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UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00032195026 
 
 This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
 ■mh^^-'^- 
 
 Form No. 471 
 
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THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 GILBERT T. STEPHENSON 
 
The Pastor Beloved 
 
 An Appreciation 
 of 
 
 Dr. Henry Alfred Brown 
 
 Pastor 
 
 of the First Baptist Church of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 
 
 forty years (1877-1917), and Pastor Emeritus of all 
 
 the Baptist Churches of Winston-Salem 
 
 since 1917 
 
 By 
 
 Gilbert T. Stephenson 
 
 RALEIGH, N. C» 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION 
 
Copyright 1925, 
 
 Sunday School Board 
 
 Southern Baptist Convention 
 
 Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Printed in th« United States of America. 
 
To the Memory 
 
 of 
 
 Charles Wingate Scarborough 
 
 Another Pastor Beloved 
 
 "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that 
 ningeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that btingeth good 
 tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, 
 Thy Cod reignethl" ISAIAH 52: 7. 
 
THE PREFACE 
 
 Dr. Henry A. Brown holds such a distinguished place 
 in the admiration and affection of the people among 
 whom he has lived and labored the past forty-seven 
 years that a record of his life and work should, by all 
 means, be preserved, if for no other reason, that it may 
 be the inspiration of future generations. 
 
 Soon after Dr. Brown retired from the pastorate of the 
 First Baptist Church of Winston-Salem, North Caro- 
 lina, in 1917, when for the first time in his life he had 
 the prospect of some leisure, it was suggested to him that 
 he prepare an autobiographic sketch and an interpreta- 
 tion of his lifework. The suggestion did not meet with 
 any favor from him. All his life he has been thinking 
 of others and magnifying Another. He cannot now 
 magnify himself by even so much as appearing to evalu- 
 ate his own accomplishments. 
 
 Later the Board of Deacons of his church asked me 
 to prepare an appreciation of Dr. Brown. I was then 
 a member of Brown Memorial Baptist Church which 
 was named for him. 
 
 This appreciation of Dr. Brown, undertaken as a la- 
 bor of love and pursued intermittently the past five 
 years, has given me more real joy than any work of the 
 kind I have ever done. It has brought me into associa- 
 tion with the older residents of Winston-Salem, who 
 have known Dr. Brown since he came to the village of 
 Winston in 1877, a young man of thirty-one years. It 
 has given me access to his papers and to his splendid 
 library. Best of all, it has brought me into intimate as- 
 
 [7] 
 
Bociation with Dr. Brown himself. The last alone is 
 a privilege any young man may well covet. With him 
 I have visited the scenes of his childhood and youth in 
 Rockingham County, North Carolina. He has shown 
 me the log house in which he was born. He has taken 
 me to the spot on which he accepted Christ as his Sav- 
 iour. 
 
 Diffident as he was about writing an autobiography, 
 yet he has been ready and willing at all times to help 
 me in every way possible. Not only has he turned over 
 to me such of his files as I needed but he has, from time 
 to time, answered in writing questions that I have sub- 
 mitted to him. It will be noted that wherever possible 
 all through this little book I have let Dr. Brown speak 
 for himself. I have quoted freely from his sermons, 
 his newspaper articles, and from the memoranda he has 
 prepared for me. This, I think, is as it should be. One 
 is more interested in what Dr. Brown, himself, says than 
 in what anybody can say about him or his work. 
 
 Nothing that partakes of the nature of a biography of 
 Dr. Brown would be complete without special mention 
 of the Right Reverend Edward Rondthaler, Bishop of 
 the Southern Province of the Moravian Church. Fortu- 
 nate indeed are we to have an introduction to this ap- 
 preciation of Dr. Brown from the pen of Bishop Rond- 
 thaler. They both as young men came to Winston- 
 Salem in the fall of 1877, Bishop Rondthaler a few 
 weeks ahead of Dr. Brown. From that day to this 
 they have been fast and unfailing friends. Throughout 
 the earlier days, when there was not always the har- 
 mony between denominations that now exists, nothing 
 ever arose to mar the friendship of one, the pastor of 
 the strong and long-established Moravian Church in 
 Salem, and the other, the pastor of the weak and re- 
 
 [8] 
 
cently established Baptist Church in Winston. On the 
 occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of their work in 
 Winston-Salem, Bishop Rondthaler, speaking of the 
 friendship between himself and Dr. Brown, said, '^And 
 then we like each other because we have never meddled 
 with each other. Sometimes we will not see each other 
 for a month, because we do not pass each other's way. 
 I have never written him a letter of advice during these 
 thirty years, and he has never written me a letter of ad- 
 vice in this long period of time. We do not meddle, 
 especially into matters of denominations. In the course 
 of these thirty years, maybe, half a dozen of his people 
 have joined me, half a dozen of mine have joined him. 
 When anybody has gone under these circumstances we 
 have given him a kind letter and an affectionate God- 
 speed between us. It made no difference between us; 
 arid when our churches saw it made no difference be- 
 tween us, they concluded that it made no difference be- 
 tween them either. So we have gone on with the churches 
 just the same." Speaking of his friendship for Bishop 
 Rondthaler, Dr. Brown, with a touch of humor so char- 
 acteristic of him, says, 'The good Bishop and I have 
 been bosom friends through all the long years of my stay 
 in this city. We have taken all sorts of friendly privi- 
 leges with each other. One time I saw the Bishop march- 
 ing the street like he was going to a fire. I held up my 
 Aands and halted him and said, 'Stop and breathe a lit- 
 tle while. Another day is coming and there will be thou- 
 sands of things to do after you are dead. You are burn- 
 ing your candle out too fast. Let us make haste slowly.' 
 He smiled and went on his way, and I said to myself, 
 'He is the captain of the fast-walking brigade.' " It is 
 a distinct satisfaction to be able, here and there, to quote 
 Bishop Rondthaler, for he, perhaps, better than any 
 
 [9] 
 
other man knows what it is that has given Dr. Brown 
 such a distinction among the men of his generation. 
 
 For the title, 'The Pastor Beloved," I am indebted to 
 Dr. Jesse B. Weatherspoon, who was Dr. Brown's imme- 
 diate successor as pastor of the First Baptist Church of 
 Winston-Salem. No apter phrase to describe Dr. Brown 
 could be found. 
 
 If this little book shall have any lasting interest or 
 value outside the circles of his family and friends, it 
 will be because it illustrates the worth and influence of 
 a simple life of piety in an age of turmoil. Dr. Brown 
 has hved among men and been interested in the temporal 
 as well as the spiritual affairs of men, yet he has re- 
 mained as pure and unspotted from the world as any 
 saint of former times who cloistered himself apart from 
 the world. What Dr. Brown has done others can do. 
 Herein is the inspiration of his life. 
 
 Then, again, there may be in a study of the life and 
 character of this minister of the gospel, who has been in 
 the service of his Master over half a century, something 
 of practical value to the young minister, who is con- 
 cerned about making his life count for the most in the 
 ministry. With this in mind particularly, I have in- 
 cluded the chapter, 'The Elder Brother," which con- 
 tains Dr. Brown's advice to young ministers drawn from 
 his own experience. The example of Dr. Brown richly 
 deserves emulation. If the world had more preachers, 
 more pastors, and more men like him, the kingdom of 
 God would be nearer at hand. 
 
 I wish it were possible to make public acknowledg- 
 ment of all the assistance I have received. I have al- 
 ready mentioned Bishop Rondthaler and Dr. Weather- 
 spoon. In addition to these I must make special men- 
 tion of Miss Carrie R. Jones, one of the few surviving 
 members of the First Baptist Church of Winston-Salem 
 
 [10] . . 
 
when Dr. Brown became pastor in 1877, of Dr. D. Clay 
 Lilly, for a long time pastor of the First Presbyterian 
 Church of Winston-Salem, of Captain F. M. Hamlin, of 
 Danville, Va., Dr. Brown's leader in the days of the 
 Confederacy, of Dr. W. B. Royall, Dr. Brown's teacher 
 and friend at Wake Forest College, and of the members 
 of the Board of Deacons of the First Baptist Church of 
 Winston-Salem. All these and many others have shared 
 my feeling that it is a privilege to have any part what- 
 ever in preserving a record of the lifework of this man 
 of God. To them is due the credit for whatever is of 
 interest or value in this book. I am but the recorder 
 of their interpretation of this noble life. As Calvin says 
 in his dedicatory letter to his Commentary on Romans, 
 the whole charge of an interpreter is "to show forth the 
 mind of the writer whom he hath taken upon himself to 
 expound." If we have to any degree shown forth the 
 mind and heart of Dr. Brown, then we are grateful for 
 the opportunity to be his interpreters. 
 
 GILBERT T. STEPHENSON. 
 
 Raleigh, N. C. 
 May 1, 1925. 
 
 [11] 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Page 
 Dr. Henry A. Brown at the age of 70. Frontispiece 
 
 Julia Cain Brown 16 
 
 Brown Memorial Baptist Church 74 
 
 Baptist Church in Winston, in 1877 88 
 
 Dr. Henry A Brown and Bishop Edward 
 
 Rondthaler 110 
 
 [13] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 Preface 7 
 
 Introduction by Bishop Edward Rondthaler ... 17 
 
 Chapter I — The Pastor Beloved 19 
 
 Chapter II—The Simple Life 32 
 
 Chapter Ill—The Wise Leader 72 
 
 Chapter IV — The Effective Preacher 85 
 
 Chapter V— The Elder Brother 99 
 
 Chapter VI— The Gentle Shepherd 110 
 
 Chapter VII— The Faithful Witness 120 
 
 116] 
 
1854 
 
 JULIA CAIN BROWN 
 
 1914 
 
 "The woman with the golden hair who was destined 
 to be my companion for life, the mother of my children, 
 the sharer of my joys and sorrows, the inspiration of my 
 life, the one on whom I have been more dependent than 
 on any other for whatever of success and happiness has 
 come to me." — H, A. Brown. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The esteemed writer of this correct and beautiful trib- 
 ute to Dr. Brown and to his work has asked me to fur- 
 nish a few lines of introduction to a book which, we trust, 
 will be an inspiration and help to many a young pastor 
 as well as to many another reader who desires simply, 
 lovingly and efficiently to follow Jesus Christ in daily 
 life. 
 
 Dr. Brown and I have known each other intimately 
 for nearly fifty years and walked side by side amid the 
 varied and often difficult duties of a happy Christian 
 ministry. 
 
 Our relations to each other may, perhaps, best be ex- 
 pressed by a simple compact between us: Whichever of 
 us is called first to cross the river will, if possible, have 
 the other by his side to bid him Godspeed, in the sure 
 hope of meeting some day and walking with each other 
 beside the River of the Water of Life under the trees of 
 the heavenly Eden. 
 
 Edward Rondthaler. 
 
 [17] 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 '^As in water face ajiswereth to face, so the heart of man to 
 man." Proverbs xxvii: 19. 
 
 Beloved By All 
 
 On the occasion of Dr. Brown's retirement from the 
 pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Winston-Salem, 
 North Carolina, the second Sunday in December, 1917, 
 after a continuous service of forty years, the IVinston- 
 Salem Journal paid the following editorial tribute to him, 
 v/hich expresses the feeling of the people of a city of 
 over 60,000 souls, without regard to creed or color, to- 
 wards the one man among them whom they would name 
 without hesitation their pastor beloved: 
 
 "The tremendous outpouring of people at the First 
 Baptist Church last Sunday afternoon to pay tribute to 
 a great life that has been spending itself in our midst 
 for the last forty years was as much of an honor to 
 Winston-Salem as to the retiring pastor of the First 
 Baptist Church in whose honor the meeting was held. 
 
 'It was a magnificent thing for the city to do — as 
 beautiful as it was unusual. Seldom indeed has such a 
 spirit of appreciation been manifested by the people of 
 any community. The world is ever ready to lay flowers 
 on the graves of its dead but seldom has a wreath for 
 the living. 
 
 "Sometimes it does. Happily for the world and all 
 who live in it, sometimes it does. Winston-Salem brought 
 
 [19] 
 
20 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 all of its flowers Sunday and banked them high at the 
 altar of a life — a life that for forty years, without count- 
 ing the cost, has poured itself out in service to others. 
 
 ''If we had not known before, we would know now — 
 all of us would know — from beautiful experience that 
 he who would save his life must lose it in service to 
 others. It has been demonstrated in our very midst. 
 We have seen with our ov/n eyes what it means to lose 
 one's life and yet save it. 
 
 "Dr. Brown is one of the rich men of the earth. Mil- 
 lions in gold would not purchase his future — yea, all the 
 gold that was ever milled could not buy his future. It 
 consists of friends and a life. It has been said of him 
 that there is not a man or a woman or boy or girl or 
 dog or cat in all the city that does not know and love 
 Dr. Brown. 
 
 "This is something that money cannot buy. This is 
 the essence of the life that counts. In the long run it 
 is all that does count. For what will it profit a man if 
 he gain the whole world and lose that? 
 
 "What does it amount to? Where is the reward? For- 
 tunately for Dr. Brown, he has lived to reap it. Many, 
 indeed most, men have to wait until they reach the 
 other side to experience what he must be experiencing to- 
 day. He has come face to face with the most welcome 
 opportunity a true man ever found in this world — an 
 opportunity to render the more perfect service. 
 
 "As pastor emeritus of all the Baptist churches of the 
 city, he can now touch closely the lives of thousands 
 who love and respect him. It is given to him to render 
 the fullest service possible to his generation. That is 
 his reward. 
 
 "Surely, there could be no more beautiful climax, no 
 more inspiring zenith, than this to such a life as Dr. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 21 
 
 Brown has given to this community — a life to which the 
 highest tribute that can be paid is that it has been so 
 busy thinking of others that it has not thought of itself." 
 
 Beloved By the Members of His Own Congregation 
 
 When Dr. Brown retired as pastor of the First Bap- 
 tist Church of Winston-Salem the members of his 
 church adopted fitting resolutions in which they said: 
 
 ''As pastor, we have never known your equal; as 
 preacher, you have expounded the full gospel, sound to 
 the core; as a citizen, you have rendered unto Caesar the 
 things that are Caesar's; as a Christian, you have of- 
 fered an acceptable sacrifice and have rendered unto 
 God a full service; socially, you have uplifted mankind, 
 accepting, as you have, the hospitality of the humble 
 as well as the exalted, rejoicing at the marriage feast 
 and experiencing and expressing deep sorrow at the open 
 grave." 
 
 Beloved By Members of Other Denominations 
 
 The second Sunday in December of each of the last 
 twenty years or more of Dr. Brown's active pastorate 
 was celebrated by the Christians of the city as an anni- 
 versary occasion. Representatives of other denomina- 
 tions participated in the services. Bishop Rondthaler 
 invariably brought or sent a message of congratulation 
 and good will from which quotation will be made as we 
 go along. Dr. D. Clay Lilly, many years pastor of the 
 First Presbyterian Church of Winston-Salem, says of 
 Dr. Brown, ''His broad and fraternal attitude to his 
 brethren of other churches is in a large way the cause of 
 the remarkable spirit of unity which characterizes the 
 churches of Winston-Salem." 
 
22 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 In 1907, a reception at Salem College was given in 
 honor of Bishop and Mrs. Rondthaler, Dr. and Mrs. 
 Brown and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Fries in celebration of 
 the completion by each of them of thirty years of defi- 
 nite Christian service in Winston-Salem. To this re- 
 ception the people of the city thronged to pay tribute 
 to these three remarkable Christians and their wives — 
 two of them ministers of the gospel and one a business 
 man. All three of them are still living. It is a coinci- 
 dence, too, that to each of them a memorial church has 
 already been established — Rondthaler Memorial, the re- 
 cent large addition to the Home Moravian Church, 
 Winston-Salem, to the Bishop; Brown Memorial Baptist 
 Church, to Dr. Brown, and Fries Memorial Moravian 
 Church, to Mr. Fries. 
 
 Beloved By Baptists of Other Churches 
 In 1909, the name of Broad Street Baptist Church in 
 Winston-Salem was changed to Brown Memorial in 
 honor of Dr. Brown. This church had been organized 
 in 1886 as a mission of the First Baptist Church. It is 
 now one of the most active and progressive Baptist 
 churches in North Carolina. 
 
 In 1917, as soon as Dr. Brown resigned his active pas- 
 torate, he was immediately and unanimously elected 
 pastor emeritus of all the Baptist churches of the city, 
 each of them eagerl}^ contributing to his salary — modest, 
 to be sure, but all that he would accept. 
 
 Beloved Without Regard to Age, Color, Creed or Con- 
 dition 
 In the little paper published by the pupils of the high 
 school of Winston-Salem I found the following essay by 
 a tenth grade girl: 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 23 
 
 ''Girls! if anybody should ask you who was the most 
 beloved man you had ever heard of, whom would you 
 say?" asked Peggy Hastings of a crowd of girls talking 
 out in front of the dear old Winston High School. 
 
 ''Why, Dr. Brown! Who would dare to say anyone 
 else?" chorused all the girls. 
 
 "That is just exactly what I told Miss Mary when 
 she asked us in English class this morning," said Peggy. 
 "Anyone in this community would agree with us, but I 
 had never before stopped to think why it is true. Why 
 would you say so, Nancy?" 
 
 "Well, Peggy, of course, I am only a girl of sixteen, but 
 he has been the pastor of our church for forty years and 
 everyone in our congregation agrees that he has never 
 heard or heard of an unkind word uttered by the lips of 
 this dear old man. If you meet him on the street he al- 
 ways has something sweet and kind to say to you. If 
 a marriage takes place, no matter w^hat denomination, 
 Dr. Brown always helps in the wedding. Why, the 
 young people of Winston wouldn't feel as if they were 
 married unless he were there. And there's that old adage, 
 'A friend in need is a friend indeed.' Has any girl ever 
 heard of anybody being in trouble without Dr. Brown 
 being there to comfort and console him? If you are in 
 doubt about a thing as to whether it is right or wrong 
 to whom is the first person you think of going? Always, 
 Dr. Brown. Pie is loved by every man, woman and 
 child in our city, and throughout the state wherever he 
 is known. Oh! that our community were made up of 
 characters such as this. How much better we all would 
 be to live our religion day by day." 
 
 Among the papers of an old colored servant, along 
 with her insurance policy and other papers that she re- 
 garded as valuable, I found a clipping yellow with age 
 
24 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 containing an article by Dr. Brown that may have been 
 a source of comfort to the soul of this old colored woman. 
 
 "The thorn in the flesh, in the Christian life, is a w^ll- 
 nigh universal experience. We need not think that Paul 
 had a monopoly on the ^thorn business.' We do not 
 know what his thorn in the flesh was. He was not suffi- 
 ciently explicit in his statements for us to reach definite 
 and certain conclusions in his case. Many commentators 
 have spent much time in trying to make it plain to the 
 average man but after we have waded through all their 
 theories and explanations and have come out on the 
 other side, we have the mists of uncertainty hanging 
 about our eyelids still. Perhaps it would be an easier 
 task for us to locate our own thorns than to maintain a 
 fruitless search through the years for Paul's thorns. In 
 our own cases we may not be far wrong in saying that 
 there is a something within us that puts a limitation on 
 our love, service and enjoyment of the kingdom of God. 
 This something may be some unloving deed which we 
 have done, the memory of which haunts us by day and 
 by night and w^hich we would fain forget and cannot, or 
 it may be some selfish, unkind word we have spoken and 
 which has opened deep wounds in the heart of another 
 and which we would bind up but cannot. David said: 
 'My sin is ever before me.' It would not down at his 
 bidding. Sins may be forgiven, but often they cannot be 
 forgotten by those who have committed them. You may 
 cut a deep gash in a growing tree and the wound may 
 bleed and heal but the scar will remain after many years 
 have passed. 
 
 ''We need not think that our thorns are always given 
 to us lest we should be exalted through the abundance 
 of the revelation given to us. There is many a thorn in 
 our hearts that has no connection with any special reve- 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 25 
 
 lation. Many of our thorns are of our own planting. 
 When some physical ailment seizes us and we are laid 
 aside for weeks from our loved employ, we are apt to 
 say it was a calamity — a thorn in the flesh. Thorns have 
 their mission in life as well as roses. The Psalmist said, 
 'Before I was afflicted I went astray, but since I have 
 kept thy word.' Physical pain may have a corrective 
 influence on our lives. Afflictions, though they seem se- 
 vere, are oft in mercy sent. The bird with the broken 
 wing may utter the sweetest notes. And the flowers that 
 are crushed may send forth their most delightful fra- 
 grance. Baxter and Spurgeon were great physical suf- 
 ferers, but their sermons fell on their hearers like the 
 balm of Gilead. 
 
 "And when our day's work is over and w^e are tired of 
 waiting and sit in the shadow of the river and listen for 
 the sound of the boatman's oar and feel that in all that 
 is going on we can have no part, we may console our- 
 selves that this waiting is the finishing touch in the prep- 
 aration to be made before we appear at the marriage 
 supper of the Lamb. And whatever may be our thorn in 
 the flesh, we m.ay rest assured that the grace of God will 
 be sufficient for us." 
 
 In 1918 a vicious assault was alleged to have been 
 made by a colored man upon a white Vv^oman in Winston- 
 Salem. The man was caught and lodged in the city jail. 
 A wild and angry mob, fretted into frenzy, gathered 
 around the city jail, determined to lay hands upon and 
 lynch the man. Shots were fired by the crowd and into 
 the crowd. Innocent bystanders — children — were killed. 
 The whole city, it seemed, had gone mad. The authori- 
 ties were helpless. In the midst of the wildest excite- 
 ment the mayor of the city sent for Dr. Brown. Stand- 
 ing in the midst of the mob this aged man of God, with- 
 
26 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 out a tremor of fear, along with other leading men of 
 the city, pleaded with his people to refrain from violence 
 and let the law take its com'se. Slowly the excitement 
 subsided and the lynching was averted. I relate this, 
 not for the purpose of showing the effect upon the mob 
 of Dr. Brown's presence, but to show that this pastor 
 beloved was one of the men to whom the city turned 
 in its hour of distress and that he faced the crowd, angry 
 and crazed though it was, without a tremor. 
 
