Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

on account of what he feared that Lot, and probably a few other righteous persons in the cities, might suffer. He hoped, indeed, that for their sake, the Lord, in great mercy, might possibly spare all the inhabitants, and allow them a still longer space for repent

ance.

In the meanwhile, the two other men "turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord." That one of the three who spake to Abraham as being the Lord, still remained with him.

Abraham knew perfectly well that it was God himself, thus appearing to him in the form, and using the voice, of a man. He approached him with reverence, and began to intercede for the miserable inhabitants of the cities of the plain,

"Will thou also," said he, "destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far

from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

"And the Lord said, if I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

"And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous, wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five ?"

"And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it."

Still Abraham ventured to keep on pleading with God. If forty-if thirty;-if twenty; if even ten righteous persons could be found in Sodom, he earnestly besought the Lord not to destroy the city for their sake.

And God was so merciful that he said he would not ;-if, indeed, this small number could be found there.

The Lord, then, (under the appearance of the human form,) went his way; and Abraham returned to his tent. How anxious he must have felt, and how fearful must have been his thoughts, till he knew whether the cities of the plain would be spared, and his

nephew Lot and his family delivered from destruction. The night was near at hand. What the light of the coming day would make known to him was uncertain. But God, he knew, would do right; and, while he still hoped in his mercy, he trembled at what his justice might find it necessary to inflict upon such a wicked people.

Do you feel for sinners around you? They are exposed to a more dreadful punishment in the future world, if they do not repent and trust in Christ, than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were, in the destruction of their cities and their lives. They have souls that may be lost for ever. The loss of houses, and property, and even life itself, is nothing in comparison with the loss of the soul.

Do you plead with God for sinners, as Abraham did?

He pleaded for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and besought God, for the sake of the few righteous persons that might be there, to have mercy upon them.

There is one perfectly righteous person, for whose sake,-on account of what he did and suffered,-God can have mercy on the

greatest sinners.-You know whom I mean, -the Lord Jesus Christ.

For his sake you can beseech God to be merciful to sinners around you; to give them his Holy Spirit; to lead them to a true sorrow for their sins; and to an affectionate faith in that Saviour who is provided for them.

Do you thus feel and pray for sinners ?If you do not; if you have no compassion for them in this respect, you have no truly benevolent feelings in your heart towards them. You are not like Abraham; and, continuing so, God will not have mercy on you, and pardon. your sins, and treat you as if you were righteous. You are not like Christ, who had great pity for sinners; and came into our world, and suffered and died, that he might save them; and prayed for the very men who so wickedly and cruelly nailed him to the cross, while he was enduring its agonizing tortures.

on you.

Continuing so, Christ will not have mercy He cannot own you as one of his followers and friends. His sufferings and death will do you no good. You will be without a Saviour. You will be without any

excuse, when you stand before the judgmentseat of Christ. For not having had compassion on other sinners, you will show that you deserve to have none bestowed upon yourself.

Pray; plead with God, for yourself as a sinner. Pray; plead with God for your fellow sinners.

STORY XV.

LOT ESCAPING FROM SODOM.

THE two persons in human form, that left Abraham and went towards Sodom, while he remained pleading with the other one, who was the Lord,-reached that city in the evening. At least, we have every reason to believe so. For it is said in the chapter following that which gives the account which we have been considering, and as if to continue this account, that two angels came to Sodom at even, evidently to see Lot and save him, as will appear from what follows.

« FöregåendeFortsätt »