USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Extracts from the minutes of the yearly meeting of Friends held in Philadelphia, 1921 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
117
ideal, is bound to be a factor of immense importance in binding together the peoples of all lands.
We are profoundly disturbed that our officials at Wash- ington with scant regard to this ideal are proceeding with huge preparations for war. A large standing army and a navy second to none are planned.
We urge you to exert yourselves to create and express to the administration a public opinion unalterably opposed to such a program-a public opinion earnestly directed toward establishing the relations between nation and nation upon that basis of reason and good-will which usually prevail between man and man. To this end we ask that you request the President and his Cabinet to call without delay an International Conference for Disarma- ment and that you write to your Senators and Representa- tives in Washington to postpone further military and naval appropriations until such a Conference is held.
We urge this :-
First, because we desire that the citizens of this and the future generations may not be burdened by heavy taxes and that the revenues raised by taxation may be used for creative efforts and not for destruction. The appropria- tions for the War and Navy Departments for the year 1920-1921 amounted to the huge sum of $855,000,000, an amount equal to the entire expenses of the Federal Govern- ment (other than the Post Office) in 1916. The requests of these two departments for the year 1921-1922, if granted, would increase this sum to about a billion and a half dollars.
Second, we urge this because the world war has over- whelmingly revealed that war is the terrible enemy of . life and progress. The last war killed millions, of whom thousands were our fellow countrymen; it has increased our national expenses to such an extent that about sixty- eight per cent. of the total appropriations for one year were required to pay obligations on account of past wars; it has diverted vast quantities of men and money from the things which enrich society to the things which im- poverish it; and notwithstanding this enormous expendi-
118
ture of life and wealth it has not ended war, it has not brought permanent peace. Instead it has left behind it in Europe starvation and misery, distrust, hatred and conflict. In all this, war has immeasurably obstructed our progress toward the life of freedom and opportunity for all men.
We feel that no effort must now be omitted to turn the world away from further wars toward international friend- ship. Will not each one of you make similar efforts, in your homes, in your places of work, in your meetings with your fellow-workers, and send messages to your Representa- tives in Washington?
We have mentioned urgent reasons why this should be done. Above all, as a supreme reason we earnestly ask you to believe that the teaching and life of the Carpenter of Nazareth show us the true way in which men and nations should live together. If men and women who seek the welfare and brotherhood of mankind will only unite in following His example and co-operate in using the forces of reason and good-will we have faith that the better world which we and you seek can be made a reality. We appeal to you and to others to join us in the effort to bring this to pass.
By direction and on behalf of the Yearly Meeting,
PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Fourth Month 1, 1921. To MEETINGS OF FRIENDS (ALL BRANCHES) IN AMERICA:
Dear Friends :- Our Yearly Meeting now in session, feels strongly the importance of vigorous efforts toward the prevention of war. The subject of disarmament seems the point that should be pressed just now upon the at- tention of the new administration, and upon all the people of our country who, if convinced and aroused, may make it possible for America to lead the world in laying down its arms.
We realize that this influence must be exerted not only individually, by both men and women, but also corporate- ly by such groups as our Monthly and Yearly Meetings. We are therefore issuing a letter to the President of the
119
United States; to the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Naval Affairs and on Military Affairs; to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs; and to the Senators and Representatives of the States covered by our Yearly Meeting-urging that the President of the United States should call, in the immediate future, an international conference on disarmament; that all action leading to an increase in naval or military appropriations shall not even be considered until after the holding of such conference; and that a drastic curtailment of the proposed appropriations is a first essential step toward a spirit of understanding between the nations. Letters on this subject are also being addressed to Chambers of Commerce, to Labor and to our fellow Christians.
We are moreover writing this letter to the Monthly Meetings with the earnest desire that there may be co- operation in the same and by all American Friends, united as we are by our heritage of opposition to all war as con- trary to the fundamental teachings and spirit of Christ, by our service abroad in testimony to our faith in His principles of good-will and love, and by our participation in the London Conference of All Friends. In writing directly to the Monthly Meetings we are impelled by the immediate needs. Information is being sent to your Yearly Meeting which we hope will take whatever action may be timely when it meets.
