24 1;T. HON. SIK E. TEMPLE, BAKT., ON THE UNITY OF TRUTH. 



can and 1 will take the right, or I will take the left and you 

 the right." Now Lot thought, when he looked round, that 

 he Avould like to take the left .side, that wat-^ no doubt facing- 

 south-eastwards and looking towards the valley of the 

 Jordan. Abraham said, " Well, in that case I wi^ll take the 

 right." I have been there and seen exactly' how the 

 thing happened. You understand thai; the dorsal ridge of 

 limestone is so situated that standing there you can see 

 pretty well hito the valley of Jordan and the gardens of 

 Jericho. Of course Lot could have done that and he saw 

 that it was very good. He looked on the other side, on 

 the right, and saw nothing but rocky kinds of hill like the 

 Avaves of the sea, and just at the end there was the blue 

 ]\Iediterranean. Of course there is a fruitful tract between 

 these hills and the Mediterranean, but all that Lot saw Avas 

 the expanse of hills and the strip of the blue ]\lediterranean, 

 and he naturally said, "1 will go to the loft — I Avill go to all 

 the rich gardens of the Jordan." 



NoAv you see how the transaction happened. That has 

 been verified word for word. What other book in the 

 Avorld would stand such a test as that? Take the case 

 of Heb)-on. We are told that going out from the camp 

 near Hebron on the fatal morning Avhen Sodom and 

 Gomorrah Avere destroyed — that Irom those hills of Pales- 

 tine looking across the Dead Sea, Abraham saAv the doomed 

 cities burning. You may go to that place exactly Avhere 

 Abraham Avas and judge for yourseh^es Avhether he could 

 see the cities burning or not. There may be a doubt as to the 

 exact situation of those cities ; but you can see the general 

 position from that place. If you ride over the site you Avill 

 find signs of conflagration and bituminous formations and 

 actual combustion which are visible to-day, and there the 

 doomed cities Avere, and I comprehend that before this con- 

 A'ulsion of nature occurred they Avere surrounded AA'ith 

 fertility, and Avere steeped in luxury and Avickedness of 

 all kinds. 



Then again take the case of Shiloh. Shiloh apparently 

 was at about the, or up to, the tenth or twelfth century 

 quite Avell-known. The Crusaders knoAV it and they thougiit 

 the place so important that they built a little chapel there, 

 but it Avas off the road and on a secluded bridh-path, and no 

 one noticed it. Centuries passed aAvay and the general 

 impression Avas that the city of Shiloh Av^as miknown ; but 

 noAv it is as Avell knoAvn as any place in the Avorld. Pales- 



