USA > Virginia > Virginia Baptist ministers. 5th series, 1902-1914, with supplement > Part 17
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tion. After his speech was over he sought out the venerable citizen, but upon thanking him for his helpful attention, he received this reply: "Oh, 'twarn't that- 'twarn't that. I waz jest a-thinkin' that er young feller like you might do somethin' fer hisself in this world if he'd jest quit that tarnal foolishness uv a-goin' over the country a-makin' uv speeches. What in the name of common sense is yer a-throwin' away yer time fer when ye can be a-doin' of somethin' shore 'nuff ?" About the same time Mr. David Cook, a wealthy planter and a friend of Mr. Hawthorne's father, along with Col. Richard Hawthorne, his cousin, urged the young man to become a minister of the gospel. Col. Hawthorne did more than argue the matter. He made an appointment for the young lawyer to preach, and, without waiting for the young man's consent, put out messengers whose announcement collected a large crowd. Eventually, as a result, surely in a measure, of these various experiences, Mr. Hawthorne decided to give up the law and become a preacher.
His decision to preach and his marriage came near the same time. On August 27, 1857, he and Miss Emma Hutchinson, who was only sixteen years old, were united in marriage, and the next month he began his theological studies at Howard College, Marion, Ala. During this course at Howard the President, Dr. Henry Talbird, often took young Hawthorne out into the country and put him up to preach, believing that the only way to learn how to preach is to preach. While at Howard the young couple had their first great sorrow in the death of their firstborn, Yancey Boardman. During his first vacation, being in Mobile, Mr. Hawthorne was called on to preach. His text was: "Prisoners of hope." It is known that two persons were converted under this sermon. One was Mrs. Hawthorne. Some months afterwards a sea
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captain, who was baptized by Rev. Dr. Powhatan E. Collins, one of the Mobile pastors, testified that seemingly by accident he had heard the sermon about the "prisoners of hope" and had been converted. With another early sermon of Mr. Hawthorne an amusing incident is con- nected. Since it was his habit to write very carefully what he expected to say, and then commit to memory, his stock of sermons was marked by quality rather than by quantity. At the end of the session he arranged for a series of preaching appointments, hoping thus both to do good and to replete his pocket-book. At the first appointment his sermon on "Rejoice evermore" so charmed a Mrs. C- that she decided to hear him at Fatama, and again she heard the sermon on the words: "Rejoice evermore." At Concord, for the third time, and at Pineville, for the fourth, she heard the same sermon. During his last session at Howard he and his fellow-student, J. Alexander Chambliss, planned a preaching tour through southern Alabama. Between them they had fifteen sermons, Hawthorne eight and Chambliss seven. When these fifteen sermons had been preached at one point the young preachers moved on to the next place. No amount of persuasion, no high degree of interest could induce the young theologians to con- tinue their meeting when once the fifteen sermons had been preached. Doubtless the people at each place won- dered and never knew why the services could not pos- sibly be continued. Not long after this, in a meeting, Mr. Hawthorne was forced to go on beyond the eight sermons by reason of the sudden illness of the pastor he was helping, and the impossibility of getting any other preacher. Against his serious protest the meeting was thrust upon him. He threw himself on God, the meeting went on, and before its close some eighty persons had made profession of their faith in Christ. He was
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ordained to the ministry at Friendship Church, Pine Apple, Wilcox County, Alabama, September 22, 1859.
During the first year of his ministry, while living at Pine Apple and preaching to Fellowship, Friendship, and Snow Hill Churches, he had much time for study and reading. And in his leisure moments he undertook to learn to play on the violin, but his wife's verdict that he had no gift for music led him to give up this pursuit. After one year he became pastor of the Broad Street Church of Mobile. Here, besides being most popular as a preacher, he carried on, in the columns of the South- western Baptist, of which paper Dr. Samuel Henderson was editor, a discussion with Rev. J. J. D. Renfroe on the principles of Landmarkism, Mr. Hawthorne opposing these views. When the Civil War came on he became the chaplain of the 21st Alabama Regiment of Volun- teers, his church continuing to pay his salary. About this time a book appeared entitled "Armageddon." It de- clared that the world would be destroyed about 1863. Mr. Hawthorne adopted the author's view and preached more than once a sermon setting forth this startling announcement. An old carpenter by the name of Hutto, hearing that the sermon was to be preached at Rock West, got on his horse and rode twenty-five miles across the country to that point. Upon his arrival he announced that he wanted to see Board Hawthorne. He was informed that the preacher had already gone into the pul- pit, and that he could see him after the service. That would not do. He must see him at once. But why such urgency? He wanted to get the preacher to put off the end of the world for a while until the South could whip the terrible Yankees.
