honor of his twenty-five
+years of service to church and city. Originating among his own
+parishioners, the plan quickly developed into a city-wide observance.
+The committee on arrangements was expanded, and included the Reverend
+Doctor Francis J. Finn, Rabbi David Philipson, the Reverend John F.
+Herget, and the Right Reverend Boyd Vincent, as well as a large number
+of prominent laity outside Christ Church. When the evening arrived, one
+thousand one hundred people from all paths of life sat down to dinner in
+the Hotel Gibson. The President of the University, Dr. Frederick C.
+Hicks, presided. The Mayor, then George P. Carrell, cut short a vacation
+in order to be present and speak for the city, Mr. George D. Crabbs
+represented the Social Agencies, Dr. William S. Rainsford came on from
+New York to join in the acclaim. Mayor Carrell voiced a perfect tribute
+when he spoke of Mr. Nelson in these simple words: "Here is a true man.
+He loves his fellows. He does not recognize creed or color. Cincinnati
+is proud of him. Cincinnati loves him." At the conclusion of the
+speeches, Mr. Nelson, visibly affected, rose to speak. The tumultuous
+applause lasted five minutes. With characteristic humility he expressed
+his thanks, and then drew the attention of the audience to the central
+theme of any true public servant's work, namely, that "Faith creates;
+cynicism destroys." This enthusiastic testimonial was a moving
+demonstration of the place Frank Nelson filled in the hearts of his
+fellow-citizens, an exception to the rule that a prophet is without
+honor in his own city. There were two interesting side-lights to the
+occasion. On the morning of the dinner the Reverend Francis J. Finn, a
+particular friend, and the pastor of St. Francis Xavier's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Roman
+Catholic Church, offered up the Holy Sacrifice with his Protestant
+friend as his special intention; and in the evening there stood among
+the waiters, but not of them, Detroit Williams, the colored sexton of
+Christ Church, who could not have been present but for Mr. Nelson's
+skillful arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the spirit of Cincinnati's great Christian citizen. His
+humanity was all inclusive, his spirit discerning, and the city claimed
+him as its own, for he gave voice to its conscience and helped it find
+its soul.</p>
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>City Management</i> Charles P. Taft, p. 108 Farrar and
+Rineheart, 1933. Used by permission. Other statements on the Charter
+Movement are based upon the report of the Consultant Service of the
+National Municipal League entitled <i>The Government of Cincinnati,
+1924-1944</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>City Management</i> C. P. Taft, p. 30. Farrar and Rineheart.
+Used with permission.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Adaptation of a thought expressed by Alexander Woollcott
+in <i>While Rome Burns</i>, p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Mr. Nelson twice spent a year in Rome on leave of
+absence.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br /><a name="THEY" id="THEY"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2><i>They Came<br />
+To Be In<br />
+His Presence</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+<p class="cen"><i>In This Church<br />
+The Reverend Frank Howard Nelson, D.D.<br />
+Preached The Gospel of Christ<br />
+for Forty Years<br />
+<br />
+1899-1939<br />
+<br />
+I thank my God upon every remembrance<br />
+of  you.</i>"</p>
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 8em;">&mdash;<i>Memorial Plaque at Entrance<br />
+to Christ Church.</i></p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>5</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>"You can't change me, old man. I am the last of the black Protestants."
+In this whimsical way Frank Nelson spoke of himself one day in
+conversation with a friend on some point of ritual. It is abundantly
+evident that he was in no way a bigoted churchman, and with all his
+fine, broad sympathies he stood forth as a Protestant. He represented
+that aspect of the Catholic-Protestant structure of the Episcopal
+Church, he conducted the services in Christ Church from that angle, his
+preaching reflected it, and the absence of the clerical collar
+emphasized it. There is a measure of truth in his droll description of
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>In the first decades of this century Mr. Nelson was one of a group of
+broad-churchmen whose influence was just beginning to be felt.
+Theologically he was a liberal with reservations, and stood in what is
+now called "Central Anglicanism" in the sense of "essential orthodoxy,
+continuity, and breadth and liberality within limits, checked by the
+principle of discipline, and an outlook, above all, theocentric;
+fidelity to Christianity as the religion of the Incarnation, and of the
+Church viewed as Christ's mystical body."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>The truth is that he was different from certain brands of so-called
+liberals. Like many of them he was an individualist but not, as in the
+popular conception of that word, an eccentric. His individualism resided
+in his strong personality, whole and complete rather than partial. He
+had an immense scorn of the petty narrow-minded points of view. He said,
+"There is no one so narrow as the broad-minded liberal! Look out! Be
+sure that you do not develop a closed mind toward the other man's point
+of view!" Frank Nelson stood in the stream of the best traditions of
+historic Anglicanism. He had, for instance, a tremendous feeling of
+reverence for the Altar and the appointments for the celebration of the
+Holy Communion; and his manner of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>conducting the Lord's Supper brought
+that service very close to the most sensitive of worshipers. On the
+first Sunday of each month the Holy Communion was celebrated at eight
+and at eleven <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, and he made it the chief factor in building
+up the younger members of the parish into the Church. Usually Christ
+Church was crowded for the first as well as the later service, and it
+was immensely impressive to contemplate the congregation that came at
+the early hour of eight o'clock from all parts of the city and from
+distant suburbs. There is communicated serenity as well as reverence in
+the stately, liturgical service, but that feeling-tone is dependent on
+the minister conducting it. Mr. Nelson was a medium for the
+communication of the very spirit of Christ in that service. The ancient,
+familiar words were given a fresh beauty by his manner and his natural,
+virile voice. His methods reflected certain qualities of his character.
+It was his custom to read the service up through the Sanctus from the
+north end of the Altar, moving to the center for the remainder, and at
+the moment of the consecration of the Bread and Wine to turn halfway
+around so that the congregation could see the blessing of the Elements.
+It was in part an observance of the Apostolic custom of the minister's
+standing behind the Altar and facing the congregation, and one which he
+had learned from his days at St. George's under Dr. Rainsford.</p>
+
+<p>In a time of much disparagement, Frank Nelson and his parish upheld the
+fair reputation of the Church. Bishop Hobson says, "Many a minister and
+many a church have taken heart and courage because of his ministry."
+Because he was unafraid to experiment and venture on fresh approaches to
+old problems, he risked misunderstanding and criticism. He had a marked
+sense of the dignity of his office, and all who worked on the staff of
+Christ Church were aware that he was the rector, a czar if you will, but
+one with a gloved hand. He ran the parish, but not for his own sake nor
+from delight in power. As a matter of fact, he distrusted power,
+particularly when wielded by small men in the office of Bishop, and
+because of that distrust, and because of the democratic nature of the
+government of the Episcopal Church, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>he held the leadership of rectors
+to be equal in value to that of the Episcopate.</p>
+
+<p>In the management of the parish, he was "a man set under authority." He
+expected hard work of those to whom he delegated responsibility. Though
+he occasionally interfered, he invariably backed up his leaders even
+when they were in the wrong. He did not hesitate to criticize: a
+retiring choir-master said to his successor, "He is a tyrant, and you
+won't last three months." After eighteen years, he is still there! There
+were those who sometimes found Mr. Nelson abrupt, but as they came to
+understand his temperament and to appreciate his insistence that things
+should be run decently and in order, they were the very ones who would
+have stood on their heads for him because his nature inspired endless
+devotion. It is easy to lose sight of human values in a large
+institution, but he was the kind of person who was quick to apologize
+for any rudeness, and if the instance had to do with some fine point of
+procedure, he would grin and say, "But I was right!"&mdash;and he was. A
+unique thing about his rectorship was his willingness to take the blame
+upon himself when something went wrong. He felt he was at fault for not
+having given his subordinates the right training. The conception he held
+of his office of rector impelled him to give each year a comprehensive
+report of his parish work along with an audited financial accounting of
+all monies that he had handled personally.</p>
+
+<p>In the services of Christ Church, Frank Nelson's individuality found
+complete expression. The Prayer Book offices were marked by an absence
+of ceremonial, but filled with a profound simplicity and a noble
+dignity. People coming from other parishes and accustomed to
+considerable ritual and better architecture (Christ Church has been
+likened to a Moorish mosque!) learned that such externals occupy in
+reality a subordinate position in the Christian life, as the rector's
+manner and forceful preaching lifted them to the plane of spirit-filled
+worship. He was concerned not with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>the creation of an atmosphere in
+which to bathe with satisfaction one's feelings about God but with the
+living message of the Gospel. One came at last to love the old church
+building because there the spirit was fed, the mind enlightened, and the
+will impelled to action.</p>
+
+<p>People came to be in his presence. They found a new, bright sense of the
+glory of religious faith; they felt how precious is the least of the
+human vessels into which God pours His Spirit. The man in himself
+communicated a personality so wholly infused with the grace of the Lord
+Jesus that his hearers were stirred to action, which result stems from
+the authentic note in preaching. "Effective preaching can only mean
+effective in the sense of doing God's work."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Frank Nelson did God's
+work. He stirred people to do God's work. The atmosphere of conviction
+generated by the preacher is due to his whole personality rather than to
+his words; hence the impact made upon his hearers at the moment of his
+speaking is never conveyed through the printed page. Its influence,
+however, continues in their lives, and measured by this standard Frank
+Nelson was a powerful and effective preacher. The gift of swift,
+magnetic, eloquent speech was his. Words with the quality and vigor of
+intuitive imagination poured out of him. Yet preaching was never easy
+for him, and as it was dominated by his characteristic intensity and
+fervor, he was nervous beforehand and exhausted afterward. His emotional
+range sometimes led him off the main thread of a discourse; at times he
+ranted; and more than once preached an entirely different sermon from
+the one outlined in his written notes. His preaching was "feeling warmed
+up to vision," and the word of God passed through him to men. He
+believed tremendously in preaching; there were few services in Christ
+Church at which he did not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>preach,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> but he was not a so-called
+53popular preacher; crowds did not constantly fill the pews. To some his
+driving power was wearing, and even some of his admirers would exclaim,
+"Oh, I do wish Mr. Nelson would not tear his throat so when he
+preaches." But his very force of delivery, and his vehemence were a part
+of the man, and he no more could have preached in another manner than
+have changed his stature.</p>
+
+<p>But these characteristics had compensations or off-setting factors.
+After Mr. Nelson's exchange with the rector of St. Paul's Church, Rome,
+Italy in 1912, a certain dowager commented, "Mr. Lowrie's sermons made
+me feel comfortable, but Mr. Nelson makes me feel a miserable sinner!" A
+newcomer, on his first Sunday in Cincinnati, went to Christ Church
+intending to "sample" several churches before casting his lot with one.
+The choir came in, followed by a young, boyish-looking clergyman whom
+the man presumed to be the assistant. During the sermon Mr. Nelson
+continually entangled himself in his stole and gave the impression of
+one so inextricably caught up in his message that he was a part of it,
+stole and all! The newcomer was Frederick C. Hicks, later the President
+of the University of Cincinnati. He did not go elsewhere but continued
+at Christ Church and eventually became a vestryman.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson did not talk in an amiable sort of way about the Christian
+virtues; his sermons, thank God, were not colorless essays on the
+doctrine of God, and the Church. He preached with abandon, and there
+issued forth a fiery stream of conviction that stabbed his hearers into
+life. Within those in whom the seed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>found good soil there was
+reproduced his hunger for righteousness, his integrity of character.
+What we heard from the pulpit of Christ Church was the product of
+hard-won battles, the forthrightness of a man stirred by his struggle to
+live as a follower of Jesus Christ. He was no respecter of persons but
+of personality, saying "We don't dare to be Christians." Some said Frank
+Nelson did not preach doctrinal sermons, but if not, then church
+doctrine needs another name, for this man preached the Christian faith,
+pouring it forth in great bucketfuls. If after hearing him one didn't
+know something about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, then there
+is no such thing as doctrine.</p>
+
+<p>The rector was sensitive about his failure to attract larger
+congregations, and deprecated his ability as a speaker. He was forever
+saying that he could not preach, and that he preached too long, but
+jested that he was too old to change! Once in the midst of an
+after-dinner speech, he paused to make an aside to his friend, J.
+Hollister Lynch, "Am I talking too long?" "Yes," whispered Dr. Lynch,
+but he kept right on! Cincinnati is not a church-going city like
+Pittsburgh, for instance, but, as one witty observer has remarked,
+"Cincinnati has fewer moral lapses!" In making judgments on this point,
+one should take into consideration the fact that there was a large Roman
+Catholic constituency, and that the predominant German population of
+Cincinnati which came in such large numbers during the middle of the
+nineteenth century, was definitely anti-religious. Christ Church,
+moreover, is a downtown church, and the greater number of the
+communicants live in suburbs. His parish took him for granted as was
+inevitable over a forty-year period, but when we recall his multiple
+civic associations, and the fact that whenever he spoke there was a
+religious foundation to his address and in his presence, we perceive
+that Mr. Nelson's preaching reached far beyond the bounds of Christ
+Church.</p>
+
+<p>The sermons of Frank Nelson were pervaded with a fine ethical
+perception. He was in the succession of the ancient Hebrew prophets in
+their profound love of justice and concern for humanity. He had a keen,
+quick feeling for spiritual values, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>succeeded in relating them in
+vital fashion to the throbbing stress of daily living. Beyond his
+piercing eloquence, captivating as it most certainly was, was the
+compelling fact that in his interpretation of the religious significance
+of human experience he stood forth like a pine tree towering above
+scraggly growth. No one can ever forget that tall, dynamic figure in the
+spacious pulpit of Christ Church preaching the Word of God with gripping
+power. It was not merely the power of virility and eloquence, but the
+power of grasp, of comprehension, the ability to communicate truth and
+make it come alive, and cry out for expression in the hearts and lives
+of his hearers. We felt the majesty of the human spirit, the impatience
+of sure faith with the rags and blemishes of doubt and cynicism. "Like
+rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth," Frank Nelson
+poured out his soul, and revealed the grand proportions of human
+destiny.</p>
+
+<p>In his beautiful address at the Helen S. Trounstine Memorial Service, a
+portion of which follows, we find one of the best examples of Mr.
+Nelson's ability to interpret human experience, as well as of his
+intuitive understanding of another's travail of soul:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>And then her courage. There are the lesser courages and the
+greater. There are many who dare face danger and undertake hard
+tasks, and face ridicule and failure. It is a fine and a true
+courage and I do not underrate it. Helen Trounstine had it and
+had it to the full. She tackled hard tasks; she faced some men
+whose interests she opposed. She fought out her fights against
+all comers, and never flinched. She would go into the court or
+into the saloon or dance hall, the places of commercial
+recreation, and fight her fight with all, for what she believed
+to be right; and she won most of the time. It was a noble thing
+to see that delicate woman unafraid before the problems and evils
+of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Yet that was not the finest courage she had. That other finer
+courage is the one that I would emphasize. It was given her to
+reconcile a spirit filled with high ideals and great desires,
+with a body weak, often bent and torn with pain, unsuited to the
+tasks she longed to do, until at last she was stricken with utter
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>helplessness waiting for the end. For only a few brief years was
+her body adequate, even a little, to her will. And instead of
+bending before that limitation and saying that she could do
+nothing because of it, instead of growing bitter with resentment
+at a fate that had so burdened her, she but grappled with it the
+more determinedly. With utter courage of heart and mind, she
+fought her inner fight and won the victory of cheer and energy
+and peace. With no excuse and no complaints, and no relaxing of
+her will before the limitations of her strength, she lived and
+loved and served as if she had the health she longed for. The
+limitations of her stricken body meant the giving up of many dear
+desires, of hopes that would have made life sweet and joyous, of
+work she yearned to undertake.</p>
+
+<p>Any of you who have had much to do with one stricken with a sore
+disease, who knows he never can be well again, know that it is
+not the sickness, the physical weakness and pain that make the
+problem and the tragedy. It is the reconciling of the will to
+surrender life's hopes and the readjustment of the life to the
+conditions that have got to be, that nothing can change. That was
+Helen Trounstine's problem and her tragedy. She sat down with her
+fate and fought that fight and won it. It must have meant many
+hours of untold darkness and suffering and bitter questioning and
+struggle. But of such hours she gave us no outward sign. At least
+I saw none in the years I knew her, except that finest one of
+all, the victory of her soul in the glad and joyous doing of what
+remained within her power.</p></div>
+
+<p>It is not surprising that his addresses on Good Friday and his sermons
+on Easter Day were more nearly adequate to those great days than is
+commonly the case. He cared for these days tremendously, and never
+ceased to be heartened by the throngs that crowded the old church,
+filled up the chancel, and stood in the vestibule through the Three
+Hours on Good Friday. It seemed as if the whole city was aroused as
+people from offices and factories, and from the outlying districts came
+to these special services year after year during his long rectorship. It
+stirs the imagination to think of that gathering, the rich and the poor,
+the highly-cultivated, and the meekly endowed, shop girls and clerks,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>the faithful and those groping for faith, all drawn by the mysterious
+fire kindled by this man of God. There was a concentrated intensity to
+his preaching on these occasions, for he saw clearly and felt deeply the
+tragedies of life. In that vibrant voice and in his passionate concern
+for the soul of men, there burned a white-souled homage to God, and a
+faith and love that spoke to each one's condition. Out of his long
+brooding over the darkly colored stream of history, and the chequered
+progress of Christianity of which his daily contact with the city's life
+as well as his study gave him profound knowledge, there came forth
+"great out-bursts of unshakable certainty which stand up like Alpine
+peaks in the spiritual landscape of humanity." The integrity of the man
+along with the power and dramatic quality of his speech was unveiled for
+all the world to see. One recalls in this particular a certain Good
+Friday after World War I when he took up Sarah Bernhardt's ghastly
+reversal of the First Word from the Cross, "Father, do <i>not</i> forgive
+them for they <i>know</i> what they do," and with terrific intensity
+literally shouted, "That is a lie straight from hell."</p>
+
+<p>His preaching always illumined a fine feeling for the mastery of
+language, and those who heard him over the span of the years were
+conscious that in his Good Friday addresses he employed plain,
+Anglo-Saxon words, fundamental, strong words that lent a cumulative
+effect to his speech. Because of his modesty he never consented to the
+publication of any of his Good Friday addresses, which is lamentable for
+without a doubt they represent his best preaching. A full, stenographic
+report, however, was made of his last addresses in 1939, and certain
+paragraphs from the Third Word may well be quoted. This Word from the
+Cross, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by
+whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then
+saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!", was greatly loved by his
+people because he gave to it an interpretation that was entirely
+original:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>As those of you who have been here on other Good Fridays know, I
+give that my own interpretation. Some say that I am <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>wrong: that
+when Jesus Christ said "Woman, behold thy son," He meant He was
+directing her attention to His friend, St. John, who would be a
+son to her now that He was going away. Perhaps. But I like to
+think the other way: that He was revealing to that mother of His
+the thing that should justify her motherhood, and her faith, and
+her love. He was saying, as it seems to me, things like this:</p>
+
+<p>"Behold, your Son, bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh. Known
+and yet unknown. The Son whom the angel announced to you long ago
+among the Judean hills. The things that you have treasured and
+pondered in your heart must be brought out now to allow God to
+open to you their hidden meaning. For I am your Son, your
+first-born. In these years of wonder and strangeness I have not
+forgotten the love and care and protection given me. Through you
+I grew up in the knowledge of the Scriptures and the love of
+God's House. No, I have not forgotten those years in the
+carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and the laboring for daily bread.
+Neither was it easy to break away, and leave home, but God called
+me, and deep down in your heart you were glad that God chose
+me&mdash;it was the confirmation of all that the angels had whispered
+in your heart. You were proud of me, sure that God had somewhat
+in store for me that had never been known in the world, never
+known to the mothers of other sons. And then murmurs came to you
+of opposition, of the hostility of men high up in the synagogues,
+weird reports of my deeds, and strange teachings, and finally all
+that I said and did seemed to go against the authority and
+sanctions of your religion, and you were fearful of my mind. And
+now I have come to this disgraceful end. This cross is the
+fruitage of those thirty years spent with you and in the
+fulfilling of God's pleasure. This fruitage of the Cross is not
+the fruitage that God gives to the sons of evil as seems to be
+the just fruitage of these thieves crucified beside me. In
+reality this Cross is the crown of my life, and some day the
+world will see it, and take Me unto itself, and the Cross will
+have become a throne."</p>
+
+<p>It is the word of justification and comfort that Jesus gives the
+broken-hearted Mary. It is the word of God to woman. "Now we see
+through a glass darkly, but then face to face." In Jesus, the son
+of Mary, we see what the world will be like 'when the years have
+died away.'</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>It was on these special occasions that he so frequently was inspired.
+Easter Day, for instance, with its many services and huge congregations
+stimulated him to the utmost, and to many of us it seemed as if we stood
+in one of the vestibules of immortality, certainly in the temple of this
+man's faith. He preached at both the eight and the eleven o'clock
+services, and each time with undiminished vigor and clarity of thought.
+In the interim, he personally greeted all the parishioners who remained
+after the first service for breakfast in the parish house.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson loved the ministry, and his convictions glowed and radiated
+pervasively. Innumerable scenes flood the memory, and I recall an
+ordinary Sunday which included the early celebration of the Holy
+Communion at eight forty-five <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>; an address to his Chapel
+Class at nine forty-five; and a sermon at eleven o'clock; in addition to
+all these he went, in the afternoon, to a labor union memorial service.
+There he repeated the morning's sermon from the text, "The last enemy
+that shall be destroyed is death." It was the fruit of all his ministry
+to the bereaved, and of his penetrating, sympathetic insight into the
+loneliness and devastation of death's inroads. As he brought the
+Christian faith to bear upon the problem, he imparted by clarity of
+thought and eloquence of words as well as by accent and genuineness of
+emotion that certitude which is possible only for one who himself
+possesses that which he proclaims. This sermon was a notable example of
+Phillips Brooks' definition of preaching, "Truth conveyed through
+personality." The few notes here included give only a glimmer of the
+range of his thought, and do not adequately convey the personal factor
+which made one want to rise up and call him blessed:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Men have ever striven to conquer death, and never succeeded.
+Christ too died and though He rose from the dead, He did not
+return to this life and take up its habits and tasks again. St.
+Paul was not thinking of overcoming death in this way, but rather
+of the new consciousness and gift of power that Christ has given
+men. Christianity is a conquering power. Faces what appears <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>to
+be the impossible, what experience declares to be impossible, but
+does so with the word that "all things are subject to Christ."
+"We see not yet all things put under him&mdash;but we see Jesus."
+There is nothing that may not become subject to the spirit of man
+through Christ.</p>
+
+<p>Christ facing human problems: the fear of God's wrath,
+superstitions arising from doubt of God's moral goodness,
+sickness, sorrow, hopelessness, sin, worldliness, bitterness of
+spirit and mind, suffering, and at last conquering death as an
+enemy by His resurrection.</p>
+
+<p>Death's mastery over us is not a physical thing. It is its power
+over our spirits, its apparent defeat of hope, of work begun, of
+love entered into, of faith laid hold upon, and the bitterness
+that is the fruit of that defeat. Through Christ the power of
+achievement was strengthened, and released by death. We resent
+death perhaps&mdash;reason for shrinking is that so impersonal and
+physical a process should be able to overcome a spiritual
+consciousness and experience. We resent always the victory of a
+lower over a higher order. (Feb. 28, 1926)</p></div>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson combined a happy idealism with common sense, and when the
+occasion moved him to inspired utterance, he drew upon the deep wells of
+his being, and spoke without effort as waters flow from a fountain. This
+quality characterized many of his speeches, such as the one in Music
+Hall after the Armistice of 1918 which he himself considered his best,
+and those at Masonic gatherings when men flocked to drink in his words
+and to be in his presence. He overshadowed other speakers, and what
+Henry Ward Beecher said of another is doubtless applicable to Mr.
+Nelson: "When he speaks first, I do not care to follow him, and if I
+speak first, then when he gets up I wish I had not spoken at all."</p>
+
+<p>The worth of so much preaching troubled him at times, and he too had his
+darker moments. Sometimes he paced up and down Howard Bacon's study
+never saying a word, or perhaps bursting out in boyish petulance, "When
+I am down, the parish is down. Why can't they stay up?" At a staff
+meeting one morning he told the incident of an organization that had
+requested him to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>address them, and when he asked on what subject, the
+reply was "Oh! just talk!" He passed this off as a sort of reflection on
+his fluency of words.</p>
+
+<p>Preaching was desperate business to him because "the burden of the Word
+of the Lord" lay upon him, and if he rose to great heights, he also was
+dashed down to the depths. To preach for forty years from the same
+pulpit is an exacting task, and the net result of such an experience is
+no better summed up than in the remark of a humble parishioner by whose
+house he was walking one morning with Frederick C. Hicks. It was Monday,
+and the woman was hanging out her wash. Mr. Nelson said, "Let's stop and
+ask her what she remembers of my sermon." The good soul was non-plussed,
+and could not recall even his text. And then with a leap of inspired
+insight she said, "But Mr. Nelson, this cloth is whiter every time I
+pour water over it." Perhaps this is the lasting effect on every humble
+soul who patiently waits as God communicates His truth in earthen
+vessels.</p>
+
+<p>People came to be in Frank Nelson's presence. He never let them down. He
+had said of William S. Rainsford's preaching: We came here as church
+people, professing the faith, and as "we sat before him we saw poured
+forth the reality of the thing we had professed to believe in ... He
+took us to whom religion was a profession, and made it a passion."
+Christ Church people find these words set up poignant echoes of a day
+when they sat before Frank Nelson and heard the living Word of God.</p>
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Central Anglicanism</i>, Charles W. Lowry, Jr. <i>The Witness</i>
+May 27, 1943. Used by permission.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>The Servant of The Word</i>, Farmer p. 6, Charles Scribner's
+Sons. Used by permission.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Farmer in his brilliant book, <i>The Servant of the Word</i>,
+makes this illuminating comment on preaching:</p>
+
+<p class="noin">"The wisdom of the reformers appears in always associating the speaking
+of the word with the other sacraments, and the protestant habit, which
+is sometimes derided, of always having an address at every meeting is
+seen to have sound reason behind it. It is part of our whole
+understanding and valuation of the person and the personal way in which
+God deals with him. I want the thrusting intrusiveness, the
+interjection, of another's serious speech. I believe there can be no
+substitute for the sermon." <i>Ibid</i> pp. 80-81.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br /><a name="BEYOND" id="BEYOND"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<h2><i>Beyond<br />
+Cincinnati</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="block2">
+<p class="noin"><i>"He was easily the prince of us all in diocese
+and national church."</i></p>
+
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 2em;">&mdash;<i>ZeBarney Phillips</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>6</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>The diocese of southern Ohio, of which Christ Church is a part, was
+vastly strengthened by the leadership of Frank Nelson. In the earlier
+years of his rectorship he had had little time for diocesan affairs, not
+that he was indifferent, but he was essentially the kind of person who
+did one thing at a time, and never allowed himself to be diverted from
+the immediate task. Moreover, because he was impelled by burning
+convictions to express freely his pronounced views, he was considered
+radical, and was misunderstood and disliked by many churchmen. The
+diocese of those earlier years was conservative and static, and politics
+then played a more weighty part than now. A clerical friend in speaking
+of Mr. Nelson candidly stated, "I had to grow into friendship with him.
+In those early days I had a sort of prejudice against him as a militant
+opponent of things, but I soon saw my mistake and recognized that he was
+of nobler cast." He never sought position, and never until 1916, with
+one exception, was he elected a deputy to the General Convention, which
+is the highest body of authority in the Episcopal Church. Even when the
+Convention met in Cincinnati in 1910 and Christ Church was the host to
+numerous services and meetings, he had no vote. Until 1916 he had
+represented his diocese at the General Convention only in 1904; he was
+defeated for re-election in 1907 because he had defended Dr. Algernon
+Crapsey in a once famous heresy trial.</p>
+
+<p>His larger interest in the diocese probably had its beginning when in
+1908 as a member of the Social Service Commission he visited the Hocking
+Valley, and was shocked by the abominable living conditions of the
+miners and the almost intolerable injustice of their economic
+circumstances. His interest, thus fired, increased with the years until
+he came to be depended upon in every sphere of diocesan life, serving on
+the Standing Committee, the Bishop and Chapter, the Board of Strategy
+and Finance, and in practically every other committee and department of
+importance. He was most insistent on maintaining the missionary program,
+which he held to be the very heart-beat of the life of the Church. Even
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>during depressions, Christ Church never lowered its missionary giving
+of $24,000, and one year voted $3000.00 from its parish budget to make
+up a deficit in the missionary budget because as he said "We have failed
+to educate the people." His thorough knowledge and good judgment were of
+infinite value to a succession of bishops. On the occasion of Mr.
+Nelson's Fortieth Anniversary, the present Bishop, Henry Wise Hobson
+said, "In all parts of the Diocese I have heard clergy and lay people
+say such words as these: 'The spirit of honesty, courage, fellowship,
+and service which has grown up in the life of our Diocese is primarily
+the result of the influence of Frank Nelson, whose own spirit has been a
+contagious force in our midst.'" Others who have observed the remarkable
+growth and increasing strength of this Diocese say that its present
+vitality has been generated, not by numbers, nor by wealth, but by the
+passionate spirit of certain recognizable characters of whom Frank
+Nelson was easily the leader. During Bishop Reese's long illness, Mr.
+Nelson largely conducted the business of the Diocese, and for a man with
+such positive convictions, he was extremely fair in presiding at the
+Convention. He leaned over backward to be just, and did not silence even
+those who brought up petty reasons for disagreement on the subjects
+under debate.</p>
+
+<p>When in 1929 the illness of Bishop Reese necessitated his resignation,
+the Diocese spontaneously turned to Frank Nelson as his successor. There
+is a certain piquancy in the contemplation of the change that by this
+time had come over the Diocese. A man who at one time had been
+distrusted, and branded as radical if not reckless, had so won the
+respect and affection of his associates that they desired to express
+their trust and belief in him by electing him to the highest office of
+his Church. Reverend Sidney E. Sweet, now Dean of Christ Church
+Cathedral, St. Louis, nominated Mr. Nelson at the Convention saying, "He
+is a man whose intellectual and spiritual gifts rank him with the finest
+in the Church throughout the United States. It will make the Diocese of
+Southern Ohio proud to present the name of Dr. Nelson to the House of
+Bishops as the representative of this Diocese." Another discerning
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>friend, Alfred Segal of <i>The Cincinnati Post</i>, put the case
+dramatically when he wrote in his column: "The other day Rev. Frank
+Nelson stood on the threshold of ecclesiastical glory. He needed but to
+take one step and he would have been on his way to the eminence of
+Bishop. But he turned away, though many welcoming hands beckoned him."</p>
+
+<p>In declining the nomination, Mr. Nelson said that his decision came as a
+result of consultation with friends whose opinions he valued, and from
+his own best judgment which counselled against his acceptance. He felt
+that it was desirable to elect a man with no local associations, and his
+own long ties with the diocese made him an unsuitable candidate. He had
+confided in friends his lack of diocesan consciousness, and confessed a
+reluctance to assume at his age another kind of work. Furthermore, the
+parish of Christ Church and the city were by now so deeply embedded in
+his very soul that even a change, if not a severance, of such ties was
+unthinkable. He put forward the name of Dr. Howard Chandler Robbins, who
+later refused the election. The selection of Dr. Robbins, important as
+it was, nonetheless seemed secondary to the insistent attempts of
+leaders to place this humble servant in the office of Bishop. Upon Mr.
+Nelson's entry into the luncheon hall after the convention, he was
+greeted by a tremendous ovation. He was a strong man among strong men.
