Suggestions:—A candle, a silver dollar, a large-necked bottle and a flask-shaped bottle are the objects used. It will add to the interest of the children if the parent will show the simple experiments of placing the bottle over the candle to illustrate how quickly the light is extinguished as the oxygen is exhausted. The same is the result when a light is hid under a bushel. The flame may also be concealed by the dollar; and in a darkened room a polished piece of metal or a small looking-glass will show how the light can be reflected by money properly used in Christ's cause.
MY LITTLE MEN AND WOMEN: To-day I have brought some candles in order to illustrate the text, "Ye are the light of the world." In a previous sermon I have shown you how all the light in the world is derived from the sun, and how all the light in the spiritual world is derived from Jesus Christ. Now, to-day I want to show you that we can extinguish this light. While we cannot prevent the sun from shining, or put out the light there is in the sun, yet we can extinguish, or put out the light of a candle. We can blow out the light, we can turn off the gas, we can cut off the electrical current, and thus prevent the carbon from burning and giving light. Just the same as the firemen can extinguish a large fire that is making a great blaze in the midst of a dark night, so we can put out these several lights.
Before this candle, which I hold in my hand, can be of any service to me in giving light, it must first itself be lighted. So it is with every person who is born into this world. He has no light in himself. Before ever he can exert any influence for good upon others, or let any Christian light shine, he must come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive this light. He must be lighted from above. But now after the candle has been lighted, suppose that I take this silver dollar which I hold in my hand, and place it in front of the light, you will see immediately how it makes it impossible for the light to shine out in front of the dollar. Those who are sitting down there in front of me cannot see this light. The light is entirely concealed by the dollar. So some people allow the love of money to gather around their hearts, until at last their money is placed between them and the people whom God intends that they should benefit and bless in this world. Instead of being a help, their money is only a hindrance to their Christian life. They love their money so much that they permit the poor to go hungry, the destitute to be unblessed, and the Church to be without the money necessary to carry on its work. They allow the heathen to die in their ignorance. Selfishly grasping their money, they neglect to do that for which God has given them the means and the money.
Light Obscured by Money.
I believe that money is a good thing. The Bible says that it is the love of money, the undue love of it, that is the root of all evil. Money itself is a blessing and not a curse; therefore I want to show you how this dollar can be made to help in making this light shine even more brightly. You will see that if I have this side of the dollar ground off and polished, so that it is very smooth and bright like a little looking-glass, and then place it back of the candle, instead of acting as it did when I placed the dollar between you and the candle, it will then reflect the light and throw the rays of light out further than they could otherwise shine. It helps to accomplish for the candle the same important service which the great reflector does when placed behind the lamp in the headlight of the railway engine, throwing the light way down the track in advance of the coming of the train.
In the same way, when a Christian has money, you see how he can readily use it in such a way as to enable him to accomplish a very great and grand work in the world. The man who has lots of money and has a consecrated heart, and who is willing to use his money to help him in his work for Christ, will be able to accomplish very much more than the man who has no money. He can use his money in such a way that it will enable him to cast a light in many a dark corner of the earth, to bring light in many a desolate home, and to cast the rays of his Christian influence even across the ocean into benighted heathen lands. In this way his money can be used as I could use this dollar if it were polished, and thus carry his influence to the ends of the earth and to the end of time, and become a great blessing to himself and to others for all eternity.
Money as a Reflector.
Jesus said, "Men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candle-stick that it may give light to all that are in the house." There are some people who do not like to let their light shine for Christ. They do not want others to know that they are Christians. They do not want others to know that they are trying to be good. And so they seek to conceal their light, to hide it, as Jesus says, "under a bushel." If you were to light a candle and put it under a bushel, or under a box, the box would prevent it from shining, and therefore you would not know that there was any light at all in the room.