"MOTHER'S DAY."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 290, 11 May 1914, Page 4

"MOTHER'S DAY."

SERVICE AT WHJTKLEY CIIUK«^

Despite the boisterous weather, there 1 was a large congregation at w'hiteley Memorial Church last night for the special service in observance of "Mother's Day." White flowers were much in evidence in the church decorations and as appropriate "button-holes" worn by the worshippers. The Rev. A. B. Chappell's sermon wag based upon Solomon's acknowledgement <>f the honor he owed his mother, "Behold King (Solomon, with the crown wherewith his mother hath crewned him," Songs of Solomon, 3-i. "And the King (Solomon) rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caiHc'd a throne to be set for the King's mother; and she sat as his right hand."—l Kings, 11, 19. The preacher emphasised the facts that Bath Sheba had not sought that honor—she accepted it merely as a vantage ground *.;r a selfless plea for another—and that the mothers that make possible their sons' crowns are not themselves eager for a throne. Jochebed's self-effacement for the sake of her infant Moses, and- the request made by "the mother of Zebedee's children" for thrones for her sons, gave point to the pathos of the hidden mother, content to render in obscurity such service as made possible her children's advancement. The written livesof great men were often but sequels to the unwritten lives of good mothers. Benjamin West, a Royal Academy president, said of his mother's kiss," "That kiss made me a painter." Lincoli declared, "All I am, all that I hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." Such acknowledgements were the rule. There was no finer achievement than giving to the world a man of faith and goodness and courage. The mother-love that suffered and dared, sacrificed and achiev- J ed, was enlarged upon by the preacher, with the use of Biblical and other historical examples. The.sacred trujt of motherhood was toucl ed appealingly, and the need of evtry nation for good mothers was stressed. Honor to moth-t erhood and tender coLsidera, JojJlft parents were urged. / t