The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-14

1 do not think that any young man with COM
nonsense, whether minister or business man,
would want women coming round to MS busy
quarters.
I think that high standard of womanhood
would prevent pastor even int1matlng that
women cannot come to his study. 1t is q low
standard of manhood that intimateS anything
else.
Every Christian minister should be both
strong and gentle, and he cannot com blne both
elements and ignore ideal womanhood.
I have noticed cutie number of times that
those fearful OF wrongdolng have proved most
liable TO do II.
The Rev. DR.. Mackenzie, pastor of the
First Presbyterian Church:
Pastoral calling and duties are as old as the
church. The methods are long esta blished
The minister must expect to be called on by
those i'll trouble, in sorrow, in need or seeking
counsel for their Christian lives. This is a
necessary part and must be q prominent part
OF the ministry of Jesus Christ. The number
OF times II has been abused is so very small
that l see no good reason for modifying it at
this late day. Personally l receive such calls
at my own house, butif it is more convenient
for other ministers TO do so in study in the
church they are entitled TO the exercise of
their own judgment. As a pastor l have been
called upon TO visit the sick, the dying, the
needy in all parts OF the City by day and by
night, and when could l have gone, and in
tend 10 go as long as am in the ministry. The
unnumbered multitude of the sincere who call
on or for us should not be made to suffer from
the wrongdoing OF the nefarious few who may
The Rev. w. A. Gardner, pastor of the
West Side Christian Church:
do not think calls upon the pastor in his
study are right. l told man to-day that
would not have a study separated from my
house. Women will run into the study and
think It a very very bad thing. have always
opposed it.
The very purest of men will get tales about
them. There is always a chance for scandal
when minister promiscuousIy permits women
10 come 10 his study. Pastors should do their
receiving in their houses with their families.
Some women would go to study that would
never call under other circumstances.
| have known great many scandals to
originate from visits 10 ministers studies. l
think that the pastor that has wife should
make g great many OF his visits with his wife
: / presume that there are very few pastors
that do not receive requests to make calls that
they cannot respond to. There is no class OF
people more imposed upon by designing per-
sons than ministers. When receive an invita-
ton from some one don't know TO call throw
the letter in the waste basket or else take my
wife with me.
There are very few congregations that have
not in them people that talk too much, but the
greatest danger TO the preachers reputation is
from the outside. from his enemies and from
the common enemies OF religion, who are
always eager TO credit and circulate damaging
things about clergyman.
l think that the peculiar circumstances by
which DR.. Brown was surrounded, the factions
Ill his church, the opposition to him and the
extreme dislike of him by several of the con-
gregation caused him when Mrs. Davidson ap-
preached him 10 MAKE great mistake, that he
would not otherwise have made, in paying her
$500.
The Rev. w. R. Goodwin, pastor of the
California-street Methodist Church:
have been pastor for nearly forty years
and have never had any trouble result from
calls made al my study. But when l came to
San Francisco about year ago l thought it
well from the different conditions here 10 con-
fine the calls to the pastorate. l used to an
nounce my prospective calls from the pulpit
every sunday, giving four days week 10 Wis
lting among the congregation, but found that
l could not do that here
l think 1t has come to pretty pass If
preacher cannot visit the families of his con-
gregation without his motives being ques-
toned.
To begin with, pastor ought to have COM
mon sense. [ find that when women of the
town find man has common sense thew are
not going to bother him.
A shepherd ought TO know his sheep, and
pastor ought to know his congregation. He
ought to receive calls at the pastorate. Some
mems chief strength is in their sociability, and
their force with the congregation may depend
largely upon the exercise OF that influence.
AS for myself I would not want to make
statement from my pulpit requesting people
not TO come TO my study, Tor it would seem to
me to be an insinua ton that some of the con-
gregation were not what they ought to be, and
they might very properly resent it
The Rev. DR.. Spalding, pastor of st.
Johns Episcopal Church:
There will always be designing women as
there are designing men, and precautions that
criticize the innocent many for the evil few
are manifestly unjust.
AS in the past, so in the present, if Gods
servant be doing his duty he can rest assured
that God will make his just dealing clear
eS the light"
Edwards Davis, minister of the Central
Christian Church, Oakland:
take occasion to reply to the recent utter
Of Y Marshall IsI 1rjt
forbidding the admission of ladies into his
study, indeed, into the pale OF his presence,
without the company of an escort or in the
cognizance OF his wife.
, This impetuous plunge into punctilious pro-
prlety; this self-ostraciZation from society can
mean but little more than personal abnega-
ton. The timorous voice of protest from a
man against the entertainments OF women
sounds like the echo OF monks please don't
touch me" from the ruined cloisters OF the
dark eccleslastic ages. If the ministry is to be
muzzled because a dog has bitten-nay God
Will close our mouths when the waters from
the fountain shall prove bitter The man or
woman that cannot be trusted in the dark OF
the night can but deceive and damn in the
light of day.
And what a rotten fabrication that has made
a man draw round his frame the pharisaic robes
OF righteousness Who can prohibit calumny;
who is beyond false accusation? Was not Christ
condemned? And what though there is guilt
IN one, who among you Is without sin?" In
the case that has caused this affected modesty
who is guilty but the judges OF the unconvicted
dccuSeQ.
l cannot believe that the ministry, and those
that have expressed themselves similarly to
the utterance under consideration, can have
realized that their position of personal protec-
ton is an insult to real womanhood. If women
are to be prohibited from ministers studies.
shall they not be excluded from physicians
Offices and artists studios? Ridiculous idea!
Think OF a working woman having to engage a
chaperone TO consult minister of God about
the way TO heaven! The scarlet sins of the in
iquitous cannot tinge the cheek with even
blush, where blood flows freely from heart of
purity.
The Rev. DR.. Williams of Plymouth Con-
gregational Church referred Sunday night
during his extemporaneous sermon to Wis
its TO the pastors study. He said that he
believed that a great many ministers in
the City had in the last twenty four hours
been approached on the subject. "Many
of YOU" be continued, "wili see express
sions of this question in the morning pa
pers. would not insult the good women
of this church or any other congregation
by insinuating that | am to them some
thing besides minister of Jesus Christ"
Rev. Philip Graft, pastor of the First
Free Baptist Church of Oakland:
Notwithstanding the recent scandal, empha-
sizing prudence of conduct on the part of the
clergyman in his relation TO women, it seems
to me as rule ethically unsound and NOR