3rd Query and Happy Thanksgiving

 

🦃We wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! Please join us for midweek Meeting on Thanksgiving 11/28 @ 3pm. 🦃🦃

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Middleton Friends Meeting held Monthly Meeting on 11/10/24. Our Clerk has emailed the minutes to members. We will be discussing the Third Query at next month's Monthly Meeting.

3rd Query:

"Are our homes places of peace, joy, and contentment? Are they an influence for good in the neighborhood, community, and country? Do we set a good Christian example for our children to follow? Are Friends careful that their children realize that our loving Savior will faithfully guide them through life, as they are willing to accept and obey Him? Do we help our children to read and appreciate the Bible?"

All Queries may be found at this link: Queries OYM

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Quaker Falls --a must visit for beauty and history

Quaker Falls is located off of Route 224 on the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line. 

🠈 Quaker Falls 1886

This photo was taken around 1886 of Middleton Friends who visited the falls. Several members recently visited the falls and told us about the history. Here is a little bit about the history and influence of Quakers in our area.......

The following is taken from information published by Lawrence County PA. The brochure can be accessed by clicking here:  Brochure

HISTORY:

Quaker Falls was first settled between 1799 and 1804 by Septimus Cadwalader and his family. They were Quakers, as the town’s name will suggest, who came from Brownsville, Fayette County. Others soon joined them, including the Sharpless, Shearer and Townsend families. As the town grew in number, it became a self-sustaining community with a grist mill, saw mill, train station, machine shop and a schoolhouse. This thriving community came 

⮜ Quaker Falls today

to be known as Quakertown. In the late 1830’s, Septimus Cadwalader’s son, Septimus Cadwalader Jr., operated a tannery. This was part and parcel of the industrial and agricultural success that the town saw at its peak in the later half of the 19th Century. 

In 1850 after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, a group of citizens from Lawrence County said that they would “make a war upon that infamous law.” Soon after, many residents in Quakertown, including the Wright, Cadwalader, Sharpless and Townsend families grew to prominence as conductors on a secret collaborative effort to assist the former slaves to freedom, known as the Underground Railroad. 

In 1894 the Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge was installed spanning over the creek. As iron, steel, quarry, and munitions industries moved into the area, Quakertown’s farm families were bought out of their land, primarily by the Burton Powder Company, which later became known as the Atlas Powder Company. Tragedy struck the Burton plant April 4th, 1912 when a massive explosion blew the press building to pieces, killing two men. 

This tragedy was one of many in short succession that led to numerous lost lives. By the early 1930’s some 130 years after its founding, the final resident of Quakertown left and the buildings followed a natural course of decay as the landscape returned to its woodland origins. All that remains today are the foundations of a once thriving American community located just 1/2 mile Northeast of the falls in Mahoning Township, Lawrence County. 

In 2019, archaeological digs were excavated throughout the area at which time pieces of flint were found dating to the Precontact Period. More information can be found on the many interpretive signs located along the park trail.

VISITING:

Quaker Falls Recreation Area officially opened on October 29th, 2021, thanks in part to the generosity of the Pennsylvania DCNR. The Quaker Falls property is comprised of 293 acres and is a natural historic landmark. The highlight of this newly created park is the 50 foot-tall, double-tiered waterfall, Quaker Falls.

 As visitors arrive at the park, they are immediately immersed in the sensory experience of the sound of water rushing over the falls. The park features ADA accessible parking and a crushed stone walking trail that allows views of the cascading water. From the parking area, visitors will cross directly over the falls via a pedestrian bridge that spans Falling Spring Creek. The trail continues on the Route 224 side of the park where Phase 2 of the park development will feature two viewing platforms that will allow all visitors the opportunity to enjoy the splendid natural beauty of the falls and gorge in a safe and accessible way (recent WFMJ news story  on 10/11/24 says this is almost complete!) From here they can take in the scenic view surrounded by native trees, shrubs, vegetation and wildlife.

ECOLOGY:

Quaker Falls stands about 50 feet tall and is a result of the Pleistocene glaciation of Northwestern Pennsylvania almost 1.5 million years ago. It was during that period that many of the streams were dammed and rerouted, as they once flowed towards what is today, Lake Erie. The environmental changes influenced much of the settlement and utilization of the land at the site. It was during the Wisconsinian glaciation, around 16,000 B.C., that many forests extended southward to the Carolinas. During this time, there were many frozen tundras and large open meadows containing spruce and fir trees with only some shrubs. Around 7240 B.C., forests were more open and diverse with browsing herbivores. There was a mixture of spruce and firs where larger mammals, such as caribou, elk, mammoth and mastodons roamed freely. Today the average climate of the region is 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months and 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months. Approximately 38 inches of precipitation falls annually.

This week's Advice

 We believe the custom of regularly reading aloud well-chosen advices has been of value to our members in stimulating their spiritual life. It is directed that each of the following Advices be read in our meetings, at least once in the year, according to a regular plan, and that the time for reading them be chosen to benefit as many of the members as possible. At Middleton Meeting, we read an Advice on First Day. This week we considered the 19th Advice:

"Be zealous that education shall be continued throughout life. Willingness to be used in mind as well as in body, and to be equipped in both, is a needful part of Christian character. Our service to God is incomplete without the contribution of the intellect."

