< HIRAM '
ROCKWELL-BENNETT
DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Bv CHARLES LEWIS SLATTERY
THE MASTER OF THE WORLD: A Study of
Christ. Crown octavo.
THE LIGHT WITHIN. A Study of the Holy
Spirit. Crown octavo.
LITE BEYOND LIFE: A Study of Immortality.
Crown octavo.
THE HISTORIC MINISTRY AND THE PRESENT
CHRIST: An Appeal for Unity. Crown
octavo.
PRESENT-DAY PREACHING. Crown octavo.
THE AUTHORITY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.
Crown octavo.
A CHURCHMAN'S READING: An Essay for Lay-
men. Crown octavo.
H
FELLX REVILLE BRUNOT (1820-1808) : A
Civilian in the War for the Union; Pres-
ident of the First Board of Indian Com-
missioners. With Portraits, Illustrations,
and a Map. Crown octavo.
EDWARD LINCOLN ATKINSON (1865-1902).
With Illustrations. Crown octavo.
ALEXANDER VIETS GRISWOLD ALLEN (1841-
1908). With Portrait and Illustrations.
Small octavo.
DAVTD HUMMELL GREER (1844-1919): Eighth
Bishop of New York. With Portrait and
Illustrations. Crown octavo.
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
NEW YORK, LONDON, BOMBAY, CA1JCDTTA, AND MADRAS
DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
EIGHTH BISHOP OF NEW YORK
BY
CHARLES LEWIS SLATTERY
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
FOURTH AVENUE fef 30 STREET, NEW YORK
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS
1921
IU
COPYRIGHT -1921 -BY
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
THE PLIMPTON PRESS
MORWOOD-MASS-U'S-A
PREFACE
IN THE fall of 1919 the family of Bishop Greer
asked me to undertake the writing of his Life.
With grateful memory of his counsel and friend-
ship, I gladly undertook the task. Because he himself
was both modest and practical, the book has been made
as brief as possible, that it might quickly reveal his
personality.
To his children, first of all, the book is indebted.
Their gracious help served me at every turn. By their
own wish they are rarely mentioned in these pages;
but the reader will easily imagine how constantly they
were the thought and joy of both Bishop and Mrs.
Greer.
Special thanks must be given to the Bishop's sister,
Miss Elizabeth Yellott Greer. She put at my disposal
memories of the early days, and was most kind in
searching local records.
Then, in spite of her protest, there must be recorded
the debt which the book owes to Miss Ada Barr, who
was Bishop Greer's secretary for twenty-six years.
With a tenacious memory, she recalled to me not only
the years when she was associated with the Bishop in
his work, but also the earlier years which were often
vi PREFACE
recalled by his correspondence and by his chance con-
versation, and she knew the people from whom help
would be most valuable. Her good judgment and
sense of proportion were of unfailing assistance as the
book progressed.
A large number of Bishop Greer's friends and ac-
quaintance gave me their remembrance of him. I am
not sure that I can put down the names of all who
spoke or wrote to me. In some instances, the names
are recorded in the pages of the book, but very often
the words or incidents have been woven into the story
without any indication of the source from which they
were received. Here then I wish to thank the Rt. Rev.
Charles Sumner Burch, Rt. Rev. William Lawrence,
Rt. Rev. Edwin S. Lines, Rt. Rev. Arthur S. Lloyd,
Rt. Rev. Charles H. Brent, Rt. Rev. James H. Dar-
lington, Rt. Rev. Julius W. Atwood, Rev. Leighton
Parks, Rev. Theodore Sedgwick, Rev. Harry P.
Nichols, Rev. H. Percy Silver, Rev. Archibald R.
Mansfield, Rev. William H. Owen, Jr., Rev. Selden
P. Delany, Rev. John R. Atkinson, Very Rev. Howard
C. Robbins, Very Rev. Henry B. Washburn, Rev.
William Austin Smith, Rev. Paul Gordon Favour, Rev.
Raymond C. Knox, Rev. Allen Jacobs, Rev. James
E. Freeman, Very Rev. Edward S. Rousmaniere, Rev.
William S. Chase, Rev. James P. Ware, Rev. Henry
Mottet, Rev. Henry Bassett, Rev. Edward S. Drown,
Rev. James Caird, Rev. Francis G. Peabody, Rev.
Rufus M. Jones, Rev. Robert E. Jones, Rev. George F.
PREFACE vii
Nelson, Rev. E. E. Matthews, Rev. John F. Mitchell,
Rev. A. B. Hunter, Rev. Frederic Wyndham White,
Rev. Paul Micou, Rev. Arthur L. Byron-Curtiss, Rev.
William Norman Guthrie, Rev. E. Floyd Jones, Rev.
William T. Walsh, Rev. Joseph H. Gibbons, Mr.
William E. Foster, Mrs. George Augustus Lung, Mrs.
George W. Peterkin, Mr. Walter B. Woodbury, Miss
Rapallo, Miss Diman, Miss Parkhurst, the Governess
who taught the children in Grace Church Rectory,
Providence, Mr. John W. Fiske, Miss Rachel McDow-
ell, Mrs. J. A. Scrymser, and Mrs. Rousmaniere.
Bishop Burch, who had read the manuscript, gave
a morning to me, telling me of his eight years of close
fellowship with Bishop Greer, and adding many details
which I have incorporated in the text. He revealed
his own fine spirit, as he told of his friend and chief.
It was the last time I saw him.
I have no doubt that, though I have tried to reach
everyone who had news by which the book might be
enriched, there are hidden away in the lives of a mul-
titude stories of a good and noble life which those who
remember feel to be too sacred to reveal. Once more,
therefore, the reader must be asked to use his imagina-
tion and to read between the lines.
C. L. S.
GRACE CHURCH RECTORY,
NEW YORK,
14 January, 1921
CONTENTS
PAGB
I. BOYHOOD AND YOUTH i
II. EARLY MINISTRY 21
in. PROVIDENCE 45
IV. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 99
V. THE BISHOPRIC 185
INDEX 323
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
David Hummell Greer, at the age of fifty-nine
From a photograph by Pach Brothers Frontispiece
Trinity Church, Covington Facing page 28
Grace Church, Providence 80
St. Bartholomew's Parish House, New York ... 112
St. Bartholomew's Church, New York 160
The Bronx Church House 194
The Consecration of the Cathedral 234
The Synod House 252
The Bishop's House 262
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine ". 280
Caroline Augusta Greer 316
From a photograph by Pach Brothers
CHRONOLOGY
1844 Born at Wheeling, Virginia.
1859 Entered Morgantown Academy.
1860 Entered the Junior Class of Washington College.
1862 Graduated from Washington College.
1864 Entered the Theological School at Gambier,
Ohio.
1866 Ordered Deacon.
1866 Minister in Charge of Christ Church
Clarksburg, West Virginia.
1868 Ordained Priest.
1868 Rector of Trinity Church, Covington,
Kentucky.
1869 Married Caroline Augusta Keith.
1871-72 Abroad.
1872 Rector of Grace Church, Providence.
1888 Rector of St. Bartholomew's Church, New York.
1889 Bedell Lectures.
1895 Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale University.
1897 Elected Bishop Coadjutor of Rhode Island,
i ooi Elected First Bishop of Western Massachusetts.
1904 Bishop Coadjutor of New York.
1008 Bishop of New York.
1919 Died in New York.
xiii
I
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH
DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
I
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH
DAVID HUMMELL GREEK was born in
Wheeling, Virginia,* on March 20, 1844.
His father was Jacob Rickard Greer, whose
paternal ancestor came to this country from Ireland
at the end of the eighteenth century, and settled in
Pennsylvania. The first of Jacob Greer's maternal
ancestors to settle in America was one Reichert,f a
Lutheran minister, who came to Pennsylvania in 1 709 ;
his son Jacob fought in the Battle of the Brandywine
in 1777. Jacob Rickard Greer, who was born in Car-
lisle in 1815, on reaching manhood, thrust out towards
the west, finding a home in Wheeling in 1835, and
marrying in 1838 Elizabeth Yellott Armstrong.
Elizabeth Yellott Armstrong was the daughter of
John Armstrong, the rector of St. Matthew's Church
in Wheeling. John Armstrong was a native of Eng-
land, and in England had been a preacher among the
* Now West Virginia.
t Later anglicized into Rickard.
3
4 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
Wesleyans. On coming to this country at the begin-
ning of the nineteenth century, he was ordained both
Deacon and Priest by Bishop White of Pennsylvania.
He had charges in Pennsylvania and Maryland. While
in Maryland, he married Ann Yellott, a member of an
eminent Baltimore family. At length he and his bride
came to Wheeling, where he founded St. Matthew's
Parish and was its rector for six years. There was a
rumor that the Reverend John Armstrong had ex-
temporary prayers before and after his sermons, and
there were also rumors that he was a liberal in doc-
trine. One of his parishes actually requested his resig-
nation, but persuaded him to continue as rector for
more than a year after his resignation had been ac-
cepted; and then allowed him to depart only with ex-
pressions about his "kind and fostering hand" and
their own esteem and regret at losing "such a clergy-
man, Christian, and friend." Mr. Armstrong was full
of zeal, and while rector of the parish at Wheeling did
missionary work under Bishop Chase, on the Ohio
side of the river, while still continuing his duties at
St. Matthew's. He died in Wheeling seventeen years
before David was born. His son William entered the
Ministry, and ultimately succeeded his father as rector
of the Wheeling parish, of which he was rector for
twenty-two years, until the time of his death.
True to the traditions of her family (both her
father and brother being clergymen), and true to her
own deeply religious nature, Elizabeth Greer yearned
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 5
that her son, David, should be a minister of the Church.
She was wont to say that she "prayed him into the
Ministry." Jacob Greer, a wholesale merchant, prac-
tical, gentle, patient, successful, was the happy and
substantial background of a home in which the wife
and mother was the dominant influence. John was the
first-born, but he died in his eighth year. Other chil-
dren came after David: Ann Armstrong, Mary Thomp-
son (who died in infancy), Jacob Rickard, and
Elizabeth Yellott. David was named for his paternal
grandfather, and for Judge Hummell, a friend of his
mother's. He was baptized in infancy at St. Matthew's
Church, by his uncle.
II
DAVID'S schooldays up to his fifteenth year
were in Wheeling. Though Wheeling was
within the territory of the Commonwealth
of Virginia the character of its people was entirely dif-
ferent from that of the people east of the mountains.
George Washington had surveyed certain lands within
the area belonging to Lord Fairfax but the whole re-
gion long remained a wilderness. When settlers en-
tered it, the mountains were so formidable a barrier
that few came from the Old Dominion. Most of the
people were the Scotch-Irish and the Germans (com-
monly called the "Pennsylvania Dutch") from Western
Pennsylvania, and the descendants of the old New
Englanders who had first made their homes in Ohio,
and then, in search of larger spaces, not only pushed
out to the westward but entered the hill country of
Northwestern Virginia. The region became a separate
State only during the 'Sixties, when Northwestern Vir-
ginia cast in its lot with the North. Though some of
the soldiers from this section helped the Confederate
cause most of the fighting men and a large majority
of the people in general were warm adherents of the
Union. David therefore, though born in what was
then Virginia, was in all respects of Northern tradi-
6
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 7
tions. Moreover, Wheeling was in the narrow strip
of land wedged in between Ohio and Pennsylvania, so
that its ideals were the ideals of those two great
Northern States rather than of the great State of Vir-
ginia.
In David's own immediate ancestry, but three gen-
erations removed, there were the strains of Celtic
Ireland and of Anglo-Saxon England. The flash of
humor in his eye, which one finds in his earliest pic-
tures and which never left him to the end, his quick
initiative, his eagerness for the fray, all came from
his Celtic inheritance. His calmness, his judgment, his
patience, were the natural fruits of his English birth-
right. Five generations separated him from his Ger-
man ancestor: certainly it is not fanciful to think that
his insistent industry and thoroughness came in some
measure from this strain.
He was wont to confess that as a small boy he was
so little of a pacifist as to live from Monday morning
to Friday afternoon in the joyful expectation of the
fights in which he should indulge with other boys. It
was a rule of his school that all quarrels should be
postponed till Friday afternoon, after school hours,
when all the scores of the week could be settled. He
spoke of this in recent years in connection with the
theory that there might be a war to end war. He said,
from his own experience, he learned that the black
eyes which he gave and received on Friday afternoons
only made him anticipate more keenly the slaughter
8 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
that might follow on succeeding Fridays. Once a week
he was required to write an essay upon a subject
chosen by himself. He found little difficulty in writing,
but much difficulty in choosing his theme. Finally, he
hit upon a subject so generous in its dimensions that
he felt he could use it indefinitely, "The World and
its Contents." Once he ran away to see a hanging.
On that day he had a specific subject!
When he was fifteen, David went to the Morgan-
town Academy, a school of considerable fame which
was later to develop into the West Virginia University.
Morgantown was isolated from the world until after
the war. It did not even have a telegraph office and
the stage coach was the most rapid means of reaching
it. The Reverend J. R. Moore was the Principal of
the academy, and as long as he lived he was one of
the strongest influences in David Greer's life. Before
the founding of this academy by Mr. Moore there was
no school in northwestern Virginia capable of fitting
boys for college. Mr. Moore was so able and winning
a schoolmaster that in David's time boys from all parts
of the State of Virginia, as well as from other States,
were coming to the school. Here David was to meet
boys from Pittsburgh, Washington, Cincinnati, St.
Louis, and even New Orleans. An old paper contain-
ing the "Programme of the Seventh Annual Contest be-
tween the Columbian and Monongalian Literary
Societies of the Academy" for June 28, 1860, records
that David Greer read an essay under the title, "Wave
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 9
Urges Wave." Other subjects of the evening included
the "Durability of the Fruits of Mental Labor," the
"Descent of Man," and "Robert Emmet's Last
Speech." Mr. Moore hated sham and superficiality,
and his sincerity and truth he communicated to his
pupils. Moreover, he gave them so solid a prepara-
tion that when they left the academy they were ready
to enter the Junior Class in the various colleges.
Ill
IN THE fall of 1860 David became a Junior in
Washington College,* at Washington, Pennsyl-
vania. Washington, as well as Morgantown, is
in the foothills of the Alleghanies, a country of great
natural beauty, filled with prosperous farms, whose
houses were small, whose barns were huge, in whose
towns there was a spirit of hospitality, a sense of
family dignity, and a general air of stability and com-
fort. Washington itself was a town of three or four
thousand people. In front of the old Fulton House
new students were investigated by upper classmen, and
it was easy to see who came from the country and who
came from the city. The three questions asked every
boy were, "Where are you from? What class are you
going to enter? What academy did you attend?"
David was one of the three boys in the fall of 1860
who astonished his fellows by entering the Junior Class.
He was then only sixteen years old.
The town had in it a Southern element. When the
rumor of war reached it a mass meeting was called
in the old Court House to devise means to avert the
conflict. All the collegians were there. Excited
* Now Washington and Jefferson College.
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH n
speeches were made, and war began that night within
the Washington Court House, and the next morning
the sun shone upon the Confederate Colors, which,
during the night, a Southern sympathizer had attached
to the Court House cupola. The crowds were so mad-
dened at the sight that some of the men, in order to
purify the town, were for burning the Court House;
and from that moment there was never doubt about
the loyalty of Washington to the Union cause. Boy
after boy in the college who had been drilled by Cap-
tain Dawson went forth to the war, including one-third
of David's class. He himself offered to enlist but was
too young to be accepted.
David graduated third in his class, delivering at
Commencement the philosophical oration. His chief
college interest had been the literary society which he,
as orator, represented in contests with other institu-
tions. His classmates remembered him as diffident and
shy. They spoke of him as "clean, reliable, earnest."
They in some way received the impression from him
that he intended to study law. His mother's wish that
he should enter the Ministry was evidently too sacred
to talk about. He therefore brought to light among
his friends only other possibilities. When his class-
mates learned that he had decided to become a min-
ister they were not surprised. He seemed to them
solid and thorough rather than brilliant; but they re-
membered that his teachers gave unusual attention as
he made his recitations.
12 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
When he came out into the larger life of the world,
though he appreciated the training given him at Wash-
ington, he had doubts about the boasted value of a
small college. He often wished that he might have
had the privilege in undergraduate days of association
with large bodies of young men and with teachers such
as Longfellow, Agassiz, and Dana, who during his col-
lege years for example were inspiring youth at Har-
vard and Yale. Nevertheless, the Nation has received
from men trained in the little colleges of the Middle
West a certain freshness, originality, and independence
which has not been excelled by men who seem to have
had richer advantages. These youths, who had not
perhaps for instructors men whom the world accounts
great, were thrown more upon their own initiative.
They made marvellous discoveries in college libraries
and formed there a habit of reading which never for-
sook them. David from his boyhood was a diligent
reader, attacking every library within his reach. More
than he quite knew, one imagines, this habit was due
to the quiet college town, free from the dependence
upon masterful teachers, free of absorbing friendships
in a bewildering company of fellow students from
many places, free of the distractions which belong to
the crowded life of a city. In spite of wistful glances
towards the larger institutions, he himself often said,
"In the big college, the boy goes through the college;
in the little college, the college goes through the boy."
IV
DAVID was quite aware of his mother's dream
for him, but with characteristic conscien-
tiousness he would not venture upon prep-
aration for the Ministry until he was entirely sure that
it was his vocation. He was only eighteen years old
when he graduated from college. There was no need
of haste. He returned to Wheeling. He taught school ;
he read law; he kept books in his father's office. In
the summer of 1864, when the rumor spread that the
southern army was on its way to Pittsburgh and
Wheeling, he ran away with a voluntary company to
join the Union forces. They marched all night, only
to learn at daybreak that the report was false. The
weary members of the little band then threw them-
selves down wherever they could, to get some rest.
David's bed was a cellar door, but he slept the sleep
that patriots deserve. Every day his mother's dream
was becoming his own conviction; and so at length he
turned his face to the west, and in the theological
school at Gambier, Ohio, he began his preparation for
the Ministry. One of his contemporaries who was to
become his admiring friend recalls that when he en-
tered the town he wore his hair very long, curled up
underneath and neatly oiled. This was the prevailing
13
14 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
style some months before, the critics remarked, but
the style had passed; and David seemed to them to
have come from the provinces into the metropolis.
They elected him to the Phi Beta Kappa, but his prin-
ciples would not permit him to enter a secret society.
He was very narrow, very pious, but he was staunch
and independent. It is interesting to note, in passing,
that he at once bought a horse that he might have the
exercise which he most loved. It is interesting also to
note that this was all the exercise he desired. A rule
of the seminary was that the students should take
turns in bringing in the wood; a classmate recalls that
when it was Greer's turn he would almost weep.
Gambier in those days, under the guidance of Bishop
Mcllvaine and Bishop Bedell, was the quintessence of
Evangelical fervor. Dr. Bancroft was the professor
who most impressed the students: he was intense, emo-
tional, introspective. David had come from an Evan-
gelical home. Here he was to acquire Evangelical
theology. There was no hint of the critical and diffi-
cult questions which were beginning to disturb theolo-
gians and their students in large centres, but there was
a profound religious devotion; and the depth of Evan-
gelical piety which always underlay David Greer's
thinking and living received in Gambier its articulation
and its strength. One or two students reacted from
what they thought the complacent theology; believed
themselves radicals; and sought other schools; but
David seems not to have known them.
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 15
We may easily imagine the subjects which engaged
the theological students of Gambier when they met in
one another's rooms and when they took their walks.
The Oxford Movement had excited England for many
years, but Gambier, under Bishop Mcllvaine and
Bishop Bedell, was a stronghold of Evangelical tradi-
tion, and what the students knew of the Movement
was largely through magazines and books, which they
read in the library. The excitement was spreading in
America. The Church Journal, which was sympa-
thetic with the Tractarians of Oxford, was anathema
to the Ohio bishops: one wrote a book called Oxford
Theology, the other edited a diocesan paper, both for
the purpose of nullifying the Oxford influence. Thus
the Gambier students heard echoes of the controversy,
and doubtless they talked of Newman and Pusey and
all the rest.
Theological war dimmed before the War which was
agonizing the North and the South of our own Country.
Bishop Mcllvaine was selected by the Government to
go with Henry Ward Beecher to make clear the cause
of the North to the people of England. Beecher spoke
to the plain people; Mcllvaine, to the aristocracy.
Both were doing valiant service for the Union. Mean-
time, while other Communions of Christians were split-
ting over the question of Slavery, the Episcopal Church
held together. Though the Southern dioceses organ-
ized into a Church in the Confederate States, the Gen-
eral Convention, which met in St. John's Chapel, New
16 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
York, never recognized that the South was separated.
Every day the roll of all the dioceses was called. It
was tacitly assumed that the Southern delegates could
not come: that was all. The General Convention, how-
ever, declared its entire loyalty to the Union cause.
Of all this the students must have talked.
Then came the General Convention after the War,
in Philadelphia, in 1865. The roll call began with
Alabama. Two Southern bishops, Atkinson of North
Carolina and Lay of Arkansas, were present at the
opening service. The kindness shown them told them
that they were welcome. The bishop consecrated dur-
ing the War was received without question concerning
the regularity of his consecration. Bishop Polk,
against his will, had become a general; but since he
was dead, this unusual transformation was not referred
to, and all honored his brave and generous spirit. The
only difficulty arose when the Convention sought words
to express gratitude to God for the ending of the War;
but even here, words were found which all could en-
dorse, and the Church was reunited. Grave problems
confronted the Church as well as the Nation. These
problems the students at Gambier certainly discussed.
With the assistance of a Kenyon student, James
Caird, David Greer conducted a Sunday-school in a
sawmill. The children sat on unplaned boards which
rested on blocks. There was no organ, and Mr. Greer
was the choir as well as the teacher. The scholars
were few, but Dr. Caird recalls that it was "a great
school."
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 17
One lifelong friendship began in the Gambier days
with a fellow student, Arthur Lawrence, who had come
from Harvard, and who brought to David a knowledge
of the training and reserve of New England. But the
main influence was the evangelical mysticism which
sought expression in words of emotional religion.
He had long been ready for Confirmation, but his
mother had wished that her old friend, Bishop Johns
of Virginia, might lay his .hands upon her boy.* The
* Two letters show the reason why there had not been an Epis-
copal Visitation at Wheeling, and therefore why David Greer's Con-
firmation was postponed. It was natural that his mother should
wish him to be confirmed in the church of which both her father
and her brother had been rector. The letter to Bishop Johns was sent
to him by flag of truce:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 1864
RT. REV. JOHN JOHNS, D.D.
My dear Bishop:
It is very important to the interest of St. Matthew's Parish
(Wheeling) that we should have an Episcopal visitation, and
inasmuch as you, our own beloved Bishop, are kept from us,
and may be kept from us for years by the war, we are con-
strained to beg that you will give your consent to our inviting
a bishop to officiate in your stead. Will you not give us a dis-
cretionary power as to the selection of a bishop? We shall
conform as nearly as practicable to your known wishes on the
subject.
Affectionately your humble servant,
THOMAS G. ADDISON
ANSWER
RICHMOND, Feb. 13, 1864
Rev. and Dear Brother:
Your letter, by flag of truce, has just reached me, and I hasten
to assure you that I fully reciprocate the kindness which it ex-
i8 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
months of the war rolled on, and there seemed no
chance that the old Bishop could come into Union terri-
tory; and so it came about that on Christmas-day,
1864, when David was home from Gambier on his holi-
day, Bishop Bedell of Ohio visited St. Matthew's
Church in Wheeling, and on the spot where his mother
and father had been married twenty-six years before,
he was confirmed. He was admitted as a candidate
for the Ministry in the Diocese of Ohio, on May 28,
1864, seven months before his Confirmation: such
presses, and that I retain an unabated interest for the good
people of your charge. It is truly gratifying to know that the
unhappy disturbances of the times have left unimpaired our
higher relations and the Christian feeling which they involve. It
is now nearly three years since I visited Wheeling. It may
be long before the country is sufficiently settled to enable me to
officiate there again. Whilst I trust I shall ever be unwilling to
obtrude myself where I have no right to appear, or where my
services are not desired, I am ready to discharge my duty as
far as possible to the whole diocese. If therefore those who
have the power with you, will, on my parole of honor, furnish
me a safe conduct, you will soon receive such official services
as you may require. I say this on the presumption that those
in authority here will not object to the arrangement, and with
the distinct understanding that whilst its conditions will be
sacredly observed by me they are not to conflict with my obli-
gations to the government under which I live. I make this
overture in good faith, and leave the result to His disposal, who
orders all things well. If it is regarded favorably, you will
of course apprise me. If otherwise, I shall at least have the
satisfaction of knowing that it is from no remissness on my
part that a portion of my cure is deprived of Episcopal
services.
Yours truly,
J. JOHNS, etc.
REV. THOS. G. ADDISON.
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 19
havoc did the War work in the Virginias with the
Canons of the Church.
On June 27, 1866, Bishop Bedell ordained him Dea-
con, in Ross Chapel, at Gambier. He was only twenty-
two years old, but he was ready and eager for his work.
n
EARLY MINISTRY
II
EARLY MINISTRY
UPON HIS ordination the young Deacon was
transferred to the Diocese of Virginia, and
placed in charge of Christ Church, Clarks-
burg, in Harrison County, Virginia.* Here he re-
mained for two years. There were less than forty
communicants, but there were one hundred and thirty
children in the Sunday-school. During the war the
parish had been neglected and the church building had
been abused. With almost no assistance from people
outside the little parish, the people themselves repaired
and refitted the church. The young rector recorded
with some pride that this was done without resorting to
any other means than voluntary subscription. (He
was girding at church fairs and oyster suppers.) One
imagines his riding on his horse over the hills, his
preaching with fervor the sermons which he had
written in Gambier, his affectionate interest in the
scattered people, his pride in their accomplishment.
A friend remembers that as he picked up the threads
* Afterwards West Virginia.
23
24 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
of his tangled parish, he wished to be so far identified
with his people as not to wear a surplice or a black
gown in the service; but he yielded to the persuasion
of his bishop.
Since the Canon does not allow a candidate to be or-
dained to the Priesthood until he has completed his
twenty-fourth year, he spent two years in the Diaco-
nate. He was ordained to the Priesthood by Bishop
Whittle, at the Seminary Chapel in Alexandria, Vir-
ginia, on May 19, 1868.
II
IN THE year of his ordination to the Priesthood
Mr. Greer was called to Trinity Church, Coving-
ton, Kentucky, and began his rectorship on Sun-
day, October 18. Covington is almost a part of Cincin-
nati, being separated from it only by the Ohio River. It
therefore offered a young man of twenty-four an ex-
ceptional opportunity. He had "special services" for
young men, which were notably successful, and his
preaching was already making him known. In the
three years of his Covington work, three candidates
for Orders were received, a city missionary was em-
ployed, two missions were organized, and Trinity
Church itself was enlarged. There were 283 communi-
cants. A substantial indication of the response with
which his ministry met in Covington is the record in
the Vestry minutes that at the expiration of the first
six months his salary was increased from $2,000 to
$2,500, and the next year was increased to $3,000.
His acknowledgment of this appreciation is character-
istic:
Your communication containing the notice of
the Vestry's action in regard to the increase of
my salary and leave of absence for five Sundays,
is just received. Please signify to the Vestry my
25
26 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
grateful appreciation of their generous treatment
which is worth far more to my feelings than the
pecuniary increase to my necessities.
With the strange assurance of youth he had an-
nounced that he would never marry, but one day, early
hi 1869, he wrote to his mother: "You will be surprised
to hear that I have been guilty of petty larceny! I
have stolen the heart of a young lady, Carrie Keith."
On June 29, 1869, he married Miss Caroline Augusta
Keith, the daughter of Quincy Adams and Priscilla
Dean Hathaway Keith of Covington. All who know
anything of his later life will readily agree that this
was a marriage made in heaven; for certainly through-
out his Ministry no clergyman ever had a helpmeet
who more devotedly and skilfully enriched her hus-
band's work. The joy she brought to him was reflected
through him to all the lives which he touched.
Ill
IN THOSE days the Reverend Dr. Heman Dyer of
New York was the "Archbishop" who carried all
Evangelical clergymen in his heart. He was con-
stantly receiving vestries who desired a rector of his se-
lection. While Mr. Greer was in Covington Dr. Dyer's
eye discovered him, and he dropped the young rector a
hint that a committee from an important vestry would
soon be sitting in the pews of Trinity Church. He
only wished to make sure that Mr. Greer was to be at
home, so that the visiting committee would not make
the journey in vain. The rector refused to commit
himself :
Whether or not [he said] I shall do my own
preaching during that time is like all other doubt-
ful things of the future, quite uncertain. You can
tell the committee, however, they may feel sure,
should they happen to be here over Sunday, that
somebody will preach and that their spiritual
wants will be provided for during their sojourn.
While he seemed to those who stood about him to
be altogether successful, he himself was enter-
ing an inner conflict which forced him to resign his
charge. He had begun to read Darwin and other ex-
27
28 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
ponents of the new science. The old Evangelical con-
victions seemed brittle under the weight of the new
knowledge. He felt that his foundations were crack-
ling. His faith had formerly rested secure upon a Liv-
ing Christ. He tried to make the truth upon which he
had depended for twenty-six years dovetail with what
was true in the new scientific revelation, but he did not
at once see how the process could be worked out. Until
he had gathered himself together he felt that he could
not honestly continue to preach. He was fortunately
able to withdraw from his work. He could command
leisure. Therefore he determined that he and Mrs.
Greer should spend a year abroad.
Of this inner conflict he naturally said nothing to
the parish. His letter of resignation to the vestry, and
their reply thereto reveal so much of this early min-
istry that this correspondence must be given in full:
COVTNGTON, KY., May 26, 1871
To THE VESTRY OF
TRINITY CHURCH,
COVINGTON.
Gentlemen:
I hereby offer my resignation of the rectorship
of Trinity Church, Covington, to take effect upon
June 3. I indicate that precise date so that I may
be eligible to a seat in the Diocesan Convention
which assembles in Louisville on May 31. The
motive which prompts me to break my connection
TRINITY CHURCH, COVINGTON
EARLY MINISTRY 29
with this parish is a desire to make a transatlantic
voyage and visit the land of Palestine. My first
impulse was to ask for a leave of absence, but
upon further consideration I concluded that the
wisest course was to sever the relations entirely
and thus relieve myself of all responsibility in re-
gard to the parish during my absence, and at the
same time be unrestricted as to the date of my
return. This course also leaves the parish free to
procure a suitable successor if such an oppor-
tunity should offer in the meantime.
I trust that it will not be considered the usual
hackneyed formality when I say that I leave the
parish with a heavy heart. While I anticipate
great pleasure and profit from my journey abroad
I cannot but feel very sad at the thought of leav-
ing the many and dear friends whom I have gath-
ered about me here, who have sat under my
ministry and overlooked its glaring defects, who
have cooperated with me in parochial labors and
borne so patiently with my inexperience, who have
received me into their personal and social confi-
dence with a warmth of affection unexpected and
unmerited, who have steadfastly stood by me at
all times and earnestly upheld me in every good
work. All this has touched my heart and won it
and only makes it the greater trial to leave you.
Assuring you therefore that the memory of my
sojourn here will be altogether and always pleas-
30 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
ant, and praying that God's blessing may rest with-
out measure upon Trinity Church, I remain,
Very affectionately your friend and pastor,
D. H. GREER
TRINITY CHURCH,
COVINGTON, KY.
May, 1871
THE REV. D. H. GREER
Reverend and Dear Brother:
The Vestry have before them your letter of
resignation of the 26th inst., and were the feel-
ings of the members allowed to determine their
action an unanimous dissent would be entered
against the severance of your relations as rector of
the parish; but as the grounds upon which you
base your action appear so substantial and the
advantage to you so promising, their judgment
forces them to yield acquiescence.
The Vestry, speaking individually as well as a
Board, feel well assured that they express the sen-
timents of the congregation when they confess
the sincere regret entertained at the termination
of your personal ministration amongst us. We
say personal because we look for the fruit of the
Gospel sown by you for years to come, and while
you are engaged in other fields we shall be reap-
ing the fruit of your labors in Trinity Church.
EARLY MINISTRY 31
You referred to your inexperience having of
course allusion to your few years in the responsi-
bility of parochial duties. We may be allowed
now to express ourselves freely and to acknowl-
edge the wonder of all that one so young should
manifest all the maturity of age in judgment and
discretion, should minister so prudently and wisely
in discipline and exhibit such capability of guiding
even the elders, which indispensable qualities in
the success of the Pastor have only been equalled
by that gentleness and kindness of spirit which
sympathized with the afflicted, and that unwearied
zeal for the cause of our Master in the salvation
of souls and the promotion of the glory of His
Kingdom. The hearts of our people are with
you; their prayers will follow you; and wherever
you go, their warmest heartfelt wishes for your
welfare will attend you, and while you live they
will be continued.
That your journey may contribute to your en-
joyment and advantage all that your bright hopes
can anticipate; that you and yours may be pre-
served from all harm, and that you may return to
your native land with renewed vigor, increased
knowledge, and a continued love for precious
souls, is the ardent prayer of all Trinity Parish.
By order of the Vestry.
PETER BEALE
Sec'y
IV
question naturally arises whether David
Greer was disturbed by the ecclesiastical
conflict which was raging in his own Com-
munion during the later 'Sixties and the early 'Sev-
enties. The Oxford Movement, which began in doc-
trine, passed over to ceremonial. The Civil War was so
wholly engrossing that the inevitable debate over ritual
was postponed. In October, 1866 the War being
over only a little more than a year the House of
Bishops met in New York for special business. Ritual-
ism was discussed with energy and at length; and a
"declaration" was set forth forbidding such innova-
tions as incense, lights, etc. When the General Con-
vention met in 1868, a Committee was appointed to
report at the Convention of 1871 what degree of uni-
formity was practicable and expedient.
While the Baltimore Convention of 1871 was
striving to decide what ceremonial was lawful, Dr.
deKoven of Wisconsin insisted that doctrine, and not
mere ceremonial, was involved, and that if the cere-
monial was forbidden, he and his sympathizers must
be tried for heresy. He then threw down the gauntlet
by announcing his belief in very advanced Sacramental
32
EARLY MINISTRY 33
doctrine. Instantly, the Convention saw that the
comprehensiveness of the Church was at stake. If di-
versities of emphasis and of belief were to be permitted,
Dr. deKoven could not be cast out. A resolution was
passed, but it was so colorless that everyone knew
that the real issue was evaded, and good men were
free to follow their consciences.
The Church as a whole was not consoled, and party
spirit raged. Men wished liberty for themselves, but
were unwilling to grant it to men of a different tem-
perament. The Church Journal exchanged epithets
with The Protestant Churchman and The Standard of
the Cross. Both the Low Churchmen and the Ritual-
ists were not obeying all the rubrics. In 1868, the
Reverend Charles E. Cheney of Chicago was brought
to trial by his Bishop for habitually omitting the word
"regenerate" in the service of Baptism. Dr. Cheney
and his friends argued that infants could not be con-
sciously converted. In 1871, forty-eight bishops
signed a declaration which was intended to comfort
Dr. Cheney and others by affirming that the word "re-
generate" does not mean "a moral change wrought in
the subject of Baptism." In normal times this oil
would have stilled the churning waters. But an over-
zealous bishop in Chicago had already deposed Dr.
Cheney, after a trial which was so obviously unjust
that the secular courts set its verdict aside, so far as
his rectorship was concerned. The cry went up that
the offending Ritualist was free, while the offending
34 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Evangelical was held in bondage. Words grew fiercer
and fears increased.
As early as 1868 a conference of Low Churchmen
met in Chicago to discuss the propriety of founding
a Reformed Episcopal Church. The wise Chairman,
Felix R. Brunot, held back the most violent pleaders
for a new Communion. Then someone said, "We
don't contemplate secession; we contemplate being
driven out."
After the Convention of 1871, most men felt that
the Church was rightly comprehensive, but a few had
so far committed themselves that they awaited only
a leader to guide them into a new venture. The di-
vision of forces was not made until Mr. Greer had
ceased to be a member of the Diocese of Kentucky,
but it was the Assistant Bishop of Kentucky who was
ultimately prevailed upon to be the leader. On De-
cember 2, 1873, Bishop Cummins met with eight
clergymen and twenty laymen, in New York, and or-
ganized "The Reformed Episcopal Church." Many
had been called to the meeting, but only these few re-
sponded to the invitation.
David Greer was living through these turbulent ec-
clesiastical discussions. Chicago was not far away;
and Bishop Cummins was an officer in his own diocese.
Apparently, Mr. Greer was unmoved. There is no
record that he was thinking of the details which agi-
tated men all about him. He was as simple in his
tastes, so far as ceremonial was concerned, as Dr.
EARLY MINISTRY 35
Cheney or Bishop Cummins, but he saw no tragedy
in diversity. The intensity of his parochial activity
partly explains why he held aloof. He was also young,
and perhaps thought that older men could be respon-
sible for the battle if they deemed a battle necessary.
War was never one of his proclivities. But above all,
he had deeper concerns than ecclesiastical order: he
was fighting within himself for the foundations of his
religion. The revelations of modern science were al-,
most too much for him. He must find a way to justify
his faith hi God's revelation through Christ, with his
ears open to all the knowledge of the present world.
ON THE last Sunday in May, 1871, Mr. Greer
preached his final sermon as rector of Trin-
ity Church, Covington. On June 16, on the
eve of sailing for England, he went to the Academy of
Design in New York to see the pictures. The picture
which drew his attention was of a sailor climbing the
topmast in the midst of an angry storm. The sailor's
eyes were glowing with determination and the pale
face was heroic and dangerous in its resolution. Mr.
Greer was evidently thinking of his own experience.
On the voyage he wrote of the boundlessness of the
sea; it made him feel that eternity is literally endless.
He was frankly bored by the voyage. Among the
passengers was Bishop Mcllvaine, who gave him some
amusement, because, while this was the Bishop's seven-
teenth trip across the ocean, he forgot all dignity and
was publicly miserable. To a limited degree he him-
self had reasons for sympathy.
The journey was largely the conventional tour. He
began with Ireland, then crossed over to England,
where most of the time was spent in London; then
crossed to Ostend, and went leisurely through Belgium
and Holland, the Rhine country, Switzerland,
Munich, Dresden, certain Italian cities, and Paris. He
36
EARLY MINISTRY 37
kept a journal. A good deal of it is made up of details
which he learned from books or from guides. Occa-
sionally he jots down his reflections. But the deeper
things of life are scarcely even alluded to. Knowing
the problem which was upon his mind one learns a
good deal by inference.
In southern Ireland he was impressed by the con-
trasts of the wealth of the landowners on the one hand
and the extreme poverty of the peasants on the other.
"Irish slavery," he wrote, "is just as absolute as Negro
slavery was. How far the Roman Catholic Church is
responsible and how far English legislation, is a ques-
tion to be thought out." He noted that there was no
middle class farmer, a type of happy man with whom
he was familiar at home. He and Mrs. Greer spent one
day in a jaunting car with Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt,
little dreaming that later they would be his parishioners
and cooperate with him in alleviating poverty in a city
where the contrasts were quite as great as hi the
country through which they were driving.
With the ardor of youth he saw practically every
historic spot in London. He chanced to be in St. Paul's
Cathedral during the funeral of the widow of Dean
Milman: he heard Dean Mansell read part of the
service, and he recognized Liddon's handsome face.
At Westminster he heard Dean Stanley preach. In
the House of Commons he heard Gladstone and Dis-
raeli quarrelling. Others joined in the rather loose de-
bates. Mr. Greer was not moved, because, he said,
38 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
they stuttered, stammered, hesitated. At Windsor he
thought what it must be, as he stood at the window
of one of the state apartments, to live constantly in
the presence of so radiant a view; otherwise, what in-
terested him most in the palace and its surroundings
was the horse on which the Queen rode, and the ponies
provided for the princes and princesses.
At Cologne he was shown the treasures, and straight-
way went to his inn to write, "The value of all this
gold and silver and costly stones must be incalculable,
enough to evangelise almost the whole world and build
a chapel in every town." In Geneva he marvelled over
the color of the lake and recalled all the famous men
who had lived in the little city. He looked with in-
terest upon Calvin's pulpit and chair in the Cathedral.
"As a young American," he said, "and to a certain
extent an admirer of John Calvin, I had to sit down
in the chair." In every city where there was a great
organ he sought opportunities to hear it played by a
master: he records the religious emotion which the
music aroused in him. At Interlaken he divided his
admiration between the vision of the Jungfrau and the
plodding faithfulness of the goatherds. Why anyone
should ever touch goat's milk, however, was beyond his
imagination. He went over the St. Bernard Pass, and
when he and his companions seemed to be not far
from the hospice a great storm came. The expert
guide was undaunted, but it seemed to those who fol-
lowed him that the way was lost and that they must
EARLY MINISTRY 39
perish in the snow. When, several hours late, they
reached the monks and their hospitality, gratitude
made him wish to know all the details of their living.
He arose early to be at prayers with them. He could
hardly hear their voices, and learned that the altitude
killed most of them within a decade. "These brave
and self-sacrificing Christian men," he wrote, "liter-
ally leave all to follow Christ, with hardship of the
severest rigor filling up the present and the prospect
of a speedy death darkening the future. I must con-
fess that I never felt nearer to my ideal of the Chris-
tian life than during this visit to St. Bernard's
Hospice."
There is a significant growth in simplicity in this
journal. In the earlier parts some of the descriptions
border upon fine writing. For instance, he would
rarely say that a man had died but that he "had ex-
pired" or that a certain event had been "followed by
a fatal termination." Towards the end, the circum-
locution disappears and there is a directness which
characterized his later life. It is probably the transi-
tion which is made at some time in the young man-
hood of everyone who really grows, and it suggests
much more than appears upon the surface. Evidently,
though there is no direct record, he was finding a way
to make the facts of his inner experience tally with
the facts which men were recording who told the story
of the outward world.
One who knew him in his earliest ministry says that
40 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
he was obsessed with alliteration, and that he had
heard him say in a sermon, "Persistent prayer prevails
with Providence." This particular sentence is prob-
ably apocryphal; but one who chances to read the
diary of 1871 can well fancy that it has a foundation
in truth.
When he reached Naples hi the spring of 1872 he
was quite sure that the Ministry, which in a dark mo-
ment seemed to be eluding his grasp, was permanently
his. Therefore, on March 10, he wrote to Dr. Dyer
that he was ready for a parish:
Since writing you, I have dropped down from
Berlin to Naples, from north Germany to south
Italy. From this point I expect to meander
through Paris and London and Liverpool to New
York. What I shall do or where I shall go from
there is uncertain. Do you know of any idle
parish that wants a man like me? If so, let it now
speak, etc. Do you know of any Vestry that
might be inveigled into giving me a call? If so,
let them call.
