fleeing out of sodom

FFlleeeeiinngg OOuutt ooff SSooddoomm

JJoonnaatthhaann EEddwwaarrddss

FROM THE INHERITANCE OF OUR FATHERS Series XXXIII, No. 5

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JJOONNAATTHHAANN EEDDWWAARRDDSSJonathan Edwards was born at East Windsor, Connecticut onOctober 5, 1703. He was the only son in a family of elevenchildren. His father, Rev. Timothy Edwards, was a pastor inthe Congregational Church in East Windsor.

Jonathan was converted as a child. Being very gifted intel-lectually, he matriculated at Yale College at the age of twelve.He graduated from Yale in 1720 with the highest honors.

Though not yet assured of his own salvation, Edwards wasconvinced that the work of the gospel was to be his callingand thus in October, 1720, he returned to Yale for the studyof divinity.

Six years later, Edwards accepted the call from Northamp-ton, Massachusetts to be an assistant pastor to his grandfa-ther, the Rev. Solomon Stoddard. On February 15, 1727, hewas ordained to the ministry in the Congregational Church.The same year he married Sarah Pierrepont, whose fatherwas a minister and also one of the founders of Yale College.

In 1729 Edwards became sole pastor of the Northamptoncongregation. The Lord heard his many prayers and blessedhis labors with a revival in his church. Northampton was wit-ness to many conversions under Edwards preaching and thewhole atmosphere of the town was changed.

After the renowned revivals of 1734-1735 and 1740-1742waned, a trail of events transpired which culminated inEdwardss own congregation voting him out of the pastorate.Edwards then went to labor for several years as a mission-ary among the Indians. In 1758 Edwards accepted the pres-idency of Princeton College, but died only five weeks afterbeing installed.

Through his writings, Edwards has become well-knownas the most capable Reformed theologian ever to grace theAmerican scene. His Works in two large volumes haverecently been reprinted again by Banner of Truth Trust.


Fleeing Out of Sodom

Remember Lots wife.Luke 17:32

Christ is here foretelling His coming in Hiskingdom in answer to the question whichthe Pharisees asked Him, viz., when thekingdom of God should come. And inwhat He says of His coming, He evidentlyhas respect to two things, His coming atthe destruction of Jerusalem, and His com-ing to the general judgment at the end ofthe world. He compares His coming atthose times to the coming of God in tworemarkable judgments that were past; firstto that in the time of the flood: and as itwas in the days of Noah, so shall it be alsoin the days of the Son of man. Next, Hecompares it to the destruction of Sodomand Gomorrah: likewise also, as it was inthe days of Lot, even thus shall it be in theday when the Son of Man is revealed.

Then He immediately proceeds to

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direct His people how they should behavethemselves at the appearance of the sig-nal of the approach of that day, referringespecially to the destruction of Jerusalem.In that day, he which shall be upon thehousetop, and his stuff in the house, let himnot come down to take it away: and he thatis in the field, let him likewise not returnback. In which words Christ shows thatthey should make the utmost haste to fleeand get out of the city to the mountains, asHe commands, Matthew 24:15 says: Whenye therefore shall see the abomination ofdesolation, spoken of by Daniel theprophet, stand in the holy place, then letthem which be in Judaea flee into themountains: let him which is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out ofhis house: neither let him which is in thefield return back to take his clothes.

Jerusalem was like Sodom, in that it wasdevoted to destruction, by special divinewrath, as Sodom was; and indeed to amore terrible destruction than Sodom.Therefore, the like direction is given con-cerning fleeing out of it with the utmost

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haste, without looking behind, as theangel gave to Lot, when he bid him fleeout of Sodom in Genesis 19, Escape forthy life; look not behind thee, neither staythou in all the plain. And in the textChrist enforces His counsel by theinstance of Lots wife. He bids themremember her, and take warning by her,who looked back as she was fleeing out ofSodom, and became a pillar of salt.

