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One day, Abraham was sitting at
his tent door, and he looked up, and saw three men standing by him.
Then he rose up directly, and bowed respectfully to them, and asked,
"Let now water be fetched and wash your feet, and rest under the
tree, and I will bring you food." So the men sat down, and
Abraham ran into the tent, to his wife Sarah, and told her to make cakes
very quickly; then he ran to the field, and took a calf, and killed it,
and dressed it; and he brought the calf, and the cakes, and butter, and
milk, and gave them to the men under the tree; and they did eat, and
Abraham stood and waited upon them. He was right to be kind and
respectful: St. Peter says, "Use hospitality one to
another." 1 Peter 4:9. And St. Paul says, "Be
not forgetful to entertain strangers." Hebrews 12:2. When
the men had finished eating, they asked, "Where is Sarah?"
And Abraham said, "She is in the tent." Then the Lord told
Abraham, He would soon give to him and Sarah a son; for God had not
forgotten his promise made to Abraham so many years before. Sarah
heard the Lord speak, but she did not believe what He said, and she
laughed and thought it could not be true. Then the Lord said,
"Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Sarah shall have a son." Sarah was afraid, and denied, and
said, "I laughed not;" but He said, "Nay, but thou didst
laugh." So the men went away, and Abraham went with them
towards Sodom. And then the Lord told Abraham, that He was angry
with those two wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, and was come now to
destroy them. Abraham
thought of his nephew Lot, who was still in Sodom, and he felt afraid, and
very sorry for him. So he asked the Lord to spare the city if fifty
righteous people were there; and the Lord said, He would. But soon,
Abraham thought, that Sodom was so very wicked, that perhaps there were
not fifty there who loved God; and he prayed the Lord again, five times,
if there were forty-five, or forty, or thirty, or twenty, or only ten
righteous people in Sodom, to save the city. And the Lord said,
"If I find in Sodom ten righteous, I will not destroy it."
Then the Lord went away, and Abraham returned unto his place. It
was right and kind of Abraham to pray for Lot. We should all
remember our friends in prayer, and ask God to take care of them.
And when they are unhappy, or in danger, we should particularly pray God
to comfort them, and to keep them from evil. "Pray one
for another. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much." James 5:16.
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