Kenyon College - Reveille Yearbook (Gambier, OH)

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been shut out from the power of direction. But, amid all the perplexities of the Gambier problem, no one competent to form a judgment ever doubted Bishop Bedell’s great interest in the schools established there, or his ardent desire and purpose to help them to the full extent of his power. When he was able to do so, he worked for the necessary endowment—and he always gave to dear old Kenyon his interest, his prayers, and his undy- ing affection. It is fitting that his body should rest upon one of the slopes of that hillside which he loved as he loved no other bit of ground upon the earth. The place of his sepulcher should be honored, and sacredly guarded in all the years to come. Other benefactors of Kenyon College may rise, who may aid more largely in her development than did he—they may give more of time and more of money—but they can never give more of the heart’s best devotion. Among the unselfish, pure, sweet-spirited servants of the church of Ohio, no one is ever likely to rise more lovable in his personal characteristics, more single-minded in his devotion to God and duty, than the faithful, the saintly prelate, Gregory Thurston Bedell.

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Bishop Bedell was always, in heart, a man of simplicity and godly sincerity. Those who were thrown with him, and whose duty and privilege it was to work with him, always knew that in him there was no hypocrisy or deceit. lie was a true man, earnest in his quest of truth, and brave to declare it as he had received it. He was indeed a gifted man, gifted in many ways—and accomplished also. But his best gift, his highest accom- plishment, was his pure, sweet, genuine, lovely Christian character. A little more faith in his fellow men, or at least in the best of them, would have helped him greatly. He was not a good judge of the characters of the men and women with whom lie had to do. He could not readily read the book of human nature. Consequently his judgment of people was worth but little, and as he came to know that this was so, through many trying experiences, he came to mistrust his own judgment, and, so far as concerned his fellows, lie was a man of little faith. But his faith in God was great, and grew steadily greater. He believed God and trusted Him as implicitly as any loving child ever trusted his earthly father or mother. The good Bishop lived constantly as in the presence of the great Bishop and Shepherd of onr souls. With deepest conviction lie had learned to say “Whate’er my God ordains is right.” He was indeed a devout man, living constantly in communion with the great Father alone. With genuine humility, but with strong enthusiasm also, he could have used St. Paul’s words “ I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ livetli in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” 1 o this good Bishop, Gambier was the most beautiful and attractive spot upon the face of the earth. He once told the story of the Frenchman who declared that when, after death, his heart was examined, the name “Napoleon” would be imprinted there. And so, he said, upon his heart the word “Gambier had been inscribed. The Institutions at Gambier were dearer to him than life itself. 1 he relation in which he stood to them officially was not the right relation. His was a burden of responsibility which he ought not to have assumed, and which should not have been put ui)on him. As “ Prudential Committee,” he was clothed with “too much power.” The control of the affairs of Kenyon College was not his legiti- mate work, and the man whose legitimate work it was ought not to have 8

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fiRTHUR JUMPER, fiLBZm J. TLL, (£eohge p. tvyater.