W. Abraham must have been very much shocked at that. I dare say he thought of Lot being burned, and his wife and children.

P. Yes; as a kind man, he could not bear the thought, and made very earnest efforts to save the city. He begged very hard indeed of God that he would spare the city if there should happen to be a few good men living in it. He asked first that the Lord should spare it if he found only fifty righteous men living there. He thought again, however, "Perhaps there may not be fifty," and he asked the Lord if he would spare it supposing there were a smaller number than fifty. I will read you the account :

"And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place."

Now, what lesson may we learn from Abraham's conduct?
W. We may learn to be hospitable.

P. Yes: not only learn to be hospitable, but learn that God is pleased when we care for others. Oh, it is not only right in God's sight, but it is a good and a pleasant thing to show kindness to others.

When Abraham saw the tired strangers washing their feet, and enjoying the cool shade, he noticed that they were pleased; and when he thought about their joy, that joy became his also. He felt their gladness. Yes, when he sat under the tree, and watched them as they ate, he felt quite as happy as they.

Again, when he heard that the men of Sodom were to be punished, he too was in trouble. But, like a true friend, he did not despair, and say, I cannot help them. The same spirit that formerly made him bestir himself to rescue Lot, made him care for those poor sinners.

You, dear children, may try to do as Abraham did. If ever you see

any wicked boys or girls in trouble, try to feel sorry for them. Do not take upon yourself to judge them, and say they are bad children. Never say to any boy that he is bad, unless you think that to tell him so will do him good; but what should you do?

W. Try and save him from trouble.

Ion. Try and make him better.

L. And try and make him happier, as Abraham did to the strangers.

Eighteenth Sunday.

LOT'S DEPARTURE FROM SODOM.

"And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

"And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?), and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

Then the

"The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

"But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."-GEN. xix. 1-3, 15-26.

I AM going, dear children, to talk to you about a city. Will you just try to imagine a city? A great number of houses built close together, with a very high and thick wall all round them-a very strong wall,

indeed, made so high that no rude enemies could get over it, and very thick, that rude enemies might not break through it.

Ion. Then how did the people themselves get into the city; supposing that they had been out for a walk, or something else?

P. Ah! I forgot; they had not walls all the way round-there were gates for the people to pass through-strong gates, which were shut during the night. It happened, once, that just in the cool of the evening, a very respectable man was sitting resting himself outside the gate of a city. He was not an old man, rather young, perhaps, but he had flocks and herds, men-servants and maid-servants, just as Abraham had; and, like Abraham, he knew God, and knew that it was his duty to obey Him and to do Him honour. But the other people who lived in the city, did not know their duty to God-they often made Him very angry; and, indeed, God was now so angry that He had determined to punish them. What, do you think, was the name of that city?

L. I think it was SODOM, papa; and the man, perhaps, was Lor. P. It was. And as Lot, sitting by the gate, looked up, he saw something in the distance moving across the plain; as it came nearer it seemed to be two men, and as they came nearer still he perceived that they were angels-they were the angels who had just parted from Abraham. Lot watched them and waited, and as soon as they were near enough to him he rose up, bowed himself to the earth, and saluted them, asking them to tarry in his house all night, and wash their feet; telling them, at the same time, that they should go on again early the next morning. In those days there were no inns or lodging-houses where travellers might rest, the angels, therefore, when they did not accept Lot's offer, said that they would remain in the street all night. Lot, however, did not like them to do this, and he "pressed upon them greatly," so that at last they consented, and went with him into his house. Then Lot "made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat."

You may read in the Bible how the men of Sodom, instead of being kind to the strangers, as Lot was, wished to treat them very wickedly; and how they were smitten with blindness, as a punishment for their wickedness. The angels then explained to Lot that, because of the wickedness of the Sodomites, God intended to destroy their city with fire. They said that he must make haste and call together all his relatives, and flee from the place before the morning came. Now, some of Lot's daughters had been married to the men of the city, and Lot went out, telling them to be up and get out of the place; he told them to make haste and save their lives, for when the morning came they would surely be destroyed. They, however, would not believe him; perhaps they laughed at him, for he seemed to them as one that mocked, and Lot was obliged to return home to make ready himself and his wife, and his two remaining daughters who were not married.

In the morning the angels hastened him; for Lot lingered a little, because of his sons-in-law and their wives, and thinking, "I should like to go to them again, and tell them not to be so foolish-I want all my daughters to go with me." But there was no time now; and, while he lingered, the angels laid hold of his hand, and the hand of his wife, and

of his two daughters, and led them forth abroad. They then said to him, “Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape for thy life, lest thou be consumed;" and when Lot asked them, they consented that, for his sake, a little city, called Zoar, should not be consumed, but that he should go and live there.