My expectation is to be home sometime in June
I don't mean June, I mean May and if you
could persuade some church to go it blind and
give me an invitation before I get back, I should
much prefer that way of doing it, for I abominate
this thing of preaching a "trial" sermon; it is a
trial sermon indeed, an excruciating one.
EARLY MINISTRY 41
If, however, it must be done, why then I sup-
pose it must, and you may tell any parish that
is interested in knowing it that I shall put myself
up to be criticised some time next May, hi some
pulpit that may be hereafter determined upon.
In Paris he received word from Dr. Dyer that St.
Paul's, Boston, was vacant. On May 4, he wrote from
London:
I don't know what kind of a proposition that is
that I'm to look for from St. Paul's, Boston, but
if it's an invitation to take temporary charge of
the parish, why then I'll have to excuse myself in
the best English I can muster. I don't want to
exhibit any ha'penny independence, but, my dear
Doctor, indeed, indeed, I never could put myself
in any such position. I am not ambitious after a
big church, though I would not shrink from the
responsibility of one if it were offered me without
any such restrictions as those supposed. I am
willing to work anywhere, no matter how obscure
nor how conspicuous the position, but I must be
free and unembarrassed. My ambition is to give
distinction to my station by honest and earnest
work and not for the station to give distinction to
me, so that I care very little where I am settled,
except, as I said above, I must be free from un-
reasonable restrictions.
42 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
I expect to sail from Liverpool next Saturday,
May n, in the good Steamer Russia, and if wind
and weather favor the voyage, will be in New
York about Tuesday, May 21. If it is convenient
and advisable you may dispose of me for the fol-
lowing Sunday, May 26. I am very grateful to
you for all your efforts on my behalf, and remain,
Yours distinguishedly,
D. H. GREEK
P. S.
Don't you lose this letter before you read it!
Arthur Lawrence, who knew many of the people in
St. Paul's, was doing his best to persuade the Vestry
that Mr. Greer was just the man they should have as
rector. He told his young cousin, William Lawrence,
who had recently graduated from Harvard College,
that he must be sure to go to St. Paul's on May 26 to
hear his friend preach. Bishop Lawrence, in his ser-
mon in memory of Bishop Greer, told his impressions
of the preacher:
My memory runs back to the spring of 1872,
over forty-seven years ago, when I first saw Greer
and heard him preach. . . . My cousin believed
in him as a man of high promise and asked me to
go and hear him. I can see him now in the pulpit
but hardly recognizable. The fashion of that day,
among some of the evangelicals, was the wearing
EARLY MINISTRY 43
of a full chin beard. Dr. Bancroft wore such a
beard; so did Dr. Nicholson, the former rector
of St. Paul's; and so did the young Kentucky
preacher, Mr. Greer. He did not receive the call
to St. Paul's, and he always protested to me that
he had the piety which Boston needed, but lacked
the culture which Bostonians demanded.
Doubtless the sermon he preached in St. Paul's was
one of the old sermons which he had preached in Cov-
ington. He was prepared to preach a new kind of
sermon but he could not instantly readjust himself to
the task. Though the vestry of St. Paul's did not dis-
cern their opportunity there chanced to be in the con-
gregation a vestryman from Grace Church, Provi-
dence, who immediately wrote to his colleagues on the
vestry:
There is a young clergyman here named David
Greer. He looks like a son but talks like a father.
I think we ought to get him quickly.
Upon further investigation, the vestry of Grace
Church, Providence, felt that he was the one man to
be their rector, and so on Sunday, September 15, 1872,
he preached his first sermon in Providence, beginning
a rectorship which was to be known throughout the
country.
m
PROVIDENCE
Ill
PROVIDENCE
FOR SIXTEEN years Mr. Greer was identified
with Providence. His ability as a preacher
was quickly discovered; and then, as his per-
sonal friendships grew, his influence upon individuals
brought the effect of his preaching to its full power.
To one going through New England, glancing casu-
ally at its cities and towns, there would come the im-
pression that the cities in the eastern part were small
copies of Boston; while in western Connecticut one
would expect to find copies of New York. However
true this may be of cities like Worcester, Springfield,
and New Haven, it never was true of Providence.
Great fortunes had been made in Rhode Island; and
Providence was rich, luxurious, self-centred. In the
blood of the city was the hostility to Boston which
came down through the generations from the day when
Roger Williams was driven out to find a home in the
wilderness. For this reason, possibly, Providence
scorned to imitate the culture of Boston, and was com-
placently happy in its provincial mind. Nor had it
47
48 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
envy for the wealth of New York, for had not Provi-
dence itself great wealth? Because Rhode Island is
small, it offered serious temptations to the unscrupu-
lous politician: there have been times when the civic
conditions have been a national scandal; there were
pocket boroughs which were known to be owned by
one man. But, whatever might be seething under-
neath, on the surface Providence for many years rep-
resented not only prosperity but gentleness and dig-
nity.
When Mr. Greer became rector of Grace Church
in 1872 he found a parish made up largely of pros-
perous people. The older families of Providence were
almost wholly in St. John's Parish, which was the
mother church of the city. With the growth of the
city St. John's became somewhat isolated, and, though
it still held its preeminence, it gave many parishioners,
especially among the young, to Grace Church (which
was the popular church) and to St. Stephen's (which
was the church having the most elaborate service).
During the sixteen years of Mr. Greer's life in Provi-
dence he came to have so much quiet leadership, espe-
cially among the clergy, that in his parish year book
he printed on the last page the names of all the clergy
of Providence, with their addresses. There was there-
fore no feeling of competition, only of cooperation.
One of his children, William Armstrong, was born
in Covington. His other children, Arthur Lawrence,
Jean Keith, and Mary Constance, were all born in
PROVIDENCE 49
Providence. These children, with Mrs. Greer, made the
happy environment of his work. The study in the
rectory* was a sunny room on the ground floor at the
back of the house. It was an unwritten law that no
child should enter this room unless invited; and the
children considerately tiptoed past the door. There,
every morning, the family came together for prayers;
and since, ordinarily, there was no service in Grace
Church on Sunday night, but a service in the after-
noon, the children spent Sunday evenings with their
father and mother in this same study. His children
can never remember that he was ever cross with them.
When Mrs. Greer would say, "Don't bother Papa;
don't interrupt him when he is reading," he would
answer, "Oh, let the children ask questions; that is
the way they will learn." One cold winter morning,
he delighted his children by inviting the peanut man
at the corner to go to the rectory for a cup of coffee,
while he himself kept the stand. The business was
brisk.
He was fond of taking a short walk before breakfast
and also after supper, and he usually took one of the
little girls with him. While he played with his chil-
dren he was also teaching then. He was not so inter-
ested in imparting facts as he was in showing the
reasons and explanations. "Why?" was the question
he most liked to answer. He taught the children to
* This house (occupied from 1872 to 1887) was at 8 Greene
Street. In 1887 he removed to to Brown Street.
So DAVID HUMMELL GREER
play chess, and he and Mrs. Greer would often sit
down with the boys to play whist.
The loving interest which Mr. Greer gave to his
own children was extended to children with whom he
came in contact. The Thomas family lived in a house
on another street, but the fence of the rectory garden
was also the boundary of the Thomases' garden. The
Thomases were then Congregationalists, but the boys
had many conversations over the fence with the rector
of Grace Church. They cannot remember that he ever
said anything about religion, but they liked him and
he became to them a hero. All of them found their
way into the Episcopal Church, and two of them en-
tered its Ministry. In a summer holiday the Greers
occupied a rambling farmhouse in Wickford. There
was one room in this house, however, which was oc-
cupied by a boy named Arthur Rogers, a member of
St. Stephen's Parish in Providence. He was just com-
pleting his college course, expecting to study law. Here
again there was no talk about religion, but there was
a delightful personality shining out from the face which
won the heart of the boy, and it seemed to him after-
wards, when he tried to determine why he went into
the Ministry, that it was Mr. Greer's example which
turned his thoughts in that direction. He would like
to be such a man as he.
Mr. Greer appealed even more to the children and
youth of whom he was directly the pastor. A lady,
whose father was a vestryman of Grace Church, and
PROVIDENCE 51
who therefore grew up under Dr. Greer's rectorship,
has written:
As children we loved him, and it was a great
event when he and Mrs. Greer made their usual
call in the autumn, coming with horse and
phaeton, to see my mother. We always ran in
and stood by, admiringly listening to the anec-
dotes of their own family life. When the Greer
family were going abroad one summer we all felt
as anxious for their safe voyage as if they were
our own family. The Sunday before they sailed
I went with my mother and sister to the afternoon
service, and we stayed afterwards to say Good-bye.
I well remember my mother's emotion and our
own childish grief at parting, a reflection no
doubt of our mother's apprehension, but all be-
cause of our real affection for our dear Mr. Greer.
During my school days I used often to turn to
him in doubt, and for real help when I had a for-
midable essay to write. It never occurred to me
but that he had plenty of time to spare for my
simple affairs. He was always generous of his
time, and I came away feeling that he was glad to
help me. One Sunday morning I was struck with
the phrase in Isaiah in the morning Lesson, "Mul-
titudes, in the valley of decision." I asked Mr.
Greer's opinion, whether this phrase would make
a good subject for a composition. He gave me
the whole of a May afternoon, and the result was
52 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
an essay with the title, The Valley of Vision. This
talk cleared my mind in many ways, in addition
to helping me with my immediate task.
There were other young people who knew him only
as they saw him from the pews of Grace Church as
he stood in the pulpit. Testimony comes abundantly
that these young listeners were helped by his sermons,
not only on Sundays but, hi Lent, also, during the
weekdays. From the year 1880 until he left Provi-
dence, in 1888, Grace Church was crowded with col-
lege men and young women, who felt that Mr. Greer
understood by his own experience what they were
thinking. They trusted him as a guide to the deeper
knowledge. He preached always on Mondays and
Tuesdays in Lent, at five o'clock, and long before the
hour young men and women as well as older people
filled the pews.
After he had been in Providence a little time his
preaching so increased the numbers of the parish that
the Vestry offered him an assistant. He declined this
form of help, and asked that the money which would
have been paid for an assistant be used for a horse
and phaeton that he might the more quickly go in and
out among the people. One element which made his
preaching vital was this desire to be with people and
to help them one by one. In addition to the help which
he gave to them was the help which he received from
them. He always had the attitude, when talking with
PROVIDENCE 53
another, of one who was learning. He was asking
questions. He was discovering the ways in which
people lived. He was thinking their thoughts after
them. He was trying to understand their goodness.
His request therefore for a horse was part of the prep-
aration for his sermons.
As time goes on people forget the inconveniences
and disagreeable incidents of the past. It is well that
these incidents should be forgotten; but, that younger
men who read this book may know that one who
seemed so invariably fortunate as Mr. Greer, had also,
even as they, the petty difficulties of the Ministry, one
or two incidents may be recalled. There was an ob-
stinate sexton who had long been in the employ of the
parish, but who with the years had grown careless.
The young rector, jealous for the dignity and order
which should pertain to everything connected with
worship, felt that something must be done. One Sun-
day morning he noticed, during the Psalter, that a
ladder had been left in the sanctuary. He read the
First Lesson; the Te Deum was sung by the choir;
and then, instead of going to the lectern to read the
Second Lesson, he went slowly into the sanctuary (the
congregation holding their breath), picked up the
ladder, and solemnly carried it out amid an awful si-
lence. When he returned, the congregation was smil-
ing, because they had discovered a similar ladder on
the other side of the sanctuary. Mr. Greer either did
not see it or believed that the warning to the sexton was
54 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
sufficiently obvious, and went immediately to the lec-
tern to continue the service.
With the new people who came into the Church,
many of them unfamiliar with the Christian Year,
there was a good deal of necessary training in Church
customs. According to tradition, a vestryman who
was detained' on a journey telegraphed to the rector
that he could not return by Easter-day and therefore
would the rector please have the Easter Services post-
poned one week, until he could be present! Mr. Greer
found great difficulty in raising money. Though there
was wealth in the city, those who owned it had not
yet learned to give for others as they spent for them-
selves. At a meeting of the Vestry the rector called
their attention to the fact that he was often asked for
sums of money, large and small, which he could not
always give from his own income. So he begged that
a "discretionary fund" be started and placed in the
bank at his disposal. Upon this he could draw when
occasion demanded. The Vestry, heartily approving
the plan, immediately gave what they thought adequate
sums. A few days afterwards Mr. Greer dropped in
to the office of one of the vestrymen. "Well," said
the vestryman, "I am sure you feel very rich these
days with a rector's fund at your command." Mr.
Greer laughed: "I had such urgent appeals the very
next day," he confessed, "that I drew out two checks
to help these poor fellows, and now there is no
rector's fund!"
PROVIDENCE 55
On the night of December i, 1873, Mr. and Mrs.
Greer had a guest staying in their house, the Right
Reverend George David Cummins, D.D., Assistant
Bishop of Kentucky. They talked of Covington and
of their fellowship in the past. They talked also about
a meeting which had been called in New York the next
day to consider the possibility of starting a new Com-
munion as an off-shoot of the Episcopal Church.
Bishop Cummins tried to persuade his friend, Mr.
Greer, to go to the meeting, but there was no response.
After the Bishop had gone to his room, Mr. and Mrs.
Greer were sitting over the fire, speaking of their guest
and his prospects. Presently they heard two sharp
raps on the floor above them, and Mrs. Greer de-
cided that the Bishop had dropped his shoes outside
his door, and as instantly decided that they must be
polished forthwith. There was no man-servant in the
house; so Mr. Greer, on his hands and knees, stole to
the door, seized the shoes, brought them down, and
polished them. In telling the story in after years, with
great relish, Mr. Greer would finish by saying, "And
in those shoes he walked out the next day into the Re-
formed Episcopal Church."
II
IN THE later years of Mr. Greer 's ministry in
Providence, Bishop Clark, because of his own
age and because of Mr. Greer's administrative
talent, leaned more and more upon him in the guidance
of the diocese. He was, for a large part of his time
in Providence, a trustee of the Public Library, and
met with a special committee once a week. He recom-
mended for an important position in the Library a
Miss Emerson, who became one of the most distin-
guished servants of the public which the library has
ever had. Bishop Clark said to Julius Atwood, "Greer
knows how to pick the plums."
Mr. Greer himself founded the Saint Elizabeth
Home, a home for incurables, because Providence had
made no provision for such cases. His parishioners
came to his assistance, and the home which he started
was in time amply endowed. On great civic days,
when the Church needed representation, Bishop Clark
almost invariably turned to him, and the people heard
him gladly. He was a leader on the floor of the Di-
ocesan Convention. He was interested in every ques-
tion. The laymen liked to hear his opinion because he
was never academic, always practical. The debates
on the most anxious problems were nearly always tri-
56
PROVIDENCE 57
angular: Dr. Richards of St. John's, and Mr. Fiske
of St. Stephen's speaking more or less abstractly,
being more or less detached. Mr. Greer always
brought the concrete into the discussion. And Bishop
Clark and the laymen nodded approvingly. It was
natural that he should be chosen to represent the dio-
cese in the General Convention, and four times he sat
with the Rhode Island delegation (1877, 1880, 1883,
1886). Dr. Nelson remembers that Dr. Potter asked
him to preach in Grace Church, one Sunday afternoon,
when the Convention met in New York in 1880. His
carriage was delayed, and the prompt rector did not
wait for the preacher but began the service on time.
Mr. Greer entered the church just as the sermon hymn
was ending, going at once to the pulpit, and electrify-
ing the anxious Dr. Potter by announcing as his text,
"Art thou he that should come, or do we look for an-
other?"
Because there was little self-seeking and much desire
really to serve, Mr. Greer became unconsciously the
elder brother among the Clergy. When someone said
that a certain rector would be easy to work under, Mr.
Greer was indignant. "Do you suppose," he said,
"that my assistant works under me? No, he works
with me." An eminent clergyman writes that it was
through Mr. Greer that he was called to his first parish
in Pontiac, ten miles south of Providence. Mr. Greer
met him when the Boston train drew in, carried him
off to the rectory for luncheon, and then afterwards
58 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
walked with him to the train which was to take him to
Pontiac. His parting warning was, "Remember, that
you are not simply to be a minister of the Episcopal
Church; you will represent the Church Universal."
The Pontiac parish was composed of all sorts of Chris-
tian people, Methodists and Congregationalists among
them. Mr. Greer was eager that the young man for
whom he had vouched should be a loving pastor to all
of them.
On Monday mornings several young parsons formed
the habit of dropping into Mr. Greer's study for an
informal talk. They did not know whether he stayed
in to receive them, but as a matter of fact they felt
sure that then they would find him. His wit played
lightly over the news they brought him, but before
they went away there was always a serious side to the
conference. He gave them his views on the best way
to manage boys' clubs. They talked of books. Dr.
Allen's Continuity of Christian Thought had just been
published. All the young men were reading it. Mr.
Greer felt that Dr. Allen had not done full justice to
Origen. Then they talked of Origen. The young men
blushingly told him how pleasant it would be if he
could sometime be their bishop; whereupon he
laughed, saying, "No diocese would ever have me for
a bishop!"
He was so interested in these clergymen who came
to his study that he was glad to go to their parishes
to preach for them. When a village learned that the
PROVIDENCE 59
famous rector from Providence was coming to the
night service, everyone went to church. The choir
sang the most ambitious music which they had sung
on the previous Easter. He would graciously stay
after the service to shake hands with the choirmaster.
The encouragement which he gave to the young parson
set him up for weeks. These sermons which he
preached at suburban parishes were read from steno-
graphic reports of his Sunday morning preaching at
Grace Church. The thought was there, and the gleam-
ing eye, but the directness and the freshness were
missed by those who had really heard him preach in
his freedom at home. What the people felt, however,
was that a great man had come to the "little upper
room" and they loved both him and the Church the
more.
There were a good many Swedes in Providence, and
it was through Mr. Greer that Mr. J. G. Hammarskold
came into the Ministry of the Episcopal Church.
While Mr. Hammarskold was still a layreader, Mr.
Greer often went with him to Swedish weddings and
other functions. Sometimes he would stay for an
hour or two, mingling with the people as one of their
friends. Whenever Mr. Hammarskold came to him
with difficulties, he would always say, "Don't worry;
it could be worse; I will attend to it and you can just
forget it." Dr. Hammarskold is now at the head of
all the Swedish work of the Episcopal Church in
America.
60 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
As in every parish, the great day at Grace Church
was Easter, but, as in no other parish, the great pop-
ular service of the year was Morning Prayer at six
o'clock on Easter morning. The music at this service
was elaborate and beautiful. There was no address.
Men and women streamed in from all parts of the city
till the church was crowded. Many among these were
non-churchgoers to whom this early Easter service was
the one act of public worship in the year. The experi-
ence of this service was so thrilling that often the young
Clergy who looked up to Mr. Greer would spend the
night at the rectory that they might take part in this
early service. At the noonday service there was invari-
ably Confirmation, with a sermon by Bishop Clark.
Since there was no night service, but only an after-
noon service on Easter-day, Mr. Greer once said that
until he became rector of St. Bartholomew's in New
York he had never really preached an Easter sermon.
In Advent and Lent there was a popular night serv-
ice in Grace Church, at which Mr. Greer was expected
to preach, though sometimes he gave his young friends
the terrifying experience of preaching to a congrega-
tion which had expected to hear him. He was always
gracious to the immature preacher, telling him both
by word of mouth in the vestryroom and by a letter
sent afterwards, how much good he had done the
people.
Ill
WHILE Mr. Greer was getting inspiration
from younger men he was also deepening
his friendship with men of his own age
and with men who were much older. There were two
clubs whose influence made their mark upon his
thought and his preaching. One was the Friday
Evening Club, composed of twelve representative men
in Providence from the learned professions, and, as
Bishop Clark said, "with a percentage of material
drawn from those inferior walks of life in which a
knowledge of books and a general familiarity with
literature and science are not regarded as essential."
Mr. William E. Foster, of the Providence Public Li-
brary, thus describes the club:
This club had a name, but no "local habita-
tion." Its meetings were held in rotation, at the
houses of its members. The club was organized
in 1868, and held its last meeting in 1884. It was
a small club, not more than seventeen men being
connected with it from the first to last, and not
all of these at any one time; but to mention the
names of its members is almost like calling the roll
of the most eminent men in Providence, of that
61
62 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
day. Three of them were clergymen, namely:
Thomas March Clark, then Bishop of Rhode
Island; David Hummell Greer, afterwards Bishop
of New York; and Samuel Lunt Caldwell, then
minister of the First Baptist Church in Provi-
dence, and afterwards President of Vassar Col-
lege. The profession of the law was represented
by Charles Smith Bradley, for several years Chief
Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court; and
Edwin Channing Larned. Medicine was repre-
sented by Dr. Edward Thompson Caswell, who
had had an unusually long experience of medical
study in Europe. Brown University was repre-
sented by Dr. Alexis Caswell, its President from
1868 to 1872; and by George Ide Chace, Eli
Whitney Blake, John Larkin Lincoln, and Jere-
miah Lewis Diman, men of rare personality, in
fields so dissimilar as the departments of Chem-
istry, Physics, Latin, and History respectively.
Other walks in life were represented by John Rus-
sell Bartlett, for many years the custodian of the
priceless contents of the John Carter Brown Li-
brary; William Gammell, the first of this name,
and widely known for his historical studies;
Augustus Hoppin, the well-known artist; Row-
land Hazard of Peace Dale, and William Babcock
Weeden of Providence, two conspicuous instances
of men in active business life with a keen and un-
tiring interest in historical and literary studies.
PROVIDENCE 63
Lastly, there should be mentioned Alexander
Farnum, the man who was perhaps most inti-
mately concerned with the club's development, a
financier of exceptional sagacity, the collector of
one of the choicest private libraries of that period,
in New England, and a man of unerring taste and
judgment.
I should add in passing that four of the mem-
bers of this club lived within an eighth of a mile
from the site of our library building, namely,
Dr. Greer, Mr. Hoppin, Mr. Farnum, and Dr.
Edward T. Caswell. Also, that five of them served
as Trustees of the Providence Library, namely,
Dr. Greer, Professor Lincoln, Mr. Weeden, Mr.
Hazard, and Mr. Farnum. Also, as a curious
coincidence, that three of them were born in a
comparatively small New England community,
namely, Newburyport, at the mouth of the Merri-
mac River, in Massachusetts. These were
Thomas March Clark, Charles Smith Bradley,
and Samuel Lunt Caldwell.
An interesting account of this club appeared in
print in 1898, by one of its members, Mr. Weeden.
An incidental comment of his on Bishop Clark is
of interest, as follows:
"The roundest man, the most versatile member
of our circle, was Bishop Clark. In all his dis-
courses there was manifested the same large in-
telligence, enlightened by a many-sided contact
64 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
with the life of the time. The club was greatly en-
livened by the exercise and play of the Bishop's
humor."
Bishop Clark said that the comments of the learned
members were copious. They had unbounded skill in
"twisting a thought over and over, and inside out, and
upside down, and downside up; probing, and trying,
and testing, and analyzing, and doubting, and affirm-
ing; turning every facet of the thought towards the
light, or otherwise; penetrating all its crevices, crawl-
ing into all its cracks, spying out all its specks, until
at last the other members of the Club find themselves
unconsciously murmuring the little hymn of Mr. Pope,
with which they were sung to sleep in their child-
hood:
Why hath not man the microscopic eye?
For this plain reason, he is not a fly.
One night, when the Club met at Mr. Greer's, Bishop
Clark read a paper characterizing the various members.
The members were so pleased with the sketches of
themselves that the paper was elaborately printed, il-
lustrated with a portrait of its author. This portrait is
of the back of Bishop Clark's curly head, and humor
shines from every hair. No names are attached to the
descriptions, but evidently Mr. Greer was number
seven:
Once more we come into a presence, where we
feel that we must tread delicately, as poor old
PROVIDENCE 65
Agag did, when he was summoned to appear before
the king. If high position, elevated and courteous
demeanor, accurate learning, command of re-
sources, a clear and flowing style, and such ex-
haustive treatment of every subject as to leave no
room for appendix or codicil, could ever entitle one
to wear the laurel crown, here is a case in which
"the brightest bays that ever grew on Seekonk's
plains" might, with appropriateness, be woven to-
gether to form a verdant and unfading wreath
for the adornment of a brow around which the
nine daughters of Jupiter may easily be conceived
as hovering by night and by day in rapt entrance-
ment, and in presence of whom the Genius of
Rhetoric might well do humble homage, and the
Muse of History, with Roger Williams by her side
(Here, the reader regrets to say, the sentence
becomes illegible, although it appears to have been
continued at some considerable length.) This
accomplished gentleman, unlike one of the mem-
bers whose offences in this respect have been set
down more in candor than in malice, has never
presented to the Club a carelessly written or an
inferior paper, and all the topics that he handles
are dignified, serious, timely, and valuable. While
he reads one could almost wish that his melliflu-
ous and billowy tones might chant on till the
break of day, and no wonder that every member
of the Club murmurs to himself, as the soft ca-
66 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
dences rise and fall, "There's music in it." And
when, after another has occupied the reader's
chair, in his turn, he is called upon to "strike the
lyre," he does it with a grace and gentleness which
greatly softens the blow, even when the liar has
given just offence by the crudity of his theories
and the palpable heresy of his opinions. As when
he reads, so when he talks, one might wish that he
would never stop, a wish which, in some in-
stances, he seems somewhat disposed to gratify.
The other Club which meant much to Mr. Greer
was the Boston Clericus. This Club had been started
by William Wilberforce Newton, who, remembering
the pleasant Club of which he and Phillips Brooks had
been members in Philadelphia, begged a few friends
to start a similar Club in Massachusetts. He, as sec-
retary, was the only officer; but in some way, no one
knew exactly how, Dr. Brooks gravitated to the office
of president. The meetings were at first in the vari-
ous homes of the members, but Mr. Brooks finally
insisted that the Club meet always in his pleasant
apartment at the Kemp ton. When he acquired the
large study in the new Trinity Rectory, the Club
seemed exactly to fit it. The books, the pictures of
his friends and heroes, and the beautiful objects gath-
ered on his journeys, provided a background which
few Clubs have ever had; and his personality domi-
nated his friends as it filled the room. When he became
PROVIDENCE 67
Bishop he insisted that the Club must have another
president. Those who remember it during the 'Sev-
enties and 'Eighties feel that there never was such a
stimulating fellowship as this band of friendly clergy-
men. Not to speak of those who are still living (such
as Bishop Hall, Bishop Lawrence, and Dr. Leighton
Parks), there were, besides Mr. Newton, Dr. Brooks
and Mr. Greer, men like Bishop Clark, Dr. Elisha
Mulford, Dr. William R. Huntington, Dr. A. V. G.
Allen, Dr. Charles A. L. Richards, Dr. C. George
Currie, Dr. Francis Wharton, Dr. Arthur Lawrence,
Dr. Frederic Courtney, Dr. Henry S. Nash, and Dr.
Percy Browne. It was at this Club that Phillips
Brooks read his paper on Heresy. In 1877 he pub-
lished his Lectures on Preaching, in 1878 his first vol-
ume of Sermons, in 1883 his Sermons Preached in
English Churches. The Clericus delighted in the
honor which was given to their leader wherever Eng-
lish was spoken; but Percy Browne would whisper that
it was hard luck to have to preach so near Phillips
Brooks's pulpit as St. James's in Roxbury, and to be
perpetually compared with the great preacher of his
time. Even while the other Boston Clergy did not fail
to recognize the prophet, they sighed sympathetically
with the Roxbury frankness.
The discussion was apt to be the most interesting
part of the evening. If the paper were on an historical
subject, Dr. Allen's summaries at the end brought
those who had not known him as a teacher, into
68 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
the light which his pupils saw in his classroom. Dr.
Allen too was rising into fame. His Continuity oj
Christian Thought came out in 1886, and even Eng-
lish Bishops prescribed it for their candidates. Of
him too the Clericus was justly proud; and his low,
musical voice was heard with increasing respect. These
were years when Dr. Huntington was giving himself
to the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer. His
first paper on Prayer Book Revision was read to the
Club. The Club gladly heard his liturgical papers,
and his word was with authority as well as with sharp
humor in the discussion. Percy Browne and William
Wilberforce Newton flashed their wit. One night
someone made a disparaging remark about the growing
custom among clergymen of wearing academic hoods
over their surplices. Mr. Newton said that he did
think that the clergy ought to obey St. Paul, and for-
get those things which are behind. Dr. Elisha Mulford
had aroused the pride of the Club by his profound
books on The Nation and The Republic oj God: he
aroused also their mirth one night when he complained
that the publishers had not put his treatise on The
Nation on the news-stands in the railway stations. He
felt sure that, if the public could really get at it, it
would have an immense influence on the fall elections.
The admiring members of the Club who had toiled
through its pages had a vision of the ordinary Ameri-
can citizen sitting down in the dust and noise of a
railway train to translate Mulford into politics.
PROVIDENCE 69
Here men discussed the books which all had been
reading, and the man who had read some book which
none of the others had read gave the rest the benefit
of his experience. The Club stood for friendship, for
wit, and for diligence in study. Some of the men were
scholars; others were in the practical Ministry; all
were glad to face the questions of the day in the light
of both the Gospel and modern knowledge.
As president of the Club, Dr. Brooks gave a break-
fast to Dean Stanley, at the Hotel Brunswick in Bos-
ton, when the Dean was in this country in 1878. He
invited all the clergy in Massachusetts and a few out-
side. Bishop Paddock was asked to preside, but since
for some reason he declined, Bishop Clark was the
toastmaster. Those who remember the occasion say
that Stanley made one of the worst speeches ever heard
in America. He himself seemed conscious of his fail-
ure and at the end asked the privilege of speaking
again, when to some degree he redeemed himself.
Bishop Clark, proud that there was a brilliant man,
one of his own presbyters, at the table, described him
in terms of impossible magnificence, and then called
upon him to speak. Mr. Greer had received no inti-
mation that a speech would be expected from him. He
had been perfectly comfortable, talking with his neigh-
bor through the breakfast, and evidently had swept his
mind of all ideas and garnished it with the amiable
nothings of table gossip; but he felt that he must do
what his Bishop asked; so, concealing his dismay, he
70 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
stumbled through a short speech which even those who
loved him best thought as bad as possible. But his
character was shown to the neighbor with whom he
had been talking, in that, when he sat down, he made
no excuse even to his friend, said nothing about the
Bishop's folly in calling upon him without warning,
and, when the speeches were over, went on simply with
the friendly talk as if there had been no interruption.
It all showed the man's humility and patience.
As time went on and his fame grew, Mr. Greer, with
his genuine simplicity and humility, was staggered to
find that much was expected of him in private conver-
sation. Phillips Brooks, in telling of a Sunday visit
from Mr. Greer, said that on Saturday evening he had
anticipated a feast of reason and a flow of soul, but,
he added, "I couldn't get a word out of Greer." "Oh,"
said the friend to whom Brooks told the story, "you
know Greer sits up nights with his reputation!" Dr.
Brooks laughed, thinking it a jest; but it was sober
fact, for Mr. Greer was really oppressed when he found
how much people expected from him. Once, when he
was on his way to the Commencement of the Theolog-
ical School at Cambridge, at which he was to preach
the sermon, a clergyman in the street-car, noticing that
he was preoccupied, asked him if he was nervous about
the sermon. "No," he said, "but I daresay some day
I shall fail utterly; it may be today; I have done
the best I could, and shall not care much if this
is the end." Then he confessed, "I sweat blood every
PROVIDENCE 71
time I preach." He had brought no surplice, and
asked Dean Gray to give him something to wear. The
only surplice available did not fit him, but he wore it.
However, surplices were of small moment for those
who heard the sermon. When the time for the sermon
came, he announced his text, "O send out thy light
and thy truth." Dr. Steenstra said that doubtless
Phillips Brooks was a greater preacher than Greer, but
Brooks had never preached so great a sermon as that.
One can imagine how friendships made in a Club like
the Boston Clericus would develop into personal re-
lationships. Mr. Greer from time to time "exchanged
pulpits" with members of this Club. To the conser-
vative he seemed radical, and the rector of the parish
which he had visited would sometimes take exception
on the following Sunday to the principles which Mr.
Greer had presented. Once a vestry protested formally
that Mr. Greer, in their rector's absence, had endorsed
the theory of evolution. Thus the discussion of the
Club went on beyond the doors of Dr. Brooks's study.
Then there were the informal dinners which brought
members of the Club together with other interesting
people. The elder Mr. Hazard of Peace Dale invited
President Porter of Yale and three members of the
Club (namely, Dr. Wharton, Mr. Newton, and Mr.
Greer,) to a feast, which was designed chiefly in the
interests of philosophy. Dr. Wharton was spending
his summer at Narragansett Pier, and drove President
Porter, Mr. Greer, and Mr. Newton over to Peace Dale.
72 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Mr. Newton suggested that the dinner was likely to
be exceedingly serious, and threatened Dr. Wharton
that if he did not "do his very best and was not
brilliant with his inherent brilliancy, which surpassed
at times the wit of Sydney Smith," he should feel com-
pelled at the dinner to tell a certain absurd story about
an English showman. Dr. Wharton, knowing that his
friend was willing to go any length, was horror stricken,
and said that it would never do to tell that story
at Mr. Hazard's table. The agreement was made, that
if conversation flagged, the signal for the story should
be "Westminster Abbey." At the very first pause, Mr.
Newton asked President Porter if he had visited West-
minster Abbey during his recent visit to London,
whereupon poor Dr. Wharton plunged into one of his
most eloquent passages and no one had a chance to
say a word. When again there was a lull, Mr. Greer
was asked if he had visited Westminster Abbey lately,
and once more Dr. Wharton was off. On the drive
home, Dr. Wharton remarked that it was the most
anxious dinner party he had ever attended. And Presi-
dent Porter never heard the story.
Mr. Greer was reticent about the intimate struggles
in his own life, but when he was abroad in the summer
of 1 88 1 he met a member of the Clericus Club in Gen-
eva. He had been reading Supernatural Religion, the
anonymous book, it will be remembered, which clev-
erly marshalled the difficulties resulting from modern
scientific inquiry and the criticism of the Bible and
PROVIDENCE 73
early Church history. Detached from his work, more
or less isolated in the bleak grandeur of the nature
all about him, he found himself, in the company of this
book, in a crisis almost as severe as that of ten years
before. He was miserably unhappy. He told his
friend, hi a burst of confidence, that he did not know
what to do with this book. If it were true, and much
of it seemed unanswerable, he felt that the roots of his
faith were cut. The voice of his mother and the voice
of the skeptic within him were contending for the mas-
tery. A year later his turn came to read a paper before
the Clericus. His subject was The Virgin Birth. The
friend who had heard his lament in Geneva knew that
in the meantime the battle had been fought. In the
paper at the Clericus he stood boldly by the tradition,
his argument being that a supernatural character
would be born in a supernatural manner. When his
friend expressed surprise, and recalled the conversa-
tion in Geneva, Mr. Greer said that if the tradition
were abandoned the whole history went with it.
So far as one can see, the solution of his difficulty
came, in 1881, as it came throughout his life. He was
sure in his own experience of the power of the Living
Christ. By his own experience he knew that the
highest words ever spoken from the First Century to
this about Jesus Christ failed to tell the fulness of His
being and power. Evidently he discovered that the
persistent questions about details were answered by
this one supreme and all-embracing conviction.
74 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
The two members of the Club whom he probably
saw most often were Bishop Clark and Dr. Richards.
Dr. Richards, sitting calmly in his study in the old
rectory on Benefit Street, was always glad to see his
younger brother, and often in days of perplexity Mr.
Greer turned to his serenity and wisdom. Dr. Richards
had been a classmate of Phillips Brooks in the Virginia
Seminary. He was one of the few men who called
Brooks by his Christian name. Once a year Brooks
came down to St. John's Church to preach. At this
annual feast of preaching, not only was the church
filled with the people of Providence, but the chancel
was filled with the clergy. At one of these services
Brooks preached his famous sermon on The Seraphim:
"Each one had six wings; with twain he covered his
face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with
twain he did fly." When the Clergy had withdrawn
to the robing room, Dr. Richards broke the silence
which showed the awe for the prophet: "Phillips," he
said, "I wish Isaiah could have been here this after-
noon; he would have rejoiced." Then Mr. Greer went
up to the preacher, telling him how much he had been
moved, so that Dr. Brooks was somewhat embarrassed,
and seizing the large button which in those days held
Mr. Greer's open surplice together, made no comment
upon his praise, but said, laughing, "Greer, what do
you wear that button for ! " No more praise was pos-
sible after that from anyone, and what they thought
about the sermon they carried away hi their hearts.
IV
WHILE Mr. Greer was receiving this in-
spiration from men, some of whom would
have been accounted great in any com-
munity, he was spending almost every evening with
the thoughts of men in printed books. It was his
custom to withdraw after supper to his study and there
he would read late into the night. He read Darwin.
His friends believed that there was nothing of Herbert
Spencer's which he did not read: indeed when he was
approached by Cornell University to be its Professor
of Ethics he confessed that the one thing which at-
tracted him was that it would give him an opportunity
to "answer" Spencer. Huxley too he read voraciously:
Huxley's frank agnosticism earned his respect even
while he fought it with the simple faith which his
mother had given him. Haeckel, with his brutal de-
nials, fascinated him like a dangerous serpent: he must
get his heel upon it. Tyndall among the scientists,
Martineau among the theologians, Matthew Arnold
among the critics, Lecky and Symonds among the his-
torians, Browning among the poets, he read over and
over. He would often say of Martineau, "He saved
my soul." He went to Browning not only for poetical
expression but for the subtle thought upon modern
75
76 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
problems. He was fond of George Eliot. Sometimes
those who did not know Mr. Greer intimately felt that
he spoke with too rapt enthusiasm over the last book
which he chanced to be reading. This enthusiasm,
however, was not the abiding enthusiasm of his reading
days and nights. "What are you reading?" asked his
neighbor, Julius Atwood. "Nothing but Carlyle," was
the answer. He also exulted in the new voice
which spoke up out of the unknown, he was glad to
have a new witness for the truth as he saw it; but he
always went back to the great men who seemed to him
to have expressed the profoundest notes of the age,
whether it were in science, theology, or art. It is re-
membered that Phillips Brooks once said, "How
brilliant Greer is; but in his bondage to his last book
he shows the lack of a broad and liberal education."
This is one of the generalizations which reveals more
of temperament than of actual acquirement. Dr.
Brooks had grown up in a university through which
the free air of learning was continually blowing. Mr.
Greer began his education in a sheltered place; the
windows were kept shut. It is doubtful if in twenty
years of active work the education of the one was not
about equal to the education of the other. The re-
serve of the man brought up in Massachusetts is dif-
ferent from the reserve of the man brought up in West
Virginia. The man from West Virginia, touched with
the ardor of the west, is not afraid of making mistakes.
He speaks frankly the enthusiasm of today without
PROVIDENCE 77
the embarrassing thought that he must hold to that en-
thusiasm through the year. The man from Massachu-
setts restrains his utterance lest he be called to
endorse in December the joy he felt in July.
After he had discovered that he could receive into
his mind every atom of the new knowledge which he
had tested and to himself proved true, without endan-
gering that fundamental faith which he had received in
the beginning; after Christ had become to him not
more a leader of the past than of the present, Mr.
Greer did exult in every book which looked boldly into
the facts as science and criticism revealed them, and
used those facts as the illustration of deeds of God
illuminated by the Gospel of Christ.
FOR THIRTEEN years of his ministry Mr.
Greer invariably wrote his sermons and
preached them from the manuscript. One
who heard him at the height of his power might easily
have imagined that his fluency was a native gift. He
himself has declared that he was not fluent. Those
thirteen years of patient writing, preceded by diligent
study, must be remembered as a large part of the train-
ing which made it possible for him at last to stand
forth before the people, pouring out his words as if
without effort. The written sermons did not lack elo-
quence, but he was not satisfied. When he came back
from his summer holiday in the fall of 1879 he
preached as usual a written sermon. It seemed to him
exceptionally poor, though he confessed that sermons
were always poor when one was just back from a holi-
day. So he determined the next Sunday morning to
preach without notes. He selected as his text, "For-
getting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, I press
toward the mark." The text was fitted to his experi-
ment. Two or three vestrymen came into the robing
room afterwards to give him courage, and bade him
continue to forget the things which were behind. He
78
PROVIDENCE 79
tried again and again, and, after that, rarely preached
a written sermon. [To mark the transition in the out-
ward symbols of the church, he installed a new pulpit
which was nothing but a platform with a brass rail
round it, and a small brass stand for a book. When
he showed it with pride to Mr. Augustus Hoppin, the
comment came instantly, "Where are the poker and
the tongs!"]
Whether his sermons were preached from manu-
script or without the aid of a note, his preparation was
always laborious. He himself tells the story of it:
After I have found my subject I go to work,
to think about and develop it, and I do my think-
ing about it to some extent in words. I think
with a pencil in my hand; and many of the
thoughts as they come to me I try to express on
paper, especially if at first they are not very clear.
I try to make them clear by putting them into
words and giving expression to them; and while
I do not memorise that expression, I find that, in
preaching, it often comes to me easily, naturally,
and without any effort on my part to recall it. It
is simply an instance of the mnemonic aid that
is furnished by clear thinking. That, however, is
but an incidental result, and my purpose in writ-
ing, as far as I do write, is simply to make sure
that I apprehend with distinctness the thought
that is in my mind. And so I go through with my
8o DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
subject, writing a little every now and then, some-
times more, sometimes less, as the subject seems
to require, not for the sake of the writing, but for
the sake of the thinking, and the clearness of the
thinking. Then, when I have got through with the
subject, no, I never get through with it until I
preach it it is in my mind to some extent all
the time, not only when in my study, but at other
times; I live with it more or less throughout the
week, and it grows and develops in me, and be-
comes a part of me, and more and more I have
it, or more and more it has me.
