Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-05-01

But reading between the lines / think
| can tell other reasons for the choice
That night when the great shepherd en-
campment is asleep / see the lights
| burning In Lots tent i hear a woman
In earnest conversation with her hus-
band She is talking about like this:
Lot, what is the good of our living in
q tent all our lives? We have lots of
sheep and horses and cattle We are
rich. We can do what we like. You
can lee the overseers look after the
herds. Take life easy and have soma
fun. Why not go down to Sodom and
| mingle In the society Of wealthy and
refined and aristocratic people? Our
girls are growing up. They need a
coming out party. Oh, know there
are bad people living down there. but
because they are bad we do not neces-
sarily have to be very bad. Besides.
| Lot don't you remember those big
merchants of ISodom who stopped with
us last year on their way to Damas.
Gus? Their wives were Charming neo-
| pie. They moved in the best society.
They asked me to come to Sodom TO
| live, and they would introduce me to
their friends. Come, let us 90 and live
| in Sodomi The grass is good in the
| plains of Jordan There we can find
| good pasture for the focks and herds
and have lots of pleasure besides"
And Lot and his wife went to live in
Sodom. Why?
Why They Went to Sodom.
| Can you lind one circumstance. one
| ground for hope of spiritual deveIoD-
ment, that could have induced Lot
and his wife to go to live in Sodom
or Gomorrah? What Pompeii and
| Herculaneum were to the ancient
| Romans these vile cities were to the
| inhabitants of the east. Their sins
were so vile and awful and debaucb-
| ing that no public teacher of this dav
| dare mention them or write them for
| print. Today as you walk among the
ruins of Pompeii you see the most re-
| voting 6and disgusting pictures paint
| ed upon the walls, which prove how
| the inhabitants of the aristocratic sub
| urbs of Rome gloried in their bestiai-
ties. Such were the inhabitants of
Sodom. They made no pretense to de-
cency. They not only sinned, but they
g-oried in their sins. They published
| those sins everywhere. They practic-
ed them openly. Yet that was the
place where Lot and his wife. with
their two daughters, deliberately de-
cided to dwell after they had left the
sweet, holy fellowship Of Abraham's
home. My brother, my sister, are your
companions today evil companions?
Are they men and women who sin and
sin openly? Are they inhabitants of
the evil cities of the plain?
Man, how is it about that club? |
do not say all mems clubs are bad.
But some certainly are bad lis your
club made up OF Christian members?
When you go there do you feel you
are honoring Christ? Do you ever hear
the lewd joke, the vile story, the
drunken hiccOugh, there? Do you as
sociate there with men who are neg
lecting their homes and who are ac-
customed to speak lightly Of woman's
purity and the sacred nobility Of moth |
erhood? Wife, how is it with your as
sociates? For years you have been
struggling to get into society" What |
society" The society" of Sodom or
Of Nazareth? The society of wives |
and daughters who are trying to make |
the world better through Christ or the |
society" of avOwed worldlings? Why |
did Lots wife long to associate with |
the sinful inhabitants of the cities Of |
the plain? Why are you, o men and
women, struggling to associate with |
people who care no more for your
Christ than for Buddha or MOhammed |
or Confucius or Plato? Are your asso-
ciates today made up of a gambling, |
drinking, card playing, dancing, Sab
bath breaking and God dishOnoring
set? If you are deliberately compan-
ioning with such associates you are
like Lots wife, living with the wicked
in the evil cities of the plain.
Why He Looked Back.
Now we come to the great climax of
these symbols. Lots wife was half
| way converted. She was in exactly
the same position as you were when
you lost your baby. You knelt by that
| casket and said, 80 God, give me
back my babyr God said to you:
Daughter, l will give you back your
baby if you will fee that city of sim
nave taken your baby as a beautiful |
mower growing by the sinful quag-
hllreS and the worldly destructive mi
aSlnaI swamps l have pIucked her
ana planted her in the beautiful flow
er garden of heaven near to the river
OF life. If you will live as nv child
and turn your back upon sin Won can
come into my heavenly gardens and
MT again your dear one as a rose of
Sharon to your lips Then YOU said.
Lord, will come! viii conner Or
you are like Lots wife because You
were few years ago in the surgings
of great revival. 1t may have been
in a village or city church. The reIi-
| gious movement as a great tidal wave
| swept over that community and car
! ried your brothers, your sisters. your
| wife your children, upon the Rock of |