Part 21
By Thy very name, our Father, Thou hast ennobled and sanctified the office of parenthood and attracted to it our respect and love. Thou hast commanded us to honor father and mother, that our days may be lengthened. Assured thus of Thy approval, O God, we call upon Thee to hallow our joy and gratitude on this anniversary day. We thank Thee for him whom we honor as "Father in the flesh" and pray Thee to grant him yet many days with health and strength to minister and to be ministered unto, to grow in grace and in favor with God and man, and to taste the sweet tributes of love and the rewards of good deeds finely done. Amen.
C. ELLWOOD NASH.
A Mother's Birthday
_Blessings on the hand of woman! Angels guard her strength and grace; In the cottage, palace, hovel,-- O! no matter where the place. Would that never storms assailed it, Rainbows ever gently curled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world._
_Blessings on the hand of woman! Fathers, sons and daughters cry; And the sacred song is mingled With the worship in the sky,-- Mingles where no tempest darkens, Rainbows evermore are curled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world._
JOHN GRAY.
Heavenly Father, Thou plantest anew Thine own love in the hearts of Thy children and so multipliest Thyself on the earth. We thank Thee today for the manifold incarnation of Thyself in the hearts of all true mothers. We have known the magic charm of mother love and it relates us anew to Thee. Here we celebrate the birthday of one who has honored us and blessed us by a sacred ministry. We thank Thee, our Father, for all the sweet memories of the past, for all the joy of the present relation with her, and for the hope that these sacred associations may long continue. Wilt Thou bless her whose birthday we honor here. Crown her with long life and happy days and the sweet consciousness of having ministered in love. Amen.
GEORGE L. PERIN.
General Birthday
_Birthdays, what are they? One will say they are mileposts on the highway of life, marking the distance already traveled and suggesting what yet remains of the journey. Another looking into the deeper meaning of the years will suggest that they are memorial tablets recording the service of a passing life. But no matter under what figure you think of them, the coming into this world of a human life with all the magic powers of thought and love and faith and service is a thing of such transcendent moment, as to make it well worth while to mark the passing of the years._
GEORGE L. PERIN.
Father of all, it is Thou who hast made us and given us all things richly to enjoy; we thank Thee, therefore, for the birthday to which we have come. We thank Thee for the physical life, and all that makes it glad; for the power of intellect, and all the wealth it feeds upon; for love, and all the forms of love which answer to it; for faith which looks on Thee and heaven; for service, the exercise and opportunity of every gift and grace. Help us to be faithful that our felicity may be secure in Thee, and that we may ever recall the day of our birth with rejoicing. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
CHARLES R. TENNEY.
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Transcriber's note:
Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been corrected without comment. Unmatched quotation marks were left as they were in the original.
page 76, March 14: "And grass in the green fields" changed to "field".