When Sunday morning comes, or Saturday
afternoon or evening, I look over the notes or the
writings, many or few, which I found it helpful to
make in the tracing out or the clearing up of some
of the thoughts of the sermon, in order to be sure
that I have them, and then, without taking them
with me, I preach. I do not even take the heads
or outlines with me into the pulpit; I take nothing
with me but the text. I tried the other plan at
first, but it did not work well; it hindered me al-
most as much as a manuscript did. I cannot tell
exactly how or why it hindered me, but it did. It
was, I presume, like trying to swim by having all
the time one foot on the bottom, or one hand on
a board; and I found that the better way, if ever
I was going to learn to swim, was just to jump
right in and swim or sink. At all events, I did
GRACE CHURCH, PROVIDENCE
PROVIDENCE 81
jump in, without anything to depend upon, and
after a fashion perhaps not a very good fashion,
but still after a fashion I have been swimming
ever since, or preaching ever since without manu-
script. I do not call it extemporaneous preaching,
or memoriter preaching, it certainly is not that,
or not consciously that. I am not particular to
call it anything except preaching without notes;
and poor as the preaching may be, it is the best
that I can do.
Now I was not, and am not, naturally fluent in
speech, nor do I possess the faculty above the
average of thinking on my feet; but the little
power in that direction which at present I possess,
I have acquired by practice.
Of course, with all other busy men who are true
servants of the people, he was not always able to keep
his own rules. He saw practically everyone who called
upon him, and some days the procession seemed un-
ending. One Saturday evening, Mr. Foster found it
necessary to see him on a matter which could not be
postponed. Mr. Foster apologized, and Mr. Greer con-
fessed that up to that hour he had scarcely had a mo-
ment all day for his sermon. "You don't seem
worried," said Mr. Foster. "No," was the answer;
"I have walked so many times on the edge of the preci-
pice without falling off that no doubt I have become
hardened." The sermon the next morning was long
82 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
remembered as exceptionally good. The secret was
that a preacher who constantly prepared himself week
by week, could occasionally rely upon the prepara-
tion of a lifetime. Mr. Foster also recalls that when
he found his rector unwell one Monday morning, he
said to him, by way of consolation, "I reached church
yesterday just as you were finishing your sermon, and
from the porch I could hear every word." Mr. Greer,
with a steady look, said slowly, "Don't you know,
Foster, that when men shout the loudest they have the
least to say?"
In his reading he was not trusting to memory: he
was filling notebook after notebook with quotations,
and often he was adding his own reflections, as his own
thought reacted upon the thought he found in his
books. Whenever he was in doubt about a subject on
which he wished to preach he turned the pages of these
books. He said that it was like pouring a dipper of
water down a pump when it is dry and does not work:
"it fetches the water, and the static fluid in the qui-
escent pump is started and begins to flow." When
these notebooks failed to start his mind upon a ser-
mon for the coming Sunday, he would leave all his
books behind him, put on his hat, and go out; not, as
he said, "for physical exercise, though that perhaps
would help, but for human exercise, for the exercise of
his heart, his soul, his mind, in the midst of human
life." He might go to see Bishop Clark, the magnet
which drew many up the hill to George Street, to his
PROVIDENCE 83
yellow house with white facings (looking, as William
Wilberforce Newton used to say, like an enlarged
spongecake with sugar-coated decoration), and with
the delicate little brass bell-pull which communicated
to the hospitable ulterior of that simple dwelling; he
might go to see Professor Diman in Brown University;
he might go to see his old friend, Dr. Richards, in St.
John's rectory; he might go to see a devout woman in
a cultivated home; he might visit a poor man at his
bench; he might go to a house where there were many
children and look into their eyes; and the trust and
the friendship which he would receive he would bring
into his study, and his subject for the coming Sunday
would be given him.
During the 'Seventies and 'Eighties, the two great
preachers of the Episcopal Church in New England
were undoubtedly Dr. Brooks and Mr. Greer. It is
encouraging to remember that their hold upon the
people was gained by the simplest, most direct preach-
ing of the Gospel. Neither attempted to gain atten-
tion by sermons upon economic, political, or social
topics. They were not unmindful of the black spots
in the city and the State, but they had the sublime
faith, that if they could make their parishioners and
all others who heard them devout disciples of Jesus
Christ, they would be contributing most surely to the
reforms for which they prayed. Though these two
eminent preachers had this trait in common, Mr. Greer
was often defending Christianity against the attacks
84 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
or the indifference of such men as Huxley, Haeckel, or
Herbert Spencer; while Dr. Brooks never disputed,
but only assumed the truth of Christianity and illus-
trated it. A good many young men in Harvard Col-
lege, admiring Brooks to the utmost, often wished that,
with his superb power, he would tackle a definite prob-
lem, such as Prayer, and work it out before his congre-
gation. Illuminating thoughts about prayer were in
almost every sermon, but they were not coordinated
and systematized. Many people on the other hand
felt that it was the weakness of Mr. Greer's preaching
that he often gave the impression that Christianity
needed to be defended all the time. It so happened,
however, that the people of Boston were deeply satisfied
with the marvellous insight into the details of spiritual
truth which Phillips Brooks was revealing to them Sun-
day by Sunday; and with almost, if not quite equal
satisfaction, the young and the old of Providence were
rejoicing in their prophet. Sunday by Sunday, the
young, who were facing the problems of the university,
and the old, who were only dimly aware of the changes
which were passing over the world, sat in the pews of
Grace Church, with suppressed excitement, to discover
in what way their dear friend and rector would lead
them through the mazes of modern knowledge into the
clearer faith of Christ. In theory, Mr. Greer did not
believe it right to argue the principles of Christianity.
He would assume them, and illustrate them out of the
experience of the time. But he was too transparent
PROVIDENCE 85
not to reveal to the people the warfare of faith through
which he himself was passing. There was no doubt
of the result in any sermon. Each sermon proclaimed
a victory of the faith, a faith not assumed but
achieved. He preached a sermon once on Justification
by Faith, and contended that what was meant by justi-
fication was that faith justified itself in a man's life.
A theological professor chanced to be present and
scorned the sermon because of its bad exegesis. He
wondered whether the preacher were ignorant or
whether he were simply deliberately tampering with the
Word. Another questioned his logic. Other critics ad-
mitted that the sermon did not grow out of the text,
but they knew that it was a great sermon. Uncon-
sciously he was exemplifying what, he said, we have
found in certain preachers who have moved us:
What was the secret of their power? They
may have been eloquent in the ordinary sense of
the term or they may not have been. They may
have been learned and scholarly, or they may not
have been. Nor did we always agree, perhaps,
with what we heard them say. And yet, some-
how, they always managed to make us feel as
though they had a personal message for us,
simply because it was their own personal message,
a message which they themselves, in their deepest
and innermost souls, had found and felt to be
good, had found and felt to be true; and which,
86 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
therefore, produced an echoing response in us. It
may have been some truth which we already knew,
some very familiar truth; and yet as the preacher
preached it, it seemed like something new and to
have in it something new. And it did have in it
something new; it had the preacher in it. He had
made the truth his own. He had wrought it out,
or fought it out, and won it for himself, and it was
like a piece of himself. He was not simply de-
fining some article of the creed. He was not
simply disclosing and making known "the faith
once delivered to the saints," nor telling us what
had been "always and everywhere and by all re-
ceived." He was telling us rather what he, by his
own living thought, by his own living experience,
had made his very own. It was the travail of his
soul, and we saw it, and felt it, and were satisfied.
One could not listen to Mr. Greer without being im-
pressed by his goodness. There was a simple piety
radiating from his presence of which even the stranger
could not fail to be aware. The constant theme of his
preaching was Christ. Subdued enthusiasm was the
reflection of the light which he himself was always
seeing. He knew that as a preacher he must be an
eye-witness of the truth as it is in Christ. With his
own eyes, with his own mind, with his own heart,
with his own soul, with his own moral and spirit-
ual and intellectual nature he must see Christ.
PROVIDENCE 87
He could not preach if he were preaching Christ
merely upon hearsay, however authoritative the
testimony of others might be. He believed that
when men asked for practical preaching it was
personal preaching that they really desired. He
believed that it mattered little what the particular sub-
ject might be, whether it were the Doctrine of the
Atonement or the immediate problem of how to for-
give the injury done by a neighbor, if only the people
who sat in the pews could be stirred and kindled as
the preacher himself had been stirred and kindled by
the light of his Master, Jesus Christ. Under such cir-
cumstances, a subject which might seem upon the sur-
face most remote, academic, and unpractical would
become the most real, the most immediate, the most
necessary for man's life today.
He gave himself utterly. Dr. Richards told one of
his curates that on going to the Providence station of
a Monday morning, at five o'clock, to catch a train
for a fishing excursion, he found his neighbor, Greer,
wandering through the market square. "Why," said
Dr. Richards, "what are you doing here?" "Oh," said
Mr. Greer, "after preaching, I can't sleep. So I just
got up and took a walk."
To his regular parishioners whom he was teaching
Sunday by Sunday, no sermon failed to bring profound
help. But the critical stranger might easily on some
Sundays have been disappointed. His friend, Dr.
Richards, is remembered to have said, "You may hear
88 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
Greer preach three or four times and wonder why all
the people are there to hear him; and then the fourth
or fifth time you will hear him, and wonder why the
whole world isn't there." He himself was more con-
scious of the distance between his accomplishment and
his ideal than he was of the fame which his sermons
had achieved. One Monday morning a clergyman
from Boston picked up a Providence paper, to see the
large letters of the headline, "Monkey in Grace
Church Pulpit." A monkey had broken loose from
the Dime Museum, had run into Grace Church and
perched itself on the edge of the pulpit. His friend
made merry over the headline. Mr. Greer of course
recognized the humor in the situation and felt no re-
sentment. More than that, looking far away, and at
once thinking of words spoken in that same pulpit, he
said, with that gentleness and humility which those
who knew him can never forget, "Yes, there was a
monkey in Grace Church pulpit; and it wasn't the first
time either."
Both in the pulpit and with his children at home,
he was frankly teaching the Bible as modern scholar-
ship was beginning to interpret it. A reverent con-
gregation accustomed to older expressions of the doc-
trine of inspiration was sometimes baffled by the ways
through which their rector was leading them ; but they
trusted him. They knew his own faith in the Supreme
Book of God's revelation, and week by week they came
out into the clearer light of its understanding.
PROVIDENCE 89
His friends, knowing his history, sometimes thought
that during these years in Providence two voices were
speaking to him: the voice of the skeptic, and the voice
of his mother with her simple Evangelical faith; and
they were inclined to think that like Christian in Pil-
grim's Progress, he put his fingers into his ears and
ran away from his tormentors; but if I may intrude
my personal testimony as a biographer, I should say
that from the material at my disposal this was not true.
The faith which a mother had taught him he had lived
into his own life. If he seemed to take refuge in mani-
fold good works for others it was simply that he might
use himself for others as Christ knelt down even to
wash the disciples' feet. A passage from his preaching
will illustrate not only his own motive but the eloquent
power of his message:
Let your purpose be not to be ministered unto,
but, as in the case of Jesus Christ, to minister to
the human life about you. And how strangely
and quickly will all the best forces of life give
themselves to you, their beauty, their power, and
become incorporated in you, become, as it were,
you. They will take their crowns and crown you.
They will lift you up and exalt you, and give their
blessing to you, and will help to make you all that
you are capable of becoming. Is it not the same
great principle which we see operating everywhere
else? "Serve me long and well," says Art; "be
go DAVID HUMMELL GREER
my minister first, and then some day you shall be-
come my master." "Kneel low at my footstool
with patient and reverent homage," says the king-
dom of nature to the inquiring disciple, "and then
some day you shall sit on my throne."
And that is just as true of human nature as it
is of inanimate nature. No man can reach the
full stature of his personality except through
others. Living alone and standing apart from
others, he can never show what he is, "but only
what he is not." He can only show, as someone
has said, that he is not a friend, or acquaintance,
or companion, or comrade, or neighbor; he exists
for nobody; and presently, to his surprise, and
generally to his horror, he will discover that he is
nobody. The people about us today are not really
other people, they are ourselves, in whom we be-
come alive, and reach and find ourselves, in whose
features, masked and disguised by suffering, and
need, and ignorance, and foolishness, and want,
we shall find, as the mask is lifted, the features of
ourselves.
VI
AS ONE would imagine Mr. Greer received,
during his Providence rectorship, many
calls to other churches, including St. Ann's,
Brooklyn; St. Paul's, Cleveland; Trinity, Chicago;
and St. Thomas's, New York. It was only when he
received the call to St. Bartholomew's, New York, in
1888, that he felt that the time had come to enter upon
a new phase of his work. Representatives of the
Vestry of St. Bartholomew's went to Providence in
February, armed with the following letter:
DIOCESAN HOUSE
29 LAFAYETTE PLACE
NEW YORK, Feby. 17, 1888
My dear Dr. Greer:
I beg to introduce to you, Mr. William H.
Appleton, Mr. George Kemp, and Mr. Cornelius
Vanderbilt, a committee from the vestry of St.
Bartholomew's Church, New York, who are em-
powered to invite you to accept the rectorship of
that parish.
These gentlemen will be glad to give you any
information in regard to the parish, and will also
91
92 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
inform you that the present Rector desires to be
relieved of the rectorship so soon as his successor
can be chosen. In case of your acceptance of this
invitation, however, it will not be necessary for
you to enter upon your duties until the autumn,
unless you should otherwise elect.
I need not tell you how much my own heart is
in this call. I know you will want to do your best
for Christ and His cause, and I believe that if
you come to us we can give you a noble oppor-
tunity to do so.
I am, dear Dr. Greer,
Faithfully and affectionately yours,
H. C. POTTER
The Revd.
D. H. GREEK, D.D.
Before the first of March, Mr. Greer had accepted
the New York rectorship. Letters of regret came to
him from his brethren in Massachusetts; letters of wel-
come from his friends in New York, especially from
Dr. Huntington, who five years before had left his
beloved parish in Worcester and the Boston Clericus
to serve Grace Church in New York. He wrote with
a full understanding of what the change from New
England to the metropolis must mean. One letter from
the Boston group and one from the New York group
will be sufficient:
PROVIDENCE 93
233 CLARENDON STREET
BOSTON
March i, 1888
Dear Greer:
The paper says you have accepted St. Bar-
tholomew's. If so, then Godspeed! May the new
life be as bright and useful as the old has been.
I am deeply sorry that it will take you farther
away from us, and that we shall hardly ever see
your face. But you will not wholly forsake the
humble and provincial friends of your boyhood,
and we shall gratefully remember all that you
have been to us, and we shall watch your later
glory from afar and say, He once was ours!
So may all blessings follow you.
Faithfully your friend,
PHILLIPS BROOKS
i WEST FIFTY-SEVENTH STREET
March 26, 1888
My dear Dr. Grcer:
I expect to sail for Europe with my family on
the 3ist, for an absence of four months, and regret
that I cannot be here to greet you when you arrive
in April. You will be, however, warmly welcomed
by the church. I could not go without leaving
a line to say how deeply I appreciate your accept-
ance of our call, and how happy the congregation
94 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
are that you are to be their Rector. There is no
more promising field anywhere, and I believe that
you will find its opportunities just what you de-
sire. Your people will be most cordial and help-
ful, and I am sure will do all in their power to
make you thoroughly at home and satisfied with
your new relations. For myself, I wish to assure
you that I intend at all times in the future to do
whatever may be in my power to assist you in
your work and relieve you from care.
With cordial regards and Good-bye, I am
Yours sincerely,
C. VANDERBILT
For both Mr. Greer and the people of Grace Church,
the breaking of the tie which bound them together as
pastor and people was full of sorrow. Some of the
letters, written to him then, and always kept by Mrs.
Greer, tell the pathetic story which every rector knows
who has gone from one loving parish to another. The
letter of the Vestry, uncommonly free of convention-
ality, shows what his years in Providence had meant
to the people:
PROVIDENCE, March 2, 1888
Rev. DAVID H. GREER
Dear Sir:
The Vestry of Grace Church have received
your note of February 29, announcing your ac-
PROVIDENCE 95
ceptance of a call to the rectorship of St. Bartholo-
mew's Church, in New York, and tendering your
resignation as rector of this parish.
We learn with the deepest sorrow of your de-
termination to sever a connection which has ex-
isted for the past fifteen years, and which has con-
tributed to the welfare of the church, the extension
of its Christian work and influence, and to the zeal
and enthusiasm of its members, to a degree un-
paralleled in its history.
We feel that in your departure, Grace Church,
the Diocese of Rhode Island, and this whole com-
munity will suffer a loss which can with difficulty
be repaired, but we still believe that in each of
these fields, the influence of your teaching and the
zeal inspired by your example will enable us to
carry on successfully the work which you have
inaugurated. We cannot but regret the decision
which takes you from us, but we acknowledge the
absolute purity of your motives, and, putting aside
all personal feeling, unhesitatingly accept and
concur in the judgment at which you have arrived.
We wish you Godspeed in your future work.
Wherever you may go, the love, the deep sym-
pathy, and the heartfelt prayers of the people of
Grace Church will go with you. You have done
a great and noble service for us. We believe you
will do a like service for others, and we ask God
to grant you the fullest measure of success.
9 6
DAVID HUMMELL GREER
Wardens
In accepting your resignation, we desire you
to fix the date of your departure as may best con-
form to your plans for the future. We shall be
grateful for every added day that you can remain
with us, but we leave the matter entirely with
you.
Your sincere friends,
JOHN B. ANTHONY
CHARLES MORRIS SMITH
EDWARD A. GREENE
JAS. LEWIS PEIRCE
STEPHEN BROWNELL
GEO. EDWARD ALLEN
H. N. CAMPBELL, JR. Vestrymen
ROBERT KNIGHT
PELEG W. LIPPITT
RATHBONE GARDNER
GEO. W. PRENTICE
He preached his last sermon in Providence on
Trinity Sunday, May 27, 1888, upon the text, "The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you
all. Amen." There was almost nothing to indicate
to a stranger that it was his last sermon. He seemed
to be trying to sum up the chief doctrines which he
had taught his congregation.
PROVIDENCE 97
As Christian people [he said] it is our vocation
to reproduce the life of Jesus Christ on earth,
so that men may see not away off yonder, in
Galilee, nineteen hundred years ago, but here and
now, in flesh and blood, before their very eyes,
something like the spirit of Jesus Christ moving
on the earth; to reproduce it in the society about
us, in our social and political life. We must try
not merely to be called by His Name but to have
His spirit in our hearts, His deep sense of God, His
broad and active and constantly flowing sympathy
with men, His purity, His reverence, His courage
under trial, in the presence of temptation and
danger. That is not only the true Christianity;
that is the true humanity. The ultimate aim of
the Christian religion is the ideal excellence of our
human existence in this world. Oh, men and
women, believe in it; the Christian life and the
human life are one!
He added, as if he had not intended even to say so
much:
Those personal words which some of you pos-
sibly may expect I cannot venture to say. From
the bottom of my heart I thank you for all you
have done for me, for all you have been to me and
ever will be to me, and God bless you, and fare-
well. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the fellowship of the
Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore.
98 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Then he received the Holy Communion with the
people.
He was so unwilling to have the Providence min-
istry close that he lingered for another Sunday. He
asked Professor William Lawrence from the Theologi-
cal School in Cambridge to come and preach for him
while he looked again at his parishioners from the
depth of the chancel. Bishop Lawrence has confessed
that it was an uncomfortable task, but he was willing
to do anything for his friend. At the last moment, as
they were about to leave the rectory, he told Mr. Law-
rence that he could not face the people again, and with
characteristic simplicity he went to the service at the
Orphanage, and said the Good-bye to the children
which he did not dare to say to the people in the
church.
IV
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S
IV
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S
DR. Greer* began his rectorship at St. Bar-
tholomew's on the first Sunday of Novem-
ber, 1888. The summer months of 1888
were spent in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. (Here
lived Mrs. Greer's mother, Mrs. Keith, a saint in face
and character, and a saint without austerity, full of
gentleness and charm.) He was trying to adjust him-
self to the unknown future. Owing to the age and
infirmity of the retiring rector, Dr. Cooke, the church
was at this time little more than a place of worship for
the most devout on Sunday mornings.
Mr. Atwood went to see him during this Bridge-
water summer. To him Dr. Greer confessed, "I am
afraid that I am going to make a failure of it; they
call me an administrator, but I am no administrator.
I saw Phillips Brooks the other day, and he asked me
how I felt; and when I told him, Brooks replied that
* Though Dr. Greer received the degree of Doctor of Divinity
while he was in Providence, his Providence congregation always
called him Mr. Greer. It was only in New York that he began to
be called generally Dr. Greer.
101
102 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
he had been for a long time in Trinity Church, and
felt very much the same way, and was looking out for
a younger man to assist him. And when we parted,
I said, 'I hope that you will remember me, Brooks';
and he said, 'I hope that you will remember me,
Greer.' "
Dr. Greer, in his summer notebook, shows that he
was thinking of the Sunday morning service. He
planned to have notices of the service in the Saturday
and Sunday papers. He wished strangers to under-
stand that they would be welcome : he planned to have
special attention shown to them when they came. He
was going to urge the pewholders to show hospitality.
He would request them to be present before the be-
ginning of the service, that the ushers might know
what seats would be vacant. He would have every
seat free after the Venite. He would have benches at
the doors for those who had no pews, that if they were
obliged to wait they would not be obliged to stand. He
would have a plain notice in the vestibule stating that
strangers were welcome, that they would be shown
seats as quickly as possible. Further, he would have
a notice in front of the church proclaiming the name
of the church, the rector, the hours of service, and
again: "Strangers Welcome."
Another page is taken up with notes about a pos-
sible newsboys' club. He queried whether it would
be wise to rent a house for them, with a woman in
charge to make it seem like home. He made notes
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 103
about the Girls' Friendly, the Mothers' Meeting, about
Bible classes on Sunday. He wrote down the duties
which he would assign to assistants. Among the notes
for his first Sunday, he wrote that he must announce
a conference of Sunday-school teachers to meet in the
clubrooms the next afternoon at four o'clock. They
must decide upon a series of lessons. His own sug-
gestion was for a course on the Parables of Christ.
They must decide whether the Sunday-school should
be morning or afternoon, but he suggested among his
notes that there should be a teachers' meeting at three
o'clock on Sunday afternoon, Sunday-school at half
past three, and a choral service at four.
Then the book records the sermons which he might
preach in the morning and in the afternoon. He jots
down the titles of old sermons which he might preach
again: some, because of the amount of material he
had for them, he might divide into two, or possibly
three sermons. He writes out quotations from Brown-
ing, from Carlyle, from John Fiske, from Disraeli, from
Symonds; and then follows page after page of his own
thought.
The book shows that when he reached St. Bartholo-
mew's hi the fall the fires were burning.
II
IT IS amusing to discover that the first year book
which Dr. Greer issued in New York is practi-
cally a duplicate of the last year book he issued
in Providence. The Providence year book still re-
mains, in which he crossed out Grace Church and sub-
stituted St. Bartholomew's; in which he crossed out
Providence and substituted New York; and in which
he made all the other necessary changes in names and
dates. Of course there is new mattter in the reports,
but all that could be carried over into the new book
was retained. This was characteristic of his whole life.
Whenever he made a change from one successful work
to another he always tried again what had succeeded
in his former experience. He was essentially a con-
servative. Later, the Bronx Church House was to be
a reminiscence of the great parish house on Forty-
second Street, and even when he came to the Cathedral
he pined for a choir like the famous mixed choir of
St. Bartholomew's.
From a paper (the name of which is lost), there is
a bit of anonymous correspondence, under the date of
November 23, 1888:
On Sunday, I went up to hear Dr. Greer, the
new rector of St. Bartholomew's. For good and
sufficient reasons the church was not reached till
104
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 105
about twelve o'clock, or time enough, say, to hear
the ante-Communion service. The preacher then
ascended the pulpit, calmly surveyed the congre-
gation, and gave out the text in a voice so low,
that I, in the back of the church, could not catch
it. However, it was something about victory,
and that victory over the lower world which comes
through the truth and through the spiritual life.
Next to sustaining the wants of the body the
greatest value of material things was to provide
things of a higher order, as libraries and books,
art galleries and museums, and whatever minis-
tered to the intellect. In this way, truth became
a victorious, dominating power over the lower
world. But there was an order of things which
became more victorious still, and that was the
higher life in man which might be touched and
qualified by the Spirit of God, and which found
its true being and abiding in the life of God, even
as he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Here, then, was an ascending order, the higher
victorious over the lower, and the highest of all
through the redemption of the Son of God, su-
premely victorious over everything that would
drag it down. This was the idea, as nearly as one
could apprehend it, and with a few words of ap-
plication the preacher stopped.
Well, there was only one drawback, and that
was more especially when the preacher bore on the
io6 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
higher key. Then there was a certain roughness
or thickness as compared with the tones in the
middle register, which made hearing so far away
something of an effort. As for the rest, every-
thing was admirable. The manner was perfect
movement and force enough, and yet under such
complete control. More admirable still, if pos-
sible, was the quality of his thought, which was
that of a Christian philosopher who had thought
out the whole thing on the lines of right reason
and had come at the essential truth, as we regard
it; a man combining head and heart in about
equal proportions, together with common sense
running through and through; intellectual, but not
cold; emotional, but not effusive; eloquent, but
not the vox et prceterea nihil; authoritative, but
not overbearing; self-respecting, but not vain; a
self-contained, self-controlled, well-balanced, and
shapely man in mind and body; carrying no lug-
gage, going off on no tangents, up to no arts, as-
suming no airs; a man who as an eloquent and
effective preacher, leaving his manuscript behind
him, is sure to stand second to no other in the pul-
pits of this city.
These words indicate the kind of preaching which
Dr. Greer was to do in St. Bartholomew's. He had
been preaching to a congregation among whom mem-
bers of the University were rather prominently scat-
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 107
tered. He had come to a congregation where the
devout business man and his family were the typical
members. This devout business man, in many cases,
was not a college graduate, and even if he were, his
thoughts were practical rather than intellectual. The
volume of sermons which Dr. Greer published during
his early ministry in St. Bartholomew's demonstrates
the quick sensitiveness with which he adjusted himself
to the new congregation. If one may judge by these
sermons, the tendency to defend the Faith as some-
thing which needed protection quite disappeared.
They are profoundly religious, and they are eminently
practical. He was telling men how they could walk
with God today. He spoke of the Christian's attitude
towards the theatre. He warned people against as-
suming that their own way is so good that they need
not seek God's way to replace it. As always, the en-
thusiasm for Christ was dominant.
The conception of a great social work on the East
Side was forming in his mind; but worship, and the
preaching which would interpret it, were his first
thought:
Why should not our church buildings be used
more than they are. Looking at it simply from
a commercial point of view, is it not a poor and
inadequate return for the investment, to have
them open only for two or three hours on Sunday,
or for about one hundred and fifty hours out of
io8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
the whole year? If I could do in this matter just
what I should like to do, I would never close the
churches except at night, when everything else is
closed. I would keep them open always; not only
on Sunday, but on every other day; and I would
have some kind of service in them every day of
the week; not always perhaps a preaching service,
but a service of some kind.
It is natural therefore that when he reached out
towards the East Side it was not first of all with im-
plements of social betterment, but first of all with a
Rescue Mission. For this he was fortunate in securing
the leadership of Colonel Henry H. Hadley, a man who
frankly told the wrecks before him that he himself had
once been in the depths, but by God's grace now was
free. Whatever he may have been at one time, all
could see that he was now a saint; and the men took
hold of his goodness and the goodness of His Master,
and were saved.
In talking to students, later, the rector said:
I am interested in a Rescue Mission in New
York and go there at times to speak to the men.
A poor, forlorn, degraded, almost helpless and
hopeless set of men they are. They have lost their
character, they have lost their reputation, they
have lost their self-respect, they have lost every-
thing except their souls, or except that soul-in-
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 109
stinct which, no matter how down-trodden, and
buried, and covered up, is in every man, and never
can be lost. I find it very hard to reach and
touch these men. But there is a little woman who
goes there sometimes, who was once a member of
the Salvation Army, and whose words have much
more power and effectiveness than mine. And to
her they always listen with a rapt and eager
listening; and often, as I have heard her talk, have
I seen those hard, stolid faces lighten, and kindle,
and glow, as though from beneath the rubbish
their souls were coming out. But not only does
she touch and move and quicken them, she also
touches me as very few preachers do. Her theol-
ogy is not mine; it is in some respects very dif-
ferent from mine. Many of the things which she
says seem to me to be puerile and crude; and
when I come to think of them afterwards, I am
sure I do not believe them, and could not believe
them. But she believes them, and her whole per-
sonality seems to be saturated with them, and to
quiver and tremble with them; and the earnest-
ness with which she speaks is not simulated and
feigned, but most intensely real. And it is that
real, unfeigned, and deep personal earnestness
which touches me as well as others, and makes
me more alive.
Bishop Brent bears his testimony to the work done
in the Rescue Mission:
no DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
I first came into personal touch with Dr. Greer,
who was then Rector of St. Bartholomew's, New
York, about the year 1895. After hearing him
preach in his church on a Sunday morning I went
in the evening to his rescue mission on Forty-
Second Street. He himself was there and spoke
to the great meeting of dead beats and profligate
sons with the same ease and apparent grip of the
situation that he had with his own congregation
in the morning. It was through him and his mis-
sion that we succeeded in getting a man who him-
self had plumbed the depths to start a similar
work for us in Boston, which has had an enviable
career and has been closed recently in that the
clientele seems to have vanished since the enact-
ment of prohibition.
Bishop Lawrence has only recently borne his testi-
mony to the far-reaching results of this Mission:
I know one besotted man who entered this Res-
cue Mission over twenty-five years ago; he was
redeemed; and that man with his faithful wife has
for twenty-five years been appealing to, working
with, and by God's Spirit redeeming men in our
Church Rescue Mission in Boston. Think of it,
almost every evening for a quarter of a century
passed in this work: the patience, the hope! In
such work Greer 's soul goes marching on.
Ill
AS DR. GREER came in contact with the
poor on the East Side, and as he looked
into the faces of his comfortable par-
ishioners on Sunday mornings, he knew that he must
in some way bring the two groups more intimately to-
gether. The parish as a parish was not reaching out
to the people who lived only a few blocks away. As
a parish, St. Bartholomew's was not worried because
the tenement houses were unhappy and dangerous
places for people to live in. Mr. Cornelius Vander-
bilt, who, at the beginning, pledged to Dr. Greer the
utmost support, stood ready to fulfil his rector's
visions, and with him stood his mother, Mrs. William
H. Vanderbilt, who, as long as she lived, always gave,
with her son, an equal amount, so that they acted to-
gether in support of the new plans. Others of course
helped with generosity; but these two parishioners,
who had both the wealth and the will to use it, were
preeminent.
While Dr. Greer therefore was rector of St. Bar-
tholomew's he seemed to have no financial problem,
for, when Mr. Vanderbilt died, in 1899, his example
had so far inspired others, and the work was so firmly
established in the confidence of the congregation, that
in
ii2 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
they would not suffer it to fail. But he did not know
this; and each year he worked very hard to raise the
great sums necessary. Even with his faith, he could
not help being anxious. And he was genuinely sur-
prised year by year, when the money poured in. He
did not see how it could be done again. As long as
Mr. Vanderbilt lived no reasonable plan could be sug-
gested to him that did not instantly gain his powerful
support. The church was enlarged and beautified soon
after the new rectorship began; for this purpose the
whole congregation gave bountifully.
The great vision before the new rector was a parish
house on East Forty-second Street, which should open
its doors with Christian friendship to all who passed
by, of whatever race or faith. This house was a gift
to the parish by Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt and her
son, Cornelius. When it was done, it covered seven
city lots, it rose to nine stories, and its floor space
measured three and one half acres. It was set apart
by Bishop Potter, Monday evening, November 23,
1891, when addresses were made not only by the
Bishop of the Diocese, but by the rector, and Mr.
Chauncey M. Depew. It had not then reached its
full size for the building was afterward enlarged. Mrs.
Hoagland gave the Clinic in memory of her husband;
this was added directly to the building in Forty-second
Street. Then came a boarding-house for girls; a
working-girls' summer home in Washington, Connect-
icut; and a children's home at Pawling. A few years
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ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 113
later Dr. Greer described what was contained in this
vast equipment:
We have in St. Bartholomew's Parish a good
many departments of parochial activity. We have
not only our Sunday-schools, and missionary so-
cieties, and benevolent societies, but a Swedish
mission, and a Chinese mission, and an Armenian
mission, and a Syrian mission, and a lodging
house, and a loan bureau, and an employment
bureau, and a coffee house, and a penny provident
fund, and a girls' club, and a boys' club, and a
men's club, and a gymnasium, and a parish press,
and a kindergarten, and a surgical clinic, and a
medical clinic, and an eye and ear clinic, as
well as all the ordinary activities which every
thriving parish includes.
He spoke more specifically of the Loan Bureau:
In our Loan Bureau, we lend money in small
amounts, of from ten to two hundred dollars, ag-
gregating about fifteen hundred dollars a week,
charging a fair rate of interest, and taking as se-
curity a mortgage upon the furniture and house-
hold goods of the borrower. I believe in that
form of benevolence and think that it does great
good. It is particularly needed in a city like New
York. And St. Bartholomew's parish was able
in part to supply that need, and does supply it.
ii4 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
He received letters from all over the world, asking in-
formation about the various activities carried on in
the Parish House. The most insistent inquiries con-
cerned the Loan Bureau.
Miss Rapallo writes of Dr. Greer's joy in the Parish
House:
I recall first one snowy day, a furious storm
was raging. I had gone over to the Parish House
to do some neglected work, and was up in the
Girls' Club, when the elevator boy came up bring-
ing an old woman, who had come in for shelter,
and to ask for a pair of shoes, as her feet were
almost on the ground. While we were talking
Dr. Greer came up. He had made his way over
through the storm to see that all was right at the.
Parish House. The clothing bureau was closed
and I went into an inner room where I kept some
clothing stored away, to see if I could find any
shoes. When I came back Dr. Greer was pulling
off his goloshes and giving them to the woman.
This was very characteristic, for his first thought
always on hearing of any distress was, "What can
I do to relieve it?"
One very marked trait, it seems to me, was his
power of memory and of individualizing people.
The Girls' Club during these years was very large,
numbering at times nearly two thousand members
and I think the greater part of the girls felt that
they knew Dr. Greer personally, and what is
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 115
more, that he knew them personally. He certainly
did know a very large number, many of them by
name. He would sometimes talk over some girl's
troubles, and advise me in some difficulty and then
months afterward remember the circumstances
and ask me how so and so turned out, and what
I had done about such a thing.
It was our custom each year to have Quarterly
Meetings, when all the members would come to-
gether in the large hall. The great event of these
evenings was Dr. Greer's address. Some of his
strongest and most inspiring addresses were made
at these meetings. As an instance of what an im-
pression they made upon the girls, I remember
receiving a letter from one of our members, who
was ill, and was at Saranac, in which she quoted
a sentence from Dr. Greer's last Quarterly Meet-
ing address which one of her friends, who was
present, had written up to her, and which had
greatly impressed her. Dr. Greer never missed
one of these meetings, I think literally, not more
than three or four during the fifteen years I was
at St. Bartholomew's. One of the meetings fell
in August and each year he came up from East
Hampton or wherever he happened to be, to be
present. This necessitated his spending the night
in the hot city, but he knew the eager crowd of
girls who were waiting for him, and would not
disappoint them.
n6 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
A short time ago a notice was put in the paper,
telling of the cottage which it is planned to build
at Hope Farm in memory of Bishop Greer and I
received a most touching letter from one of the
old St. Bartholomew's girls, enclosing a check for
ten dollars and saying that she wished to be one
to contribute to this memorial as she could never
express how much Dr. Greer and St. Bartholo-
mew's Girls' Club had meant to her in her
life. She has sent me checks many times since
then to be used for Hope Farm in memory of
Dr. Greer.
One other incident occurs to me of a different
nature. In all the years of my relationship with
Dr. Greer, I only once heard him lose his temper
or speak harshly. On this occasion the elevator
boy had spoken rudely to some woman who was
getting on the elevator, not seeing Dr. Greer be-
hind her. I should not like to have been that
elevator boy! This only serves to emphasize how
very self-controlled he usually was. I have seen
him under most trying circumstances, when I
knew he was tired out and very nervous, but never
but this once saw him give way, or heard him
speak crossly.
To Dr. Greer the Parish House was a real joy
always. He would wander over to it after his
hours, when he had been seeing all kinds of people
and facing all kinds of problems, trying to lift or
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 117
carry everybody's burden, or giving help or advice
until he was tired out mentally and physically.
He would come in to the Parish House and drop
into a Mothers' Meeting or step in and watch the
children's calisthenic class or stop to talk with
one of the workers, and always find interest and
pleasure in the life and work going on there, and
go away refreshed.
His method in developing any new parochial ven-
ture was to search diligently for the right person to
take the responsibility for it. Though he would an-
nounce that he meant to avoid doing anything himself
which he could get another to do this rule was not al-
ways kept. In the background of his mind, as he made
every parish call, was the thought, "What will this
person be fitted for?" and then, when he had decided,
he would go directly to that person with the beguiling
invitation, "Here is something definite for you to do."
He had a wholesome horror of clergymen who were
simply "busy." He disliked fussiness. He felt that
his function was that of a leader who could inspire
others to carry out his plans, and as he examined the
characters of the people, the thought came to him from
time to time that here or there was a person fitted to
do a work which had not hitherto been undertaken.
His problem therefore was double. Here is something
to do: who shall do it? Here is someone capable of
doing something new: what shall it be? In a way, his
n8 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
parish house was the laboratory where he could dis-
cover whether his preaching had been effective in the
hearts of the people.
The criticism of enormous parish houses connected
with city churches arose very early. A great deal of
the work done at St. Bartholomew's was purely secu-
lar. There was a Sunday-school of eight hundred, and
the Chapel services were always well attended; but
the growth in the Chapel on Sundays did not keep
pace with the throngs in the Parish House on week-
days. A good many of the people undoubtedly went
to their own churches: many, so far as one could tell,
received what the parish house could do for them in
a material or physical way, and apparently gave noth-
ing to God or man in return. Dr. Greer himself felt
the force of the criticism and attempted to meet it:
We hear the fear expressed in some quarters
today that the minister of Jesus Christ is giving
too much of his time to the development in his
parish of secular works and activities, and is him-
self in danger of becoming secularized. Instead
of devoting so much of his energy and strength
to the starting of guilds and clubs, and coffee
houses, and gymnasiums, and dispensaries, and
kindergartens, and day nurseries, and loan-
bureaus, and employment bureaus, he should, it
is said, confine himself more strictly to his proper
work, which is the work of preaching the Gospel.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 119
Now, if this criticism simply means that the work
of preaching the Gospel is for the Christian min-
ister the first and paramount work, then I accept
and endorse it; for that is what I believe. And if
the doing of those other things to which I have
referred interferes with his preaching, then in my
judgment he should not try to do them. If he
cannot do both, let him not try to do both, but
only to do the one which is in importance first.
But if the criticism means or implies that in doing
those things in his parish which are commonly
called "secular" he is not doing things which are
in reality religious, then it seems to me that the
criticism is not well taken, and is calculated to
give a conception of religion which impoverishes
and enfeebles it, and makes it so much less sub-
lime than what it really is or what it was meant
to be. For religion, according to the Christian
conception of it, does not mean to have the con-
sciousness of God in some particular places, or
in some particular things. That is the pagan con-
ception of religion, that God is in places and
things, lo here, lo there! But our religion is
better than that, and means to have the conscious-
ness of God in all places, and in all things. With
that consciousness of God all duty is sacred duty;
all service is sacred service; all life is sacred life.
It is only fair to say that nothing with which Dr.
Greer had to do could lack the spiritual note. There-
120 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
fore, in so far as this justification affected the people
of the mother church on Madison Avenue, it is alto-
gether valid. Those of us who have had to do with
parochial life in New York might ask seriously, if
the work which was so markedly valuable for the par-
ishioners on Madison Avenue were as valuable for the
kingdom of God to the people ministered to in the
Parish House on East Forty-second Street? No New
York parish which has done institutional work would
probably be satisfied with the results so far as human
intelligence can measure them. Experience has demon-
strated one or two principles which must be obeyed
if the Church is to do with its parish settlements what
will best serve the people. The first of these prin-
ciples is outward and symbolic. Most of us I think
will agree that in every church settlement a building
which is obviously a church, and made as beautiful as
art can make it, should dominate the group. The
second principle is that people who come to the so-
called secular gatherings and clubs should understand
quite clearly that the Church is longing to develop not
so much their bodies and their minds as their charac-
ters and their souls. Another lesson which is coming
out of our experience is, that while we wish to do good
unto all men, we should not allow the leaders of any
religious body to gain 'the impression that we are will-
ing to do the social v/ork for them while they give their
whole attention to what they call the spiritual side of
their people. Minds, bodies, and souls belong to-
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 121
gether, and we may hope that every religious organiza-
tion will ultimately care for the whole life of its
members, in so far as there is need. More and more,
if great parish houses survive, still greater churches
will spring up beside them; and if there be no more
room on the church property the church will be en-
larged at the expense of the parish house.
In the last years of the Nineteenth Century, three
great New York parishes were launching out upon a
huge experiment, St. George's, Grace, St. Bartholo-
mew's. The emphasis varied. Taken altogether, thou-
sands of people if they could be asked their testimony,
would bear witness to the help which the parish house
in each of these churches has brought to them. Those
whose visions and gifts are responsible for the creation
of the modern parish house, would say, could they
speak to us, that though they rejoice, they are not sat-
isfied. But, as they would not fear criticism, neither
would they minimize the actual results. The Church
must always have the genius, being the great poet it
is, to devise things new; it must have the supreme
genius, being the greatest of poets, never to be con-
tent till what was beneficent to the people yesterday
has been changed into the best means of service which
God will show us for today. The Church has gone
ahead by its courageous contempt of possible failures,
and by daring to do what only the Spirit of God can
bring to victory.
IV
DR. GREEK had barely started his venture
with the parish house when he was called
to succeed Phillips Brooks as rector of Trin-
ity Church, Boston. The call came on the first day
of June, just twenty-one years after another Boston
parish, St. Paul's, had heard him preach and had de-
cided that he was not adequate to a Boston rectorship.
It was the most significant recognition which could
come to a preacher; for Phillips Brooks had made the
pulpit of Trinity Church the chief pulpit of the Eng-
lish-speaking world. The call could not fail to attract
him. Dr. Parks, then rector of Emmanuel Church in
Boston, expressed the thoughts passing through his
own mind:
I know how many things there will be to hold
you to your great work, but I write this line to
call your attention to one fact, and that is, that
Trinity Church, Boston, is the greatest pulpit in
this country, and that the man who stands there
has an advantage not to be found elsewhere as far
as I know.
No one, who does not live here, can really know
what a place it is. There is quiet and thoughtful-
ness enough to make it certain that the Word
spoken will not instantly be drowned in the noise
122
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 123
of the machinery of life. I need not tell you how
glad I would be to have you here and to know
that the traditions of the place were living, yet
different, with the difference of a new personality.