+The following letter from the late Right Reverend William Lawrence of
+Massachusetts did not dissuade him from his firm decision:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="right">November 22, 1929</p>
+My dear Frank:
+
+
+<p>You well know that it is my rule not to "butt in," but as a
+Pullman conductor once told me, "there ain't no use in having
+rules that you can't break when you have to."</p>
+
+<p>I believe that you respect my judgment; my judgment is that you
+are the one man who has the qualifications to be Bishop of
+Southern Ohio. I know your loyalty to your parish and your humble
+estimate of yourself. But the Diocese and the opportunity which
+the Church will give you as Bishop are greater than your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>parish.
+Think of Trinity, Boston, at Brooks' election and its result
+today. Spaulding of Utah brought into the House of Bishops a
+breeze of fresh air, a new life and courage which abide there
+still&mdash;You will do the same.</p>
+
+<p>Think of the cheer that your election will bring to Vincent,
+Reese, and the whole Diocese.</p>
+
+<p>Let them have your name and your life. I never wrote such a
+letter before and no one knows that I am doing it now.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+<span style="padding-right: 8em;">Yours affectionately,</span><br />
+<span style="padding-right: 6em;">William Lawrence.</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At the succeeding convention another concerted effort was made to induce
+Mr. Nelson to become Bishop. It was refreshing to find the office
+seeking the man, especially a man who had never sought for himself
+positions of prestige, a man never found in the society of office
+seekers. Although he was gratefully aware of the well-meaning intentions
+of his friends, and felt in the proposed honor the warmth of their
+personal affection, he did not want it said that he had permitted the
+election and then declined it. In as tactful a manner as possible he
+labored to prevent the Committee on Nominations from presenting his
+name. During a stormy session of the Committee a movement was under way
+to over-ride Mr. Nelson's wishes and present his name as the nominee of
+the Committee anyway. At this juncture Dr. Hicks, his close friend and a
+Vestryman of Christ Church, rose and protested with considerable
+indignation, "Gentlemen, this means you simply do not know Frank
+Nelson." The debate went on, but Mr. Nelson remained firm, saying on the
+Convention floor, "I <i>may</i> not be Bishop of Southern Ohio," and he used
+the word <i>may</i> in the ancient sense of having "power to prevent." "I
+cherish the tribute, but I tell you without recourse to thought or
+prayer that I cannot do it." Finally, the Convention proceeded to the
+happy election of Henry Wise Hobson, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio
+remembers with gratitude that it owes Bishop Hobson to Frank Nelson.</p>
+
+<p>From 1916 until his death, Mr. Nelson was a deputy to the triennial
+meetings of every General Convention, and became the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>principal
+spokesman in the House of Deputies. This body is not always as decorous
+and staid in its deliberations as the House of Bishops, but Mr. Nelson
+at all times commanded a respectful hearing among the deputies. He came
+to be one of the leaders who, as a veteran church-paper correspondent
+put it, "could read the signs of the times." His opinions carried
+enormous weight though not habitually swaying votes.</p>
+
+<p>In Diocesan circles as well as in Christ Church, he was absolutely
+fearless in utterance, and was among those who were eager for the
+Episcopal Church to make large ventures of faith. Like Bishop Brent, he
+commanded a vision and a breadth of spirit which were incomprehensible
+to those who could not conceive of a universal Christianity free of
+sectarian doctrines and dogmas. In this respect he reflected and
+perpetuated the greatness of Phillips Brooks who thus stated his
+position: "I cannot live truly with the men of my own church unless I
+also have a consciousness of common life with all Christian believers,
+with all religious men, with all mankind." As a natural consequence of
+such conviction, Mr. Nelson was insistent that the Episcopal Church
+become a constituent member of the Federal Council of Churches, and
+lived to see accomplished that small but significant step towards
+cooperation among the churches.</p>
+
+<p>In the debates that occurred in various years on such subjects as the
+proposal to eliminate the word "Protestant" from the official name of
+the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and on
+the status of the Presiding Bishop, he was very firm but kindly and
+tactful in setting forth the Protestant emphasis in the
+Catholic-Protestant fabric of his church. He argued that the word
+"Protestant" in the title is there to protect the right of every sort of
+churchman. His candor was disarming, and he could get away with such
+unvarnished statements as this: "As you know I am a Protestant of the
+Protestants. I do not belong to the Catholic party in the Episcopal
+Church. I belong to the Protestant party. I believe in Protestantism; I
+do not believe in Catholicism, I never have, and please God, I never
+will. I believe in Protestantism; but I believe more, and deeper, and
+further <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>and broader, and higher in manhood and womanhood. I can see a
+vision of God in the man and in the woman, in the Catholic as well as in
+the Protestant, in the Jew, in the atheist, as well as in the
+Episcopalian."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> He was alert to any move that threatened the
+democratic basis of the Episcopal Church and diminished the power of the
+clergy and the laity, holding in the instance of the Presiding Bishop's
+status that the proposal for something similar to an archbishopric would
+introduce a monarchical form of government into a church whose
+government closely resembles that of the United States.</p>
+
+<p>At those conventions when the Prayer Book was under revision, Mr.
+Nelson's spiritual discernment, large-heartedness, and wise judgment
+were an important supplement to the work of the liturgical authorities.
+One of the really notable speeches of any General Convention was his
+plea for the church to place the emphasis in the Baptismal Service where
+the Apostles did, namely, on discipleship rather than on Creed. "The
+Creed ought to be on the Altar, not at the door of the Church," he said.
+"I want the Creed in the service, and I believe it will receive more
+emphasis than before if it is inserted where I have proposed to place
+it.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> The important thing required of Christians is to follow Christ.
+It is harder to follow Christ than to accept a creed, and God forbid
+that I should make membership in the Church easier than Christ made it."
+His earnestness and deep religious feeling made a profound impression,
+but there were those who saw in the proposal an opening wedge for the
+subordination of the creeds, and timidity and caution overcame the surge
+of approbation which followed immediately on his speech.</p>
+
+<p>Commencing in 1925 and continuing until his death, Mr. Nelson served on
+the Joint Commission on Holy Matrimony, which dealt with the highly
+controversial issue of divorce. In upholding the high standards embraced
+in the canons of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>Church, he supported that section of the
+Commission which sought to take into account the far-reaching human
+factors involved in marriage and divorce. He was absolutely convinced
+that the Church was not approaching the problem in the right way. To him
+it was not an ecclesiastical problem but a definitely human affair. He
+said he preferred to submit a delicate, ethical problem to a human
+bishop rather than to the arbitrary operation of a rule. He maintained,
+"Divorce is now on a legalistic basis. That was not the way of our Lord,
+and the Commission desires to lift it out of the legal atmosphere into
+the sphere of the fellowship of the Gospel." Towards this end the
+Commission had (in 1931) drawn up a proposed canon which was the result
+of six years' study on the part of an extremely able group of clergymen
+and laymen. Among the latter were some of the great lawyers of America,
+such as George W. Wickersham, Roland Morris, and Professor Joseph Beale
+of the Harvard Law School. This Commission proposed that "any person to
+whom a divorce from a former marriage has been granted for any cause by
+a civil court may apply to his Bishop to marry another person." In other
+words the Commission was endeavoring to have the matter decided not by
+some hard and fast rule which was bound to do many injustices to
+individuals, but by a more general principle to be interpreted by the
+Bishop or Marital Court. The proposal was defeated, but in the battle
+which ensued and has not ceased "Frank Nelson," says Bishop William
+Scarlett of Missouri, "was a leading figure. He was trying to see this
+whole matter through what he believed to be the mind of Christ, and to
+act and legislate accordingly."</p>
+
+<p>At the Church Congress in Richmond, Virginia, in 1926 in a paper on
+<i>What Is Loyal Churchmanship?</i> he boldly stated:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Even when it comes to the canon in regard to remarriage of
+divorced persons, when I find in my conscience, standing before
+God in the presence of Christ, as I try to do, that a man and a
+woman have a right to be remarried, I will remarry them and take
+the consequences. I do not mean that I would go about seeking
+ways of disobeying the Church. I am putting extreme <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>cases. Of
+course I do not mean that.... My first loyalty, my highest
+loyalty is to the Spirit and to the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ
+as God gives me grace to see it.... The human soul is more sacred
+than constitution or canons. Canons and forms of worship are used
+to illuminate and guide men's minds and souls to Christ, not to
+dominate them or compel them to conform to this or that.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>In a few exceptional instances he remarried divorced persons. He held
+the present canon of the church to be utterly ridiculous in permitting
+reinstatement to communicant status following remarriage after divorce:
+"If one commits so grave a sin as to demand excommunication, how can one
+be reinstated while continuing to live in that sin? It is absurd on the
+face of it."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>There were those who sneered at his position, saying it was
+individualistic and amounted to the setting up of oneself against the
+law of the church, yet he of all people was most conscious of the sin of
+pride and excessive individualism. At his last Convention in 1937, he
+reemphasized the point that the object of rewriting the marriage canon
+was not to liberalize divorce and remarriage: "We have been trying to
+interpret the mind of our Lord. We have presumed to separate men from
+the love of God by excommunication. This Commission is trying to set
+free to a higher plane this tremendous question which is facing us, to
+lift this tremendous relationship from regulation to the life of the
+spirit. We want this church to face reality." Nevertheless, the
+Commission marched from one defeat to another, but it still marches!
+There was passed in 1931 one constructive piece of legislation bearing
+on instruction in Christian marriage which was enacted largely through
+the extremely forceful defense of Frank Nelson.</p>
+
+<p>The same human touch which guided all his thought and effort was
+apparent in his work on another Commission, namely, the Budget and
+Program. He usually was chosen to present the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>report in the House of
+Deputies, and it was always a masterly presentation. Like Gladstone, he
+had the faculty of making people like figures, because he set them forth
+in terms of human values or in what the newspaper writer calls
+"human-interest" stories. This same humanness was delightfully manifest
+on occasions when friends endeavoured to make him the presiding officer
+or President of the House of Deputies. He would never consent, and
+humorously said that if he became an official, he would have to attend
+all the extra meetings and couldn't play golf!</p>
+
+<p>In 1937 the General Convention met in Cincinnati. Though far from well
+and worn out after the usual strenuous year in his parish, Mr. Nelson
+gave up a large part of his vacation to assist in the arduous
+preparations always entailed by such affairs. At the opening service in
+the University Stadium he was selected by the Presiding Bishop to read
+one of the Lessons, the deserved recognition of his place in diocese and
+national church.</p>
+
+<p>In the extensive work of forwarding the policies set up by the General
+Conventions he was called upon, as one of the representative rectors, to
+speak in many parts of the country. He was foremost in commending the
+Nation-Wide-Campaign or budget plan of operation instituted in 1919, as
+a means of re-awakening the church to a sense of national
+responsibility. Despite heavy work in parish and city he never spared
+himself, and willingly put his services at the command of the Presiding
+Bishop. Only eight months before his death, he spent an entire week in
+the Diocese of Massachusetts speaking two and three times a day to
+groups of vestrymen on the forward work of the church.</p>
+
+<p>When General Convention met in Kansas City in 1940, the first meeting
+after Mr. Nelson's death, the President of the House of Deputies, the
+late ZeBarney Phillips, said at the opening session:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Later on we shall have the regular memorial to all members of the
+Convention who have died during the triennium, but as the
+Convention opens without them I cannot refrain from paying
+tribute to some of those whom we loved best and best remember.
+First you will all agree is Frank Nelson who was the outstanding
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>member of this House at Cincinnati. His genuine Christian
+devotion, his courtesy, his fairness and his gentleness can never
+be forgotten. Let me tell you one little thing that shows his
+character. You all know his type of churchmanship, and yet, for
+the sake of others he placed candles on his altar for the
+corporate communion. It was a little thing but it was so like
+Frank Nelson.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>Whether in parish, city, or the whole Episcopal Church, his work was
+affected by a mighty vision of the Kingdom of God on earth which set him
+apart as an unusual servant who humbly read the scroll of life as it is
+unrolled to the children of men. He passed on to others the torch of
+faith which lights the path to the City of God.</p>
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Address at the Centennial of Christ Church, 1917. He spoke
+in this vein at Conventions though I cannot locate exact statements in
+official records.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Mr. Nelson's proposal placed the Creed immediately after
+the Lesson.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>The Church and Truth</i>, p. 138, Macmillan Co. 1924. Used
+by permission.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Letter to the author, September 12, 1932.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Letter to Mrs. Nelson from Mr. Richard Inglis of
+Cleveland.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+<br /><a name="MYSTERY" id="MYSTERY"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<h2><i>The Mystery of<br />
+Personality</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="block2">
+<p class="noin">"<i>There is not one of us but in some measure
+is in his debt.</i>"</p>
+
+<p class="right" style="padding-right: 2em;">&mdash;<i>The Cincinnati Enquirer</i></p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>7</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>"All the hold those people have on God is me. It is terrible. It bothers
+me. They love me but they don't come to church." Mr. Nelson confided in
+this vein one night to his intimate friend, Jesse Halsey, into whose
+study he had stopped on his way home from a call in a distant suburb.
+While it was inevitable that some people should use him as a crutch or
+should let him do their climbing for them, the truth of the matter is
+that he was a chosen channel for the communication of the Divine Spirit
+to earth-bound men. Because he was genuinely humble, he was troubled
+about those people who could approach God only through him. If they
+little sensed that what they loved in him was God, they nevertheless
+were compelled by their limitations to think of God in terms of Frank
+Nelson.</p>
+
+<p>He was only a voice in the successive generations of men whom God has
+sent to minister unto this world, but men loved the voice and though it
+is now no longer heard, the mystery and wonder of his personality still
+remain. The happy blend of the spiritual and the human in his nature had
+a profound influence upon those who knew him. Though poor, faltering
+words may suggest the salient outlines of his character, the richness
+and singularity of it defy complete expression.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson's rare gifts of mind and spirit were enhanced by a robust
+physique. He was tall, well-proportioned, and in his last twenty years
+took on an almost majestic bearing which gave him a distinguished
+appearance in any company. In his manner there was that graciousness
+which men call charm or presence. Those who associated with him, whether
+rich or poor, talented or commonplace, felt his friendliness. He was at
+home with all kinds of people, and though born on the sunny side of the
+street, and by birth and breeding an aristocrat, he became one of the
+most democratic of men. Because of his greatness some approached him
+hesitatingly, but they went away remembering only his kindness of heart.
+He never stood on his dignity in that sense which conveys condescension.
+His gay, infectious laughter which so often filled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>a room put people
+immediately at ease, and yet he never belittled his calling nor lowered
+himself to meet men.</p>
+
+<p>There was a look of keenness in his eyes that sometimes pierced one
+through and through, but always there shone forth faith and sympathy and
+understanding. It was the warmth of his humanity that drew people, and
+consciously or unconsciously gave them confidence and a stronger
+readiness to meet life. Bishop Edward L. Parsons of California writes,
+"When with him you felt as if you were entirely safe. You knew that his
+judgment would be sound. You knew that he was too big to be dominated by
+personal considerations."</p>
+
+<p>The same warmth expressed itself in his appreciation of other men's
+opinions, and because he was decisive in outlook and views, he found
+pleasure and stimulus in the spirited exchange of ideas and in sprightly
+repartee. In the Episcopal Church there is an amazing diversity of
+thought on ecclesiastical matters. Frank Nelson, for instance,
+represented one conviction, and the Right Reverend Spence Burton, now
+Lord Bishop of Nassau, quite another. "We were the best of friends,"
+writes Bishop Burton, who is a Cincinnatian by birth, "and we often
+disagreed but got on happily together because I think that
+temperamentally we were somewhat alike&mdash;what might vulgarly be known as
+whole-hoggers. In that way we understood each other and did not annoy
+each other nearly so much as if we had had the idea that we could have
+only as much affection for each other as we had agreement with one
+another." The admiration and affection which Mr. Nelson elicited was
+pointedly demonstrated at his funeral. Bishop Burton sat in the chancel
+alongside the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the Presbyterian minister. Dr.
+Halsey said: "Bishop Burton, perfect gentleman that he is, not once
+crossed himself in deference to Frank's (to him, atrocious) low church
+prejudices!" Frank Nelson was like that. Respect for him sometimes came
+grudgingly, but it came because there was no personal animosity in the
+man. He was honored because he was a moral and a spiritual force with
+which to be reckoned.</p>
+
+<p>His election to the Commercial Club of Cincinnati in 1923 is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>another
+indication of his democratic and appealing character. This club is one
+of the city's most exclusive, its membership being comprised entirely of
+business executives, captains of industry, and a small sprinkling of
+professional men. The constitution of the club allows for three honorary
+members, and at the time of Mr. Nelson's election, the only honorary
+member was William Howard Taft. An extract from the Club's minutes
+reads:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Believing that it would be a merited recognition of one of our
+most worthy citizens, won by his unselfish zeal for the cause of
+humanity, and as a leader for higher ideals in our civic life,
+your Executive Committee unanimously recommend the election of
+Rev. Frank H. Nelson to be an honorary member of the Commercial
+Club.</p></div>
+
+<p>Each year at the Club's Christmas dinner, Mr. Nelson invariably gave an
+address on some contemporary significance of Christmas. His message was
+deeply impressive to this inner circle of representative citizens, for
+he was one with them in spirit, even as he was one with the humblest of
+his parish. In turn, such associations gave him courage and re&euml;nforced
+his will to persist in a difficult calling, as the following lines
+penned to a club member reveal:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I wonder if you and a few men who are like you in real
+understanding and real goodness, realize what your confidence and
+friendship do for a minister? It isn't easy for us to keep our
+faith in what is right and just and true, when successful men
+tell us we don't know what we are talking about&mdash;that our faith
+is plain foolishness in the face of realities.</p></div>
+
+<p>He entered into the Club's frolics with huge enjoyment, and on one
+occasion took part in a pageant, dressed in the vestments of a mediaeval
+bishop. During an outing in the South, the Club attended a religious
+service, and while in the church Mr. Walter Draper had his pocket
+picked. After the service, in some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>excitement he freely expressed his
+indignation, continuing at great length until Mr. Nelson gleefully
+returned the filched article!</p>
+
+<p>Out of his warmth of human feeling there came a real capacity for
+enjoying simple, ordinary things. If he was stirred by the tragedy and
+the immemorial pain of humanity, he was also moved by the elemental ties
+of family and friendship, and by all the simplicity that lends them zest
+and joy. He loved anniversaries, and was deeply appreciative of the
+innumerable remembrances he received on those occasions. Christmas
+parties in his home were a particular delight to friends and to those
+members of the staff fortunate enough to enjoy the hospitality of Mr.
+and Mrs. Nelson. He was child-like at heart, and those close to him were
+warmed by his gaiety and thoughtfulness. He had a feeling for music and
+when he led the carol rehearsals in the parish house hall before
+Christmas and Easter, the boys and girls responded whole-heartedly. He
+took charge in a firm manner; in fact no bronco was ever more
+competently restrained than his youngsters. The chorus of boys and girls
+sang softly or loudly at his will, and enjoyed it, and when he left the
+platform, they did not growl an adieu, they applauded!</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson's interest in people, and the work he accomplished had for a
+background the sort of home environment which enhanced his capacity. In
+1907 he was married to Miss Mary Eaton, the daughter of William Oriel
+Eaton, a Cincinnati artist of distinction. Their adopted daughter, Ruth,
+was an unending delight to him, and he lived to officiate at her
+marriage, and to become a happy grandfather. Mrs. Nelson's admirable
+arrangements of the household left him free of the many details that
+might hamper a man in public office. He did not have to worry about
+bringing home unexpected guests, and when he was not at home Mrs. Nelson
+carried on in a loyal manner expressive of his interest in people. At
+one time before the Travelers' Aid Society was organized, a mother and
+two children arrived at the railroad station in some sort of pressing
+difficulty. Not knowing where to go, the mother inquired of the
+telephone operator, who suggested "Rev. Nelson." The woman in her
+distress went to the rector's home on Pike Street. Mr. Nelson was out of
+the city, but in characteristic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>fashion, his wife took them in and kept
+them overnight. Mrs. Nelson's interest and work in the parish,
+particularly with the young candidates for the Girls' Friendly Society,
+was of a notable quality, and her fine understanding of their problems
+was not only an important factor in the effectiveness of that
+organization, but also happily supplemented her husband's unceasing
+labors.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson was continually sensitive to his good fortune in possessing
+adequate means, in contrast to the deprivation and financial
+difficulties of many others. He was incapable of concealment and there
+was a refreshing frankness to his acknowledgment one Sunday morning
+when, speaking on the parish budget, he facetiously told his
+congregation that his salary was too large but he did not have the moral
+courage to refuse it! He was also fortunate in many other ways, such as
+being free from illness the larger part of his life, and from personal
+bereavements, for his parents lived to a ripe age. His gift of
+imagination in dealing with many problems not experienced by him
+personally was, therefore, the more unusual. "Genius is the power of
+getting knowledge with the least possible experience, and one of the
+greatest differences between men is in the amount of experience they
+need of anything in order to understand it."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>The even tenor of his lot in life did not produce in him
+self-satisfaction and complacency, but often did make him uneasy. He had
+inherited his father's sternness of conscience and moral fibre. At one
+time when a parishioner sold a piece of property and asked Mr. Nelson to
+use the money to buy his first car, he was sorely perplexed as to the
+appropriateness of accepting such a gift and allowing himself the luxury
+of an automobile. He wondered what some of the people in his parish
+would think. When calling in the "Bottoms," he often wore an old, blue
+serge suit. He was acutely aware that his salary came in part from many
+who had little, and to the end of his days his conscience troubled him
+about this, wanting as he did to share the life of the least of his
+people.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>Frank Nelson was a singularly modest person. In the early years of his
+ministry one did not hear much about what he was doing. Everywhere
+people talked of Stein's distinguished preaching, and not much was said
+about Mr. Nelson's talents. He belittled his own abilities, and imagined
+that things which were difficult for him came easily to other people. He
+not only deprecated his skill in preaching, but thought he had no
+capacity for meeting intellectuals on their own ground. It cannot be
+said that he had an inferiority complex for that implies weakness, and
+in Frank Nelson power and gentleness were happily and usefully joined.
+The honor and acclaim that came to him from church and city never
+impressed him unduly; in fact, he was saddened by them because they
+represented a seeming success which in comparison with the great ideals
+of the Christian ministry approximates failure. "So likewise ye, when ye
+shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are
+unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do."</p>
+
+<p>His exceptional sense of reality and proportion, which is the very
+essence of humility, made him a forceful leader and at the same time
+congenial company. Because he was completely sincere and unaffected, his
+friends felt no self-consciousness in the presence of "the cloth." They
+in turn could be candid with him. This fact was once amusingly
+demonstrated when the music at Christ Church was not at its customary
+high standard, and Mr. Nelson, happening to meet a parishioner who had
+not been in church for some time, asked her why, and enjoyed a good
+chuckle over her reply: "Oh! I am tired of hearing the choir bawl and
+you bawl!" There was always a lively give and take in his friendships.
+On one occasion at the close of an inter-faith meeting, he was chided by
+a Roman Catholic friend about his poor speech. Admitting that he had
+come unprepared, Mr. Nelson without the slightest sign of resentment
+offered to drive his friend home, and they had a good two hour talk in
+front of the Roman Cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>The range of his friendships was extraordinary for he possessed the
+capacity to kindle admiration and affection. Many a man found him a
+refreshing tonic, and would say, "I felt better for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>contact with him."
+He was a frequent participant at the Round Table discussions in the
+University Club, and delighted in the exchange of thought that came from
+all sorts. At the time of the death of his friend, Father Finn, the
+Pastor of St. Xavier's Church, which is in the vicinity of Christ
+Church, Mr. Nelson attended the Requiem Mass, and afterwards was
+observed standing by the hearse, head uncovered and tears in his eyes,
+for they had been the best of friends. A great personality is more than
+what he says, and many times brushes aside the trammels of the popular
+conception of the institution which he represents. Frank Nelson had a
+well-nigh perfect concept of what it means to be a Christian; and,
+therefore, in his wide range of friendship among all faiths and those of
+no faith, he carried himself without the faintest hint of disloyalty to
+the Episcopal Church. As he was never colorless, men knew where he
+stood, and though sometimes disagreeing with him, friends and critics
+alike recognized his genuine goodness and knew his motives to be without
+guile. He would say, "Always believe a person right until proved
+otherwise. Take people at face value. I am a fool, but that is the only
+way to begin." Such were the tenets of his quiet pugnacity of faith in
+human beings. It is no wonder that a working-man called him, "The
+greatest Christian in shoe-leather I ever met; a Christian capitalist
+worthy of anyone's emulation"; or that his faithful colored sexton, who
+waited on him, shined his shoes, and served him devotedly to the end of
+his days, should say, "We were pals. He was always tops with me."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson was often the one called upon when grace of speech, dignity
+of manner and discriminating taste were required. At a community mass
+meeting in Music Hall in 1927, he was chosen to introduce the speaker of
+the evening, Miss Maude Royden, the noted English preacher. He
+accompanied Miss Royden to the center of the platform with all the
+courtliness of a true gentleman, and with that deference due a
+gentlewoman and an eminent personage. His introduction was an instance
+of his singular felicity of expression and his ability to state in
+choice language the sentiments prompted by the event of the moment. Such
+was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>Mr. Nelson's gift for being master of every occasion. Sitting in
+the back row of the immense hall which was crowded to the doors, I felt
+that the audience quickly sensed the fitness of the presence on the same
+platform of two such estimable representatives of the Christian Church.</p>
+
+<p>To illustrate further his command of language and his absolute candor,
+there is an incident which also neatly tested his tact and truthfulness.
+One sultry evening in Holy Week, when a long-winded clergyman was
+preaching, it appeared to me that the rector dozed. I wondered what he
+could honestly say to the man. After the service when we were in the
+sacristy, he put his arm around the preacher's shoulders, and said, "Old
+man, you set me to thinking!" His tact was never failing, though often
+its diplomatic flavor could be more than faintly sensed!</p>
+
+<p>Accompanying his humility of spirit there was in his nature and his
+opinions an air of authority wholly unecclesiastical, purely personal,
+but immensely impressive. It came in part from his particular type of
+intellect. He had an assimilative mind, which enabled him, for example,
+to acquire rapidly the gist of a book, and to state succinctly and
+clearly a point which he was desirous of making. His was an intuitive
+knowledge rather than a scientific. It was not the kind of knowledge of
+which the dogmatists speak and in which they alone can believe. Mr.
+Nelson's knowledge was the sort which sees into the life of things and
+of men. His intellectual powers were richly developed by his parish work
+and heavy responsibilities, and by his reflection upon all kinds of
+experiences and his understanding insight into other people's problems.
+A forty years' ministry combined with such a type of mind gave him, for
+one thing, a rather fine grasp of medical science. He knew its
+principles, and was able to simplify and help at times when technical
+terms leave the layman baffled and vague. Because of this special kind
+of mind and the sweep of his experience, his general effect on people
+was sometimes overwhelming. To illustrate a minor angle, he was not
+adept in leading discussions; he could not draw out a group because he
+had pretty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>thoroughly covered the subject himself, and the impact of
+his personality was a bit overpowering.</p>
+
+<p>But above all, the authority one felt most in his personality was that
+which came as a result of his being Christ-fashioned. He of all men
+possessed the kind of nature which cannot live without God. There was
+within him a spontaneity that was entirely himself, impossible of
+duplication, totally socialized. He was not a mystic and maintained that
+he was puzzled by their writings. He admitted that the prayer-life was
+difficult for him, that he could not meditate or think about God for
+long periods. His was not the ascetic or contemplative nature; he did
+not live in reflective calm. In the whirlpool of human relations he was
+an explorer, a bold adventurer bringing people into the presence of God;
+and what does it matter whether one prays in words or acts? He
+exemplified in his life one definition among many, namely, "To labor is
+to pray." The weight of people's needs pressed down upon him so
+relentlessly that he was driven to do something about them. His was the
+temperament which animates an ancient prayer, "Lord, I am so busy this
+day, if I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me." We are disposed to have
+our tight little crystallizations of what prayer should or should not
+be. Frank Nelson was impatient of such, for he ventured upon a scale
+more broad than that envisioned by the average parson or layman. There
+are no theological concepts which fit him.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson had a natural talent for enjoying people, which implemented
+all his work, but for a man in his position such a gift has its price:
+either one wears himself out or neglects his major task and so spreads
+himself thin. He chose the first course, and as we contemplate this
+record of vast accomplishment who are we to say that he did not choose
+wisely? He was a very busy man, and went about doing good, not just
+doing. His description of Helen Trounstine's life of activity is
+applicable to his own:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>It was not restlessness, the hurrying on from one thing to
+another, just to be busy. It was the true energy of full-hearted
+and full-minded interest in life, and all that it holds; the
+passion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>to learn that she might teach; to enjoy that she might
+give joy; to rest that she might have strength to do her work; to
+serve because men need her service. It was energy of mind and
+heart so full of the vision of the greatness of life and the
+opportunity of living, that she could not waste time except as it
+ministered to the part she was to play.</p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson did not scatter his interests indiscriminately but
+concentrated his efforts in the fields where he was most competent:
+social problems and the relation of the Church to the most concrete
+activities of human life. All these fitted into his prime purpose.</p>
+
+<p>The vision which governed his days was strengthened every year in the
+long vacations that he took at his summer home in Cranberry Isles,
+Maine. There beside the sea he dreamed long dreams, and drank in the
+salty air which brought indispensable relaxation, and mental and
+spiritual refreshment. In his small cabin on a point of land overlooking
+the limitless ocean, he could be very much alone. Something of that
+setting and its influence is conveyed in a letter to the Reverend
+Theodore Sedgwick, a life-long friend, which discloses Mr. Nelson in a
+reflective mood:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p class="right">Sept. 6, 1928</p>
+
+Dear Ted:
+
+<p>Many, many thanks for your intensely interesting letter, and its
+review of Julian Huxley's book. Such a view of life and religion
+does make one stop and think&mdash;and hesitate. It is the terribly
+earnest spiritual problem that we face today in the ministry. It
+is the sort of thing I had in mind, in suggesting the subject of
+"God" for the next Swansea Conference. For we have got to face
+the issue with eyes open, minds familiar with the biologist's
+point of view. The old affirmations of formal theology are not
+adequate to meet the issue. And yet in those affirmations I am
+sure lies the truth&mdash;that God lives, God our Father&mdash;conscious of
+Himself and of us&mdash;a person in a very real sense&mdash;from Whom we
+derive personality&mdash;from Whom we came&mdash;and to Whom we go. If
+mankind loses that, "his arms <i>do</i> clasp the air" and he drowns
+in the infinity of time and space and his own nothingness. We
+have from Christ the truth and somehow we must learn it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>with a
+new understanding&mdash;or rather with <i>the</i> new understanding that
+modern science and modern reverent scientific thought have given
+us. I am sitting at my desk in my cabin at sunset. The day has
+been cool and grey&mdash;a heavy curtain of cloud over the sky&mdash;But
+now&mdash;that curtain is thinning and through the break in the
+west&mdash;the whole glory of the sun has colored sky and sea with a
+golden light beyond description for exquisite beauty. The gulls
+are winging their way across the sea to a distant island where
+they rest and go back to each night. As I sit and look, my whole
+spirit is moved by the beauty and the evening quiet. There is
+infinity here&mdash;of space and imagination. Yet&mdash;the gulls&mdash;I think,
+are unconscious of all that&mdash;but I am moved by it and keenly
+conscious of it. It is not just biology&mdash;or I would be as the
+gulls&mdash;and I am not. And men are not. They want God&mdash;behind the
+glory&mdash;God clothed with the glory&mdash;adequate to the glory&mdash;that
+their own imagination and hunger and aspiration may be
+justified&mdash;That is what Christ has given us to preach and it is
+the truth. Now the gold has turned to a flaming red&mdash;thrilling
+almost to the point of pain. One must believe&mdash;and then face the
+chill grey of the coming night with the memory of it to lighten
+and interpret it.</p>
+
+<p>We go a week from tomorrow, back to work, to the men and women
+who have so bravely gone on working through long, hot summer days
+in the streets and factories and tenements of the city. And in
+that bravery and drudgery, there is the same flaming glory of
+God. It isn't just biology&mdash;it is the spirit of God, making the
+physical the dwelling place of God and glorifying it with His
+presence.</p></div>
+
+<p>Frank Nelson had an almost Elizabethan zest for thought and action, and
+even at Cranberry he entered enthusiastically into the local life. He
+preached at least once every summer in the Congregational Church, and in
+that church today are numerous memorials to him: a silver alms bason,
+the Service Book of the Congregational Church beautifully bound in red
+morocco, a United States flag, and several pictures. Each year at Easter
+there is a large cross of geraniums in the church, and after the service
+the flowers are distributed among the families on the island <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>with a
+card saying, "Given in memory of Frank Howard Nelson with the Easter
+message of Christ's Resurrection." When he left Cranberry the last time,
+all the public school children were dismissed to wave their goodbyes.
