New-York tribune., 1922-10-02
Flock i'm Tears
When Pastor
Says Farewell
The Rev. Henry knight Mil
Ter, of Hanson Place nj. f.
Church, Brooklyn, Quits
to Take Business Post
Emotional Strain Crea
Choir of 100 Breaks Down
and Entire Congregation
Sobs Him a s'Godspeed''

In the midst of remarkable emo
tional demonstration, the Rev. Henry
knight Miller bade farewell last night
to the congregation of the Hanson
Place Methodist Episcopal Church,
Brooklyn, and to the ministry.
Widely known as being radical in
his views and outspoken in his opin-
ions, DR.. Miller decided to leave the
church for business. He has accepted
a position with S1,00o.0Oo automobile
concern, the Lighthouse Rim Corpora
ton. He also is the newly appointed
president of the New York Institute of
Applied Psychology. His severance
with the church and his association
with business should not be regarded
in the light of mercenary change, he
told the congregation. He goes under
urgent pressure from these interests
and because he feels that the cause
of applied psychology should be 1or-
thered.
"I am leaving on the best. of terms
with all my people" he said after
preaching his farewell sermon last
night. 1--WE are in the greatest -har-
mony. There has been no trouble OF
any kind and it is a real grief for me
to make this change"
The emotion displayed by the con-
gregation that packed the building
would seem to bear this out. During
his sermon, which was graphic and
allegorical, sobs were heard al! over
the church, and when the time came
for DR.. Miller to read his resignation,
stating his reasons for leaving, women
Ivy mr. Oop
furtively wiped their eyes. A broken,
trembling chorus of "God Be With You
Till We Meet Again" rose from the
choir stalls at the conclusion Of the
sermon. Not even the efficient choir
of 100 voices, built up by DR.. Miller,
WAS equal to the strain, and when the
benediction was pronounced everyone
was in tears. They crowded around to
wish the retiring pastor godspeed.
DR.. Miller, still young man, has
been in the ministry for seventeen
wears. He first preached at Ocean
Grove, n j., when he was thirteen, and
again in Ohio as a licensed but not or
dained preacher at sixteen. He has
been with the Hanson Pla-c Church Tor
the last five years and has had
crowded church all that time. HIS IN
terests have been varied and he has
h2Q numerous OuSlS " ~ INV poo'
ness. At times there has been crlti-
cism among the more conservative OF
his flock at the unconventionality Of
his views He is an ardent champion
of the stage, and challenged DR.. John
Roach Straton to debate when the
latter made his sweeping denunciation
concerning immortality in the theater.
He constantly has attacked the prohi-
bition amendment, in the press, pulpit
and on the platform. Recently he gave
his pulpit to Mrs. Harriet McCollum,
honorary president of the Institute of
Applied Psychology, who gave a series
of lectures on that subjec+.
In informing his congregation that
he was leaving, DR.. Miller said he had
sense Of peace in feeling that he
was doing the right thing. His un-
derstanding of the whole matter was
hardly clear, he said, but he knew
that for years he had been fighting a
tremendous battle and that he had now
come to an epoch in his life. He is
gong. forth to a kindred field of eff
fort, he believes. 1t has taken him all
summer to make up his mind to leave
the church.