ox would prevent it from shining, and therefore you
would not know that there was any light at all in the room.

But I want to show you, by the aid of this large necked bottle, what is
the effect of our trying to hide our light. I have chosen this bottle
because you can see through it, and observe what is going on inside of
this glass bushel or bottle. The neck being very large, you can readily
see that the light is not absolutely smothered. Now, when I place this
bottle over the light, you will see how very quickly it begins to grow
dim, and then more dim until it dies out altogether. There, you see, it
has gone out already! Just as quickly as it burns out from the air in
the bottle the oxygen which it contains, the light dies, because it has
nothing to feed upon. If I had not placed this bottle over it, it would
have continued to burn.

[Illustration: Light Under a Bushel.]

Just so it is with those who try to hide their light under a bushel.
After the light has been placed there, it gradually grows more faint,
and more faint, and then goes out in darkness. You can never be a
Christian if you are ashamed of Christ. You must be willing to let your
light shine; you must be willing to confess Christ before men; you must
be willing to have other boys and girls know that you are a Christian,
and that you are trying to do right. Then with God's help you will
succeed. But if you try to hide your light under a bushel, you will
never succeed in being a Christian.

Here is another bottle. I am sure that the shape of this bottle will
suggest to you the kind of stuff which is oftentimes sold in this kind
of a flask. Sometimes when young men have given their hearts to Christ,
and young women too for that matter, they go out in company and are
invited to take a drink of wine or a drink of beer, or something else,
and without any purpose or thought of ever becoming a drunkard, often
they soon form the habit of drinking. Soon they have formed a love for
the taste of liquor, and before ever they know it, like hundreds of
thousands of others who have preceded them, they have become fond of
liquor, and are on a fair road to become drunkards. As soon as a young
man starts out in this direction he takes the road that leads down to
death and destruction, and the love of God which he had in his heart
soon dies out. Let me place this bottle over the candle. You will now
see how the candle begins to grow dim, and the light shines more and