(Continued) May You stand by pious parents with Your grace, so that they bring up their children with holy admonitions and discipline [Eph. 6:4]. May they acknowledge that their children, the fruit of marriage, are Your gift, and may they offer them back to You through a pious and faithful marriage. May they place before the children an example of a holy life, lest they entangle themselves in the most grievous sin of causing others to stumble. Bend also the hearts of the children, so that they show to their parents the compliance of obedience owed to them. May they be the fragrance of the little plants of a heavenly paradise, so they do not become useless wood, subject to the flames of hell. May they scatter about the most pleasant smell of piety, obedience, reverence, and every type of virtue, so they do not fall into the detestable stench of sins and hell. May they remember the commandment to honor parents. May they be roused to cherish their parents in return. May they remember to return to their parents the care they received, lest they fall headlong into the abyss of all sorts of misfortunes [Eph. 6:2-3].
May parents and children worship You, true God, with united devotion in this life, so that they may praise You in eternal life with united praises. May servants be willingly obedient to their masters, serving them with fear and simplicity of heart, not with eye-service alone or desiring to please men, but rather may they decide to render this service to Christ [Eph. 6:5-6]. And, in turn, may masters embrace them with paternal kindness, so from lawful authority there does not come tyrannical cruelness. The household estate is a household church, highly esteemed by God and angels. Amen. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.85-87)