whose
government closely resembles that of the United States.

At those conventions when the Prayer Book was under revision, Mr.
Nelson's spiritual discernment, large-heartedness, and wise judgment
were an important supplement to the work of the liturgical authorities.
One of the really notable speeches of any General Convention was his
plea for the church to place the emphasis in the Baptismal Service where
the Apostles did, namely, on discipleship rather than on Creed. "The
Creed ought to be on the Altar, not at the door of the Church," he said.
"I want the Creed in the service, and I believe it will receive more
emphasis than before if it is inserted where I have proposed to place
it.[17] The important thing required of Christians is to follow Christ.
It is harder to follow Christ than to accept a creed, and God forbid
that I should make membership in the Church easier than Christ made it."
His earnestness and deep religious feeling made a profound impression,
but there were those who saw in the proposal an opening wedge for the
subordination of the creeds, and timidity and caution overcame the surge
of approbation which followed immediately on his speech.

Commencing in 1925 and continuing until his death, Mr. Nelson served on
the Joint Commission on Holy Matrimony, which dealt with the highly
controversial issue of divorce. In upholding the high standards embraced
in the canons of the Church, he supported that section of the
Commission which sought to take into account the far-reaching human
factors involved in marriage and divorce. He was absolutely convinced
that the Church was not approaching the problem in the right way. To him
it was not an ecclesiastical problem but a definitely human affair. He
said he preferred to submit a delicate, ethical problem to a human
bishop rather than to the arbitrary operation of a rule. He maintained,
"Divorce is now on a legalistic basis. That was not the way of our Lord,
and the Commission desires to lift it out of the legal atmosphere into
the sphere of the fellowship of the Gospel." Towards this end the
Commission had (in 1931) drawn up a proposed canon which was the result
of six years' study on the part of an extremely able group of clergymen
and laymen. Among the latter were some of the great lawyers of America,
such as George W. Wickersham, Roland Morris, and Professor Joseph Beale
of the Harvard Law School. This Commission proposed that "any person to
whom a divorce fr