The years of the Civil War sorely tried the Southern people, and the Reconstruction Period was worse. In the fall of 1865 Mr. Hawthorne became pastor at Green-
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ville, Ala. After a year here, during which time great crowds attended his ministry and the church house was renovated, he accepted a call to Selma, one of the best pastorates in the State. The problem presented by the awful coalition of the negroes and their unscrupulous white leaders was one that no loyal citizen could disre- gard. One day Mr. Hawthorne heard that a certain Dr. Henry, a "scalawag," was leading a throng of negroes, proposing to occupy and use the First Baptist Church. Mr. Hawthorne informed them that they could not carry out their plan. The town was threatened with a mob. Inflammatory speeches were made. Various citi- zens spoke, but Mr. Hawthorne's words did more than all else to save the day. The troubled state of affairs led Mr. Hawthorne, Rev. W. Joseph Lowry, the Presby- terian pastor, and Rev. C. N. Campbell, the Methodist pastor, to begin a series of union services. A daily prayer-meeting was held at eleven o'clock in the Metho- dist Church, its location being the most central. The meeting grew so in power that instead of one service each day three were held, at the hours of nine, eleven, and five. Throngs attended. For five weeks the special services continued. So far as the Baptist Church was concerned, the revival spirit prevailed for two years. Quietly, in "an atmosphere vibrant with prayer and praise," the good work went on, each Sunday witnessing an ingathering of souls.
Mr. Hawthorne's first appearance before the Southern Baptist Convention resulted in his being called to the Franklin Square Baptist Church of Baltimore. In 1867 the Convention met in that city. Upon the advice of his friend, J. L. M. Curry, Mr. Hawthorne decided to attend the meeting. The weather turned suddenly quite cool, and Mr. Hawthorne had to purchase heavier clothes. He was so tall that he was not able to obtain a ready-made
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suit that really fit him. Through the influence of J. L. M. Curry, Mr. Hawthorne was put up Sunday afternoon at a great mass-meeting to speak on what was then designated Domestic Missions. His appearance, in his short trousers and his ill-fitting coat, was not pre- possessing. During the War he had pressed the claims of this Board most successfully, and this, doubtless, was an element in the success of his address in Baltimore. His appeal was a masterly oratorical effort, and gave him high rank as a speaker among Southern Baptists. The following fall he began his Baltimore pastorate. The condition of the church was not the best, but with holy boldness the new pastor began a meeting with a sun- rise prayer-meeting every morning and a service each night. The work went on for six weeks, the pastor doing all the preaching. The church was refreshed and its membership greatly increased. At the last service, during the singing of the last hymn, a wealthy wholesale merchant, who afterwards became a tower of strength and influence for God, made public profession of his faith in Christ.
From Baltimore Mr. Hawthorne went to Albany, N. Y. He remained here less than a year. Some trouble with his throat led him to go to Albany, but its too severe winter climate made it necessary for him to leave. His next pastorate was in Louisville. Here he led the colony of ninety-six members who went out from the Walnut Street Church to organize the Broadway Church. Dur- ing his four years here the membership grew to over four hundred, and at a cost of $108,000 a beautiful meeting- house was built. The Tabernacle Church, New York City, was his next charge. His preaching here was marked in an unusual degree by his direct appeals to the heart rather than the head, and great crowds attended upon his ministry. As pastor, no less than in the pulpit,
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he gave himself to unremitting labors. His incessant labors brought upon him a serious illness. For six months he was in a most critical condition. His life was despaired of. His brother pastor, Dr. R. S. MacArthur, who visited him often, one day bade him farewell, never expecting to greet him again in the flesh. The night that the crisis was successfully passed five hundred people were praying together for his recovery. His people ordered him away for a six months' rest, putting into his hands a purse of $1,400. Afton, Va., that beautiful spot on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge overlooking the fair fields of Nelson, whither Mr. Haw- thorne now turned, came to be the place to which he went again and again in after years for seasons of rest and vacation. The Goodloes were famous hosts, and the chance for deer along the mountain side afforded a sport in which he gloried.
