USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 4th series, 1885-1902 > Part 12
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sion. He was listened to from the beginning to the end of his sermon with undivided and intense attention. In the course of his sermon he sent a thrill through the great congregation by exclaiming, in his full, round tones, and with the impressive emphasis of which he was a master: 'Men are sent to hell for doing nothing.' He had hardly reached his seat before Dr. Poindexter was up, had announced his text, and had plunged, with characteristic vigor and fire, into his ser- mon. He told me afterwards that he saw the people had been wrought up by Dr. Burrows to a state of in- tense feeling, and he hoped to maintain it by omitting all introductory services and going right on with the sermon. With all his great powers, he hardly succeeded -partly, no doubt, because some had become weary from the unusual length of the service."
Another incident showing Dr. Burrows' power as a preacher must not be omitted. It is given by Mrs. Anna L. Price, and in her own words: "A young member of his church (Miss Mattie Braxton) had died, and her family, with other friends, had assembled to see her form for the last time and hear her pastor's funeral address. Dr. Burrows' text was: 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.' The preacher's tone, manner and words were inexpressibly touching, tender, and consoling. In the audience was a man of naturally noble character and great depth of feeling, but he was not a man given to weeping. This person was my own dear father (H. W. R.), gathered eighteen years since to the rest of God's dear children, for he died trusting in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I no- ticed the close, sad, breathless attention my father was giving to Dr. Burrows, whose oratorical power increased as he told of the love God bore his earthly children, of their preciousness in his sight; then, pausing, he leaned
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slightly beside his desk and added, most gently: 'And yet they die.' He told more of the Christian's privileges, gifts, mercies, personal keeping by the Holy Spirit. Again he paused, again leaned forward as though to touch every hearer and, with that wonderful pathos, said : 'And yet they die.' But my father was weeping violently, though quietly, and, on leaving the church, stood long beside one of those great pillars in front ere he could compose himself for the street. Need I add . more concerning the oratorical powers of the Rev. Dr. Burrows?" One more testimony as to Dr. Burrows' ability as a preacher. The late Professor John Hart said that he would rather listen to Dr. Burrows twice a week, year after year, than to any other preacher of his acquaintance. The Herald, upon this, remarked: "That is high praise when it is remembered that Mr. Hart heard Dr. Burrows twice a week through a series of years and has heard all the great preachers among the Baptists. Besides, he is an uncommonly fine judge of preaching."
Dr. Burrows came to Richmond on the eve of the War. His position would have been a difficult, perhaps an impossible, one for a man less wise, less gifted with the power of adaptation. "He made no promises, and no apologies. He came as one who had a call and who came to fulfil it. It was not long before he had won all hearts. The people believed in him and they cared not whence he came. Without the least compromise and yet with the utmost facility he glided into his place." The War but widened the sphere of his work and gave fuller scope to his tireless energy. His church, a favor- ite with the soldiers quartered in Richmond, was often so crowded with them that when the congregation rose to sing the galleries presented the appearance of a regi- ment on dress parade. He did not simply preach to the
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"boys in gray" when they came to him; he went to them. He preached a great deal in the camps and was as active as the most active in the great religious revival which swept through the army. When "appointed by Dr. J. Wm. Jones to preach four times one day, he gently pro- tested, suggesting that the work was being piled up "just a little too heavy." When reminded, however, that many of the soldiers were hearing their last message of salvation, he said : "All right; I'll fill these appoint- ments, and I would be glad if you could appoint me to preach six times to-morrow." While no man could sur- pass Dr. Burrows in attention to matters of dress and decorum in the pulpit, as well as elsewhere, the fact that he was not dependent on such conditions to preach his best is shown by an anecdote which has gone the rounds. When the wounded were moved back from Winchester to Staunton in July, 1863, Dr. Burrows made the whole distance of ninety miles on foot. Anxious to hear preaching, notwithstanding the fact that he had lost his coat on the way, he slipped into the Presbyterian Church at Harrisonburg Sunday morning and took a back seat, thinking that no one would know him. The minister, however, being informed who he was, asked him to preach. Dr. Burrows called attention to the fact that he had no coat. This was not accepted as a valid excuse, so he preached, as he was, in his shirt sleeves, a most excellent sermon. Dr. Burrows reached the soldiers also through the printed page. His sermon to the memory of Colonel Lewis Minor Coleman, Professor of Latin in the University of Virginia, entitled: "The Christian Scholar and Soldier," was published in tract form and widely circulated in the army.
