A Great Symbol
The symbolism of various details of the Cathedral will be mentioned hereafter; but it should be said here that the Cathedral as a whole is a great and wonderful symbol. “The religion which is inwrought with all the history of the American people,” said Bishop Potter, “stands for certain lofty ideals of truth, purity, honesty, loyalty and self-sacrifice. Every ideal must have some visible expression or symbol, and this ideal of our religious faith from the very nature of it demands expression, incarnation, visible and material utterance worthy of its majesty and grandeur.” And the Trustees not long ago said: “New York is the chief city of the Western World. It impresses the imagination at every turn by visible evidence of the power and splendor of material achievements in American life. Such a city should be dominated by a building which, in its greatness, dignity and beauty, bears witness to those spiritual forces without which material achievement is valueless because soulless.”