This is the “mother church.” The father of the Rev. J. B. Hawthorne,
in the early part of their history, served them as pastor, receiving
a regular salary of them. At the close of the war, Mr. Spence was
their pastor, since which time they have been under the leadership
of the Rev. B. J. Burke, a man who in many regards is as strong as
he is peculiar. This church, however, has not done much in the way
of missions, and not a great deal for education. One of the peculiar
customs of the pastor is to “bless children.” Standing in the pulpit,
he holds the child up in his arms while he prays God’s blessings upon
it.
A case of discipline which came up in this church many years ago, led
to the formation of the St. Louis Street Church, and I am sorry to say
gave birth to a very bitter sectional feeling between the two bodies,
which feeling has long been a blight to the Baptist cause in South
Alabama.
This church is stubbornly set against all secret societies, so that
no secret society people are allowed in its membership. The pastor is
elected for life. For the support of its poor it has a fund which is
called the “Church Treasury.”