Dr. Burrows, while ministering to the spiritual needs of the soldiers, could not be unmindful of their temporal wants. He was a zealous member of the Richmond
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Ambulance Corps. From the battlefield he would bear off in his arms the wounded of both armies. After the fight at Seven Pines he waded in the swamps to find and rescue the wounded. At Winchester he busied himself in the hospital with bucket and brush, scrubbing the floors.
"Over each of the twenty-one First Church 'boys in gray' who sealed their fate on the tented field, this great soul might have cried out as David over the slain Abso- lom: 'My son, my son, would that I had died for thee, my son, my son.' A glimpse of these dark days is given us by his own pen: 'We were drawn into closer fellow- ship by the terrible pressure of war. Our sons and brothers were in daily peril, and at many a funeral and over many a death where no home burial was possible we mingled our tears and our prayers together. We shared with each other our scant rations and bore the fearful privations of a besieged city, and the crushing disappointments and terrible losses and horrors of the closing scenes.'" After the War Dr. Burrows delivered a lecture on "The Evacuation of Richmond," which was eloquent and graphic in a high degree.
A few years after the War Dr. Warren Randolph was in Richmond when the following incident occurred. Referring to a horseback ride that he had with Dr. Bur- rows, Dr. Curry, and Professor Harris, Dr. Randolph says: "I remember an incident at Hollywood. As we all rode through the gate the keeper scanned us pretty closely. Dr. Burrows told him who we were, 'two were professors in Richmond College and two were Yankees' (both having lived in Philadelphia), but the keeper was not taken in by the clever joke. With a twinkle in his bright eye, as he turned to the shortest, stoutest man of the company, he said: 'I've seen you before,' when all joined heartily in the laugh."
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Dr. Burrows was popular and in demand among all denominations while in Richmond. He was interested in all plans for Christian, philanthropic, and patriotic endeavor. Rev. Dr. M. D. Hoge, in his address at the funeral, referred beautifully to this feature in Dr. Bur- rows' life and character, speaking, in part, as follows : "Nor can I forget the Sunday afternoon at the anniver- sary of the Virginia Bible Society in my church when Dr. Burrows preached the sermon in which he held up a small Bible in his hand and told us of the unsearchable riches, the inexhaustible mines of truth, and the unutter- able preciousness of the little volume, which had done more for the welfare of the human race than all the un- inspired libraries of the world. I can not now attempt to enumerate the varied departments of labor to which he gave his time and toil, some of them secular, all of them designed to advance the public good. There may be some in this assembly who formed a part of the great audience to which Edward Everett delivered his cele- brated oration, in which he urged the patriotic duty of rescuing the dwelling and tomb of Washington from the decay and desecration to which it was exposed, and of placing both under the guardianship of an association for the purpose-the Ladies' Mount Vernon Associa- tion-suggested first by a daughter of South Carolina. The prosecution of that work had no more ardent advo- cate than Dr. Burrows. His eloquent appeals in its be- half are still gratefully remembered by many of our citi- zens, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the noble work accomplished."
The graceful words of Dr. Tupper, spoken at the funeral, show us the man and the place he occupied in the city and State: "The greatness of this man of God comprehended conspicuously the suavity, kindliness, gen- erosity, the magnanimity, broad-heartiness of the cul-
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tured Christian gentleman, whence flowed innumerable acts of pleasantness, favor, self-forgetfulness, charity, which made him when resident here and viewed in his relations with all classes, conditions and associations of society, in peace and in war, perhaps the most popular, admired, and beloved citizen of the town, if not of the Commonwealth."
