The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1913, Page 12

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12

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Gethsemane.

Go to dark Gethsemane,

Ye that feel the Tempter’s power;
Your Redeemer’s conflict see,
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His gricfs away,
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

>

Admiral Philip and His Bible.

Rev. Milton M. Smith, D. D., says: “It has
been my privilege to have in my possession for a day
or two the Bible of the late Rear-Admiral Philip.
I have never seen a Bible more marked and thumbed
than his. ‘The chapters most marked are the four-
teenth chapter.of John and the eighth of Romans.
In the former chapter every verse except three is
matked. It was his custom to note the dates on
the margin when he began either the Old or the
New Testament in his readings by course. I find
twelve dates noted when he began to read the Old
Testament, and thirty-four when he began to read

the New. Many, many times he must have read
the Bible from its beginning to its end. I find
here the secret of his gentleness and his power. A
number of quotations are pasted carefully in his
Bible. On the first page of the New Testament is
pasted this card:

“Put any burden upon me, only sustain me.

Send me anywhere, only go with me.

Sever any tie but this tie which binds

Me to Thy service and Thy heart.

“The verse most heavily underscored are the
words of Jesus: ‘Whosoever shall confess me before
men, him will I also confess before my Father which
is in heaven.’ ”

What a glorious example Admiral Philip has
set us! “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye
think ye have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of me,” John 5, 39.

Items from Bethlehem, New Orleans.

It may perhaps interest readers of the PIONEER
to hear a few items of the annual report of Beth-
Iehem Chapel.

The past year was again, thanks to the gracious
blessing of our God, a prosperous year for us. Our
congregation has developed within and grown with-
out. All services of the year were well attended,
some even exceptionally well, and at several special
occasions our church was again too small. Our mem-
bers. have learned to come regularly to the house
of God, and to come even if the weather is at times
not of the most pleasant kind. And no one is hap-
pier over this fact than Bethlehem’s members them-
selves. What a happy, cheerful people, what cheer-
ful singing, when the church is well filled on a
Sunday night! How encouraging to see several,
benches in front of the adult congregation filled
with children, little boys and girls, all joining lustily
in singing praise to God on high! May it be so
again, and eyen more so, in the year before us!

During the year there were 7 baptisms, 2 of
these being such of adults, and 15 were confirmed,
9 children and 6 adults.

The receipts of Bethlehem again show an in-
crease over the previous year by $130.36, the total
for 1911 being $745.56 and for 1912, $875.92. Of
this sum $480.00 was turned over to the general
mission treasury, $413.69. was used for current ex-
penses, painting and repairing.

The individual contributions of our members
have also improved. For 1911, the highest indi- -