"Let the Lower Lights Be Burning"
This song was suggested to the author Mr. Bliss, by an anecdote told by Mr. Moody, There are two light-houses at Cleveland, Ohio - one on the bluff called the upper lights, and one at the moon of the river, called the lower lights. One wild, stormy night, a steamer was trying to maker her way into the harbor. The officers were anxiously looking for the lights. By and by the pilot said "Do you see the lower lights?" "No, " said the captain; "I fear we have passed them." "Ah, there are the upper lights," said the pilot; "we have passed the lower lights, and have lost our chance of getting into the harbor."
They looked back, and saw the dim outline of the lower light-house against the sky. The lights had gone out. They could not turn around, as the ship would not answer to her helm. Vainly they tried to make the harbor, and finally they went crash against the rocks, and sank to the bottom. Very few escaped; the great majority found a watery grave, because the lower lights had gone out.
"What a Friend we have in Jesus"
A gentleman in the mining regions of Lake Superior, deeply impressed on the subject of his personal salvation, determined to fight t off his convictions. He kept away from religious meetings, and avoided religious conversation. Stepping into an office where a telephone was in use, he requested permission to witness its operation. Putting his ear to the mystic instrument, he listened, and there came through the transmitter, sounding with strange beauty and power, the words sung by little children, -
"what a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear."
The appeal went home to his heart. He could hold out no longer; and there and then determined to begin the Christian Life.