Bless all in sorrow. Sanctify their trials. Keep us ever from the guilty atheism of looking to second causes. May we ever rejoice in the elevating assurance that "the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth," and that Thou orderest all things wisely and well. May the Holy Spirit the Comforter pour his own balm into every bleeding heart. Have mercy on a world lying in wickedness. Hasten that glorious period when creation, now groaning and travailing in sin, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and be translated into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Let Thy word everywhere have free course and be glorified. May Jesus, faithfully "lifted up" by the attractive power of his cross, draw all men unto him. Let Thy best benediction rest on my friends. The Lord watch between them and me when we are absent one from another. May we experience Thy guardian care this night; and if spared to awake in the morning, may it be to spend a new day in Thy service, through Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen. "LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE THEE AS INCENSE: AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING SACRIFICE." TWENTY-THIRD EVENING. FOR FIRMNESS IN TEMPTATION. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."--James iv. 7. O God, Thou art from everlasting to everlasting. Loving me at the beginning, Thou hast promised to love me even unto the end. Notwithstanding all the fitful changes of my own changing heart towards _Thee_, there _has_ been, and _can_ be, no shadow of turning in Thy covenant faithfulness towards _me_. I am at this hour the monument of Thy mercy--a living comment on the words, "Thy ways are not as man's ways, nor Thy thoughts as man's thoughts." If I have been enabled in any degree to resist the assaults of temptation, it is all Thy doing. I am "kept by the power of God." Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul must long ere now have dwelt in silence. By the grace of God I am what I am. Lord, indulged and cherished sin unfits me for the enjoyment of Thy service and favor. I have to lament my proneness to evil, the natural bias of my heart to that which is opposed to Thy pure and holy will. When I would do good, sin is too often present with me. I feel the power of my spiritual adversaries. If left to myself and my own unaided resources, I must often hopelessly resign the conflict.