Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1911-11-05
ADDRESS AT
MlSSiONORY union
delivered to Convention of Presbytc-
rian Societies by the President.


The following splendid opening ad-
diess was made by the President of
the missionary Union,' Mrs. j. ".
Phillips, of Monticello, at the First
Presbyterian Church, November l.
1911:
="Just a year ago today, after a
most delightful session of our Union
at Monticello, as we gave to each 9TH
er the parting hand, promising last
ing fidelity to each other, and to
Christ, and His cause, We retired to
our homes With just a little tinge of
sadness that the good things, too.
r.ust pass away; but as | meditated
again, my heart was cheered with the
thought that the efforts made by that
band of Cody women, the sweet sea-
son of Christian communion, the
touch of heart to heart. and hand to
hand in the Work of the Master, would
leave behind a precious influence.
which,, like the aroma of some fra
grant blossom, which pervades our
e@ery day lives, making sweet the
Gllties that face us day by day and
causing us to delight in doing the
Masters bidding. | am sure that our
hearts We're then stirred within us
with the firm resolve that the COM
ing year should be a record breaking
II in our efforts to hasten the COM
Jig of Gods Kingdom.
For all the year past We have had
before us the delightful anticipation
of another such gathering. Our ex-
p~ectant gaze has been turned toward
this delightful Queen City OF the Ar
tansas valley, where its homes and
its hearts have been opened to us and
whose hospitality and Christian fell
iowship We now enjoy. With all my
feart l greet you here today. I am
glad to be here, glad to see you face
IT, face, to feel the warn hand-clasps
OF the Marys and Marthas of the
church, to get the inspiration and en-
thusiasm that always comes from
such associations, to hear you re-
count the battles you have fought
and the victories you have won, and
to join with you in laying out more
vigorous plans for a still more active
campaign for another years service
fOy C61icf Thic &c inIoOd a Ioy
privilege and one for which I am pro-
f2undly grateful, again l say, with
all my heart l greet you.
AS | look over this intelligent audi
ence, l realize more than ever the
difficulty before me of bringing to
you a message that shall be enter
tanning and helpful, l find myself
shrinking from the task. knowing as
| do, my W limitations. | shall
have to content myself with present
ing to you in a very plain way a few
thoughts on a topic that most imme-
diately concerns us, that of Christian
service of the women of the church.
the basic principal of this Union, and
that for which we are gathered he.e
To-Day. AS We turn the pages of his
tory and learn something of the con-
dition OF woman in the past ages, We
feel that she, more than all creatures
should rejoice in the gospel OF Christ.
search as We may, the annals of sa-
cred history, even, and We find that
she was the burden bearer, the toilers
III the fields. and. We find very rae.
!. any examples, of woman occupy
irg positions of trust, either in
church or state or home. We learn
that Rebecca drew water for Abrams
locks, that Rachael and Leah were
care-takers of Laban's sheep and that
Ruth CLEANED in the fields of Boaz.
thus showing the low and mental
places they occupied. In all heather
lands, where the Gospel he's not been
preached, the women have always
been and are still worthless, degrad-
ed creatures, not only the drawers of
water and the hewers Of stone, but
veritable beasts of burden. 1t is from
this low and degraded estate, that
woman has been lifted to the exalted
position she now enjoys, by the bless
cd Gospel OF Christ, not only that, but
Il is to this gospel that she owes her
salvation. How shall We be able to
measure this great obligation, and
to cancel the debt ct gratitude We
owe? As we contemplate our own
yeakness and unwortAiness, We are
staggered at the thought Of so great