His experiences in Albany and New York convinced Mr. Hawthorne that a northern climate did not suit him, and he decided never to accept another charge in the North. Simultaneously calls came to him from the Second Baptist Church, Richmond, and the First Baptist Church, Montgomery. He accepted the call to Mont- gomery. For years the galleries in the meeting-house had been of no use. This was the case no longer. Crowds attended. A great meeting was held, some two hundred and fifty being added to the church. The pulpit of the First Baptist Church became a mighty power in the city against evil. Mr. Hawthorne was fearless in his attacks on the saloon, gambling, and other forms of sin. He was now in the very zenith of his power. People came from distant parts of the State to hear him. His broadsides against sin were tremendous. He was sub- jected to adverse criticism, but this did not make him change his methods. The reach of his power was great ;
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he was easily the first citizen of the State. In 1879, after four years in Montgomery, he accepted a call to the First Baptist Church in Richmond, Va. Dr. J. L. M. Curry, a member of the church in Richmond, had no small influence in having his church call Mr. Hawthorne. From the very first the great auditorium of the First Church was scarcely equal to the crowds that gathered to hear him. Chairs had to be used. He gathered around him here a body of young men who proved one of the church's best assets. He was always a lover and admirer of young men. He was almost a hero-worshiper of young men of promise in the ministry. During his Richmond pastorate he had to help him in a meeting Rev. A. C. Dixon, a young man just coming into notice. Some doubted the wisdom of having this unknown young man for so important a work. Mr. Hawthorne carried his point, and the result proved that he was right; the meeting was a great and blessed one. One of the con- verts was a Dutchman, who was so big in body that his baptism was, to say the least, not a success, although Mr. Hawthorne was famous for his grace and dexterity on such occasions. While in Richmond he was most active in promoting the interests of Richmond College and the Woman's College. So great was his influence for good in Richmond that when he received, in 1884, a call to the First Church in Atlanta, Dr. Curry said if he accepted he would feel inclined to call him an insane man. But the call to Atlanta was accepted.
Dr. Hawthorne was pastor in Atlanta thirteen years. Memorable in this pastorate was the temperance agita- tion, in which Dr. Hawthorne bore a most conspicuous part. First the State was carried for temperance, and then came the campaign for Atlanta and its county, Fulton. Sam Jones, Henry Grady, and J. B. Hawthorne were the three great figures on the side of temperance in
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this contest. The struggle was fearful. The liquor interests brought into battle their greatest power. At last the day of election came. After hours at the polls Dr. Hawthorne went to his home worn out. Some hours later the family heard the approach of the crowd. The result was unknown, and Mrs. Hawthorne feared that the whiskey people, victorious, were coming to do violence to their archenemy. Not so. The crowd surged
into the yard, shouting to their leader: "It is all right,
Doctor, we've got 'em." During the campaign Judge
Lockrane was so convinced of the sin of using ardent spirits as a beverage that he decided to empty all the choice wines and liquors of his cellar into the gutter. He called on Dr. Hawthorne to be present at this function ; nor would he allow an old colored mammy to catch a
little of the old liquor to keep for cases of sickness. While in Atlanta, Dr. Hawthorne would have led his people in the erection of a larger and more commodious house of worship, but what seems, to a looker-on, to be the merely sentimental associations of an old member,
stood in the way of this forward movement. While in Atlanta, Dr. Hawthorne had been the orator at the semi- centennial of Howard College. Upon this occasion there was conferred upon him the degree of M. A. (It will be remembered that in his student days he had left col-
lege before receiving his degree. ) Always a friend of
education, while in Atlanta Dr. Hawthorne led in the movement that resulted in the establishment, in the suburbs of the city, of a great school for women. When the Southern Baptist Convention met in Birmingham,
Ala., in 1891, an invitation for the next year came from
Baltimore. The Baltimore brethren, believing that the
time had arrived to do away with the "free-entertain- ment" plan, had the courage to recommend what prom- ised to be an unpopular plan, though wise. The com-
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mittee to which the matter was referred having no option in the matter, since there was no other invitation, reported in favor of going to Baltimore. At once Dr. Hawthorne was on his feet asking the Convention to come to Atlanta, "And," said he, "we do not ask you to bring your grub with you." The Convention went to Atlanta.