In the general wreck and ruin of war, Richmond Col- lege had not escaped. After the surrender, like every- thing else in the South, it had to begin its work almost from the foundation. Its buildings had been defaced, its students and faculty scattered, its endowment well- nigh destroyed. At the meeting of the General Asso- ciation, in June, 1866, the Education Board reported that during the year they had "collected no funds, assisted no young men, transacted no business." "On this report the ardent, buoyant Burrows and the fervid over-mas- tering Poindexter spoke like the prophets Zechariah and Haggai in the olden time in eloquent appeals to rise up and build." A motion to reopen the college was carried with enthusiasm and the trustees appointed as a Com- mittee on New Organization, J. L. Burrows, James Thomas, Jr., and J. B. Jeter. Thus was Richmond Col- lege set on its feet again. Besides being a trustee, Dr. Burrows was president of the Education Board, or, as Professor Harris says, he was the Education Board. He devised and carried out a scheme for supporting a num- ber of young men who were absolutely without funds. The farmers throughout the State, though unable to give money, willingly responded with boxes of provisions. The express companies transported these supplies at a nominal cost. So a mess was established and a plan wrought out which, in a modified form, has worked and proved a blessing among us ever since. In referring to this period of Dr. Burrows' life, Professor Harris says :
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"Of his services to the cause of ministerial education it is not too much to say that he, more than any other, created an uplift of our whole denomination in the State."
Again, in 1873, the "Memorial Year," Dr. Burrows did splendid work for the cause of education. Upon motion of H. K. Ellyson, it had been determined by the General Association to undertake the raising of $300,- 000. Dr. Burrows was called on to organize and direct the campaign. For this work he was released by his church for twelve months. But for the financial panic, with its famous "Black Friday," the whole amount would doubtless have been raised. And the $150,000 which was actually paid in is "a lasting memorial, not only to the liberality of the donors, but of the marvelous zeal and energy of him who managed its collection."
It may not be necessary to record here all the lines of denominational work in which Dr. Burrows was use- ful. The Richmond Female Institute had in him a warm friend; he was for six years president, and for a longer period a member of the Foreign Mission Board; three times was he elected one of the vice-presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Dr. Burrows', cheerfulness, Christian urbanity, and genial cordiality gave him at once an indescribable charm and a far-reaching power over all with whom he came in contact. Children loved him, and no wonder. He was childlike in spirit. One summer day, a number of little girls, in their dainty evening attire, were amusing themselves, near the First Church, by jumping rope on the pavement. Dr. Burrows came down the street. One little girl playfully exclaimed : "Every one that passes must jump." With a smile of great good humor and with the agility of a boy, Dr. Burrows leaped well over the rope and went on, to the amusement and delight of the children.
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While Dr. G. B. Taylor was chaplain at the University . of Virginia, Dr. Burrows came one year to preach the commencement sermon and was Dr. Taylor's guest. One evening, at the tea table, some subject in the conversation greatly interested Mary, a tot with long golden curls. After considerable self-control, she could restrain her- self no longer, and with great animation made her com- ment, interrupting whoever was speaking. Her mother tried to repress her, but Dr. Burrows was on Mary's side, pleading in his rich voice for her: "Oh, mamma, let the little one talk."
There never was a man more considerate of other people's feelings, or more ready to make amends when perchance he had given offense. In a controversy with one of his brethren, the latter became so offended that he declined to speak to the Doctor, or, at least, he evaded him whenever he came near. At last Dr. Burrows met the offended brother on Main Street and, grasping him by the hand, said: "I will speak to you; you may be right and I may be wrong. At any rate, we are not children, but Christian brethren, and we will be on good terms as heretofore."
In 1873, after a married life of some thirty-eight years, Dr. Burrows was called on to mourn the death of his wife. She was buried in Hollywood, where al- most twenty years later he found his last resting-place by her side. To Dr. Burrows three children were born, two sons and a daughter. The daughter married Pro- fessor W. Winston Fontaine and died in Texas in 1889. The sons were Rev. Lansing Burrows, D. D., at present the pastor of the Baptist Church at Americus, Ga., and for many years one of the secretaries of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Mason Mitchell Burrows, who died in 1863.