Dr. Greer took several weeks to decide where his
duty lay. The letter which naturally meant most to
him was from Phillips Brooks himself, who, in reply
to a letter from Dr. Greer, wrote of his own hope:
233 CLARENDON STREET
BOSTON
June 10, 1892
My dear Greer:
Your letter puts me in a flutter of enthusiastic
hope! If you can come to us, the future is indeed
very bright. More than Trinity has ever done,
more than any church of ours has ever begun to
do in Boston, you can do, if you will give these
next twenty years to the people who have called
you, and their children and children's children.
I need not tell you that the call has been given
most unanimously. It would have been given long
ago if they had dared: only now have they gath-
ered courage to ask you: but if you will come you
will find them eager and ready to work with you
in most faithful and affectionate cooperation.
Do come and look at them. I sail for Europe
on Saturday, the i8th. I leave here on the even-
ing of Friday, the lyth. Wednesday, the isth, is
124 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Commencement and Ordination day at Cam-
bridge. On the evening of that day, and most of
Thursday and all of Friday, I am free, will you
not come and see me? Or shall I come and see
you?
If Mr. Paine, who is an old friend of mine, and
the most energetic vestryman of Trinity Church,
should ask us to spend the night of Wednesday
with him at Waltham, close to Boston, and you
could do it, it might be well, as you and I could
have plenty of time for private talk, and you could
also see what sort of spirit the Vestry are of.
I cannot tell you, my dear friend, what great
delight it would give me or how it would brighten
my declining years!
May the good God send you to us.
Yours most affectionately,
PHILLIPS BROOKS
Dean Lawrence wrote from Cambridge that every-
one hoped he would come to Trinity; but was hoping
against hope. Dr. Greer had been in St. Bartholomew's
only four years. He had just persuaded the congre-
gation to undertake the parish house: two trusting
friends had built it for him. No one knows what he
might have done had the conditions been different. As
the conditions were, he knew before the month of June
was over that his answer would be No, and therefore
he wrote to the Wardens:
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 125
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S RECTORY
342 MADISON AVENUE
Messrs. CHARLES H. PARKER
CHARLES R. CODMAN,
Wardens, Trinity Church.
Gentlemen:
My delay in giving a positive answer to your
communication of June i, inviting me to the rec-
torship of Trinity Church, Boston, has been occa-
sioned by the difficulty I have experienced in
reaching a right conclusion. Seldom indeed have
I been called upon to decide a question which
seemed so evenly balanced. I have felt that to go
to Boston and try as best I could to maintain the
noble traditions of Trinity Church, would be a
great and inspiring privilege, and that I could ask
for nothing better or pleasanter; and yet when
it came to the point of leaving my present work,
so many difficulties immediately rose up before
me that I seemed to have no option in the matter;
and the longer I thought about it the clearer did
it become that I must remain where I am. And
that is the decision which I am now constrained
to give you. To say that I am sorry hardly ex-
presses the way I feel; for my heart is strongly
drawn towards Trinity; and yet my sense of duty
seems to tell me just as strongly that I must stay
at St. Bartholomew's.
126 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
Assuring you again of my grateful appreciation
of your confidence in me, and praying that God
may guide you in the selection of one who will
not be unworthy of your noble parish and its late
distinguished rector, believe me, with sincere re-
gard,
Very truly yours,
GREENWICH, CONN. DAVID H. GREEK
June 22, 1892
Dr. Greer had told his decision to Bishop Brooks,
who wrote from London, where the news reached him
in July. It was the last July he was to spend on earth:
LONDON, July 5, 1892
Dear Greer:
I was afraid so! And yet I dared to hope!
Perhaps it was too much to ask that anyone should
see our Boston just as we seem to see it, and very
likely we have over-valued the importance of the
work there.
At any rate you did not scorn us ! and I like
to believe that there was some chance at one time
that you might even have decided to come. I
must not allow myself now to think about what
it would have been to all of us if you had so de-
cided. What it would have been to me I cannot
tell you. We would have taken sweet counsel to-
gether and walked in the House of God as friends,
wouldn't we?
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 127
I am sorry for New York that she has lost the
blessing which your coming to Boston would have
brought to her. It would have startled her with
the new grace of humility. Now I am afraid she
only gives a careless chuckle, and goes her way
without giving any more thought to the idiotic
impertinence of Boston.
Well, my dear fellow, may you be ever abun-
dantly happy, wherever you are, and may the
Lord's blessing be bountiful upon your work. I
hope you will sometimes remember with some
pleasure that we wanted you. Indeed we did;
and would have given you a true heart's welcome
had you come. But there is no comparison and
no rivalry of works. It is all good, wherever we
are set to do it, and, dear me ! how fast it goes,
and how soon it will all be over!
I thank you for all the kind words of your
letter, and I am, as you know well enough,
Yours most affectionately,
PHILLIPS BROOKS
A year later, such influential clergy and laity in
Massachusetts asked him to give his consent to be
nominated as Phillips Brooks's successor as Bishop of
the diocese, that it seems quite certain that he might
have been elected. One letter is typical of the many
letters which he received:
128 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
1 01 BRATTLE STREET
CAMBRIDGE
March 7, 1893
My dear Greer:
You have no idea of the deep satisfaction it has
given us here at Cambridge to learn that we are
to have the opportunity to vote for, and, we are
confident, elect you, Bishop of Massachusetts.
I believe that we can understand your sense of
obligation towards the work in New York and
towards those who have supported you. Yet
Massachusetts is in a blind condition of thought
and life, as you well know, as far as the position
of the Episcopal Church is concerned. And a man
who can take up the work where Brooks left it,
and who has, as you have, the personal power to
bring our Church before the whole people, will do
the work of generations.
The very fact that Brooks has led will give
you a more sympathetic and enthusiastic backing
and a wider field of work.
Pardon the liberty of my suggestion, but you
are the one man to whom we are turning. I am
not in ecclesiastical politics, but whenever your
name has been mentioned in my hearing it has
been heartily received.
Grosvenor of Lenox, a graduate of Berkeley,
happens to be in my study as I write, and speaks
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 129
enthusiastically of yourself as the man for Mas-
sachusetts.
Yours with much regard,
WILLIAM LAWRENCE
P. S.
I have just read this to Grosvenor, who says
that he endorses every word, and wishes to be re-
membered to Mrs. Greer and yourself, as do I.
He was deeply moved; but the same reasons which
held him back before, held him back still. He had
not passed five years as rector of St. Bartholomew's,
and the parish house experiment was still in its in-
fancy. He was so sure that he could not accept the
call if it came to him that he begged his friends not
to allow his name to be used. In his letter to Mr.
Rousmaniere (who was the spokesman for a large
group of Clergy), explaining the reasons for this de-
cision, he added a postscript:
I have read this letter to Bishop Potter, and he
has requested me to ask you not to say anything
about it for a few days. What good there can be
in that I do not know. I think the Bishop favors
Massachusetts, and is desirous of having me in the
House of Bishops. Perhaps he thinks he can suc-
ceed in making me see that side of it a little more
clearly and strongly.
130 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
But the letter was sent. His mind was unchanged.
He said to Mr. Atwood, "If I had been elected and felt
that it was the call of God, I should have gone; but I
could give only one answer to a caucus." Dr. Richards,
his counsellor in Providence, wrote his approval :
My dear Greer:
You haven't asked my opinion, so I offer it! I
want to congratulate you on your decision as to
Massachusetts. You are absolutely in your niche
now and any change would be an experiment.
There are few men more precisely suited to their
posts than you to the charge of a parish in New
York like St. Bartholomew's. I felt so when you
left here, and everyone feels so about you now. I
much doubt if Boston would have suited you. I
don't say that you would not have suited Boston.
Massachusetts is the quintessence of New Eng-
land, and I had half a fear that you would fancy
you knew New England by your knowledge of
Rhode Island. Nothing could be less true. Rhode
Island might easier introduce you to New York
or Ohio or Virginia than to Massachusetts. So
I am heartily glad for you that the mitre has not
dazzled you. This is unselfish in me, for Boston
is only one hour distant, and New York five.
Gus Hoppin's prophetic soul must be grieved!
Ever yours,
C. A. L. R.
DR. GREEK'S influence was felt far beyond the
bounds of his own Communion. When the
citizens of New York, irrespective of ecclesi-
astical affiliation, wished to express their admiration
and affection for Phillips Brooks, and gathered in
Music Hall to hear speeches, by Rabbi Gottheil in be-
half of the Jews, Mr. Joseph H. Choate in behalf of
Bishop Brooks's contemporaries at Harvard College,
Dr. Storrs in behalf of the Presbyterians, Dr. J. R.
Day in behalf of the Methodists, Father Ducey in be-
half of the Roman Catholics, and Dr. Lyman Abbott
in behalf of the Congregationalists, Dr. Greer was
chosen to preside and to make the opening address.
How penetrating Dr. Greer 's influence had become is
further shown by the fact that at Archbishop Corri-
gan's funeral, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in May, 1902,
he acted as one of the special guard of honor.
In the year 1895, Dr. Greer delivered at Yale the
Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching, taking for his
subject, The Preacher and His Place. The printed
lectures reveal not only his method but his inner spirit.
Where all is excellent it is difficult to select a single
passage, but his words upon the relation of a sermon
to other messages coming from God will show his sym-
132 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
pathetic attitude towards all who try to do good in
the Name of the Lord:
The tendency of civilized society is a tendency
towards specialization; and the specialized task
of the preacher is not to try to preach all the truth
which God has revealed (though it is all true, and
God has revealed it), but to preach that truth
which God has revealed in Jesus Christ; and the
less he has to do with the preaching of what is
called scientific truth, the better, I think, will it be
for both the preaching and the science. His
preaching will be touched or affected more or less
by that scientific truth. It cannot help being af-
fected by it. And more or less incidentally and
collaterally and as a kind of side light it will show
itself in his preaching. But he is not, in my judg-
ment, and as I interpret his office, called upon to
preach it, any more than he is called upon to
preach against it. He is called upon chiefly to
preach the truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ;
and through his own personal absorption and as-
similation of it to make that truth a power in the
lives of those who hear him. That is his special
task, and that is task enough, hard enough,
great enough, sublime enough to tax him to the
utmost, and to give him employment enough. And
yet, while performing the task of preaching the
truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ, let him not
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 133
forget that there is other truth, and that there
are other teachers of truth. Is his task sacred?
So is theirs. Is his truth revealed? So is theirs.
Is he a minister of God? So are they. Is he a
prophet of God? So are they. And the work
which they do is religious work, as the work which
he does is religious work; because it is not chiefly
the work which is done by them, but the work
which is done by God through them.
Instead, therefore, of making a distinction be-
tween sacred truth and secular, let us claim all
truth as sacred, because all truth is God's, and
comes from God, and is doing God's work in the
world.
It is impressive to discover that while in the early
'Nineties his critics were forecasting the loss of his
prophetic power in the management of the vast parish
house, he read at a monthly meeting of the American
Institute of Christian Philosophy, in May, 1893, a
paper on Auguste Comte and Postivism. At the end
of the long paper is the conclusion which he reached at
every turn of his life:
In the meantime, we can say to the Positivist,
as to all who are looking for One who is worthy
of worship and capable of inspiring it, it is not
necessary to invent Him at all, but simply to be-
134 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
hold Him; yes, to behold Him, who, in the lan-
guage of Richter, "holiest among the mighty and
mightiest among the holy," has lifted with his
pierced hands empires off their hinges, turned the
stream of centuries out of its channel, and still
governs the ages.
He was continually called upon to represent the
spirit of the Church Universal at various dinners and
meetings, which, for the most part, had some secular
end in view, such as the honor to be paid to some visit-
ing ambassador, the interests of the Chamber of Com-
merce, or the loyalty of New England to its ideals. He
was a charter member of the Provident Loan Society,
which is a society organized to lend money on pawns
and pledges. For several years he was chaplain of the
Seventh Regiment. He resigned this chaplaincy at the
time of the Spanish War, finding that he could not con-
scientiously leave his work in New York to accompany
the Regiment.*
*Sr. BARTHOLOMEW'S RECTORY
342 MADISON AVENUE
June i, 1898
Dear Colonel Appkton:
After a very careful and conscientious consideration of the matter,
I have reached the conclusion that I am not free to go with the
Regiment into the service of the Government without serious detri-
ment to very important interests, both material and moral, which
have been committed to my keeping, and for which I am respon-
sible. If it were a question of personal sacrifice I could easily and
quickly decide it, and it would be in that case a privilege and pleas-
ure to go with the Regiment which I have learned to esteem and
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 135
Associated Charities in other cities often appealed
to him to come, and, from his experience, tell how best
to help the poor. He preached the annual Botanical
sermon in St. Louis in 1902. He was intensely inter-
ested in Helen Keller, and did much to make it pos-
sible for her and her teacher, Miss Sullivan, to continue
their demonstration of what could be done for a child,
dumb, deaf, and sightless, and of what a child so helped
could do.
WRENTHAM, MASS., June 21, 1898
My dear Dr. Greer:
If you only knew how often, and how sincerely
I have thanked you in my heart for the little boat,
which has given me so much pleasure, I am sure
that my long delay in writing would not seem to
you like ingratitude.
I go out in my boat oftenest when the sky is
filled with soft rosy clouds, that seem to float
through the depths of our lovely lake, "like heav-
enly thoughts through a peaceful heart." I can
love, and to share its fate. But it is not a personal question; and
the consideration which constrained me to remain at my present post
when I was recently urged to leave it for another and important
field of work, compels me now to do the same.
I need not tell you, for I am sure you know, with what great re-
luctance I have reached this decision. Neither need I assure you of
my great respect and affection for you.
Thanking you most warmly for all your personal kindness to me,
and regretting that I cannot go with you, believe me always,
Very sincerely yours,
DAVID H. GREEK
136 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
now row entirely around the lake, a distance of
about three miles, without getting too tired; so
you see, I am growing very strong indeed. How
I wish I could give you a row around King
Philip's Pond! It is all so beautiful! The trees
and bushes come down to the water's edge, and
bend over it to look at their own beautiful reflec-
tions; and a little later the pond-lilies will welcome
the day with a shower of perfume.
I wonder where you spend your summers. If
anywhere in Massachusetts, I wish you could
make us a little visit; we should be so happy to
see you. God bless you, dear Mr. Greer, from my
heart of hearts. You cannot know the depth of
my gratitude.
I hope you will enjoy your summer, gain health
and strength, and with fresh happiness return to
the city to make others happy.
Ever your loving friend,
HELEN KELLER
Long after, in 1920, Miss Keller wrote of the boat:
What a joy that little boat was to me! How
many happy hours I spent in it, rowing or drifting
on the lovely lakes in Wrentham! And I still
seem to feel its light, graceful motions in the
water. The fragrance of pines and lilies comes
floating on the breeze of memory as I write, fill-
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 137
ing my heart with sweet thoughts of my friend
who has voyaged to the mysterious shores of Si-
lence.
I have had many, many friends, but I have
never had a truer friend than Dr. Greer. When I
was struggling through college, he was ever ready
with helpful counsel and encouragement. I loved
him warmly for his goodness, his courage, and his
sweetness. The memory of his kindness has been
precious to me all the years since I first met him
at the house of my good friend, Laurence Hutton.
I loved him here, and I love him in whatever realm
of God's universe he dwells now.
During the sixteen years that he was rector of St.
Bartholomew's, he met the demands which were placed
upon him to represent religion before the wider public,
and he made men respect it.
VI
DR. GREEK'S influence in his own Church
reached far. From 1881 he was a member
of the General Board of Missions. Of his
work for the Board details will be given in that part of
this book which covers his bishopric.
In 1895, 1898, and 1901, he represented the Diocese
of New York in the General Convention, with Dr.
Huntington, Dr. Dix, Dean Hoffman, Dr. Lewis Parks,
and Dr. Grosvenor. He represented with personal
strength the strongest diocese in the Church. He sur-
prised members of the Convention by pleading for a
rigid Canon forbidding any re-marriage by the Church
after divorce, even to "the innocent party." By this
stand, he won the admiration of Bishop Doane, who
was his warm friend ever after. This intimacy was
further strengthened by Dr. Greer's substantial co-
operation, in organizing and building the Matanzas
Orphanage in Cuba, the founding of which was largely
due to the indefatigable efforts of Bishop Doane's
daughter, Mrs. Gardiner.
He was especially kind, when going to the General
Convention, in preaching in towns near the city where
the Convention chanced to meet. For example, in
1895, when the Convention met in Minneapolis,
138
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 139
Bishop Whipple besought his friends to go down with
him to his home in Faribault on the Saturday nights
during which the Convention was held, that they might
preach for him the next day in the Cathedral. Ac-
cordingly, Dr. Greer made the rather arduous journey
to preach at one of the Sunday evening services in Fari-
bault. One who heard him recalls that his text was,
"Ye shall not see my face except your brother be with
you." Everybody was moved. After the service, the
men of the choir surrounded him and asked him ques-
tions. Without taking off his surplice, he remained
standing among them for fully half an hour, genially
talking about his work in New York. He was of
course a great personage to his listeners, for the fame
of St. Bartholomew's was throughout the country. But
they were not over-awed; he was so friendly and kind,
that it was as natural to ask questions of him as of a
friend whom they saw every day.
He was interested in the Church Congress from the
beginning of its history, and was often heard upon its
platform, especially upon subjects connected with
preaching. He would make long journeys in order to
support this institution for free discussion, going for
instance as far as St. Paul, where he spoke upon the
influence of the Newspaper. In 1890, in Philadelphia,
he spoke upon "Trusts." Having been impressed
through his intimate friendship with Mr. Cornelius
Vanderbilt and other earnest Christian business men
with the sense of responsibility which some rich men
140 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
had for their wealth, he assumed that this was a
prevailing characteristic among capitalists. He was
therefore inclined to be impatient of the socialistic
protest.
A friend who was present at this session of the Con-
gress remembers that when Dr. Greer was rather too
optimistic about rich men in general, the gallery hissed.
In Providence, in 1900, among his old friends and par-
ishioners, he made an impressive speech on Analysis
and Synthesis in Religion. He quoted Hegel's charac-
terization: "movement through negation to reaffirma-
tion, through destruction to reconstruction"; and Car-
lyle, "through the Everlasting Nay to the Everlasting
Yea." The truth of Christ, he said, is always the same,
but we are not the same. It stays, we move. It abides,
we grow in our knowledge of it. And what is true of
us is true of Christendom at large. Christendom has
grown, not in adding new truth to the truth revealed in
Jesus Christ, but in its interpretation of that truth. Its
apprehension of it has changed with its changing en-
vironment. But just because that truth is an infinite
term, with an infinite content in it, no one age has ever
apprehended it fully. Hence we always find that an-
alysis has its work to do, not as something complete
in itself, but to be followed by synthesis. The two
together give us a larger conception of the truth of
God in Jesus Christ.
In Albany, in 1902, he spoke on the Moral Aspects
of the Referendum:
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 141
A referendum cannot make righteousness. A
referendum vote may be a righteous expedient in
some cases. But it is the preacher's task to de-
clare persistently the eternal, inflexible principles
revealed by the Lord who rules supreme among
the sons of men. The task of the Christian
Church in the midst of a sovereign, independent
State, is not to try to impair or encroach upon its
freedom, but to teach how to find it, to guard it
and defend it, and, by a referendum to Jesus
Christ, to keep it!
Early in his rectorship at St. Bartholomew's, Dr.
Greer delivered the Bedell Lectures at Gambier, Ohio,
where he had been trained for the Ministry. His sub-
ject was, The Historic Christ, the Moral Power of His-
tory. The two lectures are eloquent expressions of his
personal devotion to Christ. He read this devotion
from two lives of his Master, one of them in the Gos-
pel record; the other, in human history, a chronicle
which will be finished only with the end of human ex-
istence. From these two sources, glancing from time
to time at critics like Strauss, John Stuart Mill, Lecky,
and Huxley, he built up a cumulative argument in be-
half of the Christian religion. His ultimate defence of
Christianity was what we should today call "prag-
matic." When he looked at the power of Christ in
human affairs and compared that power with all others
that have "energized" in history, he knew, in the words
of an English theologian, that
142 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
The Absolute was born at Bethlehem, the Per-
fect died on Calvary, the Omnipotent rose at
Easter, the Infinite ascended from Bethany, and
the Eternal came down at Pentecost.
He reached this conclusion not by the subtle processes
of metaphysical analysis, not by the delicate balanc-
ings of textual study, but by looking at the facts of
human experience, that among all the sons of men
there is none like the Son of Man. He knew that Jesus
Christ wields an invincible sceptre and is on the throne
of the world.
Dr. Greer's influence upon the younger clergy
throughout the country would have surprised him had
he known it. Bishop Doane told the rector of Amster-
dam to go down to St. Bartholomew's to hear Dr.
Greer, and to see the way he conducted a Church serv-
ice. The Bishop said he would learn a great lesson.
Edward L. Atkinson, the brilliant vicar of the Church
of the Ascension in Boston, wrote, in 1895:
We have a female-male vested choir a la St.
Bartholomew's. We had to have it under the cir-
cumstances: boys not a success for a choir in
South End, voices change before or by the time
manners are cultivated.
And again Atkinson wrote in 1896:
I am trying to follow Dr. Greer's way of preach-
ing a sermon. I scarcely ever write one out fully.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 143
I try to get lots of material and much enthusiasm,
rather let the English take care of itself. It's poor
enough that I am doing, but the gains are: real
fun in doing, and comparative ease in preparing.
Others, too, who had parishes in towns where boys'
voices were too few, or altogether impossible, were
encouraged to know that with the unlimited resources
of St. Bartholomew's, Dr. Greer chose to have a vested
choir of men and women. So all over the country
were founded such vested, mixed choirs. Bishops
sometimes protested in their Convention addresses that
the cassock and surplice were not feminine garments,
but when the rector pleaded that "Dr. Greer does it,"
the academic protest evaporated. And of course his
parish house was a model for large parish houses in
other cities, and it was reproduced in miniature in
many a little village. He was one of the two or three
leaders of the Church to whom young men, beginning
their Ministry, looked for practical suggestion.
VII
HAPPY and crowded as his life was, the
Church beyond New York was not content
to leave him in his pleasant ecclesiastical
enclosure. On June 22, 1897, his old friends in the
Diocese of Rhode Island elected him on the first ballot
Bishop Clark's coadjutor. Letters poured in upon
him in his summer holiday at Stamford. Those who
had known him in Providence as rector or as fellow
clergyman pleaded with him to come. Bishops, covet-
ing him for the House of Bishops, also pleaded.
Bishop Lawrence wrote:
I trust that you will not think me too forward
in expressing the hope that you will find it your
duty to accept. The decision must be a difficult
one, for you have many responsibilities and large
opportunities in New York. Cannot I say, how-
ever, as Bishop in the next State, and as your
friend, how much we need you in the House of
Bishops, and how important to the whole Church
it is that such men as you should be in the Upper
House and have influence in those councils of the
Church. While we are rectors, and see the oppor-
tunities in our parish and civic life as such, I do
144
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 145
not think that we give full weight to the oppor-
tunities of a Bishop in relation to the future of the
whole Church and the country.
No man ever dreaded the office more than I,
or shrank from it as I did. It didn't interest me.
But my interest has grown; and today, much as
I loved the old work and miss its satisfactions, I
would not return if I could.
Pardon this egotism, and any urgency if I have
shown it. Whatever you decide will I know be
right and wise, and wherever you are, God will
bless you with rich service.
His father wrote him a long, affectionate letter try-
ing to balance the claims upon him:
I wish [he said] I had the wisdom that could
advise you. Infinite Wisdom and Goodness will
do that, I am sure.
Dr. Huntington wrote, in judicial mood, trying to
put his affection in the background:
GRACE CHURCH RECTORY
NEW YORK
June 29, 1897
Dear Greer:
Much depends, it strikes me, upon the outlook
for your health and strength in case you continue
i 4 6 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
in your present charge. I have supposed all along
that the reason why you were giving the Rhode
Island matter serious attention was because you
were feeling the wear and tear of the work at St.
Bartholomew's, and felt the absolute necessity of
a change. Upon two or three points my mind is
clear, and since you have asked me to do so I will
set them down. As to their relative importance
and their true bearings upon one another you can
judge as well as I, yes, much better:
i: St. Bartholomew's and its rectorship are
intrinsically the equals in point of real influence
of Rhode Island and its Episcopate.
2: If you can contemplate with satisfaction
abiding in your present work for fifteen or twenty
years longer; if, I mean, you feel that you could
"keep it up," average health and strength being
presupposed, it will be wisdom to abide.
3: The Episcopate of Rhode Island is by far
the best and most appropriate place to shift to, in
case you take a negative view of "2." No such
opportunity is likely, humanly speaking, to come
to you again. Not that bishoprics may not be
offered you galore, but no such perfect fit.
4: If you go to Rhode Island (as many of
your present people make their summer homes
in that region) you would still retain command,
to some extent, for missionary purposes and the
general, in distinction from the parochial and di-
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 147
ocesan, needs of the Church, of those sinews of
war which have to be considered to some extent,
albeit the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
These four points seem to me to afford the data
for a judgment. More than this you will not ask
of me, save the prayer which I do promptly offer,
that you may be guided to see aright your path,
and win the reward of those whose eye is single.
Faithfully yours,
W. R. HUNTINGTON
The struggle lasted for several weeks, and then he
saw clearly that he was not intended to be Bishop of
Rhode Island, and with the simplest words he declined
to go. Between the lines, those who knew him under-
stood how difficult it was to deny the invitation of old
and beloved friends. Bishop Potter's letter from the
Lambeth Conference will show the feeling of the Dio-
cese of New York, especially that part of it bounded
by St. Bartholomew's Parish:
LONDON
My dear Grecr: ^ 2 *' l8 "
Heaven be thanked that we are not to lose you,
but I am a bit sorry for Rhode Island ! How-
ever, I am not responsible for Rhode Island, and
my heart will be lighter for knowing that we shall
have the great benefit and blessing of your pres-
ence and help in New York.
148 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Remember me to Mrs. Greer, who, I hope, is
as happy as I am!
Yours always,
H. C. POTTER
On November 19, 1901, Dr. Greer was again called
to the Episcopate. The Diocese of Western Massa-
chusetts asked him to be its first Bishop. Bishop Law-
rence, who presided at the primary convention in
Christ Church, Springfield, tells succinctly how the
election took place:
From the first, there has been a spontaneous
rising at your name. I, of course, have kept en-
tirely out of it. No other man was in it at all.
When it came to the Convention, and no one re-
sponded to my call for another nomination besides
yours, it was striking. Then the announcement
by the tellers of the result of the ballot "Unani-
mous, by Clergy and Laity" was most impres-
sive. There is no doubt that the whole diocese
wants you. All sorts and conditions turn to you,
and only the truth has been told about you; they
have no false impressions.
I feel for Mrs. Greer and your family in the
throes of decision. You have done a great work
in New York under killing pressure. Massachu-
setts enables one to do the work, and the pressure
is lower.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 149
In some ways, this call was more appealing than the
call to Rhode Island, for one of the few persons who
still called him David, his dear friend Arthur Law-
rence, was rector of Stockbridge; and there were many
other friends besides. To leave the noise of Madison
Avenue for the quiet of the hills of rural Massachu-
setts, seemed at times too attractive to resist; but he
was sure that his work was still at St. Bartholomew's,
and he sent his letter of declination:
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S RECTORY
342 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK, November 25, 1901
THE REVEREND JOHN C. BROOKS
THE REVEREND ALEXANDER H. VINTON
and others:
Gentlemen:
It is impossible for me to tell you how deeply
I feel and appreciate the honor which has been
conferred upon me by the new Diocese of Western
Massachusetts. I should certainly be more than
human, or less, not to be greatly moved by the
unusual and impressive manner of my election;
and it is only after an earnest, and I hope con-
scientious reconsideration of the whole subject,
that I find my conviction unchanged. I cannot
feel it my duty to go to Massachusetts, and there-
fore must decline the great honor which you have
paid me.
ISO DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
It has not been an easy thing to reach this de-
cision; but now that I have reached it and that
my mind is clear which way my duty lies, it is my
further duty to inform you of it at once; and in
doing so, let me express the hope, that whatever
you may think of the wisdom of my course, you
will at least believe that I have tried to do, and
have done, what seemed to me to be right.
Again thanking you most sincerely for such a
manifestation of your confidence and regard, be-
lieve me always,
Faithfully yours,
DAVID H. GREEK
Bishop Doane, from the impartial neighborhood of
Albany, wrote his approval:
ALBANY, N. Y., Nov. 27, 1901
My very dear brother:
I have felt intensely for you during the strain
of this decision. I have from the beginning felt
that you were abundantly justified in declining
even so striking an election as that was, and I am
very grateful to you for writing me in the midst of
all that you have had to do, and very clear in my
own mind that your decision is the right one on
all grounds, and that I believe God will bless it
because of the absolute honesty of its purpose, to
your larger usefulness where you are now, and,
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 151
as I most earnestly hope, to usefulness in the
Bishop's work somewhere else.
Always very faithfully,
W. C. DOANE
Mrs. Doane is very glad to retain her Coadjutor.
In January, 1902, the Diocese of Pennsylvania was
in need of a Bishop Coadjutor. Dr. Greer was ap-
proached by a strong committee of laymen. By this
time he was an expert in weighing the relative duty
one might feel towards a great parish and a diocese;
but he did not decide hastily. Two letters tell the
whole story. On January 8, he wrote:
I hardly know how to answer the question
which you and Mr. Thomas asked me the other
day, without putting myself in a wrong and false
position. I certainly am not a candidate for the
Episcopal Office and do not seek it. If I did I
would not be worthy of it. And yet I would not
be worthy of my present office if I refused to
consider it, for I am a soldier under orders, ready
I hope to do and go as duty may direct. I did
not think it my duty to leave my work here for
Western Massachusetts, and said so beforehand;
but in the case of such a large and important field
of work as the Diocese of Pennsylvania, that
could not be said beforehand by me or anyone
152 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
else; and if such a diocese should see fit to sum-
mon me to the Episcopate, with a strong and ur-
gent call, it would deserve and receive a most
serious consideration, and I would try to decide it,
not as in any sense a personal question, but with
reference simply to my greater usefulness in the
Church.
That is all, it seems to me, that I or anyone else
ought to say in advance to such a hypothetical
question as you have asked.
On January 27, he gave his final decision:
Since writing you about a fortnight ago, I have
been thinking a great deal about the election in
Pennsylvania and its possible result in choosing
me as Bishop Coadjutor of that diocese. I felt
compelled to do this, although the matter was not
actually before me; yet, if I allowed it to go on,
and should be elected, I felt that I would not be
free to consider it but would be morally bound to
accept it. I have therefore taken the time, as a
matter of justice both to Pennsylvania and myself,
to consider it beforehand, and as the result, I have
reached the conclusion that it would not be my
duty to go.
I cannot give you in a letter all the pros and
cons which have influenced me in reaching this
decision; I can only say that I have balanced
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 153
them in my mind very carefully and with sole
reference to my duty and usefulness.
I am sorry to have to disappoint you, more
sorry than I can say; but it is better to disappoint
you now than to disappoint you afterwards, in
case I should be elected; for, feeling as I do about
it, I could not accept the election.
You are at liberty, if you choose and if you
think it necessary, to make this letter public; but
at all events, may I ask you as my friend, not to
let me be nominated.
VIII
"^HAT Dr. Greer's preaching in New York
was stronger than his preaching in Provi-
dence would be difficult to assert, but one
who heard him frequently in both places has borne
testimony that his sermons at St. Bartholomew's were
delivered with more force and abandon than ever. All
through his New York rectorship he allowed nothing
to interfere with the preparation which he knew that
he must give to his preaching. He would shut himself
in his study on Friday afternoons and work with all
his might to put into form the sermon which had been
growing, consciously or subconsciously, through the
earlier days of the week. This study was on the
second floor of the church. No one but Dr. Greer used
it. If all went well he would leave the study about
five o'clock, to make parochial calls or to ride his
horse. If the door slammed and he ran rapidly down
the stairs, this was a clear indication that the sermon
was well started on its triumphant course; but when,
instead, he came into his office, his hair dishevelled,
his face distraught, his voice discouraged, it was ob-
vious that he was writhing in an agony of despair be-
cause the sermon would not "come." "I am going
out," he would sometimes say, "but I have not yet
154
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 155
the remotest idea what I shall preach about next Sun-
day." Whether or not he was started on Friday after-
noon, all Friday evening, Saturday, and all Saturday
evening, he worked upon his sermon. Then again on
Sunday morning he spent a final hour hi his study,
making himself sure of the thoughts and words of the
message, which he hoped it would be given him to
preach. As in Providence, so also in New York, his
preaching was more or less uneven. There might be
several sermons, which, though good, would not rise
much above an ordinary average, and then there would
come a sermon which would be for ever memorable to
those who heard it. In the fulness of his physical
strength his utterance was what is ordinarily called
"impassioned." (A vestryman once wrote, beseech-
ing him to spare himself the evident strain.) His voice
would drop almost to a whisper, and again it would
ring. His hands were in almost constant motion. One
gesture his congregation will remember, when he held
his hand aloft and every finger seemed to vibrate with
the emotion which his thought was expressing. The
intense silence of the congregation throughout his
sermon showed the close attention which everyone in
the church was giving to him. In offering advice to
a clergyman who had recently come to New York, he
said that his afternoon addresses really cost him no
special effort, because he used as material for them
the thoughts which he had gathered for the morning
sermons but which he had not been able to include
156 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
within the limited time. The character of the after-
noon sermons was entirely different from that of the
morning. The morning sermon was formal, well-
ordered; the afternoon address was unconventional,
suggestive, not didactic. Since the afternoon service
was composed almost wholly of music, he would often
catch his inspiration from the anthem, and carry on
and deepen the effect which he felt that the music had
produced in the people.
During the winter of 1902-03 an Englishman was
visiting the cities of America. With discrimination
and sympathy he went about to various churches of
the different Communions, to hear those whose preach-
ing was thought excellent. Some of his criticisms are
withering. The sermon of which he spoke with most
enthusiasm was one preached by Dr. Greer. No more
accurate impression could be given of his preaching
during these years at St. Bartholomew's than the esti-
mate of this anonymous Englishman:
My third visit was paid to St. Bartholomew's
church, on the morning of January 4. There was
a large congregation, of which men formed a con-
siderable proportion. Dr. Greer chose as his text,
"Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am
not yet ascended to my Father" (John xx. 17).
He first explained that the verb translated
"touch" meant "touch in such a manner as to take
possession of." More time might perhaps have
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 157
been spent with advantage in making quite clear
the interpretation put by the preacher upon the
whole text, on which so many opinions have been
expressed by various expositors; but Dr. Greer
appeared to understand it as meaning that after
the Ascension it would be possible for Mary
and for all believers to touch, or take posses-
sion of, our Lord in a manner that had hitherto
been impossible. The emphasis of the sermon
was consequently laid not upon the immediate
prohibition, but upon the later privilege which it
implied. Mary could no longer appropriate
Christ, as she had done before, as an earthly
friend and companion, for that relation had
ceased; yet another and better relation would
henceforward be possible.
"The Touch of the Soul" was therefore the
preacher's subject. He gradually worked his way
up to his main exhortation by reviewing the dif-
ferent kinds of life which most men tried to touch
and possess. No stimulus was needed in the at-
tempt to touch physical and material life; the
financial reviews of the year in the papers showed
not only an increasing accumulation, but an in-
creasing distribution of physical wealth. Nor did
men need, as a rule, to be urged to seek mental
life. "We are an intelligent people, and all kinds
of reading and travelling are within our reach."
Neither did men need as much as some supposed,
i S 8 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
any urging towards a moral life. "We are on the
whole a conscientious people, trying to do what
is right. There are far more honest men than
dishonest, more temperate than intemperate, more
good husbands and wives than bad husbands and
wives." Otherwise society would go to pieces:
some trivial part of it might be going to pieces,
but society at large was not. But all these things
together were not enough. It was not enough to
be prosperous, intelligent, conscientious. "We
have within us the capacity for some other kind of
life whose charm we want to catch, whose glow
and power we want to feel."
This lacking element was then declared to be
the mystic touch of the soul sensitive and
subtle, yet as real and true as the touch of the
body. How otherwise could we touch Christ to-
day? We could not touch Him, as His disciples
once did, by means of the body. Nor could we do
so chiefly in and through the workings of the mind.
The critical, historical, and exegetical study of
documents and records was good and valuable, but
in that manner, after all, we could only learn about
Christ, not take possession of Him with an im-
mediate and personal possession. Nor was He to
be touched chiefly in and through the workings of
the conscience, which would find in Him only a
great moral leader, a prophet, a teacher, an ex-
ample. That was not the greatness that gave
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 159
uniqueness to Him, for He shared it with others.
"Yet these," Dr. Greer continued, in a striking,
not to say startling, passage, "are some of the
ways in which Christendom has tried and is try-
ing to touch and possess Him." It had attempted
this by putting Him on the altar in veritable flesh
and blood for men to touch and eat and with their
body possess; or by putting Him into great dog-
matic and philosophical creeds for men with their
mind to possess; or by putting Him into great
moral creeds, with great moral rules and laws and
duties, for men with their conscience to possess.
Then the preacher's searching of heart came
nearer home. Had not many of us tried these
various ways of touching Him? We had strug-
gled again and again, but the veil which we could
not pierce or lift always seemed to be there, until
at last we learned that Jesus Christ was to be ap-
prehended and appropriated through the medium
of spiritual experience. And touching and pos-
sessing Him with the mystic touch of the soul
meant finding in Him our God. When Christ was
thus touched by the spiritual sense, this posses-
sion of Him would influence the other senses also:
He would then guide and rule the conscience, and
illuminate the intelligence, and purify and sanc-
tify the passions of the body.
It was to this point, therefore, that the
preacher's argument led us an appeal for the
160 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
deepening and intensifying of the spiritual sense.
There was a reminder, too, of the possibilities of
the future. "When the scaffolding is taken down,
when the body of flesh is gone gone, thank
God! forever with a finer spiritual sense, with
the mystic touch of the soul, we shall learn more
fully to take possession of Christ. Our immor-
tality will not be simply a going on and on, but
a going up for ever; ascending through the mys-
tery heights of being, ascending towards the
Father, and with unfolding touch of the soul
taking possession of Jesus Christ." "This," con-
cluded the preacher, "is my New Year word and
New Year message. Prosperity we have; intelli-
gence we have, conscience we have. We have
physical life and treasure, mental life and treasure,
moral life and treasure. Let us go into the open-
ing year seeking spiritual life and treasure, re-
solved above all else to take possession of Christ,
and with Him to take possession of God."
Such a sermon would have been interesting and
stimulating even if it had been badly read from a
manuscript. As it was, Dr. Greer gave it ex
tempore, with appropriate gesture and modulation
of the voice. Here and there a word or phrase
was strongly emphasized, always in the right place
and in the right degree. Yet there seemed no
conscious attempt at the exercise of elocutionary
skill: one felt that it was quite natural for the
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH, NEW YORK
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 161
speaker to utter his measures just in that way.
He was himself animated and eager a condition
which is no slight help towards making an im-
pression, for a congregation is much more likely
to think it worth its while to listen when the
preacher himself gives indications of being really
gripped by his subject. In this case there was
good reason alike for earnestness in the pulpit
and attention in the pew. My one unfavorable
criticism of the sermon itself, the high quality of
which must be evident even from my summary, is
a doubt whether Dr. Greer was not betrayed into
an exaggeration by his desire to bring out into
high relief the truth he wished to expound. I do
not mean that he laid too much stress upon the
extreme importance of the spiritual sense, but that
he unduly disparaged the importance of the ethi-
cal. Surely, Dr. Greer is much too easily satis-
fied, if he supposes that the virtuous tendencies
of the community in general are so strong as
to make it comparatively unnecessary to trouble
very much about preaching to the conscience. If
the New York of today, in its public and private
life, is really "trying to do what is right" one can
only conclude that there is urgent need for a
great deal more plain speech from the Christian
ministry as to what the difference between right
and wrong really is. I can easily imagine some
hearers so strongly dissenting from Dr. Greer's
i62 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
complacency in this matter as to listen with reluc-
tance to what remained. Later in the sermon,
however, he took a position which cannot success-
fully be assailed, when he declared that one of the
results of the possession of Christ by the spirit-
ual sense would be to make Him guide and ruler
of the conscience. This, it seems to me, is the
argument that will most effectively appeal to those
who lament the prevailing moral indifference. The
ethical progress they seek will never be gained by
the mere preaching of ethics, which, human na-
ture being what it is, will always be on the
whole, dry and barren. But let there be a spirit-
ual revival and an ethical revival will not lag
far behind; for if you can but inspire men with
personal devotion to Christ, they will not need
much exhortation to do His will.
Professor Edward S. Drown, after the lapse of
about twenty-five years, remembers a sermon which
he heard Dr. Greer preach in Appleton Chapel in
Cambridge; and this is Dr. Drown's account of it:
I cannot recall the date on which I heard Dr.
Greer preach in the Harvard University Chapel.
I feel sure that it was before he was made Bishop;
sometime in the 'Nineties. The text was from
Genesis iii. 3: "Of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 163
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die." I have an idea that he also repeatedly
used the words of Genesis ii. 17, "In the day that
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."
The sermon made a deep impression on me,
and I remember especially the force and solemnity
with which the preacher used the words of the
text (or of Genesis ii. 17) in driving home the
special application of his central thought. That
thought was that the garden symbolized the
garden of life. And in the midst of the garden
of every man's life, at the very heart and center
of his character, grew his greatest opportunity
and his greatest danger. The tree in the midst
of his garden could be the source of his power
or the occasion of his tragic ruin. I do not think
that Dr. Greer used the words, but his thought is
well expressed in the saying, A busus optimi pessi- . .
mus. And the "best" was the best for that special
man.
I remember his dwelling on the man of strong
and virile passions, in whom the manly emotions
and feelings play the leading part. To such a man
these qualities, consecrated to noble use, are the
source of power. And, just for that reason, the
danger for that man is lust, the abuse of passion.
A man of less virile temperament might perhaps
tamper with that sin, and not be utterly ruined.
But for the man of strong passions, his greatest
1 64 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
opportunity is his greatest temptation and his
greatest danger. He above all others is to guard
himself from that sin. It is the degradation of his
noblest nature, the destruction of his best self.
For him to touch it is to die. I remember the
force with which the preacher, with clenched fist,
brought out the words, "Of the tree that is in the
midst of thy garden, thou shalt not eat of it,
neither shalt thou touch it; for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die"
I think that another application was to the sins
of the mind. For the man of mental power, the
temptation is mental sloth, or compromise with
truth. For him to touch that is to die.
