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thou takest them away, may we submit ourselves without repining to thy righteous dispensations.

Bless us, O Lord, with thy best blessing, this Sabbath-day. Be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause thy face to shine upon us. Make us glad according to the days in which thou hast afflicted us, and the years in which we have seen evil. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands,-yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Into thy gracious keeping, O heavenly Father, we now intrust all our concerns for time and for eternity; guide us by thy counsel while we live,-and grant us all a happy meeting in thy heavenly kingdom, for the sake of Jesus Christ, thy Son and our Redeemer, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

PRAYER

TO BE SAID WHEN ANY MEMBER OF A FAMILY

HAS BEEN TAKEN TO A DISTANCE.

GEN. Xxviii. 20, 21. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God.

O GOD, the Father of all the families of the earth, we come before thee at this time to acknowledge thy providential hand in every thing that happens to us. Thou wast the God of our fathers, and of the old time before them,-thou leddest Jacob like a flock, and Israel like a shepherd,-in all generations thou hast been the refuge of thy people,and there is no family or individual of our race whose ways are not known unto thee.

Thou, O Lord, leadest us in a way which we know not,-thou directest all things according to the counsel of thy will; and though we often see not thy hand in that which befalleth us, we have never failed to learn, when thy counsel has been completed, that thou the Lord hast done all these things. Thou hast given us the place we occupy in life, thou hast ordained the means by which we have been trained for that which was before us,— and often, in darkness and perplexity, when all help of man seemed in vain, thou hast graciously interposed, and hast wrought for us deliverance.

Thou, Lord, art perfectly acquainted with the circumstances in which we now are placed, and we come before thee to ask thy countenance and blessing to thy servant who has been taken from us. O guide him (or her) in all the way in which he (or she) may have to go,-prosper him (or her) in all that is before him (or her); and as thou hast been the God of all the families of the earth, be the God also of this family, and cause the light of thy countenance to shine upon all who belong to it.

Keep thy servant from the evil that is in the world,—from bad example,-from great temptation,

-from the deceitfulness of an impious and ungrateful heart, from every thing that is contrary to thy holy will. Endue him (or her) with all the ornaments of a virtuous and Christian temper, and having done well the part assigned him (or her), may he (or she) at last attain to thy kingdom in the heavens.

Alas! O Lord, we know not what may befall us in this life. If it be thy purpose that our eyes should no more look on those who have been taken away, O grant that we may all meet at last where sin and sorrow shall cease for ever; but if we are again to meet on earth, may it be in peace and in joy,—thankful to thee, the God of our fathers, who hast continued to manifest thy loving-kindness towards us, and better disposed, by the experience of all thy goodness, to dedicate what may remain to us of this life to thy service.

And while we are absent from each other, may the cords of love be unbroken. Endue us with all kind, affectionate, and dutiful feelings; may we never fall into that insensibility of heart which seeks only selfish enjoyments; but may we love as brethren, and as heirs together of eternal life.

Defend us, and all connected with us, if it be thy will, from great calamities. For thou, O Lord, knowest our frame, thou rememberest that we are dust; but if heavy afflictions should befall us, oh! help us to bear them with Christian patience and resignation; and, in all things, may we consider ourselves as thy servants, and ever seek thy honour and glory.

And now, O Lord, we commend all our friends to thy friendship, and all our concerns to thy care. Never leave us nor forsake us. Be our God, and the God of all who are related to us, while we are in the world, and receive us at last to thy heavenly glory, for Christ's sake, who, with thee, O Father, and the Holy Ghost, is blessed for evermore. Amen.

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