+His unaffected interest in the affairs of the community expressed itself
+in practical ways, and his unassuming and simple manner gave little
+inkling that he was a foremost citizen of Cincinnati.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing comparable," says Coventry Patmore, "for moral force
+to the charm of truly noble manners." Frank Nelson's manner was not only
+the result of a choice family inheritance, but also the rich fruitage of
+a lifetime of faithful obedience to a consuming passion and vision. He
+was a life-giving river flowing in a parched land. In him the ancient
+prophet's words found a fresh fulfillment: "Everything shall live
+whithersoever the river cometh."</p>
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> R. L. Nettleship <i>Lectures on the Republic of Plato</i>, p.
+129, published by Macmillan Co. Used with permission.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+<br /><a name="LAST" id="LAST"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<h2><i>Last<br />
+Years</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Then of those shadows, which one made descent</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Beside me I knew not; but Life ere long</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Came on me in the public ways, and bent</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>Eyes deeper than of old; Death met I too</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>And saw the dawn glow through.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i10">&mdash;<i>Anon</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>8</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>Frank Nelson never became an old man. Toward the end of his life his
+body could not fulfill the demands of his spirit, and he was not able to
+undertake as much nor see as many people as he wished, but he never
+neglected any responsibility. At times he could not keep going and had
+to stop on the street to rest because too much exertion caused pain, but
+he would not spare himself nor did he ever complain. He was a happy
+soldier who smiled through his closing years.</p>
+
+<p>In 1931-1932 he suffered from a blocking off of the blood vessels that
+drain the leg, a condition which has very serious possibilities. He
+weighed these possibilities, says Dr. Richard S. Austin, but like most
+patients he figured there was always the chance that he might not have
+to pay the price. He was like the physician who when told to practice
+what he preached replied, "Did you ever know a sign-post to walk down
+the road?" He bore his illness with fortitude, concealing from his
+family and friends the vexation that he felt as the activities which
+were life itself to him were curtailed more and more. When entering the
+church in procession with the choir, he would never use a cane though he
+was often suffering acutely, but squaring himself, and throwing back his
+shoulders, he would march resolutely on. As he crossed the chancel to
+enter his pulpit, something of his old vigor was apparent, and as he
+preached, his voice was strong and clear. If he was less animated, he
+was no less intense, no less the tremendously invigorating preacher. One
+day in the parish house Canon Symons met him carrying a heavy bag. He
+was about to leave for one of his frequent periods in the hospital, and
+Canon Symons remonstrated with him and tried to take his bag, but Mr.
+Nelson refused, saying, "No, I won't. I would rather drop in my tracks
+than to save myself and spend endless days in hospitals."</p>
+
+<p>At the Annual Meeting of the Parish on April 10, 1939, Mr. Nelson
+presented his resignation, "not because I want to quit, but I am
+concerned that this parish should not weaken. This church is facing, as
+every church is facing, a new day; and it needs the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>leadership of
+younger and stronger men." It was accepted with marked reluctance to
+take effect when his successor should be chosen and had arrived. On May
+21st the parish and many of his friends outside Christ Church celebrated
+his forty years' ministry in the one church and city, and there was a
+singular out-pouring of people.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of the observance he wrote a friend:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Though it was not so stated in the bond, it saved me from a
+farewell celebration. I preached at all three services, and it
+saved me the embarrassment of listening to eulogies, and saved
+others from having to deliver them! But everyone was fine about
+it. They decorated the Altar with gorgeous red roses, and me with
+my red Seminary hood (He wore his Doctor's hood rarely and always
+looked rather sheepish when asking his secretary to take it out
+of the safe!), and we had the two choirs at eleven o'clock, and
+lovely music at all the services. So the day went well, and we're
+all glad it is well over.</p></div>
+
+<p>In a letter to another friend he said:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>It wasn't easy to speak and to face the services, and that they
+meant the real end of my rectorship, my active ministry. There
+were dear friends and very loyal parishioners there. And I think
+you know my love for Christ Church and for Cincinnati, and my
+inexpressible appreciation of all that this church and city have
+given me. It is terribly hard to try to realize that after this
+summer I shall no longer be rector of Christ Church&mdash;and all that
+that has meant and means&mdash;and in very deep gratitude I saw the
+many, and my mind and heart were very full. Indeed I hope I shall
+not "retire" from the friendships, and from the life of the
+people and city. Thank you more than I can say for what only you
+could so write. I have had a very rare opportunity, and very
+privileged forty years, and I hope the coming years&mdash;or weeks or
+months, whatever God wills&mdash;will bring in their own way the same
+high things and find me worthy of them, and chief of them, worthy
+of your friendship and faith.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>He had given the church and city a lifetime of service, loyalty, and
+love, and the place he held in the affections of his people had been
+abundantly made known to him.</p>
+
+<p>In July before the last Sunday he was scheduled to preach, he was
+stricken by a heart attack, and so his ministry came to a close without
+further sadness of farewell. He spent a few weeks in the hospital, and
+improved sufficiently to journey to his beloved Cranberry Isles
+accompanied by his wife and daughter. But a doctor, knowing what others
+did not realize, broke down and wept when Mr. Nelson left the hospital.
+His friends and he himself felt confident that a protracted rest would
+do the work of healing. In August he sustained another and a more severe
+attack, and as the chilling, autumn winds blew in from the Atlantic they
+brought him to the Phillips House in Boston. He saw no one at first, but
+then he grew restless, and the doctor permitted visitors. There were
+many, and as he was making no progress, he was moved to the old family
+home in North Marshfield, near Cape Cod. There as a boy he had roamed
+the spacious, rambling house and the bright fields, and there his
+parents had lived the last twenty-five years of their lives. The lovely,
+old home with its atmosphere of peace brought back many tender memories.
+In the absolute quiet of these surroundings which he loved, he lingered
+some two weeks. With another attack he lapsed into unconsciousness, and
+his boyhood friend, the late Dean Philemon F. Sturges of Boston, came
+down to be with the family. On the morning of October 31st as the end
+approached, Dean Sturges knelt beside him and in the dear familiar words
+of the Prayer Book said, "Lift up your hearts," and the family bravely
+responded, "We lift them up unto the Lord." The Dean continued, "It is
+very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and
+<i>in all places</i>, give thanks unto Thee, O Lord." It was meet and right
+that Frank Nelson should depart this life on such a note of
+thanksgiving.</p>
+
+<p>At the burial in Cincinnati, November Third, the parish, life-long
+friends, and representatives of the city thronged Christ Church not to
+say "Farewell," but "Hail!", for as Alfred Segal grandly put it, "He was
+like one going away to gather in his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>victory." For a night and a day
+preceding the service, his body lay in the beautiful chapel of his own
+creation, and great numbers of men, women and children of all faiths
+came to pay a final tribute. The burial service was the same as he
+himself had always used, only read now by his successor, and the Bishop
+of the Diocese. To his friends and beloved people it all seemed passing
+strange if not unreal. Frail beings that we are, we had never sensed
+more than a vague possibility that his ministry would one day terminate.
+It was not past human knowing, of course, but it was beyond the grasp of
+human imagining that the day would come when Frank Nelson would no
+longer walk the city's streets, no longer hurry to the distant suburbs.
+We felt this way because in an unusual sense men loved this servant of
+the servants of God in Cincinnati who had dwelt among them for forty
+years. Yet the great congregation rose above human grief and surmounted
+the consciousness of personal loss in the tremendous note of triumph and
+thankfulness that prevailed throughout the simple service from its
+opening sentences, "I am the resurrection and the life," to the Bishop's
+final words of commitment, "Unto God's gracious mercy and protection."
+They sang only hymns of victory, hymns that he especially loved and
+which were expressive of his faith and spirit: John Bunyan's "He who
+would valiant be," and "There is a wideness in God's mercy." The
+recessional moved to the church door to the triumphant words "For all
+the saints who from their labors rest," set to the stirring tune of R.
+Vaughan Williams. Thus in the simplicity and dignity of the things said
+and done there that afternoon did the passing of this noble minister
+symbolize the destiny of all mankind.</p>
+
+<p>They took him to beautiful Spring Grove Cemetery and laid him beneath a
+majestic sycamore tree whose spreading branches seemed to represent the
+out-reach of his life. Years ago at his behest Christ Church had been
+given a plot of ground for the poor, the friendless, and the forgotten
+of men, "God's Acre." There, by his express wishes, Frank Nelson lies
+among the least of his flock, the faithful shepherd who called his own
+by name. Then every man "went away again unto his own home."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>
+<br /><a name="AFTERGLOW" id="AFTERGLOW"></a>
+<br /><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2><i>The<br />
+Afterglow</i></h2>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<h2>9</h2>
+<br />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>It is now more than five years since Mr. Nelson's death, and today the
+old church in the hands of his successor, Nelson M. Burroughs, whose
+first name singularly suggests a prolongation of the Nelson dynasty, and
+whose spirit and abilities are a worthy continuation of an unusual
+rectorship, is still animated by Frank Nelson's vision, his joy in
+service. His ideals live today in the parish of Christ Church, which has
+not failed him but carries out that which he committed unto them in his
+farewell address:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The Church is the important thing to all of us. We need the
+Church, for faith, for courage, for guidance. The Diocese needs
+this Parish&mdash;its loyalty&mdash;its support&mdash;its fellowship&mdash;as we need
+the Diocese. The City needs this Church. You will never forget,
+will you, the Vision, and the power that came with it, that Mr.
+Stein gave us forty years ago, viz;&mdash;that the Church is the Body
+of Christ, not a club, to minister, and not to be ministered to.
+The people all about us, the whole city, are our concern, to
+bring them the Gospel of Christ. So, I pray God you will go
+forward into the new day with high faith and enthusiasm. You have
+a mission from God.</p></div>
+
+<p>The mission goes on in the spirit of readiness to embark on great
+ventures, and of youth not knowing defeat, for on Easter Day, 1941 the
+authorities of Christ Church announced it as their purpose to erect a
+glorious new building on the site of the present edifice as the only
+adequate memorial to Frank Nelson. As in the dark days of 1917 the
+parish audaciously built the Centennial Chapel, so the tragic repetition
+of world war sees in the present rector and people no diminishing of
+that daring and firmness of vision. This plan is, as Mr. Nelson would
+have it, not for his own glory, but for the larger range of the Church
+in the service of the city. He had said, "This is the work of those who
+will come after me."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>Christ Church will one day be clothed in garments of new beauty because
+Frank Nelson preached the Gospel that is the hope of a better democracy.
+The grandeur of his accomplishment impels men to undertake this task;
+and thus it is a living fact that his vision is still an influence in
+the city, and is the choice heritage of an unnumbered host.</p>
+
+<p>If because of human frailty we think of heaven as rest, his spirit
+corrects us. If in our partial understanding he seems to deserve release
+from labor, yet for the very reason that he "wrought with tireless hand
+through crowded days,"<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> we know in our moments of vision that for so
+knightly a spirit the only possible reward is authority over ten cities.</p>
+
+<p>From that kingdom of the spirit, he speaks to us across the abyss of
+time, and nowhere is his voice stronger, his thought clearer than in the
+first chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians. Here, forever sealed in
+the enduring words of Saint Paul, is the heart of Frank Nelson's
+ministry, a ministry valiant and without blemish:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>I thank my God upon every remembrance of you ... for your
+fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being
+confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
+work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Inscription on a tablet in the chapel of Phillips Exeter
+Academy, Exeter, N. H.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Transcriber's Note</p>
+<br />
+
+Research  has shown that the copyright on this book was not renewed.
+<br />
+<br />
+Typographical errors corrected in the text&nbsp;:<br />
+<br />
+Page&nbsp;&nbsp;  ix&nbsp;  incalcuable changed to incalculable<br />
+Page&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   9&nbsp;  incalcuable changed to incalculable<br />
+Page&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   9&nbsp;  interne changed to intern<br />
+Page&nbsp;  23&nbsp;  enternal changed to eternal<br />
+Page&nbsp;  25&nbsp;  Legionaires changed to Legionnaires<br />
+Page&nbsp;  35&nbsp;  unconsciouness changed to unconsciousness<br />
+Page&nbsp;  40&nbsp;  nothwithstanding changed to notwithstanding<br />
+Page&nbsp;  47&nbsp;  immeasureably changed to immeasurably<br />
+Page&nbsp;  49&nbsp;  Farrer changed to Farrar<br />
+Page&nbsp;  58&nbsp;  self-martydom changed to self-martyrdom<br />
+Page&nbsp;  58&nbsp;  internes changed to interns<br />
+Page&nbsp;  59&nbsp;  Gareld changed to Garfield<br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick
+
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@@ -0,0 +1,4050 @@
+Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati
+
+Author: Warren C. Herrick
+
+Release Date: October 20, 2008 [EBook #26980]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK H. NELSON OF CINCINNATI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mark C. Orton, Barbara Kosker and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+FRANK NELSON _of_ CINCINNATI
+
+
+  _Writing is the offspring of thought, the lamp of
+  remembrance, the tongue of him that is far-off, and
+  the life of him whose age has been blotted out._
+
+
+  --_Anon_
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+  _Frank H Nelson
+  of CINCINNATI_
+
+
+  _by_
+
+
+  WARREN C. HERRICK
+  _a sometime Assistant_
+
+
+
+  _With A Foreword
+  by Charles P. Taft_
+
+
+  LOUISVILLE . THE CLOISTER PRESS . MCMXLV
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1945, BY
+
+
+  The Cloister Press
+
+
+  _All rights reserved. No part of this
+  book may be reproduced without the
+  written permission of The Cloister Press._
+
+
+  [Illustration: _The Cloister Press_
+  VITAL BOOKS]
+
+
+  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+  _To My Wife_
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+                                                 Page
+
+  1. "Arise, and go into the city"                2
+
+  2. Reclaiming A Church to Meet A New Age       14
+
+  3. The Shepherd Among His Flock                30
+
+  4. The Spokesman of The City's Conscience      42
+
+  5. They Came to Be in His Presence             62
+
+  6. Beyond Cincinnati                           76
+
+  7. The Mystery of Personality                  88
+
+  8. Last Years                                 102
+
+  9. The Afterglow                              110
+
+
+
+
+ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
+
+
+This book is made possible only through the interest and contributions
+of the many friends of Frank H. Nelson. Space does not permit my
+mentioning by name all who have furnished me with material, but I do
+wish to record my gratitude to them. In addition to the years 1925-1928
+as Mr. Nelson's assistant I spent two weeks in the autumn of 1943
+interviewing a cross-section of Cincinnati and Christ Church. Many
+business men gladly gave of their time because they enjoyed recounting
+memories of one whom they loved, and often detained me when I felt I had
+imposed myself long enough. I noticed also that Mr. Nelson's photograph
+occupied a place of honor in more than one office as well as in many
+homes.
+
+There are others far better qualified than I to write this story, and I
+accepted the task, though with a keen sense of my inadequacy, first,
+because Mrs. Nelson honored me with the request, and second because I
+have the strong conviction that it should be done for the sake of those
+who knew Mr. Nelson, and also for those of a succeeding generation who
+ought to know how one minister more than met the requirements of an
+exacting profession. Furthermore, I have written as one who owes an
+incalculable debt, and, therefore, cannot be wholly objective. While I
+have endeavored not to make this biography a eulogy, it is frankly his
+life as I saw it, and depicts one whom I loved, admired, and have tried
+to follow.
+
+For innumerable suggestions and for valuable material I am particularly
+grateful to Mrs. Frank H. Nelson, to Mr. Nelson's sisters, Miss
+Margaret[1] and Miss Dorothea Nelson, and to Mr. Howard N. Bacon, who
+have helped me more than perhaps they know. Then there is the pleasant
+duty of expressing my thanks to Mr. Charles P. Taft, the Junior Warden
+of Christ Church, Cincinnati, for writing the foreword; to the Vestry of
+Trinity Church, Melrose, Massachusetts for gladly granting me a leave of
+absence in 1943, and to Mrs. E. Howard Favor, my secretary, for the
+typing cheerfully undertaken. In the labor of preparing the final draft
+for the publishers I shall ever remember with gratitude the careful
+thought and skillful phrasing of Miss Mary Putnam of the English
+Department of the Melrose High School whose corrections and amendments
+were nothing less than creative. Finally, I wish to let stand my
+heartfelt thanks to the Right Reverend Henry Knox Sherrill, Bishop of
+Massachusetts, without whose encouragement and advice this little book
+could not have been written.
+
+  WARREN C. HERRICK
+
+  _Trinity Church_,
+  _Melrose, Massachusetts_;
+  1945.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] Deceased, July 6, 1945.
+
+
+
+
+A FOREWORD
+
+
+How does one life affect another?
+
+I have tried to remember what Frank Nelson directly asked me to do. He
+asked me to teach in the Sunday School, and I did it. Gradually I found
+myself studying out an intellectual foundation for faith in God. He
+never said anything to me about that, except from the pulpit. He wrote
+me asking that I act as captain in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I
+answered that I could not. But the next thing I remember was being a
+visitor in the Nation-wide Campaign, and I was always in it after that.
+He asked me to serve on the Vestry, and somehow made me feel that
+nothing except being really sick was an excuse for not being there.
+
+Certainly he never exhorted people to be civic patriots or reformers,
+and save the city. He just gave you such a human picture of the teeming
+life of a great city that it made a tear come to your eye to think of
+what the city could be at its best, and it made you love it and the
+people in it. Your own actions in civic affairs just naturally followed.
+
+He wasn't an exhorter of virtue, but he made of clean living and noble
+service such a fascinating objective that people went to work on their
+own problems with fresh faith.
+
+The only time I recall he was really annoyed with me was when I had an
+emergency operation for appendicitis in the middle of the night, and
+didn't let him know until the next day. He was my minister, and that
+meant _minister_. After that, when I had a major choice to make, I felt
+I was risking his disappointment unless I went down to talk to him about
+it.
+
+He didn't want me to go to a great school as headmaster. "The city is
+the place that needs service and talents," said he. To that he had given
+his life, in the personal contact with his parish. His life stands as a
+symbol of the way a true love of home and community is tied to a love of
+all God's children everywhere.
+
+  CHARLES P. TAFT
+
+
+
+
+  _Arise, And Go
+  Into The City_
+
+
+  "_Arise, And Go Into The City_"
+
+  --_Acts 9:6_
+
+
+  1
+
+
+"Tell the rector of Christ Church that if he doesn't call off the
+Woman's Club, I'll bring the women of the streets to the polls." And he
+added, "He knows I can do it." The boss of old Ward Eight, in which
+Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Cincinnati is located, had become
+alarmed by a serious threat to his power. Although this incident took
+place long before the coming of universal suffrage, Reverend Frank H.
+Nelson, the young rector, had discovered that women had a legal right to
+vote in public school matters. Following his leadership, the Woman's
+Club of Christ Church was actively supporting as a candidate for the
+Board of Education John R. Schindel, a fearless young lawyer in the
+Ward. This independent action was an open challenge to the dominance of
+the boss of Ward Eight, Mike Mullen. Though the courageous lawyer was
+defeated, and without the aid of the women of the streets, the affair
+was one of many which presaged the uprising that eventually wrenched the
+control of Cincinnati from the hands of one of the most notorious
+political gangs in American democracy.
+
+A second "passage of arms" between the rector and Boss Mullen had its
+origin in the work of Christ Church among boys, and ultimately involved
+the boss of the entire city and his powerful machine. The privilege of
+running gambling games throughout Cincinnati had been alloted to one of
+the higher-ups in the organization. Within a block of the Parish House
+of Christ Church was a flourishing candy store, so-called, but the chief
+"confection" was a crap game run for the boys of the neighborhood under
+the direction of a member of the City Council, and with the knowledge
+and acquiescence of the police department. It was inevitable that some
+members of Christ Church Boys' Clubs should lose their earnings, and
+whatever of character the church was building up was thus broken down.
+To meet this danger, Mr. Nelson organized a good citizenship club among
+his parishioners. The members made a survey of the gambling places which
+were catering especially to boys, and found nearly one hundred
+throughout the city. The publication of their findings was one of many
+"shots heard 'round the ward."[2] When in later years Frank Nelson spoke
+for the City Charter or Reform Party, he knew from first-hand experience
+the moral and spiritual influence of good government in the lives of
+boys and young men. Behind the youthful clergyman's deep concern for
+decent government was a vital religious faith, without which he was
+convinced social service and reform work can never attain the best
+results.
+
+Frank H. Nelson was Rector of Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1900
+to 1939, having been the assistant minister in the year 1899. These
+forty years in the one parish constitute a career seldom paralleled for
+breadth of vision and devoted service. He became one of the first
+citizens of a great city, a crusader for honest municipal government,
+and the foremost Protestant clergyman. For the understanding of his
+ministry and of his religious convictions, one must know something of
+his early life and family, and the preparatory years.
+
+Frank Howard Nelson was born in Hartford, Connecticut on September 6,
+1869. His father, Henry Wells Nelson, the nephew of the Reverend E. M.
+P. Wells, a pioneer in early Christian social service in Boston, was the
+Rector of the Church of The Good Shepherd in Hartford. Before Frank was
+ten years old, his father accepted a call to Trinity Church, Geneva, New
+York, and there exercised a distinguished ministry for twenty-five
+years. Geneva, an attractive college town situated on lovely Seneca
+Lake, was an ideal place in which to bring up a family. There were five
+children: Margaret, George, Frank, Mary, and Dorothea. George now lives
+in Brookline, Massachusetts, and Mary, who married Edward L. Pierce,
+lives in Princeton, New Jersey. After the father's retirement, Margaret
+and Dorothea lived with their parents in the family home at North
+Marshfield, Massachusetts where they still reside. Frank was not a
+strong child, but in the freedom and simplicity of the life which a
+small town affords, he gained strength rapidly. A sister relates that
+he was unusually venturesome, and sometimes horrified timid ladies in
+the parish by walking on stilts on open rafters, and by frequenting the
+canal, where once he fell in and was pulled out by a bargee. As all boys
+do, he roamed the environs of his home with his chums, occasionally
+pilfering fruit and getting into all kinds of mischief; but though other
+boys might go unpunished because of doting parents, he was always firmly
+chastised for his pranks.
+
+The influence of both father and mother upon these strong-minded
+children was vital and enduring. The father possessed that happy
+combination of gaiety and goodness that commends religion. As he was
+deeply and naturally spiritual himself, the expression of religion in
+his home and parish was unusually beautiful and appealing. The last
+twenty-five years of his life were spent in blindness, but his courage
+and his deepened understanding of the ways of God because of this
+affliction led him to a thankful acceptance of his limitation; and his
+continuing interest in people "made the latter years of his ministry,"
+to quote Bishop Lawrence, "as fruitful as the more active ones." His
+devoted wife, who was Hortense Chew Lewis of New London, Connecticut,
+guided the children through their formative years with skill and
+understanding. She was an intelligent mother, discriminating in taste
+and judgment. Because of her abounding love of good literature, the
+family passed many delightful evenings in listening to her readings from
+Scott, Milton, Shakespeare and many other great writers. Her fine gifts
+of interpretation made the masterpieces of English prose and poetry come
+alive. In later years, Christ Church people were to love Frank Nelson's
+readings at Christmas parties in the parish house and in his own home.
+The older he grew the deeper became his appreciation of the character of
+his parents. An intimate friend once said to him, "You are a fortunate
+and a blessed man to have had such a father and mother."
+
+The family was privileged in possessing means beyond a minister's
+salary, and Frank, at the age of thirteen, was sent to aristocratic St.
+Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. The headmaster, Dr. Henry A.
+Coit, an austere and exacting teacher of the old New England type,
+stimulated the natural student, and under his influence Nelson achieved
+a scholastic standing among the first five in his class. He was not
+particularly skillful in athletics, and had even then a cough which
+persisted throughout his life. The lad was not noticeably popular, and
+had more than the average measure of shyness peculiar to adolescence. He
+was extremely sensitive, somewhat unhappy, and in many accomplishments
+and activities was overshadowed by his older brother who was in the same
+school.
+
+In the fall of 1886, upon graduation from St. Paul's School, Frank
+returned to Geneva and entered Hobart College, a small church college of
+considerable standing. There he began to find himself, and became one of
+the popular men in his class and in the Sigma Phi Fraternity. Although
+in college he took more active interest in athletics and participated in
+rowing, tennis, and track, he never excelled in sports. At his
+graduation in 1890 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, _Magna
+Cum Laude_, being valedictorian and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
+Throughout his life he maintained relationships with his Alma Mater,
+coming to know the successive presidents, and in 1907 was instrumental
+in securing a large gift for a new gymnasium. Still later he refused the
+presidency of the college. In 1906 Hobart bestowed upon him the honorary
+degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology.
+
+In the course of his undergraduate days at Hobart, Frank Nelson had
+seriously considered the profession of the ministry, but graduation
+found him still undecided. As it turned out, the summer following the
+close of his college years was one of critical importance to his entire
+life. He accompanied a surveying expedition to the state of Washington.
+The party put up for a while in Merrysville, a rough-mannered,
+tough-living town of the old West. Into this place there came one day a
+circuit rider who fearlessly preached the Gospel in the face of
+opposition and outright hostility. This Methodist minister was utterly
+sincere, and Nelson saw what could be done by the sheer power of the
+spirit against the forces of evil. It surged over him that a man can
+hold the mastery over wrong, an inner conviction which at the same time
+was set aflame by a Communion Service held for the surveyors in the
+out-of-doors. The circumstances and surroundings were strikingly
+different from those associated in his mind with such a service.
+Possibly for the first time in his life he was intensely conscious of
+the presence of God. As in all such experiences the vision illumined and
+deepened his thinking and living. It has been said that in all great
+Christian leaders and reformers are found two elements: "The imperious
+commission from above, and the tumultuous experience within." Both these
+elements were present in the experiences of that eventful summer, and
+all Frank Nelson's doubts and waverings concerning the ministry were
+resolved. He returned East aware of being called to preach the Gospel.
+In the light of this happening one is not surprised that later when a
+professor dogmatically stated that there could be no true Sacrament
+without the Apostolic Succession, Nelson walked out of the classroom
+saying to himself, "It is a lie." To those who knew him through his
+forty years' ministry in Christ Church, this experience in the far West
+sheds light upon his burning sense of mission, for in those hours of
+inward tumult he had come close to God in the breaking of bread and in
+the society of his fellows, conditions which he preached throughout his
+life as being always the essence of fellowship with God.
+
+On September 18, 1890, he matriculated at the General Theological
+Seminary in New York City. The General Seminary is directly under the
+government of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, and while
+it has always been characterized by a conservative type of
+churchmanship, all shades of opinion were and are to be found within its
+faculty and student body. At this time the respectability of the
+Episcopal Church was considered an asset and not a liability, and the
+Seminary community was in the social forefront. When an upstanding man
+like Frank Nelson, whose background was well-known and whose
+intellectual gifts and social graces were obvious, entered this
+environment, it was inevitable that he should immediately take a leading
+place in the undergraduate body. His tall, commanding figure naturally
+attracted notice, and within a few days he was elected president of his
+class. There was magnetism in his personality, and he was soon welcomed
+among the socially distinguished in both seminary and city. His
+fellow-students at General, when speculating about the future, as
+students do, always considered him destined for the highest office of
+the church; throughout those now remote years he clearly revealed the
+qualities of the born leader. His class was a notable one, and through
+the passing years gave a good account of itself, listing four bishops
+and ten honorary degrees, Frank Nelson himself receiving the degree of
+Doctor of Sacred Theology from the General Seminary in 1934.
+
+As a student he excelled in Pastoral Theology, Biblical Learning and
+Evidences, subjects which in their nature give some indication of his
+intensely human interest in all aspects of life. Like many theological
+students, he was groping and feeling his way through the multiple
+problems that center upon man in the light of God. One of his classmates
+says that the curriculum and the methods of instruction in that day bear
+poor comparison to modern standards, but Nelson, unlike many students,
+was never in a state of open or even tacit rebellion. He did his work
+faithfully and well. He was graduated in 1894, but for some reason was
+not present at Commencement to receive the degree of Bachelor of Sacred
+Theology, which is the mark of scholastic distinction at General. On May
+19, 1894, he was made a deacon in his father's church in Geneva, New
+York by the Right Reverend Arthur Cleveland Coxe, the Bishop of Western
+New York. During his senior year he had assumed work on the staff of St.
+George's Church, New York City, and after his ordination was quickly
+absorbed into the work of that great parish. Because he did not feel
+ready, Frank Nelson, at his own request, was not advanced to the
+priesthood until November 14, 1897, when he was so ordered in St.
+George's Church by Bishop Henry Codman Potter of the Diocese of New
+York.
+
+Another important element in Mr. Nelson's preparation for his unique
+ministry in Cincinnati was this experience on the staff of St. George's
+Church from 1894 to 1899 under the prophetic leadership of the Reverend
+William S. Rainsford. This notable rector possessed unusual gifts and
+exerted an incalculable influence upon the Episcopal Church. He gathered
+about him a group of young men the like of whom has never been found
+elsewhere. St. George's stands as the pioneer of what was known as the
+"institutional church," and in the midst of the teeming activities of
+the parish house and a heterogeneous congregation, Dr. Rainsford set
+loose his young and enthusiastic assistants. They experienced a training
+comparable to the clinical instruction gained by an intern in a modern
+hospital. Under his tutelage these men received a course in applied
+religion, and their rector set a standard of preaching, parish
+administration, and pastoral care that not one of his "boys," as he
+called them, failed to practice in an unusual manner. Dr. Rainsford's
+impassioned preaching of the essentials of Christianity as opposed to
+those aspects which are merely traditional, and his forceful efforts,
+radical for those times, to democratize a conventional Episcopal parish
+were significant contributions to church life throughout America.
+
+Although Dr. Rainsford exerted a lasting influence upon all his young
+assistants, he set his stamp to a marked degree upon Frank Nelson. For
+the first time in his life this young man, the choicest flowering of a
+cultured home, lived among the underprivileged, spending his afternoons
+climbing interminable tenement stairs, and his evenings in the parish
+house. He came to know poverty and squalor and the honest worth of
+struggling humanity. If "The Rector," as Dr. Rainsford's "boys" called
+him, bade them preach on the street corners, he himself had done the
+same. His example and his personal religious faith were those of a
+living St. George touched with the heart-stirring Gospel of Love. Under
+him young Nelson found the services and work of the church taking on a
+meaning that was like a cool, refreshing breeze. Things concerning the
+Church, doctrine, and ritual, which had formerly perplexed his youthful
+mind, now seemed subordinate.
