The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1898-10-06
TEXAS LOST HER IIOO.D0O.
When Captain Phillip Got Religion, SO the
Sailors Say.


refer to him in this fashion, since the
story has come out of the conversion of
the famous commander of the big war
ship which will be hoated out of the
dry dock in the navy yard to-day.
She is healed Of her battle scars, and
he they say, is healed of all the wounds
left by many years of hard life.
Captain Philip was converted in the
Emanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn
by the Rev. Kerr Boyce Upper, of the
First Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
Mr.. Tupper made the statement him
self to a congregation of young men
in the Y. M. G. A. in Brooklyn, yester-
day.
Last summer, as this, he preached in
Brooklyn in the vacation time. One
Sunday his subject was "Be born
againm ...
'In front of me, listening intently to
every word, said the preacher, 81 no
ticed a fine-looking gentlemen. He did
not strike me as being affected, but he
was thoughtful / spoke of the neces-
sity of a new birth, | described as best
! could the spiritual regeneration, the
taking in of the spirit of Christ until we
were exalted and lived above our COM
mon selves and entered into commu-
Mon with the Holy Ghost.
"After the sermon this man came up
and shook hands with me, telling me
he was Capt Philip. He said he had
everything in life to make him happy,
lovely wife, fine home, high posi-
tiSn, hosts of friends, but he lacked
something. He was believer in
Christianity; he believed in the atone
ment; he believed as literal fact the cru
eiaxion and resurrection of Christ. He
daRaESd to do good and be good and
kSlp others, but he lacked something.
''He needed to be born again he
tho't. We went to the vestry and talked
it over. He was knocking at the door
like child and his desire was to knock
l told him how the door would be
opened unto those who knocked. He
thanked me, this great commander,
whose name now sounds around the
world, not only because he has won pro-
motion for gallantry and seamanship
in the greatest naval engagement of
modern times, but because of what he
said and did during the battle and i'm
mediately after, showing that the seed
had fallen on good ground.
"And he came again the next Sunday
and sat listening just as thoughtfully.
And when the sermon was over he took
me by the hand again, quietly and
strongly, and when we reached the ves-
try he said.
"It has come to me; [ am born
again"
"He went to the navy yard and call
ed the crew together and told them
that he had given himself to Christ,
and as long as he was commander Of
this ship he would have religious servi-
ces on board every day,
"The next day the Texas sailed for
Boston, and he has kept his word to his
crew, and every man in it loyes and
respects him.
There was story in some of the pa
pers about year ago in which it was
said that prominent naval officer had
gone into the vestry room of the church
with Rey. Mr., Tupper, but he would
not tell them who the officer was.
The men of the Texas remember the
time we'll when the Captain summoned
them on deck and announced his con-
version and said that he would have
services every day on the ship,
And one of the jackies of the Texas
remarked last night, "Do you know /
believe the Texas lost its hoodoo then
Come to think, the Texas had its last
trouble to amount to anything just be-
fore the Captain stood on the deck and
said, Boys | have given myself to
Christ.
cit made us feel kind of funny like.
We didn' know just what to do, Then
somebody said 'Hoorayl' and then we
gave him three of EN- just for luck.
| And then he said he would have us on
deck every day for prayer and talks and
then nobody said 'Hooray.' But it's
turned out all right.
amt much on religion myself, but
some of the boys took to it, and rath-
er like the meetings too. We have hot
: religious arguments sometimes down
below, and once or twice we've had tc
keep some of the boys from fighting
over it. Some believed in dipping,
ssne believed in sprinkling, and some
don't believe at all.
"But there's only one man who be-
lieves that story about Jonah and the
. whale, and he's coon. He's stoker,
right mp against the red-hot boilers al
the time, and that fire makes him be
lieve anything.
"But I tell you it was all right for al
+ Of us after that battle when the Cap
1 tain called us together and every moth
d er's son of us prayed. l know l did
n Captain Philips is all right. - New
!. York Press.