Equations of motion from field equations and a gauge-invariant variational principle for the motion of charged particles

New, gauge-independent, second-order Lagrangian for the motion of classical, charged test particles is proposed. It differs from the standard, gauge-dependent, first-order Lagrangian by boundary terms only. A new method of deriving equations of motion from field equations is developed. When applied to classical electrodynamics, this method enables us to obtain unambiguously the above, second-order Lagrangian from the general energy-momentum conservation principle.