they came to a great river, called the Euphrates. And then they journeyed and they journeyed till by and by they came to another river, called the Jordan, in a deep valley. And there, between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea,—the place is on the map,—they found a pleasant land which they liked much. On account of their flocks and herds they could not settle down and stay long in one place, so they wandered here and there over the green country, stopping to rest now under a spreading oak, and now in the shadow of a great rock; and they slept in tents.

But, after a while, they had so many sheep and lambs, and cows and calves, that it was hard to find a pasture big enough to feed them all. When they came to a spring of water, and all wanted to drink at the same time, there was great confusion; and sometimes the herdsmen fought about it. So one day Abraham said to Lot, “There are now so many cattle that we had better divide them into two companies, and pasture them in different places. You take yours and go your way, and I will take mine and go my way. Here is a high hill, from which we may see all the land. Let us climb up and look, and you shall choose which part you will take.” So they climbed up the hill, and looked out over the land. To the north were rocky hills, to the south were wild deserts, to the west was the sea, but to the east was a green plain. In the plain were rich pastures, and groves of trees with the white houses of little towns among them, and a river flowing by, so that it looked like the Garden of Eden. This pleased Lot. He said to himself, “My Uncle Abraham has given me my choice, and I will choose the best there is.” So he chose the plain, leaving Abraham the stony hills.

Now, people who think only of themselves, and take the best without regard to others, sometimes get the worst. And this is very likely to be the case with those who choose that which is easy instead of that which is hard. So it was with Lot. The plain was not so pleasant as he thought. It had once been the bed of a salt sea, and in some places the salt lay upon the ground, and there were salt springs. And near by there was a dreadful swamp where the mud was mixed with oil. Before Lot had been long at Sodom,—for this was the name of the town in which he lived,—there came four kings with long names and fierce soldiers, and they drove the people out of their houses, and back into the swamp, and they captured them and carried them away. Abraham, when he heard of it, took all his herdsmen, and armed them with swords and clubs, and they attacked the four kings by night when they were asleep, and rescued Lot and his neighbors. But it was all very unpleasant for Lot.

The people of Sodom had never been good people, but after this they were worse than ever. It troubled Lot greatly. Sometimes he thought of moving away, but his wife liked the place, and so did their two daughters: so he stayed. He reproved his bad neighbors, but that did no good; he only made himself unpopular.

At last, one hot day, as Abraham sat in the door of his tent under the shade of the oaks, he saw three men coming. And he rose up and ran to meet them, for he was very kind to strangers. “Come,” he said, “and rest here in the cool shade, and my wife shall get you something to eat.” So the strangers stopped, and Sarah made a fire and baked some cakes and broiled some meat, and brought out curds and whey, and set the table. And after supper, the men looked towards Sodom, and one of them said, “What kind of a place is that? We hear sad things about it.” And Abraham said, “I have a nephew who lives there, and he tells me that it is a very wicked place indeed.” And the men said, “We are going to see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears.” So they went on down the road to Sodom.

Now, when they came to the town, there was Lot sitting by the gate, and he was glad to see them, and took them to his house and was very nice to them. But that night, when Lot’s neighbors found that he had company, they came about the house, a great crowd of them, hooting and throwing stones, and tried to break in the door to kill them. So the strangers saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears.

Then, early in the morning before the sun was up, the visitors wakened Lot. “Come,” they cried, “get up and escape out of this place, for this very day it shall be destroyed.” And the visitors hurried them, pointing to the sky, and crying that the storm was coming and the time was short. “Quick!” they said; “run for your lives! Do not even look back. Go to the mountain.” And as they came out of the house, the sky was of the color of copper and of iron, and a fearful wind began to blow, and the lightning flashed and the thunder roared. And, as they came out of the town, the earth quaked, and the springs of salt and of oil were broken, and salt and oil and pitch burst up into the air in the great swamp, and the lightning set them on fire, and the wind blew them on the town.

So Lot ran and his daughters ran, and at first his wife ran with them. But Lot’s wife was very fond of Sodom. Bad as it was, she liked it. She could not bear to leave it. She stopped and looked back, only for a moment, but in that moment the storm of fire and brimstone overtook her. There she fell, and the drifting sand and whirling salt of the tempest buried her.

The next day, as soon as it was light, Abraham arose and looked toward Sodom, and all the sky was black with smoke. As for Lot’s wife, nothing was left of her but a pillar of salt.

IV

ISAAC AND REBEKAH

BRAHAM had a son named Isaac. One time, when Isaac was but a little lad, he had a strange adventure in which he very nearly lost his life.

The people of that land believed that God wishes us to give Him the very best we have. And that is right, if we give Him our best by using it so as to please Him. But they said that the thing to do with our best is to burn it. So they would make a heap of stones, and put wood upon it, and place their best on the wood, and set fire to it, and the flame and smoke would rise into the sky. That was called a sacrifice. When they were very glad and wished to thank God, and when they were in great trouble and desired God to help them, they offered a sacrifice.

Now there was nothing in the world for which Abraham and Sarah cared so much as they did for their little boy Isaac. He was their very best. And so it came into Abraham’s heart that there was no way by which he could so plainly show God the greatness of his faith and love as to give Him Isaac. And early one morning Abraham wakened Isaac, and said, “We are going on a long journey to-day, my son.” And Isaac was glad, because he loved to go on journeys with his father.

So off they went, along the green road, and Isaac was very happy, but Abraham was very sad, and Sarah in her tent was crying as if her heart would break. At last they came to a hill, and Abraham cut a bundle of wood, and let Isaac carry it on his back; but Abraham carried a knife. Now Isaac had often seen the sacrifice of lambs, so as they climbed the hill he said, “Father, here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?”

And Abraham answered, “God will provide himself a lamb.”

But at the top of the hill, when the wood was piled upon the ground, Abraham with tears in his eyes took Isaac and tied his hands and his feet, and laid him on the wood.

Then suddenly there came a quick voice in Abraham’s heart, and the voice called, “Abraham! Abraham!” And Abraham said, “Here am I.” And the voice said, “Do not touch the lad. Behind you in the thicket is a ram. Take that.” So Abraham untied his little boy,