A man has lost his way in a dark and dreary mine. By the light of one candle, which he carries in his hand, he is groping for the road to sunshine and to home. That light is essential to his safety. The mine has many winding passages, in which he may be hopelessly bewildered. Here and there, marks have been made on the rocks to point out the true path, but he cannot see them without the light. There are many deep pits into which, if unwary, he may suddenly fall, but he cannot avoid danger without that light.
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Should it go out, that mine will be his tomb. How carefully he carries it! How anxiously he shields it from sudden gusts of air, from water dropping on it, from everything that might quench it. The case described is like ours. We are like that lonely wanderer in the mine.
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Does he diligently keep alight the candle on which his life depends? Much more earnestly, should we give heed to the warning, "Quench not the Spirit"? Sin makes our road both dark and dangerous. If God gave us no light, we should never find the way to the soul's sunny home of holiness and heaven. We must despair of ever reaching our father's house. We must perish in the darkness into which we have wandered. But He gives us His Spirit to enlighten, guide and cheer us.
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-RICHARD STEEL and EVELYN STONER