St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-04-27

happen to SOdom. How many times
you and | have been in darkness be-
cause we would not let God lead us
We have thought that certain things
have been best for us or our children
and we have chosen them, and what
mistakes we have made! But Lot, l
suppose, if you had met him the next
morning, would have said, | know
SOdom and Gomorrah are wicked and
it will be bad for my children, but am
not going into SOdom. He first pitched
his tent ''toward SOdOm." So great
many do now, aud whenever you see
man doing that, it will not be long be-
fore he will be in Sodom.
The next thing we hear Lot has got
into Sodom. There he is, and un-
doubtedly he reasoned in this way: 1t
is my business that takes me here it is
disastrous to my family, | know my
children will learn wickedness, but then
| must attend to my business affairs,
my wealth has been increasing and it
will be more advantageous for me there,
so | will Just move in, and i'll he goes.
| have no doubt but if you talked with
the SOdOmites they would have said he
was a shrewder man than Abraham,
that old man back on the plains with
his family altar. 1t is not long before
we hear there is war and the news
comes to Lots uncle that there has
been battle fought at SOdOm and the
Sodomites have been unsuccessful, a
great many prisoners have been taken,
and among the number Lot and his
family. Here is his uncle now, marshall
ing his servants, 3I6 of them, and go
ing in hot haste to pursue the enemy.
He overtakes them and releases all that
have been taken captive, and among
them are Lot and his family. Now you
might think his eyes would be open and
he would keep out of SOdOm; and let
us bear this in mind, that if we are go
ing into SOdom with SodOmtes, we
must take Judgment with them. The
time will come when God will punish
these men that have turned aside from
him and have gone into wickedneSS to
make money. But there he is in SOdOm.
and we see in one place he was found
sitting ut the gate of Sodom, and that
means that he was an officer. If we
had him nOw-aud we might as we'll
bring it down to the present time-he
probably would have been called the
Hon. Mr.. Lot. He would have repre-
sented Sodom i'll Congress. He was
what we would call now worldly
Christian. You have met some, haven't
YOU ? They come up here from some
little town protesting Christians came
up perhaps during the war-and got
rich suddenly, and the wealth turned
their heads as we'll as their hearts. You
will find them driving fast horses on
the Sabbath now, and they have no
time to give to Sabbath school. used
to know i'll Chicago Il good many earn
est Christian workers fifteen years ago
The war came on and they became very
rich, so that they could not afford tC
! teach in the Sabbath school. You
would find them driving their fast
horses on the Sabbath, and yet profess
ing to be Christians. They are worldly
Christians, and that is what Lot was
No doubt people thought Abraham wa,
ii very good man, but he did not have
! the influence that Lot had. Perhap.
he was called Judge Lot, and Mrs. LO
and the daughters moved in the higheS
society. Men would say of Lot, ht
came here with some property, but h,
has more than trebled it. In the sigh
of the world he is getting on amazing
| ly. Look at him. The children, to bt
sure, were not quite so pure and up
right as they were when he first lef
Abraham. But he has seen good dea
of the world and perhaps is wise. They
have perhaps what the world woult
call culture. You would have founl
them at the theatre rather than a
church, and they would consider it bet
ter, at least they would like it better
So people now think that churches ar,
very good places to go and ease thei
conscierces, but they go to places O
amusement for enjoyment. He gets oI
amazingly well in the sight of til,
world.
But if you want to see successful
man, YOU do not want to look ut hin
mt one period of his life. The only wa,
to see successful man is to take hin
from the cradle to the grave. Yol
must see not only the beginning bu
the end to know whether IL man ha
been successful or not, and now we fint
that this man had been twenty years il
SOdOm, and there is not one word il
Scripture to tell us he had IN altaI
Worldly Christians do not have Il fam
lily altar to call their children arOun,
and pray to God to keep them from
temptation. There is not Il word ahOu
his having an altar. There are man,
mer in this city that are wavering il
the balance, and they are discussing il
their minds whether to erect famil,
altar or not. Not only that, but W
hear he was down there twenty year
h.,l l.
had not led a man to Christ.
A great many tell us they are goin
to improve the world by mingling wit
the world. Did Lot make Sodom an
better? There he was in Sodom TWEEN
ty years, and not one solitary convert
not man made better by his goin
down, and at the end of twenty yeaI
the iniquity of those cities of the plain
had come up before God. | want yo
to keep in mind that those Bible scene
are typical. God is going to judge thi
world, it is only a question of time
} There is as much said in Scriptur
! about Judgment as about salvation an,
, atOnement. God is going to judge tn
world in righteousness. Lot is an oil
, man now, his locks are turning gray
and one beautiful day he is sitting a
the gate holding his office, and tw
angels are seen coming into the gate c
the city in the form of men. He ros
up and received them. He asked ther
, into the house, but they refused at frs
10 go in because he had not famil
} altar. They would rather stand a
night in the street. He had really II
| home, his children and family had a
| Unna Rnt tha old man con
strained them and at last they went il
; and sometime in the night the inhabit
ants of Sodom found out that two me