 In the fall of 1921 the city launched a campaign to 
 raise $100,000 to secure the location of the first Baptist 
 hospital in Winston-Salem. It was a community, not 
 a Baptist, effort. On the night before the canvass was 
 to start, the workers met for dinner. The principal 
 speaker was Mr. W. M. Hendren, a Methodist layman. 
 The climax of his notably impressive address — ^the rally- 
 ing cry of the campaign — was that the city could ill af- 
 ford not to do its part towards securing and maintaining 
 the Baptist hospital because it was the Baptist denomi- 
 nation that had given to Winston-Salem its greatest pos- 
 session — ^the life and character of Dr. Henry A. Brown. 
 
 The next night, when it was apparent that the city had 
 already oversubscribed its allotment and that contribu- 
 tions would continue to be made, at the suggestion of a 
 member of the Roman Catholic Church a group of citi- 
 zens — ^the group being composed of Moravians, Presby- 
 terians and Methodists — went to the First Baptist 
 Church — it was prayer-meeting night and they knew 
 where to find him — and, calling Dr. Brown out, asked 
 the privilege of devoting all the surplus fund to a ward 
 memorial to him to which the sick and needy might be 
 admitted without cost. They knew that a charity w^ard 
 would be the most fitting memorial to one who had given 
 his life for the sick and needv. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 27 
 
 At the celebration of Dr. Brown's fortieth anniversary 
 as pastor of the First Baptist Church, ex-Governor Rob- 
 ert B. Glenn, then on his sickbed and only a short while 
 before his death, wrote, unsolicited, a letter of apprecia- 
 tion of Dr. Brown and asked the privilege of having it 
 read by a friend at the service. I quote only a portion 
 of the letter: "Dr. Brown and I were raised in the same 
 county and from my young manhood to the present hour 
 he has been one of my most loyal friends and supporters. 
 To him I have gone in my joys and in my sorrows and 
 found him a ready listener and a true helper. In spirit- 
 ual matters he has been a friend beyond compare, always 
 pointing me to higher things and stimulating within me 
 noble thoughts and higher aspirations. For these rea- 
 sons I love the man and ask permission from a sickbed 
 to add my testimony to his Vv^orth in the community. 
 
 "Dr. Brown does not belong alone to the Baptist 
 church and its people but to all creeds and people of 
 Winston-Salem, for to all he has been a true friend and 
 adviser and, therefore, won their esteem and love. He 
 has married more couples, conducted and assisted in 
 more funerals, visited more sick (regardless of church 
 affiliations) and been a help and comfort to more that 
 mourned or were in distress, than any man who has ever 
 lived in our city, and, good man as he is, has always been 
 ready to laugh with us in our joys, sympathize with us 
 in our afflictions, and never turn away the humblest hun- 
 gry soul without trying to add a spiritual blessing to his 
 life." 
 
 At the time of the thirtieth anniversary of Dr. Brown's 
 pastorate in Winston-Salem, the local editor of the Union 
 Republican paid the following tribute to him: "Person- 
 ally, the local editor would say that he has no better 
 friend than Dr. H. A. Brown. Although of different re- 
 
28 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ligious faiths, our respect for each other's views could 
 not be greater or our friendship deeper or more sincere. 
 We have been intimateh^ acquainted, yea, associated on 
 many occasions since he came to Winston, and his visits 
 to this office are regular and his presence always a source 
 of pleasure, as we discuss matters of local, religious, or 
 a general nature. Of his sermons we have been a fre- 
 quent and always interested hearer. By his kindness of 
 heart, conservative views, faithful and earnest in his 
 work, and with the good will of every one at heart, Dr. 
 Brown knows every one and every one knows him, and 
 he has wielded an influence in this community, outside 
 of his pastoral relations, which is far-reaching and as 
 lasting as life itself. His counsel, sympathy, prayers, 
 and sermons are a benediction and a blessing. And 
 while congratulating him upon his long and successful 
 life and labor among our people, we also sincerely hope 
 and desire that he may be blessed with life, health and 
 usefulness for many succeeding years." 
 
 The Twin City Sentinel said of Dr. Brown, "If a 
 stranger should ask who had done the most for the moral 
 and spiritual welfare of the community and who had 
 done the most active work to make Winston-Salem an 
 ideal city in which to live, the name of Dr. Brown would 
 be one of the first mentioned." 
 
 Beloved By the Baptist Brotherhood 
 
 Not only is Dr. Brown the pastor beloved among his 
 people of his own city but he is the pastor beloved to 
 many Baptists throughout the state, some of whom have 
 never seen him in the flesh. As far back as 1906, the 
 editor of the Biblical Recorder said of Dr. Brown, "Since 
 the Beloved Disciple went away, Brother Brown will be 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 29 
 
 recognized as the saintliest man among us. He is such 
 a man as every Christian desires to be — a shining exam- 
 ple of the Christian life and a witness to Jesus Christ 
 whose testimony shines with a bright and unvarying 
 light. . . . Brother Brown's ministry is an ideal one — in 
 length, in progress, in his influence upon every citizen 
 of his city, in his work for the denomination, and in the 
 closeness of his walk with God. ... It is worthy of re- 
 mark that he has achieved so nobly without falling into 
 any peculiar doctrine of higher life or enduement with 
 power; it is enough for him to live the Christian life." 
 
 Dr. W. B. Royall, more than fifty years a teacher of 
 Greek at Wake Forest College, pays this tribute to his 
 former pupil and long-time friend: "Years ago one of 
 his old teachers had a very heavy burden laid upon him. 
 He desired help that only God could give and felt the 
 need of companionship at the throne of grace. Among 
 the few whom he thought of as living so near to God 
 that he would esteem it a privilege to be assured that 
 they were praying with him and for him, one was his 
 former pupil and trusted friend — H. A. Brown," 
 
 Wake Forest College, his alma mater, has always de- 
 lighted to do honor to Dr. Brown. Graduating in 1871 
 as salutatorian of his class, Dr. Brown was called back 
 just twenty years later to deliver the alumni address and 
 receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity at the 
 commencement of 1891. While appreciating fully this 
 latter honor at the hands of his alma mater, he re- 
 marked, with his irrepressible humor, that it meant only 
 that he was "forty and respectable." For a number of 
 years he was a trustee of the college. An oil painting 
 of Dr. Brown, the gift of Col. H. Montague, now adorns 
 the walls of the Euzelian Society of which he is a mem- 
 ber. 
 
30 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 The Baptist denomination has honored Dr. Brown 
 whenever he would give it the opportunity to do so. But 
 he has always kept himself in the background and 
 shrunk from anything that might in any way be inter- 
 preted as exalting himself. On this point Dr. F. P. Hob- 
 good, late president of Oxford College and a college mate 
 of Dr. Brown, said: "Several times I invited him to come 
 over and preach one of my commencement sermons; but 
 his self-deprecation always prevented him from accept- 
 ing such work as this. He did not assert himself and 
 did not have much to say, but what he said on any sub- 
 ject was final." 
 
 The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, in 
 session in the city of Durham in 1917, took note of Dr. 
 Brown's long and distinguished service in Winston-Salem 
 by adopting a resolution from which I quote: 
 
 '^In the city of Winston-Salem on Sunday next. Dr. 
 Henry A. Brown will close his work as pastor of the 
 First Baptist Church of that city. For forty years 
 Brother Brown has been pastor of the First Baptist 
 Church of Winston-Salem. This is the longest term of 
 service ever rendered by any Baptist pastor of a full- 
 time church in this state. For this reason we deem it 
 fitting that this Convention take recognition of this nota- 
 ble event. Therefore, be it resolved: 
 
 "That we congratulate Brother Brown upon his long 
 and successful pastorate and upon the marked tokens of 
 God's favor upon him and his work. 
 
 "That we congratulate the City of Winston-Salem 
 upon having secured the consent of Brother Brown to 
 become pastor emeritus of all the Baptist churches in the 
 city. This is a very happy arrangement, as the church 
 of which Brother Brown has been pastor is the mother 
 of all the other Baptist churches in the city. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 31 
 
 "That we extend to our beloved brother our cordial 
 and fraternal greeting and assure him of our abiding 
 love for him personally and of our thorough apprecia- 
 tion of the great work he has done in Winston-Salem 
 and of the valuable service he has rendered the cause at 
 large." 
 
 Enough has been said, to be sure, to show that Dr. 
 Brown is richly entitled to the appellation 'Tastor Be- 
 loved." What an array of witnesses! The members of 
 his own congregation throughout a pastorate of forty 
 years, his associates in the ministry of the gospel, his fel- 
 low Christians of all denominations, his fellow citizens of 
 every walk and condition of life— the child, the colored 
 servant, the leading citizen, the city at its worst, bent 
 upon lynching a criminal, the city at its best, promoting 
 the ministry of healing, his schoolmates and teachers! 
 Tributes and events chosen at random show more clearly 
 than anything I could say the extent to which he is the 
 pastor beloved. 
 
 But why is he the pastor beloved? Not because of 
 his generosity, for his means have always been very lim- 
 ited. Besides, men cannot purchase love with gifts. Not 
 because of offices he has held. He has always shrunk 
 from public notice. Besides, men win homage, not love, 
 with fame. Not his intellect, though that has been keen 
 and clear. But men do not win love by logic. No, Dr. 
 Brown is the pastor beloved because of other, more abid- 
 ing qualities that go to make up his personality. 
 
 From now on our aim will be to find in a study of the 
 life and character of Dr. Brown an answer to the ques- 
 tion why is he the pastor beloved; with the hope that in 
 his life and philosophy of life others may find the way 
 to become pastors beloved, whether inside or outside the 
 ministry of the gospel. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE 
 
 "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in 
 much." Luke xvi: 10. 
 
 The value of the life of the pastor beloved cannot 
 be determined without taking into account the events 
 of his career, simple and unheroic though they may be. 
 I mean such as his birthplace, his ancestry, his school- 
 ing, his calling. 
 
 His Birthplace 
 
 Henry A. Brown was born September 28, 1846, in a 
 two-room log house, which still stands on a three-hun- 
 dred-acre farm in Rockingham County, North Carolina, 
 near Wentworth, the county seat. When he was ten 
 years of age the family built and moved into a three- 
 room frame house, which is immediately in front of the 
 log house. Both of these houses are now occupied by 
 tenants on the farm of Dr. Brown's brother, Robert. 
 In an article in the Christian Index, August 31, 1905, 
 entitled ''Vacation Notes," Dr. Brown has this appre- 
 ciation of his childhood home: "At the old family 
 homestead once more. Here are the trees as in other 
 days — 'the deep tangled wildwood and every spot that 
 infancy knew.' Here is the path to the spring, over 
 which my childish feet wandered in days that are gone. 
 Surely the water that David drank from the well of 
 Bethlehem was not sweeter to the taste. If I could be 
 
 [32] 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 33 
 
 a child again but for tonight, I should see the dear 
 faces long vanished from human sight, and hear the voice 
 of mother at the close of day, as in olden times. New 
 people live in the dear old buildings, new faces look 
 out of the windows; it is not home to me any more! I 
 visit the old barn in which I knelt forty years ago and 
 obtained pardon and peace. It will always be a dear 
 spot of ground to me— the place of my spiritual birth. 
 Not Peniel, of which we read in patriarchal times, not 
 the hill Mizar of which David speaks, not 'Silca's brook, 
 which flowed hard by the oracle of God,' not that place 
 on the Damascus road near the city gates where Saul of 
 Tarsus saw the light of life, mean so much to me." 
 
 His Parents 
 
 Dr. Brown's father, Robeii: Brown, was a school 
 teacher and farmer; he was not a very practical business 
 man. At a time when lawyers were few, he prepared 
 deeds, wills and other legal papers of his neighbors. Dr. 
 Brown speaks of his father as "the adviser of the neigh- 
 borhood." 
 
 His mother, Sarah Troth Brown, was born and reared 
 in the same neighborhood of Rockingham County. She 
 was the better manager and stronger personality of the 
 two. Dr. Brown says that after the Civil War his father 
 was despondent. "All the labor of his life had been 
 swept away. The slaves were freed, the children were 
 small. His strength was gone. There were debts to be 
 paid. But my mother was an heroic mould. She said, 
 'The children are growing every year. The home and 
 land are still left us. We will take hold and bring things 
 to pass. It is never so bad that it might not be worse. 
 God will help us through and all will be well'." 
 
34 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 Dr. Brown had three brothers and three sisters, only 
 one of whom is still living — Mr. Robert Brown, who 
 owns and occupies the old Brown homeplace, having 
 added to the land until he now has a plantation of six 
 hundred acres. 
 
 His Ancestry 
 
 On his father's side. Dr. Brown's ancestors were Scotch 
 Irish. His grandfather, Robert Brown, moved to Rock- 
 ingham County from Winchester, Virginia, soon after 
 the Revolutionary War. He was a sturdy tiller of the 
 soil, owned a good plantation and several slaves, and 
 accumulated some property. Through his paternal 
 grandmother, who was a Campbell, Dr. Brown is related 
 to General Samuel Houston of Texas. 
 
 On his mother's side, his ancestors were English. Her 
 father, Henry Troth, died when she was three days old. 
 He was referred to as ''an exemplary young man." 
 Through his maternal grandmother. Dr. Brown is re- 
 lated to General Abraham Phillips, General of the Mili- 
 tia after the Revolutionary War, who was one of the 
 leading citizens of Rockingham County during the early 
 years of the Republic. 
 
 His Youth 
 
 Dr. Brown speaks of himself as being "a delicate child, 
 nervous and imaginative," to whose uncertain appetite 
 his mother catered. He says that he never used intoxi- 
 cating liquors. Mr. G. W. Suitts of Wentworth, one of 
 the few now living who knev/ him as a child, says that 
 Henry Brown was one of the most pious boys he ever 
 knew. ''I never knew him to indulge in anything that 
 was of a sinful nature," says Mr. Suitt. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 35 
 
 He went to school during the winter months to the 
 Piney Grove District School, which was about three 
 miles from his home. His father was his teacher. Says 
 Dr. Brown, "I owe a great deal to my father's teaching. 
 He made me spell every word in Walker's Dictionary. 
 It was three miles to the school house, and he would 
 give me six pages to recite to him on the way home. He 
 also drilled me in arithmetic. Sometimes, he would lose 
 patience with me, thinking I was a blockhead." 
 
 His Army Life 
 
 On the 15th of February, 1864, the Confederate Con- 
 gress passed an act for the enrollment of Junior and 
 Senior Reserves, the former boys between seventeen and 
 eighteen; the latter men between forty-five and fifty. In 
 March, 1864, at the age of seventeen, Henry Brown, over 
 the protest of his mother, enlisted at Wentworth as a 
 Junior Reserve and was ordered to report to Col. John 
 H. Anderson at Greensboro. Thence he was ordered to 
 Camp Holmes, Raleigh, where his company as Com- 
 pany 0, was attached to the Fourth Battalion under the 
 command of Major John M. Reece. In June his company 
 was ordered to Camp Davis on Masonboro Sound below 
 Wilmington, w^here it spent six months guarding the 
 State Salt Works and the beach— the latter to prevent 
 slaves escaping to the Federal gun-boats. While here 
 Sergeant Brown was stricken with malarial fever and 
 taken to the hospital. In December of that year his 
 battalion participated in the bombardment of Fort 
 Fisher. Thence it was rushed on flat cars to Bellfield, 
 Virginia, where it helped repulse General Grant's ef- 
 forts to destroy Weldon Bridge. The battalion helped 
 repulse another raid fifteen miles down the river from 
 
36 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 Tarboro. Returning to Goldsboro, the Junior Reserves 
 were organized into the Third Regiment, with Col. John 
 W. Hinsdale in command. This was later known as the 
 Seventy-second North Carolina State Troops, Company 
 K, attached to Armistead's Brigade, Hoke's Division. 
 At Kinston the Division met a Federal force approach- 
 ing from New Bern, and the Junior Reserves were in 
 the thick of a fierce fight. ''Here it was," says Dr. 
 Brown, ''men and horses were shot down near me. I 
 asked the Lord to spare me. I promised to devote my- 
 self in body, mind and spirit to his service." At Smith- 
 field, after the Battle of Kinston, the Junior Reserves 
 were reviewed by General Johnston and Governor 
 Vance — the last review of the Confederacy — and Gover- 
 nor Vance made a mem.orable speech addressed to the 
 Junior Brigade. Then began the long retreat — ^through 
 Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Alamance, on to Randolph County, 
 fording swollen streams waist deep. It was on this 
 march that his commander, Capt. F. M. Hamlin, now 
 of Danville, Virginia, noticing Sergeant Brown limping 
 and struggling along, said: 
 
 "Brown, how are you making it?" 
 
 "I am almost given out and don't feel I can hold out 
 much longer," he replied. 
 
 "Certainly, Brown, you can last to Rockingham," he 
 said. 
 
 "Yes, Captain; I will go as long as the flag is held 
 up or fall in my tracks." 
 
 "I looked," says Captain Hamlin, "and saw that his 
 feet were swollen and actually bleeding. I said, 'Yes, 
 Brown; I know what you are made of." 
 
 Captain Hamlin says, "Sergeant Brown was the one 
 man in the company who had religion enough in his 
 heart to know it himself, and enough shown in his life 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 37 
 
 that others could see and know it. May I not testify 
 that after fifteen months in camp, on the march, and 
 in battle with Sergeant Brown, he has measured up to 
 the highest mark in his patriotism, his fidelity, and ef- 
 ficiency? As Captain of the one hundred and forty boys, 
 (I testify) not one excelled him, if any equalled him." 
 
 Col. John W. Hinsdale pays this eloquent tribute to 
 the Junior Reserves: ''North Carolina has much to 
 be proud of. She was first at Bethel, she went farthest 
 at Gettysburg, she was last at Appomattox. Her dead 
 and wounded in battle exceeded in numbers that of any 
 other two States of the Confederacy together. But her 
 best and most precious offering to the cause of liberty 
 was her boy soldiers, who, at her bidding, willingly left 
 their homes and marched and fought and starved and 
 froze and bled that she might live and be free. God 
 bless the Junior Reserves. Their memory will ever be 
 cherished by the Old North State they loved so well." 
 
 After the surrender. Sergeant Brown was one of those 
 who volunteered to go west across the Mississippi and 
 carry on guerilla warfare. But fortunately, the better 
 judgment of the leaders prevailed and Sergeant Brown 
 returned to his home in Rockingham County. 
 
 His Preparation for College 
 
 The first year after the surrender Dr. Brown worked 
 on his father's farm and taught the district school. The 
 next year he began his preparation for college. 'He at- 
 tended two preparatory schools in Guilford County — 
 one at Center, taught by Mr. Gid. Hines; the other at 
 Monticello, taught by Rev. John C. Denny, a Presby- 
 terian preacher. Of his school days at Center and Mon- 
 ticello, Dr. Brown says: ''Everything was scarce, and 
 
38 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 the young men organized the 'mess' plan. Each boy 
 furnished so much meal, bacon, lard, butter, etc. Then 
 we hired a good country woman to do the cooking for 
 us. In that way my board cost me $4.00 per month. 
 It was a hard life I lived in those days. My mother 
 made the homespun clothes I wore and had my washing 
 done for me. I would walk home once in two weeks, a 
 distance of fifteen or twenty miles, to get my clean 
 clothes. It was here I did my hardest work. I studied 
 Latin, the grammar and reader, read Caesar and Ovid, 
 read Greek, and stumbled and fumbled and fretted with 
 Algebra. I was just beginning to practice in preaching 
 and would go out on Sundays and do my best before the 
 eager crowds of country people w^ho wanted to hear what 
 a pale, beardless boy had to say about religion, duty, 
 and destiny. I spent nearly two years in these schools." 
 
