7. Is there any thing else we are taught to avoid? Yes, we are taught to avoid setting our affections on the world too much, and not to desire earthly things in preference to heavenly things. 8. Did Christ ever remind his disciples of this fact? Yes, he said unto them, member Lot's wife."* 66 Rea Lot was a righteous man. He saved a city from destruction. God spared Zoar be cause he requested it of him. Though he was a righteous man, yet he could not save his own wife. Perhaps he knew not that she was so far behind, and when he remembered or saw that he was not with him, it was too late for him to return for her. She was already dead. And it was against the command of God to look behind him, much less to return and try to save his wife.. * Let us think a little on Lot's wife. What was her character, we are not told any thing about, except in the words of the Text. There is Luke 17. 32. is reason to fear that she loved sin. Though she had a righteous man for her husband, that does not imply that she was a good woman. She was not, it is to be feared, a decided character; that is, she was not wholly on the Lord's side, or else she would have obeyed his command and made more haste from Sodom. There is reason also to believe that she loved a present world. And you cannot love God and the world too. This has been the ruin of thousands as well as Lot's wife. Demas forsook the Apostle, because he loved the world. Judas betrayed Christ, because he loved the world. The young Ruler who came to Jesus and said, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Christ told him to go and sell all that he had and give to the poor, and that he should have treasure in heaven, and then come and follow him. When he heard this he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. The riches of grace are more valuable and more durable. It is better to have treasure in heaven than to have thou sands of gold and silver on earth. What es tate can be compared to that inheritance which fadeth not away. What honor, what diadem, diadem, can be compared to that Crown of Glory which fadeth not away. How much better it is to be a companion of those that fear God, than to keep company with the wicked. Take heed of unbelief and love to sin and the world. Once more, my dear children, Remember Lot's wife. Remember her sin and remember her punishment. Amen. A HYMN. A HYMN. Remember Lot's Wife. REMEMBER thy Creator God, Although you have him oft forgot; Ye young in years, be wise betimes, Love not the world, avoid its snares, The memory of the just shall live, But sinners' names shall die and rot; May you be monuments of grace, Remember ye the Wife of Lot. R. M. LECTURE LECTURE XX. ISAAC AND ISHMAEL. GEN. 21. 8. And the Child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. IN the beginning of this Chapter we have an account of the birth of Isaac, the son which had been so long and so often promised to Abraham. God had made a promise. He was faithful to that we now read of its fulfilment. promise, and When it is Sarah, the said that the Lord visited meaning is that he visited her in mercy and graciously attended to the time when he was to perform that which he had spoken, Sarah shall have a son: I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be born of her. God had said unto Abraham, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed: and thou shalt call his name Isaac. Many years afterward it was said concerning the posterity of Abraham, when they were settled in the promised land, that "there |