m and asked what he had the lantern there for, seeing that he was
blind, and the light was the same to him as the darkness. The blind
man replied:

"I have it so that no one may stumble over me."

Dear friends, let us think of that. Where one man reads the Bible, a
hundred read you and me. That is what Paul meant when he said we were
to be living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men. I would
not give much for all that can be done by sermons, if we do not preach
Christ by our lives. If we do not commend the Gospel to people by our
holy walk and conversation, we shall not win them to Christ. Some
little act of kindness will perhaps do more to influence them than any
number of long sermons.

A vessel was caught in a storm on Lake Erie, and they were trying to
make for the harbor of Cleveland. At the entrance of that port they
had what are called the upper lights and the lower lights. Away back
on the bluffs were the upper lights burning brightly enough; but when
they came near the harbor they could not see the lights showing the
entrance to it. The pilot said he thought they had better get back on
the lake again. The Captain said he was sure they would go down if
they went back, and he urged the pilot to do what he could to gain the
harbor. The pilot said there was very little hope of making the
harbor, as he had nothing to guide him as to how he should steer the
ship. They tried all they could to get her in. She rode on the top of
the waves, and then into the trough of the sea, and at last they found
themselves stranded on the beach, where the vessel was dashed to
pieces. Someone had neglected the lower lights, and they had gone out.

Let us take warning. God keeps the upper lights burning as brightly as
ever, but He has left us down here to keep the lower lights burning.
We are to represent Him here, as Christ represents us up yonder. I
sometimes think if we had as poor a representative in the courts above
as God has down here on earth, we would have a pretty poor chance of
heaven. Let us have our loins girt and our lights brightly burning, so
that others may see the way and not walk in darkness.

Speaking of a lighthouse reminds me of what I heard about a man in the
State of Minnesota, who, some years ago, was caught in a fearful
storm. That State is cursed with storms which come sweeping down so
suddenly in the winter time that escape is difficult. The snow will
fall and the wind will beat it into the fac