To read the other Advices, please visit: https://ohioyearlymeeting.org/ and link to Life in Christ tab.

"The Fundamental Principle of Quaker Spirituality: Light in the Conscience"

 For those who were unable to attend David Johnson's in person presentation on 8/14 at Salem Meeting, here is a presentation on YouTube titled "The Fundamental Principle of Quaker Spirituality: Light in the Conscience" . This short video discusses his research and understanding of the writings of the early Friends.

Click on this link to be taken to the YouTube video:

Interview with Author, David Johnson

Please join us on Fifth Day (Thursday) at 3:00pm and/or First Day (Sunday) at 10:30am. All visitors and members are welcome!

EVENT 8/14: Quaker Spirituality- Learn What We Are Conserving

 Event on 8/14 @ 6:30pm: Salem (OH) Meeting House

David Johnson, a Conservative Friend (Quaker) from Australia will describe the context and rise of the First Quakers in the mid 1600's and their spirituality which challenged and changed the culture around them. We will read some early Quaker writings, which describe their experiences of silent worship and the Light of Christ which guided them into a life of deep reliance upon God.

David's talk will fill a time of waiting worship beginning at 6:30pm at Salem Friends Meeting House on 8/14. Light refreshments will be served following the presentation. All are welcome!

Address: Salem Friends Meeting House  350 East Sixth Street Salem, Ohio

No Peace for Friends: Independence Day

 A member of Middleton Meeting visited the National Park Service site Guilford Courthouse near Greensboro, NC. The following image was on an educational display that highlights the hurdles that Friends have had to endure to ensure that peace remains at the center of our  beliefs.  More information on the Quakers and this NPS site can be found by clicking here: Quakers at Guilford Courthouse

The following is an excerpt from the Ohio Yearly Meeting Brief Synopsis of our faith. The entire synopsis can be found on the Ohio Yearly Meeting website (https://ohioyearlymeeting.org/our-faith/) or by clicking here: Brief Synopsis of our faith

"Perhaps that testimony of our Society, best known to the world, and the one that has brought it most conspicuously into public notice, in this country, is the one against war and bloodshed. For two hundred and fifty years, the Religious Society of Friends, has borne testimony, not only against war, but against the spirit of war, as well, until now the foremost statesmen and jurists of the world, weary of its record of violence and inhumanity, are looking to The Hague Tribunal, in the hope, that ere long a legal court of arbitral justice may be established competent to settle all international disputes, that cannot be adjusted by diplomacy. It is no time, however, for Friends to withdraw from the advanced ground we occupy, as followers of the Prince Of Peace! The whole trend of the Savior's teaching is in opposition to all war! What could be more comprehensive in its scope, what more clear and definite, than his words, as recorded in Matthew, (V. 43-45.) "Ye have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." 

A Christian is defined as "A disciple, or follower of Christ. One whose profession and life conform to the teaching and example of Christ." 

Does the life of the soldier, who kills his fellow men, or the man who condones or justifies, or applauds the killing, conform to the teaching, or example of our Savior, the Prince of Peace? Certainly we can imagine nothing more at variance with the gospel plan, than the hatred and violence of war!! 

As we submit our hearts to the dominion of Christ, he will so fill them with love to him and to each other, that there will be no place for hatred, malice, and those other evil passions that precede, and accompany the spirit of strife and war, but we will rather become peace-makers, who are to become the "Children of God." (Matt. V, 9.)"

The Peace Testimony

 The Peace Testimony aligns well with today's Advice #2 that was read after Meeting: Be faithful in maintaining thy testimony against all war as inconsistent with the Spirit and teaching of Christ. Live in the Life and Power that takes away the occasions of all wars and strife.  Seek to take thy  part in the ministry of reconciliation between individuals,  groups, and nations. Let the law of kindness know no limit. Show a loving consideration for all people.

The Peace Testimony:

It is our profound belief that the people of the world desire peace, but we do not believe it can be achieved through a policy of military strength or political action. Peace will only be built when people seek to solve their common problems in a spirit of reconciliation and national humility remembering their common Creator and totally giving up narrow national or regional interests in favor of the good of all men. We must act with love and forbearance, forgiveness; trusting in God and His Spirit working in all persons as true followers of Jesus Christ,  the Prince of Peace.

In a statement presented to the King of England in 1660, Friends declared: " The Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil, and again  to move into it; as we certainly do know and testify to the world that the Spirit of Christ,  which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the Kingdom of Christ nor the Kingdoms of this world."

The Peace Testimony posted above is part of "A Brief Introduction to the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)" . The goal of this information was a pamphlet that visitors could obtain when attending Meeting.  It is a great summary of Quaker worship and how it is unique from other denominations. Access to the 4 pages is available via: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G-X5AQ7qHtyOTZRstMIxXMr34KfVDBFR?usp=share_link

Note: We will have Monthly Meeting next First Day, 6/9/24.