nently execrable.

These were the men

with whom Lot chose to dwell, because their land afforded him the prospect of gain. It was well adapted to the service of his flocks, calculated to promote their increase. It was not only fertile, but wide and ample. Over it his herds might range, under the eye of his herdmen, without molestation.

Such was the motive that prompted Lot to dwell in the cities of the plain. Who could have supposed that one who left his native country for the sake of religion, would ever, regardless of that religion, fix his abode among abandoned sinners? "Where "was his zeal when, not from necessity, but "from lucrative views, he took up his habi"tation there, where wickedness seemed to "have attained its highest pitch"?" Where were his love and attachment to the religion of the true God, when he willingly settled himself in a place where that religion was unknown, nay, ridiculed and per

secuted; and that not as a preacher of righteousness, but as a lover of gain? His wealth, as it had impaired his affection for Abraham, very seriously injured his affec

b Robinson's Scripture Characters, vol. 1. ch, 6.

tion for God. It had enthroned an idol in that heart, which ought to have beat exclusively for Him who had called him out of darkness into his marvellous light. To Sodom he goes-Abraham's company and fellowship he leaves. What a contrast is here! Abraham's family was like the outer court of heaven, Sodom like the inmost recesses of hell. In the one were heard prayer and praise; in the other profaneness and blasphemy. In the one were seen order, regularity, justice, and benevolence; in the other, every vice reigned rampant. According to the prophet, the iniquity of Sodom was, pride, fulness of bread, and abun"dance of idleness; neither did she strength

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en the hand of the poor and needy. They

were haughty, and committed abomination "before"" the Lord. Their crimes were unnatural, beastly, shocking. They were countless, aggravated, reaching to the heavens. Such crimes naturally flow from pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness. Any of these will produce immorality; but the three combined bear down all restraint, sweep away all morality. Of the three,

c Ezek. xvi. 49, 50.

abundance of idleness is the most fruitful source of mischief and evil in society. Oh that proud and rich parents would realize this, and, by timely exertion, spare their offspring from that curse," abundance of "idleness!"

With Sodomites Lot now associates, but associates with sorrow. Their filthy conversation, as also their unlawful deeds, vexed his soul". Had not this been the case, had he not been grieved at their conduct, he could not have been a good man. No doubt he remonstrated with them, and bore testimony against their sins. This excited their merriment or indignation, and rendered his situation more uncomfortable. He had, however, brought all this evil upon himself, and had none to blame but himself. Whilst Abraham was blessed with divine revelations, and honoured with divine interviews, by which the life of God in his soul was nourished, Lot was suffering the punishment due to him for his voluntary banishment from the means of grace. He had wilfully invited temptation, and risked his everlasting happiness, for the sake of his

d 2 Fet. ii. 7, 8.

worldly substance. Desiring to be more wealthy, he fell into temptation and a snare. He exposed himself to the influence of bad habits, and the seductions of bad men. He thus not only exposed himself, but his family also, his wife, and his daughters. Where was parental affection, when he chose his abode in Sodom? It was swallowed up in the predominant love of gain. This made him act like one regardless of domestic happiness, as well as his salvation. What evils, what miseries does this passion produce in men! What injury it occasions in believers! It deadens their love, and cramps their obedience.

Lot, though vexed with the inhabitants of Sodom, remained in that place, no doubt, from the same unworthy motive which influenced him to choose it as his abode. Because he grew in substance, like many a

prudent Christian" of the present day, he conceived it his duty to tamper still longer with temptation. The procurement of a competence for his family was the plea by which he silenced conscience; and, without fleeing for his life, he continued the spectator of unequalled crimes, of unpa

ralleled bestiality. In Sodom, and with Sodomites, he permitted some of his daughters to marry. This might naturally have been expected, and ought to have been avoided.

Such a connexion was necessarily injurious to his daughters. A virtuous woman, marrying a profligate and abandoned wretch, can promise herself but little comfort. His course of life, and his companions, will more probably ruin her virtue, than her virtue reform his vices. The daughters of Lot seem to have assimilated to their husbands, and to have become Sodomitish women in principle and practice.

Religious parents cannot be too careful in superintending and directing the matrimonial connexions of their children, especially of their daughters. Their first inquiry ought to be into the moral and religious character of those who seek such connexion. If they wilfully approve of and consent to a union with vicious and debauched persons, however elevated in their stations, and affluent in their circumstances, they are accessary to the sorrow and misery of their offspring.