+
+Dr. Rainsford evoked a loyalty which held his young men long after they
+had "graduated," and when he died in 1933 at the age of eighty-three,
+many of his former assistants were in the chancel of old St. George's
+for the burial service. One who was present said, "We shall not see a
+service like that again, for we shall never see and know another
+Rainsford." Eulogies are not customary at funerals in Episcopal
+Churches, but on this occasion the tradition was fittingly broken, and
+Mr. Nelson delivered a brief address from the pulpit in a breaking
+voice, barely audible at times. In this very moving tribute, the speaker
+reveals much of himself:
+
+  I am not here to presume to speak of the man we loved in any
+  formal way; to try to weigh the imponderable, to measure the
+  immeasurable--but only to say a word out of our hearts of
+  thanksgiving to God that the rector was our rector in the days
+  that are passed, was The Rector always and will be always, for
+  those who knew him, who loved him, to whom he gave that
+  tremendous love of his.
+
+  A book was written by a friend of his some years ago, and the
+  dedication of that book was this: "To William Stephen Rainsford,
+  who has seen the Christ and has shown Him to men."
+
+  I know of no more perfect description of the rector than that.
+  For twenty years and more of his rectorship in this great parish
+  he showed Christ to men; showed Him in the incomparable words
+  that he poured forth Sunday after Sunday and year after year from
+  this pulpit--in his great concern for the men and women and
+  little children; for the strong and for the weak; for the wise
+  and the foolish; for the saints and the sinners; for those who
+  labor and were hungry and perplexed, and were strained by the
+  tasks of life. They came here week by week; they heard from him
+  the words that refreshed them and sent them back with courage and
+  with faith in God and in man, to the tasks that were breaking
+  them, to the problems that were perplexing them.
+
+  I suppose that to every one of us who knew him in his great days
+  here and have known him in the years since, the one supreme thing
+  that poured out of his life was his love of God. Not the love of
+  God that theologians speak of, that men reason about, but that
+  pure love that a man gives to his friend, to his loved
+  ones--personal, intense, vital, real.
+
+  We came here church people, professing the Christian faith,
+  thinking we believed in God and in His son, Jesus Christ, and as
+  we sat under the rector here Sunday after Sunday, we came to know
+  that our profession was a form of sound words, that in him was
+  the form of unsound words, but that he poured forth _reality_ for
+  the thing that we _professed_ to believe in, and he helped us to
+  see the real work of God, the real passionate love of God for
+  men--not for the chosen few, but the weak, the broken, the
+  struggling--those in sorrow and the hungry--the love of God that
+  drove him to lay down his life as few men had laid down their
+  lives before. He gave of himself without stint, rejoicing in the
+  chance to serve his God and his fellowmen with his whole heart
+  and soul, with such passionate devotion that at last broke
+  through his own conventional beliefs and tore them to shreds, and
+  made him the voice of the living God, to us in St. George's, to
+  New York and to America.
+
+  In the great days of his preaching, he took us who were his
+  clergy--young, inexperienced and conceited--and made us over. He
+  took us, to whom religion was a profession, and made of it a
+  passion. He was ever patient with us, giving us his best; day
+  after day walking with us around Stuyvesant Square in the
+  morning, sometimes for hours, and then pouring out to us as we
+  walked the best religious thought of his time, his judgment on
+  the questions of the day, his interpretations of religion and the
+  tremendous work of the church as a gift that God had put into the
+  souls of men for service to their fellowmen.
+
+  He told us of his thought for men and women, of the problems of
+  the time, of the problems of the church--not conventional, but
+  vital, not formal, but distinctly real--and then he would take us
+  into his study and we would kneel there. And never have I heard a
+  man pray as the rector prayed--without any of the ecclesiastical
+  technique and form of prayer, without any formal discussions of
+  the value of prayer, but pouring out the things that we had been
+  talking of; as real to God as they were real to us, bringing into
+  them God; God's companionship, God's sympathy, God's
+  understanding and patience; God's ruthless will that we should
+  love our fellowmen and serve our fellowmen--without name, without
+  a distinction.
+
+  That is the vivid life, a little of it, that we lived with, which
+  made God real to New York and to us here at St. George's, and to
+  his clergy. God has taken him home, and we meet here, every one
+  of us, because the rector--broken though he was in these later
+  years--because the rector, whose great and lovely smile we had
+  loved to see, as we had loved just to touch his hand to gain
+  strength, courage, faith and joy--because we cannot do that any
+  more. His work is done and God gives him a safe lodging and he
+  shall rest in peace to the last. Thank God who gave him to us, to
+  know and to love, that we might be lifted by him to find God and
+  Jesus through him.
+
+  He wrote a little prayer, and in closing I am going to read it
+  and ask you to join with me in making it our own. Let us pray:
+
+  Heavenly Father, I am trying to do right and be right and help
+  others to be right. Give me my daily bread. I am Thy child; Thy
+  little, weak child. Give me Thy strength; Thy patience; Thy
+  wisdom; Thy love--that with confidence and with joy I may do the
+  work Thou hast given me to do in my home and among men. Amen.[3]
+
+The charter of Frank Nelson's future is set forth in the impression he
+made at the General Theological Seminary, and in the zest and
+enlargement of vision which characterized his five years under Dr.
+Rainsford at St. George's. When the opportunity presented itself to
+create in Christ Church, Cincinnati, Ohio a work similar to that of St.
+George's, he displayed a characteristically wise judgment in making his
+decision. Henceforth he was to live "in the upper story" of that
+decision, conceiving of his work as a mission to the city, and pursuing
+it with a fidelity and a diligence that ranked him as an unusual servant
+of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] For these stories I am indebted to the Rev. J. Howard Melish, D.D.
+whose forthright denunciations of political corruption in Cincinnati
+were further "shots heard 'round" the city.
+
+[3] _The Churchman_, January 1st, 1934.
+
+
+
+
+  _Reclaiming A Church
+  To Meet A New Age_
+
+
+  "_By the grace of God, and the loyalty of the
+  members of Christ Church I was enabled to
+  carry on the work when Alexis Stein had to
+  give it up._"
+
+  --_Frank H. Nelson_
+
+
+  2
+
+
+The surging currents of city life had left old Christ Church in a back
+eddy, and certain leaders including the senior warden advocated selling
+the property or turning it over to the Diocese for a mission. The
+population, as in many another American city, was shifting from the
+downtown district, and many believed that the parish had seen its best
+days. In those late nineties, parishioners of wealth and prominence were
+moving to the suburbs; the older, conservative members still attended
+the morning service, but the young people either attached themselves to
+churches nearer their residences or were drifting away from church
+affiliations altogether.
+
+Christ Church was established in 1817 when Cincinnati was a small river
+town of nine thousand inhabitants; looking at the present church
+building which seats over one thousand people and is flanked by an
+enormous and ever busy parish house, one finds it difficult to picture
+Bishop Philander Chase meeting in that year with a group of men in the
+home of Dr. Daniel Drake to lay the foundations of what was to become
+one of the largest parishes in the Middle West. The first services were
+held in a cotton factory, and the church slowly developed into a strong
+parish, small in numbers but served by several very able rectors, one of
+whom later became the Bishop of Virginia. As the first Episcopal Church
+to be founded in Cincinnati, it was the parent of a number of other
+parishes; but at the close of the nineteenth century it appeared that
+the "mother-church" was about finished. Churches of other communions
+located in the downtown district were going through the same transition.
+The slump in finances by reason of removals created something akin to
+panic in the fearful and timid vestrymen, but because of some loyal and
+far-sighted women Christ Church was not disbanded. They wanted it to
+mean to their children what it meant to them, and they gave assurance of
+support in substantial ways.
+
+These ardent supporters had a definite vision and plan. In 1897 Dr.
+William S. Rainsford had come on from New York City and had packed old
+Pike's Opera House for a week in Lent, and thrilled his hearers with the
+recital of his efforts to anchor St. George's Church in the heart of
+that great metropolis, and make it free to serve the community. When
+Bishop Vincent of Southern Ohio wrote him about the difficulties of
+Christ Church, he replied with this momentous letter:
+
+  I am going to give you the greatest proof I can of my love and
+  deep interest in Cincinnati. I have a plan for Christ Church.
+  Here it is. Take two of my men--let them work and live together;
+  they could take a mighty strong hold, and do a really good work.
+  I feel sure that in the future many a position of great
+  difficulty can be much better occupied by two men, pulling
+  together, than by one alone. There are two magnificent
+  fellows--dear, dear boys after my own heart--who have been here
+  with me for years; and I shall be lost without them, if you call
+  them. Stein (Alexis) is the ablest preacher of his age (28) in
+  our Church in these United States today. Nelson (Frank) is a
+  strong, capable man, full of energy and charm and a first-class
+  organizer. This is a big idea, my friend; but I believe God may
+  be in it. It is like offering to cut off both my hands for you.
+
+Thus the Reverend Alexis Stein became Rector of Christ Church in
+December, 1898, and within a few weeks of his arrival the people of
+Cincinnati awoke to the mighty fact that a prophet was in their midst;
+the doors of all churches were flung open to him, and everywhere he
+spoke, new interest and hope in the Church were born. Stein has been
+called a modern Savonarola, but, unlike the great reformer, he was
+burned within by the fire of his own consuming message. "He was a
+preacher of most unusual power with a message he burned to give; and a
+vision of truth that made him a leader of men. He loved God and showed
+Him to men; he loved men and led them to God."[4] Before Stein left New
+York, he had asked his friend, Frank Nelson, to join him in the new
+venture, but it was not until May 21, 1899 that he was free to come.
+
+  We came out to Cincinnati because Dr. Rainsford sent us; he told
+  us that we ought to come--not that we wanted to come. Stein and I
+  both had always lived in the East. It was the America that we
+  knew, and it seemed a desirable place to live, just as those of
+  you who have been born here think that Cincinnati is the most
+  desirable place to live, because it is your home. But he, with a
+  larger vision of America, and a larger vision of the calling of
+  God to a man in the ministry, sent us here to do what we
+  could.[5]
+
+In February, 1900, the doctor ordered Alexis Stein out West, a victim of
+tuberculosis. He lived a short twelve years, but was never well enough
+to do more than a little incidental work. This tragedy was a deep,
+personal loss to his young associate, for all through their St. George's
+days they had been the closest of friends. They complemented one another
+and made an ideal team.
+
+Invariably on Good Friday in the course of his address on the Sixth Word
+from The Cross, Frank Nelson spoke of Stein's influence upon him and
+upon Christ Church: "The work he began is witnessed to by you who are
+here. You wouldn't have been here forty years ago or the likes of you
+would not have been here, but he opened the door of life and the spirit
+to the people of this city, as to the members of this church. His work
+goes on. The thing that God wanted him to do he did, and it was
+finished." He expressed himself in more intimate fashion to his friend
+Bishop Touret: "The heart of all its worth (Nelson's own forty years'
+ministry) has been that I was carrying on for Alexis. I've first been
+his assistant in my own mind always, and that has made it possible for
+me to dare to undertake it." If Stein's work was finished, and a prophet
+needs no great length of time, then it was brought to fruition through
+the resolute efforts of this devoted servant who with great humility and
+genuine searchings of heart took up the reins so tragically
+relinquished.
+
+Frank H. Nelson was elected Rector of Christ Church on May 5, 1900. In
+the light of subsequent events his letter of acceptance is of interest:
+
+
+  May 16, 1900
+
+  Gentlemen:
+
+  In a letter from your Secretary, I have been informed of your
+  action of last Saturday, in electing me to succeed the Rev.
+  Alexis Stein, as Rector of Christ Church. That I appreciate very
+  deeply the honor that you have conferred upon me, I do not need
+  to say. I have considered the subject very carefully, and painful
+  to us all though the circumstances are that have led to this, I
+  feel strangely that it is God's work we have undertaken, and that
+  He has led us in it all. I therefore accept the call you have
+  given me, and I believe that working together we can, with God's
+  help, do a real work for Him in this city. For the success of the
+  work I regard two things as essential: the first that the Church
+  shall remain absolutely free, and the second that the lines of
+  work represented by the Parish House shall be continued. I ask
+  your cooperation and support in them both. I am writing the Rev.
+  J. H. Melish to ask him to be my associate. I hope to have him
+  begin his work with us in June. I feel deeply the burden of
+  responsibility, and the great opportunity that your call
+  involves. I can but say that I shall do all in my power to be
+  faithful to both.
+
+Frank Nelson distrusted his own ability. Stein's preaching had packed
+the church, and the numbers drastically declined when his eloquent voice
+was stilled. The Bishop, conscious of the difficult problem confronting
+a downtown church, advised Rev. Mr. Melish not to become associated,
+saying "Stein could have solved it, but Frank Nelson never will." The
+Bishop, however, had not sufficient evidence to gauge the young rector's
+talents, nor could he foresee the capacity of the parish to respond to
+the man's magnetic appeal.
+
+There was at this time not only a break in the center of population in
+the city, but also a shifting of the center of gravity in religion.
+There was dawning a unity of the spirit which led men to break away from
+the orthodox emphasis on creeds, and which strove to express itself in
+many forms; such as parish houses, Christian associations, reforms, and
+educational and missionary movements. Mr. Nelson's mind, being busy with
+the stars, was concerned with the moral and spiritual movement which
+outlasts the stars. He said, "To some of us it seems that Jesus was not
+so much interested in establishing an institution as in revealing a new
+quality of life." Likewise, Frank Nelson was not so much interested in
+being the rector of a large, prosperous parish as in making the church
+an agency for leavening the city's life with the spirit of Jesus Christ.
+He caught the imagination of his people when he pointed to the
+possibility of a church becoming the community center for multitudes in
+the downtown district. In the near neighborhood of Christ Church were
+new offices, factories, and boarding houses, and at the distance of one
+block began the tenement houses where lived the poor and
+underprivileged. He said:
+
+  We owe to them the gift of Christian friendship, of spiritual
+  influence irrespective of religious affiliations. The church
+  should provide not only a place to pray, but to play; a place not
+  only for worship, but for friendship. There are no places for
+  leisure except the streets, saloons, burlesque houses,
+  pool-rooms, public dance halls, or other commercial places of
+  entertainment. The Church is not here for its own sake. It is
+  here to bear witness, and to spread a spirit. It should be the
+  center from which radiate the forces of righteousness and the
+  spirit of brotherhood and every human activity and interest in
+  the community. Therefore, it must speak not to the individual
+  only, but to the business, social, and political problems,
+  dealing with them not from the viewpoint of the economist or
+  political theorist, but from that of the preacher of
+  righteousness. If Christ Church can be a force for righteousness
+  in the city, it matters but little whether it gain in numbers.[6]
+
+"Distinction," it has been said, "is the emphasis put upon qualities by
+circumstances." There were two circumstances which enabled this young
+rector to create in Christ Church, Cincinnati a far-famed chapter in the
+history of American churches and cities. One was his conception of the
+place and function of the modern church in the new age, as just
+outlined. It has been the reproach of the Protestant Churches that they
+have too largely attracted only the well-to-do and middle classes. Frank
+Nelson made Christ Church a place where rich and poor met on equal
+footing. Drawn by his personality, both responded to his vision. There
+was something about working in his parish that gave people a peculiar
+zest and joy in living. There was, for instance, a Jewish lad in the
+Sunday School, (Mr. Nelson never liked the term Church School) who after
+his marriage came every Christmas to Christ Church with his wife and two
+children. He proudly introduced them to Mr. Nelson, saying, "Though I am
+a Jew, this is my church!"
+
+On the other hand, Mr. Nelson's special gifts as a rector were developed
+and brought into full flower in Christ Church because of the many
+remarkable people who formed the backbone of his parish. In point of
+numbers and in ability, they were an unusual group, a group
+characterized by breadth of vision, and by a faith sufficient for them
+to carry through the bold projects outlined by their leader. Many were
+blessed with abundant means, and, above all, were filled with a
+consummate loyalty and affection for their church. In this happy
+partnership of pastor and parish, each inspired the other to great
+accomplishment. The older members who were in the parish at the
+beginning of Mr. Nelson's rectorship were vigorous, strong-minded people
+accustomed to having their own way. They hewed to the old lines,
+suspicious of change. With his deep sense of loyalty, Mr. Nelson felt
+bound to maintain the sort of practices and low-church ceremony which
+prevailed when he took over, but such was his adroitness, skill and tact
+in leading them that he won their complete confidence and trust, and
+they gave him an unreserved support as well as a free hand in many
+things. This unbounded support of his early work he never forgot; nor
+did he let his appreciation diminish with the success of later years. In
+the course of the observances that marked his forty years as rector, he
+said of them:
+
+  We found here, as the days went on, a group of people that I
+  think have never been equaled. Not a very large group of people,
+  but a group of people who gave us freedom--freedom to speak the
+  thing that was in our minds: to do the things that we believed
+  the Church ought to do and to stand for in the heart of a great
+  city.
+
+A new parish house had been erected as Alexis Stein's rectorship closed,
+and Mr. Nelson's organizing abilities made it hum. With the assistance
+of the Rev. J. Howard Melish, the most competent of all his clerical
+assistants, a Men's Club was organized, and became a mecca for the young
+men of the city. For those of small means, it was the only sort of club
+available, and was thrown open to every race and creed. In 1901 the
+yearly attendance was 7,000, and by 1903 it had grown to 16,973. In line
+with the policy of a community center, the Club included members of all
+faiths, Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic. The Roman priest was always
+notified of Catholics joining the club and informed that no proselyting
+was intended, but rather that it was hoped these young men would become
+better members of their own church. Athletic grounds were secured
+together with a field-house, and Christ Church teams won an enviable
+reputation for high standards of sportsmanship. Their spirit may be
+judged by the story of a football player who waxed into colorful
+profanity in the heat of a game and was bawled out by a Roman Catholic
+teammate in terse words: "Don't you know who you represent?" During an
+interim when another parish house was being built, Christ Church
+basketball teams used the Holy Cross Monastery Hall for an entire year,
+with the full approval of the Roman authorities and the gratitude of Mr.
+Nelson. At that time, the captain of the Christ Church team, John M.
+Cronin, was a prefect of the St. Xavier Sodality and also the secretary
+of the Christ Church Men's Club. By 1911 it was necessary to limit the
+Club's membership to six hundred, and there was always a long waiting
+list. The social atmosphere, the entertainments, the athletic record,
+the camp established by the church on the Miami River made this club one
+of the most popular in the city. Mr. Nelson and Mr. Melish spent untold
+hours in the work and gained an intimate knowledge of the individual
+members and their views, particularly on labor questions. The men
+expressed themselves freely, and at the close of an evening's discussion
+Mr. Nelson would gather up the points of argument into a clear and
+effective summary easily understood and remembered. It was in this club
+that a small group once earnestly discussed how they might best help a
+member when he should be released from a prison term which he was
+serving. Nothing gratified the rector more than this sort of human
+comradeship because it is the very essence of the Christian fellowship
+which he was striving to implant.
+
+As time went on, an increasing number of girls and young women entering
+the business world created a social problem which weighed heavily on the
+rector's mind and heart. Knowing the special conditions which these
+young women must meet in a large city, he applied grave thought and much
+energy to the study of their needs and to the opportunity which Christ
+Church had in meeting them. Finding nothing for them socially in the
+city except the Y.W.C.A., some distance away, he sent invitations to
+department stores for a meeting at the parish house. At this meeting he
+proposed to establish a branch of the Girls' Friendly Society which is
+found throughout the Episcopal Church and which exists for social and
+educational purposes. Mr. Nelson gave himself particularly to this
+organization. He gathered a set of workers in the parish, women of
+character and cultural background, who became the leaders and friends of
+the various groups. He was a frequent visitor at meetings and often
+conducted a question box. He encouraged the members to make it one of
+their prime objectives to work for the city's interest. The rapid growth
+of the Society enabled it to support a bed in the Children's Hospital,
+to finance the Vacation House on the Ohio River, and to promote other
+civic projects. The Christ Church organization became one of the largest
+and most active branches in the national society, and had a succession
+of remarkable directors, such as Deaconess Lloyd and Miss Alice Simrall.
+Mr. Nelson's faith and incomparable friendship as well as his careful
+planning made the Girls' Friendly a strong and useful force in
+Cincinnati and an influence in the national body.
+
+In those days the public schools provided nothing in the way of training
+in the practical arts, and a large work along these lines was carried on
+among the boys and girls who lived in the districts adjacent to Christ
+Church. The Sewing School, for instance, grew in membership in three
+years from twenty-four to over two hundred under unfavorable conditions
+in the already cramped parish house. When the College Settlement on
+Third Street closed, the church took over its kindergarten equipment and
+its list of members, and every morning gathered in the children of
+pre-school age.
+
+When some people said it was a mistake to make a parish house a
+community center, because in their minds it was being used only for
+social purposes, Mr. Nelson's scorn was beautiful to hear. He asserted,
+"The Church claims to be the Body of Christ, doesn't it? How did our
+Lord regard His body? He used it freely with no thought of preserving
+it, even to the final extent of hanging it upon a Cross. This is the
+only way, His Way, that the Church will have eternal life."
+
+Not many years passed before it became apparent that the parish house,
+though not an old building, was literally worn out and was entirely
+inadequate for such an extensive work. In 1907 Mr. Nelson announced the
+gift of a new parish house from Mrs. Thomas J. Emery, a devoted member
+of the church. So munificent a gift had rarely been equaled anywhere.
+The six-story building, complete in every detail, was not finished until
+1909. In it are club rooms, a large auditorium, a gymnasium, locker
+rooms, and bowling alleys. At the corner next to the church rises a
+beautiful clock tower which before the day of skyscrapers could be seen
+from distant parts of the city, and which has been sketched by many
+artists. Under the impetus of this gift the parish took on increased
+vigor and extended the work into new fields. A Baby Clinic set up by the
+Visiting Nurses' Association provided one more opportunity for service;
+in 1910 the problem of crowded conditions in the nearby Guilford School
+was solved by the use of Christ Church parish house for Kindergarten
+and Domestic Science classes. It was a long list of services which gave
+Christ Church and Mr. Nelson a far reaching reputation for efficient and
+intelligent social service.
+
+  In the Parish House we meet each other, not as having the same
+  point of view, the same opportunities, but as having a common
+  humanity infinitely various in thought, in faith, in desire. Each
+  may learn from each, and grow in breadth and depth, and the
+  knowledge of God through his brother. It is in recognition of
+  this that we have a free church and free parish house. No
+  distinction of wealth may mar the worship in the one; no
+  distinction of faith may hinder the service in the other.[7]
+
+The passing years brought fresh opportunities which were seized upon
+with tireless energy by this far-seeing rector. In August, 1917 came the
+opportunity to establish a Red Cross unit which through day and evening
+groups enlisted the woman power of the parish. At the close of the war,
+Mr. Nelson envisioned the continuance of this work on a scale far
+exceeding the conventional idea of church missionary work. Tactfully
+overcoming certain prejudices and narrow points of view, he again
+secured the enthusiastic support of the same group of women. This unit
+became one of the largest and most diligent organizations in the parish,
+continuing the indispensable Red Cross work, and enlisting larger
+numbers in the special program of the Woman's Auxiliary as it is
+conducted in Episcopal parishes throughout the country.
+
+In 1913 and again in 1937, floods devastated the Ohio River valley. Mr.
+Nelson quickly organized his parish to do its share in caring for the
+refugees. Committees fed, clothed, and entertained one hundred and fifty
+people on the first occasion, and two hundred on the second. Experienced
+dieticians planned and supervised the meals, a trained nurse was kept on
+constant duty, and doctors gave medical service and examinations. But
+Christ Church did more than provide physical care; it knew the moral
+and spiritual needs of the homeless, and each day, through the
+cooperation of the government agencies (especially in 1937), city
+organizations, and individuals, it provided two hours of entertainment
+for them. Every night Mr. Nelson conducted family prayers, and won the
+undying gratitude of the refugees by his friendliness and personal
+interest in their present comfort and future needs. His reputation
+travelled from New England to California, and checks poured in from all
+over the country for this work. The atmosphere of helpfulness in Christ
+Church was his creation, and many volunteers in this emergency were not
+of the parish at all. One mother and daughter engaged in this relief
+work found the associations so delightful that the mother remarked to
+Howard Bacon, the superintendent of the parish house, "My daughter wants
+to join this place; it is the swellest club in the city!" Another
+instance revealing the sort of spirit which pervaded the parish house
+and filled the people of Christ Church was the serving of dinners to the
+American Legion during their convention because colored Legionnaires at
+that time were not allowed in Cincinnati hotels.
+
+The fact that the people in the immediate vicinity were coming to Christ
+Church and using its privileges in such great measure, calling upon the
+clergy for their services, and joining in the work was immensely
+satisfying to Mr. Nelson, for this kind of thing was the fruitage of
+many years of earnest labor, and amply justified his conception of the
+function of the church and parish house as a community center. The
+rector always held that the work of the parish organizations should be a
+result of inspiration from worship and sermons, something first-hand and
+immediate, so that the impetus of the services would not be lost. In
+1912, to mention only one year, there were more than two hundred
+volunteer workers. In addition, his people were serving in numerous
+organizations throughout the community, such as the Juvenile Protective
+Association, the Bureau of Municipal Research, the Hospital Services,
+the Consumers' League, the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, the Playgrounds,
+Fresh Air Society, and Tenement House Reform. Moreover, there was the
+inspiring fact that the parish house had become a civic center, and by
+channeling the idealism and energy of a group of young men, of whom
+Henry Bentley of City Charter Committee fame was one, the Church created
+comradeship and generated faith in Christian principles which led later
+to far-reaching usefulness throughout the city.
+
+No account of Mr. Nelson's work could possibly be complete without
+recording the place in it of his chief assistant, Howard N. Bacon, who
+has been superintendent of the parish house for thirty-eight years.
+Howard Bacon came to Cincinnati at the age of twenty-two with the
+purpose of pursuing a business career. Through Dr. McKinnon of Kansas
+City, Mr. Nelson learned of Bacon's marked abilities in church and
+social service lines. They had dinner together, and Mr. Nelson outlined
+the plans for the new parish house. Though a relative had advised Bacon
+"to cut-out the soul-saving business," the avenues of service under
+Frank Nelson's leadership impelled him to abandon his planned career. No
+agreement was made about salary until much later when Mr. Nelson said,
+"We cannot give you much. Will you come for a hundred dollars a month
+and live in the parish house?" At the annual meeting of the church on
+Easter Monday, 1908, the rector made the announcement: "I am very glad
+to be able to tell you that Mr. Howard N. Bacon has joined the staff,
+giving up a very promising business future to devote his life to work
+among boys and young men. He will have charge of the camp, and manage
+the parish house as well as working in the Sunday School." It is not the
+slightest exaggeration to say that no appointment to the staff of Christ
+Church was ever more momentous and fruitful. He served Mr. Nelson
+thirty-one years, though many other attractive positions were offered
+him. Upon him Mr. Nelson leaned as on no other. Through the years he has
+performed the larger part of a clergyman's office, and though not
+ordained is often called "Reverend." He took over the multitudinous
+details of a highly organized parish as did or could no other assistant
+or paid parish worker; consequently, Mr. Nelson was able to devote his
+time to many civic enterprises, and to play a vital role in the national
+life of the Episcopal Church. To have rendered such a service means
+that he is completely self-effacing and richly merited Mr. Nelson's
+tribute: "I would not know how to get on without him."
+
+The phenomenal development of the parish house as a community center
+kept pace with the striking growth of the church. During Mr. Nelson's
+rectorship the communicant list of the parish expanded from 599 in 1900
+to 2089 in 1939; the number of contributors to the budget from 200 to
+1002; the parish and missionary budgets from $15,103.00 in 1900 to
+$77,493.00 in 1927, to cite a high year; the Endowment Fund from
+$11,770.00 in 1900 to $531,384.00 in 1939. In a way it seemed as if Mr.
+Nelson had only to walk down Fourth Street and the money met him! In any
+case, in the prosperous years it flowed in steadily from a people given
+to generosity. One morning he met a parishioner who had been abroad
+during the past year, and the man asked Mr. Nelson to accompany him to
+his bank. Taking the rector to his safety deposit box, he handed over a
+thousand dollar bond saying, "I haven't done anything for Christ Church
+in a long time." One Sunday morning in the course of the notices (with
+him, announcements were really an art) Mr. Nelson spoke of his friend,
+Dr. Paul Wakefield, who had been left stranded in China during the
+Communist uprising of 1927, and from whom he had just received a letter.
+The special offering that morning, together with contributions sent in
+over the week, amounted to five hundred dollars.
+
+In the course of the great forty years of Mr. Nelson's ministry, a long
+series of extraordinary gifts was made, including the parish house
+already mentioned, memorial windows, an altar, an organ, and numberless
+others, all indicative of the liberality of the people. These gifts were
+grandly climaxed by the erection of a chapel to commemorate the
+Centennial of Christ Church. It was designed to express the beauty,
+mystery, and nobility of the Christian faith, and to provide for the
+many services for which the large church was unsuited. The Chapel was
+largely a thank-offering on the part of parishioners and many others who
+had found in Christ Church a spiritual home for which they were
+profoundly grateful. Another remarkable aspect of this gift was its
+conception in the uncertain days of 1917.
+
+As the years brought the ever-changing conditions of city life, and as
+civic institutions, social agencies, and the public schools afforded
+gymnasiums, swimming pools, playgrounds, and social centers such as were
+scarcely known in the first decades of Mr. Nelson's ministry, he
+continued to believe in the religious motive which Christ Church gave to
+all these recreational and social activities. To the end of his days he
+held that religious faith gives to social work an enthusiasm, a personal
+fervor, and a genuineness without which the one thing needful is
+lacking. He led his people to see in the drinking fountain outside the
+parish house a symbol of the Church's undying service to the world of
+men. The fact that passers-by, whether on foot or in pleasure car or
+truck, stopped to quaff of its ice-cold water was to him an expression
+of man's eternal need for the water of life, a need which, please God,
+would always be met by a church whose gospel resides in the nether
+springs of God's loving purpose for the children of men.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] Frank H. Nelson.
+
+[5] Frank H. Nelson, _Centennial Address_, May 17, 1917.
+
+[6] Frank H. Nelson, _Year Books_, 1902 and 1903.
+
+[7] Mr. Nelson's report, _Year Book_, 1908.
+
+
+
+
+  _The Shepherd
+  Among His
+  Flock_
+
+
+  "_And he shall stand and feed his flock in the
+  strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the
+  name of the Lord his God: and they shall
+  abide ... and this man shall be our peace._"
+
+  --_Micah 5:4_
+
+
+  3
+
+
+A Cincinnati taxi-cab driver said to me, "Frank Nelson was sure a real
+man. If you had a million dollars, you got a fifteen minute funeral
+service; if you had twenty-five cents, you got a fifteen minute service.
+He was just as concerned over the family with two rooms as the one with
+twenty." This man had lived all his life in the Queen City, and had
+driven Mr. Nelson to innumerable services as far back as the days of
+horse-cabs, and though he was not aware of the restraint and brevity of
+the Prayer Book Service, he unwittingly put his finger on the very pulse
+of Mr. Nelson's ministry.