 His College Days 
 
 Dr. Brown entered Wake Forest College in the fall of 
 1867 as a beneficiary of the Beulah Association and 
 graduated in the spring of 1871, the salutatorian of his 
 class. Of his college life, he says: "I had been well pre- 
 pared and had no difficulty in entering. I roomed in the 
 old college building (now the Administration Building). 
 I made my own fires, brought up my own water, made 
 my own bed, and cleaned my own room. It was a year 
 of strenuous work, great sacrifice and self-denial. I 
 made many friends. The boys in the college helped in 
 many ways. I soon felt at home with them and the 
 professors in the college. I joined the Euzelian Society. 
 I liked its motto, 'I will find a way or make one.' That 
 motto often fired my ambition to do my very best. I 
 boarded with Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Brewer and in their 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED B9 
 
 house shared many blessings and privileges. Here I 
 heard the story of Dr. Wait and his saintly wife, of their 
 long journey over the State in a buggy, of the early 
 history of Wake Forest. I have never known more 
 lovely people than the Brewer family. I served as the 
 janitor of the Euzelian Society for a few months and in 
 that way paid some of my little expenses. I read many 
 books in the library. I always prepared myself to make 
 a speech on every question under debate. This required 
 much time and thought, but it was worth all it cost me. 
 I was in love with all the professors and all the students 
 of both literary societies. Love begets love. I found 
 many anxious and willing to help me. I attended every 
 prayer meeting and every preaching service when I was 
 not away, myself. I was superintendent of a mission 
 Sunday school a few miles from the college (Neuse 
 Mills). I often preached at that point on Sundays at 
 eleven o'clock. Kind friends were sympathetic and 
 gave me opportunity to improve my gifts. They helped 
 me financially and encouraged me in many ways. I 
 served my society (Euzelian) in many ways. I acted 
 as a critic, secretary, and president, and served on many 
 committees. I am indebted to my work in the literary 
 society for much of whatever has come to me in later 
 life. A young man makes a great mistake in college 
 who does not take advantage of all the opportunities 
 afforded him by his literary society. I was laughed at 
 in some of my first speeches. My voice was not under 
 good control. I was nervous and excited, awkward and 
 full of imperfections. Some well-dressed young men 
 laughed immoderately at my unseemly bearing and my 
 peculiar way of expressing my thoughts. I remember 
 well how I winced under these things. I said to myself, 
 'I shall see to it that these young men shall recognize my 
 
40 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ability to do things.' It was not many months before 
 they would come to my room to get my aid in reading 
 Latin, Greek, etc. They were my truest friends and, in 
 after years, always ready to boost me and put me for- 
 ward as their friend and champion. I was elected unani- 
 mously to deliver the address on one of the anniversary 
 occasions and at its delivery received an ovation at 
 their hands. A little criticism and fun-making at a 
 young man's expense often prove a means of stimulat- 
 ing him to do his best. I preached a few times before 
 the students in the chapel, but always with more or less 
 trepidation. I did not call on the ladies very often, as 
 I felt I did not have time and I knew I would have many 
 opportunities later in life. My motto was, 'I must do 
 one thing at a time and do that one thing well' My 
 classes were large during the first years of my college 
 life. But many dropped out as the months passed. Only 
 four young men graduated when I did. The names of 
 these young men were W. D. Trantham, William Sykes, 
 Columbus Durham and H. A. Brown. I graduated in an 
 alpaca coat that cost $3.00. It was the best I could 
 afford. But, thanks to an appreciative audience, I was 
 none the less honored. Wake Forest has always been 
 one of the dearest places on this earth to die. For her 
 I have labored and prayed through many a year, and 
 rejoiced at every advance made by my Alma Mater. 
 From her walls have gone out some of the best and most 
 distinguished men who have helped to make our good 
 old North State memorable among the sister States of 
 our Federal Union." 
 
 Dr. W. B. Royall tells an incident of Dr. Brown's 
 college life that throws some light on his character. He 
 says, "One attribute of his character was very marked. 
 He shrank almost morbidly from the building of any 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 41 
 
 kind of wall between himself and those to whose service 
 he wished to dedicate his life. He was afraid that a 
 college diploma might do this. He came to see it in a 
 different light and wisely decided to complete his college 
 course. We know now that his college education was but 
 a stepping stone to the attainment of that fervid and 
 eloquent simplicity and ease with which he writes and 
 speaks and gives him access to the minds and hearts of 
 the learned and the unlearned, of saints and sinners." 
 
 His Conversion, Baptism and Call to the Ministry 
 
 Dr. Brown was born into a moral but not a religious 
 home. At the time of his conversion not a member of 
 his family was connected with any church. His mother 
 was converted and baptized two years after he was. 
 She testified that she was first impressed of her need for 
 salvation while witnessing her son's baptism. Then 
 followed the conversion and baptism of Dr. Brown's 
 father and his six brothers and sisters. 
 
 Dr. Brown was inclined toward religion from his earli- 
 est youth. Of himself he says that he was religiously 
 inclined from his earliest recollection, that he prayed 
 much without having been taught, and that he had faith 
 in prayer. Mr. G. W. Suitts, already mentioned as one 
 of his boyhood friends, says: ''At that time there was 
 not a church near his home, and he was eager to be in 
 the service of his Master. So he conducted a Sunday 
 school and prayer meeting in a district school building." 
 
 After the War, at the age of eighteen, he was con- 
 verted. He took me to the very^ spot. It was in a barn 
 standing near a big oak tree in front of his father's 
 house. The barn is gone but the tree still stands. 'Till 
 then," he says, '1 had never had any experimental 
 
42 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 knowledge of Christ. I had been a moral youth. I had 
 no bad habits. But I felt that my heart was not right. 
 Kneeling there in the bam, I had a definite experience 
 that I would not swap for any other experience I ever 
 had. A deep sense of unworthiness crept over me, and 
 I cried, 'Oh, Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.' 
 Like the prodigal, I said, 'I have sinned against heaven 
 and in thy sight, and am not worthy to be called thy 
 son.' In penitence and deep contrition of soul, I said, 
 'Here, Lord, I come; take me just as I am.' I looked on 
 him and he looked on me, and we were one forever. I 
 was a new creation in him. Old things passed away and 
 
 all things became new. 
 
 (' 
 'Tongue cannot express 
 The sweet comfort and peace 
 Of a soul in its earliest love'." 
 
 He w^as baptized in Troublesome Creek, Rockingham 
 County, by Rev. F. H. Jones and joined Summerfield 
 Baptist Church. Of his baptism, he says, "It was a 
 beautiful Sunday morning in the month of September. 
 The birds were singing in the trees. The water moved 
 softly in its glad march to the sea. Two nieces of Gover- 
 nor Reid, the Misses Scott, were baptized on the same 
 day. My mother, yet unconverted, stood on the banks of 
 the stream. I was buried in the likeness of my Saviour's 
 death and raised in the likeness of his resurrection. I 
 was symbolically dead and buried to the world and 
 raised to the newness of life in Christ. I had the answer 
 of a good conscience and went on my way rejoicing." 
 
 The impression that he should preach the gospel came 
 to Dr. Brown soon after he was baptized in 1865. Others 
 were similarly impressed about him, for on the day he 
 was baptized some one in the congregation remarked 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 43 
 
 that a Baptist preacher had been baptized that day. 
 But he was not ordained till six years later, in 1871, 
 soon after he had graduated from Wake Forest College. 
 The ordination service was held at Yanceyville in Cas- 
 well County. The presbytery was composed of Dr. 
 W. M. Wingate of Wake Forest College, Rev. F. H. 
 Jones, who had baptized him six years before. Rev. S. G. 
 Mason, Rev. W. S. Fontaine, Rev. F. M. Jordan and 
 Rev. P. H. Fontaine. The sermon was preached by Dr. 
 Wingate from the text, ''Go out into the highways and 
 hedges and compel them to come in." The ordination 
 prayer was offered by Rev. F. H. Jones and the charge 
 given by Rev. F. M. Jordan. 
 
 His estimate of the ministry of the gospel as a life- 
 work is expressed by Dr. Brown in these words: ''Next 
 to the assurance of salvation is the joy of being put into 
 the ministry, called of God as was Aaron, chosen as 
 was Paul, subject to the law of necessity w^hich inhered in 
 the economy of grace. Well may a true minister mag- 
 nify his ojQfice. He bears in his message the unspeakable 
 riches of Christ. He is a chosen vessel meet for the 
 Master's use. He enjoys a privilege not given to angels 
 that circle the throne of God." 
 
 His Missionary Work 
 
 Soon after his ordination Dr. Brown was engaged by 
 the State Mission Board to do mission work in Rock- 
 ingham, Guilford, Stokes and Forsyth Counties. I can- 
 not do better than let him tell in his own way his ex- 
 periences as a young minister in a mission field. "1 had 
 eight or nine appointments to reach each month. This 
 required riding on horseback nearly one hundred and 
 fifty miles per month. I had to ford Dan River four or 
 
44 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 five times a month. Often it was swollen and I came 
 near having trouble and being in danger on several occa- 
 sions. I rode a hard-trotting horse which gave me fine 
 exercise. 
 
 "One of the mission points was at Beaver Island, six 
 miles above Madison, among the hills of upper Rocking- 
 ham County. A few Baptist families resided in that 
 community. We met in a log schoolhouse. I preached 
 there on Saturday and Sunday once a month. I held a 
 protracted meeting under a large bush arbor. The peo- 
 ple came from near and far. One Sunday, while I was 
 preaching, I saw a young man who was much exercised. 
 He was standing by a post with his arm about it and 
 trembling. I approached him and asked the cause of 
 his alarm. He said, ^I am a lost man. I feel as if 
 the earth would sink under my feet. Will you tell me 
 what to do?' I said, 'Yes, repeat after me, 
 
 *Yet save a trembling sinner, Lord, 
 Whose hope still hovers around thy Word, 
 Would light on some sweet promise there, 
 Some sure support against despair.' 
 
 He and many others professed religion. I baptized a 
 number in Mayo River. Then we began to discuss the 
 building of a new house of worship on a piece of ground 
 not far away. The people were poor, money was scarce, 
 and there were many discouragements. One elderly man 
 was a carpenter. The brethren sawed and hauled lum- 
 ber to the place. This old man began the building. He 
 w^as much discouraged at times. Once when I went there 
 to preach he said to me: 
 
 '^ 'I have had a great wrestle down there in the woods.' 
 
 "I said, 'With whom did you wrestle?' 
 
 "He said, 'With Satan. Satan said to me, "You have 
 no business giving of your time and strength to build 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 45 
 
 this house. Let some one else build it or let it go un- 
 built".' 
 
 ''Then the old man said to him, 'It is none of your 
 business what I do with my time and strength.' Then 
 we clinched and I had it out with him. 
 
 "This house was finished in due time and since then 
 many souls have been born into the Kingdom in it. 
 (Beaver Island Baptist Church.) 
 
 ''Another mission point was at Oak Ridge, ten miles 
 north in Stokes County. We met in a school house. 
 Many people lived in the vicinity, but very few who 
 professed religion. We held a protracted meeting there 
 and many professed faith. It was here I baptized my 
 first candidate. Brother F. M. Jordan, who had assisted 
 me in the meeting, went into the water with me to show 
 me how to baptize. The man to be baptized was past 
 sixty years of age. After this first baptism I baptized 
 a negro woman, and then quite a number of others. 
 During the meeting an incident occurred which caused 
 much discussion. One day at the close of the sermon 
 persons who wished to be prayed for were asked to kneel 
 in the congregation. A young girl about ten years of 
 age knelt. When her father, who was not a Christian, 
 saw it, he left his seat, went and pulled his daughter 
 from her knees, led her to the door and pushed her out. 
 Then he walked about the yard, talked loudly and 
 created much disturbance. The young girl went home 
 and was soon after seized by some serious disease. I 
 was sent for to go and see her and pray for her. Her 
 brothers were engaged in a neighborhood broil and were 
 badly wounded. The girl died and shadows deep fell 
 on the community. The incident produced a profound 
 impression in the community. 
 
46 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ''Soon after I began preaching there I heard there was 
 a man living not far away who had a very interesting 
 family but who never went to preaching and did not like 
 preachers about him. I decided to go and see him. He 
 seemed a little distant at first. I did my best to make 
 myself agreeable and talked with him about things he 
 was interested in. I went with him to the stables to 
 feed the horses, to the pens to feed his hogs, out to the 
 barns to see his tobacco, across the fields to see his grow- 
 ing crops. He began to feel at home with me. The next 
 morning, to my great surprise, he hitched up his two- 
 horse wagon, and said, 'I am going to church and take 
 my wife and all my children. And I want you to make 
 my house your home when you are in the neighbor- 
 hood. I have plenty to eat, good fires to sit by, and you 
 are as welcome as you can be.' He became my fast 
 friend and was always at church after that on Saturday 
 and Sunday. Preachers should study human nature. It 
 is more important than reading theological discussions. 
 
 "There was an old colored woman who always at- 
 tended the services at this point. She remained loyal 
 to her former master. She was very ignorant but ver>^ 
 pious. On one occasion I preached from the text, 'Why 
 art thou cast down, my soul, and why art thou dis- 
 quieted within me? Hope thou in God for I shall praise 
 him,' etc. I tried to tell something about the soul. It 
 was separate and different from the body. It was the un- 
 dying, imperishable part of us. It was the part that 
 thinks, feels, reasons, hopes, etc. After the sermon was 
 over and we were on our way to the home where she 
 still lived with her fonner master, several of us were 
 talking together. This old woman began to talk about 
 the sermon. She said, 'The brother, he did try so hard 
 to make it plain about the soul, but, the poor sinner, he 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 47 
 
 do not understand it, he do not know where the soul is, 
 but I knows all about it.' Then, raising her foot and 
 striking the bottom of it with her cane, she said, 'There 
 is the soul.' I felt, after all my efforts to simplify and 
 make the matter plain, I had made poor headway. 
 
 'The schoolhouse was burned down, and, for a time, 
 I preached in an old storehouse. Later a commodious 
 house was built and a good church has for many years 
 been a growing blessing to all this country around. 
 
 "At another of my appointments there lived a man of 
 age and more than ordinary information. He was one 
 of the brethren who feel called to keep the preacher 
 straight in doctrine and practice. I preached on one 
 occasion as well as I knew how to preach. After the 
 sermon was over he took me aside and said, 'I am con- 
 strained to tell you that you did not preach the truth 
 to-day. You greatly misinterpreted your text and led 
 the people astray.' I said, 'I thank you for telling me 
 and I am soriy if I failed to teach the people as they 
 should have been taught. I confess I do not know very 
 much, but I spent considerable time preparing the ser- 
 mon. I compared the text with other passages. I fol- 
 lowed out parallel lines of thought. I consulted com- 
 mentaries. I prayed over the matter, asking for guid- 
 ance. Perhaps you have not investigated the matter 
 closely. Allow me to ask you to think of it more and 
 at my next appointment tell me of your conclusion.' 
 When I went back a month later he met me in the 
 grove where I was hitching my horse. He had a smile 
 on his face and grasped my hand eagerly and said, 'I 
 was too hasty in what I said to you. I find I was wrong 
 and you were right.' It is always well to be sure that 
 we are right before we take it for granted that the 
 preacher does not know what he is talking about. 
 
48 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ^'It was at Summerfield Church that I made my first 
 public prayer. It was at the Saturday meeting. The 
 pastor took me to walk, a little distance and asked me if 
 I would not pray at the close of the sermon. I declined. 
 I said I could not do it. He said nothing, but on the 
 next day, at the conclusion of his sennon, when the 
 house was crowded, he called on me to pray. My heart 
 was in my throat. I choked for utterance. I stam- 
 mered and stumbled through. But I have always been 
 thankful that he helped me to do my duty. Many a 
 timid young man could, perhaps, pray in public if called 
 on and find himself able to do v/hat he thought before he 
 could not do. 
 
 "I assisted in special revival meetings in Person, 
 Caswell, Orange, Guilford, Rockingham, Stokes, Forsyth, 
 Surry and Davidson Counties. I preached and sang 
 often until I was almost exhausted. This continual 
 preaching and singing brought on a throat trouble which 
 caused me to have to give up my work for several months. 
 I was under the treatment of several physicians. Dr. Joe 
 Hollingsworth, of Mt. Airy, gave me some advice which 
 enabled me to begin work again. It was to dip myself 
 into Eno River every day at sunrise for a month, to let 
 my beard grow out, and to go on preaching." This ex- 
 plains why Dr. Brown began wearing a full beard early in 
 his life and has continued to do so ever since. 
 
 His Fayetteville Pastorate 
 
 After recovering from his throat trouble Dr. Brown 
 taught school a few months and then accepted the pas- 
 torate of the First Baptist Church of Fayetteville. We 
 have his reminiscences of this pastorate published in the 
 North Carolina Baptist in 1903. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 49 
 
 "I was called to the pastorate of the Baptist Church 
 in Fayetteville in July or August, 1874, and remained 
 there three years, I had never visited the town and 
 was not known to any member of the church. It was a 
 mystery to me how my name had gotten before them. 
 It was before the days of candidating on the part of 
 preachers or of skilful manipulating on the part of pulpit 
 committees. I learned afterward that Brother J. B. 
 Richardson had spoken kindly of me to a friend of his 
 who was a member of the church. A conference was 
 held, a prayer was offered, and the call was extended. 
 I accepted it with fear and trembling, believing it to be 
 the will of God that I should go. I had never preached 
 in towns or cities, had only labored a few months as a 
 missionary in the destitute portions of the Beulah As- 
 sociation. I knew that Dr. McDaniel, who was re- 
 garded as a distinguished pulpit orator, had served that 
 church for many years. I knew also that Rev. William 
 Brunt, a graduate of the Southern Baptist Seminary, and 
 a fine thinker and a preacher of no mean ability had 
 succeeded Dr. McDaniel. I can never describe the 
 feelings of anxiety that filled my bosom as I contem- 
 plated entering the pulpit as a successor to these men 
 of God. With scarcely any experience as a pastor, with 
 only a few poorly prepared sermons, with my Bible and 
 a dozen or more other books I made my arrangements to 
 obey what I felt to be the call of God. 
 
 'There was only one passenger train a day that slowly 
 crept into the Fayetteville of that period. It was night 
 when I boarded the train at Sanford, having come 
 from Gary that afternoon. I saw, soon after enter- 
 ing, a well-dressed, dignified man in the rear of the 
 car. I decided to engage him in conversation, if pos- 
 sible. I found him affable and well-informed. I soon 
 
50 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 learned that he resided in Fayetteville, that he had been 
 North to buy a stock of goods, that he was a jeweler, 
 that he knew everybody in Fayetteville, that he could 
 tell me many things I w^as anxious to know. I was care- 
 ful not to tell my name or my mission. I interrogated 
 him about the preachers, the churches, the Sunday 
 schools. He talked freely and wonderfully interest- 
 ingly to me. I ventured, at length, to ask if the Baptist 
 Church had a pastor. He answered in the negative. He 
 spoke tenderly of McDaniel and Brunt, and of G. W. 
 Greene, who had supplied for a time. Then he said, 'I 
 have heard that the church has called a young man by 
 the name of Brown from the hills of the western section 
 of the State, but I have not seen him, never heard of him 
 before.' 
 
 ''I said, 'Is it believed that this young man will ac- 
 cept the call?' 
 
 ''He said, 'None of the members seems to know and 
 it seems like a leap in the dark.' 
 
 " 'It seems,' I said, 'like a risky business, but I hope it 
 will turn out well.' I still played non-committal. 
 
 " 'My friend,' he continued, 'I do not know you, or 
 what you are religiously, but I do not hesitate to say 
 that I am a Baptist and not ashamed of my people, their 
 faith, their history, or their good w^orks.' 
 
 "I answered that I had known some very estimable 
 people among the Baptists, and some who were only 
 flesh and blood with all the inherited weaknesses com- 
 mon to poor, frail human nature. I wanted to know if 
 the Baptist Church in Fayetteville was in peace among 
 themselves, if there were any factions among them, if 
 they were loyal to their pastor, if there were any cranks 
 in the membership, if they were willing to be led, if there 
 w^ere any critic among them, etc. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 51 
 
 "He answered discreetly and truthfully. The con- 
 ductor cried out, 'Fayetteville/ and we parted for the 
 night. 
 
 "On the following Sunday night I saw this same man 
 in the congregation. (It was Rev. J. M. Beasley.) He 
 came forward with open arms to greet me and to say, 
 'Why did you not tell me who you were on the train?' 
 
 "The truth is, I wanted to get my bearings, so I would 
 know how to adjust myself. I never had a better friend 
 than J. M. Beasley. His store was my headquarters 
 while I remained in Fayetteville. Together we talked 
 over the cause; together we often prayed and preached 
 in the country churches; together we planned for the 
 enlargement of the Kingdom. Few people will ever know 
 what this unpretending man did for the cause of Christ. 
 With his own money largely, he built houses of w^orship 
 in destitute localities and supplied them v/ith the gospel. 
 He traveled widely in his own buggy and preached the 
 gospel without charge in many neighborhoods where 
 Christ was not so much as named. He was enthusiastic 
 in his work and had the ability to inspire others with 
 his spirit. He was easy of approach and possessed that 
 open-hearted candor that made him valuable as a friend 
 and adviser. At his death there came into my heart a 
 consciousness of real loss. And I have never been in 
 Fayetteville since that I have not missed him and 
 wished for him as in the days of long ago. 
 
 "My first sermon was preached the second Sunday in 
 September, 1874. The house of worship was crowded to 
 its utmost capacity. The text used was, "Blessed are 
 the pure in heart, for they shall see God." A few re- 
 marks were made about the beatitudes; an effort was 
 made to describe the pure in heart, and the people were 
 told some of the senses in which the pure in heart could 
 
52 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 see God. It was a simple analysis, with no effort to be 
 deep, learned or profound. The sermon was written and 
 almost committed to memory — a rather hazardous 
 method for a young preacher. If my call to the church 
 had depended on my first sermon I should probably 
 have never been pastor. I was conscious that I was not 
 preaching a trial sermon, and here I only aimed to begin 
 as I hoped to hold out. One of the older members told 
 me before I preached not to make the mistake of preach- 
 ing my best sermon first. I told him my aim had always 
 been and should always be to do my best under the cir- 
 cumstances. I know even now, after the expiration of 
 many years, no better rule for the preacher to follow. 
 
 ''At the conclusion of the sermon a host of people 
 gathered about me, and in the midst of their warm, fra- 
 ternal greetings I almost forgot that I was a stranger 
 among them. 
 
 ''I do not know what impression was made by the ser- 
 mon, though some were kind enough to express apprecia- 
 tion. I have reasons to believe, however, that they were 
 not 'specially taken' by my appearance in the pulpit, as 
 they went to work quietly and furnished me an elegant 
 suit of clothes to be worn on the next Sabbath. Of course, 
 I submitted. What else could I do? I was fresh from 
 the country and unacquainted with city folks or city 
 customs. I must become all things to all men that I 
 might win some. After all, is there any lesson more 
 important for the preacher to learn than the lesson of 
 adjustability? Gradually I became acquainted with 
 the congregation and felt at home among them. 
 
