two daughters * * * * * let me,
I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is
good in your eyes; only unto these men do nothing; for
therefore came they under the shadow of my root

These men had come under the shadow of Lot's roof for protection, it
seems, and Lot felt that his honor demanded that he should shield them
even at the cost of the purity and safety of his own daughters! Do you
know I have always had a mild curiosity to know what his daughters were
under the shadow of his roof for. It could not have been for protection,
I judge, since Lot was one of God's best friends. He was on all sorts of
intimate terms with the Deity--knew things were going to happen before
they came--was the only man good enough to save from a doomed city--the
only one whose acts pleased God; and this act seems to have been
particularly satisfactory. These men were "angels of God" who required
this infamy for their protection! If it takes all the honor out of a man
when he gets to be an angel, they may use my wings for a feather-duster.

Now here is a little property law. Num. xxvii.:

6 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
If a man die, _and have no son_, then ye shall cause his
inheritance to pass unto his daughter.

And our law works a little that way yet; being the result of
ecclesiastical law it naturally would.*

* See Appendix N. 5 and P. 5.

Next we have Num. xxxvi.:

8 And every daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any
tribe of the children of Israel, _shall be wife_ unto one
of the family of the tribe of her father, _that the children
of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his
fathers_.

9 Neither shall the inheritance remove from _one_ tribe to
another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children
of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.

10 _Even as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters
of Zelophehad_.

That is all the women were for--articles of conveyance for property.
Save the land, no matter about the girls. Now these silly women actually
believed that God told Moses whom they had to marry just because Moses
said so! I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it is not safe to take
heavenly communications at second-hand. Second-hand articles are likely
to be varnished over, and have to be taken at a