+
+In all relationships with people, Frank Nelson possessed the true
+instinct of the pastor because he was moved by the zest and pity of
+human life as well as by an eager willingness to spend himself. He
+invariably had the right word for the occasion, and responded with a
+finely balanced emotion to each individual situation. His discerning
+sense of the human element in life's experiences was matchless. He spoke
+humorously when lightness and gaiety were in order, and seriously when
+the word of faith was needed. There is much to be learned from his
+approach. Called one day to a humble dwelling on Mt. Adams where a
+mother was hysterical because her boy had just undergone an emergency
+operation, Mr. Nelson tore a button from his coat before entering the
+room, and said in an off-hand manner, "Oh! this has just come off! Will
+you sew it on?"
+
+In a surpassingly unselfish fashion he thought of himself as the head of
+the Christ Church family, and it mattered not at all to him whether
+people who needed him were on the church register or were connected only
+through a parish house organization. When told of someone's illness,
+though the patient had membership in another church yet belonged to the
+Men's Club for instance, he would say, "Oh! I must go to see him." The
+agent for an Industrial Insurance Company tells of calling in a home
+where the policy was about to lapse. The woman said, "I will see Mr.
+Nelson. Will you come back at five o'clock?" When he returned, she had
+the money.
+
+In these tragic years of World War II we have learned that time is of
+the essence, and Frank Nelson exemplified this principle in an
+extraordinary manner. Through all his years of service he seemed to have
+a special sense of timeliness. He acted when one should act but does not
+always do so. He was what a minister should be yet is not always. He was
+there when needed, not when it suited his convenience. Immediacy again
+and again opened an opportunity that otherwise would have been lost and
+with it the possibilities for widening his circle of usefulness. An
+out-of-town friend telegraphed requesting Mr. Nelson to call on a
+certain man in a hospital, a stranger to Mr. Nelson, and he went at
+once. On another occasion a new member of the choir who had been in
+Cincinnati only a few weeks was suddenly taken ill. The doctors at the
+hospital were some time in deciding to operate, and called the girl's
+roommate. Although not knowing Mr. Nelson, she phoned him of her
+friend's serious condition, and he went immediately to her bedside.
+Though the operation was not until midnight, he stayed with her through
+the hours of waiting, joked to keep up her courage, and saw her through
+the ordeal and was there when she came out of the anesthetic. It turned
+out that the young lady was the daughter of a Methodist Bishop, and one
+can imagine her parents' gratitude when they learned over the phone that
+Mr. Nelson was with her. It was the sort of thing he loved to do, and
+people could not say enough of his help during such times of stress.
+There was a peculiar radiancy to his ministry which issued from this
+alacrity, the special glow that surrounds all lives that are nobly
+unselfish. He never spared himself, not even in his later years when
+illness had laid its relentless hand upon him who had always been robust
+and free of physical infirmities.
+
+In a parish as diverse as that of Christ Church, there were unnumbered
+happenings of a tragic-comic nature, and they all bespoke his special
+place in the hearts of his people. Howard Bacon was once closeted in the
+parish house office on a certain winter's night with a man who became
+definitely and increasingly insane. Greatly alarmed, he succeeded in
+locating Mr. Nelson, who arrived in evening clothes; together they got
+the man into a car and drove him out to the distant suburb of College
+Hill. On the way they were stalled by a flat tire, and Mr. Nelson
+insisted on Mr. Bacon's staying in the car while he himself put on the
+spare. In the midst of all this, the poor man's mind apparently cleared
+briefly for he asked, "Do all great men come way out here to do things
+like this?" In another instance a choir soloist developed melancholia
+and refused to eat, and Mr. Nelson often fed her because she would eat
+for him. Nothing was too trivial to be encompassed by his great heart.
+Everyone, and sometimes it appeared as if everything, that was clothed
+with any need was his responsibility and called out his limitless
+sympathy. A friend jested that even the dog fights required his presence
+and the remark seemed to carry a kernel of truth! Once he prayed with a
+poor, broken-hearted woman who had lost her dearest possession, a pet
+canary bird, and again he sat down and talked as one sportsman to
+another with a friend who had lost a polo game. To this clergyman these
+were the peculiar privileges of his position, and never duties. Parents,
+with a true instinct for loving a man who was really good, wanted him to
+baptize their children, for in laying his hand upon the infant he was
+also laying his hand upon their hearts, and this act was the genuine
+blessing of a father-in-God, the shepherd calling his own by name.
+
+There came to me the following letter from a parishioner whose first
+child lived only a few hours:
+
+  The one thing I wanted to do was to receive the Holy Communion.
+  My husband called the Parish House and left word. We expected his
+  assistant or possibly the deaconess, and you can imagine how
+  honored and comforted we felt when Mr. Nelson came himself. It
+  was indeed comforting to know that such a busy person could take
+  time for one of the most humble of his church. We shall never
+  forget the talk we had with him in the hospital before receiving
+  the Holy Communion. He asked all about our little boy, and told
+  us always to speak of him by name and think of him alive with the
+  Father. Mr. Nelson told us of a baby sister of his who died, and
+  how he felt about her. He said he always visited that tiny grave
+  when he went home. He really stands in our hearts.
+
+The strength of the Lord dwelt in his heart else he never could have
+given himself so indefatigably to the demands of a great city parish.
+There were no barriers of access to him. Until 1919 he did not have a
+private secretary, preferring to answer personally all his mail in long
+hand, and the only times he allowed himself to be out of reach of the
+telephone were during Holy Week and possibly on Saturdays. Everyone who
+came to the office was able to see him without any formality. I remember
+showing him an article in a church paper on the misuse of the title
+"Reverend," and suggesting that it might be well to print it in the
+Sunday leaflet. He was amused and only said, "What does it matter what
+we are called as long as they _call_ us." This intense desire to give of
+himself lay back of his disappointment when friends and parishioners
+failed to communicate with him because they hesitated to trouble so busy
+a man. Former Mayor Russell Wilson remarked that "Frank Nelson was the
+spiritual advisor to many men whom you would not think of as having
+spiritual advisors." The downright sincerity of the man and his
+"at-homeness" with human beings of all kinds made it natural for men to
+talk with him.
+
+There was, however, more in his personality than mere sociability and a
+genial manner, because an indefinable power or strength went forth from
+him. It was in his ministry to the sick that people felt especially a
+certain grace in his faith. He carried about with him "the medicine of a
+merry heart," and patients wanted to see him. He was a door through
+which a person passed to a deeper consciousness of the mystery and
+greatness of life and the infinities which brood over it. Therefore, his
+ministry to the sick commended itself to an unusual degree. One of the
+leading surgeons of Cincinnati, Dr. J. Louis Ransohoff, declared it his
+firm conviction that Frank Nelson gave a patient a double chance. Few
+ministers are welcomed by the medical profession in as intimate a role
+as this pastor took upon himself. Well known in Cincinnati is the story
+of his entering a Roman Catholic Hospital to be greeted by the Mother
+Superior with a hearty "Good-morning, Father Nelson," and the Jewish
+surgeon, "Good-morning, Rabbi Nelson," while the parishioner-patient
+said, "Good-morning, Mr. Nelson." His presence calmed panic-stricken
+patients, and if he had sought to carry further along this line, there
+are those who felt that he could easily have established a clinic or
+healing class. Of no end are those who maintained that they could not
+have undergone an operation without his standing beside them. Because he
+cared he often came out haggard and worn. Such incidents are revealing
+examples of the acceptance on the part of a large portion of the entire
+city of the ministry of one who was utterly sincere, utterly genuine.
+Those who follow the same calling must with pride point to him as
+superbly a man of God.
+
+Frank Nelson was held in the highest respect by the medical profession
+because physicians generally felt, in the words of Dr. Ransohoff, that
+"his life had a spiritual significance; there was no cant, only
+humility." Sometimes he walked to the operating room beside a fearful
+patient, and one man later said, "Something came through him to me. The
+fear was gone." He often went with parishioners to a doctor's office,
+and sent hundreds of others giving them an infinite amount of time and
+thought. Because of Frank Nelson the name "Christ Church" was an open
+sesame for all the little-known workers and assistants on the staff of
+the church. For these countless favors he frequently expressed publicly
+his gratitude saying, "We very often have need of the help of lawyers,
+doctors and nurses. And we never appeal in vain. Without thought of any
+return the doctors and lawyers of the city, the hospitals, and the
+Visiting Nurses' Association give us quick response of their very best."
+
+Those who worked with him have unforgettable memories of the way in
+which he visited the poorest tenements, always with the same courtesy
+and unconsciousness of environment that he showed to wealthy
+parishioners. Whether East Hill or Mt. Adams they were his people, and
+each received the kind of attention, the friendship, the grave dignity
+and consideration that each most wanted. When it was a Communion
+Service for the sick in a poor section of the city, he had a deeply
+sympathetic approach. Usually he himself would clear a little table in
+the dingy room, and when he had placed the fair linen and the silver
+vessels where the sick person could watch him and had donned his
+vestments, the place was transformed. As he commenced the beautiful
+liturgy, read only as the Rector could read it, there was in the humble
+room a Presence for which he was the channel.
+
+In his reading of the Burial Office, there was a play of light and shade
+upon this man of God who, like Moses, "wist not that his face shone."
+The majestic notes of faith and assurance which reverberate in the words
+of this service were, on his lips and in his sympathetic and superb
+reading, like the overtones and rich harmonies of an organ. There was no
+formalism nor coldness, no hesitancy to plumb the stark reality of the
+occasion, but only the vibrant convictions of his own great faith in the
+goodness of God. Few can fail to recall the clarity and feeling with
+which he read St. Paul's immortal passage in 1st Corinthians, nor ever
+forget the prayer he invariably used in this service, "We seem to give
+him back to Thee, dear God."
+
+Frank Nelson made Christ Church known throughout the city, and on
+occasions of trouble and stress, as just mentioned, people other than
+those in his flock turned to him naturally and wistfully. Their desires
+were not always consistent with the customs of the Episcopal Church. In
+one such instance a widow requested a eulogy, but Mr. Nelson told her
+that it was not the procedure of his church and, furthermore, he would
+not know what to say. Not abashed in the slightest, she replied, "Oh,
+that doesn't matter. Just give the address you made at the Mabley-Carew
+Department Store dinner!" However, he did read a poem, and in trying to
+express her sincere appreciation the widow somewhat astounded him by
+saying, "Why, that was enough to make Bob stand up in his coffin."
+
+He knew what was in the human heart, and realized the craving for
+understanding in times of despair and sorrow. Somehow he managed to do
+and say the right thing. At one time the mother of a parishioner had
+died in a distant state, and when the family arrived in Cincinnati, he
+was at the railroad station at seven o'clock in the morning to meet them
+and accompanied the coffin from the baggage car to the hearse. So simple
+an act bespeaks the innate dignity and simplicity of the man. It was his
+custom at the cemetery to walk with the chief mourner, and by such
+little kindnesses and numberless other courtesies he endeared himself to
+each generation in his long ministry. A parishioner whose mother died
+late one Good Friday evening remembers that despite the heavy tax of the
+day Mr. Nelson came to her house shortly before ten o'clock, and, though
+no lights were on, rang the bell, calling, "I want to talk with you." By
+his coming, a sleepless night was shorn of its dread and vastness, and
+confidence and serenity took their place. At another time when a family
+received the fearful word from Washington that a son had been killed in
+the Argonne, Mr. Nelson though confined to his bed with illness went at
+once to call in the home. On the day of the funeral, before going to the
+church, he read the identical service in that suburban home for the
+invalid mother. As many people in Boston have said that until Phillips
+Brooks came to them in their sorrow they never knew what Isaiah meant in
+his words, "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime
+from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from rain,"
+so Christ Church people found in Frank Nelson a stronghold in time of
+trouble.
+
+There are many incidents that illustrate the ideals of this incomparable
+pastor. For instance, the Council of Churches had two social workers in
+the Juvenile Court, one of whom was a parishioner, young and beautiful.
+Mr. Nelson did not really want her to do such work, but her parents
+thought her trained and equipped for it. In his solicitude he went to
+the Executive Secretary and asked, "Do you have staff meetings? I want
+you to have her there in your office. Give her the knowledge that she is
+dealing with the abnormal, and that not all life is perversion." The
+welfare of each individual in his church was his personal concern.
+
+He exercised this same solicitude for us young clergymen, some fourteen
+in number, who were his assistants and to whom he gave a tutelage and
+friendship that continued long after our apprenticeship was ended. He
+was an exacting teacher and beyond us, but like all others who labored
+in his parish, we felt a special joy and pride in working under him. It
+was a tremendous strain to keep up with him, and his own daily stint of
+work often put us to shame; in the fullness of his powers he made as
+many as thirty calls a week. One was never through, one could never do
+enough, and when tempted to let down, there was felt, even when not
+heard, that imperious voice, "Go on! Don't be easy on yourself." His own
+shepherding exemplified his belief that in the ministry honor for one's
+self is nothing, humanity everything. No task, even scrubbing floors,
+was too menial or too hard to be beneath the position of him who is
+God's servant. When the problems and the pressure of work in such a
+large institution weighed upon us, and their full scope inevitably was
+revealed at staff meetings, it was then as we were on our knees that his
+informal, absolutely real prayers lifted and strengthened us. Yes, on
+some rare occasions in his tower study we were on the Mount and gained
+fleeting glimpses of the City of God.
+
+It was difficult at times for those of lesser faith not to be appalled
+by the awful waste and stupidity of human life such as any great city
+unbares. But the Rector used the many instances to illustrate the
+requirements of wide sympathy, and to teach us to reverence the
+qualities of personality even when we could not fathom the reasons for
+apparent foolishness. He would say things like this: "Never forget that
+the development of our free will is what God wants. Love may make
+mistakes, but they are not failures. There are times when one's own life
+is of very little importance compared with the need for sacrifice." The
+assistants, the deaconesses, and parish visitors had, in addition to a
+training in modern social methods, the supreme advantage of religious
+direction. His guidance issued from his own example and experience.
+
+Deaconess Margaret Lloyd writes:
+
+  It seemed in those early years as though all our parish poor
+  lived on the top floors of tenements, and I often thought that
+  climbing the famous penitents' stairway in Rome would have been
+  an easy climb compared with the ascent of Mt. Adams! It was
+  climbed almost daily by some member of the staff, and very
+  frequently by the Rector. It was not only the climb, but the
+  drab, dreary houses of the period. For those were the days of
+  heavy, soft coal smoke, of a yellow, unpurified water supply, and
+  a lack of adequate housing or health laws. The consequences were
+  that a large parish like ours always had typhoid or T. B. folk
+  needing material help as well as sympathy and compassion. The
+  annals of such a parish always contain numberless "human interest
+  stories." There was a very large family which never was able to
+  provide shoes or to have quite enough clothing for six children.
+  We suspected that, despite all efforts, sufficient food was
+  lacking, and especially at those times when the head of the
+  family was on one of his happy-go-lucky sprees. Everyone on the
+  staff felt a sense of relief when this bibulous father died for
+  there was enough insurance money not only to bury him, but to
+  leave funds to tide the family over the next few months, and
+  until the mother and her two eldest children had found jobs.
+  Imagine our feelings when, in less than two weeks after the
+  funeral, the widow appeared at the parish house! She had come to
+  ask Christ Church for a little help until she had work. "But what
+  has become of your insurance money, surely you have not used it
+  all up so soon?" "Oh! yes we have, deaconess! You see we always
+  craved gold band rings for the children, and I always doted on
+  having a pink enamel bed." It was really true! The bed that they
+  had longed for stood in their shabby front room, pink enamel,
+  gold curlicue trimmings and all! Its enormous expanse was covered
+  with tawdry silk pillows and silk spread, and it stood out, the
+  one glorious object in the whole tenement. Also the children with
+  the utmost pride showed their gold band rings which according to
+  the custom of those days each wore on the "wedding finger"; even
+  the five year old displayed his golden trophy. Mr. Nelson did his
+  best to modify the protests of his outraged staff. Finally we did
+  see at least something of his point of view, that to the family
+  these symbols of respectability meant what a Persian rug would
+  have meant in a more sophisticated family. For these friends of
+  ours had "arrived," socially speaking, via the pink enamel bed,
+  and their admiring neighbors could never again refer to them as
+  "poor white trash." It takes a long, long time to change ideas,
+  but the Rector's respect for human personality (foolishness and
+  stupidity notwithstanding) and his method of patience, tact, and
+  a sense of humor did change many of us. And a controlled sense of
+  humor has a marvelous effect at times. There was the instance
+  when the Rector went to conduct a funeral service on Mt. Adams.
+  It was a very hot day, the little rooms were crowded, and family
+  and neighbors were close to the coffin. Mr. Nelson put on his
+  vestments in the stuffy kitchen. He had begun the majestic words
+  of the service when there strolled into the room the small boy of
+  the family nonchalantly carrying a very large slice of
+  watermelon! He found a spot on the floor at the foot of the
+  coffin, and proceeded to eat the juicy treat. The Rector
+  continued with the service, and the mourners gave him absorbed
+  attention until the last prayer. No incongruity could possibly
+  change the beauty and dignity of that service as conducted by our
+  Rector.
+
+Frank Nelson was shepherd to all. To be sure, there were complaints that
+he did not call in every home, and to some who did not have the
+opportunity to experience at first-hand his sympathy and concern, he
+seemed aloof. But when a need arose he met it; and as years were added
+to years he won the confidence of all types of people. To the rich he
+said, "Your money is the smallest gift you can offer. Yes, Christ Church
+needs money, but it needs you yourself far more." He said to the poor,
+"You are splendid in the way you are helping us. The parish could not
+get along without such workers as you. Keep it up!" In the warm climate
+of his enthusiasm and appreciation, young and old, rich and poor
+discovered within themselves an undreamed-of capacity to respond to his
+faith and to his demands for service. In turn he was generous in
+gratitude. At the time of his twenty-fifth anniversary he wrote the
+following acknowledgment to a parishioner who had written to him of all
+that Christ Church and his ministry meant:
+
+  Thank you indeed, and thank you still more for these seventeen
+  years of most extraordinary service, and personal loyalty and
+  friendship. I can never tell you how much I have appreciated
+  them, and do appreciate them. I know I have made life harder for
+  you--both in the work I have put on you--and by the way I have
+  often left you to carry the burden unaided. But I know too that
+  the Spirit has carried you on and filled you with new visions and
+  powers of life. And that makes all the rest worth while. I am so
+  glad that you are coming up to us at Cranberry. I know you will
+  love its loveliness, and in its quiet and the sweep of sea and
+  sky, you will find refreshment and renewed strength. And then we
+  can talk not of plans and work, but what lies beneath them, faith
+  and God and the abundant life.
+
+As his forty years' ministry came to a close, there was throughout the
+entire city a growing crescendo of acclaim, which found fervent
+expression in words like these: "He was our best friend for years."
+Deeper than the affection which drew forth such recognition was his
+profound faith in the Father-God of all mankind. It was Frank Nelson's
+limitless trust in his Heavenly Father that gave him his strength and
+influence. Many an evening on his way home he went into his church or
+chapel to pray, and lay before God the problems and griefs of his people
+which he carried in his great heart.
+
+    "Therefore to thee it was given
+    Many to save with thyself;
+    And, at the end of the day,
+    O faithful shepherd! to come,
+    Bringing thy sheep in thy hand."[8]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] _Rugby Chapel_ by Matthew Arnold. Macmillan Co. Used by permission.
+
+
+
+
+  _The Spokesman
+  of the City's
+  Conscience_
+
+
+  "_He so stirred the very soul of our responsibility
+  for social living that we felt he had
+  come to break the old city's sleep of habit or
+  despair._"
+
+  --_Miss Edith Campbell_
+
+
+  4
+
+
+Frank Nelson loved the city, and was moved by its swift, tumultuous
+life; hence, he was able to stir it. No mere reformer or "up-lifter" who
+sees only ugliness and sordidness can effect very far-reaching changes,
+and retain his faith. Mr. Nelson succeeded in both. He came to
+Cincinnati under the high compulsion of a mission, and relinquished his
+work on the same high plane of faith and vision. To have retained such
+conviction over a period of forty years in the sort of work which was
+his testifies to a quality of realism that is at once impressive and
+authoritative. He knew the vice and corruption that lurked the streets,
+and yet he reiterated to the end that "there is a glory in the city seen
+in the faces of men and women, boys and girls, which is the immortal
+soul growing clean, and entering into paradise." Something of that glory
+he created. Christ Church is located in Ward Six, formerly Ward Eight,
+and there also Mr. Nelson had his residence at 311 Pike Street. One of
+the boys who grew up in the district and is now a successful business
+man declares that this ward would be entirely different today if it had
+not been for Frank Nelson and the work carried on in Christ Church. But
+this clergyman's work and influence spread far outside his parish and
+beyond his ward.
+
+By many Catholics, Jews, and Protestants Frank Nelson was acknowledged
+as "the flaming sword of the Charter Movement"; the man who so
+interpreted the Community Chest that "he made it a platform upon which
+every man could stand"; and in the minds of some of them he so
+o'er-leaped sectarian differences that they considered him their
+minister. His was a position as unique as it was remarkable considering
+the fact that he held no title or high-ranking office such as Bishop.
+This minister quickened the conscience of Cincinnati, and brought into
+full bloom vague, half-formed ideals. Many looked upon him as the
+spokesman of the city's conscience.
+
+Mr. Nelson did not grow up in an age of radical and revolutionary
+economic and social programs. He was not a student of such
+philosophies, yet he had in his heart that particular treasure, namely
+an affection for people, for the fortunate and no less for the poor and
+the dispossessed. Without this love for the common man, these
+philosophies are never translated into the natural order of things nor
+ever become more than intellectual pronouncements. He was neither a
+mystic nor a reformer, but a citizen who was deeply cognizant of
+religious faith as laying upon him and upon everyone a compulsive
+service. This mighty conviction he expressed in varying ways as we shall
+see, but never in more arresting words than in a sermon which he
+preached on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of
+The Covenant from the text, "Ye shall not see my face except your
+brother be with you." Though delivered in 1916, this sermon was recalled
+twenty-three years later on the occasion of Mr. Nelson's retirement as a
+consummate expression of his faith and convictions, namely that we are
+not isolated individuals each to be saved by means of self-centered
+piety, but only through practicing religion in fellowship with one
+another.
+
+A study of his annual reports indicates that from his St. George's days
+he was dominated by the vision of the Church as having a mission to the
+city. As early as 1903 he outlined the conditions that confront
+Christian people, and the relation of the Church to them:
+
+  The city of today is the point of concentration of the forces
+  that are making the character, and determining the standards of
+  our time. So complex is our modern civilization that it is not
+  possible to separate the individual in our estimation of his
+  standards and character from the conditions by which he is
+  surrounded, and in which he lives. For they vitally influence his
+  point of view, his ideals, his efforts to attain them. A boy who
+  grows up in an atmosphere of openly accepted corruption will
+  inevitably lack sensitiveness of moral perception. Our young men
+  and women, our boys and girls are subjected to a moral pressure
+  that is extremely difficult to resist. What is the duty of the
+  Church? The moral welfare of these young people is its intimate
+  concern. It may, and it must, bring to bear a counter pressure of
+  high individual moral standards and ideals. It may, and it must,
+  hold up before them faith in purity and honesty, and persuade
+  them to receive it. But that is not enough. It must utter its
+  word of protest against the rule of the Boss, not because it
+  wishes to enter the arena of politics, not because it differs
+  from him on political questions, not even because he is the
+  denial of democracy, but because he maintains his power of
+  corrupting manhood and womanhood by protecting and fostering vice
+  in order that they may be his allies. It must utter its protest
+  against the dictum, "Whatever pays is right," not because it
+  wishes to dictate business methods, or to set itself up as an
+  authority on economics, but because it finds this corruption in
+  business demoralizing to standards and character. It must utter
+  its protest against overcrowded and unsanitary tenement houses,
+  not because it considers its function to be the censorship of
+  buildings, but because such conditions breed immorality among the
+  boys and girls. The individual message alone is made ineffective
+  by the constant pressure of these conditions. To make that
+  message effective, the conditions must be changed. And it is
+  peculiarly the work of a church, situated as is Christ Church, to
+  say and do what it can to make them intolerable to the conscience
+  of a Christian city. I have said all this because I want you to
+  see clearly the place in the pulpit and church of such preaching
+  and work as we have tried to give and do. We must go forward with
+  increasing energy and purpose, and that whether the results seem
+  great or small. We may, and must, at least sow the seed in the
+  faith that God will inevitably bring it to the harvest.
+
+Again and again he thundered, "The conditions must be made intolerable
+to the conscience of a Christian city," and the spirit of the times
+rolled back the sterile answer, "It can't be done in Cincinnati." But he
+shook himself like a lion and took up the battle.
+
+The fight for honest municipal government in Cincinnati was a mighty one
+and the story of it is fairly well known, but a few pertinent facts are
+essential as a background to Mr. Nelson's part in it. For more than
+thirty years George B. Cox controlled the city by all the devices known
+to the wily, astute politician. Few presumed to run for any office on
+the Republican ticket without his approval. Unburdened by shame, he
+declared, "I am the Boss of Cincinnati ... I've got the best system of
+government in this country. If I didn't think my system was the best, I
+would consider that I was a failure in life." He openly derided
+reformers. Lincoln Steffens had surveyed and written up the city as he
+had many others and declared it under the dominance of "the most vicious
+political gang in any city." Few inroads were made on Cox's preserves
+until after his death in 1916. At the close of World War I, the city
+began to reap the bitterest and most evil results of its contentment
+with benevolent despotism, and in 1922 found itself verging on
+bankruptcy. Aroused citizens were determined not only that Cincinnati
+should have an efficient, economical government but also that its
+reputation as a sink of iniquity should be erased.
+
+When the Republican organization perceived that an investigation was
+inescapable, it determined to name the investigators! The Republican
+Executive and Advisory Committee appointed a survey committee to devise
+a plan to solve the city's and county's most pressing administrative and
+financial problems. A distinguished group was selected; among the
+members were Frank H. Nelson, George H. Warrington, Charles P. Taft, and
+other eminent citizens some twenty-one in number. This committee engaged
+Dr. Lent D. Upson of the Detroit Bureau of Governmental Research, who
+with a large staff of specialists proceeded to turn the city and county
+governments inside out. The Upson Report furnished the ammunition for
+what turned out to be nothing short of a revolution.
+
+A City Charter Committee had been organized which, after the Upson
+Committee reported, proposed an amendment to the city's home rule
+charter embodying the city manager plan of municipal government and a
+small council of nine elected at large by proportional representation.
+In the fall of 1924 the critical issue was submitted to the electorate,
+and a significant victory won. "This new movement, its representatives
+youthful, clear-eyed, energetic and determined, took its place in the
+books of our history as the first reform enterprise of any permanence
+in a great city of the United States."[9] In this crusade of civic
+warriors Frank Nelson ranked as "a flaming sword," to use the colorful
+phrase of his friend Mr. Ralph Holterhoff. He was a constant worker in
+planting the first seeds of the moral rightness of the cause, the
+crusader whose faith clarified the fundamental religious background
+inherent in good government. During the initial campaign of 1924, Mr.
+Nelson, preaching this gospel from his pulpit, carried his parish with
+him into the righteous cause, and he literally toured the city wards as
+well. When the City Charter Committee was given permanent form,
+following the sweeping victory of November 1924, it is significant that
+the organization meeting was held in the Parish House of Christ Church.
+Among the speakers were Mr. Nelson, Charles P. Taft, John R. Schindel,
+and Henry Bentley, who was known as "the Commander of the legions that
+gave a city a new body and a new soul," all of them leaders in the
+campaign, and members and vestrymen of Christ Church. Another
+parishioner, Ralph Holterhoff, was, almost single-handed, responsible
+for financing the Committee's work for its next fifteen years.
+
+Repeatedly throughout successive years Mr. Nelson spoke at Charter
+rallies, giving a series of remarkably effective addresses which
+assisted immeasurably in sustaining the zest and interest of citizens in
+the reform ideal. As Mr. Murray Seasongood has said, "The technique of
+good local government has been developed by study, but the will to bring
+about good local government has not been infused into the residents of
+our cities." Toward that will and fusion in the city of Cincinnati, men
+are agreed that Frank Nelson's moral and spiritual contribution was
+enormous. Leaders declare that in routing the forces of corrupt
+government from their strongholds, his was the most powerful voice
+raised in the city. His trenchant words, his statesmanlike ability
+spurred the lagging energies and fired men's spirits to greater effort;
+he gave the necessary courage and drive and inspiration to carry through
+and maintain the reform movement. "It is the man of ideals and faith,"
+Frank Nelson reiterated, "who has more courage than any politician. We
+shall set our faces steadfastly to the victory not only for good
+government and efficiency, but for the morality and the righteousness
+and the power of faith in this community." In the opinion of Mr. Ralph
+Holterhoff, the treasurer of the City Charter organization, Mr. Nelson,
+by his extensive contacts with all classes of citizens, radiating not
+only through his parish but throughout the entire fabric of Cincinnati's
+economic and social life, aroused the people with more success than any
+other individual. He literally mustered thousands of recruits who became
+zealous apostles and voters for the cause, although many had not voted
+for years because they felt nothing could be done about the existing
+evils. During the recurring campaigns for councilmen, Mr. Nelson was at
+the beck and call of the organization, giving extravagantly of his time
+and vitality at many rallies, particularly at the opening meeting of
+campaigns, where he either was the keynote speaker or took such part as
+expressed the religious convictions that lay behind the movement.
+"Hearing him," wrote Alfred Segal, a newspaper columnist, "people felt
+that good government was more than a matter of efficiency and economy.
+It had to do with civic self-respect and social morale and bright
+ideals."
+
+Because the issue was clearly moral, this minister did not hesitate to
+use his pulpit and his parish organization to further the cause. It is a
+tribute to his church that he met with only minor criticism. He carried
+his people with him because he enabled them to perceive the relationship
+between religion and politics. Of course he met with criticism from
+those who felt that a clergyman should remain aloof from politics, yet
+at the same time he was genuinely admired and respected by those who did
+not agree with him. Several of his bitterest political critics, such as,
+for example, James Garfield Stewart, and Doc Hagen, a ward politician,
+were not lacking in keen appreciation of his position. And on other
+civic issues where he made no concealment of his opinions he was,
+according to Herbert Bigelow, the minister of The People's Church and a
+former city councilman, "never a trimmer, and those who have seen him in
+tight places never saw him crawl."
+
+Though the Cincinnati Community Chest is not in politics, it has
+definitely influenced the course of good government because of the
+character of the people who carry on the work of the numerous social
+agencies which it comprises. In 1913, these agencies were organized into
+a Council, and Frank Nelson's vision, enthusiasm and tireless efforts
+were determining factors in welding together the diverse religious and
+racial groups engaged in social service throughout the city. Through
+this Council, multiple activities were coordinated, and Jewish,
+Catholic, and Protestant welfare agencies were kindled with new spirit
+and power which resulted in greater efficiency and an increased
+opportunity for reaching larger numbers of people. As a consequence, the
+majority of the social welfare enterprises were able to make a united
+financial appeal, and since 1919 have continued together without a break
+in the ranks. Charles P. Taft says of the Cincinnati Community Chest:
+
+  The executive direction and social vision of C. M. Bookman, and
+  the spiritual leadership of Reverend Frank H. Nelson have given
+  to the campaign and year-round organizations of volunteers a most
+  distinctive quality. It is not that we raise each year an amount
+  greater per capita than most other cities, although we do that;
+  but it seems to one attending our gatherings that all the men and
+  women of good will in our community have come together and that
+  their spirits are welded together in a great cause, the education
+  of the whole city to the highest standards of health, character,
+  and welfare.[10]
+
+The welding together was again the work of many civic-minded men and
+women, and Frank Nelson was the fire which fused the different parts
+into a unity. "He made the Community Chest a platform upon which every
+man could stand," says C. M. Bookman, the Executive Secretary. His work
+in the formative years of the Council, particularly in the raising of
+funds for the first three years, was of untold value. As the Council
+achieved coherence and a consciousness of its identity, he went on to
+the larger work of conveying to the city the idea that in this cause the
+people of Cincinnati could be supremely united, above politics, and
+beyond racial and religious prejudices. It was his ability to interpret
+the spiritual basis of this work that made it a common platform. As a
+result, contributors felt their gifts to have a downright significance.