Unless we Friends do our utmost now to remove the causes of war, we shall be unable to satisfy ourselves at the bar of conscience by a mere refusal to take part in a future war.
By direction and on behalf of the Yearly Meeting,
WM. B. HARVEY,
DAVIS H. FORSYTHE, ANNA RHOADS LADD,
Correspondent. Clerks.
120.
LETTERS RECEIVED FROM OTHER YEARLY . MEETINGS.
FROM DUBLIN YEARLY MEETING, HELD IN DUBLIN BY ADJOURNMENTS, FROM THETWENTY-NINTH OF FOURTH MONTH TO THE FOURTH OF FIFTH MONTH, INCLUSIVE, 1920.
To PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING :---
Dear Friends :- Assembled in our Yearly Meeting, we have greatly appreciated your letter of fraternal greeting. The account of your concerns, spiritual and temporal, should, we feel, spur us on to renewed and more effective zeal.
Within the last year the war cloud has in part been lifted, but as we look out over a desolated world we realize that the seeds of war are still in the hearts of men and women, and that by the saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ alone can they be prevented from springing up and bearing their sad harvest of hate and death. It has been borne in upon us that the state of our Society in Ireland and the world over will be judged by our effective- ness in healing the world's troubles; by bringing to the needy ones not alone the necessary food for the body, but also the spiritual food for which men, in the dire distress of these times, especially hunger. May we all strive toward this end by keeping in ever closer touch with our Saviour, the personification of Love.
We rejoice in the great opportunity which has been given to you by your Government of relieving the starving children in Central Europe.
We are watching with sympathy and interest the effect of the Prohibition Law in your country, and trust that a lasting success may crown the effort.
We look forward with much interest to the Conference of All Friends in London, where our Delegates hope to
121
meet in person many of you whose helpfulness we may have known hitherto only in the spirit.
In these troublous times in our country we feel the: need more than ever of your sympathy and prayers, that our faith fail not, and that we "be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
In loving remembrance of the fellowship that exists. between your Yearly Meeting and ours,
We remain, your friends,
W. FREDERICK BEWLEY, Clerk. JONATHAN GOODBODY, 50 Daner Street, Dublin.
EDGAR A. PIM, 22 William Street. Correspondents.
FROM MOUNT LEBANON THREE MONTHS' MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
BRUMANA, Beirut, First Month 12, 1921.
TO THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN PHILADELPHIA :-
Dear Friends :- Your letter of Fourth Month 4, 1920, has been received by us. We welcome no less than usual the yearly contact which links us with another community of our Society.
You will be aware that we have this year one more direct association with you, by the presence amongst us. of W. B. Evans, Clerk of Moorestown Monthly Meeting. We value much his sympathetic help in our work, and feel that you have this time sent us a living epistle as well as. a written one.
We have close touch with American Friends in two de- partments of our work here. In the orphanages and in- · dustrial work at Ras-el-Metn we are most thankful that at a time when financial support was difficult to find from elsewhere, our Heavenly Father has provided for these needy people in our district by your generous contributions.
122
We wish you to know that the church as well as the Mission organization recognizes this and is grateful for it. Then in regard to funds reserved for building a new hos- pital, we are now hopefully looking forward to the use of this money. The years of war have brought the old build- ing to an even worse condition, and it will be a happy time when the work can be moved into a sound and well- fitted structure.
The work of relief which has been necessary during and since the war is now slowly giving way to more permanent activities. We rejoice to tell you of the good hand of our God in giving us again outward manifestations of true spiritual life in our church. The attendance at our meet- ings for worship during the past year has improved, and our meetings for church affairs have recently been oc- cupied with a number of schemes for active work in the spread of the Kingdom.
We have already commended to you our friend Dr. Najeeb Saad. His visit to you is yet another link between us. May our mutual brotherly love be a help to both you and us in the service of our common Master through our beloved Society.
Signed on behalf of the Three Months' Meeting,
TANIUS CORTAS, Clerk.
