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“A Great Institutional Church for the South.”
j| THE
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IN THE STAT£j»
VOL UJIE TWO
NUMBER THIRTEEN.
THE “OLD ROMAN’S” 70th BIRTHDAY.
Dr. J. B. Halvthorne —A- Prince Among His "Brethren.
OME io the Convention at Richmond,
brethren! It will convene on my
birthday, May 16, and your coming
from Atlanta —the city where 1 spent
twelve of the happiest years of my life
—will serve to sweeten and brighten
that birthday present which the fellow
ship of the whole Convention will be
C
I - Ito me. Yes, the Convention will meet
on my seventieth birthday, and in compliance with
the request of the Convention last year in Chatta-
nooga, I will deliver this year an ad
dress on “Some Things on which it Be
hooves the Baptists of this Generation
to put Supreme Emphasis,” and, God
helping me, 1 expect to speak the deepest
conviction of my soul. For nearly half
a century T have been in the Christian
ministry and through all these blessed
years of joy and conflict and trial and
victory, the faithful wife of my bosom
lias stood trustingly and inspiringly at
my side. God bless you, my brethren —
my sons and my colleagues—and make
you valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ.”
Thus spoke Dr. J. B. Hawthorne be
fore the Atlanta Baptist Ministers’
Conference on. Monday morning after
the third Sunday in March, whither he
had come to speak at the Grand Opera
House on that great Sunday when the
Atlanta Baptist Tabernacle, Dr. L. G.
Broughton's great institutional church,
was launched. It was the same Haw
thorne, fearless and peerless, who had
swayed thousands in Atlanta by his sa
cred eloquence for a dozen glorious
years. Ami when lie had done speak
ing to the Conference that morning, the
tears in his eyes dimmed the old time
lightning that was there, and tears in
the eyes of his brethren flashed answer
to his own. “How Firm a Foundation”
was sung by common impulse and every
member and visitor at the Conference
pressed forward to grasp the hand of
the grand old man.
The Golden Age has thought it emi
nently fitting that its first, best space
should be given this week as a birthday
memorial of the “Grand Old Roman,”
who is a. prince among his brethren and a king
among men. He is the flower of the Old Son Hi. th?
embodiment of chivalry and the impersonation of
white-souled manhood —all pouring itself out
through the splendor of an eloquence of which he
is sometimes declared the last type in the South.
Life Story of Dr. Hawthorne.
Professor Henry T. Louthan, of illiarn and
Alary College, contributes to the Standard a highly
interesting life story of Dr. Hawthorne, which will
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lived in Alabama —between 5,000 and o,ooo—and
was one of the constituent members of the South
ern Baptist Convention.
New England Influence.
In 1834 a young man born and reared in Massa
chusetts, not far from Marshfield, the home of
Webster, entered the College of William and Mary
in Virginia and remained there about three years.
This Puritan New Englander, more than any one
else, directed the literary studios of young Haw-
ATLANTA, GA., MAY 16, 1907.
add to the interest of all who rejoice in (he celebra
tion of his seventieth birthday.
James Boardman Hawthorne.
James Boardman Hawthorne, who lias long held a
lirst place among the pnlpit orators of America,
was born on his father's plantation in Wilcox
county, Ala., May 16. 1837. His father, Rev. Kedar
Hawthorne, was a sturdy pioneer Baptist preacher
and a prosperous planter of that state. He baptized
more people than any other minister who has ever
DR. JAMES BOARDMAN HAWTHORNE.
tborne and took a deep interest in his career. In
1843 he went to Alabama ami two years later mar
ried the oldest sister of the subject of this sketch,
lie was John Cragin, who in 187)0 followed William
L. Yancey into the state’s rights wing of the Dem
ocratic party ami became the editor of (he party
organ, the Atlas and Secession Banner. Truth is
stranger than fiction.
Influence of School. Platform and Pen.
Young Hawthorne attended school at flu* mili
tary academy, Camden, Ala., and at
Howard College, where he received both
a literary and a theological training.
During his boyhood Alabama had many
exceptionally brilliant orators, among
them being Gov. A. P. Bagby, Judge A.
B. Meek, Perry Walker. Gov. Thomas
H. Walts and Tleiiiv W. Hilliard. He
was attracted by their eloquence, and
during his college days made a special
study of the tine art of speaking. His
style of speech was greatly influenced
bv the published orations of Burke,
Curran, Phillips, Webster, Choate ami
Everett, ami by the sermons of Robert
Hall. Melville and Richard Fuller.
He considers W illiam L. Yancey, of
Alabama, however, the greatest orator
he over heard, and unconsciously was
strongly led to be like his ideal. It was
Yancey who had (ho great debate with
Senator Pugh, of Ohio, at the Democrat
ic convention of 1860 at Charleston, S.
('., which divided the Democratic party,
oven to the joints ami marrow. The
state's rights wing withdrew and
orvaniz-'d in St. Andrew’s Hall. With
such a speaker as his guide, it is no
wonder that James Boardman Hawthorne
long ago became one of the first orators
of his generation.
His Pastorates.
He began his first pastorate, lasting
four years, at Broad. Street Church,
Mobile, Ala., in 1858, and hence in a
few months will reach the golden mile
stone of his ministry. He was at the
First Church in Selma, Ala., imme
diately after the war, for two years;
at Franklin Square, Baltimore, two years; at
Broadway, Louisville, four years, while there
building the magnificent edifice which is still a
monument to his usefulness; Tabernacle, New York
City, two years; First Church, Montgomery, four
years; First Church, Richmond, five years; First
Church, Atlanta, twelve years; First Church, Nash
ville. three years; and has been at Drove Avenue,
Richmond, for the past eight years. His removal
from Selma, Baltimore, New York City and Nash
ville was caused by protracted sickness. He lias
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