S72 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 



Though he had filled their houses with wealth, 

 (Far from me be the counsel of the wicked) 

 The righteous beheld and rejoiced, 

 The innocent laughed them to scorn ; 

 Surely their substance was carried away. 

 And their riches devoured by fire." 



Job, xxii. 15-20. 



The same fact, Mr Henderson thinks, is implied in the descrip- 

 tion of the circumstances connected with Lot's escape. 



" Why was he prohibited from lingering in any part of the 

 low land, if not because he would be there exposed to the pesti- 

 lential volcanic effluvia and to the lava ? And what reason can 

 be assigned for his obtaining leave to stop in Zoar, but its lying 

 at some distance from the spot where the lava began to act, as 

 likewise on an elevation whence he could survey the approach^ 

 ing ruin ; and retire before the stream reached that place ? We 

 accordingly find, that however desirous he was to stay there at 

 first, he quitted it before night, for a still, more elevated and 

 safe retreat ; — " And Lot weiit^ up out of Zoar, and dwelt in 

 the mountain, for he feared to dwell in ZoarT — Gen. xix. 30. 



How natural is the incrustation of his wife on this hypothesis ! 

 Remaining in a lower part of the valley, and looking with a wist- 

 ful eye towards Sodom, she was surrounded, ere she was aware, 

 by the lava, which, rising and swelling, at length reached her, 

 and (whilst the volcanic effluvia deprived her of life) incrusted 

 her where she stood, so that being, as it were, embalmed by the 

 salso-bituminous mass, she became a conspicuous beacon, and 

 admonitory example to future generations. The power of this 

 asphaltic substance in preserving from corruption is evident, 

 from its being employed by the Egyptians for embalming their 

 mummies." 



" She is said to have been converted into a pillar of salt, on 

 account of the quantity of that substance which appeared on 

 the crust ; and its abundance in those countries is notorious, 

 both from sacred and profane history ; so much so, that the lake 

 which now fills the caverns made by the earthquake, has, among 

 other names, that of the Salt Sea." 



I know not what opinion may be entertained with regard to 

 this explanation of the disaster that awaited Lot's wife, but it 

 will at least be allowed, that the eruption of a stream of lava. 



