WRECKERS.



"LUKEWARM" professors are like the wreckers on the Florida reefs, who kindle false lights to lure vessels to destruction. 

A ship is coming in after nightfall. The night is dark and stormy. The sea runs high. The ship labors. The tempest howls through her rigging. The great waves smite her. The master paces the quarterdeck, anxious and watchful. Oh, if he could see the harbor-light to guide him in the safe channel! He hails the "lookout" in the main top, "Hallo, aloft!" 

"Ay, ay, sir." "Do you see the light?" 

"No light." And again keen eyes peer through the darkness. The vessel rushes blindly on her course. Ah! Is that the coming of a breaker?" Hallo, aloft! Do you see the light?" "No-o-o!" The storm increases. The vessel groans and strains in every timber. The sea rages. 

And now the shout comes down, "On deck, there! I see the light." "Where away?" "Two points off the lee bow." 

"Steady, quarter-master; keep her full." 

And on she plows her way, cheered by the guiding light. Ah! What is this? She is in the midst of breakers, and now strikes on the reef; the masts "go by the board," and the wreckers come tumbling in over her bulwarks; their knives are red, and their hands filled with plunder. Their false light has cast away the ship. So a treacherous Christian says to the souls of his fellow-men, "Follow me! I am going into port I will guide you safely," and following, they come upon the rocks of perdition, and are lost.




President Finney