The Oskaloosa herald., 1911-08-31
PRELIMINARY MEETINGS.
Sessions of Penn College Board Min
isterial Association and Chris
tian Endeavor Society.

The members of the Friends church
from Iowa and the scattered meet
ings in the neighboring states began
to assemble yesterday for their forty
ninth annual assembly. Their is a
notable absence of campers on the
Yearly Meeting grounds and an I'M
usually large number of people occu-
plying rooms. Yesterday was largely
acquainted. The only meetings held
were those of the Penn College
board, the ministerial association and
the Christian Endeavor Union. The
Ministerial Association is a new or
ganization formed with the purpose of
prompting unity in the work of the
various local meetings.
The Christian Endeavor meeting
combined business, devotional and
social features. Ora w. Carroll, pas
tor at Muscatine, presided and arthur
Hammond, of Pleasant Plain, served
as secretary. The session was open
ed with song and prayer service,
after which the sermon Of the even
ing was delivered by Walter F. DeX
ter, of ACkworth, who took as his
text, Take Heed now; for the Lord
hath chosen three to build an house
for the sanctuary; be strong, and do
it," l Chronicles, 2S:1O. Mr.. Dexter
emphasized the fact that strength
and courage are given by a belief in
divine call. Noah was sustained in
his long task of building the ark by
his knowledge that he was called of
God to that work. Paul was support.
ed in his missionary journeys by his
sense of a divine call. Other Bibli-
cal characters were referred to as
showing the power which comes from
the call of God. "A successful pastor,
said Mr. Dexter, must be called of
God to that work" A pastor that is
called will not be a failure. Minis
tiers are called to most noble work
in the world and should feel a sense
of responsibility because of this fact.
But the divine call extends farther
than to pastors; it is given to every
Christian. The task of the officers
and committeeman of the EndeaVor
Society are sacred trusts and should
be performed in the spirit of those
who are called.
The second part of the address was
from the words be, strong" God de-
mands strong men. We may say
with reverence that God admires the
strong man We must be strong, in
the first place, mentally. Only a
sound mind is capable of rightly per-
forming God-given tasks. Secondly,
we must be strong physically for all
tasks require physical strength. Fin
ally we must be strong spiritually If
we are to accomplish spiritual results.
The third division, from the words
do it," was a call to action. Pastor
and people, realizing divine call to
work and having the strength for
that work, should unite in doing it?
Three questions were given for con-
sideration to those taking up any
work. Is there any work to be done?
Is it of real importance? Am | the
one to do it?
In the business meeting it was an
nounced that the union had had a
very successful year financially even
though many of the members had
contributed heavily to the Penn en-
dOwment. nominating committee
was appointed as follows: Samuel
Jackson, Geo. Deshler, LOra Hadley,
Harry r. Keats, Elizabeth Lunday,
Alfred J. Hanson, Cora Mattison, Le-
roy Hawks. Lulu Watkins, Abner
White, Harvey Jones, T. w. Bryant.
Each person coming into the build
ing was given a prettily decorated
tag upon which he was asked to write
his name and his society. After the
business session numbered programs
were distributed and the guests spent
short time in making themselves &C
quainted with one another until they
were called to order to listen TO a
short program prepared by the Oska-
loosa society. After the serving of
light refreshments all departed feel
ing that the first session of the Year
" Meeting had been well spent.