Into that pallid face the glow of life Begins to steal, while silent and in awe The heavenly watchers stand. Now they with haste Unwind the scented wrappings from His form That fill the place with rich aromas rare, Perfume of spicery and sweet spikenard"s breath Lingering since Love her alabastron broke, And with her tresses wiped these tear-bathed feet.
And then, their joyful faces all aglow Like flashing sunbeams, quickly by a touch They roll away the stone with jarring shock, As if an earthquake pa.s.sed, and sitting there Behold their Lord go forth, Death"s Conqueror!_
HENRY NEHEMIAH DODGE.
O Thou Eternal One, who gatherest our fleeting moments into Thy permanence, when we draw close to Thee the terrors of change and vicissitude pa.s.s away, and a sense of the stability and security of all that is good brings us peace. We rejoice to know through Thy gospel that "life is ever lord of death." "Thou didst not suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption," and we trust that because He lives we shall live also. O grant that, believing in Him, we may not see death save as a door to more abounding life, and so realize our privilege daily to be risen with Him in the newness and power of an endless life. Amen.
C. ELLWOOD NASH.
Thanksgiving
_Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands._
_Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing._
_Know ye that the Lord He is G.o.d; it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture._
_Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name._
_For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations._
PSALM 100.
For days of health, for nights of quiet sleep; for seasons of bounty and of beauty, for all earth"s contributions to our need through this past year: Good Lord, we thank Thee. For our country"s shelter; for our homes; for the joy of faces, and the joy of hearts that love: for the power of great examples; for holy ones who lead us in the ways of life and love: for our powers of growth; for longings to be better and do more; for Ideals that ever rise above our real: for opportunities well used; for opportunities unused, and even those misused: Good Lord, we humbly thank Thee! For our temptations, and for any victory over sins that close beset us; for the gladness that abides with loyalty and the peace of the return: for the blessedness of service and the power to fit ourselves to others" needs: for our necessities to work; for burdens, pain, and disappointments, means of growth; for sorrow; for death: for all that brings us nearer to each other, nearer to ourselves, near to Thee; for Life: We thank Thee, O our Father!
WILLIAM C. GANNETT.
Birth of a Baby
_Where did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into the here._
_Where did you get your eyes so blue?
Out of the sky as I came through._
_What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
Some of the starry spikes left in._
_Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here._
_What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
A soft hand stroked it as I went by._
_What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
Something better than anyone knows._
_Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss._
_Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into hooks and bands._
_Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherub"s wings._
_How did they all just come to be you?
G.o.d thought about me, and so I grew._
_But how did you come to us, you dear?
G.o.d thought of You, and so I am here._
GEORGE MACDONALD
Fresh from the Gates of Heaven, our Father, this dear child has come, opening in our hearts springs of new and deeper affection. We thank Thee for this life whose coming has filled our lives with sunshine. Teach us how to live that we may guide it aright, so that as the years pa.s.s more and more sunlight shall be radiated. Even as Thine angels kissed the sweet rosebud lips and left a smile thereon, so may we kiss away the tears of life. Heavenly Father, we consecrate this child to Thy service.
We pray that the ears may learn to listen for Thy voice, speaking in truth and purity. May the tiny hands be ever ready to do a service of love and may the feet be swift to do Thy bidding. Tenderly guide this precious child, for it needs Thy guidance, and safely guard it through all the years, lest it go astray. This we ask in the name of Him who took little children in His arms and blessed them, saying--"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven." Amen.
FLORENCE H. PERIN.
A Child"s Birthday
_A dreary place would be this earth, Were there no little people in it: The song of life would lose its mirth, Were there no children to begin it:_
_No little forms, like buds to grow, And make the admiring heart surrender: No little hands on breast and brow, To keep the thrilling love-chords tender._
_The sterner souls would grow more stern, Unfeeling nature more inhuman, And man to stoic coldness turn, And woman would be less than woman._
_Life"s song, indeed, would lose its charm, Were there no babies to begin it; A doleful place this world would be, Were there no little people in it._
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.
Our dear Heavenly Father, Thou lookest upon us all as Thy children,--whether our hair be flaxen or brown or white with age. We thank Thee today for the children of our own household, for our children, and all the children, and especially do we thank Thee for the one whose birthday we celebrate here to-day. May Thy blessing be upon him (her), may the skies be bright over his (her) head,--may the birds sing to him (her). May the flowers blossom around his (her) pathway.
Thro" all the journey of this life let him (her) have the guidance of Thy Father hand. Amen.
GEORGE L. PERIN.
A Father"s Birthday
_The boy enjoyed this kind of a father at the time, and later he came to understand, with a grateful heart, that there is no richer inheritance in all the treasury of unearned blessings. For, after all, the love, the patience, the kindly wisdom of a grown man who can enter into the perplexities and turbulent impulses of a boy"s heart, and give him cheerful companionship, and lead him on by free and joyful ways to know and choose the things that are pure and lovely and of good report, make as fair an image as we can find of that loving, patient Wisdom which must be above us all if any good is to come out of our childish race._
HENRY VAN d.y.k.e.
By Thy very name, our Father, Thou hast enn.o.bled 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. a.s.sured thus of Thy approval, O G.o.d, we call upon Thee to hallow our joy and grat.i.tude 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 G.o.d and man, and to taste the sweet tributes of love and the rewards of good deeds finely done. Amen.
C. ELLWOOD NASH.