We earnestly pray that Christ may be formed in their hearts betimes, and that we may have the satisfaction of seeing our children walking in the truth, and setting their faces heavenwards.

Prosper the means of their education. Let all our children be taught of the Lord, and give them to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. May they from childrenknow the holy scriptures, which are able to make them wise unto salvation. As far as they are taught the truth as it is in Jesus, may they continue in the things which they have learned.

It is our heart's desire and prayer, that our children may be praising God on earth, when we are gone to praise him in heaven; and that we and they may at last meet together there, to serve and enjoy thee for ever.

If it should please thee to remove any of them from us in their youth, give us grace submissively to resign them to thee, and let us have hope in their death. If thou shouldst see fit to take us from them while they are young, be thou a father to them, to teach and provide for them, O thou in whom the fatherless findeth mercy. Thou knowest our care concerning them ; O enable us to cast it upon thee believing that thou carest for them.

Previous to the Baptism of a Child.*

WE adore thee, O gracious Father of mankind, that thou hast continued the human race in existence until now, and that still the sons and daughters of Adam continue to be born, and to replenish the earth. We bless thee for the addition which thou hast lately made to our family; and we pray that the child which thou hast given to thy servants may be spared as a blessing unto us, and may be acknowledged as one of thy children.

Encouraged by thy promise and covenant, we humbly give it up unto thee. Be thou graciously pleased to assist us in that solemn act of dedication in which we are about to engage. [Deliver us from formality and hypocrisy in celebrating the ordinance of baptism. Help us rightly to understand, and duly to attend to the meaning of this service.] May we ourselves be entirely thine own, and be enabled in sincerity and in faith to give up our little one unto thee, earnestly desiring that it may be a partaker of the peculiar blessings of thy gracious covenant, and firmly resolving, in the strength of thy grace, to train it up for thee. May thy presence be with us, and thy blessing upon us, in this solemn service, that so it may be made of great and lasting

* This may be used by those who object to the baptism of Infants, on the dedication of them to God, omitting only the pas sage marked [ ].

benefit to us and ours. ou seed, and thy blessing upon our offspring, and grant that we and the child [children] thou hast given us, may be indeed members of thy spiritual family, and may be at last admitted to dwell together in thine house eternal in the heavens.

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After the Baptism (or Dedication) of a Child.

ACCEPT, O Lord, we humbly beseech thee, of the solemn act of devotion, in which we have lately been engaging, in dedicating our little one unto thee. Hear the prayers which have been presented to thee on the behalf of this child, and all the members of our family. Help us to remember that the vows of God are upon us, and enable us conscientiously to fulfil them. Incline our hearts to attend to the instructions and exhortations which have been addressed to us, respecting our duty as Christians, as heads of a family and as parents. Let us not be wanting in the use of any proper means for the temporal and eternal benefit of our offspring. May we diligently provide for those of our own house, and above all things may we be attentive to their immortal interests. Lord give us that wisdom and resolution which we so much need in the education of infant minds, and in the right government of the family committed to our care. Whatever others do, may

we and ours resolve to serve the Lord. May we command our children and household after us to keep thy ways. May thy grace assist, and thy blessings succeed us, in all our attempts for thy glory, and the eternal welfare of the precious souls committed to our trust. O may we be the honoured instruments of training up a godly seed, and of bringing many sons and daughters to glory.

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Bless the child which we have lately been devoting to thee. O may it live before thee! If thou shouldst see fit to remove it in infancy, may we cheerfully resign it to thee, from whom we received it, remembering that the Lord who gave right to take it away. If its life should be spared, may it be a comfort to us, and a blessing to the world and church. O Lord preserve it from the snares of a wicked world into which it is born, early sanctify it by thy grace, and train it up for thine heavenly kingdom.

Bless the rising generation in general, and the children of this family in particular: grant that they may be a seed to serve thee; and at the last great day, may we meet them with comfort at the right hand of Christ, saying, Lord, here are we and the children whom thou hast given us.

On the Death of a Child, or other Relative.

O THOU sovereign disposer of all events, we humbly acknowledge thy wisdom and righteousness in the breach which thou hast made in this family.

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name of the Lord. Support us, we pray thee, under this trial, and especially grant us the sanctified use of it. Teach us more effectually, by this stroke of thy providence, the vanity of human life, the uncertainty of our earthly comforts, our entire dependence upon thee, and the infinite value of thy favour, and of an interest in Jesus Christ, which alone can yield the soul solid support under the trials which await us in this vale of tears.

When creature-comforts fail, O may we be led nearer to thyself, the inexhaustible fountain. Promote in us an entire submission to thy wise and holy will, believing that thy judgments are right, and that it is in very faithfulness thou hast afflicted us. Wean our hearts more from this world, and quicken us in our preparation for our departure out of it. Grant that all of us [and especially the young] may be suitably affected with the consideration of our frailty and mortality.

Since our dear deceased [child] [friend] cannot return to us, but we must soon go to [him] [her] ; Lord grant that we may be prepared to follow, whenever the summons shall come. Help us to live as becometh dying, and yet immortal creatures; and O grant, that whatever painful separations death make between any of us who now survive, we may all at last meet in that blessed world, [ where there is no more sorrow, nor crying, nor death, but where we shall for ever live and rejoice together in the presence of our God and Saviour.

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