The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-05-27
WHEN SHALL THE PASTOR CALL


the rural districts, the call of the
pastor upon family of his flock was
an incident of grave importance. To
have no call at all would be considered
a cut to be resented, and too many
calls on a few selected members a
matter for jealousy. Then, too,
distinction was always made between
the minister and pastor-th one was
admired in the pulpit and the other
in the home. Henry Ward Beecher
was great preacher, but he had no
time for pastoral work-he could not
visit all his immense congregation,
comfort the dying and bury the dead,
and so left this to subordinates. But
the ordinary minister of the day can
not make this division of labor. He
must be in both pulpit and home, see
the wedding merriment and the sad
ness of the grave. It is thought by.
many that the good pastor is prefera-
bic to the brilliant pulpit orator. 1t
is the close confidential talk and SYM
pathy and not the general utterance,
the prayer by the bedside and not the
eloquent defamation in the pulpit,
which brings religion into the daily
life of congregation. The pastors
calls on members are, therefore, in
dispensable, and the question arises
when should he make his visitations? (?
This is bigger question than ap-
pears at first glance, and has lately
been brought into prominence by
Bishop Berry of the Methodist Church,
who has startled the clergy and the
laity by warning pastors against after
noon calls upon their lady parish
toner's when the husband aud the
head of the house is not at home.
The warning appears to have been
taken by certain pastors in its worst
possible sense, and, having done so,
some of them have taken offense. In
making pastoral calls the purpose is
supposed to be the spiritual welfare
of the entire household. In order to
be most effective they should be made
when the husband, who is usually
most in need of spiritual support, is
home from his daily business, and
when the children, if there are chill
dren, are. nome from school. One
such cali, which reaches the whole
household directly, is worth dozen
pastoral counsels with the lady of the
house.
Many pastors have taken ofense
because there is in the bishops ad-
monition a suggestion of possible
temptation which may result in some
thing destructive to the happiness of
the family and disgraceful to the COM
munity and religion. A moderate
criticism of the bishops warning is to
be expected by those who feel that
he has reflected upon the morality of
the clerical body, but they should re-
member the opinion of Hamlet s
mother concerning the action of the
player queen. She was wise wo-
man in the worldly way, and her
familiarity with wickedness led her
to remark: "The lady protests too
much.'' In this case too violent pro-
test might invoke rejoinder, with cita-
ton of unfortunate cases whie b make
ample apology for the bishops sug-
| gestion.
Rev. Reed Stuart took rational
view of the case when he said: L
suppose the bishop thought his warn
ing necessary or he would not have
made it." The fact is that the sane
tity of the home cannot be too care
fully safeguarded. Temptation and
sin do not always take flight from the
ministers of faith, and we are occa-
sionally reminded that human nature
is frail and prone to error. Our Occi-
dental civilization leaves the door OF
the home wide open, while the Orien-
tai keeps his harem tightly closed.
| 1t is probable that both are extreme
in their respective methods. The
suggestion of wrong seems to have
| banished the suggestion of good in
this case. All the clergy must agree
that a family assembly offers better
opportunity for a pastoral call than a
visit that is devoted entirely to the
lady of the house. Lancaster (Pa.
Examiner.