 'T found soon after beginning my work that there was 
 a debt on the church and that the house of worship was 
 mortgaged. This was to me a source of anxiety. A 
 church debt is always a troublesome quantity. It is 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 53 
 
 always in the way when an advanced step is proposed. 
 Arrangements were made to begin the liquidation of 
 the debt. A 'Church Relief Society' was organized, made 
 up of the young and old people. This society met once 
 a month on Sunday afternoon. A program was always 
 arranged, consisting of music, recitations, essays, etc. 
 The members paid their dues and a general collection 
 was taken. After a few months the debt was removed 
 and the people greatly encouraged. The church had no 
 baptistry at that time and money was subscribed and 
 the work was begun. Soon after the baptistry was 
 placed in the building a series of meetings was held and 
 a number of happy converts were baptized on profession 
 of their faith in Christ. Rev. C. Durham, who was a 
 classmate of the pastor, assisted in the meetings. His 
 preaching and his singing made a powerful impression 
 on the congregations that heard him. 
 
 ''Many of the older members of the church were known 
 to hold widely differing views on the subject of election 
 and predestination. One of their former pastors had 
 seemed to lean strongly towards Arminian views, while 
 the other had insisted on Calvinistic views generally held 
 and believed by the Baptist people. These older breth- 
 ren would often meet and warmly discuss their differ- 
 ences. They had their proofs, their Scripture passages, 
 and were always ready for a debate. I soon found that 
 I would have to make a deliverance from the pulpit on 
 these much disputed subjects. Each party was sure 
 that I would champion his side of the subject. I as- 
 siduously avoided preaching on these subjects in a con- 
 clusive way. Sometimes I would preach free agency 
 as if there was no such doctrine as the divine sovereignty ; 
 then I would preach God's sovereignty as if there 
 were no such thing as free agency taught, in the Scrip- 
 
54 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 tures. Both parties wanted to know how I was going 
 to reconcile these teachigs on these subjects. I told 
 them both were taught in the Scriptures, that I be- 
 lieved both and would not attempt to reconcile what 
 God had not attempted to reconcile in his Word. 
 
 "In a few months they began to realize that the Bible 
 deals largely with the great practical duties of life. And 
 they were willing for the pastor to preach as he thought 
 best on any and every subject. The theological debat- 
 ing society gradually disbanded, and they vied with one 
 another in their efforts to illustrate the great practical 
 principles of our common Christianity. 
 
 "There are some spots about Fayetteville that will 
 forever remain sacredly enshrined in my memory. I 
 think of Hay Mount, from whose top I so often caught 
 a view of the valley of the river and the gently sloping 
 hills that lay beyond, sleeping in the lap of beauty. Here 
 were the elegant homes of many good people, and hard 
 by was the site of the United States Arsenal, so rudely 
 and ruthlessly destroyed by Sherman's army in the clos- 
 ing weeks of the Civil War. I think of the historic 
 ^Cross Creek,' where two streams came together which 
 were said by the older people to have crossed each other 
 in the long ago without intermingling their waters. I 
 think of Liberty Point, dear to all genuine patriots as 
 the place where the Revolutionary fathers met to de- 
 clare their independence. I think of the cemetery with 
 its winding walks, its shady nooks, its fragrant flowers, 
 its peaceful atmosphere, its quaint inscriptions on the 
 tombs where the 'forefathers of the hamlet sleep.' I 
 think of the old buildings that stood in the midst of the 
 streets of the city. What tender memories of the long 
 ago cluster about me as I think of the sunset and evening 
 bell as seen and heard from the ancient markethouse 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 55 
 
 in dear old Fayetteville. Sweet memories of the river, 
 of the cool spring under the wide-spreading oaks, the 
 bridge above the mill, where the water sings softly on 
 its glad march to the sea, come to me o'er and o'er as I 
 make my pilgrimage towards the sunset. 
 
 ''In the summer of 1877 I felt my health beginning 
 to fail, and my mind turned again to the Piedmont sec- 
 tion of the State, and I resigned my pastorate in Fay- 
 etteville." 
 
 His Winston-Salem Pastorate 
 
 Dr. Brown, as he says, was disposed to return to Pied- 
 mont, North Carolina, because he thought it would be 
 better for his health. He was now thirty-one years old. 
 He is described by one who knew him then as "quiet, 
 slender, bearded." Miss Carrie Jones of Winston-Salem, 
 who was a little girl when Dr. Brown came to Winston- 
 Salem, recalls that she told her father that the call of 
 Dr. Brown to the Baptist Church in Winston was risky 
 business because he looked so delicate. Yet during a 
 pastorate of forty years he was not absent from his 
 pulpit on account of sickness more than six or eight 
 times. 
 
 The Baptist Church in Winston and the Red Bank 
 Baptist Church, ten miles out in the country, were both 
 without a pastor in 1877. The two boards of deacons 
 had considered and rejected several names of proposed 
 pastors. At length, the two boards without consulta- 
 tion with each other unanimously called Dr. Brown to 
 preach at Winston three Sundays a month and at Red 
 Bank one. 
 
 Long Pastorate 
 
 The stoiy of Dr. Brown's work as pastor forty years 
 of the Baptist Church in Winston, now the First Bap- 
 
56 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 tist Church of Winston-Salem, constitutes the balance 
 of this book and cannot be covered in part of a chapter 
 or even a whole chapter. But inasmuch as his has been 
 one of the longest whole-time pastorates of a city church 
 in the annals of Southern Baptist history, it is well 
 here and now to record what Dr. Brown, himself, has 
 to say about long pastorates. 
 
 Staying Power of People 
 
 ''In order to promote permanency in the pastorate 
 quite as much depends upon the membership and con- 
 gregation as upon the pastor himself. The people must 
 have staying power if the minister abides. If the peo- 
 ple are in an unsettled state, coming and going like 
 gypsies, changing their camping ground, anything like 
 permanency in the pastoral relation is almost impossible. 
 There must be enough people rooted to the soil to main- 
 tain the traditions of the church and resist the dangerous 
 innovations of the newcomers, if the pastor goes on year 
 after year in increasing efficiency in the work of the 
 church. This staying, conservative element in the church 
 will serve as a wall of protection to the pastor until his 
 plans shall mature and his work shall blossom into prom- 
 ise and fruitfulness. These persons will be to the pastor 
 like Napoleon's bodyguard, a mighty reserve force for 
 effectiveness in a time of emergency. There are always 
 some to tell how they did things in the Sleepy Hollow 
 Church and how the pastor did down in the old church 
 in Camden, or how they used to do in the church just 
 across the line in some adjacent State. 
 
 *Tf there is not a wall to break the force of this in- 
 coming tide of suggestion the pastor and the church 
 may be swept off their feet. It is worth a great deal to 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 57 
 
 a poor pastor, agitated by a thousand suggestions as 
 to how to manage the church, to have some good, level- 
 headed members who have had staying power rise up 
 and say, 'We have seen these plans and suggestions tried 
 in other years and found they did not work in our or- 
 ganization.' This lifts the burden from the shoulders 
 of the pastor and prevents his coming into antagonism 
 with men and measures that would mean strife and di- 
 vision with reference to him. 
 
 "I have been pastor of a single church for thirty-two 
 years (it continued eight years longer) and more, but I 
 am confident it would have been necessary for me to 
 have 'packed my grip' and moved to pastures new sev- 
 eral times if I had not had members with staying powers 
 who moulded the policy of the church and relieved the 
 pastor of many an embarrassing situation. 
 
 Co-operation Among Members 
 
 'To bring about permanency there must be co-opera- 
 tion on the part of the membership. They must be 
 willing to wait for time to develop pastors and churches. 
 They must not 'get down with the fever' for a change 
 of methods and pastors every time the east wind blows. 
 Much friendy counsel, sympathy and forbearance are 
 necessary if a pastor continues his labors through a long 
 succession of years. No one is more conscious of mis- 
 takes than he is, no one grieves over them more than he 
 does, and no one tries harder always to do and say the 
 right thing in the right way at the right times than he. 
 Alas, he belongs to an imperfect tribe. He is a man of 
 like passions, encompassed with the same sort of infirmi- 
 ties that so often embarrass other men. 
 
58 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ^'He is not as wise as Solomon, as good as Barnabas, 
 as logical as Paul, as eloquent as Apollos, or as patient 
 as Job. He is a plain, blunt man, it may be, who speaks 
 right on and loves his friends and wants to please his 
 Master most of all. If his people love him, believe in 
 him, and stand by him, he will grow stronger and more 
 widely useful the longer he stays with them. His advice 
 will be more sought after, his visits will be more wel- 
 comed, his prayers will be more enjoyed, and his ser- 
 mons will be more appreciated. It is wonderful how 
 many allowances people will make for their pastor if 
 they only love him. It is amazing what poor preaching 
 they will sometimes 'put up with' if they only trust him. 
 Love hides a multitude of faults; charity thinks no evil. 
 
 ''If churches desire permanency in the pastoral rela- 
 tion let them remember that pastors are human and 
 liable to err; let them love them, notwithstanding their 
 imperfections, and co-operate with them in the spirit of 
 harmony. Let them think of the Scriptural injunction, 
 'Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit 
 yourselves; for they watch for your soul, as they that 
 must give account, that they may do it with joy, and 
 not with grief; for that is unprofitable to you'." 
 
 Staying Power of Pastor 
 
 But to promote permanency in the pastorate, the pas- 
 tor himself must play a conspicuous part. He must 
 have staying power. It is not well to take a field 
 simply as an experiment. The Lord's work is too serious 
 and important to be experimented with. When a pas- 
 tor accepts a field, he should enter upon it with the 
 solemn purpose of making it the greatest success pos- 
 sible under his leadership. To enter upon a work sim- 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 59 
 
 ply as a springboard to get into a larger place is un- 
 worthy of any true man and an insult to the people on 
 whom the imposition is practiced. Such methods as this 
 have had much to do with making many of our churches 
 experiment stations. Brother W. R. Gwaltney used to 
 say that some men entered upon their pastorate with 
 one foot lifted up ready to jump into another place as 
 soon as the opportunity presented itself. 
 
 ^^Many pastors have found by sad experience that they 
 do not always better their conditions by a change of 
 fields. I know there is a sort of fascination about the 
 thought of beginning new work under changed condi- 
 tions. Distance lends enchantment to the view. 'Hope 
 springs eternal in the human breast, man never is but 
 always to be blest.' 
 
 "Our hopes do not materialize. We have seen our 
 fondest hopes decay. It is not best to move away from 
 a field because it is difficult. There are no rosy fields 
 for consecrated, devoted pastors. Each field has its trials, 
 its problems, its seemingly unsurmountable difficulties. 
 But somebody must beard the lion in his den, somebody 
 must face the situation, somebody must lay down his 
 life in every place for Jesus Christ, and who knows but 
 that we have come to the Kingdom for such a time as 
 this. There is such a thing as jumping out of the frying 
 pan into the fire. And it may be better to endure the 
 ills that we have than to fly to what we know not of. 
 It is the part of good judgment to look before we leap. 
 
 "I know a pastor who had a difficult field and he re- 
 ceived a telegram from another church, offering him 
 just twice what he was receiving. It was a tempta- 
 tion, but he said, 'Some man must put his life-blood into 
 this work here if it succeeds. Why should I not do it?' 
 He declined the call and it proved the best step of his 
 
60 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 life. The members to a man rallied around him and 
 they all worked and suffered together. The church be- 
 came his joy and crown. 
 
 Acceptable Preaching 
 
 "li we have permanency in the pastorate, the preacher 
 must preach acceptably to the people. Long pastorates 
 are generally characterized by good average preaching. 
 Such men as Cuyler, John Hall, Spurgeon, and Maclaren 
 held their pastorates through long years because they 
 gave the people something to think about and enjoy. 
 Sheep will continue to follow the shepherd if he leads 
 them into fresh pastures and supplies their oft-recurring 
 needs. The saints will gladly turn their feet to the 
 places where their spirits are refreshed. Even men of 
 ordinary ability may stay with their people a long time 
 if they study human nature, adjust their themes to the 
 demands of the times, and preach the gospel with the 
 Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. 
 
 Keeping Up With Times 
 
 "It is not a new gospel that the people want, but the 
 old gospel in new forms of thought. They want old 
 truths dressed in new garments. 
 
 ^'The man who would stay long must cater to the 
 needs of his particular generation. The man who is 
 out of gear with his own times cannot interest others.' 
 The gospel has its special message to reach successive 
 generations. It adjusts itself to the demands of the 
 rolling centuries. It is said of a great Scotch preacher 
 that he stood always at the foot of the cross, but from 
 that center he swept the circumference of active life. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 61 
 
 The abiding pastor cannot continue to preach the same 
 sermons he preached twenty years ago because there are 
 conditions to which the gospel must be applied that had 
 no existence then. To attain unto permanency, then, 
 let pastors study variety, adaptation, illustration, the 
 changing order of things, that they may not lose touch 
 with the moving procession. 
 
 Visitation 
 
 ''Much attention must be given to private visitation, 
 if a pastor is to become a fixture in any community. 
 It is the personal touch that glues pastor and people 
 together. No amount of pulpit brilliancy will hold a 
 congregation together through the years without much 
 contact with them in their homes. 'Congregations are 
 built up externally by thorough pastoral work, and then 
 they are built up internally by a thorough setting forth 
 of Bible truth. It is one thing to attract a gaping crowd 
 to witness a display of pulpit fireworks; it is quite an- 
 other thing to attract and hold attentive listeners to the 
 gospel of life. People do not get greatly interested in 
 preaching until they become interested in the man who 
 does the preaching. One good man said once he always 
 enjoyed the sermon more on Sunday if he had had a 
 warm handshake with the preacher during the week be- 
 fore. The more families a pastor can tie to himself and 
 the church through visitation and personal attention, the 
 more secure and permanent the relation becomes. 'The 
 good shepherd calleth his own sheep by name and lead- 
 eth them out. A stranger will they not follow for they 
 know not the voice of strangers.' Let a pastor become 
 thoroughly imbedded in the affections of all the people, 
 
62 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 and the gates of hell cannot prevail against him in that 
 community. 
 
 Soul Winner 
 
 "Every pastor should strive to be a soul winner. Every 
 person won for Christ and baptized into the fellowship 
 of the church and trained for service during his pastor- 
 ate becomes an additional cord to make the relation 
 permanent. He may be all the while lengthening the 
 cords and strengthening the stakes of his pastorate. 
 As the young people grow to maturity and are married 
 by him and the sorrowing relatives are comforted by his 
 ministry, the bonds that bind pastor and people together 
 grow stronger and stronger. 
 
 Careful About Debts 
 
 "If a pastor would tarry long with his people, he must 
 not contract debts that he cannot pay. Better suffer for 
 bread than lose his influence through repeated failure 
 to meet financial obligations. Let him avoid taking an 
 active part in partisan politics. Let him be courteous 
 and considerate to all. Let him be an example unto the 
 believers — wise as serpents and harmless as doves — and 
 he will finish his course with joy and the ministry which 
 he has received of the Lord Jesus. 
 
 "There comes a time in every pastor's life when he 
 should change or surrender his pastorate. He should 
 be in a position to decide when that time comes. I once 
 asked Brother J. H. Mills how long a pastor should re- 
 main on a field. He replied, 'When they persecute you 
 in one city, flee to another.' When by reason of age or 
 infirmity the pastor becomes unable to do the work that 
 needs to be done he should surrender. The Kingdom of 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 63 
 
 God in any community is more to be considered than any 
 man, however popular and useful he may have been in 
 the years that have passed. 
 
 "Dr. Gambrell says pastors are divided into three 
 classes — the builders, the setters and the splitters. Don't 
 be a setter; don't be a splitter; be a builder, and you 
 may stay as long as you ought to stay." 
 
 Speaking on one of the anniversaries of Dr. Brown's 
 long pastorate, Bishop Rondthaler said: "I have some- 
 times wondered where Dr. Brown would have been by 
 this time if he had been one of those hasty reformers 
 whom I have seen here. When a man begins to hurry 
 reforms he is likely, ere long, to move somewhere else. 
 I have imagined two men meeting on the street. One 
 would say, 'Do you remember Dr. Brown, the former 
 pastor of this place?' The other would say, 'Yes, I re- 
 member him; he preached in the First Baptist Church.' 
 I imagine the first speaker saying, 'I saw him sometime 
 ago and then I heard of his being in Montgomery, Ala- 
 bama, and then of his making things hot in Arkansas, 
 and he has now gone to California.' Something of a 
 wanderer of this sort my dear brother would have been 
 if he had not settled down from the outset, determined 
 that he would be a preacher of the gospel and to be in 
 the community in which God had placed him. And I 
 can imagine a different conversation. Two people meet- 
 ing each other along our street, one says, 'Do you re- 
 member Dr. Brown?' The other says, 'Dr. Brown? 
 How could I ever forget him? Why, when our baby 
 died and when we were rebellious against God in our 
 great affliction, Dr. Brown came and talked with us about 
 God's loving ways even in the midst of darkness. Dr. 
 Brown! I cannot forget him as long as I live.' There 
 is where the difference comes in. And that is what I 
 
64 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 like him for; because he has gone in and out among the 
 poor and troubled and the bereaved and the sick and 
 dying. He preaches the gospel on Sundays and in the 
 week he visits the families with reference to the gospel 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 His Pastorate Emeritus 
 
 Immediately after his resignation as pastor of the 
 First Baptist Church of Winston-Salem in 1917, Dr. 
 Brown was unanimously elected pastor emeritus of all 
 the Baptist churches of that city. This was meant to be 
 a graceful but not an empty compliment. Every Bap- 
 tist church in and around the city was an offshoot of the 
 First Church. The older members of every one of them 
 had once been members of Dr. Brown's congregation. 
 They all felt that he was still in a real sense their pas- 
 tor. So, after 1917, Dr. Brown visited and frequently 
 preached in the different Baptist churches until a slight 
 stroke of paralysis in the pulpit of the First Baptist 
 Church in 1918, from which he soon recovered com- 
 pletely, made his physicians advise against his preach- 
 ing. Since then he has continued to attend the preach- 
 ing and prayer meeting services and occasionally leads in 
 prayer. During these eight years of his pastorate emeri- 
 tus his counsel and advice have been sought and obtained 
 on all matters of interest to the Baptist churches of the 
 city. He has advised about the location of the new 
 churches. To him have been brought vexatious problems 
 of church discipline, and his advice has been accepted 
 as final. 
 
 His Home Life 
 
 This account of the simple life that Dr. Brown has 
 led for nearly seventy-nine years would not be complete 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 65 
 
 without a reference to his home life. It has been beau- 
 tiful in every way. Speaking of leaving Fayetteville to 
 accept the pastorate in Winston, Dr. Brown said, "But 
 my heart was still there, for I had left the woman with 
 the golden hair who was destined to be my companion 
 for life, the one on whom I have been more dependent 
 than on any other for whatever of success and happiness 
 has come to me. I can now see some reasons why I was 
 strangely guided to Fayetteville." Mrs. Brown, who was 
 Miss Julia Cain of Fayetteville, was the ideal pastor's 
 wife— cheerful, tactful, practical, the complement of her 
 husband. As Struthers Burt says of the hero's mother in 
 ''The In^ rpreter's House," ''He had never known his 
 mother, • ,it in the figure of his father he had long ago 
 recognized one-half of a perpetual love affair; a mutual 
 decision unshakable by death or separation. The living 
 half of what had been an intimate, untalkative union, 
 continuous and satisfying." Mrs. Brown died in 1914 
 after a lingering illness in the midst of which she re- 
 mained cheerful unto the last. One who knew Mrs. 
 Brown intimately in her home life says of her: "Never 
 did a pastor have a better co-worker than he who is left 
 to continue life's journey without his long-time counsel- 
 lor and helper. The sad notes of human suffering touched 
 her open ears with a peculiar power. She was known 
 as a bearer of oil and wine to the stricken about her. Her 
 home was a haven of rest for God's am.bassadors. The 
 upper chamber was ever ready. Many a wayworn trav- 
 eler has found peace and refreshing within those walls. 
 The glorious optimism of faith, the inspiring outlook of 
 hope, and the gracious heartswell of charity were hap- 
 pily blended in her rich life." 
 
 Another who knew her equally well in her church 
 life said of her on the tenth anniversary of her death, 
 
66 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ''While he worked upon the field she labored in the home. 
 While he dispensed spiritual advices and comforts, she 
 dispensed hospitality. W^hile he preached the gospel 
 from the pulpit, she taught many in the Sunday school. 
 Her womanly and friendly greetings were extended to 
 every part of our church life. Many of us to this day 
 still look for her in her usual place near the door, where 
 she greeted and welcomed almost every one who came 
 to the house of worship." 
 
 A short article by Dr. Brown entitled ''The Story of 
 the Clock that Stopped," in the Biblical Recorder gives 
 such an accurate pen picture of his own home life that 
 I quote it in full: 
 
 "Many years ago two young people were happily mar- 
 ried, and among the gifts sent in by friends was a family 
 clock. It was not, like other presents received on such 
 occasions, laid aside and in the course of time forgotten. 
 It remained through many years to render faithful ser- 
 vice. It had a place on the mantel in the first little room 
 occupied as a home by this young couple. All through 
 the 'honeymoon,' when every word was seasoned with 
 affection and every glance of the eye revealed love in 
 the heart, when music was in the house and every pros- 
 pect was pleasing, when the birds were singing in the 
 trees, and the stars were shining in the night, the clock 
 in the room struck off the hours as the happy days went 
 
 by. 
 
 "As the months went on, a new home was entered and 
 it was all their own — the dearest place on earth to them. 
 And among the sacred furnishings was the clock to oc- 
 cupy its place, from which it would mark off the hours 
 for them through the coming years. After a time, the 
 first baby came into the home, with laughing eyes and a 
 radiant face, and the loving mother watched tenderly 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 67 
 
 over it through many a night while the clock was strik- 
 ing the hours. In the course of the years other chil- 
 dren came to romp and play and sing in the home, and 
 then stand and watch while the Viands' on the dial went 
 slowly around, that they might count while the clock 
 was striking the hour. They soon became very fond of 
 it. It was their companion and friend and 'company' for 
 them when the parents were not in the room. They be- 
 lieved it almost infallible. Other watches might go 
 wrong, other clocks might fail, and even the big town 
 clock might not keep up with sun, but their clock was 
 always right. It kept the time for them to go to bed at 
 night and to rise in the morning, to leave for school and 
 to return in the evening. 
 