+"It is," he said, "God's way of making cities good in spite of
+themselves."
+
+Frank Nelson believed so thoroughly in the work of the social agencies
+that the financial drives became a crusade, an adventure in human
+relationships. He took off his coat, so to speak, and plunged into the
+drives as one of the solicitors. The calls assigned him were the general
+run as well as the difficult cases. He canvassed people of modest means
+whom he didn't know as well as the large donors. As the calling was done
+by two men soliciting together, he often found himself teamed with a man
+whose occupation contrasted sharply with his own, once being paired with
+a distiller! In the personal interviews his was not the milk and honey
+approach, and he often became quite indignant if some did not give
+according to their means. On one occasion he called with Mr. William J.
+Shroder on a man who headed a large corporation but who refused to give
+commensurately, using as an excuse the fact that the directors were
+away. Mr. Nelson's feelings blazed forth and he blurted out, "You run
+this corporation, and you can do as you please," and with that he strode
+out of the room leaving his calmer friend to secure a gift of $500.00.
+Sham irritated him beyond measure. Again, at headquarters one day
+Maurice Pollak was holding forth in vivid language on the subject of
+people who refused to contribute, and he did not notice Mr. Nelson
+coming in behind him. When he suddenly stopped in some embarrassment,
+Mr. Nelson exclaimed, "Go ahead, Maurice, you are saying just what I
+feel but can't express so well." As he was a man of intense fervor, it
+is probable that he was better at interpreting the inner significance of
+the cause than in soliciting contributions. In 1922 he was elected the
+General Chairman of the drive, and from 1916 to 1939 was a director of
+the Chest.
+
+As the years went by, Mr. Nelson became something of an "institution" in
+Cincinnati, and his popularity made him "fashionable" to the
+superficial-minded. Yet there was something decidedly spontaneous in the
+acclaim with which he was once greeted by over one thousand canvassers
+at a campaign dinner in the suburban city of Norwood. To a man the great
+audience rose when he stood to speak, and applauded with genuine emotion
+this Christian minister who represented Cincinnati as they wanted it to
+be. Always sensitive to the reactions of a throng, he poured forth such
+utterance as made them see the Community Chest as a great moral force,
+not as just a financial campaign. Their consciences were quickened by
+his graphic portrayal of their desires for righteousness and decency and
+fair opportunity.
+
+He was always one of the speakers held in reserve for the crucial last
+days of the campaigns, and at the large daily luncheons held in the
+Hotel Gibson for the canvassers he was at his best. The following
+sentences from a newspaper report of one such address are typical:
+
+  You know what this Community Chest has done for this great city,
+  how it has been, as the old seer said long ago, the river of
+  life, flowing through the streets of the city, keeping it clean,
+  refreshing it, strengthening it, heartening it, so that the tree
+  of life, bearing all manner of fruits, through all the year,
+  could grow upon its brink and spread forth its branches to
+  shelter and give new vigor and hope to the inhabitants of the
+  city. That river of life which we call social service is more
+  vital, more important and more needed for the steady maintenance
+  of the morale, well-being, and good life of the whole community
+  than the Ohio River is, believe me.
+
+By the power of simple, forceful speech, strengthened by his great love
+for people and his belief in them, he enabled Cincinnati to see beyond
+the horizon, to dream dreams; and by his uncommon labor some of these
+dreams became actualities. He looked at the city's welfare from the
+religious viewpoint, and in so doing commended religion to the
+religiously indifferent. He saw the practical value of spiritual things
+and the spiritual value of practical things. When, for example, he
+addressed the National Conference for Social Workers at Denver in 1925
+and propounded the theme of Immortality, the audience was at first
+aghast, and then enthralled. He maintained that they had nothing to work
+for unless it was for eternity; that their business was concerned with
+souls, and that the souls of the feeble-minded were as much heirs of
+immortality as those of others more fortunate, and that no man has the
+right to condemn or stand in judgment. It was a bold speech to such an
+audience, and held their rapt attention; it was perhaps the more
+stimulating because it had been preceded by the scholarly and very
+formal address of the president of the conference. It was this occasion
+that produced a choice story which Mr. Nelson loved to tell on himself.
+At the close of the long evening two men were overheard commenting on
+the speeches. One of them remarked, "The first man was over my head, and
+the second just plumb crazy."
+
+He not only made the Community Chest common ground for all, but he also
+enabled the churches to see it as their work, calling the social service
+organizations "sub-committees of the Church, doing for the churches the
+work that the churches want done and would have to do themselves if it
+were not for the Chest."
+
+Frank Nelson's influence on the civic and political life of Cincinnati
+cannot be measured, but its power was evident and was revealed time and
+again through the contacts he had with civic leaders. A Roman Catholic
+priest said that many politicians went secretly to Mr. Nelson before
+expressing themselves on certain civic matters or endorsing certain
+projects. If some considered him officious, they could not have known
+his humility, much less his consuming passion for human beings. When he
+addressed public gatherings, one could gauge his power by watching the
+audience; as the sincerity of the man made his words convincing, even
+cynical faces "broke up," and the light shed by his stirring eloquence
+often brought tears.
+
+Among the many tributes paid at the time of Mr. Nelson's death, was one
+given by the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the beloved former minister of the
+Seventh Presbyterian Church, who culled the phrase "An Unmitered
+Bishop," a title which is signally descriptive of the man by reason of
+the many civic causes to which he was spiritual advisor, and thus a
+father-in-God to diverse groups scattered over the seven hills and in
+the "bottoms." He actively furthered many humanitarian causes: the
+Juvenile Protective Association, the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the
+Branch Hospital, the Community Chest, the Council of Social Agencies,
+the Helen S. Trounstine Foundation, the Hospital Social Service, St.
+Michael's Convalescent Home, and many others. Now that he is gone, the
+long list of social enterprises ceases to be a mere string of activities
+and becomes a roll of drums.[11] His whole life seems to exemplify the
+words of the philosopher Bacon: "The nobler a soul is, the more objects
+of compassion it hath." His spirit breathed out upon men, and in his
+lifetime the city felt its beauty and greatness, drawing from his
+constancy the courage to endure. He protested impatiently against the
+nonsense often bandied about concerning the alleged immorality of city
+folk compared with country folk, and cited confuting evidence out of his
+pastoral experience to prove his conviction saying, "Heroes of these
+days are the poor people who live in our big cities."
+
+One of the heroines of Cincinnati, though not one of the poor, was Helen
+S. Trounstine, a remarkable young woman of Jewish faith, who was
+responsible for making Mr. Nelson the first president of the Juvenile
+Protective Association. She was a pioneer in social service work, but
+her career was tragically cut short when she died at the early age of
+twenty-six. At her memorial service held in Christ Church Parish House
+January 21, 1917, Mr. Nelson made the principal address and some of his
+words indirectly reveal much of himself:
+
+  I remember the organization of the Juvenile Protective
+  Association; I first met her then. I had never known her before
+  and I said to myself: "Here is another person with an enthusiasm
+  come to complicate my life." I tried to get out of it, but
+  because I wanted to help little children (I built this parish
+  house for the young people, making my people support it for their
+  sake), and she knew it, with infinite patience and constant humor
+  and courtesy she kept forcing me, until gradually she landed me
+  in the Presidency of the Juvenile Protective Association, utterly
+  ignorant of what I was to do or what was to be done. And with the
+  same humor and patience she went ahead and did the work and made
+  me and the board responsible for it--made us stand behind her,
+  until at last we were ashamed that our consciences were so dull
+  and poor that we had not seen it long ago. And then we set out to
+  do something.
+
+According to the opinion of Miss Edith Campbell, who was thoroughly
+acquainted with his social work, though not a member of Christ Church,
+Frank Nelson's "doing" resulted in legislation for the Court of Domestic
+Relations which was to be in the future a real guardian for unfortunate
+children. His relationship with the Juvenile Protective Association is
+but another instance of the ways in which he not only ministered to the
+city and awoke its conscience, but also helped to foster understanding
+between church people and social workers. Possibly in no other city are
+there such close ties between churches and social agencies, and this
+relationship was Frank Nelson's achievement. He often attended the
+social workers' meetings of the Monday Evening Club; the conference of
+Charities and Philanthropies found a welcome center in his parish house.
+Thus he wove a pattern for social service that came to fruition in
+municipal and state laws, the kind of laws which give such work
+permanence and effectiveness.
+
+Frank Nelson was a chivalrous individual who labored for what he thought
+was right; he championed numerous causes when many people were
+marshalled on the other side. It is in keeping with his character that
+he took a pronounced part in the creation of understanding and the
+removal of prejudices among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Years
+before the National Conference of Jews and Christians was organized, he
+practiced the principles of the inter-faith movement. At one time after
+presiding at a mass meeting in Music Hall held to protest the
+persecution of Jewish people in Europe, he wrote his friend, Dr. J.
+Louis Ransohoff: "I realize how dreadfully you must feel, and I would
+like to tell you that no matter how badly you feel as a Jew, I feel
+worse as a Christian because in the beginning Jews were persecuted in
+the name of Christ." On more than one occasion he preached in the Isaac
+M. Wise synagogue for his friend, Rabbi James G. Heller. In one such
+instance he spoke on his concept of the spiritual life, considering the
+great thing in man to be his soul, and pointing out that the journey is
+superior to the road in the realization of man's destiny. His candor won
+him the respect and admiration of many in all faiths, for they knew that
+he honored their opinions. No more dramatic incident illustrates his
+spirit than the one occurring in the inter-faith meeting at the Rockdale
+Temple Annex when he confessed his faith. Dr. Heller says there had been
+a great palaver of generalities by the two preceding speakers, and Mr.
+Nelson commenced his address by bluntly asking the audience if they
+wanted him to speak as he saw the truth, and they roared back, "Yes!"
+Thereupon he launched forth with the ringing declaration, "Let us be
+honest! I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!" He then proceeded to say
+that he would like all Jews to become Christians just as he knew the
+Jews and Roman Catholics desired universal allegiance to their faiths.
+With one or two exceptions, not a soul in that great audience resented
+his frankness. His ministry was that of one who lived day by day a life
+of good-will rather than of one who merely talked about it.
+
+Some men considered that he reflected too much surprise at the degree
+of harmony already existing among the faiths, and that his expressions
+of pleasure at finding such unanimity thus raised doubts as to its
+reality. However, in his broad spirit and totally Christ-fashioned
+personality, he himself was at home with men of all faiths. In 1939, Mr.
+William J. Shroder, as Chairman of the Community Chest campaign, chose
+for the year's theme or slogan "The Unity of Religion and Democracy." So
+excellent a "sermon" did he preach on numerous occasions that Mr. Nelson
+jestingly told his friend that he must stay out of his parish!
+
+On the rare occasions when Jews change their religion, they usually do
+so because of marriage. One such instance is of special interest. The
+daughter of a leading Jewish citizen married a Gentile, and since her
+rabbi would not perform the ceremony they turned to Frank Nelson,
+admiring as they did his faith and works. In a large sense he was rabbi
+and minister to all sorts and conditions of people. Dean Friedlander of
+the University Medical School, as he lay dying, said to a friend, "I
+have told my students how to treat the dying, but it is different when
+it comes to yourself. Frank Nelson has given me a hand." Again, another
+friend in his trouble found such sane religious counsel that, although a
+devout member of his synagogue, he declared, "It took a Christian
+minister to bring out my soul." He never hesitated to disagree or argue
+with his best friends, always maintaining that "works without faith" are
+not sufficient. Thus all who knew him welcomed him, and in their need
+turned to him with affection, confident of his understanding.
+
+Mr. Nelson was one of the three founders of the Council of Protestant
+Churches. No small detail was above him, and with Jesse Halsey he
+rummaged through second-hand stores for furniture for the first office.
+With the ministers of other churches he worked in closest cooperation,
+and together they fought the Cox Gang, supported the Social Agencies,
+and many other activities to which the civic-minded and church-minded in
+Cincinnati gave unstintingly of their devotion. The Reverend John F.
+Herget, the distinguished former minister of another downtown church,
+the Ninth Street Baptist, says, "For twenty-five years we labored
+together and the passing years only added to my confidence in his
+intellectual and spiritual integrity. He was a real friend, and when my
+only son died, he was the first minister in Cincinnati to step through
+my doorway. I can never forget it. Do you wonder that I loved him and
+cherish his memory? We were very different in many ways but those
+differences never deprived us of mutual respect and deep affection."
+Without a doubt, ministers of all Protestant churches regarded him as
+the foremost clergyman in the city.
+
+In 1901 Mr. Nelson was elected to membership in the Clergy Club of
+Cincinnati, an organization which is composed of many of the leading
+Protestant ministers. On the occasion of the club's twenty-fifth
+anniversary in 1919, Dr. Dwight M. Pratt, then of the Walnut Hills
+Congregational Church, wrote a witty and apt characterization of each
+member. The following is his superb sketch of Mr. Nelson:
+
+  NELSON: The Apollo of the Club, equally recognized as such
+  whether in ecclesiastical robes and millinery or in outing
+  negligee; the physical having its counterpart in athletic
+  qualities of mind and heart; a broad-minded, tolerant Churchman,
+  incapable of surrendering to the artificial in form and ceremony
+  or to the pretentious in self-constituted human authority, even
+  when sanctified by tradition and usage, and aware of its historic
+  affinities to Rome. Fundamentally spiritual in his conceptions of
+  the Church and of the Kingdom; quickly alert to elements in
+  religion that are born of the flesh and vitiated by human pride;
+  unsurpassed in the Club for his exalted conception of historic
+  Christianity and of the glory and prestige of a spirit-filled and
+  spirit-guided church, having a vision of church unity impossible
+  of realization under the assumption and the exclusiveness of
+  Episcopacy; a genial democrat in spite of aristocratic training
+  and environment; intimately acquainted with the trend and quality
+  of modern critical scholarship, and in sympathetic touch with the
+  social movements of the day, in the church and outside of it; too
+  thorough and vital, however, to make the mistake, more common in
+  his church than any other, of substituting social Christianity
+  for evangelistic, thus making the care, culture and comfort of
+  the outer man more important than his spiritual redemption; a
+  student of men and books; an observant traveller, a recent and
+  scholarly resident of the ancient metropolis of the world:[12] a
+  keen interpreter of the movements of history, ancient and modern;
+  endowed as a preacher with homiletic skill and the spiritual art
+  of making life seem large and the Kingdom of God the one supreme
+  reality for man; and all this in spite of the fact that he is far
+  from being Puritan; never showing the marks of an ascetic nor any
+  tendency or inclination to self-martyrdom; as much in need of
+  reform in some things as the time honored secretary of the Club;
+  popular with men because in so many respects like them; popular
+  also as a public speaker and on occasions where grace of speech
+  and manner constitute an essential factor in the program; a
+  conspicuous personality in a pageant, having the note of
+  sincerity, sympathy and appeal that commands assemblies; a man
+  whose promotion will always be in spite of high-churchmen and the
+  favorites of Bishops; a man indispensable to the breadth and
+  representative character of the Club.
+
+There remains one other activity to be mentioned in Mr. Nelson's
+city-wide ministry. In 1930 Mayor Murray Seasongood appointed him to the
+Board of Directors of the University of Cincinnati, a board commonly
+known as the Trustees. It was a distinguished appointment,
+characteristic of Mayor Seasongood's primary emphasis on the welfare of
+the city, and indicative of the confidence placed by intellectual and
+civic leaders in Mr. Nelson's judgment and ability. The Board was made
+up of eight business men and lawyers and concerned itself mainly with
+the financial problems of the University. Mr. Nelson's approach was to
+the human element in each situation with which this Board had to deal.
+He served in this capacity for eight years, and became "an acute,
+piercing trustee." The University Medical School has oversight of the
+Cincinnati General Hospital, and Mr. Nelson was troubled by the large
+number of cases of tuberculosis among members of the staff and the
+nurses and interns. The hours were long, the pay poor, and living
+conditions deplorable. He was very active in his support of the efforts
+by the authorities to bring about improvement in these conditions.
+
+He was chairman of the committee which interviewed candidates for the
+office of Dean of Woman, since many on the Board did not feel qualified
+to make such a selection. During the depression in the thirties when
+reduction of salaries and of department personnel became necessary, Mr.
+Nelson was instrumental in securing fair treatment for the individual
+teacher. He would ask if the teacher whose salary reduction was under
+consideration had a family and how many children. His colleagues
+considered him a very important agent in preserving morale during these
+difficult years, and the President and deans frequently sought his
+counsel.
+
+He was a firm believer in academic freedom. When the Engineering College
+arranged lectures for business men, he gave the plan his hearty support,
+and occasionally came under fire because of certain radical speakers. He
+was frequently the choice of the University as its representative on
+public occasions in the city. At the Commencement of 1924, the
+University of Cincinnati bestowed upon Mr. Nelson the honorary degree of
+Doctor of Laws, "as one who has ever striven to advance the government
+of the mind and spirit, and who by his own severe self-discipline and
+true humility has taught all of us to subdue ourselves to the
+imperishable laws of reason and faith."
+
+When one considers the recognition which the entire city whole-heartedly
+and unreservedly accorded Mr. Nelson, it is a sorry commentary on the
+influence of politics that upon the expiration of his second term as a
+trustee of the University the new Republican Mayor, James Garfield
+Stewart, failed to reappoint him. He was deeply hurt, but there was
+satisfaction in the realization that it was because of his continued
+denunciation of party politics that the reappointment did not go
+through. He was a clergyman who never curried favor nor withheld opinion
+when forthrightness was the moral requisite. The people knew where he
+stood, and no office could silence him. To behave as a citizen is "to
+conduct oneself as pledged to some law of life." His faithful obedience
+was recognized on many occasions and in numerous ways. One such
+recognition was his place in a group of fifteen leading citizens
+selected by four Cincinnatians chosen at random by "_The Cincinnati
+Post_." He was described as "having given vision and voice to public
+service, and in the art of human relations a leader in many fields for
+many people."
+
+Few public testimonials have awakened so spontaneous a response as that
+tendered Mr. Nelson on December 3, 1923, in honor of his twenty-five
+years of service to church and city. Originating among his own
+parishioners, the plan quickly developed into a city-wide observance.
+The committee on arrangements was expanded, and included the Reverend
+Doctor Francis J. Finn, Rabbi David Philipson, the Reverend John F.
+Herget, and the Right Reverend Boyd Vincent, as well as a large number
+of prominent laity outside Christ Church. When the evening arrived, one
+thousand one hundred people from all paths of life sat down to dinner in
+the Hotel Gibson. The President of the University, Dr. Frederick C.
+Hicks, presided. The Mayor, then George P. Carrell, cut short a vacation
+in order to be present and speak for the city, Mr. George D. Crabbs
+represented the Social Agencies, Dr. William S. Rainsford came on from
+New York to join in the acclaim. Mayor Carrell voiced a perfect tribute
+when he spoke of Mr. Nelson in these simple words: "Here is a true man.
+He loves his fellows. He does not recognize creed or color. Cincinnati
+is proud of him. Cincinnati loves him." At the conclusion of the
+speeches, Mr. Nelson, visibly affected, rose to speak. The tumultuous
+applause lasted five minutes. With characteristic humility he expressed
+his thanks, and then drew the attention of the audience to the central
+theme of any true public servant's work, namely, that "Faith creates;
+cynicism destroys." This enthusiastic testimonial was a moving
+demonstration of the place Frank Nelson filled in the hearts of his
+fellow-citizens, an exception to the rule that a prophet is without
+honor in his own city. There were two interesting side-lights to the
+occasion. On the morning of the dinner the Reverend Francis J. Finn, a
+particular friend, and the pastor of St. Francis Xavier's Roman
+Catholic Church, offered up the Holy Sacrifice with his Protestant
+friend as his special intention; and in the evening there stood among
+the waiters, but not of them, Detroit Williams, the colored sexton of
+Christ Church, who could not have been present but for Mr. Nelson's
+skillful arrangement.
+
+Such was the spirit of Cincinnati's great Christian citizen. His
+humanity was all inclusive, his spirit discerning, and the city claimed
+him as its own, for he gave voice to its conscience and helped it find
+its soul.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] _City Management_ Charles P. Taft, p. 108 Farrar and Rineheart,
+1933. Used by permission. Other statements on the Charter Movement are
+based upon the report of the Consultant Service of the National
+Municipal League entitled _The Government of Cincinnati, 1924-1944_.
+
+[10] _City Management_ C. P. Taft, p. 30. Farrar and Rineheart. Used
+with permission.
+
+[11] Adaptation of a thought expressed by Alexander Woollcott in _While
+Rome Burns_, p. 7.
+
+[12] Mr. Nelson twice spent a year in Rome on leave of absence.
+
+
+
+
+  _They Came
+  To Be In
+  His Presence_
+
+
+  _In This Church
+  The Reverend Frank Howard Nelson, D.D.
+  Preached The Gospel of Christ
+  for Forty Years
+
+  1899-1939_
+
+
+  "_I thank my God upon every remembrance
+  of you._"
+
+  --_Memorial Plaque at Entrance
+  to Christ Church._
+
+
+  5
+
+
+"You can't change me, old man. I am the last of the black Protestants."
+In this whimsical way Frank Nelson spoke of himself one day in
+conversation with a friend on some point of ritual. It is abundantly
+evident that he was in no way a bigoted churchman, and with all his
+fine, broad sympathies he stood forth as a Protestant. He represented
+that aspect of the Catholic-Protestant structure of the Episcopal
+Church, he conducted the services in Christ Church from that angle, his
+preaching reflected it, and the absence of the clerical collar
+emphasized it. There is a measure of truth in his droll description of
+himself.
+
+In the first decades of this century Mr. Nelson was one of a group of
+broad-churchmen whose influence was just beginning to be felt.
+Theologically he was a liberal with reservations, and stood in what is
+now called "Central Anglicanism" in the sense of "essential orthodoxy,
+continuity, and breadth and liberality within limits, checked by the
+principle of discipline, and an outlook, above all, theocentric;
+fidelity to Christianity as the religion of the Incarnation, and of the
+Church viewed as Christ's mystical body."[13]
+
+The truth is that he was different from certain brands of so-called
+liberals. Like many of them he was an individualist but not, as in the
+popular conception of that word, an eccentric. His individualism resided
+in his strong personality, whole and complete rather than partial. He
+had an immense scorn of the petty narrow-minded points of view. He said,
+"There is no one so narrow as the broad-minded liberal! Look out! Be
+sure that you do not develop a closed mind toward the other man's point
+of view!" Frank Nelson stood in the stream of the best traditions of
+historic Anglicanism. He had, for instance, a tremendous feeling of
+reverence for the Altar and the appointments for the celebration of the
+Holy Communion; and his manner of conducting the Lord's Supper brought
+that service very close to the most sensitive of worshipers. On the
+first Sunday of each month the Holy Communion was celebrated at eight
+and at eleven A.M., and he made it the chief factor in building
+up the younger members of the parish into the Church. Usually Christ
+Church was crowded for the first as well as the later service, and it
+was immensely impressive to contemplate the congregation that came at
+the early hour of eight o'clock from all parts of the city and from
+distant suburbs. There is communicated serenity as well as reverence in
+the stately, liturgical service, but that feeling-tone is dependent on
+the minister conducting it. Mr. Nelson was a medium for the
+communication of the very spirit of Christ in that service. The ancient,
+familiar words were given a fresh beauty by his manner and his natural,
+virile voice. His methods reflected certain qualities of his character.
+It was his custom to read the service up through the Sanctus from the
+north end of the Altar, moving to the center for the remainder, and at
+the moment of the consecration of the Bread and Wine to turn halfway
+around so that the congregation could see the blessing of the Elements.
+It was in part an observance of the Apostolic custom of the minister's
+standing behind the Altar and facing the congregation, and one which he
+had learned from his days at St. George's under Dr. Rainsford.
+
+In a time of much disparagement, Frank Nelson and his parish upheld the
+fair reputation of the Church. Bishop Hobson says, "Many a minister and
+many a church have taken heart and courage because of his ministry."
+Because he was unafraid to experiment and venture on fresh approaches to
+old problems, he risked misunderstanding and criticism. He had a marked
+sense of the dignity of his office, and all who worked on the staff of
+Christ Church were aware that he was the rector, a czar if you will, but
+one with a gloved hand. He ran the parish, but not for his own sake nor
+from delight in power. As a matter of fact, he distrusted power,
+particularly when wielded by small men in the office of Bishop, and
+because of that distrust, and because of the democratic nature of the
+government of the Episcopal Church, he held the leadership of rectors
+to be equal in value to that of the Episcopate.
+
+In the management of the parish, he was "a man set under authority." He
+expected hard work of those to whom he delegated responsibility. Though
+he occasionally interfered, he invariably backed up his leaders even
+when they were in the wrong. He did not hesitate to criticize: a
+retiring choir-master said to his successor, "He is a tyrant, and you
+won't last three months." After eighteen years, he is still there! There
+were those who sometimes found Mr. Nelson abrupt, but as they came to
+understand his temperament and to appreciate his insistence that things
+should be run decently and in order, they were the very ones who would
+have stood on their heads for him because his nature inspired endless
+devotion. It is easy to lose sight of human values in a large
+institution, but he was the kind of person who was quick to apologize
+for any rudeness, and if the instance had to do with some fine point of
+procedure, he would grin and say, "But I was right!"--and he was. A
+unique thing about his rectorship was his willingness to take the blame
+upon himself when something went wrong. He felt he was at fault for not
+having given his subordinates the right training. The conception he held
+of his office of rector impelled him to give each year a comprehensive
+report of his parish work along with an audited financial accounting of
+all monies that he had handled personally.
+
+In the services of Christ Church, Frank Nelson's individuality found
+complete expression. The Prayer Book offices were marked by an absence
+of ceremonial, but filled with a profound simplicity and a noble
+dignity. People coming from other parishes and accustomed to
+considerable ritual and better architecture (Christ Church has been
+likened to a Moorish mosque!) learned that such externals occupy in
+reality a subordinate position in the Christian life, as the rector's
+manner and forceful preaching lifted them to the plane of spirit-filled
+worship. He was concerned not with the creation of an atmosphere in
+which to bathe with satisfaction one's feelings about God but with the
+living message of the Gospel. One came at last to love the old church
+building because there the spirit was fed, the mind enlightened, and the
+will impelled to action.
+
+People came to be in his presence. They found a new, bright sense of the
+glory of religious faith; they felt how precious is the least of the
+human vessels into which God pours His Spirit. The man in himself
+communicated a personality so wholly infused with the grace of the Lord
+Jesus that his hearers were stirred to action, which result stems from
+the authentic note in preaching. "Effective preaching can only mean
+effective in the sense of doing God's work."[14] Frank Nelson did God's
+work. He stirred people to do God's work. The atmosphere of conviction
+generated by the preacher is due to his whole personality rather than to
+his words; hence the impact made upon his hearers at the moment of his
+speaking is never conveyed through the printed page. Its influence,
+however, continues in their lives, and measured by this standard Frank
+Nelson was a powerful and effective preacher. The gift of swift,
+magnetic, eloquent speech was his. Words with the quality and vigor of
+intuitive imagination poured out of him. Yet preaching was never easy
+for him, and as it was dominated by his characteristic intensity and
+fervor, he was nervous beforehand and exhausted afterward. His emotional
+range sometimes led him off the main thread of a discourse; at times he
+ranted; and more than once preached an entirely different sermon from
+the one outlined in his written notes. His preaching was "feeling warmed
+up to vision," and the word of God passed through him to men. He
+believed tremendously in preaching; there were few services in Christ
+Church at which he did not preach,[15] but he was not a so-called
+popular preacher; crowds did not constantly fill the pews. To some his
+driving power was wearing, and even some of his admirers would exclaim,
+"Oh, I do wish Mr. Nelson would not tear his throat so when he
+preaches." But his very force of delivery, and his vehemence were a part
+of the man, and he no more could have preached in another manner than
+have changed his stature.
+
+But these characteristics had compensations or off-setting factors.
+After Mr. Nelson's exchange with the rector of St. Paul's Church, Rome,
+Italy in 1912, a certain dowager commented, "Mr. Lowrie's sermons made
+me feel comfortable, but Mr. Nelson makes me feel a miserable sinner!" A
+newcomer, on his first Sunday in Cincinnati, went to Christ Church
+intending to "sample" several churches before casting his lot with one.
+The choir came in, followed by a young, boyish-looking clergyman whom
+the man presumed to be the assistant. During the sermon Mr. Nelson
+continually entangled himself in his stole and gave the impression of
+one so inextricably caught up in his message that he was a part of it,
+stole and all! The newcomer was Frederick C. Hicks, later the President
+of the University of Cincinnati. He did not go elsewhere but continued
+at Christ Church and eventually became a vestryman.
+
+Mr. Nelson did not talk in an amiable sort of way about the Christian
+virtues; his sermons, thank God, were not colorless essays on the
+doctrine of God, and the Church. He preached with abandon, and there
+issued forth a fiery stream of conviction that stabbed his hearers into
+life. Within those in whom the seed found good soil there was
+reproduced his hunger for righteousness, his integrity of character.
+What we heard from the pulpit of Christ Church was the product of
+hard-won battles, the forthrightness of a man stirred by his struggle to
+live as a follower of Jesus Christ. He was no respecter of persons but
+of personality, saying "We don't dare to be Christians." Some said Frank
+Nelson did not preach doctrinal sermons, but if not, then church
+doctrine needs another name, for this man preached the Christian faith,
+pouring it forth in great bucketfuls. If after hearing him one didn't
+know something about the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, then there
+is no such thing as doctrine.
+
+The rector was sensitive about his failure to attract larger
+congregations, and deprecated his ability as a speaker. He was forever
+saying that he could not preach, and that he preached too long, but
+jested that he was too old to change! Once in the midst of an
+after-dinner speech, he paused to make an aside to his friend, J.
+Hollister Lynch, "Am I talking too long?" "Yes," whispered Dr. Lynch,
+but he kept right on! Cincinnati is not a church-going city like
+Pittsburgh, for instance, but, as one witty observer has remarked,
+"Cincinnati has fewer moral lapses!" In making judgments on this point,
+one should take into consideration the fact that there was a large Roman
+Catholic constituency, and that the predominant German population of
+Cincinnati which came in such large numbers during the middle of the
+nineteenth century, was definitely anti-religious. Christ Church,
+moreover, is a downtown church, and the greater number of the
+communicants live in suburbs. His parish took him for granted as was
+inevitable over a forty-year period, but when we recall his multiple
+civic associations, and the fact that whenever he spoke there was a
+religious foundation to his address and in his presence, we perceive
+that Mr. Nelson's preaching reached far beyond the bounds of Christ
+Church.