The sermon seemed to me especially adapted
for young men. Without being obtrusively ap-
plicable to students' problems, it yet bore pro-
foundly on the problems that confront men whose
choice of a life's work is not made.
The kind of general preparation which he had made
in Providence he made also during these busy years
of his New York rectorship. He was reading every
new theological book upon which he could put his
hands. Philosophical and scientific treatises he read
voraciously. He was not reading much poetry except
Browning. A novel was read occasionally for recre-
ation, but he did not read novels in his study.
He would go into his study at nine o'clock each
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 165
morning. The first task was the mail. After looking
it over and dictating the necessary answers (a task
ordinarily finished by eleven o'clock) he would in-
variably spend the rest of the morning in reading. Of
course there were some interruptions to this order.
Occasionally there would be a morning meeting at
which he would preside. On Monday mornings he
spent two hours at the parish house hearing the reports
of the workers; and in Lent, there was on some days
a morning service. But it was a rare weekday when
he did not secure two hours each morning for solid
reading. The telephone was kept out of the rectory
and the church as long as possible, but with the new
century the relentless bell began to ring. Immedi-
ately after luncheon he had his office hour, from two
to three. Very few of the people who came were his
own parishioners. The parishioners saw him at parish
meetings, on Tuesday evenings, when he and Mrs.
Greer were at home to them, at friendly dinners, and
when he made his parochial calls. Many of the visi-
tors were complete strangers, some asking for financial
help, some asking advice. A good many clergymen
came to know him by reputation and sought his
counsel. Parish workers, knowing that they would be
sure to find him, came at this time. When there was
some special need in the community, the office would
be thronged, as when he was giving out woodyard
tickets. At three o'clock he would bring the office
hours to a close, asking those who were still waiting to
1 66 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
come again; then he would go out and make parish
calls, or take his share in the business of the many
boards and committees, parochial, diocesan and civic,
to which he belonged. He was a member of the Riding
Club, and several afternoons each week he would ride
for an hour or two in the park. In Lent, the most
popular weekday service was at five o'clock Tuesday
afternoons, when he preached. During the season he
dined at the homes of parishioners about two evenings
a week. Almost every week he would drop into the
parish house to spend part of an evening there. Any
evening he was free he would spend in reading.
He was not exempt from occasional illnesses. He
was a poor sleeper, and an almost constant sufferer
from intercostal neuralgia during these days at St. Bar-
tholomew's. In the summer of 1900 he suffered a
good deal of pain from his eyes, but his sight was not
impaired. The following spring the pain returned and
became so intense that the doctors decided that he
must undergo an operation for glaucoma. He received
almost instant relief, and for several years believed
that his sight was better than in recent years. Before
Lent he would take a few days holiday, at Lakewood
or some other nearby resort. After Easter, for several
years, he went out to Pasadena, California, to visit his
father and mother, who made their home there during
the last years of their lives. His long summer vaca-
tion was spent, sometimes at New Canaan, once
abroad, once at Stamford, and for eleven years at East
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 167
Hampton, Long Island. At all these places he rented
a house. His summers were great feasts of reading.
Altogether, strenuous as his days were, fruitful as
his practical ministry was in its results, he was able,
during the St. Bartholomew's days, to maintain his
habit of systematic reading. So he kept himself in-
formed of the thought not only of the age but of the
ages.
More than all, he kept close to men. He was often
at the Metropolitan Club in the late afternoon, talking
with friends, and with strangers who thereby became
friends. He sometimes apologized for belonging to so
sumptuous a club, explaining that a parishioner had
insisted on his becoming a member and so had made
membership possible for him. He was often at the
Riding Club, and here too he met men. There was
never the cheap familiarity; nor was he ever what is
called a club-man; but he was a man's man. Men
liked to tell him their troubles and their hopes; he was
glad to listen. They knew instinctively that he cared,
and his counsel and trust were enormous help again
and again. Sometimes such interviews closed without
the knowledge coming to the man who was helped that
the helper was a clergyman. He was just an obviously
good man willing to be wonderfully patient and kind.
And he understood ; and he put his finger on the exact
spot where the trouble lay. Men respected him; then
they loved him.
Children too were a refuge. His grandchildren were
168 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
only the first among many who knew his comradeship.
One of the teachers in the Sunday-school of the Parish
Church reveals what children meant to him:
My happiest memories of Dr. Greer are bound
up with the recollections of the four years I was
privileged to teach in his afternoon Sunday-school,
before he was elected Bishop.
Our school was held in the old choir room, back
of the church on Forty-fourth Street. I can see
now the quiet opening of the door, which led into
the Rectory, and the appearance regularly every
Sunday afternoon of Dr. and Mrs. Greer. With-
out disturbing the school, they would slip into the
low seats with the little children of the Primary
Grade and follow the lesson and blackboard talk
with sympathetic appreciation. At the close of
the session, the little ones always crowded around
them, sure of a loving personal greeting.
One Sunday, when the Rectory door opened,
Dr. Greer held by the hand his little grandchild
and proudly brought her forward to be enrolled
as a member of the class.
The Christmas and Easter festivals of the Sun-
day-school gave peculiar joy to Dr. Greer and
when the Teachers were decorating the Christmas
tree, or planning out the festivals the evening be-
fore, the Rectory door would always open, and
Dr. Greer slip in (sometimes with a party of
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 169
dinner guests) to show his appreciation and per-
sonal interest in the workers.
One of the great charms of his winning person-
ality, was the fact that he not only showed his
appreciation for work well done, but freely ex-
pressed it in words of encouragement and admira-
tion.
There will ever remain with me his parting
words at the Spring closing of our Sunday-school,
when one of the Teachers admitted to feeling
tired, after the intensive work of the winter.
"That is as it should be," said Dr. Greer, with a
smile of encouragement. "You have a right to feel
tired, when you have done your work well."
DC
IN HIS hard work at St. Bartholomew's, Dr. Greer
was stayed by his friendships. The loyal support
of Mr. Vanderbilt has already been mentioned.
The whole vestry were thoughtful, not only of the
work which he was leading but also of his personal
welfare. Looking forward to the first vestry meeting
after the operation upon his eye, one vestryman, who
found it impossible to be present, wrote to another:
I find it impossible to attend the vestry meeting
on account of the hour. I am due at a dinner at
the Waldorf at 6.30, and it is not in my power to
sprint from the Parish House to my domicile,
dress, and sprint again to the Waldorf, all in half
an hour.
I am sorry, because I suppose Dr. Greer's right
to destroy his health will come up for discussion.
May I ask you to record me as emphatically in
favor of saving him by violent measures. He has
that kind of nerve that will make him work until
he drops. Let us therefore conspire together to
deprive him of his liberty and force him to loaf
for a series of months.
I will cooperate in any plan you wise men
adopt looking to that end. I will even go to hear
170
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 171
you preach. Besides, we shall enjoy the Doctor
all the more after a few doses of the ordinary
sermon.
He was cheered also by his comradeship with his
friends among the clergy. He did not see as much
of them as he saw of his brethren in Providence, when
he was a rector there. He would meet them at clerical
clubs, and especially at friendly dinners made up
wholly of clergymen. When his friend, Dr. Satterlee,
decided to accept his election as Bishop of the Diocese
of Washington, Dr. Greer wrote his appreciation of
the friendship of the past and his hope for the future:
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S RECTORY
342 MADISON AVENUE
December 30, 1895
My dear Dr. Satterlee:
Now that you have decided the important ques-
tion which you have been considering for the past
week or so, I want to write and tell you how glad
I am for the Church's sake that you have resolved
to go to Washington. We shall miss you very
much in New York, and although we do not see
much of one another, it has always been a great
gratification to me to hear of your work at Cal-
vary, and I have felt the good influence of your
presence even though I have not seen much of
you.
172 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
I look upon the new Bishopric of Washington
as the most important position in the whole
Church. For no other, it seems to me, would it
have been right for you to leave Calvary. I felt
like telling you this while you were considering
the matter; and yet it seemed to be the part of
friendship to let you work it out for yourself.
But now that you have worked it out, and reached
what seems to me such a wise conclusion, I want
you to know not only how I feel about it but how
I feel about you. Doubtless we differ in some
things, but I esteem and respect you none the less
for that, and I earnestly hope and pray, yes, and
believe, that you will do the same fine work in
Washington which you have done here.
Believe me always, very sincerely your friend,
DAVID H. GREER
When, in 1901, the Reverend Charles H. Brent was
called to be Bishop of the Philippine Islands, he sought
advice in New York. Bishop Brent thus describes two
of the calls he made:
First I went to see Dr. , whose advice was
that the Church had not made proper provision
for the Philippines in either men or resources and
that therefore it would be desirable not to accept
the Bishopric. His clear-cut argument almost
convinced me, but I had promised to see Greer
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 173
and went directly, telling Dr. that I was
going over to see Greer. He immediately said,
"Trust the Church," and argued for a venture
of faith. I felt his was the higher wisdom and
truer Christian philosophy and told him before
I left the house that he had convinced me what
my duty was. Of course, since then, I have had
long intimate association with him, and no man
was dearer to me than he. When I decided, he
said to me, "Now that you have made up your
mind, see that you live in the top story of your
decision."
In 1902, his college at Washington, Pennsylvania,
sought his presence at its one hundredth anniversary.
Though he could not be present, the degree of Doctor
of Laws was bestowed upon him.* The reason why
he did not go is told in this letter:
YONDERMERE
EAST HAMPTON, LONG ISLAND
September 15, 1902
Dear Dr. Moffat:
I had the misfortune a few days ago to be
thrown violently from my horse, with the result
*Dr. Greer had previously received the degree of Doctor of Di-
vinity from Brown University, in 1880; from Kenyon College, in
1881 ; from the University of the South in 1900. He was later
to receive the same degree from Columbia, in 1904; and from Har-
vard, in 1017.
174 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
that I have been since, and am still, laid up, with
a broken and badly bruised shoulder. I asked
my physician yesterday if he thought I should
be well enough by next week to go to Washington.
His reply was that I certainly should not be, and
that it would be extremely hazardous to make
the journey.
I am exceedingly sorry, for I had been looking
forward with much pleasure to this visit to my
alma mater upon the occasion of her Centenary,
and it is a great and keen disappointment to me to
be compelled to forego it. But as I have no op-
tion in the matter I must of course submit to what
I cannot control, and I am sure you will appre-
ciate the situation. I shall still hope, however, that
the visit is only postponed and that I may be
able to give myself that pleasure at another not
distant time.
With best wishes for the continued prosperity
of the venerable institution which has done so
much to promote sound learning and pure
manners, and with which I consider it an honor to
be associated, believe me,
Very sincerely yours,
DAVID H. GREER
The Reverend DR. JAMES D. MOFFAT,
President Washington and Jefferson College
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 175
These were strenuous years. He worked very hard,
but the rewards were great. He knew appreciation,
kindness, affection.
Then there was one friend who, little by little, came
more deeply into his life. When in 1899 his mother
died, he received this letter from Dr. Huntington:
GRACE CHURCH RECTORY
NEW YORK
if j t i J an - J 4) X 899
My dear jnend:
In this busy life which we live here in New
York whatever else is suffered to go by the board
we must not fail in the duties which personal affec-
tion lays on us, or keep silence when sorrow comes
to one whom we love.
The death of a father or a mother is one of
the capital bereavements, and no matter what
the time of life may be when the loss finds us, the
sense of orphanage is the same. My mother died
the day before I was twenty-one, and if I live to be
a hundred I shall never forget the desolateness of
heart in which under those circumstances I went
forth to face life. Your mother has been longer
spared to you. Thank God for that: I doubt not
that you do from the depths of your heart.
May God give you, my dear fellow, at this
time among your "Visions" the vision of His per-
fect peace. , r ...
Yours affectionately,
W. R. HUNTINGTON
X
IN MAY, 1903, the clergy of the Diocese of New
York received from Bishop Potter the assurance
that he would be glad to ask for the election of a
Bishop Coadjutor, and that he would assign to him the
visitation of all the city parishes, the administration of
all discipline, the examination of all the candidates for
Holy Orders, the laying of all cornerstones, and the
consecration of all churches; reserving for himself visi-
tations in the rural churches, the admission of candi-
dates for Holy Orders, and of persons in Holy
Orders in other dioceses applying to be transferred to
New York. Very soon, Dr. Greer was approached by
a committee asking if he would accept the office. He
was so unwilling to make this promise that the com-
mittee had hard work. He refused to commit himself
until the Convention should act; but after much pres-
sure, he consented to allow his name to be presented
to the Convention. The Convention met in the Church
of the Heavenly Rest, on September 30. Dr. Greer
was nominated by Dr. Dix of Trinity Parish, and the
nomination was seconded by Dr. Huntington of Grace
Church. Dr. Grosvenor and Dr. Roper were also nom-
inated. Dr. Greer was elected upon the first ballot.
176
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 177
When the Convention met the next morning, the com-
mittee appointed to notify Dr. Greer of his election
entered the church with him. The delegates arose, and
remained standing while Bishop Potter received Dr.
Greer at the choir steps, with these words:
It is rather a pathetic association with this
Convention, as my dear friend Mr. Morgan re-
minded me last evening, that twenty-five years
ago, practically, he walked up the aisle of St.
Augustine's Chapel in New York, in company with
the Reverend Dr. Dix, the Reverend Dr. Morgan,
and Mr. Hamilton Fish, who had been appointed
to convey to me the notice of my election as As-
sistant Bishop of the Diocese of New York. I
am sure that we may congratulate Mr. Morgan
and the rector of Trinity Church, that they have
survived to be present on this occasion.
I asked one of the members of the convention,
when I came here this morning, if he would be
good enough to intimate to me if he had any
knowledge of what the answer of the Bishop
Coadjutor-elect was likely to be. Because of
course it would make a great difference, a some-
what painful anti-climax, my dear Dr. Greer, if,
after having said, as I can say with all my heart,
how glad I am to have you come and stand by
my side, you should come and say you wouldn't
do itl
178 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
But I rejoice to be able to present to you, my
dear brethren, one who has already intimated
that he is willing to accept the burden of respon-
sibility that you have laid upon him. I think it
is a fortunate thing for the Diocese of New York,
that there should be called to the diocese, at this
time, this man. The Christian situation, men and
brethren, all around the world, is one which in-
volves a mingling of such uncertain questions,
which involves a capacity to understand them and
a willingness to study them, which has been mani-
fested in all the ministry of my dear brother since
he came to the Diocese of New York and became
the rector of St. Bartholomew's Church.
I am also glad to say that I profoundly believe
that the clergy and laity of this diocese will find
in him a man of large and generous sympathies,
one who will recognize the catholic character of
the Diocese of New York, as including a great
variety of opinions and as charged with the duty
of ministration to all sorts and conditions of men.
One of the loveliest characters that ever stood
in this convention, and one of the most interesting
men whom I ever knew (I mean the late Dr.
George Houghton, rector for some time of the
Church of the Transfiguration, of which he was
the founder), had a seal, which he was good
enough to use whenever I got a letter from him,
which was partly made up of that fine sentence:
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 179
Humanus sum; nihil humanum mihi alienum.
My dear brethren, it is because, in the good provi-
dence of God, He has given to this diocese, to sus-
tain the relation of its Bishop Coadjutor, and
ultimately of its Bishop, my dear friend and
brother, that I have great delight this morning in
presenting him to you, and in asking you to re-
ceive from his own lips his answer to the call
which you have given him.
Dr. Greer, much moved, announced his decision:
I am too much impressed with the solemnity
of this occasion to use the ordinary language of
conventional courtesy, to thank you for what you
have done. I do not at all regard it in the light of
honor and compliment. It is far above all that.
It is a great and sacred trust, to which you have
seen fit to summon me. I think I may say what
many of you know: I did not seek it. I rather
shrank from it. I was happy and contented in my
field of work, and hoped that in that field I
could fill up the full measure of my usefulness to
God and my fellowmen ; and it breaks my heart to
leave it. But you have called me.
One thing, however, you could not and cannot,
and, I am sure, would not compel me to do. You
could not compel me to be the Bishop of any
party or school of thought in this diocese or in
i8o DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
the Church at large. I recognize the fact that be-
neath the surface, however diversified that surface
may be, there is a deep and loyal devotion to our
common Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. There
is no Name that can so touch and sway our hearts
as that Name. That Name is the one that I shall
recognize, and that Personality is the One that I
shall try to serve.
There are only two things for me to say, in con-
clusion. One is, that it will be a great privilege
to stand by the side of our honored and noble
Diocesan, who for a score of years has borne the
burden of this arduous responsibility and work,
and who has attained the highest reputation and
character, not only throughout this diocese, but
throughout the Church, and who has discharged
his duties in such faithful and conscientious
manner, and with such statesmanlike ability.
The only other thing I have to say, gentlemen,
is this: I cannot but recognize it as the call of
God, and whatever it may involve to me person-
ally as such, with such power as God has given
me, and such help as you can furnish and supply,
I will, if your choice should be confirmed by the
Church at large, accept the responsibility, and
devote myself to the work of that high office.
Letters of approval poured in. Even the dioceses
which had failed to secure him as bishop rejoiced that
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 181
he should be a Bishop in New York. Dr. Richards
gave his decision immediately:
My dear Greer:
Yesterday was a delightful day for the Diocese
of New York, and a proud day for Mrs. Greer,
but I am rather sorry for you. Of course you've
got in the habit of refusing bishoprics, but I
wouldn't this time. The diocese is small, and not
nearly so important as it thinks itself, but still,
I've no doubt you can make work for yourself
there if you give your mind to it. There must be
several unconverted heathen down in Wall Street
and elsewhere for you to set your Archdeacons
on, and there may be a moral reform in some ob-
scure corner of Manhattan that you can resusci-
tate enough to interest Tammany and keep it
healthily active between elections. Of course you
made the mistake of your life in refusing Rhode
Island, but that blunder is at present irreparable,
and I wouldn't wait for McVickar's shoes. He
seems in too good condition. No, get over your
vaunting ambitions, and settle down quietly to
little New York, and you'll very likely bring it
up to the standard of North Yakima yet. There's
that Cathedral to finish for one thing. I've no
doubt Bradner would give you a collection in St.
John's Sunday-school to help along at any time.
If not, I could promise you my last dollar as soon
1 82 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
as I come to it, if any Vanderbilt or Rockefeller
will look after all the previous bills and see that
they are receipted. This offer ought to settle
any financial difficulties.
To think of Dix nominating you and Hunting-
ton seconding you! The millennium is evidently
begun. I think I will sing Nunc Dimittis and go
to my rest.
Heartily yours and Mrs. Greer's always,
C. A. L. RICHARDS
PROVIDENCE, R. I.
October i, 1903
From far across the Pacific a Bishop wrote:
I have just heard of Greer's election as Co-
adjutor of New York with great joy. He is a
good man, a man of God, and that is infinitely
more important than any theological color.
The leave-taking of his people at St. Bartholomew's
was not quite so hard as that earlier parting in Provi-
dence. For he was to see the men and the women fre-
quently who had been his flock, and he would still
rely on their friendship and loving support. Even so,
the parting was hard enough. After his last service
in the old church, Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Thorne said
to the sexton at the door, "Well, Aldred, we came to
the first service at which Dr. Greer officiated in St.
Bartholomew's: now, this is his last service as rector.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S 183
We don't see how we can bear to come without him."
"Ah," said the sexton, "perhaps there'll be another
Dr. Greer." Then he straightened himself, and said
with decision, "But there never can be another Mrs.
Greer."
V
THE BISHOPRIC
L
V
THE BISHOPRIC
OOKING forward to his consecration, Dr.
Greer wrote to Bishop Potter:
EAST HAMPTON,
October 5, 1903
My dear Bishop,
Thank you very much for your kind and help-
ful suggestion about St. Bartholomew's. It seems
to me most excellent, and I shall give it serious
consideration and see if it cannot be carried out.
While I am writing, will you let me say what I
could not very easily say to your face, how
nobly and unselfishly you have acted in this
matter of a coadjutor. I always knew that you
were a man moulded after a big type, and as such
you have always commanded my affection and ad-
miration ; and now you have sealed and confirmed
it in giving your coadjutor such a large and gen-
erous part of the diocesan work. May God give
me grace and strength to pursue it in that same
187
1 88 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
wise, broadminded, and faithful manner which has
always characterized your own administration.
I want to assure you also, although it is not
necessary, that in doing the work which you have
assigned to me, I shall always be in every act and
word your staunch and loyal friend. I don't know
when the consecration will take place; but when-
ever it does, you of course will be the consecrating
bishop. At least, I earnestly hope so. This is
not only my own personal wish, but will be I am
sure the desire of everyone else. I presume that
it is hardly necessary for me to say this, but
I wanted to let you know my feelings in the
matter.
If it is agreeable to you, I should also like to
have the consecration take place at St. Bartholo-
mew's, where I have lived and loved and been
loved for the past fifteen years. I shall try to see
you shortly after I go to town, to talk over matters
with you.
With the prayer that God may keep you in
health and strength, and spare you for many
years, believe me always, my dear Bishop, .
Sincerely and affectionately yours,
DAVID H. GREEK
Dr. Greer was consecrated Bishop at St. Bartholo-
mew's Church, on Tuesday morning, January 26, 1904.
The attending presbyters were Dr. Dix and Dr. Hunt-
THE BISHOPRIC 189
ington, who had nominated him for the office. The
Bishops presenting him were Dr. Leonard and Dr.
Mackay-Smith (Bishop Lawrence, who was to have
been one of the presenters, was detained by illness);
the preacher was Bishop Doane. The Consecrators
were Dr. Potter, Bishop of the diocese; Dr. Doane,
Bishop of Albany; and Dr. Whitaker, Bishop of Penn-
sylvania. Bishop Whitaker, at the last moment, took
the place of Bishop Dudley, who died suddenly just be-
fore the consecration. Dr. Harris read the certificate
of election for the Diocese of New York, and Dr. Nel-
son acted as Deputy Registrar. Dr. J. Lewis Parks
read the consents of the dioceses, and George Za-
briskie, Esq., read the testimonial from the Standing
Committee. About five hundred clergy were present,
and a number of bishops, including not only the clergy
of the diocese but many intimate friends beyond it.
The deep feeling of the congregation was voiced by
Bishop Doane in the concluding paragraph of his ser-
mon:
You will forgive me, my dear brother, if aught
that I have said of you appear unseemly. I am
but speaking for the bishop, for the diocese, for
this great parish, and speaking with due restraint,
because I am speaking in your presence, and in
your Master's and mine. For the rest, all that
I have spoken has been for you, as expressing
what I know to be the sacred purpose and the
igo DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
secret power of all your ministry. Coming into
this great diocese, with its complete organization,
to lift the burden in part of an administration
which is distinguished for its wisdom, its ability
and its power throughout the American Church,
there is no sign lacking of promise or of possi-
bility in the future to which God beckons you to-
day. To you, I have but this to say, that with
a sense of intense satisfaction I bid you welcome
out of the closeness of the true love and sympathy
which has held me to you now for many years,
into the brotherhood of the episcopate, with the
personal tie made stronger and the bond still
closer in the blessed burden of our common office.
At first Bishop Greer was perplexed by the freedom
from the heavy burdens which he had borne as rector
of St. Bartholomew's. For some time he was not con-
scious of the yoke of the new office. Meeting the
Bishop of Massachusetts one day, he said, "Lawrence,
what do you find to do as a bishop?" Bishop Law-
rence answered, "Greer, if you don't find out in six
months, let me know, and I'll tell you."
He had said among his words of acceptance to the
Convention which elected him, that he did not want
to be a bishop. This was no perfunctory expression
of humility. He really did not wish the office. He
had yielded only to the persuasion of friends who had
made him feel that it was his duty to become a bishop.
THE BISHOPRIC 191
On the afternoon of his consecration, at the luncheon
which was given him, he confessed that he did not
know how to say what would adequately express his
feelings. "Some of you who know my views on the
indissolubility of marriage," he said, "will believe me
when I say that from this day I shall be wedded to
you all, 'for better for worse, for richer for poorer,
till death us do part.' "
n
SINCE Bishop Potter had assigned to the Co-
adjutor the care of the city churches, Bishop
Greer did not have long to wait in discovering
the urgent need in that borough of the great city, called
the Bronx. This part of New York was rapidly filling
up with people of moderate means and with many who
had been connected with the East Side chapels of the
Manhattan parishes. Those who had once been par-
ishioners of these East Side chapels, accustomed to
large and beautiful churches, to prosperous organiza-
tions and well-equipped buildings, found it difficult to
transfer their allegiance to a small church to which
was attached no more commodious hall than the musty
room of a church basement, or, at best, a small frame
building. There were a good many churches in the
Bronx, but for the most part they were gasping for
life, while hundreds of thousands of people were close
to their doors. Naturally therefore both the clergy
and the laity of the Bronx came to Bishop Greer cry-
ing for help. They told pathetically of the dangerous
dance halls which captivated many of the young
people, who ought to have been guided, on weekdays
as well as Sundays, by the loving protection of the
Church. They asked for any kind of a building, how-
192
THE BISHOPRIC 193
ever simple and cheap, which might shelter these young
people on weekday evenings. The new bishop could
not fail to think of the Parish House on East Forty-
second Street, but he was not ambitious to reproduce
so large a building. He thought that if he might se-
cure a sufficient sum to purchase land and to erect a
modest house he would be content. In some way the
news of his tentative plan seeped into the newspapers,
and almost immediately, while he was still struggling
with the problem of raising the necessary money, he
received this letter:
Jany. 16, 1905
Dear and Reverend Sir:
I am quite anxious to see you in regard to the
placing of a sum of money for church extension,
and, if you will kindly grant me an audience after
three P.M. on Wednesday, January 18, I will be
greatly obliged. I would not ask an extension of
your hours, only that I am in business and unable
to leave earlier.
I remain, very cordially yours,
ELIZABETH COLEY
Of Miss Coley before this he had never heard. She
came at the appointed time, bringing him four hun-
dred dollars in bills. This represented her savings,
and she wanted him to use it for the new work in the
Bronx. His heart was aglow with hope. If Miss
Coley could help him thus lavishly what might not
194 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
others do. He wrote Mr. James Stillman, who re-
sponded immediately, with this note:
Build the House, but raise a million.
Matt. 17:20
He did not raise a million, but additional gifts came
within a few days, from Mr. Morgan, Mr. W. K. Van-
derbilt, Mrs. W. D. Sloane, Mrs. Cochran, and Mrs.
Huntington; and then came a large sum made up of
small gifts. In all he received more than ten times as
much as he had expected or dreamed.
The criticism came later that he should have dis-
tributed the money which was raised among the vari-
ous parishes of the Bronx. What might not have been
done, one after another exclaimed, if this sum could
have been distributed for reinforcement! Bishop
Greer anticipated this criticism. Indeed his first ap-
peals for the borough had been for the individual
parishes; but there was practically no response, be-
cause such appeals were an old story and did not arouse
the imagination of the generous people in the southern
end of the island. Now, these generous givers dreamed
what a central building might do for the Borough, and
they gave, with the understanding that their gifts
should be used for exactly that and nothing else. The
Bishop hoped that the inevitable parochialism would
expand into a loyalty for the whole Church in the
Bronx.
IF n .
I fl 1" !
I I
THE BRONX CHURCH HOUSE
THE BISHOPRIC 195
Sometimes it was thought that Bishop Greer was
simply reproducing the parish house which had meant
a wonderful advance to St. Bartholomew's. They
thought that he expected the Bronx Church House to
reproduce that success. He may have hoped it; but
it was not his plan. To many, it seemed as if the
Bronx Church House might be a unifying element
which would provide strength for all the growing par-
ishes within its district. The house met a real need.
In September, the clergy would come to select dates
when their parishes wished the use of the hall. When
their requirements were "booked," the hall would be
at the service of other Protestant congregations. The
public schools also often used it for their Commence-
ment dances. Benefits for hospitals, and, during the
war, for the Red Cross, were constantly given here.
Except in Lent, there was rarely a night, from Oc-
tober to July, when the Hall was not in use.
The war affected the Bronx Church House as it af-
fected everything else. Most of the young men were
gone. Moreover, the neighborhood was rapidly filling
up with Hebrews, so that the situation of the House
became inconvenient. No one has ever suggested a
better location; for indeed the Bronx has no centre.
To maintain the House, a large sum beyond the in-
come on the endowment was needed; with the changed
conditions it was decided that Bishop Greer 's object
could now be more fully secured by the sale of the
House, so that the amount received, together with the
1 96 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
endowment, might be set apart as a fund, the interest
of which could be used for the reinforcement of the
parishes in the Bronx. This was done in the year fol-
lowing Bishop Greer's death. By the action of the
Diocesan Convention of 1920, this fund received the
name of The David Hummell Greer Memorial Fund.
It is strange to discover how certain ends are at-
tained through honest experiment. There is now a
fund which will be a permanent blessing to the parishes
of the Bronx; this fund grew out of the affection and
trust which people gave to Bishop Greer.
The Reverend John R. Atkinson, at one time pre-
siding over the Bronx Church House, aptly sums up
its work:
When Bishop Greer assumed the office of
Bishop Coadjutor, there were in the Bronx a few
old parishes, and a number of comparatively new
Chapels and Missions, which had been established
or started to meet the needs of the people who had
moved from Manhattan to occupy homes in what
was then the "country." Few were strong enough
to undertake any Institutional Work; so the
Bishop conceived the plan of founding a large in-
stitution which should group together all the work
of that region so far as it concerned the needs of
people between Sundays. The Bronx Church
House was really a Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A.
joined in one institution, but doing the work for
THE BISHOPRIC 197
Church people primarily. In its early days it
served a great purpose. It enabled hundreds, and
sometimes thousands, of people to assemble for
recreation of all sorts; gymnastics, dancing,
games, theatricals, and a score of different diver-
sions. There were dances when two thousand
people assembled. There were theatrical perform-
ances when a thousand or more were in the audi-
ence. The building, which occupied a large
portion of a city block, was humming with ac-
tivity from Monday morning until Saturday night,
and sometimes services were held on Sundays as
well. Some of the most noted athletes of the
country were trained in the Bronx Church House;
and some of the finest women now engaged in so-
cial and welfare work were inspired and equipped
in this building. And so it continued for a course
of eight or ten years.
In process of time, as each parish gained
strength, it desired, quite naturally, to keep all
its activities within its own field and under its own
direction. Then came the parting of the ways.
The use of the Church House as a general gather-
ing place for our own people lessened.
Moreover, there had sprung up in the neighbor-
hood a great Jewish population, alien, and some-
times hostile. In the whole district where the
Bronx Church House stood there was probably
not one Christian family in ten. So it came to
198 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
pass that in the last years of its career, it lost in
membership, in income, and in value to the com-
munity.
I well remember the last time Bishop Greer
visited the House, on Founders' Day, October,
1917. There were nearly two thousand people in
the building, gathered to hear an address from
the Bishop, and never did he speak more joyously
and intimately than on that occasion. He had a
glimpse of the House as he meant it to be at all
times. The aim of that celebration was to give
on the stage an exhibit of the various activities
of the institution from the exercises of the chil-
dren of the kindergarten by a graduated course
up to the classic dancing of the young women
and the feats of strength of the young men. The
things that excited the Bishop most, apparently,
were the pugilistic encounters and the wrestling
matches. He stood near the contestants on the
stage, and he commented eagerly on the skill of
the antagonists.
Ill
BEFORE Bishop Greer was consecrated, his in-
timate friend of many years, Dr. Leighton
Parks, had been called to succeed him as
rector of St. Bartholomew's. There was therefore no
break in the administration of the parish, and though
Bishop Greer continued to live during the spring in
the old rectory on Madison Avenue, Dr. Parks was at
the helm, and the Bishop therefore had no anxiety
whatever for the care of all his beloved people and in-
stitutions. No one more than he rejoiced in the power
which Dr. Parks brought to the parish. Singularly
free of all the little envies and jealousies, he exulted
in the success of his friend.
Bishop and Mrs. Greer felt that the new rector
would be much freer if the pew of the Bishop Co-
adjutor were in some other parish than St. Barthol-
omew's.
The Bishop intimated to Dr. Huntington that he
would like to be his parishioner, and therefore, the
vestry of Grace Church, learning this desire, author-
ized the following letter:
199
200 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
GRACE CHURCH RECTORY
NEW YORK
Oct. 27, 1905
Dear Bishop Green
We, the undersigned, Rector and Wardens of
Grace Church, having learned that you and your
family would like to identify yourselves with
Grace Parish, have much pleasure, in behalf of the
Corporation, in assigning for your use pew No.
38, free of rent.
Hoping that you and your family will speedily
come to feel at home with us, and may enjoy the
occupancy of the pew for years to come, we re-
main,
Most truly yours,
W. R. HUNTINGTON
J. FREDERIC KERNOCHAN
WM. R. STEWART
The Rt. Reverend
DAVID H. GREER D.D.
The Bishop lived in Gramercy Park, in a large house
on the southwest corner, until 1912; and then, when
this house was torn down, removed to Thirty-three,
Fifth Avenue. In 1914 he removed to the Bishop's
House in the Cathedral Close, at One Hundred and
Tenth Street. For nine years, therefore, the Bishop
and his family occupied the front pew of the south
THE BISHOPRIC 201
transept of Grace Church, which now bears his name.
Mrs. Greer was always there, and whenever he was
not officiating himself the Bishop would be beside her.
The vestry valued this association with the Bishop;
and when the time came for the removal, he wrote:
"I do not find much difficulty in adapting myself to
the new conditions, yet in this case it will not be easy,
because it will involve my parochial severance with
Grace Church. I want the vestry to know how deeply
grateful I am for their kindness."
IV
A BISHOP of New York has heavy respon-
sibilities towards the community. The
public dinners which he is expected to eat
and the speeches which he is expected to make are the
least arduous. The appeals which reach him for di-
rect personal help or for the initiation of some neces-
sary movement are the real tests of his power. Often
the public, even the Church, knows little of what he
has accomplished, but his wisdom and sanity may go
far towards the public good.
In 1906, the Judges of the Children's Courts ap-
pealed to Bishop Greer to establish a protectory for
Protestant children who have no proper care at their
so-called homes. The plea was not for misdemean-
ants but for children of neglect, who were committed
by the Courts to some institution in order that they
might have a chance to grow into right-minded citizens,
and, wherever possible, to be taught in the faith of
their parents. The Jews and Roman Catholics had
already made provision for their children, but the
homes for Protestants had been altogether too few and
too small. Acting under this impulse Bishop Greer
founded Hope Farm. He started the enterprise on
faith, borrowing sixteen thousand dollars with which
THE BISHOPRIC 203
to purchase the Priory Farm at Verbank, Dutchess
County, which had been offered him for Church or
charitable purposes. There were some buildings in
fair repair on the grounds, and more buildings were
gradually added, till now it has six houses where chil-
dren live, six cottages for workers (farmers and la-
borers), a large administration building, which includes
a store, a bakery, laundry, infirmary, and quarantine
house; a school building, a workshop, a residence for
teachers, and a chapel which is called the Chapel of
the Child. The farm itself now covers eight hundred
acres.
Protestant children of every name are admitted. The
city pays an amount for each child committed by the
Courts, but this sum by no means covers the expense
even for these particular children. The endowment
is comparatively small, and the support of the work is
largely from voluntary contributions and subscriptions.
The Bishop's own words, from one of the annual re-
ports, will best tell the range and the spirit of the
work:
Hope Farm consists of nearly six hundred
acres, and the boys are employed to a very large
extent in cultivating the farm; in this way, raising
not only all the vegetables needed for home con-
sumption, but acquiring at the same time an ad-
mirable and useful training. The girls are em-
ployed in household work, and acquire a good
204 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
and useful rudimentary knowledge in domestic
science.
The children to whom we minister at the Farm
receive also an academic education, which is equal
to that of our public schools. These children are
not juvenile criminals or delinquents, but simply
children of neglect, who are taken away from their
homes, if they can be so called, where they do not
receive the care that a child deserves, and are
placed under our protection. It is not an institu-
tion; it is, in the best and truest sense of the word,
a home, where, although living in different cot-
tages, the children are all members of one great
human family.
This work was close to the heart of Bishop Greer.
He always presided at the monthly meetings of the
Board. It was singularly fitting that the first memorial
proposed for him was an additional house for this
Farm.
Another institution which Bishop Greer founded for
the community at large was the Three Arts Club.
Deaconess Hall, who was working in All Souls' Church,
Manhattan, had been interested in art students, and
had attempted to make a home for them. She rented
an apartment and had a few young women in her care,
but the struggle was too much for a deaconess. She
was overwhelmed with appeals from mothers who
wished their daughters to be under the shelter of
THE BISHOPRIC 205
Church influences. Bishop Greer learned of her ex-
cellent plan and of its risk of failure. He therefore
determined to put himself behind it. As in the case
of Hope Farm, he appointed a Board, of which he him-
self was chairman. The members of the Board were
all of his own Church. A house was rented, and so
quickly filled with students that two adjoining houses
were rented, and immediately filled. A few years later
several houses were bought outright, and the Club is
now so thoroughly established that its permanency is
assured. The three arts represented are Music, Drama,
and Painting.
The work in the general Church which impressed
him as most necessary at this time was the Church In-
stitute for Negroes. From the beginning of the Insti-
tute he was its President. The Institute is not a single
institution, but is the union of all schools for negroes
in the South under the auspices of the Episcopal
Church so far as these schools comply with the re-
quirements of the Institute. Through the Institute the
Episcopal Church does a very much larger work than
is done at Tuskegee. Bishop Greer was so far con-
vinced of its importance not only for the negroes them-
selves but through them for the Nation, that he was
often heard to say that, if he could, he would resign
the bishopric of New York, and give every moment of
his time to the Church Institute for Negroes. The
Bishop showed his vision and his accurate, practical
206 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
business sense in the organization of this important
merger.
The Church Institute for Negroes recalls Bishop
Greer's interest in the whole subject of Missions, both
domestic and foreign. For a long time Bishop Lloyd
was the executive officer of the Board of Missions.
His testimony concerning Bishop Greer as a member
of the Board and as the founder of the Church Insti-
tute for Negroes is valuable:
Bishop Lawrence is right: Bishop Greer always
had large and clear views of the Church and its
work. I do not recall a time when he was drawn
aside by irrelevant matters. Indeed in all his
words he seemed to have clearly before him the
fundamental truth that its Mission was the
Church's reason for being, and that its fidelity is
tested most surely by its jealousy for that Mis-
sion's welfare. This meant that Bishop Greer al-
ways lent a sympathetic ear to any proposal to
strengthen the work; and saved him from the
snare which tangles many, that the Church's work
must wait the gifts of those who choose to make
them.
Bishop Greer had fixed faith in the willingness
of the people to provide the means for any reason-
able undertaking, if they knew about it, so that
he was the warm advocate of any endeavor to
teach the people and to give these a chance to help
THE BISHOPRIC 207
without being dictated to. This was the motive
that made him an enthusiastic supporter of the
"Nation Wide Campaign" from its inception.
Till the end came to him those carrying the bur-
den of that work had his keen support.
Perhaps the most evident proof of his fidelity
to the paramount work of the Church, was his
faithfulness in attending the meetings of the
Board of Missions, and in the performance of any
duty which the Board laid upon him. To any one
who has the least acquaintance with the load
carried by the Bishop of New York this alone will
be sufficient evidence of the man's clear appre-
hension of the task our Lord intrusted to His
Body, and the reverence with which the servant
strove to do his Master's will.
The American Church Institute for Negroes
was the creation of Bishop Greer, supported by
Mr. George Foster Peabody. The Bishop was con-
vinced that the Church's people would not divert
their gifts to institutions outside the Church, nor
leave its own institutions to suffer, if they knew
what was going on and were assured that their
gifts were administered by men who understood
the problems involved. His faith in these institu-
tions born of his intimate knowledge of them
made him sure that a wise policy would win the
same confidence on the part of the whole Church.
Bishop Greer was the President of that board
208 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
of trustees until his death, and never spared him-
self in the work which he did on its behalf. The
fashion in which the work has grown which the
Church is doing to help the Negroes make their
children good citizens, is eloquent proof of the
man's wisdom and statesmanship.
Bishop Greer was so unassuming in his life,
and so modest in all that he did and said, that the
Church hardly knew how there were combined in
him so much of the prophet and statesman. No
man knows better than I do what the Church
owes to Bishop Greer's fidelity and understanding
of what it means to be a Christian.
A still more interesting light is thrown upon his atti-
tude towards the missionaries themselves, by this re-
port of Bishop Brent:
I did not get to know Dr. Greer until the time
of my own call to the Philippines and his which
came shortly after to New York. I was with him
during some of the days in which he was agoniz-
ing over his problem. I was struck then by his
simplicity of approach to so momentous a deci-
sion. It caused him a great deal of inner pain
but he reached his solution by that directness
that was characteristic of him. Side issues were
recognized as side issues. To him the whole
matter was one of service.
THE BISHOPRIC 209
I remember going with him to a meeting of the
New York Chamber of Commerce given in honor
of John Morley. Much was said by Mr. Root,
Mr. Morley, and other speakers on the elements
that made for a great country. Bishop Greer
was the last speaker. He began by saying that
there was but one solid foundation for national
greatness and that was Christian manhood. He
enlarged on his theme and held from first to last
the attention of the heterogeneous assembly, most
of which was made up of men in big business.
I was treated always as a member of the family.
Whenever I was in America those hospitable doors
of his home were wide open to me to come and
go as I chose. In the intervals which I spent in
the Far East we had but little correspondence
with one another, but upon my arrival in this
country I always looked forward to renewing
fellowship with one who grew to be more and
more a dear and intimate friend. Though my
senior by many years I could never think of him
as old. His alert mind and clear vision were al-
ways reaching out and grappling with modern
problems. He helped me as I am sure he helped
many another man through the mazes of modern
life to a simpler and truer outlook than one would
otherwise have reached. If I had any special puz-
zles troubling me I used to unload them on him.
It was to him I went as the last adviser before
210 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
accepting the Philippines; it was to him I went
as my last adviser before relinquishing my task.
His belief in the world-wide mission of the
Church was not a mere matter of theory; it was
the background of all his thinking and his work
was shaped in terms of the universal. He was a
loyal son of the Church, that loyalty expressing
itself in his absolute confidence that it could and
would do the work which it was commissioned to
do. Sometimes I expressed doubts relative to this
or that matter. He in a gentle way rebuked me
by repeating over and over again at different
times, "Trust the Church, trust the Church."
