And some cities were there; one of them was named Sodom. The men of Sodom were very wicked, yet Lot went to live in that city. He was not a wicked man himself, he served God; but he went to live among wicked men, because there he might have better pasture for his cattle, and so increase his riches. He should not have done this, and we shall see afterwards how much trouble it caused him.

After Lot had gone, the Lord spoke to Abram, and told him that He would give all that land, as far as he could see it, to him and to his descendants. And God said, He would make Abram's descendants so many that no one could count them. Then Abram moved his tent and came to a place called Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord. This made three altars he had built since he came into Canaan; so we see that as he journeyed from one place to another, he loved to have an altar near him, that he might offer up sacrifices and worship the Lord.

And there was war on the plain of Jordan. Four kings came there with an army, and fought against the city of Sodom where Lot lived, and they gained the victory. Then they went into the houses and carried off the spoil, that is, food and money and goods, and everything that they wanted. They took some of the people, and Lot also, away with them as captives, or slaves. When Abram heard of it, he did not think of Lot's having behaved selfishly to him, but he gathered his servants together and followed after them. The Bible tells us that he had three hundred and eighteen servants. This was a large number for one person to have, but Abram owned great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle and camels, and he needed many servants to take care of them. And beside his servants, some of the men of the land who were his friends, went with him to help him against the four kings.

And he came up with them and fought with them, and God gave him the victory. Then he took all the captives and the spoil which they had carried away, and brought them back to Sodom. As he was coming there, Melchizedek, the king of a city called Salem, who was also a minister of God, came out to meet Abram, bringing him bread and wine. And Melchizedek

blessed Abram, that is, he asked that God might bless him and be good to him; and he thanked God for giving Abram the victory. And Abram gave the king a tenth part of all the things he had taken from his enemies. When the king of Sodom saw how Abram had brought back the captives whom the four kings had carried away, he said to him, Give the captives to me that

had made a promise to

I may send them to their own homes again, but keep the spoil for thyself. But Abram said that he God not to keep anything for himself.

The men who had gone

with him to help him might take their share of the spoil, he said, but he would take nothing.

After this God spoke to Abram and told him, that He was his

Shield and his Reward-that means, that God would take care of him, and be better to him than anything in this world. But Abram said that God had never given him a child. Then God promised to give him a son. And He brought Abram out and told him to look at the stars as they shone in the sky, and asked him whether he could count them. And God said that Abram's descendants should be as those stars, so many they could not be counted. God told Abram also, that his descendants should live in another country, away from Canaan, and that the people there would treat them cruelly for four hundred years. Yet God said He would punish the people who treated them so, and afterward would bring Abram's descendants out of that land with great riches. But this was not to happen until long after Abram was dead, for God told him he should live to be an old man and should die in peace.

And Sarai, Abram's wife, had a handmaid; that is, a woman who was her servant. The woman's name was Hagar; she came from Egypt, perhaps when Abram came from that country after there had been a famine in Canaan. But Hagar displeased her mistress Sarai, and Sarai was angry with her and punished her. Then Hagar fled into the lonely wilderness where no one lived, so that she might not be punished again.

And the angel of the Lord found her there by a spring of water; and he asked where she came from, and to what place she was going. She answered, that she had fled from her mistress Sarai. Then the angel told her to go back to her mistress and obey what she said to her; he told Hagar also that she should have a son whose name should be Ishmael, and that he would be a wild man he would fight against other men, and other men would fight against him. So Hagar went back to Sarai, and afterward God gave her a son, whose name was called Ishmael. When Abram was ninety-nine years old God talked with him again, and Abram bowed down with his face to the ground while God talked with him. And God told him again that his descendants should be very many, and some of them, He said, should be kings. And God made a covenant, or agreement, with Abram and his descendants, and said that He would be their God. And

He promised again to give them the land of Canaan for their own land. And He said to Abram, Thy name shall not any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; which means, the Father of a great many people. And Sarai's name, He said, should be Sarah, which means, Princess. So the Lord changed both their names. And He promised again to give Abraham and Sarah a son, whose name should be Isaac. Then, after the Lord had ended talking with him, He went up from Abraham toward heaven.

CHAPTERS XVIII:-XXI.

(B. C. 1897-1894.)

The Lord sends two angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot and his two daughters are saved, but his wife is changed into a Abraham sends Hagar and

A

pillar of salt.

Ishmael away.

Isaac is born.

BRAHAM was sitting one day at his tent-door, in the hot part of the day. And he looked up and saw three men

standing near him. Then he ran out to meet them, and bowed down before them toward the ground, for so they used to welcome

strangers in that land. And Abraham asked the men to rest under the tree, and to let some water be brought that they might wash their feet.

In those days people did not wear shoes such as we wear now: they went with bare feet, or else wore sandals. . Sandals were like the soles of our shoes, and were tied on with strings. They kept the feet from being hurt by sharp stones, but did not keep off the dust and dirt as shoes do. Therefore it was pleasant for a person, after he had been walking on a warm day, to take off his sandals and wash his feet in cool water. And Abraham asked these three men to have water that they might wash their feet. He said he would bring them some bread also; and they told him to do as he said.

And Abraham made haste into the tent to Sarah, and told her to bake some cakes quickly. And he ran to the herd and brought a calf that was tender and good, and had it killed. Then he took butter and milk, and the calf that had been cooked, and set it before the men, and they did eat, and Abraham stood by them to wait on them, under the tree.

not men.

And yet, although we call them men, these three persons were Two of them, we believe, were angels, and the other one was the Lord. You may ask, Could it be the Lord who looked and talked like a man? Yes, for He could come down to this world in the form of a man. And further on in the Bible we read, several times, of His coming, and staying for a little while, and speaking to men. And long afterward, He came and stayed many years, and walked about on the earth as a man, and made sick people well, and dead people alive; He died on the cross for our sins, and then went back to heaven again. And now the Lord had come to tell Abraham of two things, one very joyful, and one very sad. The Lord said to Abraham : Sarah thy wife shall have a son. Now Sarah was old, and when

she heard this as she stood in the tent-door, she laughed, for she did not know Who it was that was speaking, and it seemed to her too much joy. And the Lord said: Wherefore did Sarah laugh? She shall surely have a son. Then Sarah was afraid, and she denied it, and said: I did not laugh. But the Lord