If it be inquired why Christ gave thisdirection to His people to flee out ofJerusalem, in such exceeding haste, at thefirst notice of the signal of her approach-ing destruction; I answer, it seems to be,because fleeing out of Jerusalem was atype of fleeing out of a state of sin. Escap-ing out of that unbelieving city typified anescape out of a state of unbelief. Thereforethey were directed to flee without stayingto take anything out of their houses, tosignify with what haste and greatness ofconcern we should flee out of a naturalcondition, that no respect to any worldlyenjoyment should prevent or delay us onemoment, and that we should flee to Jesus

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Christ, the refuge of souls, our strong rock,and the mount of our defense, so as infleeing to Him, to leave and forsakeheartily all earthly things.

This seems to be the chief reason alsowhy Lot was directed to make such haste,and not to look behind; because his flee-ing out of Sodom was designed on pur-pose to be a type of our fleeing from thatstate of sin and misery in which we natu-rally are.

Doctrine. We ought not to look backwhen we are fleeing out of Sodom.

The following reasons may be sufficientto support this doctrine.

1. That Sodom is a city full of filthinessand abominations. It is a filthy and abom-inable city; it is full of those impurities thatare worthy to be had in the utmost abhor-rence and detestation by all. The inhabi-tants of it are a polluted company, they areall under the power and dominion of hate-ful lusts. All their faculties and affectionsare polluted with those vile dispositionsthat are unworthy of the human nature,that greatly debase it, that are exceeding

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hateful to God and dreadfully incense Hisanger. Every kind of spiritual abominationabounds in it: in Sodom there is all filthi-ness that can be thought of. There is noth-ing so hateful and abominable but thatthere it is to be found, and there itabounds.

Sodom is a city full of devils and allunclean spirits; there they have their ren-dezvous, and there they have their domin-ion. There they and those that are like untothem, sport and wallow themselves infilthiness as it is said of mystical Babylon,Revelation 18:2, Babylon...is become thehabitation of devils, and the hold of everyfoul spirit, and a cage of every unclean andhateful bird. Who would be of such a soci-ety? Who would not flee from such a citywith the utmost haste, and never look backupon it, and never have the least inclina-tion of returning, or having any thing todo there any more?

Some in Sodom may seem to carry a fairface, and make a fair outward show; butif we could look into their hearts, they areevery one altogether filthy and abom-

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inable. We ought to flee from such a city,with the utmost abhorrence of the placeand society, with no desire to dwell longerthere, and never to discover the least incli-nation to return to it; but should bedesirous to get to the greatest possible dis-tance from it, that we might in no wise bepartakers in her abominations.

2. We ought not to look back when flee-ing out of Sodom, because Sodom is a cityappointed to destruction. The cry of thecity has reached up to heaven. The earthcannot bear such a burden as her inhabi-tants are; she will therefore disburden her-self of them, and spew them out. God willnot suffer such a city to stand; He will con-sume it. God is a holy God, and His natureis infinitely opposite to all such unclean-ness as Sodom is full of; He will thereforebe a consuming fire to it. The holiness ofGod will not suffer it to stand, and themajesty and justice of God require that theinhabitants of that city, who thus offendand provoke Him, be destroyed. And Godwill surely destroy them; it is the im-mutable and irreversible decree of God.

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He has said it, and He will do it. Thedecree is gone forth, and so sure as thereis a God, and He is Almighty, and able tofulfil His decrees and threatenings, sosurely will He destroy Sodom. Genesis19:12-13 says, Whatsoever thou hast inthe city, bring them out of this place: forwe will destroy this place, because the cryof them is waxen great before the face ofthe LORD, and the LORD hath sent us todestroy it. And verse 14, Up, get you outof this place; for the LORD will destroythis city.

This city is an accursed city; it is des-tined to ruin. Therefore, as we would notbe partakers of her curse, and would notbe destroyed, we should flee out of it, andnot look behind us: Come out of her, mypeople, that ye be not partakers of her sins,and that ye receive not of her plagues(Rev. 18:4).

3. We ought not to look back when flee-ing out of Sodom, because the destructionto which it is appointed is exceedinglydreadful; it is appointed to utter destruc-tion, to be wholly and entirely consumed.