 'When sickness was in the family and the doctor came 
 to ask all sorts of questions, to look at the tongue, take 
 the temperature, and write the prescription, the clock 
 must be depended on to keep the time for taking the 
 medicine. It was always consulted for the arrival of the 
 train and for its departure when they wished to visit 
 friends in distant cities. The clock was the only mem- 
 ber of the family that did not complain, did not lose its 
 temper, did not act ugly when the weather changed. 
 Other faces changed but its face was always the same. 
 The silver threads came into mother's hair, and the 
 wrinkles came on father's face, but the clock never 
 seemed to grow old. Its voice never changed, but rang 
 out like a silver bell, and its familiar 'tick-tock' was like 
 the soft dropping of the rain in the darkness of the 
 night. 
 
 "But sad changes came in the home, as they always 
 do, sometime and somewhere, in the history of every 
 family. Mother was sick unto death, and while the loved 
 ones stood silently by, the clock marked off the anxious 
 
68 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 hours. The end came at length. The angels came for 
 her and bore her away to the home of the blest. And 
 the clock stopped. 
 
 "We could not persuade it to continue its work. It 
 seemed to say, The time has come for silence and rest/ 
 We took it to the jeweler and he examined it and said, 
 'There does not seem to be anything wrong with it, but 
 it just will not run.' It stands silent and still, there on 
 the mantel in the room where the husband and father 
 sleeps. It has been the silent witness of many transac- 
 tions in the home, but it has revealed no family secrets. 
 A thousand tender memories cluster about it. No money 
 would buy it, for it is more precious than silver and 
 gold. No rude hand must touch it, for it is more valu- 
 able than rubies, rt is still standing there — ^the old 
 family clock — motionless and quiet since the 'dear one' 
 v/ent av/ay to the heavenly home to wait for the coming 
 of our feet." 
 
 Dr. Brown had an only son named Wingate. He was 
 a youth of promise. After completing his education at 
 Wake Forest, he entered business with the prospect of a 
 bright future. But in 1916 he was stricken down -sud- 
 denly while in the city of Philadelphia on business. 
 
 Dr. Brown is now spending his last days in the home 
 of his younger daughter, Mrs. H. S. Stokes, in Winston- 
 Salem. Next door lives his elder daughter, Mrs. W. 0. 
 McCorkle. There, surrounded by his children and grand- 
 children, two of the latter bearing his name— Henry 
 Brown McCorkle and Henry Brown Stokes — he may be 
 seen sitting on the front porch gazing ''westward out to 
 sea," waiting, as he says, for the sound of the boatman's 
 oar. In passing it may be observed that in Winston- 
 Salem, it is said, the number of "Henry Browns" is 
 greater than the combined namesakes of the Presidents 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 69 
 
 of the United States from Washington to Coolidge. 
 ''Many old people," he says, "make themselves miserable 
 and others miserable as well by always imagining that 
 they are in somebody's way. They do not realize that 
 they may be in the home as a benediction to the grand- 
 children, and inspiration to the parents, a comfort to the 
 weary and sick, and a welcome presence to visiting 
 friends. The promises of God come home to the old like 
 the sweet breath of the springtime." 
 
 Thus he speaks of the eventide of life: 'Tt is given to 
 some of the saints of God, after their strenuous work 
 is over, to wait quietly while the sun is going down. 
 What an inspiration these 'waiting ones' are to their 
 companions who have not traveled so far on life's pil- 
 grimage, or shared the same experience. What a bene- 
 diction to hear of battles long since won, and of fruits 
 that have ripened and mellowed with age, and of hopes 
 that have become settled and fixed, and of prosperity 
 that has given men radiant hope with each advancing 
 stage! It is worth while to wait if by so doing we may 
 be revealers of God's will, interpreters of his providence, 
 and sharers of those richer joys which come to those 
 who have reached the high tablelands of faith and ex- 
 perience. 
 
 "There are many now who quietly wait and rest at 
 the sunset's hours, while a thousand tender memories of 
 those 'loved and lost awhile' come trooping through their 
 minds. They think of many a Bethany, where quiet 
 evenings were spent in communion with those they loved. 
 They go over again in thought the seeds they sowed, 
 the fields they cultivated, the harvests they gathered. 
 They think of influences they started, which were des- 
 tined to girdle the earth. 
 
70 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 "The retrospect may be pleasant to those who are 
 waiting, but the prospect is glorious. Paul said, 'I am 
 now ready to be offered. I have fought a good fight, I 
 have kept the faith.' That was the restrospect. But 
 how joyful was the prospect! 'Henceforth there is laid 
 up for me a crown of righteousness and not for me only, 
 but for all them who love his appearing!' There are 
 visions of better things to those who wait. There are 
 sweet drawings to the better land for those who are 
 waiting, like the soft South winds that hasten the ship 
 to the shore. They have a desire to depart and be with 
 Christ, which is far better. They 'would not live al- 
 ways, they ask not to stay.' They are like those who 
 are ready to move and have sent their furniture ahead. 
 In visions of enraptured thought they see, while they 
 wait, the wide-open gates through which they may enter 
 'the home of the blest.' There are loving hands that 
 beckon them from out the ivory palaces. They are not 
 tired of watching and waiting, but should the summons 
 come, they would hasten away as school boys do when 
 the day is done." 
 
 In the events of this simple life is not to be found, 
 we are quite sure, the reason why Dr. Brown is the pastor 
 beloved. In a sense his life has been uneventful. Many 
 another has, to all outward appearances, lived very much 
 the same life as he. In the annals of secular history his 
 record is brief — a country boy, a brave young soldier, 
 a Baptist minister, holding but two pastorates over a 
 period of fifty years. He must live, and he will live, 
 throughout succeeding generations, not because he did 
 much that is suitable for record in history, but because 
 he lived in such a way as to influence the lives of other 
 men. Though we have in the self-revelations of the man 
 in the quotations I have given in this chapter an inkling 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 71 
 
 of the reason why he is the pastor beloved, we must 
 pursue still further our study of his character if we 
 would really know the pastor beloved. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE WISE LEADER 
 
 ''Remember them which have the rule over you, who have 
 spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, consider- 
 ing the end of their conversation." Hebrews xiii: 7. 
 
 The leadership of Dr. Brown throughout a period of 
 half a century, from the beginning of the Fayetteville 
 pastorate in 1874, is proved by results achieved rather 
 than by any claims to leadership made by or for him. 
 Yet, as will be seen, he has been a leader — a leader in 
 his local church, in his city, in his State, in his denomi- 
 nation. But he has led, not because he has desired or 
 tried to lead, but because his wisdom has made others 
 look to him for leadership. 
 
 Leader in His Church 
 
 When Dr. Brown came to Winston in 1877 there were 
 but fifty Baptists in the two towns of Winston and Sa- 
 lem. As he says, ''Our people were plain, good people, 
 but they did not claim for themselves financial strength, 
 social prestige, or intellectual superiority." Winston was 
 still a mission point. Rev. F. M. Jordan had traveled 
 once a month from near Hillsboro to preach in the court- 
 house and later in the schoolhouse. The church build- 
 ing, started before Dr. Brown came to Winston, was not 
 finished or furnished. When completed it was a one- 
 room brick building 40 by 60 feet. Besides, the little 
 congregation was cumbered with a building debt of 
 
 [ 72] 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 73 
 
 $500— a burden that was heavier by far than one an 
 hundred times as big would be to the present congrega- 
 tion. There was no Sunday-school room, no baptistry, 
 no furnace, no organ. The pastor's salary was $325 per 
 
 year. 
 
 Now, see how the new pastor, ''quiet, slender, 
 beared," young man of thirty-one, in his own way, went 
 about leading his little flock into larger things. The 
 congregation, itself, needed enlarging. "During the first 
 year," he says, "a visiting committee, composed of three 
 ladies, was appointed, and these good women reported 
 having visited many families. As a result of this work 
 the Sunday school and congregation were largely in- 
 creased." 
 
 He wished to pay off the church debt. "A committee 
 was appointed to pay part of the church debt. They 
 agreed to pay $200.00. They adopted a novel plan. 
 Each member pledged himself or herself for a certain 
 amount. Of course, they succeeded." 
 
 He had need of a baptistry. 'The members up to this 
 time had been baptized in Belo's Pond. It was a difficult 
 task to build the baptistry, and the church did not feel 
 willing to undertake it, but some members assumed the 
 responsibility, and went to work and erected it." 
 
 He needed an organ for the church. The pastor ap- 
 pointed a number of little girls to secure funds for this 
 purpose. They were very enthusiastic and soon had the 
 money in hand. But there were some of the members 
 who were opposed to the organ being used for church 
 services, and when it was used for the first time they 
 went out of the church. But they soon became reconciled 
 and everything moved on smoothly." 
 
 The next step was for the church to cease to be a bene- 
 ficiary of the State Mission Board. Without ado the 
 
74 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 church declined to accept any more aid from the board, 
 greatly increased its contribution to missions, called the 
 pastor for his whole time and substantially raised his 
 salary. 
 
 By 1888 the church had outgrown its quarters. A 
 committee was appointed to recommend the changes to 
 be made. They were made and paid for and the work 
 continued to progress. 
 
 In 1898 the cornerstone of a new church building was 
 laid and in due course the building completed. 
 
 Thus quietly, without show, and without apparent ef- 
 fort, Dr. Brown led his people on to larger things. So 
 quietly did he lead them that they were scarcely con- 
 scious of being led. 
 
 In 1877, as I have already said, there were only fifty 
 Baptists in Winston and Salem. Thirty years later there 
 were 670 members of the First Baptist Church, and by 
 1917, when Dr. Brown retired, six other Baptist churches 
 had been established in Winston-Salem whose members 
 were drawn largely from the First Baptist Church. 
 
 The growth in grace of giving kept apace the growth 
 in numbers. In 1877 the Baptist Church in Winston 
 was contributing $8.00 per year to all objects of benevo- 
 lence; in 1917 it contributed $3,461.68. 
 
 The growth in influence of the First Baptist Church 
 under Dr. Brown's leadership was equally noteworthy. 
 In 1877 the Baptist Church in Winston was in such dis- 
 favor with Baptists even, on account of prejudices that 
 had been aroused, that one of the leading Baptists in the 
 section would not give his approval to the church even 
 to the extent of attending its services. Yet in 1881, five 
 years after Dr. Brown became pastor, the Baptist State 
 Convention met in Winston for the first time. 'The 
 people of Winston and Salem, without regard to denomi- 
 
In 1909 the name of Broad Street Baptist Church in Winston 
 was changed to Brown Memorial. Dr. Brown's comment, so 
 characteristic of him, was: "The Broad Street Church proposes 
 to build a beautiful house of worship in memory of my life and 
 labors. It is a graceful thing for them to do, but an honor 
 unsought by me." 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 75 
 
 nations, threw open their doors to the delegates and visi- 
 tors," remarks Dr. Brown, as if this fraternity among 
 the brethren of different denominations was a new thing. 
 To-day, a former fellow-pastor, as already quoted, gives 
 Dr. Brown's ''broad and fraternal attitude to his breth- 
 ren of other churches" credit for the remarkable spirit 
 of unity which characterizes the churches of Winston- 
 Salem. 
 
 During the last years of Dr. Brown's pastorate steps 
 were taken to erect a new house of worship, which, when 
 completed, will be one of the handsomest church edi- 
 fices in the South. The building is being done under 
 the pastorate of Dr. J. R. Jester. It is a far crj^ from 
 the unfurnished little building in 1877 when the young 
 pastor, Henry Brown, preached to a congregation that 
 barely required half a dozen seats, to the handsome 
 building in 1925 that will accommodate sixteen hundred 
 people. Yet the leadership of Dr. Brown during the 
 years of beginning made possible all that is being ac- 
 complished now. His spirit goes marching on. 
 
 Leader in His City 
 
 Prior to 1870 there was not a Baptist in Winston. 
 About that time Mr. Alfred Holland, with his family, 
 moved to Winston from Smithfield in Johnston County. 
 In Brown Memorial Church is a window memorial to 
 Mr. Holland as the first Baptist to settle in Winston- 
 Salem. 
 
 Rev. F. M. Jordan, who recently died at the ripe old 
 age of ninety-odd years, then a missionary under the 
 State Board, stationed near Hillsboro, organized the Bap- 
 tist Church in Winston September 22, 1871. Soon there- 
 after a lot was purchased and arrangements made for 
 
76 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 the building of a Baptist church. It is said that Rev. 
 Mr. Jordan walked the streets of Raleigh begging money 
 to pay for the lot for a Baptist church in the village of 
 Winston. The few Baptists of Winston made their con- 
 tributions mostly in kind — that is, by furnishing and 
 hauling the timber and doing the work. 
 
 W^hen Dr. Brown began his pastorate in 1877 Winston 
 was a village of one thousand people. Where the Wach- 
 ovia Bank and Trust Company building now stands was 
 a little store conducted by Mr. R^obert Gray, who lived 
 on the site now occupied by the Owens Drug Company. 
 The O'Hanlon corner was in woods. The whipping-post 
 stood near what is now the heart of the city. Winston 
 was noted, not for its great industrial plants, but for its 
 dried blackberries. Three churches had already been 
 established in the community — Moravian, Methodist 
 Protestant and Presbyterian. 
 
 The growth of the Baptists of Winston and the vicin- 
 ity has more than kept pace with the growth of the city. 
 In 1877 there was but one Baptist church in or near 
 Winston; in 1887, two; in 1907, four; in 1917, eight, and 
 in 1925, thirteen. In 1870 there was not a Baptist any- 
 where in Winston; in 1871 there were but five; in 1877, 
 when Dr. Brown came, fifty; in 1897, six hundred and 
 seventy-five; in 1907, eleven hundred and nine; in 1917, 
 when he retired, two thousand, seven hundred and thirty- 
 nine; and in 1922, four thousand and sixty-one. In 1877 
 the Baptists, as has already been stated, were contribut- 
 ing $8 a year to all objects of benevolence and paying 
 their pastor $325 per year and receiving aid from the 
 State Mission Board. In 1924 the Baptists of Winston- 
 Salem contributed $34,633.74 to benevolences and $237,- 
 803.97 to local expenses, a total of $272,437.71 to all ob- 
 jects. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 77 
 
 Leader In His Association 
 
 It was inevitable that the leadership of Dr. Brown 
 should extend beyond his local church and beyond the 
 churches that were offsprings of his church and that it 
 should extend to the churches of all the outlying area. 
 
 The Pilot Mountain Association, composed of Baptist 
 churches in Forsyth, Stokes, Rockingham and Surry 
 counties, was organized from the Beulah Association in 
 1885. In 1890 (the first minutes available) it had 2,080 
 members and contributed $5,164.76 to all objects — be- 
 nevolence and local expenses. In 1917 it had 9,843 mem- 
 bers and contributed $47,662.54 to all objects. 
 
 Of the sixty-three churches in the Pilot Mountain As- 
 sociation, Dr. Brown aided in planting fifty. For nearly 
 twenty-five years he was chairman and treasurer of the 
 Executive Committee of the Association, whose business 
 it was to find destitute fields, to place preachers in them, 
 to find money to pay expenses, and eventually to plant 
 Baptist churches, make them self-supporting and then to 
 withdraw from them the financial aid of the Association 
 and the State Mission Board. His reports as chairman 
 of the Executive Committee made to the Association 
 year after year are as businesslike as the reports of the 
 president of a corporation to his board of directors. For 
 each man engaged in missionary work in the Association 
 he reported the number of sermons preached, the num- 
 ber of visits made, the number of baptisms, the amount 
 of contributions received. He reported on the progress 
 of the work in each separate field, with recommendations 
 as to what should be done next in that field. 
 
 Dr. Brown was the captain of a little band of soldiers 
 of the cross whose business it was to spread the gospel 
 throughout the length and breadth of the Pilot Moun- 
 
78 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 tain Association. Some of the members of his company 
 were Pinkney Oliver, C. C. Haymore, S. F. Conrad, 
 N. J. Matthews, R. M. Loftis, J. H. Llewellyn, and W. H. 
 Wilson. 
 
 His Rallying Cries 
 
 Nearly every report of the Executive Committee for 
 twenty-five years — and Dr. Brown was the author of 
 them all — closed with an exhortation to go forward — 
 never a note of doubt or discouragement — which must 
 have served as a rallying cry to his little band of com- 
 rades. Some of them are worthy of repetition here. 
 
 "May the Lord give us larger views and grace suf- 
 ficient to rise up to the full measure of our responsi- 
 bility." 
 
 "The fields are white unto the harvest and the Lord 
 has blest us with the ability to do a great work in build- 
 ing up the 'waste places.' Again we ask, 'Shall we not 
 go forward?' " 
 
 "Let our motto be, in the future as in the past, 'On- 
 ward and Upward'." 
 
 "Let all our churches gradually increase their contri- 
 butions to State Missions until all the waste places shall 
 be supplied and, 'from the mountains to the sea' there 
 shall not be a locality that is not blessed with a well-or- 
 ganized and well-equipped Baptist church and Sunday 
 school." 
 
 "Let all our churches do more and more for State Mis- 
 sions until the wilderness and the solitary place shall be 
 glad and the desert shall blossom like the rose and the 
 smile of our God shall rest on all our land." 
 
 "With gratitude in our hearts to God for great mercies 
 received and with growing desire for the spread of the 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 79 
 
 gospel throughout the earth, we turn our faces joyfully 
 to the coming century." (1899) 
 
 "The outlook has never been better for us, and with 
 growing faith in God and confidence in ourselves as his 
 servants, we can sooner make our part of the state blos- 
 som like the rose." 
 
 " Thus far the Lord has helped us.' Our faces are to 
 the front and God is on our side. We need only to keep 
 going forward to possess the land." 
 
 "Truly the Lord has been very gracious to us during 
 all the year. Let us recognize his guiding hand and 
 press forward to finish the work he has given us to do." 
 
 "With confidence in God and faith in our brethren, let 
 us press forward to a larger effort for the spread of the 
 gospel throughout the world." 
 
 "We shall be unworthy stewards of the manifold grace 
 of God if we fail to make larger contributions to the 
 growing demands upon us for the evangelization of the 
 whole world." 
 
 "With gratitude to God for his mercies past, with con- 
 sciousness of the present need, and faith in his goodness 
 for the years to come, we joj^fully turn our faces to the 
 work before us." 
 
 "The future before us is as bright as the promise of 
 God." 
 
 "Forgetting the toils and labors of the past, we will 
 reach out for the larger things which our Master has in 
 store for us." 
 
 "With our faces to the front and our loins girded about 
 and our Master in the lead, we will do our best to take 
 and hold the territory for him." 
 
 "With faith in God and in our own ability to do things, 
 we seek to adjust ourselves to the changing conditions 
 and finish the task committed to oiu- trust." 
 
80 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 The minutes of the Pilot Mountain Association dur- 
 ing the past thirty years reveal the kind of leader Dr. 
 Brown is. He kept himself in the background. He made 
 few speeches and took active part in few discussions. He 
 always stood for co-operation with the institutions, agen- 
 cies and interests of his denomination. Most of the reso- 
 lutions he introduced related to the connection between 
 the Pilot Mountain Association and the general work — 
 such as requesting the support of the churches of the As- 
 sociation for some mission or educational or orphanage 
 enterprise of the denomination. Never once does he ap- 
 pear introducing a resolution or making a speech or tak- 
 ing part in a discussion that was critical of the work of 
 his denomination or of his brethren. Just as in the case 
 of his work on the Executive Committee of the Associa- 
 tion, he stood for progress. He could be found always 
 just a little in front of his brethren, not out of sight of 
 them ever, beckoning them on to higher places in King- 
 dom v/ork. 
 
 God's Chosen Leader 
 
 Dr. Brown would be the last of men to claim for him- 
 self or have me claim for him credit for the progress that 
 has been made during the past forty-seven years in the 
 work of the Baptist denomination, whether in the local 
 church, the city, or the Association. Progress would 
 have been made — maybe not so rapid or so symmetrical 
 — had Dr. Brown never lived. The Lord is not depend- 
 ent upon any one man to carry on his work. He is able 
 to raise up a leader whenever he needs one. But God, 
 in his providence, did see fit to make Dr. Brown a leader 
 among his brethren. The progress under his leadership, 
 as I have outlined it, shows the nature and efficiency of 
 such leadership. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 81 
 
 His Level Head 
 
 What has made Dr. Brown— quiet, unassuming, self- 
 effacing as he is and has always been— such a leader 
 among his brethren? Bishop Kondthaler who has known 
 him intimately during all these years and has watched 
 his leadership from the vantage point of membership 
 in another denomination, attributes a part of his leader- 
 ship to an uncommonly level head. He says that Dr. 
 Brown was born with a level head. "I have never known 
 him to make a mistake in judgment. It has kept him 
 from going into excesses. He was never carried away by 
 a fanatical movement. Twenty years ago the Perfect 
 Holiness movement rose and swept some of our best peo- 
 ple. Both of us had to suffer from the movement. Dr. 
 Brown, when they asked him to preach Perfect Holi- 
 ness, replied '1 am not going to preach anything I can't 
 practice.'" Dr. Lilly says of his good judgment, "I 
 think of him as a man of unusual poise and balance. His 
 judgment was always good and his counsel safe. He 
 gave me the impression of a wholesome, normal person- 
 ality such as is seldom found." In a time of excitement, 
 whether in affairs of church or community or state, you 
 can count on Dr. Brown keeping his head clear and his 
 spirit calm. 
 