In 1874, Dr. Burrows resigned the pastorate of the First Church, Richmond, to accept a call to the Broad-
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way Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky. Here Dr. Bur- rows remained about seven years. During this pas- torate he sustained a heavy loss in the destruction by fire of his library and all his sermons. So great was Dr. Burrows' energy, so varied had his reading and culture been, so active was his mind, that he doubtless was much less disturbed by the devastation wrought by the flames than most preachers would have been. A series of ser- mons which Dr. Burrows preached in Louisville on the "Prodigal Son," whether they were delivered before or after the fire is not known, were most favorably re- ceived. Rev. R. L. Thurman pronounced them the best sermons on the subject he had ever heard. Afterwards when Dr. Burrows preached the same series in Norfolk, and they were printed in one of the city papers, Dr. An- drew Broaddus was much impressed with them and thought they were worthy of a more permanent form.
While in Louisville he was called on suddenly to speak at the Bardstown Institute Commencement, the ap- pointed orator having been detained at the eleventh hour. His acceptance saved the college officers from an awk- ward situation and gave evidence of the spirit of the man. The address which he made on the humming bird delighted the audience.
In 1882, Dr. Burrows left Broadway and became pas- tor of the Freemason Street Church, Norfolk, Virginia. This was, strictly speaking, his last pastorate. One can but be impressed with the vitality and energy of a man who at sixty-eight years of age was willing and able to undertake the pastorate of a large city church. He was equal to the situation, doing a valuable work, "not only in the church, but also in the city, in creating and developing the missionary or evangelical spirit which had been so lacking before."
After Dr. Burrows had been at Freemason Street some nine years, feeling that his health was declining,
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he decided to resign. For a time he was uncertain where he would next make his home. At this juncture an episode occurred which did credit to all concerned. The venerable man of God received a most beautiful and affectionate letter from the First Church, Richmond, asking the privilege of entertaining him as their guest for the years yet remaining to him and enclosing a check for $225. The church had taken this action by a unani- mous rising vote and had entrusted the matter to a com- mittee, consisting of the pastor, Dr. George Cooper, and Dr. W. D. Thomas, John C. Williams, William F. Har- wood, and R. D. Ward. Dr. Burrows declined the invi- tation, deciding to spend the closing years of life under the roof-tree of his son, in Augusta. Although arrived at the ripe age of seventy-seven, he was not content to be without work in his new home. So he became the stated supply for the Ways Church, located some thirty- one miles from Augusta and near Stellaville. Once a month, on Thursday or Friday before the first Sunday in each month, he went out to his charge, to be present at the Saturday conference of the church and to visit some among the members, as well as to preach on the Lord's Day. It was on one of these trips that he re- ceived his summons to depart and be with Christ. Nor did the summons find him unwilling or unprepared. A few weeks before he had said to a friend: "Death has no terrors for me . and I have no craving to live.
I am going home."
The end came, as he had wished it might, suddenly. On the first of January, 1893, being Sunday, he preached at Ways from the text: "Be ready for every good work." Titus 3:1. This was his last public utterance, and his hearers report that he was un- usually tender and gracious. He spent Sunday night at the home of A. C. Taylor, one of his members. The next morning, having walked out on the farm and
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watched the hands at work, he returned to the house and started up the porch steps. He paused, sat down on the second step, his head drooped to one side, and when friends reached him he was dead.
Funeral services were held in Augusta, a memorial sermon being preached from the text: "I have fought a good fight," by Dr. Henry McDonald, of Atlanta, but Dr. Burrows' request that his remains should be taken to Richmond was not disregarded. The services in Rich- mond, held in the old First Church, especially draped for the occasion, were presided over by Rev. W. D. Thomas, addresses being made by Drs. Cooper, Tupper, Hoge, Hatcher, and Harris. It seemed very fitting that he should sleep his last sleep in the soil of Virginia, where the larger part of his ministry had been spent-in Holly- wood, the necropolis of that city to which his ripest and richest years had been given.
The memorial services which were held both in Louis- ville and Norfolk, and the numerous notices that ap- peared in the various religious and secular papers, showed that the cry of our Southern Baptist Zion was :
"O fallen at length, that tower of strength,
Which stood four square to all the winds that blew."
The sturdy vigor of body and mind which he had in- herited from his ancestors was the substructure for a solid and beautiful character which, under the grace of God, he built up through fourscore years. A true man, a sympathetic friend, a wise counselor, a bold leader, an eloquent preacher, a faithful pastor, a champion of edu- cation, an indomitable worker, a thorough Baptist, truly a veteran had fallen whose place would be hard to fill.
