Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1912-12-13
TNENTN-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
OF ORGANIZATION.
FOUNDED DEC. 18th 1887
DIR. Mclean, Who is Present Pastor,
10 Enter Missionary Field on
January list.

A large company, nearly filling the
main auditorium, gathered Wednes-
day night to celebrate the 25th ami
yersary of the founding of Bethany
Presbyterian church. The pulpit and
choir loft We're tastefglly decorated
with eyergreens, and from the decor
ations hung in silver letters 1857
1912 George II. Parker, chairman
of the board of trustees, presided,
and with him on the platform were
DR.. w. S. Holt, Pacific coast secre
tary OF the board of home missions
Rev, f. c. Lovett, pastor OF the Bap-
tist church; Rev. VIM. II. Jeffrey, Jr,,
pastor of Newman NJ. Il. church, and
Rev. Robert Mclean, pastor of Beth
any church.
Mr. jeffrey read from the scripture
and Mr.. Lovett offered prayer Mr..
Loyett then gave a most felicitous
congratulatory address in behalf of
the other churches.
Two of the charter members of the
church, Mrs. r. II. Gilfllan and w.
S. Barrie, were present and partici
pated in the celebration. the former
presenting a history of the church or
ganizatIon and its 25 years of activ-
| ity, recounting many interesting facts
and "reminiscences Robert Jewell,
the youngest member of the church,
delivered an address to the older
members that elected hearty APP
plause.
The address OF the evening was
given by Dr. Holt, and was intensely
interesting. At one moment he has
his audience in gale of laughter,
then in a flash he has them intensely
interested in his sublime theme, the
Gospel of the Son of God in our ma
tional life He graphically pictured
the march of home missions in the
van Of our civilization, planting
churches and schools, moulding the
unpromising elements into respect
able citizens, and conserving OF ma
tional strength that would otherwise
be lost amid unfavorabe surround
ings He then took us to a foreign
land, Manhattan Island Within a
few minutes walk of the mission
house on Fifth Avenue, he led us in
to the largest Italian city outside of
Rome A few minutes more and we
were in a Jewish city Of 1250.0O0,
the largest Jewish community in the
world From there he led his hear
ers down to our southwest border 10
look upon the 100000 Mexicans who
have come TO us with the ignorance
and superstitlons OF past ages, and
must be moulded into American citi-
zens, else they remain an eyer-grow-
ing menace TO our national life From
there he carried his hearers west
ward TO meet the incoming tide from
the Orient, and In eloquent words inn
pressed upon his audience the tre-
mendous responsibility Of the church
for the transformation OF these heter-
ogeneous elements into strong and
safe American manhood and woman
hood.
Mrs w. L. Ireland rendered a
solo, and those who have heard her
sing know that no comment is neces-
sary. Her voice ia OF rare sweetness
and power, and always a pleasure to
her hearers
The final address OF the evening
was the message Of the pastor to the
people he Is soon to leave. He urged !
upon them loyalty to the funda-
mental principles OF the gospel to
the Crucihed One as the worlds
hope, and to a more thorough util-
ization OF the younger element in the |
church. The Christian Endeayor so
ciety contains splendid material from
which TO build a strong church tor |
the future great work awaiting It.
The only shadow upon the happl- |
ness Of the occasion was the thought