The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-02-16
1HE SUNDAY SCHOOL.



.s.h do righii-ccn. 1879
,,,,r ,rcrIos or History includes chapters
isand - . ,,,., -, ,, ,..
,M.mre lot was nt Sodom
Ttur - G. 1877. not long after the last les
ABRAHAM ninoiy-nine years old ishmaei
,slriecn years old
LESION NOTES
The Three Strangers.--Chap ~:
IA one day. not long after Gods re-
u.yal Of Ills covenant with him,
Abraham now nincty-nine years OLD
,,as sitting In his tent door in the
h.at OF the day. when suddenly, look
;ppup he saw three strangers near
him. lie Immediately went To them
ma welcomed them in the Oriental
manner. and cstcrtained them with
HE utmost hospitality. 1t was not
Iona. before he perceived, by what they
said and did. that they were angels,
md one of them was no less than
Jehovah Himself. in bodily form. the
God who had in some way appeared To
him five times before. The whole
scene is primitive and Oriental. and
presents perfect picture of the rnan-
her in which a modern Bcdawce
sheykh receives travellers arriving at
his cncampment
These three strangers had two mes
.aecs To Abraham. One was that soon
would be born to him the expected
heir Of the promises The other that
his nephew Lot was in great danger.
because ~odom. where he lived must be
destroyed for its wiclSedncss.
T.. |.
intcrcedcs first for Lot, the righteous
man in Sodoin. and then for
tie whole city, that the entire
population may bc saved from impcnd-
inr doom IL was for his friend and
relative. who still persisted in living
ia >odom. II was for the vile men
- no vcNcd the righteous soul Of Lot,
and whose life and conduct was re-
voting To the moral sense OF the
patriarch. for those who hated his re-
ligion and his God.
The Answer. lis prayer WAS an
swcrcd. though not in the way Abraham
expected.
tJ The righteous were delivered
from the city. CD The prayer was an
swcrcd ia the destruction of the city.
DIV that destruction righteousness was
promoted. Sin was bringing forth
death such vile cities would contain
mate and corrupt the race. The can
Ger must he cut out, lest the whole be-
ing be destroyed. Wild beasts and
scrpcnts must bc cxtcrmina,cd in or
der that the children of God may live.
The Escape from Sodom.-St. Peter
tells us that Lot was righteous man.
let us not SANDER Lot and make linn
out worse than he was because Of his
many impcrfcctions. The fact that he
''vexcd lis righteous soul concerning
the deeds OF the sodomitcs shows that
liz was still alive To goodness. Pain Is
a sign Of life. When any part OF the
body cannot feel, then IL IS dead. But
Lot was IA very islpcrfcct good man.
No one seems to have been converted
10 righteousness by him. He failed in
h.> power even over his own family.
lie had 80 lived that when he began to
warn the Sodomitcs they did not be-
l,cvc him Even his prayer tl9:io,
@0l was a vast contrast 10 Abraham's
prayer
liut he was so much better than the
NAb'lNs liz it~ANtt' ~ hiN's 49,
Influences. that the two angels, from
Abraham at Hebron. came and warned
him Of his danger. lie fingered, AID
they pressed him more urgently. His
wife and two daughters accompanied
BIN. The angels CONNER led thcr.
hot to stop long enough even TO look
back. nor to stay in all the plain, for the
whole region was devoted to ruin.
Lots Escape. Lot was saved So rs
rs fire. but he lost everything for the
sake of which he had gone To Sodom.
destroyed; the others were contain
mated. And yet no doubt il was
largely for their salxcs that he pitched
his tent toward the fertile fields Of
seldom lie lost his home. his flock
Ltd herds and all his property. lie cs-
capped. a poor. forlorn. seemingly
hrokcn-down man. The poorest in
v"stmcnt he ever made was in proper
= in ~odom.
The Destruction Of Sodom.-The lo-
cation Of >odom is still undecided. 1t
was formerly thought to be ut the
southern part of the Dead sea. The
indicating a vast chasn which must
have existed from a very early period.
Eut south Of the eastern peninsula,
WHICH projects into the sea. the bot
torn forms n plateau on n very differ
-ft level. where the water is but "a few
fcct deep. and in some places is capable
OF being fcrdcd. This is. in all proba-
bllity, the site Of the buried city"
The Physical Cause Of Its Destruc-
lion. The destruction of Sodom was
'"d's act. apparently using, rs the
means. agencies in the very nature ~
Suaom and the plain. which was full
q slime. or bitumcn pits Gen. ii:i0l.
me whole region abounds. in a pc
GUITAR manner, with bitumcn. sulphur
and salt II il probable that the walls
81 the city and of the dwellings were
pcrmcatcd ard cementcd together with
bitumcn.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
one privilege of prayer Is that thus
wv can help those whom we can help
IN 81 hn,.