Ye are the Light of the World.
By F. C. CASTLE
I BELIEVE there are some Christians whose lamps are burning brightly in the world, and the world may have light if they will. If we have lifted up the standard of truth, some poor souls out on the ocean of time will be looking toward our lighthouse, and shall it be with us as it was with one lighthouse-keeper of whom I once read, who took the responsibility of acting as lighthouse-keeper on a lonely coast where his predecessor had mysteriously disappeared? After he had been at his place some time, he was one day strolling with his gun in his hand in pursuit of game. He spied at a distance from him an individual coming toward him, evidently intent on making acquaintance with him, and who did not at first appear to be a very desirable associate. But an acquaintance was formed, which grew more intimate as time passed along. Soon the keeper was invited to an evening party by this fellow at his father's house, quite a distance off. The invitation was accepted. He arranged his lights in their proper order, and left them to warn the poor mariner of the rocky coast, and to direct him in his onward course. When he arrived at the place where he was to pass the evening, his friend and some others whom he expected to see were not there. He made some inquiry for them, but got no satisfactory answer. He then thought of his lights, and the poor sailors, and passed out, fearing foul designs. He hastened back through the dark, over the lonely desert, as it were. When he arrived at the lighthouse he found that the lights had been changed so as to misguide the mariner. He set them right, and hastened to the beach; but alas! he was too late; for already a vessel had been dashed upon the coast, and he beheld the work of those men who lived by spoil, even though it cost the lives of others, men who could see their fellows find a watery grave while they plundered their substance. Is there any Sabbath-keeper who has stood out as a beacon light to the world, and yet turned aside, and returned only in time to see the design of the arch-deceiver of the world, and behold some poor souls in the enemy's hands! May the Lord help us to awake to these things, and give heed to the word, lest at any time we should let them slip.
F. C. CASTLE.