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It is appointed to suffer a dreadful stormof fire and brimstone. This city is to befilled full of the wrath of God. Every onethat remains in it shall have the fire ofGods wrath come down on his head andinto his soul; he shall be full of fire, andfull of the wrath of the Almighty. He shallbe encompassed with fire without and fullof fire within; his head, his heart, his bow-els, and all his limbs shall be full of fire,and not a drop of water to cool him.

Nor shall he have any place to flee tofor relief. Go where he will, there is the fireof Gods wrath: his destruction and tor-ment will be inevitable. He shall bedestroyed without any pity. He shall cryaloud, but there shall be none to help,there shall be none to regard his lamenta-tions, or to afford relief. The decree is goneforth, and the days come when Sodomshall burn as an oven, and all the inhabi-tants thereof shall be as stubble. As it wasin the literal Sodom, the whole city wasfull of fire; in their houses there was nosafety, for they were all on fire; and if theyfled out into the streets, they also were full

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of fire. Fire continually came down out ofheaven everywhere. That was a dismaltime. What a cry was there then in that city,in every part of it! But there was none tohelp; they had nowhere to go where theycould hide their heads from fire; they hadnone to pity or relieve them. If they fled totheir friends, they could not help them.

Now, with what haste we should fleefrom a city appointed to such a destruc-tion! And how we should flee withoutlooking behind us! How it should be ourwhole intent, and that we with all ourminds and might are engaged about, to getat the greatest distance from a city in suchcircumstances. How far we should be fromthinking at all of returning to a city whichhas such wrath hanging over it!

4. The destruction to which Sodom isappointed is a universal destruction. Nonethat stay in it shall escape: none will havethe 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 noexception of any age, or any sex, or any

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condition, but all shall perish together.Genesis 19:24-25 says, Then the LORDrained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrahbrimstone and fire from the LORD out ofheaven; and he overthrew those cities, andall the plain, and all the inhabitants of thecities, and that which grew upon theground. We therefore must no longerdelay or look behind us; for there is noplace of safety in Sodom, nor in all the plainon which Sodom is built. The mountain ofsafety is before us, and not behind us.

5. The destruction to which Sodom isappointed is an everlasting destruction.This is said of the literal Sodom, that it suf-fered the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude7: Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, andthe cities about them in like manner, giv-ing themselves over to fornication, andgoing after strange flesh, are set forth foran example, suffering the vengeance ofeternal fire. That destruction that Sodomand Gomorrah suffered was an eternaldestruction: those cities were destroyed,and have never been built since, and arenot capable of being rebuilt; for the land

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on which they stood at the time of theirdestruction sunk, and has been ever sincecovered with the lake of Sodom or theDead Sea, or as it is called in Scripture,the salt sea. This seems to have beenthus ordered on purpose to be a type ofthe eternal destruction of ungodly men.So that fire by which they were destroyedis called eternal fire, because it was so typ-ically, it was a type of the eternal destruc-tion of ungodly men; which may be inpart what is intended, when it is said inthat text in Jude, that they were set forthfor an example, or for a type of represen-tation of the eternal fire in which all theungodly are to be consumed.

Sodom has in all ages since been cov-ered with a lake which was first broughton it by fire and brimstone, to be a type ofthe lake of fire and brimstone, to be a typeof the lake of fire and brimstone in whichungodly men shall have their part foreverand ever, as we read Revelation 20:15, andelsewhere.

6. Sodom is a city appointed to swiftand sudden destruction. The destruction

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is not only certain and inevitable, and infi-nitely dreadful, but it will come speedily,Whose judgment. . . lingereth not, andtheir damnation slumbereth not (2 Pet.2:3). And so Deuteronomy 32:35, The dayof their calamity is at hand, and the thingsthat shall come upon them make haste.The storm of wrath, the black clouds ofdivine vengeance even now everymoment hang over them, just ready tobreak forth and come down in a dreadfulmanner, upon them. God has alreadywhet His sword, and bent His bow, andmade ready His arrow on the string (Ps.7:12). Therefore we should make haste,and not look behind us. For if we lingerand stop to look back, and flee not for ourlives, there is great danger that we shallbe involved in the common ruin.