 His Optimism 
 
 Another quality of Dr. Brown's leadership is that he 
 has had all through the years an abiding faith in the 
 ultimate triumph of the right. Note with what hopeful- 
 ness and optimism he concludes his reports as chairman 
 of the Executive Committee on the progress of the work 
 in the Association. What he has said about Jesus and 
 optimism in one of his short articles in The Biblical 
 Recorder is really a self-revelation of his own spirit. 
 
82 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 "He was an optimist in that he had large hopefulness, 
 large love and patience and firm belief in the possibili- 
 ties of men, through faith in God and effort on their own 
 part, to rise out of their dead selves to higher things. He 
 was not easily discouraged by conditions about him. He 
 lived in a period of great poverty and suffering. He had 
 made no earthly accumulations. He was a homeless 
 man, with no place he could call his own where he might 
 lay his head. But he said, 'A man's life does not con- 
 sist in the abundance of things that he possesseth.' When 
 a great storm swept over the sea and the vessel was 
 tossed by the winds and the disciples were almost fright- 
 ened out of their wits, he stood up with great serenity 
 and confidence and said, Teace be still,' and there was 
 a great calm. The sunshine rested on the face of the 
 waters and every breath of air brought healing and glad- 
 ness. 
 
 "When his disciples came back from a great preach- 
 ing tour and said, 'The devils are subject unto us,' he 
 said, 'I saw Satan as lightning falling from heaven,' or, 
 in other words, 'I see Satan falling.' A process was in 
 operation which was destined to renovate the earth and 
 finally overcome all the powers of evil. It is the one far 
 off divine event toward which the whole creation moves. 
 He saw it through to the finish and there was no tremu- 
 lous touch of fear that, in the end, there would be fail- 
 ure anywhere. 
 
 "When Martha met him and told him of her brother's 
 death, he said, 'Thy brother shall live again.' But when 
 she remonstrated, 'I know he shall live in the resurrec- 
 tion of the just,' he said, 'I am the resurrection and the 
 life; he that believeth in me even though he were dead 
 yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in 
 me shall never die.' This was a triumphant utterance 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 83 
 
 based on his conscious power to make all things new. 
 And for the joy that was set before him, he endured the 
 cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right 
 hand of the throne of God. And our firm faith in his 
 power to make good all that he has promised should 
 make real optimists of us all." 
 
 His Patience 
 
 Still another quality of Dr. Brown's leadership is his 
 patience. This, of course, is an outgrowth of his faith. 
 Like Browning, he believes that the best is yet to be, the 
 last of life for which the first was made. Being patient, 
 he does not lose heart if his brethren do not move as 
 quickly or in the very way he would like for them to 
 move. This is illustrated in the way in which he has led 
 his own congregation in steps of progress. He made the 
 suggestion. That is, he planted the seed of an idea. 
 Then he waited for it to germinate and shoot. It did 
 not always come forth as he had pictured it would. But 
 in the course of time it did come forth and bear fruit of 
 its kind. So quietly had he moved that those who finally 
 carried out the idea thought it was theirs, rather than 
 his, they were carrying out. 
 
 Dr. Brown is a man of superior wisdom. To him the 
 Lord has given a wise and an understanding heart. His 
 calmness, patience and optimism are but manifestations 
 of his wisdom. His advice, seldom volunteered, is, when 
 sought, sound on matters of state and business as well 
 as matters of conduct and doctrine. 
 
 Remember, we are still in quest of an answer to the 
 question why Dr. Brown is the pastor beloved. Is the 
 answer to be found in the fact of his leadership? Do 
 men of all creeds, colors and conditions love him because 
 
84 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 he has led the Baptists of his congregation, of his city, 
 of his section of the state and, to a lesser degree, of the 
 state as a whole to larger and larger things? No, we 
 have not found the answer yet. Men never love a fel- 
 lowman because he is a leader. They may, however, 
 make him their leader because they love him. Herein 
 is the reason for Dr. Brown's leadership, but not the ex- 
 planation of the love that men have for him. In the 
 qualities of his character displayed in his leadership — 
 his commonsense, his optimism, his patience — are to be 
 found the by-products of a soul that wins the love of 
 men. So let us continue our study of the wise man 
 whose soul has such by-products as good judgment, op- 
 timism and patience. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE EFFECTIVE PREACHER 
 
 "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver" 
 Proverbs xxv: U. 
 
 The superiority of Dr. Brown as a pastor has over- 
 shadowed his pre-eminent ability as a preacher. Or, as 
 Miss Carrie Jones expresses it, ''His goodness has swal- 
 lowed his smartness. People have been so used to speak- 
 ing of him as good. Any preacher that can occupy a 
 pulpit as long as he did and preach the simple gospel 
 must be a smart man." 
 
 His Preparation 
 
 Dr. Brown never went into his pulpit unprepared. 
 Most of his sermons were written out in full but they 
 were never read and, after the first years of his ministry, 
 never memorized. In his reminiscences of Fayetteville 
 he has this to say about his preparation of sermons, "It 
 was my method in my early ministry to write every ser- 
 mon on eight pages of foolscap paper. I committed it 
 to memory, and when I started to the pulpit I always 
 folded my sermon and placed it in my coat pocket, so 
 that I could get it if I needed it. Once a great congrega- 
 tion gathered in the church. All the lawyers and doctors 
 and other professional men of the city were present that 
 morning. I had selected as my text the passage, 'While 
 thy servant was busy here and there he was gone.' I 
 
 185] 
 
86 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 was much agitated when I saw such a company of dis- 
 tinguished men in the audience. I began with fear and 
 trembling. Presently I forgot my place — forgot the next 
 sentence, went back to begin again, cleared my throat, 
 looked up at the ceiling, perspired and rubbed my head; 
 then I took out my manuscript, opened it and began to 
 read. It was a bitter experience and I was humiliated 
 beyond expression. The people were sympathetic and I 
 heard no criticism of the performance. It taught me a 
 lesson, and I abandoned forever the task of trying to 
 commit every word in my sermon to memory. I have 
 failed many times since then but never for the same 
 reason. Let the young preachers beware of this more 
 laborious and unsatisfactory method of sermonizing." 
 
 Dr. Brown has alwaj^s been a devoted but discriminat- 
 ing reader of the best in both contemporary and classical 
 literature. Dr. Charles E. Taylor, for many years presi- 
 dent of Wake Forest College and, himself, a discrimi- 
 nating reader, said of Dr. Brown's library, ''This is the 
 best working library I have found in any pastor's study." 
 One of the things that has impressed me as I have been 
 in Dr. Brown's library time after time, both during his 
 active pastorate and since, has been the number of new 
 books and magazines and religious publications on his 
 table. Not all the books were on theological or even re- 
 ligious subjects, either. He is, indeed, one of the schol- 
 arly ministers of the gospel of our day. 
 
 Not only his wide reading but his broad human sym- 
 pathies as well gave him a wealth of material for his 
 sermons. I find in reading only a portion of his bi- 
 weekly short articles in The Biblical Recorder that he 
 quotes freely from or draws illustrations from the lives 
 of the poets, Shakespeare, Byron, Robert Louis Steven- 
 son, Browning, Burns ; from the statesmen, Lincoln, John 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 87 
 
 Qiiincy Adams, John Randolph, James A. Garfield, 
 Woodrow Wilson; from the philosophers, Benjamin 
 Franklin, Socrates, Plato, Dr. Samuel Johnson; from the 
 essayists, Emerson, Thomas Carlyle; from the novelists, 
 Victor Hugo and George Elliot; from the soldiers, Alex- 
 ander the Great, Ulysses, Napoleon, Oliver Cromwell, 
 Robert E. Lee; from the preachers, Horace Bushnell, 
 William Carey, John A. Broadus, Charles Spurgeon, 
 John Knox, Matthew T. Yates, Phillips Brooks, Henry 
 AVard Beecher, and from the scientist, Herbert Spencer. 
 He seems to be equally at home with Greek mythology, 
 Greek philosophy, with poets, statesmen, seers, soldiers, 
 scientists, ancient, medieval and modern. This, to be 
 sure, is a side of Dr. Brown's life little known to the 
 public; for his heart has overshadowed his head. 
 
 His Style 
 
 One of the characteristics of Dr. Brown's style, as one 
 would expect, is the simplicity of his language — short, 
 vigorous, Anglo-Saxon words. He has little patience with 
 the use of ponderous words that so often hide lack of 
 thought. He thinks clearly; therefore, he writes and 
 speaks simply. He "never allowed words a part in com- 
 pleting the fabric of an imperfect thought." Here is what 
 he says about the use of big words: 'There are many peo- 
 ple who are fond of using big words — words not in com- 
 mon use by the rank and file of the country. This is no 
 indication of good taste and certainly no evidence of great 
 scholarship. Great thinkers are generally very simple, 
 plain and direct in their public and private utterances. 
 Preachers who will live longest in the thoughts of coming 
 generations used language easily understood by their 
 hearers. We have famous illustrations of this fact in the 
 
88 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 sermons of Broadus, Spurgeon, Beecher and Jowett. 
 Preachers, of all men, need most to speak in language 
 plain and strong, since their messages are for the benefit 
 of all classes. Jesus did not make use of words that the 
 humblest hearers might not comprehend. Dr. A. T. Rob- 
 ertson, says, 'Great preaching calls for great thinking, 
 not for big words but for big ideas that touch the depths 
 of the human soul and rise to the throne of God.' I have 
 known a few men who spoke in an unknown tongue, 
 but, while this may have been pleasing to them, it was 
 unprofitable to their hearers. Perhaps you have heard 
 of the college professor who spoke after that fashion to 
 an ignorant colored servant, 'Conduct this quadruped to 
 suitable quarters, stabulate him and supply him with a 
 sufficient quantity of nutritious aliment, and when the 
 luminary of the day shall illumine the gorgeous east 
 I will compensate you for your service.' The poor negro 
 did not know that he simply meant for him to put his 
 horse into the stable and feed him. Rev. P. H. Fountain 
 told me this incident: There was a great meeting going 
 on in a colored church. The pastor called on one of the 
 members to pray. He thought he must make an impres- 
 sion by the use of big words, so he began by saying, 
 'Horous, horous, most diabolical God.' The pastor called 
 out, 'Stop there, and let some other one pray who is bet- 
 ter acquainted with de Lord than this brudder is'." 
 
 And a characteristic of Dr. Brown's sermons is the 
 simplicity of the illustrations he uses. Most of them are 
 drawn from nature — the moon, the sun, the stars, the 
 waves, the dews, the buds, the trees, the seed. His il- 
 lustrations, like his words, are never above the heads of 
 his hearers. In this respect his preaching is like that of 
 Jesus, himself. Here is what he says about the dewdrop, 
 'Ts there anything in all the universe more beautiful 
 
THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN WINSTON, 1877. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 89 
 
 than drops of clew trembling on the blades of grass and 
 the leaves of the trees and reflecting back to the skies 
 the image of the sun? Behold how good and beautiful 
 it is when brethren dwell together in unity. It is like 
 the dew of Hermon descending on the mountains of Is- 
 rael. 
 
 "Dew drops are little things, but they are things of 
 beauty and a joy forever! They are symbolic of little 
 deeds o^ kindness, little thoughts of sympathy and 
 little words of love which make the earth an Eden 
 like the heaven above. If it were not for the love of 
 others which shines like the dew drops in the hearts 
 of so many people on this earth it would wabble through 
 space like a dead ball without sunshine and the songs 
 of birds. 
 
 ''The dew is a commonplace thing. It is everywhere 
 — on the mountainside, in the field and valley, and se- 
 questered spot. It had no hiding-place; it is open to the 
 sight of all. Lot swept it away with his hurrying feet 
 as he escaped from burning Sodom. Lazarus was in 
 sight of it as he lay begging hard by the rich man's 
 gate. 
 
 'Thank God, love is a commonplace thing. It is not 
 confined to kings' palaces or the homes of the rich where 
 luxuries abound. It is everywhere. In the homes of the 
 poor, where the tired laborer wipes from his face the 
 sweat of honest toil, he finds love in the laugh of child- 
 hood and the smile of motherhood. Its touch is on a 
 million hearts tonight, and its joy is resting on a thou- 
 sand homes, for where a mother's heart is love is there, 
 and in the darkest spot of earth some love is found." 
 
 Who that lives in the country or was raised on the 
 farm or that thinks he would like to live in the country 
 
90 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 — and this includes everybody — but is not thrilled by 
 this picture of farm life when the day's work is over, 
 used by Dr. Brown to illustrate the end of one's life- 
 work: 'Tarmers who follow the plow and the reaper 
 from early morning till the evening are prepared to ap- 
 preciate the quiet and restfulness that come w^ien the 
 day's work is over. They sit in their yards and listen 
 to the drowsy tinkling of the distant folds and the low- 
 ing of the cattle at the farmyard gate. The chickens 
 have gone to roost in the trees and the babies are sleep- 
 ing in the trundle bed. All nature a solemn stillness 
 holds, and the stars speak to them out of infinite spaces 
 while a thousand voices v\^hisper out of the deep solitudes 
 all about them. It is a good time to meditate. Isaac 
 meditated when he walked in the fields at the evening 
 hour; David on his bed in the night watches. 
 
 "It is pleasant to think of the creation of the heavens 
 and the earth — ^the vastness, the wisdom, the beauty, the 
 glory of it. We need not trouble ourselves about the 
 processes of creation since they are hidden from our eyes, 
 but the fact of creation is manifest to om' senses. The 
 heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament 
 showeth his handiwork." 
 
 It must be manifest to one who listens to the sermons 
 or reads the writings of Dr. Brown that he largely em- 
 ploys the language of the Bible itself — ^the King James 
 Version. He is so familiar with it, it is so much a part 
 of his life that he unconsciously at times, I think, uses 
 the language of the Bible sometimes as a direct quota- 
 tion, sometimes as an indirect question, and sometimes 
 only a phrase. Hamilton Holt says of Corra Harris, "No 
 editor could improve her style — and naturally — for it 
 was founded and grounded on the Bible, which she read 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 91 
 
 constantly for love and never from a sense of duty." 
 The same msiy be said of the style of Dr. Brown. 
 
 Another thing that soon impresses one who listens to 
 or reads after Dr. Brown is the frequency with which 
 he uses the language of the old hymns of the church. 
 They, too, are a part of his life. He quotes them, no 
 doubt, without being conscious that he is doing so. 
 
 Here are just a few of the quotations from these old 
 hymns I take at random from his articles in The Biblical 
 Recorder: 
 
 "We'll catch the broken threads again 
 And finish what we here began, 
 Heaven will the mysteries explain, 
 And then sometime we'll understand." 
 
 "He that tires and faints 
 And walks the ways of God no more 
 Is but esteemed almost a saint 
 And makes his own damnation sure." 
 
 "Teach me to feel another's woe, 
 To hide the fault I see 
 That mercy I to others show. 
 That mercy show to me." 
 
 "Fear not the v/ant of outward good, 
 For his he will provide; 
 Grant them supplies of daily food, 
 And give them heaven beside," 
 
 "So the dews on Hermon's hill, 
 Which the summer clouds distill 
 Floating southward in the night 
 Pearly gems on Zion light." 
 
 "Not now but in the coming year 
 It may be in the better land. 
 We'll read the meaning of our tears 
 And then, ah then, we'll understand." 
 
 To a less extent he uses freely the language, quoting 
 directly or indirectly, of the standard poems of our 
 language — as, for instance, from Byron, Tennyson and 
 Browning. 
 
92 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 This it is that makes what Dr. Brown says and writes 
 so pleasing. In the very phrases he uses one finds old, 
 familiar friends. It happened that I arranged my notes 
 for this little book while I was spending my vacation 
 at a beach resort. At the hotel at which I was stop- 
 ping was a splendid orchestra that entertained the guests 
 at mealtime and during the evening. Habitually, as 
 w^as natural, it played the jazz music of the day. But 
 one evening the orchestra swung out of the jazz into 
 the old song of the chm-ch, "Onward, Christian Soldiers," 
 and never had that song sounded so sweet. It was like 
 finding an old friend in the midst of a host of strangers. 
 So it is with the words of Dr. Brown, whether spoken 
 or written, old friends brought together from the Bible 
 and from poetry and from classical literature to share 
 the attention, as welcome guests, with the slang of to- 
 day. 
 
 Still another characteristic of Dr. Brown's style, as 
 is to be expected, is the frequency with which he uses 
 Bible characters for the purposes of illustration. With 
 equal facility he draws upon Old Testament or New. 
 The characters and events of the Bible are to him like 
 the keys of a piano to a Paderewski — ready always for 
 his touch without ever a conscious search for them. 
 
 One could hardly conceive of Dr. Brown preaching 
 upon any but the most practical subjects. His first ser- 
 mon as pastor in Fayetteville was a study of the beati- 
 tudes based on the text, "Blessed are the pure in heart, 
 for they shall see God." His first and last sermon as pas- 
 tor in Winston-Salem was on the text, "The love of Christ 
 constraineth us." (2 Cor. 5: 14.) It will be interesting to 
 read what Dr. Brown, himself, says about his first ser- 
 mon. "My first sermon was preached in a log schoolhouse, 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 93 
 
 for there was no Baptist meeting-house in twelve miles of 
 the place. Many of my friends and neighbors came to 
 hear me. I was greatly excited. I knew nothing about 
 sermon preparation. My text was, 'The wicked is driven 
 away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in the 
 death.' I quoted many passages of Scripture describing 
 the wicked. I referred to the difference in the conduct of 
 the wicked and the righteous. I then spoke of how the 
 wicked had been driven away in their wickedness. I 
 referred to the antediluvians, the Sodomites, the people 
 at the destruction of Jerusalem, Herod and other indi- 
 viduals. I spoke of the death of the righteous, referred 
 to the death of Stephen, Paul, Judson, and some others 
 I had known. I closed with an exhortation to sinners 
 to turn before it was too late. Many spoke encourag- 
 ing words to me. But there was one man there who was 
 cold and critical and entirely out of sympathy with my 
 feeble effort. He went so far as to say to some that he 
 would rather hear the lowing of oxen or the braying of 
 asses than to hear me try to preach. When I heard of 
 this criticism it troubled me greatly. I was much in 
 prayer for grace to help me. I said I need not expect 
 to escape criticism and other forms of opposition in 
 preaching the gospel. But as time went on he came 
 again to hear me and then again. I heard of friendly 
 remarks he made and of great confidence he expressed 
 in my sincerity. And when he was very sick he wanted 
 me to see him. I went and he expressed his interest in 
 me and his love for me and asked me to pray for him. 
 I prayed earnestly for him and he was greatly moved 
 by it under the power of the Spirit. We parted at his 
 bedside not to meet again until the day dawns and the 
 shadows flee away." 
 
94 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 Dr. Brown never tires his audience by the length of 
 his sermons. Having carefully prepared them before- 
 hand, he knows how long it will take him to deliver 
 them. Nor does he try to hold the attention of his 
 audience to the end — as speakers, sometimes do — by say- 
 ing '^finally" or ''in conclusion" when he is only half 
 through. Dr. Brown always knows when he is through 
 developing the thought he has in mind, and, when he is 
 through, he quits. I have known him to quit when his 
 audience thought he was just approaching a climax. In 
 fact. Dr. Brown does not approve of either long-winded 
 preaching or praying. Here is what he says about it. 
 
 A Long Sermon 
 
 ''Many years ago a friend of mine was in the habit 
 of preaching sermons rather longer than was comfort- 
 able to many of his hearers. I ventured to say to him 
 on one occasion, with great deference, that it might be 
 well for him to keep back part of his material for an- 
 other sermon. I said, 'It is not best for the digestion to 
 eat all that is on the table at one meal. If yom* ser- 
 mon is medicine for the sick or a tonic for the conval- 
 escing, give it to them in smaller doses.' At first, he 
 seemed to resent slightly my insinuation that he was 
 overdoing a good thing. He spoke with an air of con- 
 fidence when he said that Paul preached long ser- 
 mons. At one time he continued his discourse 'until the 
 break of day.' 'Yes,' I said, 'but do you remember that 
 while he was continuing his discourse a young man 
 went to sleep and fell out of the window and broke his 
 neck? And Paul went down and healed him. But if 
 someone would have an accident like that while you were 
 preaching you could not do what Paul did.' He smiled 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 95 
 
 and said, ^I suppose not.' But the time element is not 
 the only thing that makes a sermon seem long. It 
 may be only fifteen minutes from beginning to end and 
 yet be a long sermon because the people are 'dull of 
 hearing' and the matter is heavy and the delivery not 
 engaging. On the other hand, a sermon may last an 
 hour or more and not be 'long' because the preacher is 
 moved by the Spirit, clothed with power and unction, and 
 the people with open hearts hear the word with gladness, 
 and it seems just a little while." 
 
 A Long Prayer 
 
 As to the long prayer Dr. Brown says 'A score of 
 years ago and more a brother minister and I made a 
 tour of the churches in Stokes, Forsyth, Rockingham and 
 Caswell Counties in the interest of the endowment of 
 Wake Forest College. The canvass required twelve or 
 fifteen days. The congregations were large, the 
 churches far apart, and the roads were hilly and 
 rough and we were often tired at the close of the 
 day. Our plan was to have a sermon and an ad- 
 dress on education each day. We alternated. One 
 day I would preach and he would address the 
 people on education; the next day he would preach 
 and I would speak on education. We came at 
 length to the closing day of the itinerary. We traveled 
 some distance to the home of a good man and his fam- 
 ily. After supper was over and some conversation was 
 had on many topics the hour for family prayer arrived. 
 I read the Scriptures, the group knelt in a circle, and my 
 companion in labors and journeys led the prayer. Tt 
 was linked sweetness long drawn out.' He prayer all 
 
96 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 around the earth — for mission and missionaries, for 
 churches and pastors, for governments and rulers, for 
 saints and sinners, for people at home and for those out 
 on the stormy deep, for the home into which we had 
 come — ^the parents and the children. When he said 
 'Amen' he and I arose and took our seats, but the others 
 were fast asleep on their knees. He began to sing 
 "Sweet Hour of Prayer, Sweet Hour of Prayer." This 
 aroused the others. It was a time to laugh. The good 
 woman of the house saw the humor of the situation and 
 said, Tt was a sweet hour, wasn't it?' It may be well 
 to have a long prayer occasionally but ordinarily it is 
 not best. All the prayers recorded in the Scriptures are 
 comparatively brief. It is not length but depth and 
 power that are essential." 
 