There was a strong strain of transcendentalism
running through his life which enabled him tcf per-
ceive things in the large.
The last word I had from him was over the
telephone upon my return from France. He was
anxious in some way to do me honor in a public
way, something from which I shrank but some-
thing which he had very much at heart. The day
was fixed when I was to meet him in New York
and he was to preside at a dinner where it was
planned that I should be chief guest. But the
sands of life had been running out rapidly and
when I went to New York it was not to sit at a
festival board with him but to take part in the
service which committed his body to its last rest-
ing place.
THE BISHOPRIC 211
I cannot speak of him without speaking of his
wonderful home. His wife always stood to me in
the human guise of a fair lily, and as from time
to time I visited her and saw her fading away it
was as though the chill fall had come to despoil a
lovely garden and take away its queen flower.
There was fragrance in that home such as might
be coveted by all who have high aspiration for the
family. I suppose that no more desirable tribute
can be paid a man than to say that as a husband
and parent he interpreted the Christian conception
of life.
Dr. Lines, the Bishop of Newark, as a close friend
and neighbor, was also watching Bishop Greer, as they
attended the long meetings in the Church Missions
House on Fourth Avenue in New York. Bishop Lines
writes:
It is a great privilege to write of Bishop Greer
and of my association with him in any way. It
makes life richer to think of having been within
the range of his friendship, and of having been
connected with him in any form of service. The
remembrance of him brings light and help into
life, and out of the land of silence he still speaks
to those who knew him and worked with him.
In the work of the Mission Board of the
Church, he was deeply interested, always plead-
212 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
ing for a large and generous policy, while mindful
of the conditions, resources, and willingness of the
church to give. Whenever the need of contraction
or delay or economy came, he recognized it with
regret, while he always spoke with courage and
appreciation of the large mission of the Church
for which the Board must plan. His heart often
moved him from the rigid judgment which the
facts seemed to demand, and often when the
Board could not do what seemed necessary he as-
sumed responsibility for the Diocese of New York
that the work might not suffer. Deference was
given to him not because he was Bishop of New
York, but because of the profound respect for
him, because of his large and generous outlook,
and his willingness to accept full responsibility
that the Church might go forward. He was free
from narrowness and timidity, while always
thoughtful and wise in judgment. No man did
more than he to keep out of the Board of Missions
narrow ecclesiasticism, prejudice, and whatever
marred the life of the Church, and hindered its
progress. He took within his friendship those
from whom he differed very greatly in opinion.
He did much to make the Church a large place,
and to keep the Board of Missions free from par-
tisanship. He was much more anxious to have
the work of the Church go on in any way which
opened, than in his way, and to support men who
THE BISHOPRIC 213
saw things differently from himself, than to apply
to them his own personal standards. A man of
large vision and generous outlook, he did much to
make the Church the home of many kinds of
people.
With one form of service in the Church, his
name ought always to be closely associated.
That was the service of the colored people in the
South. He was long chairman of the committee
in the Board of Missions on the work among the
colored people, and was deeply interested in every
phase of it, especially in our schools in the South.
He saw great institutions founded in the South
outside our own Church, and very generously sup-
ported by our Church people, while our own
schools were left in poverty to struggle for their
existence. He rejoiced in what was being done
outside this Church, but he had a strong desire
to bring home to our people, their own responsi-
bility. He believed also that the growth of the
Episcopal Church among the negroes meant good
for them and for the country also. So the thought
came to him and originated with him, as one
closely associated with him may testify, to take
the existing Church schools in the South and form
them into an Institute, leaving them where they
were established, whether at Petersburg, Law-
renceville, Raleigh, Columbia, Brunswick, Bir-
mingham, or Vicksburg (to name only those which
214 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
came into consideration in his own time). He
felt rightly, that the work done in these schools
in simple and economical ways might mean as
much for the colored people as great institutions
like Hampton and Tuskegee, though for these he
had no lack of respect and good will.
The Institute could hardly have been worked
out as a department of the Board of Missions at
that time. Two visits at least, as I well re-
member as a fellow visitor, he made to the
schools in Virginia and North Carolina, and
nothing could exceed his personal interest in the
instructors and pupils, and in the details of ad-
ministration. The schools owe him a debt of
gratitude for what he did through the Institute
and in other ways to meet their needs and to en-
courage them. Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson was the
legal adviser of Bishop Greer and a Virginia
charter of the Church Institute for Colored
Schools was obtained through him, with thought
of present conditions and future possibilities. The
purpose in Bishop Greer's mind was not the es-
tablishment and support of parochial schools and
primary education, for which he hoped the south-
ern states would in time make ample provision, but
the training of ministers, teachers, nurses, pro-
fessional men and women, provision for vocational
education, the fitting of men and women to be
leaders in all useful callings in life, for ex-
THE BISHOPRIC 215
ample, clergymen at Petersburg, farmers and me-
chanics at Lawrenceville, teachers and nurses at
Raleigh, and in the other schools also. To
the schools just named and those farther south,
he thought that promising boys and girls might
come from the parochial and lower grade schools,
and so the Church might help to raise up under
the influence of religion, with a high sense of re-
sponsibility, a great company of good and useful
men and women.
Let Bishop Greer always be thought of as hav-
ing thought this out and made the beginning. He
lived to see a great deal accomplished, and there
are, all over the south and north, men and women
who have come through these Church schools for
their own great good, and for the good of the
Church and the Country. The schools have strug-
gled on, never having the resources which they
needed and deserved, but they have done and are
doing good and large work with insufficient sup-
port. Bishop Greer felt that as compared with
the great need, only a beginning has been made,
and there was disappointment because the church
had not responded more generously to the appeal
and opportunity. The accomplishment, however,
has been great already, and the true course of the
Church has been determined, as those who have
studied it most closely, laymen like Dr. James H.
Dillard and George Foster Peabody, for example,
2i6 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
who knew the need of the negro people in the
South as well as any persons who can be named,
would testify.
So let the Institute for the Colored Schools be
associated with Bishop Greer, and let those who
would honor his memory have generous thought
for the great work which owes its beginning to
him. No form of service had a larger place in
the mind and heart of Bishop Greer, than the serv-
ice of our negro people.
The Rev. A. B. Hunter, formerly Principal of St.
Augustine's School, Raleigh, has told how thorough the
Bishop was in his investigation of the Negro Schools:
I think it was in the spring of 1906 or 1907 that
Bishop Greer, Bishop Lines, and Bishop Burgess,
as a Committee of the Board of Missions, to in-
vestigate the condition of the Negro Schools of the
Church, came to Raleigh to visit St. Augustine's
School. We had invited a number of gentlemen of
Raleigh to meet them at luncheon, and Mrs.
Hunter had prepared a Southern dish for them,
baked 'possum. Bishop Greer refused the dish
when offered (some one said with a shudder). In
the November following, I attended a meeting in
Brooklyn, which was addressed by the Bishop in
behalf of the newly formed American Church
Institute for Negroes. Returning in the subway,
THE BISHOPRIC 217
the Bishop said to me, "Do you know, I have al-
ways regretted that I did not taste the 'possum
served at your house." Christmas was near, so
we sent him a 'possum. It was acknowledged be-
fore Christmas by a very polite note, saying it
would grace his Christmas dinner table. Several
years after, the Bishop introduced me to a meeting
of the New York Woman's Auxiliary, alluded to
the hospitality of Raleigh, and said, "They even
serve 'possum to you there." When my turn came
to speak, I told the ladies how the Bishop had
acknowledged the 'possum sent to him, but had
never told us whether he had eaten it for his
Christmas dinner, and that to this day we did not
know. "And you never will," said the Bishop, in
a whisper to me as I was speaking.
The colored people moved him. Once at a meeting
in behalf of the Institute, some jubilee singers sang
a song with the refrain, "I want to be like Jesus in
my heart." Immediately after the song the Bishop
rose to speak. "That," he said, "exactly expresses
my feelings: 'I want to be like Jesus in my heart.' "
BISHOP POTTER closed his remarkable Epis-
copate in the summer of 1908. He died at
Cooperstown, New York, on July 21, while
Bishop Greer was in London at the Lambeth Confer-
ence. Archdeacon Burch was in Oxford when the news
came, and telephoned to London to ask the Bishop if
he could do anything. "No," he answered, "none of
us can do anything. I am overwhelmed." Two days
later, he and Mrs. Greer came down to Oxford. He
came to see Oxford, but his mind was in New York,
and he even forgot to pay the cabman a most un-
usual form of absent-mindedness for him, for "cabbies"
were to him people of much interest. In the little
parlor at The Mitre he spoke with deep feeling: "It's
awful," he said; "I don't see how I can do it." He
was in evident health: it was the vision of what ought
to be done which overcame him. He had the humility
of a little child.
As a matter of fact, Bishop Potter had delegated so
much to the Coadjutor that though, after Bishop Greer
became Diocesan, he had many more visitations to
make, the responsibility was not much heavier than
during the four years in which he had been Coadjutor.
At the Diocesan Convention the following fall,
218
THE BISHOPRIC 219
Bishop Greer expressed his admiration of his illustrious
predecessor: he spoke of qualities that especially at-
tracted him. He revealed his own enthusiasms:
Bishop Potter was eminent as a Churchman,
and loved his Church and served it; but his sym-
pathies reached beyond it. They were very hu-
man. And while he had his preferences, personal
and social as well as religious, he showed this
mark of a true human greatness, that he did not
have exclusions; and without regard to creed or
race he loved his fellow men, and was always
ready to work with those of every name who, like
himself, were working for the common human
good.
Someone has remarked that the man who never
disagrees with the people and who shrinks from
unpopularity as the worst of evils can never have
a share in moulding the traditions of a strong and
virile race. Bishop Potter did not shrink from
unpopularity: to those who did not know him well
he seemed at times to court it. But not so; he
was built on larger lines, and simply aimed to do
and say, faithfully and fearlessly, what he deemed
was right; and while ready to listen to reason to
show that he was wrong, and quick and frank
when convinced to acknowledge and to own it,
no mere clamor could swerve him from his course.
And yet, he was not a visionary. He believed
220 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
that the Christian faith was something more than
a theory; it was, he held, a force to be practically
applied, which should energize in all the common
relations of our social life, and which as such
should help to solve all our social problems. Firm,
staunch and strong in his own Christian faith, and
foremost to defend it, he did not hold that faith
apart from secular affairs, but rather sought to
apply and introduce it there as the true and lawful
sphere of its operation. He sought to give to the
Christian faith its hands and its feet, to bring it
down to earth, to make it walk and talk, not aca-
demically and metaphysically, but practically and
plainly and in the idiom of the people; and time
and again the people sought his counsel and ad-
vice, and sought it not in vain.
He held that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all
human life.
When Bishop Greer took the complete charge of the
diocese he was sixty-four years old, but in face and in
figure he looked a young man. In the care of the whole
diocese the hardest part to him was the administration
of ecclesiastical discipline. To depose a man literally
nearly killed him, tenderhearted, affectionate as he
was. Even to reprimand a clergyman cost him sleep-
less nights. His gentleness was fused with strength.
Like a brave man providing "sanctuary," he would
hold off the accuser, till he was sure which way lay
THE BISHOPRIC 221
truth and justice. He met in silence hasty demands
and implied threats. The man who ultimately knew
his discipline, knew his sternness as well as his mercy.
When his blow fell, it was decisive: one suspects that,
like a father, he exerted his most rigid discipline in
secret. His courage was shown in his deliberate ex-
ercise of the discipline which his office forced upon
him. With an agony of thought and prayer he sought
God's will, and did it.
He was proud of the clergy, and was constantly tell-
ing his friends of sermons he had heard them preach,
of deeds he had witnessed, and of other deeds about
which he had been told. Often the clergy themselves
little suspected how truly he carried them day by day
in his thoughts. Because he was full of sympathy,
tolerance, and patience, his friends sometimes thought
him lacking in discernment of character. One would
hear from time to time, "He's no judge of men." No
doubt he was sometimes deceived, but probably he saw
more defects in the people with whom he came in con-
tact than he would admit to anyone. Occasionally,
cautious as he was, his real judgment would flash forth,
and the listener would wonder if this could be Bishop
Greer who was attaching spicy epithets to people of
whom hitherto no detraction had been heard. He was
so afraid of sentimentality that he sometimes seemed
to be lacking in sentiment. He was intensely amused
if anyone happened to ask him to come into the country
because the appletrees were in blossom. His real sen-
222 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
timent was kept for humanity; the superficial qualities
which deceived others did not deceive him. At a Di-
ocesan Convention, when during a missionary session
he had resigned the chair to Mr. Stetson, and was sit-
ting by the side of Bertrand Stevens, a clergyman
rose to address the convention. "Our friend," writes
Bishop Stevens, "was speaking with great eloquence
and verbosity. I leaned over to the Bishop and quietly
remarked that McCandless said that this particular
man needed above everything to beware of the adjec-
tive. 'Yes/ said Bishop Greer, 'he secretes them.' "
When Bishop Greer was profoundly moved by the word
or deed of anyone whom he admired, his highest praise
was only, "He's a good man."
Though Bishop Greer was a liberal, he was tena-
cious of the respect due to canon law. Whether he
himself thought the law the best law that could be made
was quite apart. The law having been made, he, and
all who were responsible to him, were bound to keep
it. He allowed special services in the cathedral with
addresses by men not of our Communion. He did
this not wantonly, but only under what he understood
to be the provisions of the canon. He was scrupulous
in all the details of his office. When he was asked to
give permission for this or that innovation in a service
he would frankly say that he had no authority, and
he would not even give advice. "If you depart," he
would say, "from the law of the Church, you must do
it upon your own responsibility." In even slight
THE BISHOPRIC 223
matters he was surefooted and canny. Before the
General Convention had authorized the permissive use,
a rector asked his advice about having the general
Thanksgiving said by all the people. The Bishop said,
judicially, "I cannot advise you; of course I cannot
give you authority to do it." Then he smiled, "I will
say," he added, "we used to do it at St. Bar-
tholomew's."
In the spring of 1901, Bishop Greer had undergone
a serious operation on the left eye for glaucoma. Five
years later, in 1906, he underwent a similar operation
upon the right eye. One day a physician said to
Bishop Greer, "Have you had glaucoma?" When the
Bishop answered, "Yes," the physician went on, "In
one eye, I suppose." "No," was the reply, "in both."
"And you are doing work?" "Doing full work," said
the Bishop. "Well," the doctor said, "you are the first
man I ever met who has been operated on for glaucoma
in both eyes and who is doing full work."
Notwithstanding the warning which came to him
through his eyes, he determined, for a time at least,
to administer the diocese alone. This resolution was
fixed by the gift of a motor whereby he could be carried
swiftly to his many meetings and to his visitations. He
might have continued this work so far as his body was
concerned had he been able to steel his heart against
the agony of ecclesiastical discipline. He broke down
in the spring of 1910. He knew that, willing as he
was to make every sacrifice, he could not alone do the
224 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
work, even with the help of the Archdeacons, Dr. Nel-
son of New York, Dr. Thomas of Orange, Dr. Van
Kleeck of Westchester, Dr. Ashton of Dutchess, and
Dr. Burch of Richmond.* The General Convention
was to meet in October at Cincinnati. A new canon,
providing for Suffragan Bishops, was then to be acted
upon finally. With Bishop Edsall of Minnesota, who
wished a suffragan in his large western diocese, he
pleaded with the House of Bishops to grant an officer
who would also be useful in great metropolitan sees.
The opposition was strong, but the sincerity and
earnestness of Bishop Greer and Bishop Edsall carried
the day. Suffragan Bishops were authorized.
It was known after the General Convention that
Bishop Greer would ask for a Suffragan. When the
Diocesan Convention met at Synod Hall on the
Cathedral Grounds, November 9, 1910, the news was
spread that Bishop Greer would be grateful if Arch-
deacon Burch of Staten Island could be his Suffragan.
Dr. Burch was elected on the following day, and was
consecrated Bishop in Grace Church, New York, on
February 24, 1911. Bishop Doane preached the ser-
mon. Bishop Greer felt that his old friend would be
gratified to preach the sermon at the consecration of
the first Suffragan Bishop in our Church in America.
As the Diocesan and his Suffragan marched out of the
*When Dr. Burch was elected Suffragan Bishop, two Arch-
deacons were appointed to cover the whole diocese: Dr. Pott and
Mr. Hulse. Later still, Dr. Pott was the only Archdeacon in the
diocese, upon Mr. Hulse's consecration as Bishop of Cuba.
THE BISHOPRIC 225
church together, Bishop Greer's medium height over-
shadowed by the very tall Bishop who had just been
consecrated, someone remarked, "David and Goliath."
"No, no," said Bishop Greer; "David and Jonathan."
So he expressed the relationship of friendship and trust
with which he entered into the years which were to
follow with Bishop Burch's unfailing help. Bishop
Greer clearly denned in the beginning that Bishop
Burch was to do anything which he assigned him.
Many a day the Suffragan Bishop did not know in the
morning what he might be called upon to do in the
afternoon. Bishop Burch has borne his testimony: "He
never ordered me, or said, 'I want you to do this.' It
was always. 'Can you do this, with the other things you
have to do?' Or, 'Are you too tired to add this to
your work for the day?' ' Because both men forgot
themselves in a common service to the Church, the
details of diocesan work were met as perhaps never
before; for though Bishop Greer was unable very often
to travel long distances to meet appointments for con-
firmations, his office work and the work of adminis-
tration went on almost without interruption, even in
weeks when most men would have been cut off from
every care. Bishop Burch, in spite of regular routine,
was always ready to come to special Confirmations,
and thus helped not only the Diocesan but all the
clergy. Probably no one but himself will ever know
how crowded with service were the eight years when
he was aiding Bishop Greer as Suffragan Bishop.
VI
MANY parishes in the diocese were oppressed
by the fact of the mortgages upon their
property, even though they were held by
so benevolent a corporation as Trinity Parish. Dr.
Dix, it will be remembered, nominated Dr. Greer as
Bishop of the diocese, and as long as he lived his af-
fectionate interest in the new Bishop was constant.
When Dr. Manning was chosen first Bishop of Harris-
burg, Dr. Dix appealed to Bishop Greer to use all his
influence to keep Dr. Manning from leaving Trinity
Parish. It was largely due to Bishop Greer that Dr.
Manning was made assistant rector of Trinity Parish
with the right of succession. Throughout his bishopric
therefore Bishop Greer was uncommonly close to the
mother parish of the diocese. He could be sure that
if he made an appeal to the rector and vestry, every-
thing possible would be done to comply with his wishes.
To them, therefore, he appealed for these burdened
parishes. In the fall of 1909, the vestry of Trinity
Church generously cancelled the mortgages which were
held against eighteen parishes in the City of New York,
and others outside the city and diocese. This was an
interpretation of the just responsibility of the huge
endowment of Trinity Parish, which commanded the
respect of the whole Church.
226
THE BISHOPRIC 227
In a city like New York, where tides of population
often recede from ancient parishes, there is a con-
tinual appeal to dispose of Church property and to use
the money either in some other form of work or in
other parishes. Against this tendency Bishop Greer
set his face like a flint. It was more than a sentiment
with him, that a building consecrated not only by the
formal setting apart but also by the lives of good men,
should not lose its place in the on-going life of the
city. When in the case of All Souls' on Madison
Avenue the property was sold, the largest portion of
the amount was given to the Church of the Archangel,
upon the condition that the name "All Souls' Church
(Anthon Memorial)" should be perpetuated. This
church is at St. Nicholas Avenue and One Hundred
and Fourteenth Street. The remainder of the sum
was divided among the churches nearest, St. Mary's,
Manhattanville; and St. Andrew's and Holy Trinity,
Harlem. The Bishop pleaded that the whole sum be
given to the Church in the Bronx, but he was grateful
to have the gifts of former parishioners conserved for
the work of these important neighboring parishes.
When the Church of the Intercession, at Broadway
and One Hundred and Fifty-eighth Street, with a large
and loyal congregation, under the rectorship of the
Reverend Dr. Milo H. Gates, was embarrassed by its
debt and its inability to enlarge its building for the
rapidly growing congregation, Bishop Greer approved
the plan for its adoption by Trinity Parish as one of
228 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
its chapels. Trinity Parish was enthusiastic, because,
by placing a great church hi Trinity Cemetery, the
rights of the cemetery to remain a churchyard would
be undisputed. The magnificent church which was
ultimately built by Mr. Bertram G. Goodhue, under
the personal direction of Dr. Gates, was consecrated
on May 25, 1915, and is one of the notable churches
of the city.
Bishop Greer was deeply interested in maintaining
Christ Church at its strategic point, at the corner of
Seventy-first Street and Broadway. This venerable
parish was started in Anthony Street in 1793; it moved
to West Eighteenth Street in 1852; later it moved to
Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street; finally, in 1890,
to anticipate the growing needs of the city, it moved
to its present site, where it dominates a central and
conspicuous neighborhood. St. Andrew's, at Fifth
Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Street,
also had his sympathetic cooperation in its struggle
against a rapidly changing neighborhood. Its stately
church, hallowed by years of sacred association, he
felt must be conserved if possible for future genera-
tions. In the southern end of the city, at Henry and
Scammell Streets, was the old Church of All Saints,
deserted by all the families whose ancestors had wor-
shipped there, but still more than a landmark, because
it ministered to the people living in its vicinity.
Old St. John's, on Varick Street, vanished, because
the Vestry of Trinity Church, who were responsible
THE BISHOPRIC 229
for it, believed that they could not honestly use their
endowment to maintain a building which would be
more of a monument than a place of worship; and
other chapels of Trinity Parish were near enough to
minister to all the needs of the people who formerly had
called St. John's their own. With the Vestry and all
other loyal citizens of New York, he regretted the loss
of an interesting landmark; but he felt with the Vestry
that the service to human souls was the paramount
duty of a religious corporation.
The Bishop rejoiced in preaching the sermon at the
consecration of the new St. Thomas's Church, at Fifth
Avenue and Fifty-third Street. He counted it a nota-
ble asset for the diocese that, under the leadership of
Dr. Stires, this distinguished church, designed by
Messrs. Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson, should rise
upon the ashes of the church burned in 1905. The
old church was destroyed one summer morning. Be-
fore the parishioners returned in the fall, a temporary
structure within the nave invited them to worship.
The new church rose around this frame building. Thus
worship went on continuously on a spot hallowed by
a long period of parochial life. How deeply Bishop
Greer felt the importance of the achievement is shown
by these words from his sermon on that happy day:
Why do I bring, my friends, this message to-
day to you, on this eventful day in your parish
life? Because you are what you are, a great
230 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
parish, with a great far-reaching influence. The
adjective is not carelessly but carefully and with
deliberate judgment chosen. Your building is
great, your membership is great, your resourceful-
ness is great; and, situated as you are, on one of
the great thoroughfares of this community and
this country, like a city set on a hill, your example
cannot be, in its reach and scope, otherwise than
great. But better and more than this, you have,
and have shown, in your parish life, a great poten-
tial energy, a great spiritual and vital force, which,
in the face of circumstances calculated to dissolve,
scatter and disintegrate as when on a summer
night your beautiful building went up in flames
still held you together in one great corporate life,
unbroken and unimpaired. All this I may be per-
mitted to say, as voicing you on this occasion as
well as myself, is, with the gracious help and guid-
ance of God, in large measure due to the brave,
indomitable, and indefatigable leadership of your
Rector.
Because therefore you are all this, with great
possibilities in you and great opportunities before
you, you have it in your power to enforce, and
by your example to commend to the Church at
large today, this timely and this needed message
of St. James, Be ye doers of the Word; Be ye
doers of the Word, and not hearers only!
THE BISHOPRIC 231
The Bishop's old parish, St. Bartholomew's, after
deciding to remain at Madison Avenue and Forty-
fourth Street, suddenly discovered that wisdom re-
quired a new church on a more ample site. So the
ground bounded by Park Avenue, Fiftieth and Fifty-
first Streets, was bought. The striking memorial to
Cornelius Vanderbilt was removed thither, and a new
church, designed by Mr. Bertram Goodhue, was built
behind it. On the day when the Vestry decided that
the venture should be declared to the congregation, the
old rector joined the present rector in pleading that
the large amount needed be given, not only for the
sake of the parish but for the sake of the Church at
large, that on the imposing thoroughfare of Park
Avenue there might be a church which should com-
mand the respect of the thousands who would pass it
daily. The two sermons occupied together more than
an hour, and a restless small boy, closing his fist tightly
on a quarter dollar and hearing one of the preachers
say, "At first we shall expect only very large gifts,"
whispered to his mother, "Mother, that lets us out;
let's go home." The foundation stone of the new
church was laid in May 1917. Even the awning which
had been placed for the clergy and choir would not
keep out the rain, and the Bishop stood under an um-
brella to make his address. He was not well, and every-
one knew that he should not be there, but he would
not stay away from his beloved parish on its great day.
On Sunday morning, October 20, 1918, he preached
232 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
the sermon at the formal opening of the new St. Bar-
tholomew's for public worship. Inevitably he ex-
pressed his personal relationship to a parish which had
once been his cure.
The Church of the Holy Communion, associated
with the memorable traditions of Dr. Muhlenberg,
and now for many years under the guidance of Dr.
Mottet, was to Bishop Greer one of the most sacred
spots in the diocese. It was the first free church in
America. While the people still lived hard by, ade-
quate support was easily forthcoming; but shops
thrust themselves in, only to be followed by factories;
and the people moved far away. Dr. Mottet appealed
for an endowment. In place of the one hundred thou-
sand asked for, all sorts of people within and without
our Communion gave over half a million dollars.
Then, under Dr. Mottet's leadership, the church was
beautified as a token of thanksgiving. Today the old
church is "all glorious within," one of the most radi-
ant of parish churches anywhere. Bishop Greer came
to conduct a service hallowing all these changes. To
make permanent a church with such important associ-
ations as this and to ensure for ever its adequate main-
tenance, was an achievement which adds one more dis-
tinction to the years in which Dr. Greer was Bishop
of New York.
VII
BISHOP GREEK'S episcopate will always be
associated with the consecration of the Choir,
the Crossing, and the seven Chapels of the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and with the open-
ing of the Cathedral for public services associated with
notable ecclesiastical and national events. Though
the Cathedral project was started in the time of Bishop
Horatio Potter, Bishop Henry Potter was always rec-
ognized as the real founder. Dr. Greer, as rector of
St. Bartholomew's was not interested; but when the
care of the diocese came to him, he saw the enormous
value of a building which would not only bind the dio-
cese together but stand before the city as a visible
symbol of the paramount importance of the Church of
Christ. He nominated Dr. Grosvenor of the Church
of the Incarnation as the first Dean of the Cathedral,
and upon his nomination the Trustees elected him.
When Dean Grosvenor died in 1916, the Reverend Dr.
Howard C. Robbins, also of the Church of the Incar-
nation, was, upon the Bishop's nomination, elected to
succeed him. Remembering the music at St. Bartholo-
mew's, the Bishop would gently plead with Dr. Grosve-
nor from time to time to substitute for the boys and
men a choir of men and women; but his pleading ceased
233
234 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
when Mrs. J. Jarrett Blodgett gave the dignified build-
ing for a Choir School, and Frederick G. Bourne, Esq.,
endowed it.
Many years before he became Bishop, Dr. Greer was
once asked by a friend if he would ever give up St.
Bartholomew's for a bishopric. He said, "No."
"Then," persisted the friend, "would you give it
up for anything?" He answered, "There is just one
place which I covet, a place which I shall never have,
and that is Trinity Church. If I were rector of Trinity
Church I would bring the ablest preachers of the world
to it and give them their freedom." Indirectly the
Cathedral was to give him the same opportunity. With
the sympathetic understanding of Dean Grosvenor
and Dean Robbins, the Cathedral fulfilled this dream.
Preachers, not only of our own Communion, but, on
the special occasions allowed by the canon, great
preachers of other Communions have often been heard ;
and, on national occasions particularly, laymen have
spoken. Among these laymen were President Jacob
G. Schurman of Cornell, Sir Johnston Forbes- Robert-
son, Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree, Secretary Daniels,
George Gordon Battle, Esq., George Zabriskie, Esq.,
Captain George B. Hyde (at a service of protest
against Armenian massacres, at which members of the
Armenian Mission, including one of their great Gen-
erals, were present), the Honorable James W. Gerard,
the Honorable George W. Wickersham, Judge Alton
B. Parker, President Nicholas Murray Butler, the
THE BISHOPRIC 235
Honorable Elihu Root, Thomas W. Lament, Esq.,
and William Jay Schieffelin, Esq. Among clergymen
not of our Communion, have been Dr. Charles E. Jef-
ferson, Dr. Frank Mason North, Dr. William Adams
Brown, Bishop McDowell of Washington, Dr. Cor-
nelius Woelfkin, Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, Dr. S.
Parkes Cadman, and Dr. William P. Merrill. Among
the distinguished visitors from the Church of England
who have preached in the Cathedral have been the
Bishop of Worcester, the Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop
of Birmingham, the Bishop of Edinburgh, and the
Archbishop of York.
In March, 1918, when gloom was over the whole
land because of the war, an Archbishop of York for
the first time visited America. Dr. Lang stood one
Sunday morning in the pulpit of the Cathedral, bring-
ing a message of courage and inspiration. Bishop Greer
in welcoming him, said to the congregation,
I welcome him in the confident hope that his
coming will unite more closely the peoples of the
old and the new countries by strengthening the
ties of fellowship which already exist, not only as
two great Communions but two great Nations,
standing together hand in hand, shoulder to shoul-
der, in the great crusade against tyranny and ag-
gression.
The Cathedral has become a people's church. At
first, a good many members of neighboring parishes
236 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
went to the services, but, missing the parochial at-
mosphere, soon returned to their folds. The congre-
gation is almost wholly made up of strangers and of
people who hitherto have had no parochial connection.
Dean Robbins, who sees the congregation Sunday by
Sunday, thus aptly describes the people:
The Cathedral is the home of Christian democ-
racy. It is the House of Prayer for all people.
It is the religious meeting place for all sorts and
conditions of men. The first thing which always
impresses a stranger is the size of the congrega-
tions. Bishop Greer used to say that during the
first months after the opening of the Crossing, he
was almost afraid to go into the Cathedral for fear
that he might find the congregations beginning
to diminish, as the novelty wore off. But they
did not diminish; instead they increased, month
by month, and year after year. The congrega-
tions are always differently composed. It is esti-
mated that more than a hundred thousand people
attend service here in the course of a single year,
as many as all the communicants of the Diocese
of New York put together. Only a few people,
relatively speaking, come with regularity. Visit-
ing clergymen often comment upon the reverence
of the congregations, made up, as they are so
largely, of strangers and of persons unaccustomed
to the service. People are very sensitive to archi-
THE BISHOPRIC 237
tectural surroundings, and the vastness of the
scale on which the Cathedral is built, its great
height and open spaces, have a solemnizing influ-
ence. Young people, who are more or less out of
touch with conventional religion, come here when
they would not think of going inside an ordinary
church. As one of them said, "The Cathedral
makes me humble." Working people, of the ar-
tisan class, come because the Cathedral is great,
democratic, free.
Dr. Huntington had hoped that the seven chapels
built about the apse would be associated with seven
languages. Though this dream has been only partly
fulfilled as far as the chapels are concerned (for regu-
lar services are held only in Spanish and Chinese) the
Choir and Crossing have been filled again and again
on special occasions, with people of one race or an-
other. On St. David's Day, the building has been filled
by Welshmen, who have listened to a service and ser-
mon in their own language. On Kossovo Day, the
Serbian Archimandrite celebrated the Liturgy of the
Holy Orthodox Church in ancient Slavic at the High
Altar, and a choir composed of Russians and of Jugo-
slavs made the responses. A feature of that service
was the lighting of candles sent from the ancient mon-
astery of Grachinitza, on the Kossovo battle-field, by
a monk who had survived the Bulgarian massacre, and
wished to show his appreciation of a former Kossovo
238 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Day service which had been held here, news of which
had reached him in that remote and romantic place.
Among the many inspiring services which took place
during Bishop Greer's administration of the diocese
was the opening service of the General Convention,
on October 8, 1913, when nearly all the Bishops of the
Church were in the Sanctuary, and Bishop Lawrence
preached the sermon.
When the Metropolitan of Athens (Meletios Me-
taxakis) was in America, he preached in Greek. After
the sermon, Bishop Greer met the Metropolitan at the
choir steps to conduct him to the Sanctuary. The
Greek kissed Bishop Greer rapturously on both cheeks.
The choristers had difficulty in keeping their com-
posure, but the Bishop helped them by taking the
kisses as a matter of course, and, passing his arm
through that of the Metropolitan, walking with him to
the Sanctuary for the closing prayers.
After the signing of the Armistice, the diocese held
its corporate Thanksgiving in the Cathedral, the Hon-
orable Elihu Root making the address. Within a
week, representatives of the twelve liberated peoples
comprised in the mid-European Democratic Alliance,
met in the Cathedral. They brought with them the
constitution to which they had just subscribed in In-
dependence Hall, Philadelphia. They brought their
flags and banners, some of them quite new, never be-
fore carried into any church. Albanians, Armenians,
Czecho-Slovaks, Jugo-Slavs, Lithuanians, Poles,
THE BISHOPRIC 239
Ukrainians, Zionists, flowed together, witnessing to
the birth of their nations as they entered the Cathedral.
Many stood outside weeping as they saw the flags of
their new-won liberty. A few days later, there was a
Thanksgiving service in the Cathedral for the victory.
Every one of the nations which had borne arms in the
struggle for liberty, or had declared its sympathy by
severing diplomatic relations with the Central Powers,
was officially represented. The flags of twenty-seven
nations were carried into the chancel and massed there
for the singing of the Te Deum.
In the spring of 1918, when Mr. Balfour visited
America to represent the British Government, the
Cathedral was open for a service of Dedication, by
which the friendship of the two nations was emphasized
for the cause of liberty. The sermon was preached by
Bishop Brent. Mr. Balfour made a short address to
the clergy and choristers after the service.
In addition to the growth of the Cathedral itself,
and in addition to the building of the choristers' school,
other important buildings have risen upon the Cathe-
dral Close during Bishop Greer's time. As soon as
the General Convention of 1910 accepted the invitation
of New York for the Convention of 1913, Bishop Greer
was eager to have a suitable hall for the meeting of
the House of Deputies. After he had begun the col-
lection of funds for Synod House, Mr. J. Pierpont
Morgan and Mr. W. Bayard Cutting, who, with
others, had for many years represented the Diocese of
240 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
New York in the General Convention, asked the privi-
lege of erecting the building. Their offer was accepted.
The gifts already made were, by consent, applied
towards the building of the Bishop's House. Both the
givers however died before the Convention met. The
building therefore, when completed, seemed a memorial
to these generous and loyal laymen. It is always used
for the Diocesan Convention. In it were the offices
of Bishop Greer, Bishop Burch, and Archdeacon Pott.
Many meetings of a diocesan and public character
have been held in it. The Deanery was given in 1913,
by Mrs. Ogilvie, in memory of her husband, Clinton
Ogilvie. The Bishop's House was built with the
money received from the sale of the house in Gramercy
Park, with additional sums given by many of the
Bishop's personal friends. The Bishop moved into this
House in April 1914. Having always lived in the
heart of the city, he valued the peace of the Cathedral
Close. Mrs. Greer would say, after explaining how
quiet the house was at night, "He deserves it."
VIII
BISHOP GREEK'S Episcopate will not, how-
ever, be associated with the magnificent build-
ings which arose during his term of office,
but rather with the men in whose selection he was
closely concerned. Sometimes vestries are exceedingly
shy of the advice of Bishops when a rectorship is va-
cant. Perhaps because Bishop Greer did not obtrude
his advice, and fully recognized the right of a vestry
to make their own choice, his counsel was the more
often sought. In the case of one important parish,
the vestry, having chosen a rector whom he himself
approved, asked him to present the call. As he sat
down with the rector-elect he spoke of the opportunity.
"Such a call," he said, "comes only once in a lifetime;
you must not let it pass." Then he went on to speak
of New York: to him there was no other place in the
world so strategic. "If you want to serve your gen-
eration to the utmost," he said, "this is the place to
do it." A letter will show the reality of his interest, as
the new rector began his work. The parish need not
be named, for this interest is typical of his solicitude
for all other parishes:
Welcome to New York! I had cancelled an
appointment for this morning in order to be with
241
242 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
you, and to welcome you by my presence ; but un-
fortunately I am confined to my bed and am
under strict orders by my physician to stay there.
I am better, however, and expect to be out and
about in a few days, as well as ever, and am look-
ing forward with great pleasure, to having you at
dinner to meet some of our clergy, on May 16,
at eight o'clock.
Perhaps it is just as well that I could not be
with you this morning, so that you could begin in
your own way and make your own impression
without any little seeming endorsement of influ-
ence which the presence of the Bishop of the
diocese might give. And so you did begin in your
own way, and gave your own message, which, by
your kindness, I have just been permitted to read.
Will you let me tell you, my dear brother, that it
is just the message that New York needs. It is
a busy, restless city, and is sometimes thought to
be wicked and worldly; but I know that at its
heart it is hungry for Christ, and I believe that the
old Parish, with you at its head, will minister to
that hunger and human need.
Praying God's richest blessing upon you, believe
me, not only your bishop, but always sincerely
and affectionately your friend,
DAVID H. GREEK
THE BISHOPRIC 243
Because he knew the difficulties besetting parishes
in certain parts of the city, he was lenient with the
clergy when they tried various methods to interest the
people who lived in their neighborhoods. His own
preference was for the simple rubrical service to which
he had always been accustomed, but he was patient
when men tried experiments. One bleak November
afternoon, when a bust of Peter Stuyvesant was being
unveiled at St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie, the procession
from the rectory to the church was halted in the
churchyard. The rector suddenly turned to the
Bishop, and said, "Bishop, the patriotic societies have
got hold of this service; I am not responsible for it:
really, it is the queerest service I ever got into." The
Bishop blinked and smiled, "Well, Guthrie," he said,
"it must be mighty queer then."
When Dr. Guthrie and his Vestry disagreed about
the proper methods of conducting St. Mark's, the rector
went to the Bishop to seek his "godly judgment." The
Bishop said, "Don't say a word to me. The Vestry
have told me their side of the case. I didn't want you
to be called to St. Mark's, but you were called. I have
watched your work, and I have some knowledge of
its results. You are not so much building up St.
Mark's, as through St. Mark's you are building up the
other churches in the city. I am not concerned in this
particular case whether you are technically right or
the Vestry is technically right. What I must do is
to help the men who are building up the Kingdom of
244 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
God in New York. You get hold of men who have
lost their grip on religion, on God. You start them
in the right direction. They begin to believe again.
Then their wives find out that they are willing to go to
Church; and, to please their wives, they go to church
which satisfies their wives, but you are responsible
for their renewed allegiance to Christ. I haven't told
you before that I know all this. I think I know more
than you know about the people you have helped.
Your ways are not customary; perhaps not canonical.
But you are saving souls. And I want you to know
that I am behind you."
When Dr. Sedgwick came to Calvary Church, the
Bishop was living only a few steps away, at 7, Gram-
ercy Park. One of the children was ill in Calvary
Rectory, and each morning the Bishop came in to in-
quire, and if possible to see the little boy. At a
friendly dinner, he would say, "My neighbor Sedgwick
is doing very interesting things: last night he marched
his choir over to Madison Square; the boys and men
sang hymns, and then they all marched back to the
church with troops of people behind them."
When the Reverend Percy Silver came to the Church
of the Incarnation, the Bishop appeared unexpectedly
in the vestryroom one Sunday morning, saying that he
would like to go into the chancel with the rector and
say a few words to the people. Twice within a few
years the parish had given its rector to be Dean of
the Cathedral; the rectorship had been now vacant for
THE BISHOPRIC 245
a year, with the consequent disorganizing processes
setting in. When the Bishop spoke to the congrega-
tion, he said, "I went up to West Point to try to per-
suade Mr. Silver to be your rector. He didn't want
to leave West Point: they loved him there and he was
doing a great work. But I told him that New York
needed him. And he came. I told him that you would
all stand behind him. And I know that you will keep
that pledge for me." The last time the Bishop visited
the Church of the Incarnation, the rector presented
for Confirmation the Bishop's grandson. The boy
shyly sought the end of the rail, so that he was the
last candidate on whom the Bishop laid his hands. It
was providential for the Bishop; because he was so
overcome with emotion that it would have been diffi-
cult for him to say the prayer again. Perhaps he sus-
pected that the asking of the solemn spiritual gift for
his grandson would be his last association with a parish
for which he felt deep responsibility.
The Reverend William H. Owen, Jr., recalls the
Bishop upon a visitation:
Bishop Greer was to visit Trinity Church,
Mount Vernon, for a confirmation, Sunday morn-
ing. Though I had written him about the matter,
I could get no details of his coming. Accordingly,
I telephoned him on Saturday night. He said
that he could not, even then, tell me just how he
would come, but that he would get there somehow.
246 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Next morning, I was in the church welcoming
the people. About seven minutes before the hour,
my assistant told me that the Bishop had arrived
and was in the vestry room. I found the Bishop
sitting there, looking somewhat fatigued. I wel-
comed him, and then said, "How did you get
here?" He replied, "That is none of your affair!"
To this day I do not know.
The Bishop lunched with me, and after
luncheon I took him to the railway station. While
we were waiting for the train, his face suddenly
assumed a solemn expression, and he said, "I have
only forty cents in my pocket. That will be
enough, however, to take me to New York, where I
shall meet my chauffeur." I protested, asking him
what he would do in the case of emergency, or if
he did not meet his chauffeur. He said he didn't
know. I urged him to accept two dollars from me,
which he returned the next morning.
In reading this story, one should remember that
Bishop Greer was the chief Pastor of what is in
all likelihood the richest diocese the world has
ever known.
Bishop Greer never attempted Episcopal airs with
the clergy or with anyone else. He always made
the clergy feel that he was a brother rather than a
ruler. "Can I speak frankly to you?" asked a rector.
"Yes," said the Bishop quizzically, "I suppose so."
THE BISHOPRIC 247
"Then," said the venturer, "why don't you stop doing
all these little things, being bothered by all the little
people with their little troubles, and their little letters,
and their little parishes, and lead us to some great
thing. Do you know," said the man, getting bolder,
"that whether we clergy are high or low or broad,
whether we think you are exactly made to be a bishop
or not, we all love you. I never saw a bishop who had
so much real love from the clergy in a diocese." The
Bishop passed his hand tremblingly over his forehead.
It was his own criticism of the Episcopate. There were
routine duties which, as a faithful bishop, he must do.