A call to the First Church, Nashville, came, and he accepted it. His departure from Atlanta was an ovation. Crowds of his friends thronged to the station to say fare- well, many bearing tokens of their admiration and love. His journey to Nashville was made in the private car of Maj. John W. Thomas, of Nashville. As had been the case elsewhere, so it was in Nashville-his pulpit was his throne. From it went forth powerful denunciation of sin. Here he took up arms against the American Pro- tective Association, which he thought threatened to violate the great doctrine of religious liberty. It need not be said that temperance still found in him a mighty friend. While in Nashville he began to be a great sufferer from sciatica. This affliction, while it inter- rupted his ministry, may have made his preaching gain in tenderness. In April, 1906, he resigned to accept a less strenuous work as pastor of the Grove Avenue Church, Richmond, Va.
Grove Avenue was Dr. Hawthorne's last charge. Conditions at this church were not ideal. The congrega- tion was not large, and other difficulties presented them- selves. Yet Dr. Hawthorne met the situation with the courage of a young man. Suddenly an unexpected emergency arose. The meeting-house was destroyed by fire. The people, led by their dauntless pastor, soon erected a structure more beautiful and capacious than the first house had been. Increasing ill health induced Dr. Hawthorne to offer his resignation. The Southern Bap- tist Convention, at its meeting in Chattanooga, upon
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motion of Rev. Dr. G. W. Truett, passed a resolution requesting Dr. Hawthorne to deliver, the next year, an address "upon such subject as he may deem best." The following year, at the meeting of the Convention in Rich- mond, Dr. Hawthorne delivered the address that had been asked of him, his subject being: "Some things on which it behooves Baptists of this generation to put supreme emphasis." By order of the Convention it was printed in tract form. It so happened that during this session of the Convention Dr. Hawthorne's seventieth birthday came around. On this day a pleasant surprise was sprung upon him at the breakfast table at Ford's Hotel, which was at the time his home. Friends who were staying at this hotel gave him a gold-headed cane properly inscribed, the presentation speech by Dr. H. W. Battle being followed by a poem composed and read by Dr. D. W. Gwin. After closing his work as a pastor Dr. Hawthorne made several lecture tours through the South, receiving at place after place what might be called ovations at the hands of his friends and admirers. Finally, however, after a sermon at Charlotte, N. C., on October 17, 1909, when, in a high degree, his "pristine power seemed to return," his strength failed so rapidly that, after one or two appointments, other engagements had to be cancelled. The winter of 1909-10 was severe, and for several months he scarcely left the house. In the early days of February, with milder weather, he was again seen on the street. On the 14th, however, he suffered a slight stroke of paralysis, and on February 24th the end came. In Richmond, where he had been twice pastor, he fell on sleep. After appropriate services, very simple, according to his request, he was laid to rest in beautiful Hollywood near the graves of his friend, J. L. M. Curry, and Jefferson Davis.
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Dr. Hawthorne will be remembered as one of the most distinguished orators and preachers Southern Baptists have ever had. His unusually noble presence was no unimportant factor in his power before an audience. As straight as an Indian, and considerably over six feet tall, he attracted attention in any crowd. His face was placid yet strong, and his head, covered with long, abundant hair, had the pose of a king. Dr. Hawthorne, from the very beginning of his career as a public speaker, always carefully prepared his speeches and sermons, which were committed to memory word for word. Then he adopted the plan of reading his sermons. This he did with such consummate skill that many who heard him did not know that he had his manuscript before him. He was so familiar with his discourse that his eye was not bound to the manuscript, but was free to direct itself to the hearers. When he turned over a page he looked away from the sermon, and so many never saw the leaves as they were turned. Dr. Hawthorne seemed to honor and magnify every word he spoke, giving full time for its enunciation and, as it were, for its reception. Such deliberation in some men would have been wearisome. Not so with him. His enunciation and articulation were so perfect that, apart from the meaning of the words, it was pleasant to hear them as they followed each other. Phillips Brooks was famous for the rapidity with which he spoke. Dr. Hawthorne was at the other extreme. Upon being asked once if he did not find the work of writing out his sermons very heavy, he answered that his sermons, when written out, were not as long as one would suppose, for his deliberation in delivery made each word go, as it were, a long way. Dr. Hawthorne's delivery dignified his message. While his sermons were not lacking in thought, had they been delivered by one less gifted in elocution they would certainly have lost
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much of their power. All his life he was a student of words, and was scrupulous in the use of words and in the construction of his periods. In the pulpit Dr. Haw- thorne was so the impersonation of dignity, so kingly in his bearing, that to many, who did not know him at nearer range, he seemed haughty, austere, even unduly proud. But this was not the case. Just the reverse of this was true. He was as approachable, as guileless as a child. He was companionable and genial in the social circle, and was especially cordial to his younger brethren in the ministry. Dr. Hawthorne was most careful in his preparation for the pulpit and other public addresses, and his attention to his dress added no little to his power. Much more might be said about one who was an orator of high order and a noble herald of the glad tidings of salvation.