+
+The sermons of Frank Nelson were pervaded with a fine ethical
+perception. He was in the succession of the ancient Hebrew prophets in
+their profound love of justice and concern for humanity. He had a keen,
+quick feeling for spiritual values, and succeeded in relating them in
+vital fashion to the throbbing stress of daily living. Beyond his
+piercing eloquence, captivating as it most certainly was, was the
+compelling fact that in his interpretation of the religious significance
+of human experience he stood forth like a pine tree towering above
+scraggly growth. No one can ever forget that tall, dynamic figure in the
+spacious pulpit of Christ Church preaching the Word of God with gripping
+power. It was not merely the power of virility and eloquence, but the
+power of grasp, of comprehension, the ability to communicate truth and
+make it come alive, and cry out for expression in the hearts and lives
+of his hearers. We felt the majesty of the human spirit, the impatience
+of sure faith with the rags and blemishes of doubt and cynicism. "Like
+rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth," Frank Nelson
+poured out his soul, and revealed the grand proportions of human
+destiny.
+
+In his beautiful address at the Helen S. Trounstine Memorial Service, a
+portion of which follows, we find one of the best examples of Mr.
+Nelson's ability to interpret human experience, as well as of his
+intuitive understanding of another's travail of soul:
+
+  And then her courage. There are the lesser courages and the
+  greater. There are many who dare face danger and undertake hard
+  tasks, and face ridicule and failure. It is a fine and a true
+  courage and I do not underrate it. Helen Trounstine had it and
+  had it to the full. She tackled hard tasks; she faced some men
+  whose interests she opposed. She fought out her fights against
+  all comers, and never flinched. She would go into the court or
+  into the saloon or dance hall, the places of commercial
+  recreation, and fight her fight with all, for what she believed
+  to be right; and she won most of the time. It was a noble thing
+  to see that delicate woman unafraid before the problems and evils
+  of the world.
+
+  Yet that was not the finest courage she had. That other finer
+  courage is the one that I would emphasize. It was given her to
+  reconcile a spirit filled with high ideals and great desires,
+  with a body weak, often bent and torn with pain, unsuited to the
+  tasks she longed to do, until at last she was stricken with utter
+  helplessness waiting for the end. For only a few brief years was
+  her body adequate, even a little, to her will. And instead of
+  bending before that limitation and saying that she could do
+  nothing because of it, instead of growing bitter with resentment
+  at a fate that had so burdened her, she but grappled with it the
+  more determinedly. With utter courage of heart and mind, she
+  fought her inner fight and won the victory of cheer and energy
+  and peace. With no excuse and no complaints, and no relaxing of
+  her will before the limitations of her strength, she lived and
+  loved and served as if she had the health she longed for. The
+  limitations of her stricken body meant the giving up of many dear
+  desires, of hopes that would have made life sweet and joyous, of
+  work she yearned to undertake.
+
+  Any of you who have had much to do with one stricken with a sore
+  disease, who knows he never can be well again, know that it is
+  not the sickness, the physical weakness and pain that make the
+  problem and the tragedy. It is the reconciling of the will to
+  surrender life's hopes and the readjustment of the life to the
+  conditions that have got to be, that nothing can change. That was
+  Helen Trounstine's problem and her tragedy. She sat down with her
+  fate and fought that fight and won it. It must have meant many
+  hours of untold darkness and suffering and bitter questioning and
+  struggle. But of such hours she gave us no outward sign. At least
+  I saw none in the years I knew her, except that finest one of
+  all, the victory of her soul in the glad and joyous doing of what
+  remained within her power.
+
+It is not surprising that his addresses on Good Friday and his sermons
+on Easter Day were more nearly adequate to those great days than is
+commonly the case. He cared for these days tremendously, and never
+ceased to be heartened by the throngs that crowded the old church,
+filled up the chancel, and stood in the vestibule through the Three
+Hours on Good Friday. It seemed as if the whole city was aroused as
+people from offices and factories, and from the outlying districts came
+to these special services year after year during his long rectorship. It
+stirs the imagination to think of that gathering, the rich and the poor,
+the highly-cultivated, and the meekly endowed, shop girls and clerks,
+the faithful and those groping for faith, all drawn by the mysterious
+fire kindled by this man of God. There was a concentrated intensity to
+his preaching on these occasions, for he saw clearly and felt deeply the
+tragedies of life. In that vibrant voice and in his passionate concern
+for the soul of men, there burned a white-souled homage to God, and a
+faith and love that spoke to each one's condition. Out of his long
+brooding over the darkly colored stream of history, and the chequered
+progress of Christianity of which his daily contact with the city's life
+as well as his study gave him profound knowledge, there came forth
+"great out-bursts of unshakable certainty which stand up like Alpine
+peaks in the spiritual landscape of humanity." The integrity of the man
+along with the power and dramatic quality of his speech was unveiled for
+all the world to see. One recalls in this particular a certain Good
+Friday after World War I when he took up Sarah Bernhardt's ghastly
+reversal of the First Word from the Cross, "Father, do _not_ forgive
+them for they _know_ what they do," and with terrific intensity
+literally shouted, "That is a lie straight from hell."
+
+His preaching always illumined a fine feeling for the mastery of
+language, and those who heard him over the span of the years were
+conscious that in his Good Friday addresses he employed plain,
+Anglo-Saxon words, fundamental, strong words that lent a cumulative
+effect to his speech. Because of his modesty he never consented to the
+publication of any of his Good Friday addresses, which is lamentable for
+without a doubt they represent his best preaching. A full, stenographic
+report, however, was made of his last addresses in 1939, and certain
+paragraphs from the Third Word may well be quoted. This Word from the
+Cross, "When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by
+whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then
+saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!", was greatly loved by his
+people because he gave to it an interpretation that was entirely
+original:
+
+  As those of you who have been here on other Good Fridays know, I
+  give that my own interpretation. Some say that I am wrong: that
+  when Jesus Christ said "Woman, behold thy son," He meant He was
+  directing her attention to His friend, St. John, who would be a
+  son to her now that He was going away. Perhaps. But I like to
+  think the other way: that He was revealing to that mother of His
+  the thing that should justify her motherhood, and her faith, and
+  her love. He was saying, as it seems to me, things like this:
+
+  "Behold, your Son, bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh. Known
+  and yet unknown. The Son whom the angel announced to you long ago
+  among the Judean hills. The things that you have treasured and
+  pondered in your heart must be brought out now to allow God to
+  open to you their hidden meaning. For I am your Son, your
+  first-born. In these years of wonder and strangeness I have not
+  forgotten the love and care and protection given me. Through you
+  I grew up in the knowledge of the Scriptures and the love of
+  God's House. No, I have not forgotten those years in the
+  carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and the laboring for daily bread.
+  Neither was it easy to break away, and leave home, but God called
+  me, and deep down in your heart you were glad that God chose
+  me--it was the confirmation of all that the angels had whispered
+  in your heart. You were proud of me, sure that God had somewhat
+  in store for me that had never been known in the world, never
+  known to the mothers of other sons. And then murmurs came to you
+  of opposition, of the hostility of men high up in the synagogues,
+  weird reports of my deeds, and strange teachings, and finally all
+  that I said and did seemed to go against the authority and
+  sanctions of your religion, and you were fearful of my mind. And
+  now I have come to this disgraceful end. This cross is the
+  fruitage of those thirty years spent with you and in the
+  fulfilling of God's pleasure. This fruitage of the Cross is not
+  the fruitage that God gives to the sons of evil as seems to be
+  the just fruitage of these thieves crucified beside me. In
+  reality this Cross is the crown of my life, and some day the
+  world will see it, and take Me unto itself, and the Cross will
+  have become a throne."
+
+  It is the word of justification and comfort that Jesus gives the
+  broken-hearted Mary. It is the word of God to woman. "Now we see
+  through a glass darkly, but then face to face." In Jesus, the son
+  of Mary, we see what the world will be like 'when the years have
+  died away.'
+
+It was on these special occasions that he so frequently was inspired.
+Easter Day, for instance, with its many services and huge congregations
+stimulated him to the utmost, and to many of us it seemed as if we stood
+in one of the vestibules of immortality, certainly in the temple of this
+man's faith. He preached at both the eight and the eleven o'clock
+services, and each time with undiminished vigor and clarity of thought.
+In the interim, he personally greeted all the parishioners who remained
+after the first service for breakfast in the parish house.
+
+Frank Nelson loved the ministry, and his convictions glowed and radiated
+pervasively. Innumerable scenes flood the memory, and I recall an
+ordinary Sunday which included the early celebration of the Holy
+Communion at eight forty-five A.M.; an address to his Chapel
+Class at nine forty-five; and a sermon at eleven o'clock; in addition to
+all these he went, in the afternoon, to a labor union memorial service.
+There he repeated the morning's sermon from the text, "The last enemy
+that shall be destroyed is death." It was the fruit of all his ministry
+to the bereaved, and of his penetrating, sympathetic insight into the
+loneliness and devastation of death's inroads. As he brought the
+Christian faith to bear upon the problem, he imparted by clarity of
+thought and eloquence of words as well as by accent and genuineness of
+emotion that certitude which is possible only for one who himself
+possesses that which he proclaims. This sermon was a notable example of
+Phillips Brooks' definition of preaching, "Truth conveyed through
+personality." The few notes here included give only a glimmer of the
+range of his thought, and do not adequately convey the personal factor
+which made one want to rise up and call him blessed:
+
+  Men have ever striven to conquer death, and never succeeded.
+  Christ too died and though He rose from the dead, He did not
+  return to this life and take up its habits and tasks again. St.
+  Paul was not thinking of overcoming death in this way, but rather
+  of the new consciousness and gift of power that Christ has given
+  men. Christianity is a conquering power. Faces what appears to
+  be the impossible, what experience declares to be impossible, but
+  does so with the word that "all things are subject to Christ."
+  "We see not yet all things put under him--but we see Jesus."
+  There is nothing that may not become subject to the spirit of man
+  through Christ.
+
+  Christ facing human problems: the fear of God's wrath,
+  superstitions arising from doubt of God's moral goodness,
+  sickness, sorrow, hopelessness, sin, worldliness, bitterness of
+  spirit and mind, suffering, and at last conquering death as an
+  enemy by His resurrection.
+
+  Death's mastery over us is not a physical thing. It is its power
+  over our spirits, its apparent defeat of hope, of work begun, of
+  love entered into, of faith laid hold upon, and the bitterness
+  that is the fruit of that defeat. Through Christ the power of
+  achievement was strengthened, and released by death. We resent
+  death perhaps--reason for shrinking is that so impersonal and
+  physical a process should be able to overcome a spiritual
+  consciousness and experience. We resent always the victory of a
+  lower over a higher order. (Feb. 28, 1926)
+
+Frank Nelson combined a happy idealism with common sense, and when the
+occasion moved him to inspired utterance, he drew upon the deep wells of
+his being, and spoke without effort as waters flow from a fountain. This
+quality characterized many of his speeches, such as the one in Music
+Hall after the Armistice of 1918 which he himself considered his best,
+and those at Masonic gatherings when men flocked to drink in his words
+and to be in his presence. He overshadowed other speakers, and what
+Henry Ward Beecher said of another is doubtless applicable to Mr.
+Nelson: "When he speaks first, I do not care to follow him, and if I
+speak first, then when he gets up I wish I had not spoken at all."
+
+The worth of so much preaching troubled him at times, and he too had his
+darker moments. Sometimes he paced up and down Howard Bacon's study
+never saying a word, or perhaps bursting out in boyish petulance, "When
+I am down, the parish is down. Why can't they stay up?" At a staff
+meeting one morning he told the incident of an organization that had
+requested him to address them, and when he asked on what subject, the
+reply was "Oh! just talk!" He passed this off as a sort of reflection on
+his fluency of words.
+
+Preaching was desperate business to him because "the burden of the Word
+of the Lord" lay upon him, and if he rose to great heights, he also was
+dashed down to the depths. To preach for forty years from the same
+pulpit is an exacting task, and the net result of such an experience is
+no better summed up than in the remark of a humble parishioner by whose
+house he was walking one morning with Frederick C. Hicks. It was Monday,
+and the woman was hanging out her wash. Mr. Nelson said, "Let's stop and
+ask her what she remembers of my sermon." The good soul was non-plussed,
+and could not recall even his text. And then with a leap of inspired
+insight she said, "But Mr. Nelson, this cloth is whiter every time I
+pour water over it." Perhaps this is the lasting effect on every humble
+soul who patiently waits as God communicates His truth in earthen
+vessels.
+
+People came to be in Frank Nelson's presence. He never let them down. He
+had said of William S. Rainsford's preaching: We came here as church
+people, professing the faith, and as "we sat before him we saw poured
+forth the reality of the thing we had professed to believe in ... He
+took us to whom religion was a profession, and made it a passion."
+Christ Church people find these words set up poignant echoes of a day
+when they sat before Frank Nelson and heard the living Word of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] _Central Anglicanism_, Charles W. Lowry, Jr. _The Witness_ May 27,
+1943. Used by permission.
+
+[14] _The Servant of The Word_, Farmer p. 6, Charles Scribner's Sons.
+Used by permission.
+
+[15] Farmer in his brilliant book, _The Servant of the Word_, makes this
+illuminating comment on preaching:
+
+"The wisdom of the reformers appears in always associating the speaking
+of the word with the other sacraments, and the protestant habit, which
+is sometimes derided, of always having an address at every meeting is
+seen to have sound reason behind it. It is part of our whole
+understanding and valuation of the person and the personal way in which
+God deals with him. I want the thrusting intrusiveness, the
+interjection, of another's serious speech. I believe there can be no
+substitute for the sermon." _Ibid_ pp. 80-81.
+
+
+
+
+  _Beyond
+  Cincinnati_
+
+
+  _"He was easily the prince of us all in diocese
+  and national church."_
+
+  --_ZeBarney Phillips_
+
+
+  6
+
+
+The diocese of southern Ohio, of which Christ Church is a part, was
+vastly strengthened by the leadership of Frank Nelson. In the earlier
+years of his rectorship he had had little time for diocesan affairs, not
+that he was indifferent, but he was essentially the kind of person who
+did one thing at a time, and never allowed himself to be diverted from
+the immediate task. Moreover, because he was impelled by burning
+convictions to express freely his pronounced views, he was considered
+radical, and was misunderstood and disliked by many churchmen. The
+diocese of those earlier years was conservative and static, and politics
+then played a more weighty part than now. A clerical friend in speaking
+of Mr. Nelson candidly stated, "I had to grow into friendship with him.
+In those early days I had a sort of prejudice against him as a militant
+opponent of things, but I soon saw my mistake and recognized that he was
+of nobler cast." He never sought position, and never until 1916, with
+one exception, was he elected a deputy to the General Convention, which
+is the highest body of authority in the Episcopal Church. Even when the
+Convention met in Cincinnati in 1910 and Christ Church was the host to
+numerous services and meetings, he had no vote. Until 1916 he had
+represented his diocese at the General Convention only in 1904; he was
+defeated for re-election in 1907 because he had defended Dr. Algernon
+Crapsey in a once famous heresy trial.
+
+His larger interest in the diocese probably had its beginning when in
+1908 as a member of the Social Service Commission he visited the Hocking
+Valley, and was shocked by the abominable living conditions of the
+miners and the almost intolerable injustice of their economic
+circumstances. His interest, thus fired, increased with the years until
+he came to be depended upon in every sphere of diocesan life, serving on
+the Standing Committee, the Bishop and Chapter, the Board of Strategy
+and Finance, and in practically every other committee and department of
+importance. He was most insistent on maintaining the missionary program,
+which he held to be the very heart-beat of the life of the Church. Even
+during depressions, Christ Church never lowered its missionary giving
+of $24,000, and one year voted $3000.00 from its parish budget to make
+up a deficit in the missionary budget because as he said "We have failed
+to educate the people." His thorough knowledge and good judgment were of
+infinite value to a succession of bishops. On the occasion of Mr.
+Nelson's Fortieth Anniversary, the present Bishop, Henry Wise Hobson
+said, "In all parts of the Diocese I have heard clergy and lay people
+say such words as these: 'The spirit of honesty, courage, fellowship,
+and service which has grown up in the life of our Diocese is primarily
+the result of the influence of Frank Nelson, whose own spirit has been a
+contagious force in our midst.'" Others who have observed the remarkable
+growth and increasing strength of this Diocese say that its present
+vitality has been generated, not by numbers, nor by wealth, but by the
+passionate spirit of certain recognizable characters of whom Frank
+Nelson was easily the leader. During Bishop Reese's long illness, Mr.
+Nelson largely conducted the business of the Diocese, and for a man with
+such positive convictions, he was extremely fair in presiding at the
+Convention. He leaned over backward to be just, and did not silence even
+those who brought up petty reasons for disagreement on the subjects
+under debate.
+
+When in 1929 the illness of Bishop Reese necessitated his resignation,
+the Diocese spontaneously turned to Frank Nelson as his successor. There
+is a certain piquancy in the contemplation of the change that by this
+time had come over the Diocese. A man who at one time had been
+distrusted, and branded as radical if not reckless, had so won the
+respect and affection of his associates that they desired to express
+their trust and belief in him by electing him to the highest office of
+his Church. Reverend Sidney E. Sweet, now Dean of Christ Church
+Cathedral, St. Louis, nominated Mr. Nelson at the Convention saying, "He
+is a man whose intellectual and spiritual gifts rank him with the finest
+in the Church throughout the United States. It will make the Diocese of
+Southern Ohio proud to present the name of Dr. Nelson to the House of
+Bishops as the representative of this Diocese." Another discerning
+friend, Alfred Segal of _The Cincinnati Post_, put the case
+dramatically when he wrote in his column: "The other day Rev. Frank
+Nelson stood on the threshold of ecclesiastical glory. He needed but to
+take one step and he would have been on his way to the eminence of
+Bishop. But he turned away, though many welcoming hands beckoned him."
+
+In declining the nomination, Mr. Nelson said that his decision came as a
+result of consultation with friends whose opinions he valued, and from
+his own best judgment which counselled against his acceptance. He felt
+that it was desirable to elect a man with no local associations, and his
+own long ties with the diocese made him an unsuitable candidate. He had
+confided in friends his lack of diocesan consciousness, and confessed a
+reluctance to assume at his age another kind of work. Furthermore, the
+parish of Christ Church and the city were by now so deeply embedded in
+his very soul that even a change, if not a severance, of such ties was
+unthinkable. He put forward the name of Dr. Howard Chandler Robbins, who
+later refused the election. The selection of Dr. Robbins, important as
+it was, nonetheless seemed secondary to the insistent attempts of
+leaders to place this humble servant in the office of Bishop. Upon Mr.
+Nelson's entry into the luncheon hall after the convention, he was
+greeted by a tremendous ovation. He was a strong man among strong men.
+The following letter from the late Right Reverend William Lawrence of
+Massachusetts did not dissuade him from his firm decision:
+
+
+  November 22, 1929
+
+  My dear Frank:
+
+  You well know that it is my rule not to "butt in," but as a
+  Pullman conductor once told me, "there ain't no use in having
+  rules that you can't break when you have to."
+
+  I believe that you respect my judgment; my judgment is that you
+  are the one man who has the qualifications to be Bishop of
+  Southern Ohio. I know your loyalty to your parish and your humble
+  estimate of yourself. But the Diocese and the opportunity which
+  the Church will give you as Bishop are greater than your parish.
+  Think of Trinity, Boston, at Brooks' election and its result
+  today. Spaulding of Utah brought into the House of Bishops a
+  breeze of fresh air, a new life and courage which abide there
+  still--You will do the same.
+
+  Think of the cheer that your election will bring to Vincent,
+  Reese, and the whole Diocese.
+
+  Let them have your name and your life. I never wrote such a
+  letter before and no one knows that I am doing it now.
+
+  Yours affectionately,
+
+  William Lawrence.
+
+
+
+
+
+At the succeeding convention another concerted effort was made to induce
+Mr. Nelson to become Bishop. It was refreshing to find the office
+seeking the man, especially a man who had never sought for himself
+positions of prestige, a man never found in the society of office
+seekers. Although he was gratefully aware of the well-meaning intentions
+of his friends, and felt in the proposed honor the warmth of their
+personal affection, he did not want it said that he had permitted the
+election and then declined it. In as tactful a manner as possible he
+labored to prevent the Committee on Nominations from presenting his
+name. During a stormy session of the Committee a movement was under way
+to over-ride Mr. Nelson's wishes and present his name as the nominee of
+the Committee anyway. At this juncture Dr. Hicks, his close friend and a
+Vestryman of Christ Church, rose and protested with considerable
+indignation, "Gentlemen, this means you simply do not know Frank
+Nelson." The debate went on, but Mr. Nelson remained firm, saying on the
+Convention floor, "I _may_ not be Bishop of Southern Ohio," and he used
+the word _may_ in the ancient sense of having "power to prevent." "I
+cherish the tribute, but I tell you without recourse to thought or
+prayer that I cannot do it." Finally, the Convention proceeded to the
+happy election of Henry Wise Hobson, and the Diocese of Southern Ohio
+remembers with gratitude that it owes Bishop Hobson to Frank Nelson.
+
+From 1916 until his death, Mr. Nelson was a deputy to the triennial
+meetings of every General Convention, and became the principal
+spokesman in the House of Deputies. This body is not always as decorous
+and staid in its deliberations as the House of Bishops, but Mr. Nelson
+at all times commanded a respectful hearing among the deputies. He came
+to be one of the leaders who, as a veteran church-paper correspondent
+put it, "could read the signs of the times." His opinions carried
+enormous weight though not habitually swaying votes.
+
+In Diocesan circles as well as in Christ Church, he was absolutely
+fearless in utterance, and was among those who were eager for the
+Episcopal Church to make large ventures of faith. Like Bishop Brent, he
+commanded a vision and a breadth of spirit which were incomprehensible
+to those who could not conceive of a universal Christianity free of
+sectarian doctrines and dogmas. In this respect he reflected and
+perpetuated the greatness of Phillips Brooks who thus stated his
+position: "I cannot live truly with the men of my own church unless I
+also have a consciousness of common life with all Christian believers,
+with all religious men, with all mankind." As a natural consequence of
+such conviction, Mr. Nelson was insistent that the Episcopal Church
+become a constituent member of the Federal Council of Churches, and
+lived to see accomplished that small but significant step towards
+cooperation among the churches.
+
+In the debates that occurred in various years on such subjects as the
+proposal to eliminate the word "Protestant" from the official name of
+the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and on
+the status of the Presiding Bishop, he was very firm but kindly and
+tactful in setting forth the Protestant emphasis in the
+Catholic-Protestant fabric of his church. He argued that the word
+"Protestant" in the title is there to protect the right of every sort of
+churchman. His candor was disarming, and he could get away with such
+unvarnished statements as this: "As you know I am a Protestant of the
+Protestants. I do not belong to the Catholic party in the Episcopal
+Church. I belong to the Protestant party. I believe in Protestantism; I
+do not believe in Catholicism, I never have, and please God, I never
+will. I believe in Protestantism; but I believe more, and deeper, and
+further and broader, and higher in manhood and womanhood. I can see a
+vision of God in the man and in the woman, in the Catholic as well as in
+the Protestant, in the Jew, in the atheist, as well as in the
+Episcopalian."[16] He was alert to any move that threatened the
+democratic basis of the Episcopal Church and diminished the power of the
+clergy and the laity, holding in the instance of the Presiding Bishop's
+status that the proposal for something similar to an archbishopric would
+introduce a monarchical form of government into a church whose
+government closely resembles that of the United States.
+
+At those conventions when the Prayer Book was under revision, Mr.
+Nelson's spiritual discernment, large-heartedness, and wise judgment
+were an important supplement to the work of the liturgical authorities.
+One of the really notable speeches of any General Convention was his
+plea for the church to place the emphasis in the Baptismal Service where
+the Apostles did, namely, on discipleship rather than on Creed. "The
+Creed ought to be on the Altar, not at the door of the Church," he said.
+"I want the Creed in the service, and I believe it will receive more
+emphasis than before if it is inserted where I have proposed to place
+it.[17] The important thing required of Christians is to follow Christ.
+It is harder to follow Christ than to accept a creed, and God forbid
+that I should make membership in the Church easier than Christ made it."
+His earnestness and deep religious feeling made a profound impression,
+but there were those who saw in the proposal an opening wedge for the
+subordination of the creeds, and timidity and caution overcame the surge
+of approbation which followed immediately on his speech.
+
+Commencing in 1925 and continuing until his death, Mr. Nelson served on
+the Joint Commission on Holy Matrimony, which dealt with the highly
+controversial issue of divorce. In upholding the high standards embraced
+in the canons of the Church, he supported that section of the
+Commission which sought to take into account the far-reaching human
+factors involved in marriage and divorce. He was absolutely convinced
+that the Church was not approaching the problem in the right way. To him
+it was not an ecclesiastical problem but a definitely human affair. He
+said he preferred to submit a delicate, ethical problem to a human
+bishop rather than to the arbitrary operation of a rule. He maintained,
+"Divorce is now on a legalistic basis. That was not the way of our Lord,
+and the Commission desires to lift it out of the legal atmosphere into
+the sphere of the fellowship of the Gospel." Towards this end the
+Commission had (in 1931) drawn up a proposed canon which was the result
+of six years' study on the part of an extremely able group of clergymen
+and laymen. Among the latter were some of the great lawyers of America,
+such as George W. Wickersham, Roland Morris, and Professor Joseph Beale
+of the Harvard Law School. This Commission proposed that "any person to
+whom a divorce from a former marriage has been granted for any cause by
+a civil court may apply to his Bishop to marry another person." In other
+words the Commission was endeavoring to have the matter decided not by
+some hard and fast rule which was bound to do many injustices to
+individuals, but by a more general principle to be interpreted by the
+Bishop or Marital Court. The proposal was defeated, but in the battle
+which ensued and has not ceased "Frank Nelson," says Bishop William
+Scarlett of Missouri, "was a leading figure. He was trying to see this
+whole matter through what he believed to be the mind of Christ, and to
+act and legislate accordingly."
+
+At the Church Congress in Richmond, Virginia, in 1926 in a paper on
+_What Is Loyal Churchmanship?_ he boldly stated:
+
+  Even when it comes to the canon in regard to remarriage of
+  divorced persons, when I find in my conscience, standing before
+  God in the presence of Christ, as I try to do, that a man and a
+  woman have a right to be remarried, I will remarry them and take
+  the consequences. I do not mean that I would go about seeking
+  ways of disobeying the Church. I am putting extreme cases. Of
+  course I do not mean that.... My first loyalty, my highest
+  loyalty is to the Spirit and to the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ
+  as God gives me grace to see it.... The human soul is more sacred
+  than constitution or canons. Canons and forms of worship are used
+  to illuminate and guide men's minds and souls to Christ, not to
+  dominate them or compel them to conform to this or that.[18]
+
+In a few exceptional instances he remarried divorced persons. He held
+the present canon of the church to be utterly ridiculous in permitting
+reinstatement to communicant status following remarriage after divorce:
+"If one commits so grave a sin as to demand excommunication, how can one
+be reinstated while continuing to live in that sin? It is absurd on the
+face of it."[19]
+
+There were those who sneered at his position, saying it was
+individualistic and amounted to the setting up of oneself against the
+law of the church, yet he of all people was most conscious of the sin of
+pride and excessive individualism. At his last Convention in 1937, he
+reemphasized the point that the object of rewriting the marriage canon
+was not to liberalize divorce and remarriage: "We have been trying to
+interpret the mind of our Lord. We have presumed to separate men from
+the love of God by excommunication. This Commission is trying to set
+free to a higher plane this tremendous question which is facing us, to
+lift this tremendous relationship from regulation to the life of the
+spirit. We want this church to face reality." Nevertheless, the
+Commission marched from one defeat to another, but it still marches!
+There was passed in 1931 one constructive piece of legislation bearing
+on instruction in Christian marriage which was enacted largely through
+the extremely forceful defense of Frank Nelson.
+
+The same human touch which guided all his thought and effort was
+apparent in his work on another Commission, namely, the Budget and
+Program. He usually was chosen to present the report in the House of
+Deputies, and it was always a masterly presentation. Like Gladstone, he
+had the faculty of making people like figures, because he set them forth
+in terms of human values or in what the newspaper writer calls
+"human-interest" stories. This same humanness was delightfully manifest
+on occasions when friends endeavoured to make him the presiding officer
+or President of the House of Deputies. He would never consent, and
+humorously said that if he became an official, he would have to attend
+all the extra meetings and couldn't play golf!
+
+In 1937 the General Convention met in Cincinnati. Though far from well
+and worn out after the usual strenuous year in his parish, Mr. Nelson
+gave up a large part of his vacation to assist in the arduous
+preparations always entailed by such affairs. At the opening service in
+the University Stadium he was selected by the Presiding Bishop to read
+one of the Lessons, the deserved recognition of his place in diocese and
+national church.
+
+In the extensive work of forwarding the policies set up by the General
+Conventions he was called upon, as one of the representative rectors, to
+speak in many parts of the country. He was foremost in commending the
+Nation-Wide-Campaign or budget plan of operation instituted in 1919, as
+a means of re-awakening the church to a sense of national
+responsibility. Despite heavy work in parish and city he never spared
+himself, and willingly put his services at the command of the Presiding
+Bishop. Only eight months before his death, he spent an entire week in
+the Diocese of Massachusetts speaking two and three times a day to
+groups of vestrymen on the forward work of the church.
+
+When General Convention met in Kansas City in 1940, the first meeting
+after Mr. Nelson's death, the President of the House of Deputies, the
+late ZeBarney Phillips, said at the opening session:
+
+  Later on we shall have the regular memorial to all members of the
+  Convention who have died during the triennium, but as the
+  Convention opens without them I cannot refrain from paying
+  tribute to some of those whom we loved best and best remember.
+  First you will all agree is Frank Nelson who was the outstanding
+  member of this House at Cincinnati. His genuine Christian
+  devotion, his courtesy, his fairness and his gentleness can never
+  be forgotten. Let me tell you one little thing that shows his
+  character. You all know his type of churchmanship, and yet, for
+  the sake of others he placed candles on his altar for the
+  corporate communion. It was a little thing but it was so like
+  Frank Nelson.[20]
+
+Whether in parish, city, or the whole Episcopal Church, his work was
+affected by a mighty vision of the Kingdom of God on earth which set him
+apart as an unusual servant who humbly read the scroll of life as it is
+unrolled to the children of men. He passed on to others the torch of
+faith which lights the path to the City of God.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[16] Address at the Centennial of Christ Church, 1917. He spoke in this
+vein at Conventions though I cannot locate exact statements in official
+records.
+
+[17] Mr. Nelson's proposal placed the Creed immediately after the
+Lesson.
+
+[18] _The Church and Truth_, p. 138, Macmillan Co. 1924. Used by
+permission.
+
+[19] Letter to the author, September 12, 1932.
+
+[20] Letter to Mrs. Nelson from Mr. Richard Inglis of Cleveland.
+
+
+
+
+  _The Mystery of
+  Personality_
+
+
+  "_There is not one of us but in some measure
+  is in his debt._"
+
+  --_The Cincinnati Enquirer_
+
+
+  7
+
+
+"All the hold those people have on God is me. It is terrible. It bothers
+me. They love me but they don't come to church." Mr. Nelson confided in
+this vein one night to his intimate friend, Jesse Halsey, into whose
+study he had stopped on his way home from a call in a distant suburb.
+While it was inevitable that some people should use him as a crutch or
+should let him do their climbing for them, the truth of the matter is
+that he was a chosen channel for the communication of the Divine Spirit
+to earth-bound men. Because he was genuinely humble, he was troubled
+about those people who could approach God only through him. If they
+little sensed that what they loved in him was God, they nevertheless
+were compelled by their limitations to think of God in terms of Frank
+Nelson.