FROM THE GENERAL MEETING OF FRIENDS IN AUSTRALIA. TO THE YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS FOR PENNSYLVANIA, ETC., HELD AT PHILADELPHIA, PA .:-
Dear Friends :- Your welcome letter has been read at our General Meeting at which Friends are gathered from wide distances. We recognize and appreciate the bond of sympathy and fellowship in loyalty and service which binds us to you, who are still more widely separated from us by land and sea.
At this time we have had with us Lucy Fryer Morland and Mary Wilson from London Yearly Meeting, who are specially interested in education, and whose wise counsel
123
and enthusiasm have helped us to see the possibilities of a full and noble education and the responsibilities of Friends to the children of all our members, whether able to be at our boarding school or not.
Though this call to provide a noble education has been clear to us, no less clear has been the call for a full and happy home life upon which chiefly depends the character of our children. Amusements threaten to usurp far too large a place in life and we have been impressed with the importance of a due proportion between recreation, work for earning our living, and more definitely religious work. A healthy home life will do more than anything else to foster a right use of life and to prevent that craving for excitement which would lead to a life unworthy and out of proportion.
The needs of Central Europe and especially of the children have received our constant sympathy. We have decided to do our utmost to awaken the general public, who are at present almost ignorant of it, to the terrible and still increasing need. We rejoice that in this work we are fellow-workers with you.
We have decided to appoint an Organizing Secretary so that, if possible, the willing ability of our members may be set to work worth doing and suitable to each, and the Society thus built up and made useful.
With love we are your friends.
On behalf of the General Meeting of Friends, held at Hobart, the twenty-seventh to thirtieth of Ninth Month, 1920.
FREDERICK COLEMAN, Clerk this time. .
TUELA, Saddleworth, South Australia, Eleventh Month 17, 1920
FROM HIJIRIZAKA MONTHLY MEETING OF FRIENDS,
TOKYO, JAPAN.
TO THE REPRESENTATIVE MEETING OF PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING, PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.
Dear Friends :- We have received Walter W. Haviland with joy and gratitude. We say with "joy," for he has
124
come to us from the place, where we owe greatly for our Society of Friends in Japan. We say "with gratitude," for you have sent us one, whose gospel message of Chris- tian love has been a great help to the members as well as to the non-members. As he is leaving us soon, we wish to send with him the message of Christian fellowship, , which has enabled us to worship with him our Lord and which will enable all the nations to come together in the name of Christ.
On behalf of Hijirizaka Monthly Meeting of Friends.
TAKAJIRO KURAMA,
Clerk.
RYU SATO,
Correspondent.
FOURTH MONTH 28, 1920.
FROM THE YEARLY MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, HELD AT SUINING, SZECHWAN, WEST CHINA, FROM NINTH TO ELEVENTH OF SECOND MONTH, 1920.
TO THE PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING OF THE SO- CIETY OF FRIENDS, U. S. A.
Dear Friends :- When the seventeenth annual gather- ing of the Szechwan Yearly Meeting met at Suining this year, we have had many interesting epistles sent to us, and among them one was from your Yearly Meeting.
It is our great pleasure to receive the greetings from our friends across the sea like this, and it also has been a great encouragement to us in many respects. The friend- ship between the United States of America and China, has been and is still very close to each other, and we hope after the Great War, this friendship will be renewed and make it still greater than ever.
Our Yearly Meeting met at Suining this year with very many encouraging points, and we hope it will be of in- terest to you for us to tell you what has been done then. Just in general, the following lines will be the outstanding features of this year's progress :
1. In order to improve our evangelistic and educa-
125
tional works, it was decided that a General or Traveling Secretary should be secured to have the general oversight of the work of the whole church. This will draw together all the districts closer to each other. This resolution is being planned to carry out as soon as possible. It will be an infinite value to our work here when this Secretary is found.
11. Since the exchange of gold is bad, the annual grant from the F. F. M.A. Board in London is reducing each year very largely. But we have pleasure to report that we have raised locally about one-quarter of the total expenditure of last year. It is rather interesting to see that we have taken this step under the present condition of the Chinese Church toward what is known as "Self- support."
