Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-05-06

panlon living III poverty and SqualOr.
He threw his arms about the colonel's
neck and begged his pardon. Then he
said. Colonel. why did you not let us
search you and free you from the sus-
picion of the theft Because" an
| swered the colonel. though l am poor.
.dren have not had enough to eat for
months. Meat they have not had for
a week. And while you were eating !
Slipped the meat off my plate and hid
It in my pockets. that they might eat
it after reached home" All, the
temptations of sin, which must con.
tinually abide with such starving men
and the homeless! God is going to
judge such sinners differently from
the way he will condemn our sins.
Like Lots wife. we have had cur
physical necessitie; supplied. Aye, al
most all of us have had more than the
necessities. God has given to us many
luxuries as well. When we entered
into sin we went there to seek pleas
ure. and not for the necessities of food
and clothing We sinned because we
wanted to sin. and not because in one
sense we felt we had to sin to live.
The Training Lots Wife Had.
Like Lots wife. are we? Most of us
aye. all-have felt the gospel inspiration
of Christian home. know not wheth-
er this woman was born in a godly
cradle and reared in q piouS home. I
know not whether in her younger days
she was taught to say her evening
prayers ut her mothers knee. But do
know that as soon as she married she
was taken to a godly home. Lot, her
husband. was Abraham's foster child
and nephew. His father died when Lot
was very young. Abraham and Sarah
had no children; therefore they adopt
ed this orphan-his mother was evil
IDENTIFY dead-and brought him up as
their own son. No sooner did Lot bring
home his young bride than. methinks.
can see this old gray haired patriarch
Abraham welcome her to his home.
head and say: my child, welcome
thee in the name of the Lord. vel
come thee as my daughter" Methinks
I can see Sarah take the young girl in
her arms and press her to her heart
and place holy kiss upon her fresh
young lips. That night. as usual, the
aged couple have family prayers. Lot
side. Step by step Lots wife is taught
to trust God and to live for God and to
be one of Gods little children. She is
not cannibal on the Kongo. taught
from her infancy that the best banquet
she can have is the Quivering flesh Of
captive whom her husband has
brought home in chains. She is not an
Aztec Indian. who thinks the best Of
fering she can make to God is the
bleeding heart of human sacrifice
torn ont from the ribs Of pleading
suppliant. She is a child of the cove
nant, having lived at least for years
amid the highest and noblest of godly
surroundings. She was destroyed be-
cause she refused To obey the teach
ings of God which she learned from her
father-in-law and mother-in-law.
Lots wife's doom awful. you say.
Yes. but shall not God condemn more
severely those who have deliberately
wandered forth into the ways Of sin
and who have once lived in Christian
homes than those who have never
heard the name of Jesus except in bias
phemy? Shall not God more severely
condemn you and me for our sins than
he would our companions in evil whose
mothers were like Delilah. JeZebel or
Rahab instead of like Sarah or Esther
or Ruth? Indeed, so strong is the in
fiuence of our parental Christian
homes that they are Juggling ut our
hearts today in spite of present sins.
We cannot drown their echoing calls If
we would.
influence of the Old Home.
Some time ago dear friend of mine
was out i'm a mining town. There at
that time was miner noted for his
sins. Gambler. drunkard. blasphemer
and peddler of filthy stories was he.
My friend met him one day and said:
Are you as bad Il man as you make
out to be? You say you are going
home this spring to visit your mother.
Will you get drunk there as you do
here: Will you tell her the vile stories
you tell here?" The man looked at my
friend moment and then said: NO,
sir. l would sooner cut off my right
arm than let my mother or my sisters
see me as / am. / came from Chris
tian home, and the old truths which
We're taught me there are still plead
ing with me to be n good Christian
man." Oh, my friends, when Lots
wife went astray she did not sin in
ignorance. Like ourselves, she once
lived in a godly home. Like yonder
miner, she had, rs we have. the pray
ers of her pious loved ones pleading
with her to keep pure and true and
upright. as she ought to have been.
Will you continue to disregard the
Christian teachings of your youthful
days?
But do the lessons Of Lots wife end
here? No. Drawing near today to the
Abrahamic encampment we hear a
great strife and turmoil. The herdmen