See Genesis, xviii, xix.

THE three strangers entertained by Abraham," when they had finished their repast, "rose up from thence and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to bring them on their way." He was then informed of God's purpose to utterly destroy the cities of the plain, because of their great wickedness. Abraham interceded, saying, "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked " Then the promise was made to him that if fifty righteous people were fouod in the city it should be spared for their sakes. But still Abraham pleaded, and God said he would spare it if there were five less than fifty, and finally promised that for forty's sake, for thirty's, for twenty's-even for ten's sake-he would withhold destruction.

In the evening two angels came to Sodom and found Lot sitting at the gateway. They were invited to accompany him home, and partake of refreshment, and tarry for the night. The purpose of their visit was to warn Lot of the impending destruction of the city, and they urged him to gathet together as speedily as possible his family, and to warn such as were not under his roof to flee also. But his sons-in-law were unmindful of the warning, and early in the morning Lot, his wife, and their two daughters departed, urged on by the messenger who charged them, "Escape for thy life, look not behind ~hee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

"And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord; Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. Oh; let me escape thither (is it not a little one) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this th.ing, that I will not overthrow this city" for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called loar.

"The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into loar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire frol11 the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."

The scene is here represented quite literally, and is invested with almost terrific grandeur. The whole horizon is ablaze; the walls of the doomed city appear fairly torn asunder by the furious sweep of the flames, while the stifling smoke rolls upward in tumultuous volumes, filling all ,the upper sky with blackness, and spreading gloom over the earth. Through this gathering darkness Lot and his daughters hast,en, urged on by terror, and mindful of the injunction not to look backward. The artist has given Lot a most anxious and appealing look, and has quite successfully indicated the hapless fate of his wife, who stands high above the fire-swept plain, her drapery clinging in hard folds to her motionless limbs-a, rigid, unbreathing and almost transshaped figure.