the deliverances which he experiences. His language may well be,

"Oh, to grace how great a debtor,
Daily I'm constrained to be;
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,

Bind my wandering heart to Thee."

CHAPTER VIII.

ABRAHAM AND LOT: THE CONTRAST IN CHARACTER-MEMORIALIZING MERCIES, A PROFITABLE EXERCISE-ABRAHAM'S REVIEW-STRIFE BETWEEN THE HERDMEN OF ABRAHAM AND LOT-ABRAHAM AND LOT'S SEPARATION-THE LATTER'S PURE UNSELFISHNESS IN CONTRAST ΤΟ THE COVETOUSNESS OF LOT-LOT'S CHOOSING FOR HIMSELF: THE DANGER THEREOF, AND ITS PAINFUL ISSUE-THE EVIL OF SOWING TO THE FLESH-ABRAHAM'S LIBERALITY ACCEPTABLE TO GOD-CONTACT WITH SIN AND SINNERS: HOW DANGEROUS-LOT TAKEN CAPTIVE-ABRAHAM'S BRAVERY-LOT'S RESCUE -SALVATION ALONE FOR SINNERS-JEHOVAH'S CONDESCENSION AND BOUNDLESS LOVE HEART-APPEALS - CRAVINGS AFTER CHRIST THE BENEFIT AND THE BLESSEDNESS OF EXPERIENCE.

THE 13th chapter of Genesis is full of interest and instruction. In it the characters of both Abraham and Lot are very strongly delineated. The contrast is most striking. Whilst the one betrays considerable selfishness, the other exhibits the very contrary. The facts of the selfishness of Lot and the surrender of Abraham, may well be endorsed with that most expressive scripture, "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself" (Prov. xi. 24, 25).

We read in the chapter before referred to, that

"Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord" (Gen. xiii. 1-4).

Beloved, it is well not only to memoralize mercies, and to set up our "heaps," or our standards and Ebenezers, over against our Bethels, or blessedly-experienced "house of God;" but it is well also to go back in review of old spots and past experiences, in order to call up, instrumentally thereby, the gracious acts, interposing goodness, and boundless benefits of our covenant God in Christ. Such visits and reviewings give a tone and a freshness to present mercies and, ere we are aware, the light so shining upon the past, prompts us to take down our harp from the willow, under present pressure and anxiety, and to sing

"He that hath helped us hitherto,

Will help us all our journey through;
And give us daily cause to raise
New Ebenezers to His praise."

"His love in times past forbids me to think
He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink;

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through."

Abraham, no doubt, reviewed with thankfulness the

Lord's intimations of mercy, as connected with his previous sojourn between Beth-el and Hai; and acknowledged with gratitude the loving interpositions and gracious deliverances which he had experienced in the interval.

In proof, too, of the kindness which the Lord exercises in regard to His people, and of the unerring wisdom with which He guides and regulates their affairs, see in Abraham the fruit of the lesson which he had been taught, if we mistake not, in reference to his choosing to go down into Egypt. We have already intimated our doubts as to his having made his going thither a special subject of inquiry at the throne of grace. We think it is likely that he was more influenced by the force of circumstances than by any direct word from the Lord, such as that which at first prompted him to leave Ur of the Chaldees. But now how different his procedure. "The land," it seems, "was not able to bear" both Abraham and Lot, "that they might dwell together; for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle, and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.” How sweet was the spirit thus manifested by Abraham. What a lover of peace he. How did he drink into the spirit of that scripture, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for

brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments" (Psalm exxxiii. 1, 2). But not only was Abraham a lover of peace, but he was generous of soul. He had a largeness of heart and a liberality which, being divinely begotten, must of necessity be acceptable to God. "Is not the whole land before thee?" says he, addressing his kinsman: "separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." What thorough unselfishness this, and how satisfied he to be under the guidance of Him who has all hearts in His hands, and who has the control of all circumstances, and the bringing about of all events. How different, though, the spirit of Lot! How striking the contrast between him and Abraham! "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar." Ah, what a snare did that "well watering" subsequently prove to Lot. How important the lesson that his history inculcates. "Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom ;" not in it, but toward Sodom,