THANKSGIVING FOR SAFE DELIVERY IN CHILDBIRTH.

TRULY, O Lord, thou hast helped us. We sought thy mercy, and thou didst hear us. We hoped in thee, and thou hast not disappointed us. We come to offer our thanks. May the life spared be increasingly devoted to thy service. May the fruit of the womb be received gratefully as a gift from thee. Continue thy kindness to the mother, that strength may be perfectly re-established; and may the little one be spared to us, and trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Oh that our family may live before thee. May we all faithfully walk according to thy will in this life present, and also be partakers of everlasting glory in the life to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

FOR A NEW-BORN INFANT.

THOU, O Lord, hast promised to be a people and to their children after them. present this our beloved child to thee. may he early in life be created anew in

God to thy

Suffer us to

Born in sin, Christ Jesus.

We are uncertain as to what may be before him, but all is known to thee. O Lord, teach him if he live to say to thee in the morning of his days, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth. Give us grace to train him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and may we see him grow in wisdom, and in favour with God and man. And may all our household be thine, through Jesus Christ, our glorious Redeemer.

A CHILD GOING FROM HOME TO SCHOOL.

WE commit to thy care, O Lord, our beloved boy who is leaving us to receive instruction to fit him for future life. May he not forget or forsake his parents' God. Help him in acquiring knowledge. May he be disposed cheerfully to yield to discipline. Let him not be injured by evil example or betrayed into folly by his own deceitful heart. May his diligence, frankness, and honesty, commend him to the confidence of all; and let thy fear rule in his heart so that he may not sin. Be thou about his path every where, and may he welcome thy presence, and confide in thy love. And, O Lord, teach him especially to love and serve the Saviour.

CHILDREN AT SCHOOL.

GREAT GOD, thou hast given us children, directing us to train them for thee. To assist us in discharging this trust we have placed such of them as are not now at home, where they are. Surround them with holy influences. Give wisdom to their teachers. Grant to our children diligence, ripening faculties, and an ability to acquire useful knowledge. Let no evil example corrupt them. Let them not neglect their studies, or forget thee. O Lord, teach them to pray, and hearken to their prayers, and let it be our privilege from time to time to see that, as they advance in years, they are better fitted for the duties and trials of life, and that they seek the guidance of thy grace in Christ Jesus.

A CHILD LEAVING HOME TO FILL A SITUATION.

GOD of Bethel, thou who didst guide Jacob, and lead Joseph, thou who hast been our fathers' God! we commend to thy care our beloved child who is entering upon new duties and responsibilities; we beseech thee go with him, and help him in all things to follow thy guidance. Make him diligent, faithful, and kind. May he set before him the example of thine incarnate Son. Preserve him from every temptation. May he select for his companions those who fear thee. Let him never neglect thy worship or thy word. Make him a comfort to his parents, a benefit to his employers, an ornament to religion, and a blessing to society, and may he serve thee all his days.

CHILDREN IN SITUATIONS IN THE WORLD.

LORD, our heart is not haughty, neither are our eyes lofty. We seek not great things for our children, but we do implore that they may have grace in every situation, to be faithful and diligent, serving not with eye service as men-pleasers, but doing the will of God from the heart. Give them favour among those to whom they have gone, and inspire them with cheerful contentment. May they watch over their goings. Do thou guard them that they do not fall. May they know the God of their fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. Give them the fear of God which tendeth to life, and teach them ever to wait on the Lord who will save them.

A SON'S GOING FROM HOME TO SETTLE IN LIFE.

O OUR GOD, we commit to thee our beloved boy who is entering upon untried duties and cares. Deliver him from fading resolves, from feeble and unstable purposes, from indolence and wavering of mind, and from self-indulgence. Give him firmness of purpose; enable him to take hold on the object before him with a vigorous and manly grasp. Give him a clear judgment and an inflexible determination in pursuing the right. And let his strength of character be given by thee, limited and corrected by thee. Oh that he may be able daily and in after life to ascribe all his success to the Lord, and to say with thy servant, It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect.

A DAUGHTER ABOUT TO BE MARRIED.

MERCIFUL GOD, thou didst ordain that man should not be alone, but didst provide a help meet for him. We have experienced thy mercy in the relation in which we stand to one another, and we pray that thy mercy may be on our beloved child who is about to be joined in the conjugal bond. Bless her and the friend Enrich them with all

who are now to become one. precious things. Make them helpers of each other's joy; let them walk in all the statutes and ordinances of the Lord blameless, and may they so spend the time of their sojourning here as that they may be prepared to spend together a happy eternity with all them that love thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

WHEN A DISOBEDIENT SON IS LEAVING HOME.

GRACIOUS GOD, we have sought thy mercy in our troubles as well as praised thee in our joys. Again we cry unto thee on behalf of the member of our family who is now leaving us. He has been taught, warned, entreated, counselled. Let not these efforts be in vain.

When he is far away from his father's house and his mother's voice, let what he has heard there recur to his mind. May he think of our prayers. Lord, melt his heart, and teach him to pray for himself. May he come to thee with weeping and supplication, and obtain mercy through the great and glorious Redeemer. May our house yet resound with the song, This our son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.

DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF A SON OR DAUGHTER.

Most merciful Father, we look up to thee on behalf of our beloved child. We trust we have given him to thee, nor would we call back the gift. Thou canst make him whole, and spare him to us. This our affection would entreat, but thou knowest best, and thy will be done. We bow to thy decrees with entire confidence. Oh that, if death be approaching, thy presence may be his stay, and the hope of the gospel his triumph. Make this affliction useful to him, whether he live or die, and to us also. spiritual, more humble and submissive, and whensoever affliction or death shall overtake us, may we be found ready to enter into the joy of our Lord.

May it make us more