The congregation settles into a rut of meaningless tradition and composes itself to await death. A second way to quench a fire is to smother it with non-combustibles, to heap up in the heart a pile of extraneous matters which are like asbestos to the soul. How often men have started out in the livid glow of the Spirit, only to become involved in the affairs of this passing age until the fervor died down and the ardor cooled. Perhaps it was secular employment with its mad scramble for power, position or pelf. Perhaps it was pleasure, innocent in itself, but becoming an obsession.
Nobody lights a lamp and then covers it with a basin or puts it under a bed.
These are the words of Jesus. He spoke them to show how incongruous it is for men to conceal or snuff out a light under something that defeats its very purpose. All of us have known men of great spiritual potential who have washed out under an avalanche of worldly philosophy and increasing knowledge of this world. A third way to quench a fire is by neglect. One can smother it with noncombustible materials which make a great show of smoke but never burst into flame, or he can simply refuse to refuel it and it will go out.