The destruction of Sodom is not onlyswift, but will come suddenly and unex-pectedly. It seems to have been a fairmorning in Sodom on the morning that itwas destroyed. There is notice taken of thetime when the sun rose that morning(Gen. 19:23). It seems that there were no

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clouds to be seen, no appearance of anystorm at all, much less a storm of fire andbrimstone. The inhabitants of Sodomexpected no such thing; even when Lottold his sons-in-law of it, they would notbelieve it (Gen. 19:14). They were makingmerry; their hearts were at ease, theythought nothing of such a calamity athand. But it came at once, as travail upona woman with child, and there was noescape; as it is observed in the context,verses 28-29, They did eat, they drank,they bought, they sold, they planted, theybuilded; but the same day that Lot wentout of Sodom it rained fire and brimstonefrom heaven, and destroyed them all.

So it is with wicked men; Psalm 73:19says How are they brought into desola-tion, as in a moment! they are utterly con-sumed with terrors. If therefore we lingerand look back, we may be suddenly over-taken and seized with destruction.

7. There is nothing in Sodom that isworth looking back upon. All the enjoy-ments of Sodom will soon perish in thecommon destruction, all will be burnt up.

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And surely it is not worth the while to lookback on things that are perishing and con-suming in the flames, as it is with all theenjoyments of sin; they are all appointedto the fire. Therefore it is foolish for anywho are fleeing out of Sodom to hankerany more after them; for when they areburnt up, what good can they do? And isit worth the while for us to return back forthe sake of a moments enjoyment ofthem, before they are burnt, and so exposeourselves to be burnt up with them?

Lots wife looked back, because sheremembered the pleasant things that sheleft in Sodom. She hated to leave them;she hankered after them; she could notbut look back with a wistful eye upon thecity, where she had lived in such ease andpleasure. Sodom was a place of great out-ward plenty; they ate the fat and drankthe sweet. The soil where Sodom was builtwas exceedingly plentiful; it is said to beas the garden of the LORD (Gen. 13:10).

Here Lot and his wife lived plentifully;and it was a place where the inhabitantswallowed in carnal pleasures and delights.

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But however much it abounded in thesethings, what were they worth now, whenthe city was burning? Lots wife was veryfoolish in lingering in her escape for thesake of things which were all on fire. Sothe enjoyments, the profits, and pleasuresof sin, have the wrath and curse of God onthem; brimstone is scattered on them;hellfire is ready to kindle on them. It is nottherefore worth while for any person tolook back after such things.

8. We are warned by messengers sent tous from God to make haste in our flightfrom Sodom, and not to look behind us.God sends to us His ministers, the angelsof the churches, on this grand errand, asHe sent the angels to warn Lot and his wifeto flee for their lives, and to say and do aswe have account in Genesis 19:15-16. If wedelay or look back, now that we have hadsuch fair warning, we shall be exceedinglyinexcusable and monstrously foolish.

ApplicationThe use that I would make of this doc-

trine is, to warn those who are in a natural

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condition to flee out of it, and by no meansto look back. While you are out of Christ,you are in Sodom. The whole history ofthe destruction of Sodom, with all its cir-cumstances, seems to be inserted in theScriptures for our warning, and is set forthas an example, as the Apostle Jude says. It,in a lively manner, typifies the case of nat-ural men, the destruction of those thatcontinue in a natural state, and the man-ner of their escape who flee to Christ. Thepsalmist, when speaking of the appointedpunishment of ungodly men, seems evi-dently to refer to the destruction ofSodom, in Psalm 11:6, Upon the wickedhe [God] shall rain snares, fire, and brim-stone, and an horrible tempest: this shallbe the portion of their cup.

Consider therefore what the state is thatyou are to get out of, you that are seekingan interest in Christ: you are to flee out ofSodom. Sodom is the place of your nativ-ity, and the place where you have spentyour lives hitherto. You are citizens of thatcity which is full of filthiness and abomi-nation before God, that polluted and

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accursed city. You belong to that impuresociety. You not only live among them, butyou are of them, you are some that havecommitted those abominations, and haveso provoked God as you have heard. It isyou that I have all this while been speak-ing of under this doctrine; you are theinhabitants of Sodom. Perhaps you maylook on your circumstances as not verydreadful; but you dwell in Sodom.Though you may be reformed, and appearwith a clean outside, and a smooth face tothe world; yet as long as you are in a nat-ural condition, you are impure inhabitantsof Sodom.