 Dr. Brown's attitude toward and way of dealing with 
 controversial matters in the pulpit are shown by his 
 handling of the issue of divine sovereignty and free will 
 during his Fayetteville pastorate already mentioned. 
 Though a public spirited citizen, he never used his pul- 
 pit as a platform from which to air his views on the po- 
 litical and industrial and social topics of the day. At 
 the close of his last sermon as pastor of the First Bap- 
 tist Church of Winson-Salem he said "I never tried 
 to preach sensationalism. I thank God I have never 
 preached anything but the pure old gospel." 
 
 His Manner in the Pulpit 
 
 His manner in the pulpit was quiet and soothing. He 
 talked to his congregation from the pulpit as he would 
 talk to the members of his congregation in their homes. 
 He saw no need of loud or vehement preaching and did 
 not indulge in it. About loud preaching he says: "A 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 97 
 
 good friend of mine and one who has labored much with 
 me in special meetings was preaching on one occasion. 
 He was in the habit of preaching loud and using great 
 vehemence in the delivery of his message. I said to him 
 at one time, 'Surely you have not learned that it is not 
 the thunder that kills but the lightning.' At the time 
 mentioned above he seemed greatly wrought up, the 
 veins in his neck were distended, he was throwing out 
 his clinched fists and gesticulating violently. There was 
 a half-witted man who lived in the neighborhood and his 
 family did not allow him to go to church often; but on 
 this occasion he had slipped away and come to the 
 church. He did not understand what the preacher meant 
 by his loud talking and shaking his fists so much. He 
 deliberately arose from his seat and marched down the 
 aisle in front of the preacher and said, 'Now if you want 
 to fight, I'm your man, and ready for you.' The preacher 
 stood still and looked at him. The deacons quietly re- 
 moved the man and there was a great calm." 
 
 Dr. Brown has led men to Christ by making them 
 want to be Christians and not by making them afraid 
 not to be Christians. While he never hesitated to 
 preach the stern qualities — his power and his justice- 
 he always kept in the forefront his gentle qualities- 
 love and mercy. The very fact that both his first and 
 last sermons as pastor in Winston-Salem were on the 
 constraining love of Christ shows that he preferred to 
 entice men into the kingdom by love rather than to res- 
 cue them from hell by appeal to their fear. Bishop 
 Rondthaler has characterized Dr. Brown's preaching as 
 being "scriptural, experimental, spiritual, instructive, 
 pleasant to listen to, and comforting to remember." 
 
98 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 We must begin to see now why he is the pastor be- 
 loved. A man cannot preach such an enticing gospel of 
 love without himself winning the love of his fellowmen, 
 provided only he lives as he preaches. So now it re- 
 mains only to see the extent to which he has lived the 
 gospel of love that he has preached. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE ELDER BROTHER 
 
 "Take heed unto thyself and imto the doctrine; continue in 
 them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them 
 that hear thee." 1 Timothy iv: 16. 
 
 As I stated in the preface, if this appreciation of Dr. 
 Brown is to have any lasting value and be of any in- 
 terest outside the circles of his family and friends, then 
 it must be made so because it suggests to others a way 
 of life that Dr. Brown has proved to be pre-eminently 
 practicable and successful. This applies with especial 
 force to young ministers who want their ministry to 
 count for as much as possible. 
 
 For twenty-five years Dr. Brown has been the elder 
 brother of every young minister of every denomination 
 who has lived in Winston-Salem and to most of them 
 who have lived in the Pilot Mountain Association. No 
 single incident in the life of Dr. Brown better illustrates 
 his wisdom, tact, and brotherly feeling for young men 
 in the ministry than the following: Dr. Jesse B. Weath- 
 erspoon, a young man still in his early thirties, was 
 called to succeed Dr. Brown as pastor of the First Bap- 
 tist Church of Winston-Salem. Naturally, he had a veiy 
 delicate and difficult place to fill. Before the first busi- 
 ness meeting of the church after Dr. Weatherspoon's ar- 
 rival. Dr. Brown went to him and said, "For several 
 months I shall not be present at the business meetings 
 of the church," When the young pastor asked why, the 
 
 [99] 
 
100 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 old one replied, ''Weil, you are a young man and will 
 not be able to use an old man's harness. You will de- 
 sire changes in the organization and methods of work, 
 and I don't want you or the church to be embarrassed by 
 my presence." "Nor could I persuade him otherwise," 
 says Dr. Weatherspoon. "From that day I knew I had 
 in him a wise and sympathetic helper, and we became 
 and remain to this day as father and son." 
 
 On the occasion of Dr. Brown's thirty-third anniver- 
 sary in 1910, Rev. W. M. Biles, a Methodist fellow pas- 
 tor, wrote "Your life has been a blessing to me. Pos- 
 sibly you do not recall the timid boy preacher who came 
 to Winston-Salem ten years ago. It w^as the warmest 
 handshake and Christian fellowship coming from you 
 and from no other that cheered me up then and helped 
 me to do my work. I shall always feel indebted to you." 
 
 His Charge to You7ig Ministers 
 
 Dr. Brown participated in the ordination of many 
 Baptist ministers and has "delivered the charge" time 
 after time. Knowing that his "charge" would be the 
 cream of his advice to young preachers I asked Dr. 
 Brown to write out the substance of the "charge" he 
 has given so many times, and I am glad, indeed, to give 
 it in full as he wrote it out for me. 
 
 "I shall begin by quoting a passage from Paul's let- 
 ter to Timothy, Take heed unto thyself and unto the 
 doctrine; continue in them for in so doing thou shalt 
 both save thyself and them that hear thee.' I would 
 urge you to read and study carefully the letters of Paul 
 to Timothy and Titus. You will find much helpful in- 
 formation bearing on the work of the ministry and many 
 helpful suggestions as to life, conduct and teaching 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 101 
 
 which you will do well to heed and reduce to practice in 
 your ministry. 
 
 Health 
 
 "When Paul uttered the words quoted at the begin- 
 ning of this address he was beginning to be an old man 
 and Timothy was a young man beginning his public 
 ministry. The apostle was much concerned for his phys- 
 ical welfare and his ministerial success. As Timothy was 
 delicate— a dyspeptic or suffering from nervous indiges- 
 tion—Paul said to him, Take a little wine for thy stom- 
 ach's sake and thine often infirmities.' He did not mean 
 that he was to become a winebibber, a drunkard, or an 
 habitual drinker of strong drink. The wine to which he 
 referred was probably non-intoxicating— a light wine 
 such as was often used for table purposes. It was taken 
 as a medicine for its tonic effect on his system. Every 
 preacher ought to be careful about his health. His 
 health is his best asset. What can a poor preacher whose 
 health is blighted or all run down do in the work of the 
 ministry? Preaching is a man's job. He needs to put 
 his best physical energies with his preaching. The hu- 
 man body is a machine and it must be kept in good con- 
 dition in order to produce its best results. 
 
 ''One of the temptations of preachers is to eat too 
 much. When they are away from home they live on 
 the fat of the land— the best the country affords. The 
 good sisters— I must say, 'God bless them'— are often 
 responsible for the preacher overdoing his duty in the 
 matter of eating. They spread sumptuous meals when 
 the preacher comes. They load the table with fried 
 chicken, biscuits, pastries, desserts, etc. The preacher is 
 hungry, and, like Tom Sawyer, often calls for more. And 
 sometimes when he pushes his plate back the good wom- 
 
102 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 an at the table insists that he take more, that he try this 
 new dish and that, and if he declines she will sometimes 
 say, ^I am afraid you do not enjoy my cooking.' The re- 
 sult is he eats too much. He tumbles from side to side of 
 his bed; he sees things in his dreams; he gets up in the 
 morning with a bad headache. Many a good sermon has 
 been destroyed because the preacher did not control his 
 appetite. His imagination would not work; his man- 
 ner was slow and heavy; his delivery was dull because 
 his stomach was too heavily loaded. I knew an excellent 
 preacher several years ago whose ministry was greatly 
 marred by the habit of over-eating. On Saturdays 
 when he had come from home, his sermons were fine. 
 After preaching he would go home with some good mem- 
 ber and at suppertime he would eat enormously. And 
 often he w^ould be too sick to get up the next morning 
 and his Sunday appointment would have to be 'called 
 off.' All this happened because he had not taken the 
 advice of Solomon — 'Put a knife to thy throat if thou be 
 a man given to appetite.' 
 
 Dress 
 
 "A preacher should give some attention to dress. 
 There is something in the outward appearance as well 
 as in the inner spirit. I do not say that you ought to 
 wear a beaver hat, a clerical coat, a high-standing col- 
 lar or low-quartered shoes. It is better not to be too 
 fastidious and it is very important that j^ou be not 
 slovenly. Indifference as to appearance in the pulpit 
 will sometimes create an indfference to the message 
 to be delivered. Clothes do not make the man but they 
 have much to do with the kind of reception he will re- 
 ceive from many people. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 103 
 
 Character 
 
 "A preacher should take heed to his character. Shakes- 
 peare said, 'Whoever steals my purse steals trash, but 
 whoever filches my good name takes away that which 
 cannot enrich him and leaves me poor indeed.' It may 
 be true that whoever steals a Baptist preacher's purse 
 will steal trash, but, if by any means, he loses his good 
 name, he will suffer irreparable loss. A preacher's good 
 name should be like Caesar's wife, 'above suspicion.' 
 Preachers, like other folk, must watch and pray lest 
 they enter into temptation. Many of them have fal- 
 len by the way greatly to their own detriment and the 
 sorrow of the cause they represent. They are exhorted 
 in the Scriptures to be examples to the flock. Many 
 eyes are upon them and they are expected to walk up- 
 rightly. I knew a pastor many years ago who was a 
 brilliant man. He was the idol of all the people in his 
 section of the country. Great multitudes followed him 
 to his appointments and listened with eagerness to all 
 his utterances. He yielded to temptation. It began to 
 be noised about that he was not living as a preacher 
 should. Then his sin came to light and he lost his good 
 name. He lost his place in the confidence of the people. 
 It was pitiful to see him in his old age, neglected and 
 desolate 'and none so poor to do him reverence.' 
 
 "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and it is 
 also the best means of escape for those who are called 
 to preach the gospel and live above reproach. 
 
 Influence 
 
 "Ministers must take heed to their influence. The po- 
 sition of a preacher should be one of commanding in- 
 fluence in the community in which he lives. He should 
 
104 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 share the confidence and the good will of all the people 
 He should have a kind word for the children, sympathy 
 and expressed interest in all the young people, high re- 
 gard for parents and older people. 
 
 Debts 
 
 ''There are many things he must do if he would re- 
 tain the confidence of all his hearers. He must be care- 
 ful about making debts that he knows he cannot pay. 
 
 Controversies 
 
 "He must play the non-committal in many delicate 
 situations. He must be a leader and not a driver. He 
 must not pride himself in his authority but be a quiet 
 and wise adviser of his brethren. He should not become 
 a partisan and take sides when there are differences of 
 a grave sort among the members of his church. Jesus 
 said, 'Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.' If 
 we could always observe this precept we could find our- 
 selves growing old with an ever-increasing influence 
 among our people. 'Prudence is the better part of valor.' 
 Spurgeon's admonition to preachers and others is al- 
 ways in order. 'Beware of the three D's — dirt, debt and 
 devil." 
 
 Doctrine 
 
 "Preachers must take heed to the doctrine. Read 
 Paul's solemn charge to Timothy: "I charge thee there- 
 fore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall 
 judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his 
 kingdom ; preach the word ; be instant in season, and out 
 of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 105 
 
 and doctrine. For the time will come when they will 
 not endure sound doctrine; but, after their own lusts, 
 shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching 
 ears ; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth 
 and shall be turned into fables. But watch thou in all 
 things, endure aflaictions, do the work of an evangelist, 
 make full proof of thy ministry." 
 
 Conviction 
 
 "Preachers should be men of conviction. There are 
 some truths they should hold with an ever-increasing 
 tenacity. There are some doctrines for which they should 
 be willing to lay down their own lives if need be. Our 
 business as ministers of Jesus Christ is to preach the 
 truth as it is revealed in the Scriptures, whatever men 
 may say or think on the subject. We are not to be 
 mere pleasers of men but servants of Christ to whom we 
 must render a final account. We should hold and preach 
 without wavering the great doctrines of the ruin of sin, 
 the divinity of Jesus Christ, the inspiration of the Scrip- 
 tures, the necessity of regeneration, the importance of 
 repentance and faith, the resurrection of the dead, the 
 second coming of Christ, the reward of the righteous and 
 the eternal punishment of the wicked. We are living 
 in a time when many sneer at the great doctrines. In 
 this we find a fulfillment of prophecy. There are those 
 in high places who seem to doubt some of the things 
 taught in the Scriptures. If you do not believe the 
 Scripture you can never be a successful minister of Jesus 
 Christ. If we do not believe what we preach we need 
 not hope to make others believe it. A firm conviction 
 of the truth of our message will go far towards impress- 
 
106 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ing our hearers with the necessity of giving earnest heed 
 to it. And the truth we preach out of earnest, beUev- 
 ing hearts will not only save ourselves but them also, 
 who hear us. And these will be the seals to our min- 
 istry. They will be our crown of rejoicing in that day. 
 May we all so live and preach the gospel of Christ that 
 we may hear him say at last: 'Well done, good and faith- 
 ful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, 
 I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou 
 into the joy of thy Lord.' 
 
 ''The following lines from Cowper may be studied 
 with profit by every minister as a description of a true 
 minister of Christ: 
 
 "I would express him simple; grave; sincere; 
 In doctrine circumspect; in language plain, 
 And plain in manner; decent; solemn; chaste 
 And natural in gesture; and much impressed 
 Himself, as conscious of his awful charge. 
 And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
 May feel it too; affectionate in look 
 And tender in address, as well becomes 
 A messenger of grace to guilty men." 
 
 To Rev. W. D. Spinx, pastor of Brown Memorial Bap- 
 tist Church, one of the younger men who has much 
 the same conception of the ministry as Dr. Brown, I 
 said, "Imagine yourself ten years younger than you are, 
 at the beginning of your ministry, knowing Dr. Brown as 
 well as you do now. Imagine that you had an opportu- 
 nity to sit at his feet and ask him what you wanted to 
 know about the work of a preacher. What points would 
 you ask him to talk about? Mr, Spinx suggested the 
 following points and I submitted them to Dr. Brown who 
 answered them in writing. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 107 
 
 Business Affairs 
 
 ''What attitude should a pastor assume toward the 
 business affairs of the church he serves? Should he at- 
 tempt to control its business or leave that to others — say, 
 the board of deacons?" 
 
 Dr. Brown's answer was, "It must be remembered al- 
 ways that a Baptist church is a democracy. Pastors 
 and deacons are not to play the role of bosses to lord it 
 over God's heritage. Personally, I do not often use the 
 phrase 'the board of deacons.' Deacons are servants of 
 the church and advisers of the pastor. The pastor should 
 not attempt to control the business of the church. He 
 should be familiar with it and advise, if the church wishes 
 his opinion. The deacons are to serve tables — the table 
 of the pastor, the table of the poor, the table of the Lord. 
 In seeing after the support of the pastor and incidental 
 expenses the deacons may be associated with other mem- 
 bers on the finance committee. There may be and often 
 should be special committees appointed by the church to 
 look after the business interests of the church — such as 
 building committees, committees to raise money for spe- 
 cial objects, etc. All action by deacons or committees 
 is subject to confirmation by the church." 
 
 Young People^s Societies 
 
 "What should be the relation of the pastor to the 
 young people's societies of his church? Should he reserve 
 his strength and freshness of mind for his pulpit, or di- 
 vide it with the aforementioned societies?" 
 
 "The pastor is an overseer. It does not mean because 
 he is the overseer that he must attempt to do all the work 
 himself. He should see that it is done by others. He 
 should look in on the young people's work, the Sunday- 
 
108 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 school work, the mission work of the women, and smile 
 on it and encoui*age it in every way possible. His great 
 business is to preach the gospel with all the fervency and 
 power that he possesses. If he comes to the pulpit jaded 
 after other forms of service he is not capable of giving 
 the people the best that is in him, unless he has a sur- 
 plus of physical energy which he wishes to spread out 
 over wide surfaces. It is better to get ten men to do the 
 work than to undertake to do the work of ten men." 
 
 Pastoral Visiting 
 
 ''In this day of multiplied and complex organizations, 
 if a pastor attends to ail matters that claim his atten- 
 tion, his pastoral work in visiting his members must suf- 
 fer. Is it more important to attend to his pastoral work, 
 at the expense of other matters, or neglect it for other 
 duties? Which would you say from yom- experience is 
 of greater importance?" 
 
 'There are some people who seem to think that the 
 church is a great organization with all sorts of machinery 
 attached to make it efficient. A Baptist church is a lit- 
 tle democracy — an organism made up of persons who 
 profess regeneration and are associated together to do 
 the will of Christ in teaching his word, preaching the 
 gospel, caring for the poor and the sick, and carrying 
 the good news of salvation to every creature. Too many 
 organizations hinder rather than help church efficiency. 
 They sometimes create friction and jealousies that ham- 
 per the best growth. Simple organizations for the distri- 
 bution of power and service are useful. The pastor must 
 be a shepherd. He must feed and lead and comfort the 
 flock. He cannot turn away from his main work to frit- 
 ter away his strength in mere matters of detail that may 
 be left to others who have time for it." 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 109 
 
 Social Evils 
 
 "What attitude should a pastor take towards popular 
 social evils? Should he attack them, ignore them, warn 
 against them, or not? This is a serious question, for 
 some people in every church consider that a preacher 
 should take the role of a reformer which, if he does, is 
 almost certain to make enemies who will hinder him in 
 his mission of preaching the gospel." 
 
 "Any course of conduct that leads to immorality, dis- 
 honesty and corruption of the Christian character and 
 standing in the community may be held up by the pas- 
 tor as a danger signal. He is to reprove, rebuke and ex- 
 hort with all longsuffering and doctrine. He need not 
 proclaim himself a reformer and so invite opposition 
 from unexpected forces. He need only be a true minis- 
 ter of Jesus Christ who has the welfare of human souls 
 on his heart and who does not want to see his people in- 
 dulge in any practices which would hurt their influence 
 and weaken their power and example for good in their 
 churches and communities." 
 
 Dr. Brown's calmness, charity, commonsense and, 
 withal, his love of younger people make him the ideal 
 elder brother to young men in the ministry. Not many 
 pastoral problems but that he at some time in his fifty- 
 odd years of active ministry has had to face and solve, 
 if solution were possible. Nor need the young minister 
 feel that Dr. Brown will be uncharitable towards his 
 mistakes or his inexperience. On the contrary, he is the 
 kind of man before whom the erring and perplexed do 
 not mind opening up their heart to its very depths — 
 knowing that they can count on his interest, his sympa- 
 thy and his advice as to a way out. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE GENTLE SHEPHERD 
 
 "But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth 
 her children; so being affectionately desirous of you, we were 
 willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, 
 hut also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." 1 Thess. 
 ii: 7, 8. 
 
 Dr. Brown will be remembered longest by those who 
 knew him best as the gentle shepherd leading and tend- 
 ing his flock, in the home, by the sick-bed, at the mar- 
 riage altar, at the grave. He says, "To be a good pastor 
 is to be an under-shepherd — to feed the sheep and nur- 
 ture the lambs of the flock." 
 
 His Visits 
 
 The most characteristic picture of Dr. Brown dur- 
 ing the years of his active ministry would not be one of 
 him as the scholar in his study or the preacher in his 
 pulpit but the pastor on his round of visits. At the cele- 
 bration in 1907, of Dr. Brown's thirtieth anniversary as 
 pastor in Winston-Salem, Bishop Rondthaler said the 
 following that has been repeated so often already as to 
 be one of the traditions of the community, '^He and I 
 will meet each other sometimes on a winter day when 
 it is raining or snowing, I see a pair of gum shoes coming 
 along and I see an umbrella, and then I see Dr. Brown 
 between the two, and probably crossing on stepping- 
 stones, we will stand and talk awhile and start on and 
 
 [110] 
 
Dr Brown ( right i and Bishop Rondthaler— one 78 and the 
 other 82 now— have been bosom friends and co-laborers in the 
 gospel ministry in Winston-Salem since 1877. 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 111 
 
 I will see the gum shoes moving on and the umbrella and 
 Dr. Brown between the two, on his way to comfort some- 
 body in his regular course, sometimes dusty, sometimes 
 muddy days." 
 
 In Health 
 
 The thing that I shall remember with most affection 
 about Dr. Brown is his calls upon me in my office and 
 later in my home when I first went to Winston-Salem 
 in 1911 to practice law. Straight from college, I went 
 to that city and was a stranger to everybody in the city 
 but a very few schoolmates. I joined Brown Memorial 
 and not the First Baptist Church. Yet, though I was an 
 unknown stranger and not a member of his church, Dr. 
 Brown soon found his way to my clientless office. 
 Quietly, without ado — ^with the gum shoes if it was even 
 threatening rain — he came and welcomed me, said a few 
 words and went on. And in later years, after clients 
 had found their way to my office, he continued his visits. 
 He knows to a degree of perfection I have never known 
 in any other man how to make a call on a busy profes- 
 sional or business man in his office or place of business 
 during work hours. He comes without apology for in- 
 terrupting and leaves w^ithout apology for having stayed 
 so long. He is at perfect ease during his call and makes 
 you at ease. He does not talk religion, engage in a dis- 
 cussion of the topics of the day — not even the affairs of 
 his church or denomination. But he inquires with mani- 
 festly genuine interest about you, your work, your fam- 
 ily, your plans, and then, in a perfectly natural way, 
 says a word of encouragement. This done, he rises, says 
 good-bye and leaves. A Spanish gentlewoman once told 
 me that her impression of American men socially was 
 that they could not terminate a call gracefully. This is 
 
112 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 not true of Dr. Brown; he has reduced to perfection the 
 art of making and ending a call. 
 
