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Patriarchs and Prophets
judgment, and little dreamed the gay, careless multitude that in their
treatment of these heavenly messengers that very night they would
reach the climax of the guilt which doomed their proud city. But there
was one man who manifested kindly attention toward the strangers
and invited them to his home. Lot did not know their true character,
but politeness and hospitality were habitual with him; they were a
part of his religion—lessons that he had learned from the example of
Abraham. Had he not cultivated a spirit of courtesy, he might have
been left to perish with the rest of Sodom. Many a household, in
closing its doors against a stranger, has shut out God’s messenger, who
would have brought blessing and hope and peace.
Every act of life, however small, has its bearing for good or for
evil. Faithfulness or neglect in what are apparently the smallest duties
may open the door for life’s richest blessings or its greatest calamities.
It is little things that test the character. It is the unpretending acts of
daily self-denial, performed with a cheerful, willing heart, that God
smiles upon. We are not to live for self, but for others. And it is only
by self-forgetfulness, by cherishing a loving, helpful spirit, that we
can make our life a blessing. The little attentions, the small, simple
courtesies, go far to make up the sum of life’s happiness, and the
neglect of these constitutes no small share of human wretchedness.
Seeing the abuse to which strangers were exposed in Sodom, Lot
made it one of his duties to guard them at their entrance, by offering
them entertainment at his own house. He was sitting at the gate as
the travelers approached, and upon observing them, he rose from his
place to meet them, and bowing courteously, said, “Behold now, my
lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night.”
They seemed to decline his hospitality, saying, “Nay; but we will abide
in the street.” Their object in this answer was twofold—to test the
sincerity of Lot and also to appear ignorant of the character of the men
of Sodom, as if they supposed it safe to remain in the street at night.
Their answer made Lot the more determined not to leave them to the
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mercy of the rabble. He pressed his invitation until they yielded, and
accompanied him to his house.
He had hoped to conceal his intention from the idlers at the gate
by bringing the strangers to his home by a circuitous route; but their
hesitation and delay, and his persistent urging, caused them to be
observed, and before they had retired for the night, a lawless crowd