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. [Illustration: 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.