 But most of his visits during his active ministry were 
 in the home rather than the office or place of business. 
 He did not wait for sickness or death to call him to the 
 home, he came as well when health and happiness 
 abounded. From what he has said about long pastor- 
 ates, we know how highly he places visitation among 
 pastoral duties. On another occasion, speaking of the 
 relations between pastor and people, he had still more to 
 say about visits that is pertinent at this point. 
 
 'The world is not old enough yet to have outgrown the 
 need of pastoral visitation. No social gatherings or class 
 reception or circular letters or formal visits made by 
 paid secretaries or workers can take the place of the 
 friendly call, the warm tender handshake, and the quiet, 
 home-like conversation of the pastor, himself, around 
 the family fireside. It is still true that the home-going 
 pastor makes the church-going congregation. 'It 
 is one thing to attract a gaping crowd to witness a dis- 
 play of pulpit fireworks; it is quite another thing to 
 attract and to hold attentive listeners to the gospel of 
 life.' And this cannot be done without the personal 
 touch." 
 
 In Sickness 
 
 "Oi course," Dr. Brown continues, "he must make a 
 point to visit the sick members in his church and con- 
 gregation. There are times when he may not know of 
 the sickness, then he should be notified by the family or 
 other members of the church. He should not be censured 
 for neglecting his people when he does not know of their 
 need of his services. It may require an expenditure of 
 nervous energy to face delicate situations in the sick- 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 113 
 
 rooms, but no conscientious pastor should hesitate to do 
 his whole duty in any particular case whatsoever of suf- 
 fering and inconvenience it may require. He need not 
 think it necessary to preach a sermon by the sickbed or 
 administer reproofs to those who have neglected duties. 
 His manner should be gentle and tender, and his words 
 full of interest and affection for those in sickness or dis- 
 tress. 'Bring into their rooms the sunshine of a cheerful 
 countenance and a morsel of fresh manna from heaven 
 that shall have the taste of honey.' He should know 
 how to speak a word in season for them that are weary. 
 The visit should not be 'too long drawn out.' There is 
 a time to leave as well as to come. Sometimes it may be 
 best not to go in and see the sick. You have no idea 
 how the sight of a face may agitate the sufferer and rob 
 him of the little life that is fluttering in his feeble frame. 
 Just a call or a friendly inquiry after the 'dear ones' 
 may be all that is best to be done. When the sickroom 
 is crowded by well-meaning but needless intruders, it 
 m.ay be well for the pastor to put them all forth as the 
 Master did from that chamber in which the daughter 
 of Jairus was in the death slumber. For lack of sense 
 and sensibility and tact a pastor may sometimes do al- 
 most as much harm as good by his visitation of the sick. 
 The prayer in the sickroom should be brief and full of 
 faith in God and affection for the suffering ones." 
 
 At Death 
 
 Bishop Rondthaler says that in funerals Dr. Brown is 
 the most welcome man the community has ever had. 
 His great desire is to have everybody helped. He finds 
 out about the members of the bereaved family and then 
 prays for them in a delicate and suitable way. His ser- 
 
114 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 vice in funerals is not the remarks he makes, appropriate 
 though they are, but in the fact that in his prayer he 
 forgets nobody. 
 
 Of the pastor's duty at the time of death, Dr. Brown 
 says, 'Terhaps one of the most delicate duties con- 
 nected with the pastoral office is the ministry to families 
 over whose hearthstones have fallen the shadow of death 
 and bereavement. The funeral hour is forever sacred 
 in the annals of a family's history. It is the time to 
 have the heart filled with sympathy like that which 
 characterized Jesus when he stood beside the sorrowing 
 sisters at the grave of their brother. A cold, formal, me- 
 chanical service at such an hour is out of harmony with 
 the eternal fitness of things. A studied oration is not 
 necessary; a long mournful sermon is rarely ever appro- 
 priate. A few selections of Scripture, sympathetically 
 and impressively read, a simple and tender prayer of- 
 fered, and such allusions to family history as may be 
 necessary may well constitute the part to be taken by 
 the pastor at the funeral hour. Some excellent pastors 
 never make any preparations for a funeral but let the 
 occasion suggest what needs to be said and done. 
 
 '^I have found it very helpful to those who are be- 
 reaved to make them a visit and offer a prayer in their 
 homes a few days after they have laid their loved ones 
 away. It is a time to do them good, for their hearts are 
 open and responsive to any service that may be rendered 
 for their benefit. And among the things they will re- 
 member longest and appreciate the most will be the pas- 
 tor's visit and prayer in the home after the family circle 
 has been broken." 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 115 
 
 His Universal Touch 
 
 One of the most noteworthy features of Dr. Brown's 
 pastorate was his universal touch — his acquaintance with, 
 friendship for, and intimacy with people of all kinds in 
 every walk of life. None was too bad or too good, too 
 ignorant or too learned, too poor or too rich, for Dr. 
 Brown to know, love and serve him. 
 
 When a few years ago one of the leading business men 
 of Winston-Salem realized for the first time on his death- 
 bed his need of a Saviour, it was Dr. Brown that he sent 
 for to come and talk to him about his soul's salvation. 
 Dr. Brown went and led him to Christ and he died happy 
 in the faith, though he joined in his last hours — and Dr. 
 Brown knew he would join, if he joined any — a church 
 other than the Baptist. It did not make a particle of 
 difference with the sick man or with Dr. Brown that the 
 former was not of a Baptist family and the latter the 
 pastor of a Baptist church. 
 
 One of the deacons in Dr. Brown's church tells an ex- 
 perience he had with Dr. Brown that illustrates further 
 the universality of his touch. He and Dr. Brown were 
 walking along the street one day when he saw approach- 
 ing one of the notoriously bad women of the city. She 
 was so bad that the deacon said he felt like crossing the 
 street so as not to go near her. But he and Dr. Brown 
 walked on. As they were about to pass the woman. Dr. 
 Brown stopped, shook hands with the woman, called her 
 sister, and kindly inquired how she was. Wasn't that 
 Christlike? What a rebuke to the deacon! 
 
 On another occasion at night the telephone rang in 
 Dr. Brown's home and he was asked to go at once to a 
 house at a certain street number. Without question. Dr. 
 Brown took his hat — and his gum shoes, and umbrella, 
 
116 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 no doubt — and started oft to look for the number. He 
 found it at last — on a back street, the house of a colored 
 family. He found, when he went in and inquired, that a 
 member of the family was sick and that the call had 
 been intended for a colored physician. Dr. Brown. But 
 there was no incongruity whatever in the white Dr. 
 Brown — the physician to sick souls — being in an humble 
 colored home in the night time. 
 
 A man who has worked much among the poor and 
 needy of Winston-Salem says, ''Ever since I have been 
 doing my little for the poor of the city I have never yet 
 failed to find that Dr. Brown has preceded me or meet 
 him on the way as I leave. He seems to have been every- 
 where a ray of sunshine is needed." 
 
 Nor does Dr. Brown confine his pastoral services to 
 members of his own church or even his own denomina- 
 tion. One time a new Methodist family had moved to 
 Winston-Salem. The pastor of the leading Methodist 
 
 church of the city remarked, "I want to go see 
 
 who has been here a week, but I'll bet Dr. Brown has 
 been there before me." And, to be sure, he had. Yet 
 the pastors of other churches never resented Dr. Brown's 
 calling upon their members. There was never a hint of 
 proseh^ting in his calls. Upon this point Bishop Rond- 
 thaler says, "Dr. Brown is as loyal a Baptist as I try to 
 be a Moravian. Our differences do not offend each other. 
 We have lots of other things to discuss. We do not dis- 
 cuss our points of difference. That is a part of the secret 
 of his influence in the entire community. Nobody ever 
 questions his being a good Baptist. But he does not el- 
 bow sharply into anybody else's views." 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 117 
 
 Welcome Everywhere 
 
 There is not an office or place of business or home in 
 all the city — whether of white or black, Jew or Gentile, 
 Catholic or Protestant, rich or poor, whether in sickness, 
 in health, in joy, in sorrow — in which Dr. Brown will 
 not find a warm welcome. Why is it? The answer to 
 this throws light on why he is the pastor beloved. 
 
 Dr. Brown is welcome everywhere, in the first place, 
 because of his genuine humility. He has followed 
 Christ with almost unconscious faithfulness. He is the 
 friend of all people. They instinctively feel it. A proud 
 man cannot get close to many people. Dr. Brown is 
 not mindful of high things, nor does he condescend to 
 the lowly. Nor is his broad human interest a studied 
 effort. Whether in the drawing-room or cottage, whether 
 among the poor or rich, he is sincerely one of them. As 
 Bishop Rondthaler says, ''Through the tenements of 
 Salem we have met each other through the years — going 
 up and down Marshall Street, visiting the people from 
 Davidson and Yadkin and Stokes. He fitted himself 
 humbly into their lives. He was not company but just 
 one of them." 
 
 Dr. Brown is welcome everywhere also because of his 
 genuine sympathy. It is not of a general character but 
 takes individual form and shape. He is interested in 
 men as individuals, not men in the mass. In this he 
 feels that he is following the example of his Master. Here 
 is what he says about Christ's love for the individual. 
 
 ''No person can read the New Testament and not be 
 impressed with the importance attached to the individ- 
 ual in the teaching of Christ in the Gospels and epistles. 
 When he discussed the great subject of regeneration it 
 was with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and in the 
 
118 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 stillness and quietness of the night time. The appeal of 
 regeneration is personal and sympathetic. When he 
 wanted to impress the doctrine of the new life involving 
 a change of character and conduct, he addressed himself 
 to a lone woman by the well of Jacob. And so pro- 
 foundly was she moved by this teaching that she left her 
 water-pot at the well and went into the city to tell other 
 individuals of their need and opportunity. When he 
 wanted someone to state the great principles of Chris- 
 tianity to coming generations and become a flaming 
 evangel to cities and countries he halted Saul of Tarsus 
 in the Damascus Road and revolutionized all his plans 
 and purposes in life. 
 
 "He did not lose sight of individuals in great surging 
 crowds. To him the multitude was only an aggrega- 
 tion of individuals. He saw everyone bearing his own 
 burden of sorrow and sin, having his own outlook on life, 
 and his own difficulties to adjust, and his own problems 
 to solve. He passed Matthew at the receipt of custom, 
 saw in him great possibilities of usefulness, and said to 
 him, Tollow me.' And he arose and followed. He heard 
 the piteous wail of blind Bartimeus as the multitude 
 passed with eager haste along. He saw him and diag- 
 nosed his case, and made him the recipient of his heal- 
 ing pov/er. 
 
 "When Zaccheus was in the sycamore tree Jesus saw 
 him and called by name and said, 'Zaccheus, come down; 
 for I must this day abide in thy house.' And through 
 that abiding power he became willing to bestow the half 
 of his goods to feed the poor and make a fourfold resti- 
 tution to any he had wronged. 
 
 "He knows each by name. He does not mistake Peter 
 for John. He knows our every weakness and interprets 
 our groans. He has fellowship in all our gladness. The 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 119 
 
 kingdom of heaven standeth sure having this seal, 'The 
 Lord knoweth them that are his.' Our names are writ- 
 ten on his hand. He understands our thoughts afar off. 
 He knew Martha's temperament and said to her one day, 
 'Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about 
 many things.' Like many of us, she was wearing her 
 life away with many little worries that need not have 
 wasted her energies. 
 
 "He visited the lonely dwellings of men and moved 
 amid their common haunts and sympathetically knew 
 the needs of each individual heart. 'He knows, he knows, 
 and tempers every wind that blows.' He is the great 
 Shepherd and knows his sheep and leads them out into 
 the green pastures and down by the still waters. If we 
 are his, he will know us on the other side of the river 
 and lead us into the mansions aforetime prepared for 
 us." 
 
 What a self-revelation of the gentle shepherd! 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE FAITHFUL WITNESS 
 
 "For we preach not ourselves, hut Christ Jesus the Lord; and 
 ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who com- 
 manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 
 hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
 the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen 
 vessels; that the excellency of the power may be of God, and 
 not of us." 11 Corinthians iv: 5-7. 
 
 Dr. Brown's greatest contribution to his day and gen- 
 eration and to posterity is his faithful testimony of 
 Christ. He is and has been a witness for him in Win- 
 ston-Salem, throughout the Pilot Mountain Association, 
 and unto the ends of the State. He has testified for 
 Christ not only with his words but, even better, with his 
 life. 
 
 Testimony of His Words 
 
 In one of his articles in The Biblical Recorder Dr. 
 Brown quotes with hearty approval the following testi- 
 mony of an unknown author: 
 
 ''My own theology begins and ends with the person 
 and teachings of Jesus Christ. There is a passage in the 
 New Testament which I would like to turn around. 'Ye 
 believe in God, believe also in me.' I prefer to say, 'I 
 believe in you, therefore I believe in God.' Without 
 Christ I should believe that there was some Force, some 
 ultimate Reality, but I should not worship it, pray to 
 it, nor give it my vote. To me Jesus Christ is the di- 
 vine Manifestation. He is the only man I ever heard 
 
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THE PASTOR BELOVED 121 
 
 of who looks like God, who talks like God, and who acts 
 like God. If he is not divine, then my hopes are all dust 
 and my faith dead. He is my Lord and my God. I 
 worship him and follow him in the dark, as best I may. 
 To me he is the most interesting, the m.ost valiant, the . 
 most wise, the most charming, the most independent per- 
 son who ever walked the earth. I had rather see him, be 
 with him, and hear him talk than to see Shakespeare, 
 Goethe or Beethoven. No man ever spoke with such 
 tmth, sincerity and grace. Everything he said about 
 human life is true and can be verified. Therefore, I be- 
 lieve that what he said about the future life, which we 
 cannot know and which cannot be verified, is also true. 
 I am 100 per cent Christian. I find it easy to believe in 
 his miracles. If he did not live after death, then I do 
 not want to." 
 
 Dr. Brown follows this with his own testimony of 
 Christ. "He is God manifest in the flesh. He is the 
 chiefest among ten thousand and the one altogether 
 lovely. He is to me Prophet, Priest and King, Saviour, 
 Lord, Companion, and Advocate. His words are food 
 on which I feed— sweeter than the honey in the honey- 
 comb. His presence is my inspiration. His command- 
 ments, my last court of appeal. His companionship is 
 my choice possession. His example, my hope of imita- 
 tion. His life, my highest ideal "of living. His death 
 means deliverance from sin and salvation for all who 
 will, through faith, accept the merits of his atonement. 
 His resurrection means that we shall live together in him. 
 He said, 'Because I live ye shall live also.' It means our 
 triumph over the gates of hell and our eternal reign with 
 him. Our tongues will sing his praises through all the 
 cycles. 
 
122 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 "Jesus, I love thy charming name! 
 Tis music to mine ear. 
 Fain would I sound it out so loud 
 That earth and heaven might hear." 
 
 Testimony of His Life 
 
 Bishop Rondthaler has likened the life of Dr. Brown 
 to an electric light bulb through which has shone forth 
 the light of Christ that is in his heart. He says, "Dr. 
 Brown became a Christian early in life. He has lived, 
 taught and worked as a Christian. The light of Jesus 
 has shone out in the man. The bulb, in the heart of 
 which is this electric power, has been kept clear and well 
 wiped of dust. The light of Jesus has been permitted to 
 shin out with unusual brightness — not dimmed in its 
 transit. These are some of the rays of light — his great 
 humility, his sanctified good sense, his sympathy for the 
 individual, his loyalty to his church. 
 
 This is the perfect tribute to the testimony of his lif e— 
 his life a clear glass through which the spirit of Christ 
 has shown undimmed. 
 
 The Testimony of His Outlook 
 
 Already I have quoted several references by Dr. 
 Brown showing the calmness and even the joy with which 
 he anticipates the sound of the boatman's oar coming to 
 take him across the bar to meet his Pilot face to face. 
 Could any testimony of the reality of Christianity be 
 more convincing than the calm assurance of the future 
 it gives men like Dr. Brown who have experienced a life- 
 time of faith? See how Lyman Abbott, a man with 
 very much the same kind of spirit and faith as Dr. Brown 
 though he moved in a different sphere, anticipated death : 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 123 
 
 "And I look forward to the Great Adventure, which now 
 cannot be far off, with awe, but not with apprehension. 
 I enjoy my work, my home, my friends, my life. I shall 
 be sorry to part with them. But always I stand in the 
 bow looking forward with hopeful anticipation to the 
 life before me. When the time comes for my embarka- 
 tion, and the ropes are cast off, and I put out to sea, I 
 think I shall still be standing in the bow and still look- 
 ing forward with eager curiosity and glad hopefulness to 
 the new world to which the unknown voyage will bring 
 me." 
 
 Let me quote a few more references Dr. Brown has 
 made to his outlook upon the life ahead. 
 
 "The way grows brighter as the days go on. We sit 
 together in heavenly places. Springs of joy refresh our 
 weary spirits, as we get nearer the end of the pilgrim- 
 age. The time of waiting is not long. 'Those loved long 
 since and lost awhile' are nearer than we think to meet 
 us and greet us as we enter through the gates into the 
 city. The pilgrimage is ended, the weariness of earth is 
 past, and we are home at last." 
 
 "The prospect grows more glorious as we think about 
 it. 'Sweet fields arrayed in living green' and rivers of 
 delight greet our enraptured vision while we wait for 
 the summons to 'come up higher'. Some one has said 
 that we will not have been in heaven one-half hour be- 
 fore we will have forgotten all the troubles we ever had 
 on the earth. The prospect is far more glorious than the 
 retrospect and we feel like saying, 'Come Lord Jesus, 
 and come quickly.' 
 
 "So tired now! and facing an unfinished task we think 
 of heaven as a place of restr— not a cessation of effort, 
 but absence of weariness. So ignorant now and here of 
 so many things we would like to know, we think of 
 
124 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 heaven as a place we shall know even as we are known. 
 So lonely here since loved ones are gone ! We walk softly 
 under the light of the stars and wonder if in that far 
 away strand in the homeland of the blest we shall meet 
 and greet them as in the days of yore. 
 
 " 'Heaven grows more real day by day, 
 Not strange and cold but very dear — 
 
 The glad homeland not far away 
 Where none are sick or poor or lone 
 The place where we shall find our own 
 
 And as we think of all we knew 
 Who there have met to part no more, 
 
 Our longing hearts desire home, too, 
 With all the strife and trouble o'er.' " 
 
 The Great Commandment 
 
 Why is Dr. Brown the pastor beloved? Recall the 
 course we have taken together — the simple and unevent- 
 ful life measured in temis of human history; the wise 
 but unspectacular leadership in his church, his city, his 
 State; the effective preacher, sticking to the simple gos- 
 pel, drawing men to him who was lifted up; the elder 
 brother teaching, warning, counselling, encouraging, in- 
 spiring the younger brethren in the ministry of the gos- 
 pel ; the gentle shepherd, knowing his sheep by name and 
 leading them — without regard to color, creed, or condi- 
 tion — into the more abundant life of love and service; 
 the faithful witness testifying for Christ by his words, 
 his life, and his faith in the future. 
 
 Is he not the pastor beloved because throughout his 
 long span of years he has obeyed with uncommon fidel- 
 ity the Great Commandments? '^Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
 and with all thy mind. This is the first and great com- 
 mandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt 
 
THE PASTOR BELOVED 125 
 
 love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two command- 
 ments hang all the law and the prophets." 
 
 Dr. Brown loves his fellowman because he loves God, 
 the Father of us all. His fellowmen love him because 
 he first loved them. This, then, is the secret of the 
 life of the pastor beloved — his love of God and man ex- 
 pressing itself in cheerful service. 
 
 The Legacy of Peace 
 
 Some years ago, while he was still active in the pas- 
 torate Dr. Brown sent around to his friends and to mem- 
 bers of his congregation at Christmas time a prose poem 
 of his own authorship entitled "The Legacy of Peace." 
 In closing this appreciation of the pastor beloved, I can- 
 not do bettor than send out once more his legacy of peace 
 to his host of friends and brethren in the Christian faith 
 throughout the world. 
 
 "Jesus said, 'Peace I leave with you!' 
 
 "What a priceless legacy he has left us! 
 
 "Peace for the mind, peace for the heart, peace for 
 the conscience. 
 
 "Peace like the sweet music throughout the morning 
 hours, peace at noon like the soft shadows resting on 
 the green grass, peace at sunset like the infant's sleep on 
 the patient mother's breast. 
 
 "Peace like the calm in the deep bosom of the ocean 
 when storms break on the surface. 
 
 "Peace that cannot be weighed in balances or meas- 
 ured in vessels, or counted in numerals, peace that lights 
 up the countenance, reigns like a queen in the soul, and 
 makes melodious our poor human speech. 
 
 "Peace that grows beautiful- and abundant like the 
 shining river, the deep, fathomless peace of God! 
 
126 THE PASTOR BELOVED 
 
 ''Dear Saviour let us realize this peace when the shad- 
 ows grow long and the burdens seem heavy to weary, 
 failing feet! 
 
 '' 'When peace like a river attendeth my way, 
 When sorrows like sea billows roll! 
 Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say 
 It is well, it is well, with my soul'."