Ill. About a year ago we have organized a Central Executive through the representation of the Szechwan . Yearly Meeting and the Committee of Missionaries on the field. The constitution is that these two bodies will have equal number of representatives on this Executive.
It has already proved to be a very useful organization for co-operation although we have experienced many difficult problems in the forming of it. We have made some progress this year, and we hope by a very slow process we shall be able to make it more useful to our work here.
IV. We are very much interested in the All-Friends' Peace Conference which is to be held in London in the com- ing autumn. Our Yearly Meeting has sent three delegates to this Conference to represent our work here. They are on the sea now, and we hope they will arrive in England soon. We strongly hope that they will be of use in the Conference and will bring back to us a new spirit and in- spiration for our future work in West China.
We are very weak and young in our church work,and there are many things that we cannot do as we would have them done. We hope that you will pray for us for the establishment of the Kingdom of God in our land so that we will all be His servants as our Master said, "Ye are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world; let your
126
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven."
On behalf of the Szechwan Yearly Meeting.
H. Y. TIEN (PER H. P. CH'EN)
FOURTH MONTH 2, 1920. Chairman.)
FROM THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN GERMANY ..
CENTRAL OFFICE, STUTTEGART, Württemberg, 2 Hang- leiterstrasse.
To WILLIAM B. HARVEY, SECRETARY OF PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS.
Dear Friends :- It is a satisfaction to us to be able to let thee and Friends of thy Yearly Meeting know that through Divine ordering a Society of Friends has now been formed in Germany. It seems to us as if the days of the early Friends had come to this country. Conscious of our personal shortcomings, our joy here would not be complete unless we felt it was shared by you also, who have remembered us so lovingly, sending us the litera- ture. Also having spared no expense in sending to us our beloved Friends, Max I. Reich and Alfred Lowry (com- panion to James Henderson) to minister unto us the Word of Life. It is impossible to put into words the value of their services at this critical stage of our spiritual history. We can only sink down in silence before God, present to Him our lives as a thank offering. We hope our Friend Max 1. Reich may remain on until his service is completed, for the fields are white unto harvest and the laborers are few. He has suffered with us and shared our lot in a self- denying way so that we can put him forth as an example to others. Our country needs the religion of the early Friends, undiluted by modern innovations, to endeavor to make it more palatable to the lower standards of our corrupt civilization, a religion which has for its principle "no cross, no crown."
Signed on behalf of the Friends of South Germany in Cannstatt, Stuttgart, Esslingen, Pfullingen, Kempten.
KATIE HOWES,
Secretary. JOHN LEHMANN,' Clerk of the Yearly Meeting.
127
LETTERS SENT TO OTHER YEARLY MEETINGS.
FOURTH MONTH I, 1921.
TO THE LONDON YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS :-
Dear Friends :- We are united in the desire to greet you once more in this way and we are thankful to find the bond between us growing stronger. The report of the Conference in London last summer has brought you vividly before us and your generous hospitality and kind- ness to our friends are gratefully acknowledged.
But the message we send you goes deeper: it concerns the realities of the Christian faith; the things which lie deep down in our hearts when we think of the relief work in Central Europe and of the multitudes who are passing through the dark shadows of this present time: "Hungry and thirsty and their souls faint within them." To help such and to give them a fresh start towards faith and hope and love-this is indeed a high calling. We hope you may be cheered and sustained in this work and we are glad to join you in it wherever the door is open.
The foundations of our belief will thus be disclosed to our fellow-men, showing them that we serve Him who is the God and Father of us all, that His nature has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ His Son who lived and died for all, and rose again: that He has thus shown His love to all men and that His Holy Spirit is the abiding witness for Him in our hearts.
As was said in one of your epistles some fifty years ago, let us dwell not with our doubts but with our convictions. We ask our Heavenly Father that you may be of good cheer and that the hope which maketh not ashamed may abide in your hearts.
