city to the mountains, as he commands. Matth. xxiv. 15. &c. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place, then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains; let him which is in the housetop not come down to take any thing out of the house, neither let him which is in the field turn back to take his clothes." Jerusalem was like Sodom, in that it was devoted to destruction, by special divinę wrath, as that was; and indeed to a more terrible destruction than Sodom was, Therefore the like direction is given concerning fleeing out of it with the ut most haste, without looking behind, as the angel gave to Lot, when he bid him flee out of Sodom. Gen. xix. 17. "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain."....And in the text Christ enforces his counsel by the instance of Lot's wife, He bids them remember her, and take warning by her, who looked back as she was fleeing out of Sodom, and became a pillar of salt. If it be inquired why Christ gave this direction to his people to flee out of Jerusalem, in such exceeding haste, at the first notice of the signal of her approaching destruction; I answer, it seems to be, because fleeing out of Jerusalem was a type of fleeing out of a state of sin. Escaping out of that unbelieving city typified an escape out of a state of unbelief. Therefore they were directed to flee without staying to take any thing out of their houses, to signify with what haste and greatness of concern we should flee out of a natural condition, that no respect to any worldly enjoyment should prevent or delay us one moment, and that we should fice to Jesus Christ, the refuge of souls, our strong rock, and the mount of our defence, so as in fleeing to him, to leave and forsake heartily all earthly things. This seems to be the chief reason also why Lot was directed to make such haste, 'and not to look behind; because his fleeing out of Sodom was designed on purpose to be a type of our fleeing from that state of sin and misery in which we nate urally are. DOCTRINE. We ought not to look back when we are fleeing out of Sodom...... The following reasons may be sufficient to support this doctrine: 1. That Sodom is a city full of filthiness and abominations. It is a filthy and abominable city; it is full of those impurities that are worthy to be had in the utmost abhorrence and detestation by all. The inhabitants of it are a polluted company, they are all under the power and dominion of hateful lusts. All their faculties and affections are polluted with those vile dispositions that are unworthy of the human nature, that greatly debase it, that are exceedingly hateful to God and dreadfully incense his anger. Every kind of spiritual abomination abounds in it: In Sodom there is all filthiness that can be thought of. There is nothing so hateful and abominable but that there it is to be found, and there it abounds. Sadom is a city full of devils and all unclean spirits; there they have their rendezvous, and there they have their dominion. There they and those that are like unto them, do sport and wallow themselves in filthiness, as it is said of mystical Babylon, Rev. xviii. 2. Babylon, is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird: Who would be of such a society? Who would not flee from such a city with the utmost haste, and never look back upon it, and never have the least inclination of returning, or having any thing to do there any more? Some in Sodom may seem to cary a fair face, and make a fair outward show; but if we could look into their hearts, they are every one altogether filthy and abominable. We ought to flee from such a city, with the utmost abhorrence of the place and society, with no desires to dwell longer there, and never to discover the least inclination to return to it; but should be desirous to get to the greatest possible distance frone it, that we might in no wise be partakers in her abominations. 2. We ought not to look back when fleeing out of Sodom, because Sodom is a city appointed to destruction. The cry of the city hath reached up to heaven. The earth cannot bear such a burden as her inhabitants are; she will therefore disburden herself of them, and spue them out. God will not suffer such a city to stand; he will consume it. God is an holy God, and his nature is infinitely opposite to all such uncleanness as Sodom is full of; he will therefore be a consuming fire to it. The holiness of God will not suffer it to stand, and the Majesty and justice of God require that the inhabitants of that city, who thus offend and provoke him, be destroyed. And God will surely destroy them; it is the immutable and irreversible decree of God. He hath said it, and he will do it. The decree is gone forth, and so sure as there is a God, and be is Almighty, and able to fulfil his decrees and threatenings, so surely will he destroy Sodom. Gen. xix. 12, 13. "Whatsoever thou hast in this city, bring them out of this place; for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it." And verse 14. "Up, get ye out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city." This city is an accursed city; it is destined to ruin. Therefore, as we would not be partakers of her curse, and would not be destroyed, we should flee out of it, and not look behind us, Rev. xviii. 4. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." 3. We ought not to look back when fleeing out of Sodom, because the destruction to which it is appointed is exceedingJy dreadful; it is appointed to utter destruction, to be wholly and entirely consumed. It is appointed to suffer the wrath of the great God, which is to be poured down from God upon it, like a dreadful storm of fire and brimstone, This city is to be filled full of the wrath of God. Every one that remains in it shall have the fire of God's wrath come down on his head and into his soul: He shall be full of fire, and full of the wrath of the Almighty. He shall be encompassed with fire without and full of fire within: His head, his heart, his bowels, and all his limbs shall be full of fire, and not a drop of water to cook him. Nor shall he have any place to flee to for relief. Go where he will, there is the fire of God's wrath: His destruction and torment will be inevitable. He shall be destroyed without any pity. He shall cry aloud, but there shall be none to help, there shall be none to regard his lamentations, or to afford relief. The decree is gone forth, and the days come when Sodom shall burn as an oven, and all the inhabitants thereof shall be as stubble. As it was in the literal Sodom, the whole city was full of fire; in their houses there was no safety, for they were all on fire; and if they fled out into the streets, they also were full of fire. Fire continually came down out of heaven every where. That was a dismal time. What a cry was there then in that city, in every part. of it! But there was none to help; they had no where to go, where they could hide their heads from fire: They had none to pity or relieve them. If they fled to their friends, they could not help them. Now, with what haste should we flee from a city appointed to such a destruction! And how should we flee without looking behind us! How should it be our whole intent, and what we with all our minds and might are engaged about, to get at the greatest distance from a city in such circumstances! How far should we be from thinking at all of returning to a city which has such wrath hanging over it! 4. The destruction to which Sodom is appointed is an universal destruction. None that stay in it shall escape: None will have the good fortune to be in any by corner, where the fire will not search them out. All sorts, old and young, great and small, shall be destroyed. There shall be no exception of any age, or any sex, or any condition, but all shall perish together. Gen. xix. 24, 25. "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." We therefore must not longer delay or look behind us; for there is no place of safety in Sodom, nor in all the plain on which Sodom is built. The mountain of of safety is before us, and not behind us. 5. The destruction to which Sodom is appointed is an everlasting destruction. This is said of the literal Sodom, that it suffered the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude vii. "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." That destruction that Sodom and Gomorrah suffered was an eternal destruction: Those cities were destroyed, and have never been built since, and are not capable of being rebuilt; for the land on which they stood at the time of their destruction sunk, and has been ever since covered with the lake of Sodom or the dead sea, or as it is called in scripture, the salt sea. This seems to have been thus ordered on purpose to be a type of the eternal destruction of ungodly men. So that fire by which they were destroyed is called eternal fire, because it was so typically, it was a type of the eternal destruction of ungodly men; which may be in part what is intended, when it is said in that text in Jude, that they were set forth for an example, or for a type or representation of the eternal fire in which all the ungodly are to be consumed, Sodom has in all ages since been covered with a lake which was first brought on it by fire and brimstone, to be a type of the lake of fire and brimstone in which ungodly men shall have their part forever and ever, as we read Rev. xx, 15, and elsewhere. We ought not therefore to look back when fleeing out of Sodom, seeing that the destruction to which it is appointed is an eternal destruction; for this renders the destruction infinitely dreadful. |