+
+He was only a voice in the successive generations of men whom God has
+sent to minister unto this world, but men loved the voice and though it
+is now no longer heard, the mystery and wonder of his personality still
+remain. The happy blend of the spiritual and the human in his nature had
+a profound influence upon those who knew him. Though poor, faltering
+words may suggest the salient outlines of his character, the richness
+and singularity of it defy complete expression.
+
+Mr. Nelson's rare gifts of mind and spirit were enhanced by a robust
+physique. He was tall, well-proportioned, and in his last twenty years
+took on an almost majestic bearing which gave him a distinguished
+appearance in any company. In his manner there was that graciousness
+which men call charm or presence. Those who associated with him, whether
+rich or poor, talented or commonplace, felt his friendliness. He was at
+home with all kinds of people, and though born on the sunny side of the
+street, and by birth and breeding an aristocrat, he became one of the
+most democratic of men. Because of his greatness some approached him
+hesitatingly, but they went away remembering only his kindness of heart.
+He never stood on his dignity in that sense which conveys condescension.
+His gay, infectious laughter which so often filled a room put people
+immediately at ease, and yet he never belittled his calling nor lowered
+himself to meet men.
+
+There was a look of keenness in his eyes that sometimes pierced one
+through and through, but always there shone forth faith and sympathy and
+understanding. It was the warmth of his humanity that drew people, and
+consciously or unconsciously gave them confidence and a stronger
+readiness to meet life. Bishop Edward L. Parsons of California writes,
+"When with him you felt as if you were entirely safe. You knew that his
+judgment would be sound. You knew that he was too big to be dominated by
+personal considerations."
+
+The same warmth expressed itself in his appreciation of other men's
+opinions, and because he was decisive in outlook and views, he found
+pleasure and stimulus in the spirited exchange of ideas and in sprightly
+repartee. In the Episcopal Church there is an amazing diversity of
+thought on ecclesiastical matters. Frank Nelson, for instance,
+represented one conviction, and the Right Reverend Spence Burton, now
+Lord Bishop of Nassau, quite another. "We were the best of friends,"
+writes Bishop Burton, who is a Cincinnatian by birth, "and we often
+disagreed but got on happily together because I think that
+temperamentally we were somewhat alike--what might vulgarly be known as
+whole-hoggers. In that way we understood each other and did not annoy
+each other nearly so much as if we had had the idea that we could have
+only as much affection for each other as we had agreement with one
+another." The admiration and affection which Mr. Nelson elicited was
+pointedly demonstrated at his funeral. Bishop Burton sat in the chancel
+alongside the Reverend Jesse Halsey, the Presbyterian minister. Dr.
+Halsey said: "Bishop Burton, perfect gentleman that he is, not once
+crossed himself in deference to Frank's (to him, atrocious) low church
+prejudices!" Frank Nelson was like that. Respect for him sometimes came
+grudgingly, but it came because there was no personal animosity in the
+man. He was honored because he was a moral and a spiritual force with
+which to be reckoned.
+
+His election to the Commercial Club of Cincinnati in 1923 is another
+indication of his democratic and appealing character. This club is one
+of the city's most exclusive, its membership being comprised entirely of
+business executives, captains of industry, and a small sprinkling of
+professional men. The constitution of the club allows for three honorary
+members, and at the time of Mr. Nelson's election, the only honorary
+member was William Howard Taft. An extract from the Club's minutes
+reads:
+
+  Believing that it would be a merited recognition of one of our
+  most worthy citizens, won by his unselfish zeal for the cause of
+  humanity, and as a leader for higher ideals in our civic life,
+  your Executive Committee unanimously recommend the election of
+  Rev. Frank H. Nelson to be an honorary member of the Commercial
+  Club.
+
+Each year at the Club's Christmas dinner, Mr. Nelson invariably gave an
+address on some contemporary significance of Christmas. His message was
+deeply impressive to this inner circle of representative citizens, for
+he was one with them in spirit, even as he was one with the humblest of
+his parish. In turn, such associations gave him courage and reenforced
+his will to persist in a difficult calling, as the following lines
+penned to a club member reveal:
+
+  I wonder if you and a few men who are like you in real
+  understanding and real goodness, realize what your confidence and
+  friendship do for a minister? It isn't easy for us to keep our
+  faith in what is right and just and true, when successful men
+  tell us we don't know what we are talking about--that our faith
+  is plain foolishness in the face of realities.
+
+He entered into the Club's frolics with huge enjoyment, and on one
+occasion took part in a pageant, dressed in the vestments of a mediaeval
+bishop. During an outing in the South, the Club attended a religious
+service, and while in the church Mr. Walter Draper had his pocket
+picked. After the service, in some excitement he freely expressed his
+indignation, continuing at great length until Mr. Nelson gleefully
+returned the filched article!
+
+Out of his warmth of human feeling there came a real capacity for
+enjoying simple, ordinary things. If he was stirred by the tragedy and
+the immemorial pain of humanity, he was also moved by the elemental ties
+of family and friendship, and by all the simplicity that lends them zest
+and joy. He loved anniversaries, and was deeply appreciative of the
+innumerable remembrances he received on those occasions. Christmas
+parties in his home were a particular delight to friends and to those
+members of the staff fortunate enough to enjoy the hospitality of Mr.
+and Mrs. Nelson. He was child-like at heart, and those close to him were
+warmed by his gaiety and thoughtfulness. He had a feeling for music and
+when he led the carol rehearsals in the parish house hall before
+Christmas and Easter, the boys and girls responded whole-heartedly. He
+took charge in a firm manner; in fact no bronco was ever more
+competently restrained than his youngsters. The chorus of boys and girls
+sang softly or loudly at his will, and enjoyed it, and when he left the
+platform, they did not growl an adieu, they applauded!
+
+Mr. Nelson's interest in people, and the work he accomplished had for a
+background the sort of home environment which enhanced his capacity. In
+1907 he was married to Miss Mary Eaton, the daughter of William Oriel
+Eaton, a Cincinnati artist of distinction. Their adopted daughter, Ruth,
+was an unending delight to him, and he lived to officiate at her
+marriage, and to become a happy grandfather. Mrs. Nelson's admirable
+arrangements of the household left him free of the many details that
+might hamper a man in public office. He did not have to worry about
+bringing home unexpected guests, and when he was not at home Mrs. Nelson
+carried on in a loyal manner expressive of his interest in people. At
+one time before the Travelers' Aid Society was organized, a mother and
+two children arrived at the railroad station in some sort of pressing
+difficulty. Not knowing where to go, the mother inquired of the
+telephone operator, who suggested "Rev. Nelson." The woman in her
+distress went to the rector's home on Pike Street. Mr. Nelson was out of
+the city, but in characteristic fashion, his wife took them in and kept
+them overnight. Mrs. Nelson's interest and work in the parish,
+particularly with the young candidates for the Girls' Friendly Society,
+was of a notable quality, and her fine understanding of their problems
+was not only an important factor in the effectiveness of that
+organization, but also happily supplemented her husband's unceasing
+labors.
+
+Frank Nelson was continually sensitive to his good fortune in possessing
+adequate means, in contrast to the deprivation and financial
+difficulties of many others. He was incapable of concealment and there
+was a refreshing frankness to his acknowledgment one Sunday morning
+when, speaking on the parish budget, he facetiously told his
+congregation that his salary was too large but he did not have the moral
+courage to refuse it! He was also fortunate in many other ways, such as
+being free from illness the larger part of his life, and from personal
+bereavements, for his parents lived to a ripe age. His gift of
+imagination in dealing with many problems not experienced by him
+personally was, therefore, the more unusual. "Genius is the power of
+getting knowledge with the least possible experience, and one of the
+greatest differences between men is in the amount of experience they
+need of anything in order to understand it."[21]
+
+The even tenor of his lot in life did not produce in him
+self-satisfaction and complacency, but often did make him uneasy. He had
+inherited his father's sternness of conscience and moral fibre. At one
+time when a parishioner sold a piece of property and asked Mr. Nelson to
+use the money to buy his first car, he was sorely perplexed as to the
+appropriateness of accepting such a gift and allowing himself the luxury
+of an automobile. He wondered what some of the people in his parish
+would think. When calling in the "Bottoms," he often wore an old, blue
+serge suit. He was acutely aware that his salary came in part from many
+who had little, and to the end of his days his conscience troubled him
+about this, wanting as he did to share the life of the least of his
+people.
+
+Frank Nelson was a singularly modest person. In the early years of his
+ministry one did not hear much about what he was doing. Everywhere
+people talked of Stein's distinguished preaching, and not much was said
+about Mr. Nelson's talents. He belittled his own abilities, and imagined
+that things which were difficult for him came easily to other people. He
+not only deprecated his skill in preaching, but thought he had no
+capacity for meeting intellectuals on their own ground. It cannot be
+said that he had an inferiority complex for that implies weakness, and
+in Frank Nelson power and gentleness were happily and usefully joined.
+The honor and acclaim that came to him from church and city never
+impressed him unduly; in fact, he was saddened by them because they
+represented a seeming success which in comparison with the great ideals
+of the Christian ministry approximates failure. "So likewise ye, when ye
+shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are
+unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do."
+
+His exceptional sense of reality and proportion, which is the very
+essence of humility, made him a forceful leader and at the same time
+congenial company. Because he was completely sincere and unaffected, his
+friends felt no self-consciousness in the presence of "the cloth." They
+in turn could be candid with him. This fact was once amusingly
+demonstrated when the music at Christ Church was not at its customary
+high standard, and Mr. Nelson, happening to meet a parishioner who had
+not been in church for some time, asked her why, and enjoyed a good
+chuckle over her reply: "Oh! I am tired of hearing the choir bawl and
+you bawl!" There was always a lively give and take in his friendships.
+On one occasion at the close of an inter-faith meeting, he was chided by
+a Roman Catholic friend about his poor speech. Admitting that he had
+come unprepared, Mr. Nelson without the slightest sign of resentment
+offered to drive his friend home, and they had a good two hour talk in
+front of the Roman Cathedral.
+
+The range of his friendships was extraordinary for he possessed the
+capacity to kindle admiration and affection. Many a man found him a
+refreshing tonic, and would say, "I felt better for contact with him."
+He was a frequent participant at the Round Table discussions in the
+University Club, and delighted in the exchange of thought that came from
+all sorts. At the time of the death of his friend, Father Finn, the
+Pastor of St. Xavier's Church, which is in the vicinity of Christ
+Church, Mr. Nelson attended the Requiem Mass, and afterwards was
+observed standing by the hearse, head uncovered and tears in his eyes,
+for they had been the best of friends. A great personality is more than
+what he says, and many times brushes aside the trammels of the popular
+conception of the institution which he represents. Frank Nelson had a
+well-nigh perfect concept of what it means to be a Christian; and,
+therefore, in his wide range of friendship among all faiths and those of
+no faith, he carried himself without the faintest hint of disloyalty to
+the Episcopal Church. As he was never colorless, men knew where he
+stood, and though sometimes disagreeing with him, friends and critics
+alike recognized his genuine goodness and knew his motives to be without
+guile. He would say, "Always believe a person right until proved
+otherwise. Take people at face value. I am a fool, but that is the only
+way to begin." Such were the tenets of his quiet pugnacity of faith in
+human beings. It is no wonder that a working-man called him, "The
+greatest Christian in shoe-leather I ever met; a Christian capitalist
+worthy of anyone's emulation"; or that his faithful colored sexton, who
+waited on him, shined his shoes, and served him devotedly to the end of
+his days, should say, "We were pals. He was always tops with me."
+
+Mr. Nelson was often the one called upon when grace of speech, dignity
+of manner and discriminating taste were required. At a community mass
+meeting in Music Hall in 1927, he was chosen to introduce the speaker of
+the evening, Miss Maude Royden, the noted English preacher. He
+accompanied Miss Royden to the center of the platform with all the
+courtliness of a true gentleman, and with that deference due a
+gentlewoman and an eminent personage. His introduction was an instance
+of his singular felicity of expression and his ability to state in
+choice language the sentiments prompted by the event of the moment. Such
+was Mr. Nelson's gift for being master of every occasion. Sitting in
+the back row of the immense hall which was crowded to the doors, I felt
+that the audience quickly sensed the fitness of the presence on the same
+platform of two such estimable representatives of the Christian Church.
+
+To illustrate further his command of language and his absolute candor,
+there is an incident which also neatly tested his tact and truthfulness.
+One sultry evening in Holy Week, when a long-winded clergyman was
+preaching, it appeared to me that the rector dozed. I wondered what he
+could honestly say to the man. After the service when we were in the
+sacristy, he put his arm around the preacher's shoulders, and said, "Old
+man, you set me to thinking!" His tact was never failing, though often
+its diplomatic flavor could be more than faintly sensed!
+
+Accompanying his humility of spirit there was in his nature and his
+opinions an air of authority wholly unecclesiastical, purely personal,
+but immensely impressive. It came in part from his particular type of
+intellect. He had an assimilative mind, which enabled him, for example,
+to acquire rapidly the gist of a book, and to state succinctly and
+clearly a point which he was desirous of making. His was an intuitive
+knowledge rather than a scientific. It was not the kind of knowledge of
+which the dogmatists speak and in which they alone can believe. Mr.
+Nelson's knowledge was the sort which sees into the life of things and
+of men. His intellectual powers were richly developed by his parish work
+and heavy responsibilities, and by his reflection upon all kinds of
+experiences and his understanding insight into other people's problems.
+A forty years' ministry combined with such a type of mind gave him, for
+one thing, a rather fine grasp of medical science. He knew its
+principles, and was able to simplify and help at times when technical
+terms leave the layman baffled and vague. Because of this special kind
+of mind and the sweep of his experience, his general effect on people
+was sometimes overwhelming. To illustrate a minor angle, he was not
+adept in leading discussions; he could not draw out a group because he
+had pretty thoroughly covered the subject himself, and the impact of
+his personality was a bit overpowering.
+
+But above all, the authority one felt most in his personality was that
+which came as a result of his being Christ-fashioned. He of all men
+possessed the kind of nature which cannot live without God. There was
+within him a spontaneity that was entirely himself, impossible of
+duplication, totally socialized. He was not a mystic and maintained that
+he was puzzled by their writings. He admitted that the prayer-life was
+difficult for him, that he could not meditate or think about God for
+long periods. His was not the ascetic or contemplative nature; he did
+not live in reflective calm. In the whirlpool of human relations he was
+an explorer, a bold adventurer bringing people into the presence of God;
+and what does it matter whether one prays in words or acts? He
+exemplified in his life one definition among many, namely, "To labor is
+to pray." The weight of people's needs pressed down upon him so
+relentlessly that he was driven to do something about them. His was the
+temperament which animates an ancient prayer, "Lord, I am so busy this
+day, if I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me." We are disposed to have
+our tight little crystallizations of what prayer should or should not
+be. Frank Nelson was impatient of such, for he ventured upon a scale
+more broad than that envisioned by the average parson or layman. There
+are no theological concepts which fit him.
+
+Mr. Nelson had a natural talent for enjoying people, which implemented
+all his work, but for a man in his position such a gift has its price:
+either one wears himself out or neglects his major task and so spreads
+himself thin. He chose the first course, and as we contemplate this
+record of vast accomplishment who are we to say that he did not choose
+wisely? He was a very busy man, and went about doing good, not just
+doing. His description of Helen Trounstine's life of activity is
+applicable to his own:
+
+  It was not restlessness, the hurrying on from one thing to
+  another, just to be busy. It was the true energy of full-hearted
+  and full-minded interest in life, and all that it holds; the
+  passion to learn that she might teach; to enjoy that she might
+  give joy; to rest that she might have strength to do her work; to
+  serve because men need her service. It was energy of mind and
+  heart so full of the vision of the greatness of life and the
+  opportunity of living, that she could not waste time except as it
+  ministered to the part she was to play.
+
+Mr. Nelson did not scatter his interests indiscriminately but
+concentrated his efforts in the fields where he was most competent:
+social problems and the relation of the Church to the most concrete
+activities of human life. All these fitted into his prime purpose.
+
+The vision which governed his days was strengthened every year in the
+long vacations that he took at his summer home in Cranberry Isles,
+Maine. There beside the sea he dreamed long dreams, and drank in the
+salty air which brought indispensable relaxation, and mental and
+spiritual refreshment. In his small cabin on a point of land overlooking
+the limitless ocean, he could be very much alone. Something of that
+setting and its influence is conveyed in a letter to the Reverend
+Theodore Sedgwick, a life-long friend, which discloses Mr. Nelson in a
+reflective mood:
+
+
+  Sept. 6, 1928
+
+  Dear Ted:
+
+  Many, many thanks for your intensely interesting letter, and its
+  review of Julian Huxley's book. Such a view of life and religion
+  does make one stop and think--and hesitate. It is the terribly
+  earnest spiritual problem that we face today in the ministry. It
+  is the sort of thing I had in mind, in suggesting the subject of
+  "God" for the next Swansea Conference. For we have got to face
+  the issue with eyes open, minds familiar with the biologist's
+  point of view. The old affirmations of formal theology are not
+  adequate to meet the issue. And yet in those affirmations I am
+  sure lies the truth--that God lives, God our Father--conscious of
+  Himself and of us--a person in a very real sense--from Whom we
+  derive personality--from Whom we came--and to Whom we go. If
+  mankind loses that, "his arms _do_ clasp the air" and he drowns
+  in the infinity of time and space and his own nothingness. We
+  have from Christ the truth and somehow we must learn it with a
+  new understanding--or rather with _the_ new understanding that
+  modern science and modern reverent scientific thought have given
+  us. I am sitting at my desk in my cabin at sunset. The day has
+  been cool and grey--a heavy curtain of cloud over the sky--But
+  now--that curtain is thinning and through the break in the
+  west--the whole glory of the sun has colored sky and sea with a
+  golden light beyond description for exquisite beauty. The gulls
+  are winging their way across the sea to a distant island where
+  they rest and go back to each night. As I sit and look, my whole
+  spirit is moved by the beauty and the evening quiet. There is
+  infinity here--of space and imagination. Yet--the gulls--I think,
+  are unconscious of all that--but I am moved by it and keenly
+  conscious of it. It is not just biology--or I would be as the
+  gulls--and I am not. And men are not. They want God--behind the
+  glory--God clothed with the glory--adequate to the glory--that
+  their own imagination and hunger and aspiration may be
+  justified--That is what Christ has given us to preach and it is
+  the truth. Now the gold has turned to a flaming red--thrilling
+  almost to the point of pain. One must believe--and then face the
+  chill grey of the coming night with the memory of it to lighten
+  and interpret it.
+
+  We go a week from tomorrow, back to work, to the men and women
+  who have so bravely gone on working through long, hot summer days
+  in the streets and factories and tenements of the city. And in
+  that bravery and drudgery, there is the same flaming glory of
+  God. It isn't just biology--it is the spirit of God, making the
+  physical the dwelling place of God and glorifying it with His
+  presence.
+
+Frank Nelson had an almost Elizabethan zest for thought and action, and
+even at Cranberry he entered enthusiastically into the local life. He
+preached at least once every summer in the Congregational Church, and in
+that church today are numerous memorials to him: a silver alms bason,
+the Service Book of the Congregational Church beautifully bound in red
+morocco, a United States flag, and several pictures. Each year at Easter
+there is a large cross of geraniums in the church, and after the service
+the flowers are distributed among the families on the island with a
+card saying, "Given in memory of Frank Howard Nelson with the Easter
+message of Christ's Resurrection." When he left Cranberry the last time,
+all the public school children were dismissed to wave their goodbyes.
+His unaffected interest in the affairs of the community expressed itself
+in practical ways, and his unassuming and simple manner gave little
+inkling that he was a foremost citizen of Cincinnati.
+
+"There is nothing comparable," says Coventry Patmore, "for moral force
+to the charm of truly noble manners." Frank Nelson's manner was not only
+the result of a choice family inheritance, but also the rich fruitage of
+a lifetime of faithful obedience to a consuming passion and vision. He
+was a life-giving river flowing in a parched land. In him the ancient
+prophet's words found a fresh fulfillment: "Everything shall live
+whithersoever the river cometh."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] R. L. Nettleship _Lectures on the Republic of Plato_, p. 129,
+published by Macmillan Co. Used with permission.
+
+
+
+
+  _Last
+  Years_
+
+
+  _Then of those shadows, which one made descent
+  Beside me I knew not; but Life ere long
+  Came on me in the public ways, and bent
+  Eyes deeper than of old; Death met I too
+  And saw the dawn glow through._
+
+  --_Anon_
+
+
+  8
+
+
+Frank Nelson never became an old man. Toward the end of his life his
+body could not fulfill the demands of his spirit, and he was not able to
+undertake as much nor see as many people as he wished, but he never
+neglected any responsibility. At times he could not keep going and had
+to stop on the street to rest because too much exertion caused pain, but
+he would not spare himself nor did he ever complain. He was a happy
+soldier who smiled through his closing years.
+
+In 1931-1932 he suffered from a blocking off of the blood vessels that
+drain the leg, a condition which has very serious possibilities. He
+weighed these possibilities, says Dr. Richard S. Austin, but like most
+patients he figured there was always the chance that he might not have
+to pay the price. He was like the physician who when told to practice
+what he preached replied, "Did you ever know a sign-post to walk down
+the road?" He bore his illness with fortitude, concealing from his
+family and friends the vexation that he felt as the activities which
+were life itself to him were curtailed more and more. When entering the
+church in procession with the choir, he would never use a cane though he
+was often suffering acutely, but squaring himself, and throwing back his
+shoulders, he would march resolutely on. As he crossed the chancel to
+enter his pulpit, something of his old vigor was apparent, and as he
+preached, his voice was strong and clear. If he was less animated, he
+was no less intense, no less the tremendously invigorating preacher. One
+day in the parish house Canon Symons met him carrying a heavy bag. He
+was about to leave for one of his frequent periods in the hospital, and
+Canon Symons remonstrated with him and tried to take his bag, but Mr.
+Nelson refused, saying, "No, I won't. I would rather drop in my tracks
+than to save myself and spend endless days in hospitals."
+
+At the Annual Meeting of the Parish on April 10, 1939, Mr. Nelson
+presented his resignation, "not because I want to quit, but I am
+concerned that this parish should not weaken. This church is facing, as
+every church is facing, a new day; and it needs the leadership of
+younger and stronger men." It was accepted with marked reluctance to
+take effect when his successor should be chosen and had arrived. On May
+21st the parish and many of his friends outside Christ Church celebrated
+his forty years' ministry in the one church and city, and there was a
+singular out-pouring of people.
+
+At the conclusion of the observance he wrote a friend:
+
+  Though it was not so stated in the bond, it saved me from a
+  farewell celebration. I preached at all three services, and it
+  saved me the embarrassment of listening to eulogies, and saved
+  others from having to deliver them! But everyone was fine about
+  it. They decorated the Altar with gorgeous red roses, and me with
+  my red Seminary hood (He wore his Doctor's hood rarely and always
+  looked rather sheepish when asking his secretary to take it out
+  of the safe!), and we had the two choirs at eleven o'clock, and
+  lovely music at all the services. So the day went well, and we're
+  all glad it is well over.
+
+In a letter to another friend he said:
+
+  It wasn't easy to speak and to face the services, and that they
+  meant the real end of my rectorship, my active ministry. There
+  were dear friends and very loyal parishioners there. And I think
+  you know my love for Christ Church and for Cincinnati, and my
+  inexpressible appreciation of all that this church and city have
+  given me. It is terribly hard to try to realize that after this
+  summer I shall no longer be rector of Christ Church--and all that
+  that has meant and means--and in very deep gratitude I saw the
+  many, and my mind and heart were very full. Indeed I hope I shall
+  not "retire" from the friendships, and from the life of the
+  people and city. Thank you more than I can say for what only you
+  could so write. I have had a very rare opportunity, and very
+  privileged forty years, and I hope the coming years--or weeks or
+  months, whatever God wills--will bring in their own way the same
+  high things and find me worthy of them, and chief of them, worthy
+  of your friendship and faith.
+
+
+
+
+He had given the church and city a lifetime of service, loyalty, and
+love, and the place he held in the affections of his people had been
+abundantly made known to him.
+
+In July before the last Sunday he was scheduled to preach, he was
+stricken by a heart attack, and so his ministry came to a close without
+further sadness of farewell. He spent a few weeks in the hospital, and
+improved sufficiently to journey to his beloved Cranberry Isles
+accompanied by his wife and daughter. But a doctor, knowing what others
+did not realize, broke down and wept when Mr. Nelson left the hospital.
+His friends and he himself felt confident that a protracted rest would
+do the work of healing. In August he sustained another and a more severe
+attack, and as the chilling, autumn winds blew in from the Atlantic they
+brought him to the Phillips House in Boston. He saw no one at first, but
+then he grew restless, and the doctor permitted visitors. There were
+many, and as he was making no progress, he was moved to the old family
+home in North Marshfield, near Cape Cod. There as a boy he had roamed
+the spacious, rambling house and the bright fields, and there his
+parents had lived the last twenty-five years of their lives. The lovely,
+old home with its atmosphere of peace brought back many tender memories.
+In the absolute quiet of these surroundings which he loved, he lingered
+some two weeks. With another attack he lapsed into unconsciousness, and
+his boyhood friend, the late Dean Philemon F. Sturges of Boston, came
+down to be with the family. On the morning of October 31st as the end
+approached, Dean Sturges knelt beside him and in the dear familiar words
+of the Prayer Book said, "Lift up your hearts," and the family bravely
+responded, "We lift them up unto the Lord." The Dean continued, "It is
+very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all times, and
+_in all places_, give thanks unto Thee, O Lord." It was meet and right
+that Frank Nelson should depart this life on such a note of
+thanksgiving.
+
+At the burial in Cincinnati, November Third, the parish, life-long
+friends, and representatives of the city thronged Christ Church not to
+say "Farewell," but "Hail!", for as Alfred Segal grandly put it, "He was
+like one going away to gather in his victory." For a night and a day
+preceding the service, his body lay in the beautiful chapel of his own
+creation, and great numbers of men, women and children of all faiths
+came to pay a final tribute. The burial service was the same as he
+himself had always used, only read now by his successor, and the Bishop
+of the Diocese. To his friends and beloved people it all seemed passing
+strange if not unreal. Frail beings that we are, we had never sensed
+more than a vague possibility that his ministry would one day terminate.
+It was not past human knowing, of course, but it was beyond the grasp of
+human imagining that the day would come when Frank Nelson would no
+longer walk the city's streets, no longer hurry to the distant suburbs.
+We felt this way because in an unusual sense men loved this servant of
+the servants of God in Cincinnati who had dwelt among them for forty
+years. Yet the great congregation rose above human grief and surmounted
+the consciousness of personal loss in the tremendous note of triumph and
+thankfulness that prevailed throughout the simple service from its
+opening sentences, "I am the resurrection and the life," to the Bishop's
+final words of commitment, "Unto God's gracious mercy and protection."
+They sang only hymns of victory, hymns that he especially loved and
+which were expressive of his faith and spirit: John Bunyan's "He who
+would valiant be," and "There is a wideness in God's mercy." The
+recessional moved to the church door to the triumphant words "For all
+the saints who from their labors rest," set to the stirring tune of R.
+Vaughan Williams. Thus in the simplicity and dignity of the things said
+and done there that afternoon did the passing of this noble minister
+symbolize the destiny of all mankind.
+
+They took him to beautiful Spring Grove Cemetery and laid him beneath a
+majestic sycamore tree whose spreading branches seemed to represent the
+out-reach of his life. Years ago at his behest Christ Church had been
+given a plot of ground for the poor, the friendless, and the forgotten
+of men, "God's Acre." There, by his express wishes, Frank Nelson lies
+among the least of his flock, the faithful shepherd who called his own
+by name. Then every man "went away again unto his own home."
+
+
+
+
+  _The
+  Afterglow_
+
+
+  9
+
+
+It is now more than five years since Mr. Nelson's death, and today the
+old church in the hands of his successor, Nelson M. Burroughs, whose
+first name singularly suggests a prolongation of the Nelson dynasty, and
+whose spirit and abilities are a worthy continuation of an unusual
+rectorship, is still animated by Frank Nelson's vision, his joy in
+service. His ideals live today in the parish of Christ Church, which has
+not failed him but carries out that which he committed unto them in his
+farewell address:
+
+  The Church is the important thing to all of us. We need the
+  Church, for faith, for courage, for guidance. The Diocese needs
+  this Parish--its loyalty--its support--its fellowship--as we need
+  the Diocese. The City needs this Church. You will never forget,
+  will you, the Vision, and the power that came with it, that Mr.
+  Stein gave us forty years ago, viz;--that the Church is the Body
+  of Christ, not a club, to minister, and not to be ministered to.
+  The people all about us, the whole city, are our concern, to
+  bring them the Gospel of Christ. So, I pray God you will go
+  forward into the new day with high faith and enthusiasm. You have
+  a mission from God.
+
+The mission goes on in the spirit of readiness to embark on great
+ventures, and of youth not knowing defeat, for on Easter Day, 1941 the
+authorities of Christ Church announced it as their purpose to erect a
+glorious new building on the site of the present edifice as the only
+adequate memorial to Frank Nelson. As in the dark days of 1917 the
+parish audaciously built the Centennial Chapel, so the tragic repetition
+of world war sees in the present rector and people no diminishing of
+that daring and firmness of vision. This plan is, as Mr. Nelson would
+have it, not for his own glory, but for the larger range of the Church
+in the service of the city. He had said, "This is the work of those who
+will come after me."
+
+Christ Church will one day be clothed in garments of new beauty because
+Frank Nelson preached the Gospel that is the hope of a better democracy.
+The grandeur of his accomplishment impels men to undertake this task;
+and thus it is a living fact that his vision is still an influence in
+the city, and is the choice heritage of an unnumbered host.
+
+If because of human frailty we think of heaven as rest, his spirit
+corrects us. If in our partial understanding he seems to deserve release
+from labor, yet for the very reason that he "wrought with tireless hand
+through crowded days,"[22] we know in our moments of vision that for so
+knightly a spirit the only possible reward is authority over ten cities.
+
+From that kingdom of the spirit, he speaks to us across the abyss of
+time, and nowhere is his voice stronger, his thought clearer than in the
+first chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians. Here, forever sealed in
+the enduring words of Saint Paul, is the heart of Frank Nelson's
+ministry, a ministry valiant and without blemish:
+
+  I thank my God upon every remembrance of you ... for your
+  fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being
+  confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
+  work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[22] Inscription on a tablet in the chapel of Phillips Exeter Academy,
+Exeter, N. H.
+
+
+
+
+    +-------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                   |
+    |                                                       |
+    | Research has shown that the copyright on              |
+    | this book was not renewed.                            |
+    |                                                       |
+    | Typographical errors corrected in the text:           |
+    |                                                       |
+    | Page  ix  incalcuable changed to incalculable         |
+    | Page   9  incalcuable changed to incalculable         |
+    | Page   9  interne changed to intern                   |
+    | Page  23  enternal changed to eternal                 |
+    | Page  25  Legionaires changed to Legionnaires         |
+    | Page  35  unconsciouness changed to unconsciousness   |
+    | Page  40  nothwithstanding changed to notwithstanding |
+    | Page  47  immeasureably changed to immeasurably       |
+    | Page  49  Farrer changed to Farrar                    |
+    | Page  58  self-martydom changed to self-martyrdom     |
+    | Page  58  internes changed to interns                 |
+    | Page  59  Gareld changed to Garfield                  |
+    +-------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Frank H. Nelson of Cincinnati, by Warren C. Herrick
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