THOMAS D. SCOTT 1828-1910
Meadows of Dan, Patrick County, Virginia, was the center of the arena in which Thomas D. Scott played his part in life. Near this place he was born, in 1828. In 1855 Rev. D. G. Taylor, laboring as a missionary of the State Mission Board, organized the Meadows of Dan Baptist Church, into which body Mr. Scott, upon a pro- fession of his faith and after his baptism, was received. In 1861 he was licensed to preach, and later set apart, by his mother church-Elders Wm. Hankins and W. H. Beamer constituting the presbytery-to the full work of
the gospel ministry. Although never pastor of any church, he was assistant pastor for the Meadows of Dan and Sycamore Churches. He supplied other vacant pul- pits; indeed, this seemed to be his chief calling. Thus he rendered efficient and acceptable service. Though not a preacher of great talent or of broad culture, he served well his generation, and on March 1, 1910, in his eighty- second year, fell on sleep. The facts for this sketch were furnished by the Rev. J. Lee Taylor.
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JAMES ALEXANDER MUNDY 1836-1910
This faithful, devoted, consecrated minister of God passed away on the evening of May the 19th, 1910, at the home of Mrs. John C. Mundy, in Amherst County, Virginia. He had, on March the 5th, completed his seventy-fourth year. In that county and at that home, near Allen's Creek, where he passed away, he was born and reared. His father, Captain Alexander Mundy, was a successful farmer and a prominent resident of his community. He was no less prominent as a Christian man and deacon in the Mineral Spring Baptist Church.
James was reared in a most interesting and pious family. We are not surprised, then, that in early life he became a Christian and earnestly sought to adorn the doctrine of his profession and faithfully serve Him whose he was. He joined the St. Stephen's Baptist Church and was baptized by Rev. T. W. Roberts, a mis- sionary under the State Mission Board.
His early educational advantages were good, and he made the best of them. Having finished at the Academic School, he entered Richmond College, and, in June, 1859, being twenty-three years of age, received his degree. During that summer he was ordained, to the full work of the gospel ministry, at Mineral Spring Church. The presbytery was composed of Rev. T. N. Johnson, Rev. James M. Dillard, and Rev. P. S. Henson, the latter preaching his ordination sermon. He soon entered upon the work of a pastor, and was very successful in building up the churches to which he ministered. For ten years he was pastor of country churches in Nelson, Amherst,
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and Appomattox Counties. For two and a half years he was the Principal of Fluvanna Female Institute. During his administration he showed decided ability in the management of a large school and also his qualifications as a teacher. The school prospered under his administra- tion.
In 1872 he took charge of the church in Blacksburg and at Christiansburg Depot, in Montgomery County. Not being physically strong, he could not stand the severity of that climate, and after two years of successful work he resigned and accepted the call to Enon Church, near Hollins Institute. While pastor there he preached at Big Lick, now Roanoke, and organized there the First Baptist Church. After a delightful pastorate at Enon of three years, by the advice of a physician, who saw that the climate was too severe for him, he resigned, to the regret of the entire church. He then accepted a call to Warrenton, N. C. In this warmer climate his health improved. In his pastorate there he was successful, and he served the church for seven years. While pastor there Wake Forest College conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Resigning there, he accepted the call to Greenville, S. C. There he had a wider field of usefulness opened to him. Opportunities for good among the students of Furman University and the Woman's College, as well as the outlook for good in the city, were not to be disregarded. For ten years the best service of his ministerial life was given to that noble church and cultured congregation. Dr. Charles Manly, who was the President of the Furman University, says of his pastorate: "How wisely and affectionately Dr. Mundy labored may be inferred from the esteem in which he was universally held, and from the fact that the church so prospered as to send out, during his pastorate, two colonies, which almost immediately became vigorous
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