The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-05
REMEMBER LOTS WIFE"
THE MODERN THEOLOGY VIEW OF
TEE LADY's STRANGE PLIGHT.

She Did Not Become n Solid Pillar of
Rock salt, But Was, a. IL Were,
Eeneered or Plated With Saline
Material.
From Rochester Union and Advertiser.
The Rev. DR.. L. H. Squires spoke on
Lots Wife" at the First Universalist
church, saying:
Perhaps you wonder why we should
remember Lots WIFE Certainly there
is not anything very noteworthy about her
to remember. There are a great many
women whom it is more pleasant and
profitable to remember. She had done
nothing very great. In fact. there is
very little account of her. and that is not
very creditable. But perhaps this is be-
cause women in those days were not
thought to be Of much account. anyhow.
And the records we have were written by
men 80 women received but little atten-
ton while living and little mention when
dead In this case they have mentioned
Lots wife You will notice they have
not even given the name Of Mrs. Lot.
She is only Lots wife But the histo-
ran has done her the honor to mention
that she became a pillar of salt Prob
ably II she had become a living saint
there would have been no mention of it,
Bible reporters were not so very much
unlike modern newspaper reporters. A
salt woman who looks back gets more
notice than the thousand modest sanity
women who go straight forward with their
life work.
In this story of Lots wife we are
Obliged to read between the lines and re-
construct the missing links by the aid Of
reasonable imagination. The Lot fam
lily were residents of Sodom. city which
according to tradition, was located on the
low plain on the eastern border of the
Dead sea They were warned TO flee from
the city because of signs of an impending
calamity which threatened its destruc-
ton. Lot, who was a nephew of Abra-
ham, appears to have been rather~snore
Intelligent and righteous than most of
the people there. And it seems that Alb
the other side of the Jordan, had fore
seen the danger and had sent two mes
sengers to warn Lot, his nephew. to leave
BY their persuasions Lot gathers his
family and household effects in the night
az z nastiy leaves the city. neeins hrst
ana atterward up into the mountains.
. But in the hasty flight from the city
II seems Lots wife was left behind
Whether she did not want TO go and did
not think there was any danger, or
whether the rest of them ran away from
do not know. For some reason she turn
ed back and was lost The city was on
IRE. Smoke and ashes and sulphurous
FUMES hNed all the air of the valley; suf-
located every living thing; covered pet
rtfed, and buried in bituminous ashes
every creature. When they afterward
went back and found Lots wife. they
found her dead body a pillar of salt
NOW, let us pause little and try to
determine the real character of this event
l can believe almost every word of this
account except the assumption of the su-
pernatural in it, which it seems to me is
not at all necessary to account for the
whole affair.
I'm the first place Sodom and Comorrah
are not the only cities that have been
overthrown and destroyed by commissions
OF nature. Herculaneum and Pompeii
We're buried under rain of burning lava,
sulphur, and ashes from the eruption of
Nesuvius in the year 79 A. d. Many other
cities in other parts of the world have
been overthrown, destroyed or buried in
%Iisbon was overthrow and partly
swallowed up by an earthquake in the
year 1775. In 1868 large cities in ECUADOR
We're swallowed up, africa and Arequipa in
Peru were destroyed, and the sea retreat
ed from the harbor of africa and returned
in q tidal wave which submerged the
whole coast and carried a United States
steamer two. miles inland. This great
earthquakes has been described by Prof.
von Hoehstetter of Arequipa. He says:
1t was Aug. Is, 1868, at five minutes past
5, an earthquake shock was experienced
Half a,lminute later a terrible noise was
heard beneath the earth A second shock
was Lelt more violent than the first and
then Began a swaying motion, gradually
increasing in intensity. In the course of
the first minute this motion had become
so violent that the inhabitants ran in ter
ror out of their houses into the streets and
squares. In the next two minutes the
SWdylnS ndu so increased that the more
lightly built houses were cast to the
ground, and the flying people could scarce
ly keep their feet.
" And now there followed during two
or three minutes a terrible scene The
swaying motion changed into a fierce YER
tical upheaval.N The subterranean roaring
increased to deafening thunder. Then
were heard the heart-Diercing shrieks of
the wretched people, the bursting of walls
the crashing of falling houses and
clouds of a yellowish-black dust, which,
had they been poured forth many min
utes longer. would have suffocated and
the shocks had lasted but a few minutes,
the whole city was destroyed Not a build
ing remained uninjured, and there were
few which did not lie in shapeless heaps
of ruins, while tens OF thousands of hui
man beings had been swallowed up
The earth's surface is continually I'M
sion. On Nov. 10 1922 a broad line of
the sea coast of Chilli 100 miles in extent
wa was raised RAJ ID from the sea- e5s, In February
rises of the land took place. In 1919 the
mouth of the Indus, which had long been
closed to navigation, was deepened in
places to more than eighteen feet. The
fort and village of Lindner were sub
merged, only TO the tops of the houses
and walls being visible above the water,
while at the distance of five miles from
this village a hill was raised up where
before had been low plain, which they
called the Mound of God"
Nov, all these facts indicate that we
need not look to the supernatural to find
means for the destruction of the cities
of the plain. The truth it, as modern
travellers tell us, that that plain is a
bituminous bog. Naphtha springs abound
Sulphur beds are there. With these con-
dittons under that fierce tropical sun fires
are frequent and long-continued These
same sulphur fumes and smoke from the
burning bitumen beds may be seen to-day
by travellers that Abraham saw when He
got up in the morning and looked toward
the land of the plain. and 10! the smoke
of the country went up as smoke of a
furnace
Now, think we may take reasonable
view of the destruction of those cities
of the plain. There was some natural
conVulsions earthquake or volcanic
which overthrow them. submerged them
under the waters of the Dead sea- or bur-
led them under sulphurous ashes as Pom
pen was buried. Fire lent its terrors to
the scene. Some might escape like Lot
who fled to the hills. But those who
should remain. or turned back, like Mrs