The world of mankind is divided intotwo companies, or, as I may say, into twocities: there is the city of Zion, the churchof God, the holy and beloved city; andthere is Sodom, that polluted andaccursed city, which is appointed todestruction. You belong to the latter ofthese. How much soever you may lookupon yourselves better than some others,yet you are of the same city; the same com-pany with fornicators, and drunkards,

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and adulterers, and common swearers,and highwaymen, and pirates, andSodomites. How much soever you maythink yourselves distinguished, as long asyou are out of Christ you belong to thevery same society; you are of the samecompany, you join with them, and are nobetter than they, any otherwise than asyou have greater restraints. You are con-sidered in the sight of God as fit to beranked with them. You and they are alto-gether the objects of the loathing andabhorrence of God, and have the wrath ofGod abiding on you; you will go withthem and be destroyed with them, if youdo not escape from your present state. Yea,you are of the same society and the samecompany with the devils, for Sodom is notonly the city of wicked men, but it is thehold of every foul spirit.

You belong to that city that is appointedto an awful, inevitable, universal, swift,and sudden destruction; a city that has astorm of fire and wrath hanging over it.

Many of you are convinced of the awfulstate you are in while in Sodom, and are

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making some attempts to escape from thewrath which hangs over it. Let such bewarned by what has been said, to escapefor their lives, and not to look back. Looknot back, unless you choose to have ashare in the burning tempest that is com-ing down on that city. Look not back inremembrance of the enjoyments whichyou have had in Sodom, as hankeringafter the pleasant things which you havehad there, after the ease, the security, andthe pleasure which you have enjoyed.

Remember Lots wife; for she lookedback, as being loth utterly and forever toleave the ease, the pleasure and plentywhich she enjoyed in Sodom, and as hav-ing a mind to return to them again:remember what became of her. Remem-ber the children of Israel in the wilderness,who were desirous of going back againinto Egypt, because they remembered theleeks and onions of Egypt. Numbers 11:5says, We remember the fish which we dideat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, andthe onions, and the garlic. Rememberwhat was the issue of their hankering. You

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must be willing forever to leave all theease, and pleasure, and profit of sin, to for-sake all for salvation, as Lot forsook all,and left all he had, to escape out of Sodom.And further to enforce this warning, letme entreat all you who are in this state toconsider these several things which I shallnow mention.

1. The destruction of which you are indanger is infinitely more dreadful thanthat destruction of the literal Sodom fromwhich Lot fled. The destruction of Sodomand Gomorrah in a storm of fire and brim-stone, was but a shadow of the destructionof ungodly men in hell, and is no more toit than a shadow or a picture is to a reality,or than painted fire is to real fire. The mis-ery of hell is set forth by various shadowsand images in Scripture, as blackness ofdarkness, a never dying worm, a furnaceof fire, a lake of fire and brimstone, thetorments of the valley of the son of Hin-nom, a storm of fire and brimstone. Thereason why so many similitudes are madeuse of, is because none of them are suffi-cient. Any one does but partly and very

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imperfectly represent the truth, and there-fore God makes use of many.

You have therefore much more need tomake haste in your escape, and not to lookbehind you, than Lot and his wife hadwhen they fled out of Sodom; for you areevery day and every moment in danger ofa thousand times more dreadful stormcoming on your heads, than that whichcame on Sodom, when the Lord rainedbrimstone and fire from the Lord out ofheaven upon them; so that it will be vastlymore sottish if you look back than it wasin Lots wife.