He saved them from being petty by doing them
in simplicity, dignity, and lovingkindness. But he
chafed under them. As he sat in his large office in
Synod Hall, he would sometimes telephone to Bishop
Burch who was in the office over him: "Bishop, are
you free? . . . Then, won't you come down and
talk with me." Bishop Burch would expect talk about
the business of the diocese. But at least twenty times,
Bishop Burch says, he would speak only of this very
matter of the deadening weight of the routine. "The
thing," Bishop Greer would say, "which presses on
me is that we are set to be leaders over the people
Spiritually. We ought to be thinking of this more than
of money, and the mere formality of making visita-
tions, and answering the innumerable letters of busi-
ness." Then at the end of the conversation, which
made the office seem like a church, he would add,
248 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
"Let us think about it, and pray about it. Greater
spiritual leadership, that is what we must win."
A great many Roman Catholic priests appealed to
him. He rarely encouraged them to enter our Min-
istry, but he gave them such counsel as he could. One
such priest has told the story of his telephoning to the
Bishop, and receiving the invitation to come to see
him. The conversation was cordial. All was assumed
to be right, and the man received both understanding
and sympathy. The Bishop read the letters presented,
commending his visitor's moral character. But before
reading the letters he had made up his mind that the
priest would work happily in the Episcopal Church.
When at length all was arranged, and a place was
found for him, the Bishop said, "Of course you will
never speak a word against the Roman Church. Get
the fellow who doesn't go to any Church."
A chaplain in the Army, returning to America, came
to the Bishop's office with a note of introduction from
his own bishop. The Bishop had never seen him be-
fore; but he thought instantly that he knew a place
in the diocese where he would fit. "Do you think you
could preach without a rest for ten minutes?" the
Bishop asked. The man laughed, and said he thought
he could. "Dr. Parks," the Bishop continued, "needs
a special preacher; I think I shall tell him about you."
He did so. The next Sunday afternoon the chaplain
was preaching at St. Bartholomew's, secured his dis-
charge from the army, and became a permanent mem-
THE BISHOPRIC 249
ber of the parochial staff. "Do you think," the man
added, "that I can ever forget a man who believed in
people like that?"
Another clergyman tells his experience: "In the early
part of 1908, I was serving as a curate in the Church
of the Transfiguration. Dr. Houghton said one day,
'I want you to go to Bishop Greer and get advice on
an application for marriage.' The lady had been
married before. However, she was not divorced; she
was married under age; and the Court had pronounced
the marriage null and void. I shall never forget my
interview with the Bishop on the subject. He came
out into the anteroom, where a number of persons were
waiting to see him, and when he found out what my
errand was he manifested the greatest interest. "Come
into my office," he said: "I want to talk to you about
the matter. I want you to know that I take a very
high view on this subject of marriage." I shall never
forget his words on that occasion. They are as fresh
in my memory as though they had been spoken only
yesterday. 'Marriage,' said the Bishop, 'is an institu-
tion of God and not of the State.' I gave him the de-
tails in regard to the proposed marriage, and he said,
'Tell your rector to pay no attention to the decree of
the Court; her marriage, though under age, should
stand; for it is valid in the sight of God.' '
When he was marching into church at a Confirma-
tion, with one of the older rectors of the diocese, he would
sometimes insist that the rector walk beside him. This
250 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
was symbolical of his attitude. He would not mount
a pedestal. When he was receiving visitors, if one of
the clergy of the diocese happened to be among them
and the Bishop knew that he was there, he always gave
directions that he should be admitted immediately. If
when he was uncommonly weary, someone protected
him and begged that the visit be postponed, it was
without his knowledge. Occasionally the younger
clergy would feel that they were forgotten, because,
owing to the Bishop's defective sight, he could not al-
ways recognize them. When a visitor once entered
his room the Bishop had no device by which he could
suggest that he had other work to do or someone else
might be waiting to see him. He gave himself fully
to the conversation; that, for the time being, was his
whole work. Towards the end, he would sometimes
show the strain of the interview, and men would feel
that he was not interested in their work. This was
not true; the spirit was always willing, and probably
nothing refreshed him more than the personal talk with
a man for whom and for whose work he felt a joint
responsibility. He wished to be a father to the clergy
of the diocese. If he could be that, the leadership was
to him indifferent. He liked to think of the phrase
in the service of consecration of a bishop, "Be to the
flock of Christ a shepherd." To this description he
tried to conform his life. Sometimes he borrowed the
common phrase from papal bulls and called himself
"the servant of servants." As he was a servant to the
THE BISHOPRIC 251
clergy he liked to believe that they were gladly serv-
ants to all whom they could reach.
Sometimes people who stood at a distance wondered
if the Diocese of New York might not be in need of
more active guidance, which should feel no restrictions
of age or infirmity. We who stood closer knew that
what was missing in bristling activity was more than
made up by the calm judgment, the long experience,
the loving care of one who tried to know us all, and
who, as he examined our work, thought more of the
souls we were helping in hidden places than of the ac-
counts we might make for our year books. We went
to him for advice and for deeper help, with a convic-
tion that his age was an asset, not a liability. He had
not only succeeded, he had suffered. He knew how
to make light of our failures if we had really tried; and
he was not dazed by any passing good fortune which
fell across our path. We some way knew that he was
watching us, and that he cared beyond the words he
chanced to speak.
At first the Bishop held office hours every weekday
afternoon except Saturday. In 1911, four afternoons
were kept as episcopal office hours, two of them being
taken by the Bishop and two by the Suffragan. The
people began to come as early as half -past one, and
often by two o'clock the waiting room was crowded.
The callers represented all phases of life. Someone
would ask him to serve on a committee for prison re-
form; another to speak at the Lighthouse for the
252 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Blind; another would plead for an address on an an-
niversary; another for the sermon at the consecration
of a bishop; still another would try to secure his en-
dorsement of a new organization for civic good; and
among all these, the most important of all would be
the clergy and the laity who came specifically for
counsel in connection with their parishes.
One example will suffice. The Rev. W. Bertrand
Stevens, rector of St. Ann's in the Bronx, had been
called to Holy Trinity, Middletown, Connecticut, and
went to talk the call over with the Bishop. Mr.
Stevens was not at all sure of his own mind or of his
duty. The Bishop quickly gave his advice: "Never
accept a call if you feel any doubt about it in your
mind and heart." He then went on to say that this
had been the principle which had guided every move-
ment in his life; that he had never made a change
if he was at all doubtful about the advisability
of it.
Nearly all the mornings would be given to office
work. The letters were unending. He was scrupulous
in answering them. The telephone was diabolically
busy. In the midst of the office work not infrequently
he would be called to administer confirmation to some-
one who was ill, or to call upon a clergyman, who, ill
or in sorrow, had expressed a wish to see him.
Two letters selected almost at random will suggest
the kind of advice he gave. This letter was written to
a Sunday-school teacher:
THE SYNOD HOUSE
THE BISHOPRIC 253
The questions which you ask are pretty hard
to answer, at least the second one is.
As far as the first one is concerned, I would say
that while scientific materialism has perhaps
been hitherto a dominant tendency in many of our
universities, yet of late a reaction seems to be
setting in, and college groups, like other groups,
are beginning today to feel that scientific materi-
alism is a spent force both in philosophy and life;
and if it still lingers for a little while in our col-
leges and elsewhere, it is a receding wave. As a
matter of fact, as far as my observation goes,
there is more real religious interest in colleges
today than at any other time during this genera-
tion.
The second question as I have said is a harder
one to answer. It is difficult for a young man
just starting upon a business career to hold fast
to the fundamental principles of religion or to
what he believes is essentially right and true; and
if he continues to do so he may sometimes suffer
loss, though not always, nor usually. And if he
cannot conscientiously do some of the things which
his business situation requires of him I believe
that in the end he will be honored and respected
for standing by his convictions, and that he will
ultimately win out. What the world needs today
is not the man of loose and flabby or compromis-
ing character, but the man whose character is
254 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
rooted in principles and who remains true to those
principles. That is the type of man whom the
business world cannot afford to neglect or over-
look, and who as I have said will ultimately win
his way to positions of large trust and responsi-
bility.
The following letter was written to a man many
miles away:
This is the first opportunity I have had to reply
to your letter of the 2 yth ult.
If I catch your point, it is this, What reason-
able hypothesis has one to go on in a tentative ac-
ceptance of the Christian religion? In answer to
this, let me say that the Christian religion was not
founded primarily on a book, nor upon any defi-
nite teaching, but upon an alleged fact, namely,
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is generally
admitted by all critics, whether friendly or un-
friendly to the Christian religion as a body of
doctrine, that it was established in the world by
a belief in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That
is the great fact which St. Paul preached, not
the moral character of Jesus, or the teaching of
Jesus, or the sayings of Jesus (only one such say-
ing does he quote, and that one not in the Four
Gospels). It was belief in that fact which created
Christendom, and not only so, but which has since
THE BISHOPRIC 255
sustained it and kept it alive. That it seems to
me creates a reasonable conjecture, as reasonable
as that of Newton about Gravitation, when he saw
the apple fall. I think therefore that an honest
inquirer after the truth is warranted in starting
with such a reasonable hypothesis, and then he
can proceed to verify it in his own case and also
to make practical application of it to society at
large, with a view to ascertaining not only its
practical value but its truth. If it works well, he
is justified in accepting it, for a reason precisely
similar to his aceptance of the hypothesis or
theory of the law of Gravitation.
I do not know whether I have met your diffi-
culty, but I have tried to do so as I understand it.
As Bishop of New York, Dr. Greer was president or
chairman ex-officio of all kinds of committees and
boards. The routine of stimulating the loyalty of other
members of a board by his own presence, of listening
to long and prolix discussions, of shaping and guiding
opinion, all required not only time but patience. Dr.
Mansfield often tells how he changed the tone of a
meeting of the Board of Managers of the Seamen's
Church Institute. Retrenchment was being discussed.
Member after member spoke with discouragement of
the financial conditions. The Bishop, who had been
apparently sleeping, deliberately rose, and said, "Gen-
tlemen, you cannot go forward by going backward."
256 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Then he made suggestions which were adopted. He
himself became a member of the new Ways and Means
Committee, and he lived to see the great New Institute,
built under the leadership of Edmund L. Baylies. Esq.,
at 25, South Street.
When the day had been thus spent, ordinarily he
would have a confirmation in the evening, and on Sun-
days he would visit two or three parishes for confirma-
tion. Not counting the persons confirmed by other
bishops, he himself would confirm in a single year
about three thousand persons. He would preach
about two hundred sermons at his visitations, and in
addition he would go to about one hundred and sixty
meetings, at more than thirty of which he would make
addresses; and besides all this, he would be apt to
preach, on special occasions, fifteen or twenty times a
year. Among the addresses which he felt to be most
important were his counsels to men about to be or-
dained. He emphasized loyalty to Christ first of all,
but he did not forget humdrum details. Chaplain
Knox of Columbia writes:
I well remember an evening of informal discus-
sion with a group of candidates for the ministry.
The conversation led to theological studies, and
the Bishop remarked that every minister should
know the rudiments of accounting, saying, "If any
man entrusts you with twenty-five cents, be able
to tell him at any moment what you have done
with it."
THE BISHOPRIC 257
The meetings and services on weekdays would some-
times come so closely together that no schedule could
be arranged which would allow him time or place for
dinner. To his great regret, as well as the regret of
the hospitable rectories, he would often be obliged to
decline invitations to dinner upon visitations. What
took the place of dinner was eaten alone in his motor
as he went to and fro. Though, as has already been
said, the clergy begged him to relieve himself of the
wearisome details and give himself wholly to the con-
spicuous acts of leadership in the community and the
Church at large, yet, when they wished to consult him,
by letter or in person, it was comforting to find that
they had a bishop whose primary care was for their
interests, of which the world knew and cared nothing
at all. And though they thought he might delegate
visitations to visiting bishops, they wanted him when
their own classes were to be presented. Here Bishop
Burch helped him wonderfully, for he came not as a
stranger but as a known and trusted friend. Arch-
deacon Pott also, now well known throughout the dio-
cese, was everywhere lightening the burden of admin-
istration by his unselfish and judicious service.
He was as quick with his sympathy as the pastor
of pastors as he had been when he was the pastor of
a single flock. If he was far away, his letter was the
most eagerly awaited, when darkness came over the
rectory. The youngest daughter of Dr. and Mrs.
Chorley died at Garrison.
258 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
NORTH EAST HARBOR
MAINE
August 28, 1912
My dear Mr. Chorley:
My attention has just been called to a notice in
the paper announcing the death of your daughter,
and I am moved to write you at once and tell you
of my deepest and tenderest sympathy with you
in your sorrow. It is one of the great mysteries of
our existence here that a young and beautiful life,
full of hope and promise, should be cut off in this
apparently unnatural way. It tears the heart and
tries the faith, and yet we cannot but trust in the
eternal goodness of our Father, God. May He
comfort you and your good wife with a lively sense
of His presence in this your time of grief.
Again assuring you of my deepest sympathy
with you, believe me always, Sincerely and affec-
tionately your friend and Bishop,
DAVID H. GREER
When he possibly could come he comforted by his
presence the desolate rectories. In 1918 the eldest
daughter in the Garrison rectory was taken from
earth. The Bishop had always greeted her with a kiss
from her childhood, and she was devoted to him. He
left his sick bed on a cold November day and went to
Garrison that he might officiate at the funeral. And
he took the whole service himself.
THE BISHOPRIC 259
At a Diocesan Convention, while the ballots were
being cast, a line of clergy was filing by the Bishop.
A clergyman looked up and said to the Bishop, "The
convention is going well." "Yes, yes," was the answer;
"just tell me, how is that little angel Miriam? Tell
her that when she sat on my lap and threw her arms
around my neck, she entwined herself in my heart."
To his next neighbor in the line, who was surprised by
this speech in the midst of diocesan business, the father
of the little girl explained that Bishop Greer had re-
cently come to his parish to dedicate a memorial win-
dow, and the youngest of his six children, a child of
two years, had appropriated the Bishop, and he had
not forgotten.
The clergy remembered him on his birthdays and
anniversaries. One letter will show how much he
cared.
March 28, 1919
My dear Mr. Floyd- Jones:
This is a tardy acknowledgment of your kind
letter to me on my recent birthday; but none the
less I want you to know how much I appreciate
your thought of me. I have been humbled by the
numerous tokens of love and affection which I
have received from friends, both clerical and lay,
and among them all there is none I appreciate
more than yours.
With best wishes for yourself, believe me al-
Sincerely your friend and Bishop,
DAVID H. GREER
260 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
On his tenth aniversary as Bishop, the diocese asked
him to administer to the clergy and laity the Holy
Communion in St. Bartholomew's Church where he
had been consecrated. His friends gathered about him.
and he was very happy. As the procession moved
down the church after the service, he caught the hand
of his small grandson as he passed the pew where he
was sitting by Mrs. Greer, and drew him to him, and
the old Bishop and the little boy marched hand in
hand through the congregation. He liked to think that
the boy would sometime be his brother in the Christian
ministry.
In the Biltmore Hotel to which the congregation
afterwards went with him to luncheon, a tall clock was
given him. As he made his speech of gratitude, he
turned suddenly to Mrs. Greer who had been sitting
beside him, and taking her hand, he said as she rose,
"We both thank you, for she is so much to me, and
so much to you through me, that I know you must
have given it to her. I know that Bishop Burch won't
mind if I say that she is my Bishop Coadjutor."
As he had promised at the beginning of his bishopric,
Dr. Greer never allowed himself to be the bishop of
any party or school in the Church. When Dr. Chris-
tian went away from the Church of St. Mary the
Virgin, the Bishop expressed the hope that the services
would remain unchanged; and after Dr. Barry, the
new rector, had made his first call upon the Bishop he
was heard to say, "That Bishop has real religion be-
THE BISHOPRIC 261
hind him." Nothing would have gratified the Bishop
more than such an estimate; for he once said to one
of his friends, "You know I don't care anything about
what they call churchmanship: all I want to know
about a clergyman who comes to one of the parishes
in New York, is this: 'Is he a religious man.' ' One
day Dr. Darlington met the Bishop at Whittaker's, and
asked him concerning a young clergyman whom he
was thinking of recommending for a vacant parish:
"Don't do it," said Bishop Greer; "he is clever, even
brilliant; but he does not know the Gospel, there-
fore he can't preach it."
In economics the Bishop was conservative, but he
did not cast out the man who pleaded for a radical so-
lution. One clergyman, who is a pronounced socialist,
thus records his experience:
I had come to know the Bishop fairly inti-
mately, by reason of my having worked two or
three years in New York, as chaplain on Black-
wells Island, and as assistant at the Church of the
Holy Trinity, Rev. J. V. Chalmers, vicar. We
had had some pleasant conversation concerning
the bishop who ordained me, and for whom I have
lasting respect, Frederick Dan Huntington. I
had mentioned Bishop Huntington's defense of me
in 1902, when some complications had arisen in
Central New York over my socialist activity.
Bishop Greer impressed me as having thorough
262 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
respect for me, in being a socialist. He did not
resent it, or take issue with me, or be annoyed
by it, as so many of my brethren appear to be.
Bishop Greer most enjoyed talking with his friends
about the books they had been reading. At the dinner
table of the Tuckahoe rectory, the rector, Mr. Wright,
chanced to say that the preacher whom he thought to
be the greatest of all preachers was a man who was
supposed to be a Unitarian, James Martineau. The
Bishop was delighted: "At last," he exclaimed, "I have
found someone who agrees with my opinion of Mar-
tineau!" The rector than told the Bishop that he re-
membered accurately the sermon the Bishop had
preached twenty-five years before at Columbia when
he, Mr. Wright, was an undergraduate. "What was
the sermon about?" Mr. Wright told him that it was
about the difference between believing a thing and be-
lieving in it. "You said, Bishop, 'I believe that Na-
poleon lived, but I do not believe in Napoleon. You
must not only believe that God lives, you must believe
in God, the Father Almighty.' " The Bishop said, "I
don't remember that sermon. But it's a good point,
isn't it? I think I shall preach it again." Of an even-
ing the deanery telephone was apt to ring, and Dr.
Robbins would be summoned to come to the Bishop's
House if he was free:
We would talk shop for a while, but before long
the talk would always drift to the books he had
w
to
P
O
c
X
y.
S
w
THE BISHOPRIC 263
just been reading, Charnwood's Lincoln, a new
life of Hamilton, Viscount Morley's Recollections,
or whatever else deserved attention. He was not
satisfied, like other busy men, with keeping in-
formed by reading book reviews; he got the book
itself, read it, assimilated it, illuminated it by his
comments, how he found time to do it was a
question which I often asked, but which he never
satisfactorily answered, for I do not think he knew
himself. He made time.
Nor was he thinking only of those for whom he was
directly responsible. He was in a genuine sense Bishop
of New York. He ministered not only to the sheep
gathered in the fold, but also so far as he could, to the
whole flock. A reporter on one of the New York
papers writes of her experience:
I used often to wonder why the clergymen of all
the different "varieties" I interviewed never asked
me if I was a Christian. (I was, but it seemed
to me when I came to New York twelve years ago
that some one should care for my soul. It seemed
that no one did.)
One afternoon I was at St. Bartholomew's
Church. I went there of my own accord, knowing
that Bishop Greer was going to confirm a class.
I wanted to get what we call "a human interest
story."
264 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
Bishop Greer confirmed a large class. There
were the sons and daughters of the Parish Church,
and there were also foreigners of numerous races
from the Chapel and Parish House. After the
service I waited in the hope I could see him. I
was in one end of the room back of the church.
Suddenly I heard a voice: "Miss M , I
want to speak to you." It was Bishop Greer. I
rushed the length of the room, almost trembling.
I feared he was going to scold me for something I
had written. I said, "Bishop, have I done wrong?"
He said, "My child, have you ever been con-
firmed?" My first thought was, "Is he going to
try and make an Episcopalian of me?" I an-
swered, "Why, Bishop, I thought you knew I was
a Presbyterian." He said, "That is not what I
mean. Have you given your life to God? This
service today has touched me deeply. When I was
up in the chancel after having put my hands on
all these children, it came to me suddenly that I
saw you often and I had never asked you the ques-
tion I asked them. I told him that I was a mem-
ber of the Presbyterian Church and that I tried
day by day to live a Christian life.
He gave me some beautiful advice about being
a frequent communicant. After that he always
asked me if I had been to the Holy Communion
recently. Sometimes I would waive the question.
But he would not have this. He insisted on know-
THE BISHOPRIC 265
ing. Then I said, "Bishop, I am not always in
the mood, I rush into a service to make a report
of it. Sometimes my heart is not right and things
go wrong and I lose my temper, and don't feel
fit to partake of Holy Communion." Then he
answered, "That is the very time you should go
the most. Get down on your knees and ask the
Lord to forgive you and then come to His Table."
I told the Bishop that, being a Presbyterian, I
knew I would not always be welcome in some
Episcopal churches. Then he said, "I want you,
whenever you are where I am administering the
Holy Communion, to come forward. You will
always be welcome then."
One morning Bishop Greer was officiating and
preaching at the regular service in Sing Sing Prison.
After the service the Chaplain took the Bishop to visit
four so-called "gunmen," who for murder were await-
ing death. They had plotted the death of a notorious
gambler in New York, and the underworld had been
hideously revealed. They were of no creed and of
various nationalities. They were told that their visitor
was a bishop. He talked with them for a few minutes,
and then asked if they would object to saying a prayer
with him. Giving a sullen consent, they knelt down
on the floor with him and, led by him, asked God's
mercy upon them both for the present and for the
future. Then as they stood up, he asked them if he
266 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
couldn't get something for them when he returned to
town. And of course he did their bidding. He was
almost ill afterwards with the remembrance of the
death chambers, their cold dreariness, their lack of
sunlight, the hoplessness of the men. With a deeper
earnestness than ever he did what he could to make
prisons places of penitence and reform instead of grim
places of mere punishment. And he thought of the
prisoners one by one. He was their Bishop too.
IX
WHEN THE European war broke out
Bishop Greer at once felt the depth of the
tragedy. He was overwhelmed by the
suffering Belgians and the sorrowing families of the
soldiers of all countries; but he was more deeply ago-
nized by the failure of so-called Christian nations to
abide in peace. He had hoped that at this stage of
the world's history statesmen who called themselves
Christians might be able to settle their disputes in
some other way than by war. While the tide of indig-
nation was rapidly rising against German barbarism,
he refused to be carried away by it. When the de-
mand that our Country enter the strife became more
insistent he still withstood it. He felt that Christianity
had not yet been tried. If a foreign foe entered our
harbor, he believed that non-resistence would so awake
the conscience, even of Germany, that the victory
would be on the side of the nation which dared to
stand unarmed with Christ.
When at length the United States had made its de-
cision, he was loyal, and did everything in his power
to make effective the end of the conflict. He fre-
quently spoke at Liberty Loan meetings, and turned
over every available building for the soldiers and those
267
268 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
who toiled in their behalf. He probably stood, among
the clergy of the diocese, quite alone as a man of peace
before our nation entered the war; and after America
was identified with it he was made to feel quite alone
in many a company where bitter words which seemed
to him words of hate were flung against the Germans.
He was horrified at what Germany had done. He did
not for one moment minimize the atrocious deeds which
had ample evidence; but he believed that Christ's com-
mand to forgive enemies was without exception and
literal. He feared the consequences of a bitter and
unforgiving spirit more than he feared the sorrow and
the penury which come to those afflicted by war. He
could not share the rosy dreams of men who prophesied
that a hideous war would create a new world. Love,
especially that love which is reflected from the perfect
love of Christ, was the only constructive force in which
he ha'd faith.
It is too soon by many years to tell how far he was
right in his judgment. We, his brethren of the clergy,
did not agree with him. We felt that the war had to
be fought, and we were convinced that America must
take its righteous share not only so far as possible in
the sacrifice of men and substance, but also in that
more deadly risk, the loss of our own loving souls. All
this time we never doubted the Bishop. We recog-
nized the splendor of his isolation. He was not afraid
to stand for an ideal which was not only unpopular
but which in some cases led to flagrant abuse. The
THE BISHOPRIC 269
suspicion came to us time and again, especially when
we heard the cheap and easy speeches which kindled
applause, that he was seeing more deeply than the rest
of us; that he cared nothing for the approval of men if
he might scrupulously obey the still small Voice. Be-
cause of repeated breakdowns and constant weariness
of body, he must have known that his course on earth
was nearly run; therefore we imagined that he might
be seeing the events of earth hi a light which was al-
together of another world. Though we cannot see how,
after certain events had taken place, any other course
was open to the Allied Nations than that course which
they took, we cannot be so cheered by the aftermath
of war as to believe that war is anything else than the
most apt picture of hell which humanity thus far has
been able to imagine.
When, during the war, one of the clergy of the dio-
cese compiled certain prayers and sought the Bishop's
approval for their parochial use, the Bishop told what
his attitude was:
NORTH EAST HARBOR
MAINE
August 17, 1917
My dear Doctor:
I am always glad for any occasion which will
bring a line from you. As to the prayers which
you send me and which you wish to use, let me say
that you have my official approval for doing so.
270 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
Possibly I might word some of them a little dif-
ferently from you, but with their substance I am
in hearty accord.
As long as this country had not entered into the
conflict, I felt it my duty as a Christian man and
minister to seek peace and ensue it, with the hope
that some arrangement might be made for secur-
ing and establishing such a peace. When it did
however actually and officially enter into the con-
flict and declared war against Germany, I then
perceived and decided that it was my duty as an
American citizen to obey the law and to give to
the American Government a staunch and loyal
support. That is my present attitude.
I must confess, however, that I do not share the
hopes of those who think that the suppression or
destruction of Prussian militarism will put an end
to war. That will not be done until human nature
here and everywhere shall have been born again,
and that as I understand it is the aim and purpose
of Jesus Christ and should be also of the Chris-
tian Church.
With kindest regards and best wishes, believe
me always,
Very sincerely yours,
DAVID H. GREER
When six of the parishes of lower Manhattan were
having a joint thanksgiving service in the armory of the
THE BISHOPRIC 271
Sixty-ninth Infantry one Sunday afternoon just after
the armistice was signed, Colonel Whittlesey, who
spoke modestly of the heroic deeds of his Battalion in
the Argonne Forest, told the congregation that his
men felt no bitterness against the foe. "If any one of
my men," he said, "had met the German Kaiser at the
crossroads, he would have offered him a cigarette."
Bishop Greer, who was sitting, robed, in the middle of
the platform, turned to one of the clergy, and said,
"He can say that; if I had said it they would have
hissed." As it was, the seven thousand people who
were present heard the remark in absolute silence. If
it was a silence which lacked sympathy, it was a silence
which the hero of an awful experience compelled.
LAST ten summers, Bishop Greer spent
at North East Harbor, drawn thither not
M only by the beauty of the place but by the
personal friends who also spent their summers there.
Much of his holiday was spent in diocesan business;
but he also relaxed. Here the friendship with Bishop
Doane deepened. He saw almost daily such friends
as Dr. Cornelius Smith, Professor Rufus Jones, Mr.
George Wharton Pepper, and Professor Francis G.
Peabody. He appreciated meeting interesting people
from other cities than New York. Dr. Peabody recalls
for us the restful companionship of these Maine
summers:
Bishop Greer's habit of life at North East Har-
bor revealed to his affectionate neighbors some
of his most characteristic and winning traits. It
was a life of detachment and contemplation, in
which the routine of administrative care became
for the time subordinated to meditation on great
thought and aims. He appreciated the beauty and
shared the social recreations of the lovely island,
but there was always a perceptible remoteness of
spirit from these occupations of a summer resort,
272
THE BISHOPRIC 273
as though his mind were more at home in a world
of ideas and ideals. It was, in the Greek sense,
the life of a philosopher, who, as Plato said, is a
lover not of a part of truth but of the whole. In
a rare moment of self-disclosure he said one day,
"I suppose I was not meant to be a Bishop, for
my real interest is not in machinery but in ideas."
The same judgment which he thus expressed in
playful self -depreciation, but which in fact indi-
cated his highest gifts, was later repeated by one
of the most discerning of American Bishops, who
said of him, "Greer is the one among us who most
definitely has the capacity for vision." In this
world of ideas and vision, Bishop Greer found
great peace of mind among the congenial condi-
tions of his summer home. He read much and
widely, and his conversation had an elevation and
comprehensiveness which made his friendship
precious to minds of the most varied types. An
interesting illustration of this intellectual catho-
licity was his acquaintance, ripening into affection,
with the Quaker preacher and teacher, Rufus
Jones. The unchurched mystic, and the ecclesi-
astical dignitary found themselves drawn together
in mutual appreciation, and it was a most instruc-
tive experience to listen to their sympathetic dis-
course. Indeed, there was a strain of mysticism
in Bishop Greer's own thought, which delivered
him from the mechanism of his duties and sum-
274 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
moned him to its heights. Whenever he found
that consciousness of spiritual communion with
the Supreme Purpose, there he felt at home,
whether with a speculative philosopher or a
Quaker seer. His summer months were passed
in these high places of reflection, as among the
mountains of his beloved island, and he returned
to the city as one who had lifted up his eyes to the
hills and found help.
Dr. Rufus Jones also brings his gracious remem-
brance:
It had been my good fortune occasionally to
meet Bishop Greer in the summer at North East
Harbor on the Maine coast. Whenever we met
we always talked of the things which most
deeply interested us and concerned us, and I shall
therefore speak only of those things. I need
hardly refer to the beautiful character of his life
and spirit. All who came into close fellowship
with him felt and observed this quality of beauty
in him. What I came to know most about was the
depth of his life and his profound interest in what
for want of a better word we call the mystical side
of religion. He held this aspect in commendable
balance with the other essential aspects of the re-
ligious life, but he cared greatly for the reality and
the significance of the interior life; i. e., for ex-
perience of God and direct communion with Him.
THE BISHOPRIC 275
He always discussed with me the use and value
of silence and of the practice of the presence of
God, when all voices are hushed, when all the
noises of the world are stilled, and groups of people
in corporate expectation turn toward God, feel
His environing presence, and enjoy Him. I have
never known any one who showed a keener in-
terest in personal accounts of such occasions and
of such experiences. He was familiar with the
great literature on the mystic way and he had read
recent books on the surrender of the soul in si-
lence, but he had never attended a Quaker meet-
ing where the whole congregation dispensed with
both words and music, and found itself unified,
fused and heightened through consciousness of
the living presence of God. He knew clearly what
it meant and he believed strongly that something
of that sort was possible for all religious com-
munions, and just that experience, he felt, was
needed for the deepening of spiritual conviction
and power. His own inner ear was very sensitive
and his heart was well attuned to the vibrations
of the Spirit. He was one of those persons of
whom Browning wrote,
God has a few of us whom He whispers in the
ear.
Very often missionaries would be making friendly
visits at some house on the island. Bishop Roots re-
276 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
calls that one Sunday afternoon when he was Bishop
Doane's guest, Bishop Greer dropped in to see him.
The Bishop asked particularly about the religious life
of the Chinese people. It was a small and intimate
circle which heard the question. Bishop Roots still
remembers the eagerness with which Bishop Greer
seized on the suggestion that the distinctive thing
Christian missionaries have to take to the Chinese is
not so much a knowledge of what they ought to be and
to think, as the companionship and the power of a
Saviour whom they can know personally. Bishop
Greer leaned forward to catch every word, and then
made the point that this is what, above all else,
we Americans need. That China also needed it was
to him another proof of the unity of the human race
and the distinctively human need which the Gospel
comes to supply.
Bishop Roots recalls that immediately after his own
consecration as Bishop of Hankow, he chanced to be
addressing a large meeting of the Woman's Auxiliary
in New York. At the luncheon, Bishop Greer made
his way through the crowd, and, reaching out his hand,
said to the young Bishop, "How do you do, Bishop;
I'm Greer." Bishop Roots has never forgotten the self-
forgetfulness of the man who thought that his face
might not be known to one who had looked up to him
for years.
Bishop Greer enjoyed going through the crowds in-
cognito. Since ordinarily he did not wear upon the
THE BISHOPRIC 277
street any distinctively clerical dress, many a stranger
had not the least idea that he was speaking to
the Bishop of New York. Once, in a park, a beggar
accosted him. The Bishop was inclined to help him
but first asked him several leading questions. The
man challenged the evident authority with which he
assumed his right to know. The Bishop said, "If I
am to help you I have a right to ask you these ques-
tions." Then the man said, "Who are you, anyway?"
knowing that he was someone of distinction. When
the Bishop told him, the man jeered: "Whatyer givin'
us; you're no bishop!" At another time he had been
speaking at a public meeting and was being carried off
in a friend's carriage. The pompous coachman and
footman were on the box when the Bishop stepped into
the carriage. The carriage remained motionless, and
the Bishop quietly put his head out of the window, ask-
ing, "Why don't you go; what are you waiting for?"
The footman touched his hat and said, "We're waiting
for the Lord Bishop of New York." "Well, I'm it,"
said the voice from the window, and the amazed coach-
man drove on. Sometime after he had resigned St. Bar-
tholomew's, he was walking quietly through the church,
glancing with evident affection at the familiar objects
about him. A new organist had just begun his work,
who, not knowing the Bishop, turned to him and asked
him if he were interested in the building. "Yes," an-
swered the Bishop, "I attended this church for over
sixteen years; as a matter of fact, I sang in the choir."
278 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
At the consecration of a Bishop in which he had
taken a leading part, he withdrew at luncheon time to
a remote corner to get away from the crowd. Finding
him sitting alone, a layman who felt responsible for
the diocese, asked him if he would like to meet the
new Bishop. "Yes," said the Bishop; and followed
the man into a long receiving-line. It rested him to
indulge his humor. As the line gradually moved on,
the layman at length discovered whom he was piloting.
He was exceedingly oppressed to have the Bishop of
New York play with his dignity.
About three o'clock one sleepless night, while he
was living in the house at Gramercy Park, he heard
the sound of a pistol. Going to the window he saw
in the moonlight two policemen carrying off a man.
At breakfast, the maid said, "Bishop, they shot into
your office last night." The Bishop curiously investi-
gated his office, saw the hole through which the bullet
had come, and then found the bullet on the floor. With
this bit of evidence in his pocket he went over to the
police station, to ask what the shooting meant. The
room was empty, except for a sergeant behind the rail-
ing. The Bishop walked calmly through the gateway.
The sergeant said, gruffly, "Get out! " Of course when
explanations were made, everyone in the office was
most courteous, but the Bishop enjoyed discovering
how the ordinary man was treated when he went upon
a just errand. "I think," he said to the Captain, who
at last heard his plea in full, "I shall put this sign on
THE BISHOPRIC 279
my house, 'Don't shoot the Bishop of New York; he's
doing the best he can.' "
Soon after Dr. Greer became Bishop of the diocese,
he went down to Philadelphia to speak to the Church
Club. The facetious toastmaster said, "I now intro-
duce to you the Right Reverend Dr. Greer, who is the
Bishop of of of of of of , I can't re-
member the place, but it's an island just off Jersey
City, oh, yes, I remember New York." The
Bishop, rising amid the laughter, began his speech,
"In the midst of life, we are in in in Phila-
delphia."
XI
PEOPLE who heard the Bishop preach during
the last years of his life knew little of his
preaching in the height of his power. The
routine, the necessity of preaching constantly, the in-
creasing physical weakness, diminished the glory of
his former eloquence. Naturally enough, he depended
on old material, which was of high quality; but his
delivery was slow, and often at the most impressive
moment, when he was saying what he believed most
important, his voice dropped to a whisper. There was,
however, one occasion in each year when he preached
his great sermon. This was at the Diocesan Conven-
tion when he made his formal address to the delegates.
While he was Bishop Potter's assistant, he ordinarily
spoke of diocesan interests. But when he became the
Diocesan, he rarely touched upon the material or the
numerical, and gave himself up to the consideration of
some large theme. He would begin to prepare these
addresses in the summer. He desired the members of
the Convention to have some vital spiritual message
which would send them back to their parishes with a
deeper sense of religion.
In 1905, he spoke of Religious and Moral Instruc-
tion in the Public Schools:
280
X
O
-
a
O
THE BISHOPRIC 281
History has shown that all the great moral
movements and reforms have had their ultimate
source not in secularism but in religion, or in some
religious faith. That has been their motive power.
Like the faith of the Christian Church, which, in
spite of all its crudities at times, its bigotries and
excesses, has breathed new life into that world of
thought and spirit which came into being here on
these American shores. And even those who
stood in the later days of our history, whether
from their own fault or from the Church's fault,
beyond the Church's limits, and who as standing
there outside of the Church's pale, lifted up their
voice for righteousness and justice and brother-
hood and freedom in this American land, as in the
troubled days of the Slavery agitation, were in-
spired and kindled by that religious faith.
This then it seems to me is not only the teaching
of history in general but of our American history
in particular, that moral training finds its sanc-
tion and its force in religious training. And how
shall that be given? Well, that is what the Chris-
tian Church is for, that is its distinctive office and
task. Is the Church doing all that it can do? It
seems to me that it is not; and with no other ma-
chinery or instruments or tools than what she now
possesses it might do very much more than what
it now is doing.
The only effective way in which to make good
282 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
citizens is by making first good men, and that must
be and is the work of the Christian Church. I
do not mean to say of course that there are not
good men and citizens outside the Christian
Church.
There is another need, as great or greater, in
this American Republic, which, unless supplied,
will make all our secular enlightenment and de-
velopment militate against our real and true ad-
vancement. It is the need of Righteousness; not
only on our statute books to be so often evaded;
not only in our public speech simply to be ap-
plauded; but woven into the heart and life and
fiber of the people. That is the task to which
the Church is challenged. It claims to be of God.
So it is. But let it make good its claim, beyond
all doubt and question, beyond all possible cavil,
by doing here and everywhere the righteous work
of God.
In 1906, he spoke of institutions and societies of the
diocese, and began by showing the need of an institu-
tion which he himself filled by the founding of Hope
Farm:
It is doubtless known to most of you, if not to
all of you, that for the past few years there has
existed in this city an institution which is popu-
larly known as "The Children's Court," or, in the
THE BISHOPRIC 283
language of the statute creating it, a "Court for
Juvenile Misdemeanants." Before the passage of
this statute, in 1902, all juvenile offenders were
arraigned and tried in the same Courts with
adults, many of whom were criminals of the worst
and vilest type; and where, in addition to the de-
moralizing influences of such degrading exposure,
the pressure of business, as the Judges state, was
often so great and heavy that the children could
not receive that individual and thorough examina-
tion to which a child is entitled and always should
receive. It is now required, however, that the
Children's Court be held in a building separate and
apart from any other Court, to be presided over in
turn by the different Judges of the Court of Spe-
cial Sessions, each of whom, while sitting in the
Children's Court, acts in the double capacity of
both Judge and Jury, and is vested besides with a
quasi-parental authority. This Children's Court,
according to the annual report of the Judges for
1905, deals with the largest number of children's
cases of any similar court in the world.
But there is a difficulty in disposing of some of
these cases in accordance with the provisions of
the Statute. For the law creating the Court re-
quires that the children who are convicted of mis-
demeanors shall be sent to institutions where the
religious instruction given shall be in accordance
with the religious faith of the parents. And this
284 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
is where the Court finds itself embarrassed in its
attempted conformity to the requirements of the
statute, not with reference to the children of
Roman Catholic parentage, as they are provided
for with an adequate institutional plant; but with
reference to the children who are not of that par-
entage and for whom at present there is not ade-
quate provision.
That is a need which has not yet been met, but
which should and must be met if the experiment
of the Children's Court in this city, which every-
one regards as a most enlightened measure and in
the interest of good citizenship, is to be success-
fully worked and carried out. There are, for in-
stance, in the Roman Catholic Protectory hi the
Borough of the Bronx, some two or three hun-
dred children who are not of Roman Catholic par-
entage ; and while our Roman Catholic friends, in
view of the existing straitened situation, are
willing to receive them, they do so simply as
a matter of accommodating courtesy, and it is
not fair to them or to the children to have this
burden continued. Our Hebrew fellow citizens,
recognizing the need of such an institution for the
children of their faith, have already undertaken
to make provision for it, and are about to erect
such an institution, if they have not already done
so. For Protestant children, however, the need
still exists, and the judges of the Children's Court,
THE BISHOPRIC 285
and other city officials, and many private citizens,
as well as the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children, have from time to time called
attention to it and expressed the hope and wish to
have the need supplied. Happily it is now about
to be supplied and the preliminary steps in that
direction have been already taken. An organiza-
tion has been formed and incorporated, called
Hope Farm, which has purchased the property
known as Priory Farm, in Dutchess County, in
this diocese, the Trustees of that property having
decided, for reasons satisfactory to themselves, to
discontinue the maintenance of that work. This
property will hereafter be used as a Church Pro-
tectory for children of Protestant parentage. The
State Board of Charities has given its unanimous
approval to the project, and it has also been placed
upon the City Budget for the ensuing year. This
will go very far towards the maintenance of the
work, but not quite far enough; and I have there-
fore been requested to bring it to your notice,
which I very gladly do, and to ask that you will
give it your encouraging support.
His first address, as Diocesan, in 1908, was largely-
occupied with his appreciation of Bishop Potter (al-
ready quoted in this volume*) and with his own plan
to proceed for the present without Episcopal assistance.
* Page 219 /.
286 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
But there is one characteristic passage which tells how
strongly he felt the importance of Church endeavor
in New York:
The Christian Church is facing now its oppor-
tunity to do a large and needed work in the life
of the modern world. And if that be true of
the Church considered as a whole, is it not espe-
cially true of the Church in New York? For that
is what New York means, that is what it spells
Opportunity; or that is the synonym for it, Op-
portunity.
In 1909, he spoke of the difficulty and the value of
the work of a country clergyman. He himself had not
been a country clergyman since the Clarksburg days
in the 'Sixties; as a bishop he was seeing anew what the
country problem was. And his first thought was the
personality of the rector:
The rector of a city parish has his problems
and his burdens; they are hard and heavy enough,
as I know from my own experience; but he also
has what his clerical brother in the country church
does not have: he has and feels the quickening
inspiration of the city life and spirit; he is not so
isolated and so lonesome; he is more in touch with
people, and the fruits of his labor are usually more
abundant and more in evidence to him. And while
the demands which are made upon his time and
THE BISHOPRIC 287
strength are numerous and exacting, his work is,
on the whole, a more stimulating work and does
not have the same dull monotony in it. But to go
steadily on, week after week, month after month,
year in and year out, in the same worn and
trodden path of unrelieved duty, with little or no
refreshing change, no novelty of circumstance,
no romantic glamor and no variety in it, this is
hard work; it is heroism; and this is what I have
seen and found in our own diocesan and mission-
ary field, and for which I bespeak your interest
and support. You cannot change the conditions;
they are what they are, and as such for the most
part they will still remain, and those who labor hi
them make no complaint against them.
