Fleming, Wallace B. prayer for Roy Earl Parrish

This is the prayer Dr. Wallace B. Fleming prayed on January 21 1919 in the West Virginia Legislature’s memorial service for Roy Earl Parrish. Lieutenant Parrish was a member of the West Virginia Conference Seminary graduating class of 1908.

Dr. Wallace B. Fleming, President of the West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, West Virginia.

“For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.”We thank Thee for the life of Thy servant in whose memory we are gathered here today, and whose name we honor in these exercises. We rejoice that his life blessed this state wherever it touched it, and that it touched it in so many ways; and we pray that his influence may be perpetuated here in this State to the enrichment and profit of her people. We thank Thee, O God, for his heroic deeds across the seas; that he had his opportunity in the great conflict that has secured liberty and justice for the people of the world.

We thank Thee that America heard her call, and that our men had the opportunity of turning back the tides of autocracy when they had reached the high water mark in those mighty struggles which will be commemorated for thousands of years to come;

and that in ages yet to be, the story will be told how the great nation of the west arose in its might, and how its loyal soldiers came to the rescue of humanity, and how they turned back the hordes of the Huns and secured the liberty of the world. And when that story is told, then shall it be known that such men as our friend in such battles as Chateau Thierry and Balleau Wood and Soisson made life count supremely.

We pray, O God, that the victory secured by the sacrifice of the loyal sons of our State and of our nation may be perpetuated and made secure for humanity by the peace conference that is now in session. To this end we pray that Thou wouldst bless the leaders of nations in their deliberations, that they may secure for humanity permanently that which has been bought by the blood of those whom we loved. We pray for the families who suffered by these great sacrifices. May they be comforted with the solemn pride that their sons have proved so noble. May they remember that after the night comes the dawn, that beyond the snows are the suns of the springtime, that after the darkness is the light, that beyond the grave is the life eternal.

And we pray that Thou wilt keep us all faithful by the grace of Christ until we too shall have done our work and have been received to join those whom we have loved on earth, some of whom are lost a while. These blessings for ourselves and for our nation and for humanity we ask in the name of Jesus, our Redeemer. Amen.

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