The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-07
REvOL UTIONARY
IDEAS OF THE
REV, DR.. GIBSON
Holds His Church Up
to Criticism.
CREATED MARKED SURPRISE
USES THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
FOR COMPARISON.
CREATED MARKED SURPRISE
The Well Known Divine Advocates
an Open Door Policy for Prot
estant Institutions and
Less Grumbling.

! Rev j. George Gibson of Emmanuel
! Baptist Church created mild sensation
yesterday at the weekly meeting Of Bap-
| fist ministers by his criticisms on the
manner in which Protestant churches are
operated, erected and located. as com
pared with Catholic institutions. He d.
vided his usually interesting paper in six
subdivisions, and each contained sensa-
tional ideas The title of his paper, Les
sons From the Catholics" was sufficient
to arouse the interest of all present, and
its contents startled and amused his
brother ministers. In part he said;
Roman Catholics know how to build
Ghurehes IneX DO NOT put up sneIls VI , Iav
make up your mind it is mission, TO be re-
placed in a few years by splendid building td e
Anything may be good enough IN "nlch %
make beginning. but it is always resaIoeo
as 6egnn nS dWeI fhsy Pq is NOT sgasded as
a finished church Some day they intend 70
move out and amid weeping LOT Ia9 1tp an. am
pie that will stand to man and weather Ior
years. am not raising the question W ls
| they get the money-all say Is they snow nov gooo
sense in building houses that stand Tor years
| in their strength and majesty: -. e,s .,
tous. On the outside they are majestic ana IN
side they inspire silence and Devotion.
The speaker then went on to show that
the Catholics know where 10 build, ana IN
support of his assertions cited many in
stances where gOOQ was SIlO WI
in erecting sacred edihces, for snow IN
some cases and for work in others.
Other churches may grunble bout their 10
cations. but not the Catholics They select me
it. They don't pick a wrong location and then
grumbe. If the circumstances cRangs aTo1 a1l
They keep open every day. yet the. cost does
etsaI tSe candles to light up their rooms.
does the dude pluck movers iloHi '''7 4'1A -
put them in his button hole
DR.. Gibson then drew a fanciful picture
Of the light streaming through the stained
glass windows of a Catholic church ana
the activity within in contradlstlncIlon
to the inactivity in the protestant
churches.
There is always a sign Of life some token
Of enthusiasm that something is gong on l ne
ProTesfaDt church is always closed The dust
~ tse1e On the doorsteps where boys and girls
The silent Bile Of lumber suggests death idle
journey.
In advocating a wide-open door policy
for his church. the speaker gakS d sHG jts
methods and the manner IN Whlcn us
members drop in at all times 70 pray.
He then took a fling at MS coIle;agues oy
from their pastorate. CathollcS always
know where to find their priests, he said.
"A nriest can live in a house without
bay window and within the sound OF ham
ners and the smell of restaurants. Some
men thrive best when they are miles
away from what is known as home cook
ing" - ,.,+ -,
o.-iS+an+S and told how the Catholics
conducted their church and the number
of priests to carry on its services, and
then pointed out how minister OF tne
protestanf faith had to attend to all his
duties. and if he take an assistant and
pay him out of his, own pocket his con-
eerSgation would call him lazy; He cited
SiS 9oIUr3 case by saying that he had his
assistant lead in prayer one evening, and
members of his church remarked MS ap,
narent sloth whereas he had attended
and participated in nearly ten meetings
before evening service.
short discussion followed the conclu-
sion of the paper.