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VOLU ME TWO
NUMBER FOURTEEN.
MARVELOUS MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
(Editorial Correspondence.)
Richmond! Richmond and soldiers! But not the
charging legions of Grant nor the defending Gray
lines of Jackson and Lee!
They are the marching, militant soldiers of the
Cross —with hearts aflame like another army of
Crusaders, giving battle to the Saracens of sin.
Many great things have been done during this
session of the Southern Baptist Convention, but
when all is done that may be done the climax of
interest and memory will gather about that late
hour on Friday night, after stirring speeches by
J. W. Bailey of North Carolina, and George W.
Truitt of Texas, when Walker Brooks of Rome,
Georgia, made an impassioned appeal for men to
invest in the kingdom of God like they invest in
the kingdom commercial, and then launched the
most wonderful campaign the South, at least, has
ever seen by the startling announcement that he
would give FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS—Five
Thousand a Year for Ten Years—to help send the
gospel to the lost in foreign lands!
Dr. R. J. Willingham rushed to his side and
said: “Do you people realize what this brother
lias said? He has declared that he intends to give
Fifty Thousand Dollars to foreign missions—five
thousand dollars a year for ten years to send the
Light to those in darkness!”
The great convention was dazed. No such thing
had ever taken place before in the history of the
Southern Baptist Convention! Hundreds of hearts
burst into singing:
“Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
A little gray-haired man cut in the audience
rushed up on the platform and threw his arms
around Walker Brooks and mingled his tears of
rejoicing with the happy tears of that happy Chris
tian lawyer. It was Dr. R. B. Headden. the pastor
of the man who had placed this glorious gift on the
altar. Dr. Willingham looked as if he would crush
this epoch-making giver to his heart! It was an
nounced that another man had said. “Send out
ten new missionaries and send the bill to me. ’ ’
The hour was late and a general offering was not
asked for, yet a number stood here and there and
pledged —some themselves and some their treasure.
Heaven kissed the wondrous scene. Next day
men and women were saying on all sides: “Well,
after all, we have never done anything for missions.
God help us to love .and live and give a hundred
fold more than ever before.”
The Layman’s Meeting.
The gift of W. W. Brooks only prepared the way
for the great Layman’s Meeting held on Sunday aft
ernoon at the First Baptist Church. Nothing like
it, either, was ever before held since the organiza
tion of the convention in 1844.
The auditorium was packed, floor and galleries
with men —chiefly plain, earnest business men who
have been wonderfully awakened to the thought,
W. W. brooks of Georgia, Gibes Fifty Thousand Dollars During Southern "Baptist Contention —
Starts Campaign For Ten Million.
ATLANTA, GA., MAY 23, 1907.
“Let us play no more, but live and work like men
redeemed for other men who are lost.”
Capt. Frank Cunningham, the beloved business
man and sweet gospel finger of Richmond, had ar
ranged a progyam of stirring music. Earnest pray
ers followed. Ex-Gov. William J. Northen, one
of the most honored and consecrated of our lay
men, presided over the meeting, presenting as the
first speaker, Mr. Morney Williams, a great Chris
tian lawyer of New York, who was one of the orig
inators of the Layman’s Movement. Mr. Williams
spoke in beauty and power on “God's Call to Every
Man.” He was followed by Joshua Lovering, the
great but humble merchant prince of Baltimore,
from whose home, of wealth his own daughter has
gone to the foreign field. He showed in a clear,
businesslike way how Christian business men can
send the gospel to “every creature,” according to
the Lord's command within the next twenty-five
years, if they will work according to business prin
ciples and give like they say they love.
Many other brief speeches were made—one man
declaring that he had determined not simply to
give one-tenth hereafter, but half of his entire in
come. The Layman’s Meeting revealed the only
spirit that will conquer.
The convention honored itself by re-electing Pres
ident E. W. Stephens, the vise, handsome, great
hearted layman of Missouri, and likewise Secre
taries Lansing Burrows and 0. F. Gregory, who
have been secretaries for a quarter of a century
and will continue, doubtless, till the judgment day,
if they live that long.
Richmond’s Missionary Mayor.
Hon. Carlton McCarthy, the mayor of Richmond,
who was delightfully introduced by Dr. J. B. Hut
son. the beloved Nestor of Richmond pastors, proved
himself to be more than a mayor giving welcome
witiiin the city’s gate, and a preacher of truth
as well. He spoke in eloquent consonance with
the Layman’s Missionary Movement, welcoming the
hosts of God’s people as those who could take
the world for Christ in this generation if they
would only mean business.
The response was from Dr. J. B. Gambrell —that
is enough to say —for people always feel that they
have had a shower bath in August when he speaks.
The Convention Sermon.
Dr. A. J. Dickenson, of Birmingham, preached the
convention sermon on “Messianic Religion,” from
the Master’s words, “My peace I leave with you,”
etc. He declared “that the religion of Christ was
not merely a religion for all men, but the religion
for ALL of man. There is nothing that a Chris
tian man can ever feel, think or do that this r.eli-*
gion does not, or should not, touch.”
“Out of Debt—But In Again.”
Over $400,000 for foreign missions and $231,000
for home! “Out of debt,” said Dr. Willingham.
• ‘ when the books closed, but now we are in again—
for our expenses are over a thousand dollars a
day.”
These gifts are vastly better than they used to be
but only a pittance compared with the millions
of dollars that are coming to send thousands of
preachers at home and abroad.
Beautiful Incident at Ford’s Hotel.
One of the most beautiful and touching incidents
that occurred during the Convention in Richmond
took place in the dining room of Ford’s Hotel.
The guests were at breakfast. Dr. J. B. Hawthorne,
“the grand old man,” who was easily the hero of
the Convention, and the most beloved and com
manding figure in all the vast gathering in Rich
mond. sat beside the comely consort who has
blessed his life for nearly half a century. Unex
pectedly to many of the guests, and wholly un
known to Dr. Hawthorne, Dr. IT. W. Battle, of
Greensboro, N. C., arose and spoke to the expect
ant company. The waiters stood still, astonished,
and the guests with knife or fork half poised, lis
tened with delight while Dr. Battle delivered in
substance the following beautiful impromptu
speech—rich in flowing periods, and brimming with
tender and lofty sentiment:
“I have been asked to present to Dr. J. B.
Hawthorne this cane, as a slight testimonial of
admiration and affection, from a number of his
brethren, guests of this hotel, who eagerly take this
opportunity to pay heart-tribute to our worthy
friend and peerless preacher. It may not be inap
propriate for me to say that this little love-incident
originated in the generous heart of the venerable
and distinguished brother, Dr. D. W. Gwin, who
immediately preceded Dr. Hawthorne in pastorates
at Montgomery and Atlanta, and who now graces
by his presence this circle of sympathetic and con
genial friends.
“In the providence of God many men are en
dowed with qualities which command the admiration
of their fellows. They are to be congratulated for
such special dud shining endowments equip them
for high and beneficent service. More happy I
count that man wfro, while extorting admiration at
the behest of imperial genius, wins hearts by the
tender magnetism of a nobility of character too
strong to stoop,too pure to wear the tinge of dis
honor. too lofty to envy, and too unselfish to with
hold the golden treasures of love answering to
love. Southern Baptists—indeed all who know him
'-—have long accorded to J. B. Hawthorne their ad
miration; and now, as the glory of the evening
shadows falls about the majestic form, they perceive
that their admiration is encircled by a deathless
aureole of love. Beloved, beyond the reach of
words, almost beyond the reach of thought, this
is a token of heart-throbs!
(Concluded on Page 12.)
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