We acknowledge with thankfulness, the cheer and
128
help, which you have sent us through our mutual friend, E. Maria Bishop.
With cordial affection, we remain, your friends,
Signed on behalf of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends,
FOURTH MONTH 1, 1921.
TO DUBLIN YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS :-
Dear Friends :- During the war and the present difficult period of reconstruction, common experiences have united Friends everywhere and given them an increased compre- hension of each other's problems. Everything which strengthens this bond of unity is precious and helpful. In this spirit of loving understanding we have welcomed your epistle which has been read in our Yearly Meeting now assembled.
The more we learn of your problems and of ours, their complexity and the seeming impossibility of their solu- tion, the more clearly we realize how inadequate to the task are man and man-made schemes. There remains the one cure for human misery and sorrow and sin. It is the restoring touch, the blessed consolation, the power to live which Christ our Saviour alone can give.
"The healing of His seamless dress Is by our beds of pain, We touch Him in life's throng and press And we are whole again."
For this time and for this ministration are we born- born to labor patiently, faithfully, courageously, hope- fully. In such a spirit the very magnitude of the difficulties summons our best efforts which are based on the sure foundation of love to our Lord and Master and to our brother man.
Can we doubt that the cause of truth and righteousness will ultimately prevail? This day may be far distant to our human sight, but time cannot limit God's infinite love and marvelous patience. Such a vision gives hope, inspiration, power, as many prove every day.
129
We would ask for you and would desire for ourselves, the salutation of the Apostle, "That (we) may be strength- ened with power through His Spirit in the inward man, that Christ may dwell in (our) hearts through faith; to; the end that (we) being rooted and grounded in love may: be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is. the, length and breadth and height and depth and to know, the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that (we) may be filled with all the fulness of God."
With love we are your friends.
Signed on behalf of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
:
FOURTH MONTH 1, 1921.
To MOUNT LEBANON THREE MONTHS' MEETING OF THE. SOCIETY OF FRIENDS :-
Dear Friends :- Your letter written in the First Month of this year has been read before our Yearly Meeting, and once more renews our sense of Christian fellowship toward your meetings and members in their distant mountain home. We rejoice that living epistles both from you to: us, and from us to you make this relationship more warm and real at this time.
The work of your Orphanages, and the prospect of a new hospital interest us; and especially the evidence that both in the form of more prosperous material pursuits, and in spiritual life, things are returning to a peace basis with you, after so much privation and distress, and we long that our Heavenly Father may yet more completely heal and build you up in Himself.
The work of the Society of Friends of supervising the feeding of the hungry in Central Europe has been growing. Nearly 800,000 children are now being fed, and it is be- lieved that this may reach 1,000,000 soon. The work may have to continue during the coming winter, so slow is reconstruction in those lands. But our minds are being turned more and more toward spiritual reconstruction, and we are preparing for a wider dissemination of our Christian message in printed forms than perhaps ever. before, believing that the way is open and the time ripe
130
for this message to help " Mend broken hearts." We have also been busy digging about "the roots of war" in our Social Order, hoping to eradicate them in due time from all our business life: for we fully believe that only by the application of the principles of Christ in this field can future war be certainly forestalled. We are glad to hear of your Christian service in the country round about; and we crave that by the increase of the good Spirit of Truth the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may sound forth yet farther and with greater power to the healing of the national life; let us not forget Him, or the imperative nature of His word of life; for as we have been reminded in these distracted times, when civiliza- tion itself is seen to totter, "nothing will save the world except the Saviour of the World." It is the application of His love, through us, to all the relations of life that must restore and reconstruct the broken order of our time.
We learn with satisfaction of your earnest endeavors after Christian unity in Syria; the same subject has to some extent claimed our attention; and we desire to join our prayers and labor with yours in hastening the day when all believers may be one in Christ, that the world may believe in Him.
Our love goes out to the hearts of the little ones you have gathered around you.
We remain, with love, your friends.
Signed on behalf of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends,
FOURTH MONTH I, 1921.
The following was addressed :-
TO THE GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN NEW ZEALAND :-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.