be no objections.

public services are concluded. To this there need Yet we think that with the benediction, solemnly and affectionately pronounced, and gratefully and cordially received, the congregation may "depart in peace."

DEVOTIONS AT THE TABLE.

REMARKS.

THE Custom has prevailed among Christians, of having two short services at the Table: one before and the other after partaking of a meal. The former is called "Asking a blessing:" the latter, "Returning thanks."

We know not that the example of Christ, or the primitive Christians, direct to the practice of more than one of these services, and that at the commencement of a repast; and this may properly be denominated Giving thanks, or Blessing God. To which, however, may suitably be added a short supplication.

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The following examples are offered :BLESSED be God for all the bounties of his providence. In particular we give thee humble thanks, O heavenly Father, for the provisions of the table now before us. May they be sanctified to the health and support of our mortal bodies; and may our minds also be fed and sustained with that spiritual bread which nourishes unto everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

HEAVENLY Father, according to the example of thy beloved Son, our Saviour, we would give thanks to thee, and bless thy name at breaking of

bread. May we be always mindful of our dependance on thee, our great and bountiful benefactor, and deeply impressed with a due sense of our obligations to gratitude and obedience. Sanctify, O God, these temporal mercies to our health and comfort; and sanctify ourselves-our souls and bodies, to thy service, and to thy glory; through Christ our Redeemer. AMEN.

WHAT shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits? We will take the cup of salvation, and will call upon the name of the Lord. All creatures wait upon thee, O Lord, and thou givest them their meat in due season. We bless thee for all thy gifts and favors; and in particular for the refreshments here prepared for us. May we temperately partake of them, with devout gratitude to thee-with sincere charity and good will toward all our fellowbeings of the human family, and with feelings of tender compassion for the needy and destitute; according to thy blessed will, and to the glory of thy grace and mercy, in Christ Jesus. AMEN.

BLESS the Lord, O our souls, and all that is within us bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O our souls, and forget not all his benefits.

We would render thee unfeigned thanks, O heavenly Father, for this renewed token of thy favour and goodness, in the temporal bounties of thy providence, which we are now about to partake of. May they excite in us renewed emotions of gratitude to thee, and an humble and constant reliance on thy care and goodness, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

AMEN.

FOURTH OF JULY.

A Prayer for a Fourth of July Celebration.

THOU King eternal, immortal and invisible: the only wise God our Saviour-Thou hast made it both the duty and happiness of all rational and intelligent beings to offer and present unto thee the homage of their profound and grateful adoration. We, as members of the human family, rejoice to own and acknowledge our perfect dependance on thee, as our Creator, Preserver, and bountiful Benefactor. We rejoice that we are permitted to appear before thee, and to draw near unto thee with the filial confidence of children to an affectionate Parent; and that this confidence is awakened and sustained in our minds, by the unerring teachings of thy holy word, as well as by carefully observing the dispensations, and the constant operations of thy providence.

Justice and judgment, O Lord, are the habitation of thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before thy face: how excellent is thy loving-kindness! Thy government is as extensive as thy creation. All things are subject to thy control. Thou doest according to thy will, in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no creature can stay thy hand, or direct thy counsels. Over the universe of mind, as well as of matter, thou also reignest supreme, and alone. And we rejoice, O Lord, that in the assurance of the truth of thy supreme and ever-during goodness, we are furnished with a rational and solid ground of confidence, that all the events of time will be so directed and overruled, as to result in good-supreme and universal good. O God, who is like unto thee! glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders!

We adore thee, O God, that in the history of all nations, we trace the welcome evidence of thy good will to man. As all the families of the earth owe their existence to thee, and are thy offspring, so they all subsist upon thy bounty, as the sheep of thy pasture. And although they too often stray from their great and good Shepherd, yet have they abundant reason to rejoice in the existence which, unasked, thou hast conferred on them.

In the history of our own beloved country, from its first settlement by the "Pilgrim Fathers," down through all the successive stages of its national progress to the present time, we clearly discover thy merciful and gracious providence toward us. Thou didst enkindle in the breasts of our fathers an inextinguishable love of LIBERTY. In the time of their peril, thou didst inspire them with fortitude, to assert and defend their inalienable rights. Thou gavest them wisdom in council; strength in the apparently unequal, and hazardous contest; and didst crown them with victory, freedom, and independence. And now, O Lord, we earnestly pray that the inestimable privileges and blessings obtained by our ancestors, through thy favour, and the help of thy countenance, may be continued unto us their children, and may be transmitted unimpaired, to our latest posterity. And may our national example be such as to exert a salutary influence, political, moral and religious, upon all the other kingdoms and empires of the earth; so that they may become possessed of their just and equal rights and immunities, to their own great comfort and prosperity, and to the glory of thy holy name.

And finally, O, Lord, we pray that virtue and true religion may prevail and abound among us, and among all people, more and more; and that infidelity and vice may cease to exert their debasing and

pernicious influence over the minds and manners of men. And cause, we beseech thee, O our God, that peace and happiness, founded in truth and righteousness, may in due time fill the world to thy praise and glory. We humbly implore these favours, with all needful blessings, for the sake of thy mercy, in Christ Jesus, our Redeemer and Saviour. AMEN.

Another Prayer for a Public Celebration of American Independence.

HOLY is the Lord of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High. Reverence and adoration are due unto thee, O God, from all intelligent beings, of every grade, and in all worlds. For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure and for thy glory they are and were created. Thou upholdest and governest all things by thine almighty power, and by thy wise and unerring providence. Times and seasons; ages and moments; multitudes and individuals, of all classes of beings and things, are alike under thy care and control, and subject to the high behest of their great and beneficent Author, without whom, as our divine Teacher hath assured us, a sparrow falls not to the ground, and by whom the very hairs of our head are all numbered.

Almighty Parent, and Lord of all! we would unfeignedly rejoice, and even shout for joy, in the grateful confidence, that creation, to its utmost extent, with all existences, circumstances and events, are under thy direction, and are concurring, however mysteriously to us, to promote, and to accomplish the purposes of infinite wisdom and benevolence: even the purposes of Him who is the Father of lights, and the God of love; and with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

We thank thee, O heavenly Father, for the care