beams of the sun were stifled in thick clouds of sulphurous vapour; the roar of the fiery storm was still heard, as the smoke of the country, like the smoke of a furnace, ascended to blot out the face of the sky. But amidst the terror of this appalling sight, the soul of the patriarch was comforted; for he knew God had remembered his prayers, and had saved from death those whom he loved.

How suggestive is this history-how full of solemn lessoning! We see the family of a righteous man transplanted from its proper and genial associations of virtue, and growing up in the midst of corruption; we see him vexed in soul from day to day by the enormities practised around him, yet lacking resolution to lose all for conscience' sake: hoping to shield those dear to him from the wickedness besetting them on every side, and to keep pure the atmosphere of his home,-or mourning that the contamination has crossed his guarded threshold. The decree of punishment goes forth; and just were it that the innocent, in circumstances like these, should perish with the guilty. But mercy arrests the uplifted sword. The accumulated vengeance cannot descend— the destroying arm must delay to strike, till Lot has escaped. The visible interposition of God's messengers snatches him and his family from ruin; for his sake, the fiery destruction passes by the spot whither he flies for refuge. Does not the scene impressively teach how precious in the sight of the Lord are the lives of those who obey Him! If angels must be sent to save the one family in a nation of sinners, whose head is a man of prayer-feeble though his faith may be-how shall the protecting care and goodness of God cease to abide with the least of his saints!