Page:The church manual (Church of the Brethren 1916).djvu/55

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I thank thee, O God, my Maker, that thou hast kept me alive and well while I slept. Be near to me and bless me all this day. Help me to honor my father and my mother, [to be kind to my brothers and sisters,] and to do to all persons as I would be done unto. May I love thee with all my heart, and though a little child, may I come to the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, and be prepared to live and reign with him forever. Amen.

O Lord God, thou seest me by night as well as by day. I pray thee for Christ's sake to forgive whatever I have done wrong to-day, and keep me safe all night while I am asleep. Bless all my dear friends, [here the child may mention father, mother, and other relatives], do them good at all times, and may we all be happy and useful while we live, and dwell in heaven together after death. Hear me, O Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son. Amen.

By table prayers are meant those that are offered at our tables prior to the partaking of our daily food, and they should be observed in every Christian family.

The object of these prayers is to acknowledge God as the Giver of "our daily bread," and to express our gratefulness to him for it, — to ask his blessing upon it, that it may nourish and strengthen our bodies and thus enable us to perform the moral and spiritual duties that devolve upon us as his children; that the food we eat may be sanctified to our use and that we may be sanctified to his service.