The Portland daily press., 1896-01-01
ssREMEMBER LOIS WIFE,
le Modern Theological View of the
Lady's Strange Plight.

Salt, but Was, as 1t Were, veneered Oh
Plated With Saline Material.
rom the Rochester Union and Adver
tiser.
The Rev. DR.. L. II. Squires spoke or
tot's Wife, at the First Universalisi
urch, saying:
Perhaps you wonder why we should
hnember Lots wife, Certainly there
not anything very noteworthy about
/ to remember. There are great
my women whom it is pleasant and
phtable to remem Der. She had done
hing very great. In fact, there i,
~ little account of her, {. nj that is not
lly eledltable. But perhaps that is be
Use women in those days were moi
tught to ce of much account, anyhow
d tho records we have were written by
u. So women received but little at
ton while living or little mention
iii dead. In this case they have men.
he'd Lots wife, You will notice they
e not even given the name of Mrs.
She is only Lots wife, But The
forian has done her the honor to men.
t that she became a pillar of salt
Probably If she had become a living
st Their, would have heen no mention
O. Bible reporters were not so very
nh unlike modern newspaper reporters
Alt woman who looks back gets
lis notice than the tho, sand modest,
sally women who go straight forward
W their life work.
q this story of Lots wife we are
DIED to read between the lines and
relstruct the missing links by the aid
of reasonable Imagination. The Lot
faty were residents of Sodom, a city
VIII, according to tradition, was locat-
edn the low plains OIL the eastern
Dor OF the Dead Sea. They were
wied to flee from tine city because of
sig OF an pending calamity which
t1tsned its destruction. Lot, who was
ihew OF Abraham, appears to have
heGather more intelligent and light
eouhan most of this people there. And
II sns that Abraham, who dwelt in
theigh lands on the other eide Of the
JON, bad foreseen the danger and had
senWo messengers to warn Lot, his
nepx, tEeaye the city and escape to the
motains. By their persuasions Lot
gatls his family and household effects
IN might and hastily leaves the city,
Hees first to Zoar, little town nearer
thells. and afterward up into the
molains.
Il in the hasty fight from the city
1t SEES Lots wife was left behind.
Wheir che did noU want to go and did
not alnk there was any danger, or
whef she waited to pack a trunk, or
Whet the rest of them ran away from
her q left her to carry the things, we
do nGnOw. For some reason she turned
hacksd was lost. The city was on fire.
Smohnd ashes and sulpuhurous fumes
uiledll the air of the Valley; suffocat-
90 evf living thing; covered, petrifed,
and Tied In bituminous ashes every
,roatu When they afterward went
back d found Lots wife, they found
ner de body pillar of salt.
: No let us pause little and try 60
ieterms the real character of this event.
can lieye almost every word of this
accoulexcept the assumption of the SUI
leinatal in it which it seems to me is
not ata necessary to account for the
whole lair.
'Ine first place, Sodom and Gomor-
'ah artot the only cities that have been
overth@n and es royed by convulsions
u mats. Hercuaianeun and Pompeii
we're blea under a rain of burning lava,
lulphuand ashas from the eruption OF
vesuyi in the year 70 A. ID. Many
'ther chs in other parts of the world
rave bn overthrown, destroyed, or
iurled the same way.
Llsh was oyerthrown and partly
wallovl up By an earthquake in the
ear l7s In 1868 large cities in Ecuador
we're sWlowed up. africa and Afequipa
u Peruere destroyed, and the sea re-
reated pm the harbor of Africa and re-
urned Ia tidal wave which submerged
he whd coast and carried United
states sinner two miles inland. This
treat eishquake has been described by
'rof. S1 Hochstetter of Arequipa. He
avs: Twas Aug. 49, 1868, at five min
ties past an earthquake shock was ex-
minute later terrible
nise waheard beneath the earth. A
ecoDd sink was felt more violent than
ae f1rst, i'd then began swaying mo-
ION, gratally Increasing i'll intensity.
4 the eoSe of the first minute this
notion habecome SO yiolenI that the
lhabltan ran in terror out of their
ouses in the streets and squares. In
le next to minutes the swaying had so
lefeased hat the more lightly built
ouses WEI cast to the ground, and the
wing peeb could scarcely keep their
ed.
/" And iw there followed during two
: three Inutes terrible scene. The
Eaying nrion changed to fierce verti
i upheav. The suhterranean roaring
lcIeassd Sa deafening thunder. Then
ere heardhe eart-pierciAg shrieks of
le wretckd people, the bursting Of
ais, the ashing of fal ing houses and
lurcbes. lille over all rolled thick
ouds OF alsellowish black dust, which,
I'd they hel poured forth many minutes
niger, Wou have suffocated and buried
cry hvlg creature. Although the
locks had tsted hut few minutes, the
hole city his destroyed. Not building
manned uinjured, AMI there were few
bich did nj lie in shapeless heaps of
Ilns, WhIiaens of thousands of human
lngs had ben swallowed up.
'The carts surface is continually I'M
rgolng chhges. by upheaval or depres-
IN. On IL 18th of November, 1922 a
DAD line Q the seacoast in Chill, 100
lies IN extnt, was raised from the sea,
Febluar, 1885. and in November,
81, other SIMILAR rises of the land took
ace. In ia9 the mouth Of the Indus,
In. hoo ~