Lot then fled, and in his flight there happened two sad events; showing how angry God is with those who are disobedient. Lot's heart must have been full of sorrow when he thought of his daughters whom he had left in the city; and remembered that they, with their husbands and families, would be destroyed.

Ion. He would be sorry, too, to have his own house burned, and all his furniture-he would have to build another house somewhere.

P. He would be sorry, too, for all the other people in Sodom, as well as for himself, although they had been wicked. He would soon begin to feel, as he ran with his wife and daughters, that the air was very hot, and that there was a strong suffocating smell of sulphur; as the fire increased, this smell would become stronger, and the air would be almost unfit to breathe. He had been told not to look back on the city, so that he dare not do so; but he felt a very strong heat at his back, and felt sure that there must be a very brilliant light, for there was a glare through all the atmosphere shedding a strange light on everything around him—even the very trees before him looked red. He could tell, too, that the houses must be burning by the crackling noise, and by the flakes of fire which were falling around him, and he could tell that they were falling by a noise louder than the crackling of fire-a crashing noise like that of thunder or an earthquake.

L. I dare say, too, that when the houses were not falling, and the fire was silent, he could hear the sound of crying; loud shrieks from the poor people who were being burned.

P. No doubt he did, sometimes; and the sound of the distant shrieks would remind him and his wife of their daughters in the city. Lot would think to himself, "How I should like just to look back, only to see if they were able to run away and to escape!" but he dared not; he would try and prevent his wife and daughters from thinking of the city, saying, "Run! let us go faster, we will make more haste to reach Zoar." They would run on in wild confusion, which would perhaps be increased by sounds of other steps behind, for they would soon be overtaken by all kinds of cattle, which, frightened at the sight of the fire, and the smell of the sulphur, were also fleeing-they would soon be surrounded by snorting horses, and bellowing bulls, and bleating sheep, and dogs perhaps, and many strange beasts, who, with most distressing sounds, would make melancholy answers to the terrible roaring of the flames, and would keep company with Lot and his wife all the way to Zoar.

In the hurry and distraction of such a flight, Lot perhaps would not stop to see after his family with him; and would perhaps reach Zoar even sooner than his wife and daughters. As his daughters reached the city, Lot would ask them where was their mother, and whether she was far behind. They, perhaps, would answer that they had not seen her, but had supposed she had gone on before them; and then, they

would all wait expecting her-but, alas! she never came. As they looked far back in the distance, they could only see in one of the fields which they had crossed, something white, standing upright—it was white as a lump of snow, or salt.

L. What was the matter, papa? Had she died on the road? She had fainted perhaps.

P. No, she had died. She had brought upon herself the anger of God. Instead of remembering His word, she had thought, as many a mother would, of her children behind her. She had ventured to look back on the burning city—perhaps to see whether they were safe. This, of course, was not right, it was disobedience to God; and even as a mother she should have loved God more than her own children.

W. Did God kill her, papa?

P. Yes; we read that God was angry with her, and to show his anger, he had turned her into a pillar of salt. Thus only Lot and his two daughters escaped.

We will now try, dear children, if we can learn any "lessons" from Lot's history.

W. I think I can make a lesson, papa. Lot was punished for mixing with bad company.

Ion. I was thinking about that; but then I thought Jesus Christ mixed with bad company, with publicans and sinners, so that cannot be wrong.

P. Yes; but our Saviour lived with bad people that he might make them better. It would not, perhaps, be right for you to do so, for the bad people might be stronger than you; then, instead of your making them better, they would make you worse.

L. Missionaries, papa, mix with the heathen to make them better. P. Yes; and it requires a very good man to mix with bad people without suffering. Lot, I should think, was not one of these men.

Secondly, You may learn not to make haste to be rich. When Lot saw that the plains of Jordan were well watered, perhaps he only thought that it would be pleasant to himself to live there, for he should thus become richer; he did not, perhaps, stop to ask his conscience whether God would be pleased at his living with such bad neighbours. Thus he had to take the same chances as the company he chose to belong to. In making haste to be rich without thinking whether he was going in the right way, he lost time-he had, I dare say, become poorer than he was before he went to Sodom.

L. And there is a third lesson, papa. How much better it is to love God, and to obey him, and to please him, than to be turned into a pillar of salt!

Ion. Or to be burned with fire!

P. That is a very good lesson, and you may all learn it. Jesus our Saviour, who died for us, has taught us how to obey God. Go, dear children, and ask Him for His Holy Spirit, and strive yourselves to do his will; then how pleased the great God will be to find that you do not need punishment like the people of Sodom!