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

i can tell other reasons for the choice.
That night when the great shepherd en-
campment is asleep l see the lights
burning in Lots tent. hear woman
in earnest conversation with her hus-
band. She Is talking about like this:
Lot. what is the good of our living In
, tent all our lives? We have lots Of
sheep and horses and cattle. We are
rich. We can do what we like. You
can let the overseers look after the
! herds. Take life easy and have some
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 Sodom who stopped with
us last year on their way to Damas-
Gus! Their wives were charming peo-
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 go and live
in Sodom! The grass is good in the
plains of Jordan. There we can find
good pasture for the fiocks 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 find one circumstance. one
ground for hope Of spiritual develop
ment. that could have induced Lot
and his wife to go to live in Sodom
or Gomorrah? What Pompeii and
Herculaneuln were to the ancient
Romans these vile cities were to the
inhabitants Of the east Their sins
were SO vile and awful and debauch-
ing that no public teacher of this day
dare mention them or write them for
print. Today as you walk among the
ruins of Pompeii you see the most re-
voting and disgusting pictures paint
ed upon the walls, which prove how
the inhabitants of the aristocratic sub
urbS Of Rome gloried in their bestiali-
ties. Such were the inhabitants Of
Sodom. They made no pretense to de-
cency. They not only sinned, but they
gloried 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
competitions 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 1t about that club? I
do not say all mems clubs are bad.
But some certainly are bad. Is your
club made up of Christian members?
When you 90 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
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
back my baby" God said to you:
Daughter. l will give you back your
baby IL you will flee that city of SIM
l have taken your baby as a beautiful
| flower growing by the sinful quag-
mires and the worldly destructive mi
asmal swamps. / have plucked her
and planted her in the beautiful flow
er garden OF heaven near to the river
of life. IL you will live as my child
and turn your back upon sin you can
come into my heavenly gardens and
lift again your dear one as u rose of
Sharon to your lips" Then you said:
Lord. l will come! will Gomez Or
you are like Lots wife because you
were few years ago In the surgings
Of n great revival. 1t may have been
in village or city church. The reli-
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
Ages in the midst of the great sea of