left in darkness. Presuming it proper to dismiss his auditors, he
proposed a parting prayer, and immediately every head was uncovered and
bowed in reverence, while, with outstretched hands, that sincere old man
in the homespun garb thus addressed the throne of grace.

"'Great Father, we bow before thee. We invoke thy blessing, we deprecate
thy wrath, we return thee thanks for the past, we ask thy aid for the
future. For we are in times of trouble, oh, Lord! and sore beset by
foes, merciless and unpitying; the sword gleams over our land, and
the dust of the soil is dampened with the blood of our neighbors and
friends.

'Oh! God of mercy, we pray thy blessing on the American arms. Make the
man of our hearts strong in thy wisdom; bless, we beseech, with renewed
life and strength, our hope and thy instrument, even GEORGE WASHINGTON.
Shower thy counsels on the honorable, the Continental Congress.
Visit the tents of our host; comfort the soldier in his wounds and
afflictions; nerve him for the hour of fight; prepare him for the hour
of death.

'And in the hour of defeat, oh, God of Hosts, do thou be our stay; and
in the hour of triumph be thou our guide.

'Teach us to be merciful. Though the memory of galling wrongs be at our
hearts, knocking for admittance, that they may fill us with desires for
revenge, yet let us, oh, Lord, spare the vanquished, though they never
spared us in their hour of butchery and bloodshed. And, in the hour of
death, do thou guide us into the abode prepared for the blest; so shall
we return thanks unto thee, through Christ, our Redeemer.--GOD PROSPER
THE CAUSE.--_Amen_"