2. The destruction you are in danger ofis not only greater than the temporaldestruction of Sodom, but greater than theeternal destruction of the inhabitants ofSodom. For however well you may thinkyou have behaved yourselves, you havecontinued impenitent under the gloriousgospel, have sinned more, and provokedGod far more, and have greater guilt uponyou, than the inhabitants of Sodom;although you may seem to yourselves,and perhaps to others to be very harmless

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creatures. Matthew 10:15 says, Verily Isay unto you, it shall be more tolerable forthe land of Sodom and Gomorrha in theday of judgment, than for that city.

3. Multitudes, while they have beenlooking back, have been suddenly over-taken and seized by the storm of wrath.The wrath of God has not delayed, whilethey delayed; it has not waited at all forthem to repent, to turn about and flee; buthas presently seized them, and they havebeen past hope. When Lots wife lookedback, she was immediately destroyed.God had exercised patience towards herbefore. When she lingered at the settingout, the angels pressed her, her husbandand children, to make haste. Not only so,but when they yet delayed, they laid holdon her hands and brought her forth, andset her without the city, the Lord beingmerciful to her. But now when, notwith-standing this mercy, and the warningswhich had been given her, she lookedback, God exercised no more patiencetowards her, but proceeded in wrathimmediately to put her to death.

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Now God has in like manner been mer-ciful to you. You in time past have beenlingering; you have been warned by theangel of your danger, and pressed to makehaste and flee; yet you have delayed. Andnow at length God has, as it were, laidhold on you, by the convictions of HisSpirit, to draw you out of Sodom; there-fore remember Lots wife. If now after all,you should look back, when God has beenso merciful to you, you will have reasonto fear, that God will suddenly destroyyou, and wait no longer for you. Multi-tudes when they have been looking backand putting off to another opportunity,they have never had another opportunity;they have been suddenly destroyed, andthat without remedy.

4. If you look back, and live long afterit, there will be great danger that you willnever get any farther. The only way toseek salvation is to press forward, with allyour might, and still to look and press for-ward, never to stand still or slacken yourpace. When Lots wife stopped in herflight, and stood still in order that she

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might look, her punishment was, thatthere she was to stand forever; she nevergot any farther; she never got beyond thatplace; but there she stood as a pillar of salt,a durable pillar and monument of wrath,for her folly and wickedness.

So it very often is with backsliders,though they may live a considerable timeafter. When they look back, after they havebeen taking pains for their salvation, theylose all, they put themselves under vastdisadvantages; by quenching the Spirit ofGod, and losing their convictions, theydreadfully harden their own hearts andstupify their souls, make way for discour-agements, dreadfully strengthen andestablish the interest of sin in their hearts,many ways give Satan great advantagesto ruin them, and provoke God oftentimesutterly to leave them to hardness of heart.When they come to look back, their soulspresently become dead and hard like Lotswifes body; and if this be the case, thoughthey live long after, they never get any far-ther; it is worse for them than if they wereimmediately damned. When persons in

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fleeing out of Sodom look back, their lastcase is far worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45). And experience confirms that noneordinarily are so hard to be brought torepentance as backsliders.

5. It may well stir you up to flee for yourlives, and not to look behind you, whenyou consider how many have fled to themountain, while you yet remain inSodom. To what multitudes has God giventhe wisdom to flee to Christ, the mountainof safety! They have fled to the little cityof Zoar, which God will spare and neverdestroy. They are in a safe condition; theyare out of reach of the storm; the fire andbrimstone can do them no hurt there.

But you yet remain in that cursed cityamong that accursed company. You areyet in Sodom, which God is about so ter-ribly to destroy, where you are in dangerevery minute of having snares, fire, andbrimstone, come down on your head.Though so many have attained deliver-ance, yet you have not. Good has come,but you have seen none of it. Others arehappy, but no one knows what will

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become of you; you have no part nor lotin that glorious salvation of souls. Theconsideration of this should stir you upeffectually to escape, and in your escapeto press forward, still to press forward,and to resolve to press forward forever, letwhat will be in the way, to hearken to notemptation, and never look back, or in anywise slacken or abate your endeavors aslong as you live, but if possible to increasethem more and more.

6. Backsliding after such a time as this,will have a vastly greater tendency to seala mans damnation than at another time.The greater means men have, the loudercalls, and the greater advantages they areunder, the more dangerous is backsliding,the more it has a tendency to enhance guilt,to provoke God, and to harden the heart.