In 1910, after a reference to the General Convention,
and after asking for a Suffragan Bishop, he went on
to speak of the Living Bread:
I do not forget the other less spiritual but still
important needs of the present time and age. No,
I do not forget them; I recognize them fully, and
hear what is so often their sad and bitter cry. I
hear from toiling men today, and toiling women
and children, the bitter cry for bread, and woe to
the Church that does not heed that cry and does
not try to relieve it. And yet, as from the very
heart of this material age and in spite of its ma-
288 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
terial absorptions and engrossments, I cannot fail
to hear another cry today; inarticulate, if you
please, but still, though faint, a famished cry, for
another kind of bread, the Living Bread that
came down from above and that still comes from
a personal fellowship with the Living Christ.
In 1911, in speaking on the general subject, The
Church Getting Ready for Work, he laid stress upon
the function of the Cathedral, now coming into prac-
tical service:
Now having fetched this somewhat circuitous
compass, I come back to the Cathedral. It
should be the centre of all this missionary work
of the diocese, healing its division and giving unity
to it. To this end, I beg to suggest that the pres-
ent canon be so amended that no Archdeacon,
while acting as such, shall be rector or settled
minister in charge of a parish or congregation.
This would enable him to give his entire time and
energy to the missionary work of his district, and
is the exact language of the General Canon with
reference to Suffragan Bishops. In order that
this arrangement may be carried out, I beg to
suggest that it be recommended by resolution of
the Convention to the Trustees of the Cathedral
that they make provision for the support of the
Archdeacons of the diocese by the payment of
THE BISHOPRIC 289
their stipends. In order that the Convention may
feel that it has full warrant for taking such ac-
tion, I beg to state in this connection that it is
the declared purpose of the Trustees, as expressed
in a resolution recently adopted by them, so to
change the present Constitution and Statutes that
a certain number of the Trustees shall be chosen
each year by the Convention, thus bringing the
Cathedral into close and vital touch with the dio-
cese itself, and making it an open corporation.
This being the case, I trust the Convention will
feel that it is well within its rights in calling upon
the Trustees of the Cathedral to make provision
for the payment of the stipends of the Arch-
deacons.
In 1912, he made a missionary address, dealing
particularly with the Social Service Commission and
the Board of Religious Education:
Everything is missionary work that will tend
to make it less difficult for the kingdom of God
to come. And yet we must be careful to observe
that the social service problems involved in the
missionary work of the Church, while they are to
some extent outward and material, are not chiefly
so. They are chiefly spiritual problems which
cannot be fully met except as they are given spirit-
ual solution. What is it for instance that makes
290 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
today so much of our social friction? Is it the
unequal distribution among us of material things
and goods with the unequal opportunity for the
acquisition of them? Possibly so, to some extent.
But is there not some more fruitful cause, than
simply these unequal and perhaps unfair material
conditions, and which their adjustment would not
reach and remove? Would it weaken much,
would it weaken at all, selfishness, covetousness,
avarice, and greed? I have not so read the story
of human life. And was not the greatest social
revolution which was ever brought about upon
the face of the earth wrought and brought about
not by an attempted change in outward forms and
conditions, but rather by those who seemed to be,
both for themselves and others, careless of such
conditions, and who, with a chiefly spiritual aim,
sought first the kingdom of God?
In 1913, he referred to the General Convention
which had just adjourned in the same building where
the Diocesan Convention was meeting. Naturally, he
paid a sincere tribute to the donors of Synod House.
Then he went on to speak of social service:
The task therefore of the Christian Church, or
rather its opportunity, its hopeful opportunity,
is to help to find in Jesus Christ, first, its spirit-
ual fulfilment. It does not yet recognize or call
THE BISHOPRIC 291
itself Christian, and in the highest sense of the
term it is not Christian, because it is not associ-
ated with God, does not have the sense or the
power of fellowship with God. It is man's work
for man, working by himself with his own unaided
efforts and building up man's kingdom in the
world, instead of the work of God for man, work-
ing in and through man, and building up God's
kingdom in the world. It sees God perhaps, or
sees Him as a Perhaps, energizing in Nature, but
not in human nature. It shuts him out of human
life as though it were a sphere of energy and ac-
tion separated from Him. While the heavens de-
clare His glory, and the firmament shows His
handiwork, and the stars in their courses reflect
and reveal Him and are obedient to Him, yet what
is done in human life on this particular star, how-
ever great and good and serviceable it may be,
does but show the glory and handiwork of man.
What therefore is needed is to bring God and man
together, and to give to the work of man God's
fulfilling touch.
In 1914, he was moved by the war, then just begun:
Let us then for a little while turn aside from this
engrossing topic, from wars and rumors of wars,
from an age drunk with passion, and try to hear
and understand its underlying sober thought, as
292 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
we find that thought expressed in what may be
regarded as its two interpreting voices, the
voice of its Philosophy and the voice of its
Science. This may seem an ambitious classifica-
tion for a brief Convention address, and yet I
hope its fitness will appear as we proceed; and
possibly too we shall find that it is pointing out
the way in which the Church should try to heal
and cure the age of its conflicts and its strifes,
to give it the blessing of peace, and to bring it
back to God.
In 1915, he chose~for his title, The Sovereignty of
Service:
Another kind of will has come into the world;
not a will to power but a will to service or to
power through service. It came with Jesus Christ,
who, although he came in the Name of God, yea,
and in the form of God, and with the power of
God, yet thought it not a thing to be grasped at
that he should be equal with God, but made
Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the
form of a servant.
There is another application of my subject
which I venture to suggest: It was said of St.
Francis of Asissi, that he listened to those to whom
even God Himself did not listen, or apparently did
' not listen. Such groups of persons have always
THE BISHOPRIC 293
been in the world and are in the world today.
They do not come to our churches, where God
through His ministry is supposed to speak to the
people and to listen to their cry, as others can
come if they will. They cannot come. They are
beyond the pale, not only of the ordinary ministra-
tions of the Church's preaching service, but of the
extraordinary ministrations of a nation-wide
preaching mission. They have broken the laws
of God and man, and society for its own protec-
tion has cast them forth and out, to pun-
ishment and banishment, and where, as human
waste, like Job upon his ash heap, they
seem to be forgotten and forsaken both of God
and man. That is the old penology and the way
of it still survives. But it is passing, and a new
penology is coming, whose aim, while it is to pun-
ish, of course (it must always do that, and the
punishment must be a real punishment), has also
for its aim to reform, to restore, to rehabilitate,
and thus to give back to society a valuable social
asset. This is not only more Christian and more
humane, but, to use a somewhat hackneyed
phrase, it is more scientific. For the ultimate
scientific aim is not destruction but conservation,
and even in the business world, the industrial
world, that has come to be one of the most dis-
tinctive and characteristic features. What was
once thrown away as refuse or as waste is now
294 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
absorbed and utilized and converted into profit.
That is the principle which distinguishes the new
penology that is coming from the old penology that
is going. It is not an easy thing to do. It is a
very difficult thing to do. It has its risks and
dangers, and many mistakes will be made in the
attempt to do it. But that is always the case with
new and untried social service efforts, however
right and wise. And the attempt to make and
mold a new and better penology, to gather up the
fragments that nothing be lost to our social life,
is a form of social service to which the Christian
Church should give its intelligent sympathy and
support.
Towards the end of the address he spoke of the Tem-
perance question, and asked that the Church help on
the movement by approving and commending, as a
timely and important social service, the principle of
a voluntary total abstinence from alcoholic liquors:
There is still another form of public service
which the Christian Church today must not and
cannot ignore. I refer to what is commonly called
the Temperance cause or question. That too is
a question which concerns not only the welfare of
the individual but the welfare of society. It is a
social service question. It is for this reason that
society feels that it has the right to take whatever
THE BISHOPRIC 295
action in the premises may be necessary for its
own protection and welfare even though such ac-
tion should limit or restrict the exercise to some
extent of individual freedom. No one has advo-
cated more strongly the inherent right and privi-
lege of individual freedom, even to anarchistic ex-
cesses, than the late Mr. John Stuart Mill; and
yet Mr. Mill has put himself on record as saying
that as soon as any part of a person's conduct
affects prejudicially the interests of others, society
has jurisdiction over it. And again he says, when-
ever there is a definite damage or a definite risk
of damage to either the individual or the public
the case is taken out of the province of liberty
and placed in that of morality or law. That so-
ciety has this right, in theory at least, will hardly
be denied; but the practical question is whether
the public sentiment back of any proposed temper-
ance legislation is strong enough to enforce it and
to prevent it from becoming inoperative and dead.
That is a question about which there is diversity
of opinion, especially in its application at the
present time to cities like New York. It is not
my purpose at present to consider it, but rather
to suggest a practical way in which the Church
may help, and help on a movement which is loom-
ing large today in the nation and in the world, and
a movement which will not down, and that is, by
approving and commending, as a timely and im-
296 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
portant social service, the principle of a voluntary
total abstinence from alcoholic liquors. I do not
refer of course to their therapeutic use or their
Holy Communion use, but simply to what is called
their use as a beverage. And yet even so, many
will regard it as a radical proposal, and so it is;
one that cuts across or cuts up many social cus-
toms, which in some cases may require both sacri-
fice and courage. But that I submit is but a small
price for any individual or any group of indi-
viduals to pay for the sake of the public good, and
that it is for the public good is evidenced not only
by a strong and growing public sentiment in that
direction but also by the fact that even a large sec-
tion of the business world today favors and com-
mends it as an important or even an essential
moral factor in the conduct of its business. And
certainly the Christian Church, whose mission is
to lead in all moral reforms, should not lag behind,
should not surrender its moral primacy to the
world, but should on the contrary not only in
theory claim it but in practice prove it and by the
moral leadership of its example establish and con-
firm it. And the Church in this diocese, and espe-
cially in this city, can by its example contribute
to that end. For whether it be to its credit or not,
it is a fact beyond dispute that the Church here
can and does exert a considerable social influence.
It is a talent which it possesses, for which it must
THE BISHOPRIC 297
give accounting. Let us not neglect it or waste
it or spend it on ourselves, but with a sense of re-
sponsibility for its use let us use it, not from com-
pulsion, but as our own free and voluntary act,
let us use it in the service of society at large.
In 1916, under the title, Social Service Today, he
said:
We often hear it said in this mammon-worship-
ping age, that "money talks." So it does. But
character also talks, if not more noisily and
showily, at least in the end more effectively than
money. And not only talks but works. How it
works I do not know; I cannot trace or diagnose
its full dynamic reach; it is a mystery. But it is
the mystery of the work of God in the Gospel of
the Incarnation, the way in which he would win
the world, recover and reclaim it, by the Incarna-
tion of His love, His Life, His Character, Himself,
in Jesus Christ.
Passing over for the moment the address of 1917,
we may note that in 1918 he chose for his subject, Tem-
poralities and Spiritualities, when, towards the end, he,
the pacifist, spoke of the spiritual values of the war:
There is indeed latent and potential in this
American nation a rich spiritual treasure trove
which it has not yet developed and brought out
298 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
and exercised and used; which, like an unde-
veloped mine, it has not put to work, but which it
feels, vaguely, dimly, and of which at times it
dreams. But now it is coming out, that latent life
of the soul, that corporate soul of the people, is
taking hands and feet, is taking form and face and
working body on. Can we not see it? Are we
not beginning even now to see through all the
smoke and battle noise and confusion of the strife
with all its variant voices and its discordant cries,
some of the best and noblest qualities of the
human soul, which will meet and blend and merge
and become at last the corporate soul of the na-
tion!
Again, in 1919, he pleaded that the Convention rec-
ognize The Church as a Personality:
If the entire Christian Church throughout the
Christian world should become in practice and in
fict a united Church, it would then bring more
clearly and more fully out the personality of Jesus
Christ, making thus the Christian Church a per-
sonality in the world, energizing with the person-
ality force of the living Jesus Christ. That is
what, in order to be an effective Church, it must
become. That, however, is not what in fact it is.
It is at present an aggregation of different parts,
bodies, groups, or Communions. Its influence is
weakened by the divisions in it. It does not func-
THE BISHOPRIC 299
tion with the personality power with which other-
wise it would.
There are many Christian Communions other
than our own, which believe as we do in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Can we not cultivate in every pos-
sible way, a friendly, fraternal, and spiritual fel-
lowship with them? This would not be organic
Church unity; but it would be a spiritual prepara-
tion for it, so that when the cry is heard, Behold,
the Bridegroom cometh! the whole Christian
world would then indeed be spiritually ready to
heed His voice and go in with Him to the Marriage
Feast. Without that previous spiritual prepared-
ness any organic unity of the Christian Church
would be but a body without life; it could not
function.
Let us then do what we can to prepare and
make ready the way for the unification of the
Christian Church, that so it may become one
great, strong personality in the world, bearing
down upon the world and energizing in it with the
personality force of the Living Jesus Christ.
Now we may return to the address of 1917, en-
titled, A Cathedral Vision. Because he was a man of
vision always, it was natural that as his physical force
abated the dreams of his spirit should be heightened.
He was living in the Cathedral Close. He was spend-
ing less and less time in journeys. More and more he
300 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
was in the growing church, pleading with those who,
as fellow trustees, were jointly responsible with him
for its finishing, to cast caution aside and proceed with
the construction, until the war came to take everything
we had. He saw in it more than a massive structure.
It had spiritual possibilities within it: it could gather
up the isolated units of parochialism and fuse them
into a beautiful diocesan unity: it could be an instru-
ment towards the unity of the whole Church; it could
be a centre of intellectual light and leading in the Spirit
of Jesus Christ. This address is so filled with the en-
thusiasm of his later Episcopate that it must be quoted
in full:
Ever since I have occupied my present position
and office as a Bishop in the Diocese of New York
I have been more and more impressed with these
two things. First, with the fact of the many non-
parochial activities of the diocese, missionary,
educational, charitable and others, exceeding per-
haps in number and variety, or at least equalling
those of any other diocese. And second, with the
further fact that there is, or seems to be, no com-
mon nexus tie to bind them all together in one
organic whole, and thus to make a Diocesan Unit
of them, except as some of them are reported to
the Convention, which we know and are con-
scious of chiefly at Convention times, or know
and then forget, as they are afterwards printed in,
or buried in, our diocesan journals.
THE BISHOPRIC 301
How, then, can we unify and bring them all
together and make a Unit of them, a Church Unit
of them, a spiritual Unit of them, with a spiritual
Unit force?
This word "Unit" is much in vogue at present.
It has come to be in the recent use and application
of it almost a new word, with a new meaning in it
and a new necessity for it. How, then, can we
make a Unit, not theoretically but practically, of
all those non-parochial activities of the diocese,
to energise with a spiritual Unit force? That is
one of the questions which, according to the terms
of its Constitution, the Cathedral is meant to an-
swer. For what is the Cathedral? Not simply an-
other church in the diocese where the Word of
God is preached and the Sacraments duly adminis-
tered, and differing from those which already
exist simply by the fact of its being larger. It is
that, of course, but it is more than that; much
more. According to the terms of its Constitution,
which was framed and fashioned by that gifted
Church seer, whom the late Bishop of the diocese,
with his knowledge of men, assigned to the task:
"The Cathedral, as the Church of the Diocese,
is the administrative centre of all those activities,
ecclesiastical, educational, charitable and mission-
ary, which are diocesan in their scope."
With the parochial activities of the diocese the
Cathedral should not interfere. It probably could
not do them as well as the parishes themselves are
302 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
doing them. But even if it could, it is neither de-
sirable nor necessary, except to a very limited ex-
tent, and for this reason: The work that is done
by the parishes is the work of the Church immedi-
ately behind them, or, may I not say, the work of
Religion behind them, of organized religion as
represented by the Church and working through
the parishes. Religion, in short, is supposed to be
and is the inspiration of them; the dynamo or
power-house which started them in the first place
and keeps them going on. And while that parish
work is indeed expressed in many secular ways and
through many secular forms, clubs, guilds,
kindergartens, day nurseries, dispensaries, clinics,
etc. it is nevertheless essentially religious, with
a religious spirit in it, and because the parishes to
which it is related and from which it proceeds are
themselves a religious body, a spiritual body, a
soul, to inspire them.
But with regard to the other works and activ-
ities which are not parochial and which have no
direct parochial connection, that is not so much
the case or so apt to be the case. They, on the con-
trary, are apt to become, if not wholly, yet more
or less secularized, materialized activities and
works. Take, for instance, the work of the Social
Service Commission for the social uplift and wel-
fare of the people, for the betterment and im-
provement of their material conditions, with
THE BISHOPRIC 303
better houses to live in, more sanitary and health-
ful; with better shops and factory-rooms and
offices to work in; with better hours of labor and
better wages for it; giving to them and their chil-
dren a better, a larger and freer opportunity in
life. All that, indeed, is a good and very much
needed work. It is one of the hopeful and better
signs of the times that so many persons today, and
not exclusively those connected with the Church,
are giving of their time and strength and substance
to the prosecution of it. And yet, while it is a
good and needed work and not to be neglected,
it is not enough, is not by itself enough. In order
to make our social life, whether poor or rich, a
new and changed life, with a new spirit in it, giv-
ing a new perspective, a new direction to it, giving
an uplift, a "lift-up" to it, something more is
needed than a new and changed physical environ-
ment; something that will go more deeply down
into the life itself, to change and transform it with
a spiritual transformation.
That is not simply religious sentimentalism,
which, in these more practical days, we have out*
grown and left behind, as having little practical
worth or practical value in it. Not so. Professor
Tyndall is certainly not a religious sentimentalist,
and this is what he says in a notable address:
"You who have escaped from these religions (of
the world) into the high and dry light of the intel-
304 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
lect, may deride them, but in doing so you deride
accidents of form merely and fail to touch the im-
movable basis of religious sentiment in the nature
of man. To yield this sentiment reasonable satis-
faction is the problem of problems at the present
hour."
Mr. John Morley, whatever else he may be, is
certainly not a religious sentimentalist, and this
is what he says: "No permanent transformation
of society can ever take place until a transforma-
tion has first been accomplished in the spiritual
basis of thought."
"It is a modern custom," says another discern-
ing writer, "to talk much about the ethics of Jesus
. . . as a programme for an ideal social order;
but a careful reader cannot fail to feel in Christ's
teaching the complete fusion of His ideal for so-
ciety with His consciousness of unseen realities."
Now, that should be the aim, the ultimate aim
and purpose of social service work, to bring it
into touch, into quickened touch, with those un-
seen realities, and to give to our social life not only
a physical but a spiritual transformation, and so
not merely to spread it out and over a larger and
smoother flat physical surface, but to put more
and more of the lifting power, of the spiritual
power of Jesus Christ in it. And, according to the
terms of its Constitution, that is what the Cathe-
dral is for and what it is meant to be.
THE BISHOPRIC 305
And this should be done, not only for our social
service work, but for all those other activities and
works, benevolent, charitable, etc., which are dioc-
esan in scope, by making the Cathedral their ad-
ministrative centre, and in doing so to bring them
all more closely into touch with the Christian
Church, with the Christian religion, more closely
into touch with Jesus Christ Himself, and so at
least to recognize, to recognize ourselves and to
help the world to recognize and realize the need
of Jesus Christ and His transforming power.
That is one aspect of the Cathedral Vision. Ac-
cording to the wording of its Constitution there is
another, namely, "an instrument of Church
Unity." That is what today we are thinking
about, talking about, dreaming about and hoping
to bring about, and which is needed now more per-
haps than ever. But how can we hope to do it
when there are in the Church, in this branch of
the Church and in every branch of the Church so
many different party lines and types and party
divisions in them? Well, that depends. There
are parties in the Church: we may not like to call
them that but that is what they are. There are
parties in the Church as there are parties in the
State. There always will be. How can it be
otherwise? People do not think alike on all State
questions; neither do they think alike on all
Church questions. Or, if they do, it must be and
306 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
is because they do not think and therefore do not
have those vigorous, strong and deeply rooted con-
victions without which nothing much is or can
be done.
But what is partisanship? What may it be?
What ought it to be? In reading some time ago
an interesting book on Frenchmen in the United
States, by the French Ambassador here, I was
struck with his remark concerning General Wash-
ington. He was speaking, of course, not of his
ecclesiastical or theological, but of his political
attitude. He was, he said, "a convinced partisan
of the straight line." There was, in other words,
nothing indirect or tortuous about him or about
his way of doing things or of having them done.
Open, frank and fair, and with strong and vigor-
ous personal convictions, and, incidentally, in that
time of strenuous and bitter personal strife, never
less than a gentleman, he was not working for
himself or for his own advancement, but for a
great and worthy cause. That was one of the
things that helped to make him great, with a great-
ness that will last while the American nation lasts,
"A convinced partisan of the straight line."
Now that is a partisanship which, as existing in
the Church, would not only liberate the Church
without fear of stain or blemish to itself, more
freely into the world and all the world affairs, po-
litical, civic and other, but would not hurt or
THE BISHOPRIC 307
hinder its progress and growth. That is a parti-
sanship in the Church which would not of neces-
sity be divisive and disruptive, but co-ordinating
and constructive; which would not tend to break
the unity of the Church, but rather to promote it;
or if not directly to promote it, at least to go be-
fore and prepare the way for it. Now it is for
the co-ordination of such party types and such
party groups that the Cathedral stands, not for
one particular party, type or group; there is no
need of that; that already is; but to express and
represent them all, as far as they are true and
loyal to Jesus Christ as this Church hath received
Him; and so to be an instrument to make ready
the way for the coming more and more into the
Christian Church of Jesus Christ Himself, Who
alone can give its true unity to it, and by giving
unity to the Church to make it a more effective
force and factor in the world, and tending thus to
give a unity to the world.
That leads me to speak of still another aspect
of the Cathedral Vision which is suggested to us
by the words of its Constitution, namely, as "a
center of intellectual light and leading in the spirit
of Jesus Christ."
The seductiveness of that materialism which is
today to the average man of such appealing force,
is said to consist in "its picturability, which
eschews abstruseness and abstractions; it appeals
3 o8 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
to common sense; it does not violate our everyday
habitual judgment; its adoption is promoted and
confirmed by the superficial smattering of science
possessed by the man of average education."
Now, materialism as a philosophy is, as we be-
lieve, a false and shallow theory of life; and yet
if it is to be refuted and confounded in its ap-
pealing plausibility it must be done in some other
way and by some other means than by a dialectic
or philosophic process. Such a refutation of it
may be accomplished and has been accomplished
time and time again; but that is not enough to
overcome and counteract its plausibility power.
That must be done in some other way, by
some kind of effective and impressive pictur-
ability as a force or factor in our common daily
life, with its common everyday employments and
pursuits. Religion in its essence is a spiritual
reality; and yet it has, and has always had, its
temples in the world to make it more apparent
and more appealing to us. Hereafter, in some
other state, some disembodied or discarnate state,
where there is no night, no obscuring night to dim
and cloud our vision, those physical temple forms
will not then be needed, and "there is no temple
there." But that now is not the case. Spiritual
realities are mediated to us and made effective
for us through the mediating means of material
signs and symbols. How otherwise, indeed, can
THE BISHOPRIC 309
we reach and touch them, or can they touch us as
a practical power in us? Not, as I have said, by
a philosophic or intellectual process. That may
suffice for those who subsist chiefly, if not wholly,
upon ideal things; but they are the few, the elect-
few. And for the majority, the great majority of
us, those ideal thoughts and things are non-ex-
istent things, non-substantial things, like angels'
food, like stuff that dreams are made of. And so
it has come to pass that our intellectual processes
in this material age, or this commercial age, are
apt to be directed towards more material things or
what we are pleased to call more substantial
things. That is the tendency, or a tendency and
growing tendency in modern education, pushing
in and working in our modern institutions of
scholarship and learning, and giving, as we think,
a more practical value to them. Well, if it needs
to be so, then let it be so. We shall not quarrel
with it. Yet, just because it is so, is there not a
need in our modern life for another kind of educa-
tional institution as big and great as they are?
Yes, bigger and greater, more arrestive and im-
pressive, and standing in our midst as the intellec-
tual center of light and leading in the spirit of
Jesus Christ, and giving us another and larger
vision of life, with another and better and more
appealing picturability.
It is a Cathedral Vision; and is it not a needed
3 io DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
time? Yes, and a hopeful time in which to try
to build that vision up; when, not only in the
Church but also in the world, both of which are
training schools of God, His spirit is touching
more and more the hearts and minds of the people
with high, noble and unselfish aims, and moving
them to give so freely and so fully not only of
their substance, but in willing sacrifice so freely
of their lives to their fellow men, to make
the world free! Is it not the time, the hopeful
and encouraging time, in which to build that vis-
ion up and give embodiment to it? Or the time at
least is coming, it is drawing near, the world is
ready for it or getting ready for it.
"When this western Goth so fiercely practical,
so keen of eye, shall find out . . . that nothing
pays but God, served, whether on the smoke-shut
battlefield, or work obscure done honestly, or vote
for truth unpopular, or faith maintained to ruin-
ous conviction, or good deeds wrought for Good's
sake mindless of heaven or hell: . . . When he
shall find that all prosperity whose bases stretch
not deeper than the sense, is but a trick of this
world's atmosphere, the desert-born mirage of
spire and dome."
for men of vision in the Church to work for and
towards. A vision to work with, until it has been
THE BISHOPRIC 311
at last accomplished and fulfilled, and all those
false and cruel and self-exalting aims which are
working now in human life and crushing the
people down, shall be driven out, shall be driven
out, and the Kingdom of God shall come, and He
Whose right it is to reign in righteousness shall
reign !
Having himself been a great preacher, his first em-
phasis was upon preaching. He hoped that St. John's,
New York, might grow to be as conspicuous a centre
for preaching as St. Paul's, London, and Westminster
Abbey. He therefore, very early, felt that the pulpit
of the Cathedral must be as widely open as possible
to the most varied messages of those who believed in
the Lord Jesus Christ.
He longed that as many Communions of Christians
as would might claim the Cathedral as their own. One
of the earliest large contributions to the building fund
was from a Presbyterian, D. Willis James, Esq. The
great window at the middle of the apse is in memory
of a Presbyterian, the Honorable Whitelaw Reid. An-
other Presbyterian, Mrs. Russell Sage, gave the mas-
sive permanent pulpit in memory of Bishop Potter.
When, in his last Lent on earth, clergy of various Com-
munions preached at the special services of Holy Week
after Evening Prayer, he, though obviously too ill to
come, insisted on being present to show his profound
sympathy for other religious leaders. He wanted to
3 i2 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
do something towards liberating the desire for Chris-
tian unity; he was discouraged with the limitations of
the conferences and conversations about it. He him-
self never could be thought for a moment to be trying
to cooperate with others for his own advantage, or for
the advantage of his own Communion. He was a man
of unselfish vision: it was the great Church Catholic
of which he was thinking, not a magnified Protestant
Episcopal Church. This was to have room in it for
all who loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Even
the man who would shut him out was to be included.
He had lived in New York long enough to love it.
He idealized it, but he was not blind to its faults. Its
commercial buildings, its library, its museums, were on
the most magnificent scale. If the worship of God was
the most important act which could take place in New
York there was no outward symbol to show that the
people thought so. It is not the most important note
of the Cathedral that it should be a huge object, thrust-
ing its towers skyward from a conspicuous hilltop;
but size and site have value in a city given to measure
reality by the Wool worth Building and the Metro-
politan Tower. The Cathedral was to be the alabaster
box which New York should give to Christ, and no one
should dare to sneer at the waste.
Bishop Greer was insistent that the Cathedral should
not weaken the parochial life. Hither little parishes
could come for occasions and appreciate how strong
was the Church of God in all the world to which they
THE BISHOPRIC 313
belonged. The Bishop delighted in the union service of
Confirmation for the colored people. It was always
held at night, and twenty churches and missions par-
ticipated in it, each rector leading his own candidates
to the chancel rail. He delighted too in the service for
letter-carriers, in the service for actors, in all the serv-
ices for patriotic societies, in the services for Masons
and other fraternities. So the men and women from
the parishes, and the orders, and the scattered groups
of the city came together, and under his friendly, self-
forgetting leadership, gave themselves to an enthusi-
asm for unity in a place which knew no ownership less
than the Heavenly Father Himself.
He was not thinking chiefly of the conspicuous
people who came on notable occasions, glad as he was
to have them there. He was thinking first of all of
the poor man who sat with self-respect next the rich
man: the man who could take little part in the service
sitting unembarrassed next the seasoned church-goer.
And he liked to see and hear young, unknown men in
the pulpit, uttering their prophecy with power. To
one of the youngest presbyters of the diocese, he wrote:
I had a free afternoon last Sunday, and dropped
in at the Cathedral, and sat in the last pew by the
door, where I heard every word you said, and
heard it too with the greatest satisfaction. You
made me feel like trying to be a better and a
braver man. I hope you will not mind my telling
you this.
3 i4 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
While men thought that feebleness of body was ham-
pering him, his soul was set free into this final vision
of his life. The country parishioners at Clarksburg,
the young men at Trinity Church in Covington, the
throngs at Grace Church in Providence, the larger
throngs in the Parish Church and in the Parish House
of St. Bartholomew's, and his people all through the
Diocese of New York, were marching through his
dreams up into a greater Temple of Jerusalem, the
Temple of a New Age and a new Continent, the Cathe-
dral of his beloved home, the metropolis of the Western
World.
XII
IN THE fall of 1916, after a quiet summer at
North East, the Bishop went to the General Con-
vention in St. Louis. Mrs. Greer was too ill to
accompany him. He had taken a cold which he found
it difficult to throw off. He had barely reached the
hotel in St. Louis when Miss Greer, who was with him,
became convinced that he would be obliged to spend
the whole three weeks in his room, and therefore the
decision was quickly made, that he return to New
York. From this time he was more than ever con-
scious of being hampered both by his defective sight
and by delicate health in other ways. Once he turned
to a friend, saying, "Do you know anything about the
tragedy of growing old? Well, it is like this: I am
as young as ever so far as my mind is concerned; in-
deed, I never had more zest for discussion ; and I think
I have a clearer perception of intellectual values.
Above the shoulders I am young; below them I am re-
minded that I have really grown old!"
He had difficulty in meeting country visitations.
"Last week," he said to a bishop, "I took a train up
the east side of the river for a west side visitation. By
some mistake the rector did not meet me. Darkness
was coming on. I stood on the station platform as the
315
316 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
train moved out, and then, hearing a ferry bell, asked
a stranger to guide me to the boat. He kindly did so,
and left me sitting on a bench like a blind beggar. The
rector met me on the other side; we had supper, serv-
ice, and a little chat, and I went to bed and stayed
there, sleepless, seeing nothing until morning, and then
I went home knocked out for twenty-four hours. But
don't mention this to anyone, please."
He did not spare himself when his friends were ill.
Bishop Lawrence, recovering from a serious illness in
the early weeks of 1919, had received messages of sym-
pathy from his friend in New York, but he did not
tell Bishop Greer that he would soon be passing
through the city on his way to the South. "Towards
evening," Bishop Lawrence writes, "Greer came grop-
ing to the door of my hotel room. An hour before,
he had heard that I was in New York, had ordered
his motor, and came down. It was the last time. I
led him to the elevator and he slipped away. It was
a friendly act and very like him." Dr. Parks recalls
the last time he spoke with the Bishop. He was in the
hospital after an operation on his eyes. The Bishop
came to see him. "I was bandaged," writes Dr. Parks,
"and could see nothing; but I recognized his voice. He
asked me how I was able to bear the tedium of the
dark room, and I told him that while I had dreaded
it I found it less irksome than I had expected. The
truth is,' I said, 'I have discovered that what I called
my mind was simply the reflex action of external
Bros., N. Y.
CAROLINE AUGUSTA GREEK
THE BISHOPRIC 317
stimuli. Now that those are removed I find that my
mind is a blank; in other words, that I have no mind.'
He said, 'My dear fellow, you don't mean to tell me
that you have only now made that discovery! ' And so,
with an affectionate pressure of his hand, he left me,
and I never saw him again. He was well named,
David, beloved."
One day in March, Bishop Greer telephoned to Mr.
Fiske, the superintendent of the parish house of St.
Bartholomew's, asking if he would be in the parish
house that evening. When Mr. Fiske said "Yes," the
Bishop continued, "Then I'm coming down." He
came, and spent the evening wandering lovingly
through the building, recalling old times and old faces,
and telling the history of the work. It was his last
visit to the house. It reminds one of that pathetic
night when Phillips Brooks wandered through the
streets of Boston, as it were bidding them farewell.
The Chinese students were meeting in Synod Hall.
To the surprise of everyone, towards the end of the
evening, Bishop Greer came in. He said he could not
stay away. He wanted these foreigners to know how
warm a welcome he gave them to the Diocese, and
especially to the Cathedral. Then he told them of the
days, years before, when he had gathered their fellow
countrymen into the cosmopolitan fellowship of St.
Bartholomew's. These were days when he was think-
ing of the past as well as the future.
The heaviest part of his burden was the conscious-
3 i8 DAVID HUMMELL GREEK
ness that Mrs. Greer, now wholly confined to her room,
was gradually fading away. She had been so com-
pletely one with him in every part of his work, as well
as in his personal life, that once, when a friend of both
of them spoke of Mrs. Greer, he said, "I don't know
how I can face the separation after so many years of
companionship."
On his seventy-fifth birthday (which was his last
on earth), a committee representing the clergy of the
diocese, went to his house to give him a watch. As he
sat in the big library of the Bishop's House, the sun
streaming through the western windows, he seemed
very happy in the consciousness of the love of his
brethren. The little group were gathered about the
fire. One of the committee standing before him, told
the Bishop, in simple and gracious words, what he
meant to us all. The Bishop smiled, partly in grati-
tude, and partly in amusement that anyone should
think of saying such kind things of him. After a few
playful words in which he spoke his thoughts, he be-
came very serious. "As I grow older," he said, "my
faith gets simpler; it is all summed up in Jesus Christ."
He walked with his guests through the hall, still hold-
ing the watch in his hand, but turned suddenly as he
came to the staircase leading up to Mrs. Greer's room.
A look of inexpressible tenderness came over his face
as he said, "I must show this to Mrs. Greer; she will
like it even more than I do."
In reply to one of his birthday letters which had
THE BISHOPRIC 319
been written by a clergyman to Mrs. Greer, he told
his hope for the future:
Mrs. Greer is gradually and slowly gaining
strength, and that is not only something good for
the present but full of promise for the future.
What a joy it would be to both of us if some Sun-
day, not now, perhaps next fall, we could go
down to Church, and sit under your min-
istry for a couple of hours. But that is a dream,
and a very delightful one, even if it never
materializes.
As he looked forward to the Diocesan Convention,
he thought that he might go on with his work with the
help of another Suffragan, who, with Bishop Burch,
would relieve him of all visitations, and he himself
could then become like a consulting physician, an older
man, to give out of his experience, counsel to the
clergy who would seek it. When his devoted man
Peter brought him his breakfast in those days, he could
not tell which was whiter, the face of the Bishop or
the sheet. "O Peter," he would say, "I don't feel very
well, but don't say anything to the family." Peter
pleaded that he stay in bed. "No," was the answer;
"I want to do my work." When the Convention met
in May Bishop Greer was not present. He was in St.
Luke's Hospital, undergoing an operation which was
serious only because of his age. The Convention did
320 DAVID HUMMELL GREER
not wish to act upon his suggestion when he was away
from them, and therefore pledged him all the episcopal
assistance he needed, and promised to do whatever he
might ask when he and they were permitted to take
counsel together. Messages between Synod House and
the hospital went back and forth through the two days
of the Convention, and the delegates went to their
homes expecting soon to see the Bishop, at least in his
usual health. But on Monday, May 19, he grew
rapidly worse, and, in the twilight, we dare to think
that he saw face to face the Master whom all his life
he had served. Meantime, Mrs. Greer too was gazing
at the western light; she was so near the mysterious
transition that she could not be told of the Bishop's
going until the great service in the Cathedral was over.
In just a month she followed him. What she had been
to his ministry of love to others no one can measure.
What we do know is that she never held him back from
any sacrifice, and that, when he saw his brightest
beckoning to service, she saw it too, and urged him on
to do his work, to the utmost, in the Name of
the Master who owns them both. God was good to
them, and allowed them to see together the vision
which he gives to those who love and serve Him.
The Diocese of New York mourned a leader who
had been first of all a loving friend to the clergy; an
example of simplicity in a scene which to most men
seemed only ambitious and worldly. It would have
been easy for him to be the mere administrator, lost in
THE BISHOPRIC 321
the contemplation of the outer fabric of such buildings
as the Bronx Church House and the Cathedral, snared
in the business of bewildering statistics. But as he
ascended the years he looked out beyond all these
things. In his convention addresses, in his confirma-
tion sermons, in his private talk, he looked across the
valleys to the mountain where Christ stood trans-
figured. It was not a mere loyalty to outward laws
and doctrines which shone in his face, but a consuming
enthusiasm, a devout love, which told us that his life
was hid with Christ in God. Careless of outward
fame and success, absorbed in a personal devotion to
Christ, he was another St. Francis, who showed in his
body the marks of the Lord Jesus: he was glad to have
his own leadership forgotten that Christ might be all
in all.
INDEX
INDEX
, A. v. G, s s, 6 7 /.
Appleton, F. R., 134 /.
Armstrong, John, 3 /.
Atkinson, E. L., 142
Atkinson, J. R., 196 ff.
Atwood, J. W., 101
gALFOUR, A. J, 239 .
Bancroft, Professor, 14, 43
Barry, J. H., 260
Bedell, G. T., 14, 15, 18 /.
Bedell Lectures, 141 /.
Blodgett, Mrs. J. J., 234
Board of Missions, 206 ff., 212 ff.
Boston Clericus, 66 ff.
Bourne, F. G., 234
Brent, C. H., 109, 172 /., 182, 208 /., 239
Bronx Church House, 192 ff.
Brooks, Phillips, 66 ff., 74, 76, 83 /., 93, 102, 123 /., 126 /.,
Brunot, F. R., 34
Burch, C. S., vii, 218, 224 ff., 240, 247, 257, 260, 320
CATHEDRAL of St. John the Divine, 233 ff., 299 ff.,
3ii ff-
Cheney, C. E., 23, 25
Chorley, E. C., 2587.
Church Congress, 139 ff.
Clark, Thomas M., 56, 63, 64 ff., 69, 82, 144
325
326 INDEX
Clarksburg, Va., Christ Church in, 23 /.
Convention Addresses, 280 ff.
Covington, Ky., Trinity Church in, 25 ff., 36
Cummins, G. D., 34, 35, 55
Cutting, W. B., 239
J)E KOVEN, James, 32 /.
Dix, Morgan, 138, 176, 177, 188, 226
Doane, W. C., 138, 142, 150 /., 189, 224, 276
Drown, E. S., 162 ff.
Dyer, Heman, 27, 40 ff.
, G. McC., 57
Floyd- Jones, E., 259
Friday Evening Club in Providence, 61 ff.
QATES, M. H., 227, 228
Greer, Caroline A. (wife), 26, 183, 201, 211, 240, 260,
315, 3i8
Greer, D. H.: Born in Wheeling, 3; Early life and educa-
tion, 6 ff.; Early Ministry, 23 ff.; Married Caroline A.
Keith, 26; Rector in Providence, 47 ff.; Rector in New
York, 101 ff.; Bishop Coadjutor of New York, 187 ff.;
Bishop of New York, 218 ff.; died in New York, 320
Greer, Elizabeth Yellott (mother), 3, n, 13, 175
Greer, Jacob Rickard (father), 3, 145
Grosvenor, W. M., 128, 138, 176, 233
Guthrie, W. N., 243
PJADLEY, H. H., 108
Hammarskold, J. G., 59
Hoffman, E. A., 138
Hope Farm, 116, 202 ff.
Huntington, W. R., 68, 92, 138, 145 ff., 175, 176, 188, 200,
237
INDEX 327
JOHNS, John, 17 /.
Jones, Rufus M., 274 /.
J^ELLER, Helen, 135 ff.
J^ANG, C. G., 235
Lawrence, Arthur, 17, 42, 149
Lawrence, William, 42 /., 98, no, 124, 128 /., 144 /., 189,
190, 206, 316
Lines, E. S., 211 ff., 216
Lloyd, A. S., 206 ff.
Loan Bureau, 113 /.
JyJcILVAINE, C. P., 14,15
Manning, W. T., 226
Mansfield, A. R., 255
Morgan, J. P., 177, 194,239
Morgantown Academy, 8 /.
Mottet, H., 232
'M'EGROES, American Church Institute for, 205 ff., 214 /.
Newton, W. W., 66, 68, 82 /.
Q GIL VIE, Mrs. C., 240
Owen, W. H., 245
pARISH HOUSE of St. Bartholomew's, New York, in ff.
Parks, Leighton, 122, 199, 248, 316
Parks, Lewis, 138, 189
Peabody, F. G., 272 ff.
Peabody, G. F., 207, 215
Pott, W. H., 240, 257
Potter, H. C., 37, 91 /., 112, 129, 147 /., 176 ff., 187 /., 192,
218 /., 233, 311
Providence, Grace Church in, 43 ff.
328 INDEX
DESCUE MISSION at St. Bartholomew's, New York,
L 108 ff.
Rhode Island, Elected Bishop Coadjutor of, 144 ff.
Richards, C. A. L., 57, 74, 83, 87, 130, 181 /.
Robbins, H. C., 233, 236, 262
Roots, L. H., 275 /.
CAINT BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH in New York,
lOlff.
St. Elizabeth Home in Providence, 56
Satterlee, H. Y., 171 /.
Seamen's Church Institute, 255
Sedgwick, T., 245
Silver, H. P., 245
Sing Sing, Bishop Greer at, 265
Sloane, Mrs. W. D., 194
Social Service, 297
Stanley, A. P., 69
Stetson, F. L., 222
Stires, E. M., 229
HpEMPERANCE, 294 ff.
Three Arts Club, 204 ff.
Trinity Church, Boston, Call to, 122 ff.
\fANDERBILT, C., 94, in, 170
Vanderbilt, Mrs. W. H., 112
R, Attitude towards, 267 ff.
Washington and Jefferson College, 10 ff., 173 ff.
Western Massachusetts, Elected Bishop of, 148 /.
Wharton, F., 71 /.
Whipple, H. B., 139
Whittle, F. M., 24
Wright, F. A., 262
VALE Lectures on the Lyman Beecher Foundation, 131 ff.
BX
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