JOSEPH ASCHAM BILLINGSLEY
In the First Series of "Lives of Virginia Baptist Min- isters" there is a sketch of Elder John Ascham Billings- ley ; his son's name stands at the head of this page; some future volume of this series will doubtless contain the name and record of Rev. Joseph F. Billingsley of the third generation. Joseph Ascham Billingsley, whose mother was Sally Duerson, was born at "Salem," his father's home near Spottsylvania Court-House, Virginia, February 11, 1817. Spottsylvania County is famous as the scene of the persecution of Baptist preachers and the bloody battles fought on her soil. In this county and the county of King George most of Mr. Billings- ley's life was spent. Since his father's home was "satu- rated with Christian influences," it is no wonder that he united with the church when quite young. When the father of this home passed away, of his nine children all save one were members of the church. At first young Joseph was a member of the old historic church, Wal- ler's, in Spottsylvania, but in February, 1841, he moved his membership to Massaponax Church, near Fredericks- burg, since that was nearer his home. Here he was licensed to preach, and then, in December, 1842, or- dained, while the next year he became pastor of this flock, succeeding, it seems, Elder Lawrence Battaile, Jr. He served this church for fourteen years, and before this period had expired he had come to be pastor of Waller's, Piney Branch, and Salem churches, in Spottsylvania County. In 1851 he was called to the care of Shiloh Church, in King George County. In 1854, Zoar Church, Spottsylvania County, was organized, largely through
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his influence. He served this church and Hanover, King George County, until a year or so before his death. Towards the end of his life he was' supply and pastor of Sharon, Orange County, and Hebron, Spottsylvania. A year or so before the end came his failing health made it necessary to give up active work. At his home, near King George Court-House, he lived the last thirty-five years of his pilgrimage. He was twice married, and was the father of sixteen children. His first wife was Miss Connor. His second wife, who was a sister of Rev. Dr. John L. Johnson, now of Clinton, Miss., sur- vived him. His death occurred on April 12, 1893.
This sketch may appropriately close with words spoken concerning the work and character of Mr. Bil- lingsley by two men who knew him well. Rev. W. J. Decker, who furnished some of the facts used above, and who was baptized by him, says of him: "His the- ology was Pauline, almost hypercalvinistic. The writer, sitting at the feet of Dr. Boyce and others in the Semi- nary, did not have to unlearn his theology. It had been learned in early life under the ministry of this man of God, his pastor. . In his day the temperance cause came to be agitated. After some hesitation, he became its advocate. With all the force of his nature, training and Christian convictions, he proclaimed and defended the cause. He was by many held to be an extremist. His stand for temperance brought him into conflict with some of his brethren. His sensitive nature and their opposition caused not a breach, but a coolness and some estrangement. To him the situation was not pleasant, for he loved the friendship and fellowship of his breth- ren with an intensity born of the spirit."
Rev. Dr. George W. Beale says : "He was a true suc- cessor and imitator of the older men who rode on horse- back fifty, sixty or seventy miles to meet their appoint-
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ments and were wont to hold meetings in various private houses along their route of travel. For more than forty years he was engaged in labors on widely separated fields, and rode in heat and cold from lower King George to upper Spottsylvania. The religious history of King George County for the past fifty years could not be written without large reference to his work. It was in the dark days of the War that I knew a score of men who belonged to his church and were reared under his ministry, and they wore their religion as they wore their uniforms. On the march and by the campfires they sang the songs of Jesus which they had learned in old Han- over Church. The snows of winter did not cool and the heat of battle did not dissolve the love of Christ and His cause in their hearts. Brother Billingsley held opin- ions during most of his ministerial life adverse to the Associational union of churches, and his churches were independent and separate in this respect; nevertheless, they did not fail to send annually a liberal gift to the cause of missions. More than any other minister I have ever known was J. A. Billingsley a devout and prayerful student of the Bible; more than any other of my ac- quaintance had he imbibed in heart and memory the pre- cise language with which the Holy Spirit has revealed in New Testament and the Old the will and the word of God. He was not a man of books, but of The Book."
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