We, in this land of light, have longenjoyed greater advantages than the mostof the world, and backsliding will be pro-portionably the greater sin, and the moredangerous to the soul. If therefore youlook back, there will be great danger thatGod will swear in His wrath, that you shall

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never enter into His rest; as God swareconcerning them that were going back intoEgypt, after they had seen the wonderswhich God wrought for Israel. Numbers14:22-23 says, Because all those men whichhave seen my glory, and my miracles,which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness,and have tempted me now these ten times,and have not hearkened to my voice;surely they shall not see the land which Isware unto their fathers, neither shall anyof them that provoked me see it.

7. We know not but that a great part ofthe wicked world is, at this day, inSodoms circumstances, when Lot fled outof it, having some outward temporaldestruction hanging over it. It looks as ifsome great thing were coming; the stateof things in the world seems to be ripe forsome great revolution. The world has got-ten to such a terrible degree of wicked-ness, that it is probable the cry of it has, bythis time, reached up to heaven; and it ishardly probable that God will sufferthings to go on, as they now do, muchlonger. It is likely that God will erelong

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appear in awful Majesty to vindicate Hisown cause; and then none will be safe thatare out of Christ. Now therefore every oneshould flee for his life, and escape to themountain, lest he be consumed. We can-not certainly tell what God is about to do,but this we may know, that those who areout of Christ are in a most unsafe state.

8. To enforce this warning against look-ing back, let me beseech you to considerthe exceeding proneness which there is inthe heart to it. The heart of man is a back-sliding heart. There is in the heart a greatlove and hankering desire after the ease,pleasure, and enjoyments of Sodom, asthere was in Lots wife, by which personsare continually liable to temptations to lookback. The heart is so much towards Sodom,that it is a difficult thing to keep the eyefrom turning that way, and the feet fromtending thither. When men under convic-tions are put upon fleeing, it is by mereforce, it is because God lays hold on theirhands, as He did on Lots and his wifesand drags them so far. But the tendency ofthe heart is to go back to Sodom again.

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Persons are very prone to backsliding,also through discouragement. They are aptto be discouraged. The heart is unsteady,soon tired, soon gives out, is apt to listen todiscouraging temptations. And discour-agement tends to backsliding: it weakenspersons hands, lies as a dead weight ontheir hearts, and makes them drag heavily;and if it continue long, it very often issuesin security and senselessness. Convictionsare often shaken off that way; they beginfirst to go off with discouragement.

Backsliding is a disease that is exceedingsecret in its way of working. It is a flatter-ing distemper; it works like a consumption,wherein persons often flatter themselvesthat they are not worse, but something bet-ter, and in a hopeful way to recover, untila few days before they die. So backslidingcommonly comes on gradually, and stealson men insensibly, and they still flatterthemselves that they are not backslidden.They plead that they are seeking yet, andthey hope they have not lost their convic-tions. And by the time they find it out, andcannot pretend so any longer, they are

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commonly so far gone, that they care notmuch if they have lost their convictions.And when it comes to that, it is commonlya gone case with persons as to those con-victions.

Thus they blind themselves, and keepthemselves insensible of their own dis-ease, and so are not terrified with it, norawakened to use means for relief, until itis past cure.

Thus it is that backsliding commonlycomes upon persons that have for sometime been under any considerable convic-tions, and afterwards lose them. Let theconsideration of this your danger exciteyou to the greatest care and diligence tokeep your hearts, and to watchfulness andconstant prayer against backsliding. Andlet it put you upon endeavors to strengthenyour resolutions of guarding against every-thing that tends to the contrary, that youmay indeed hold out to the end, for thenshall you know, if you follow on to knowthe Lord. Amen.

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Regarding Iniquityin the Heart

1. They regard iniquity in the heart, whopractice it secretly, who are under restraintfrom the world, but are not possessed ofthe omniscient God, the searcher of allhearts, and from whose eyes there is nocovering of thick darkness where theworkers of iniquity may hide themselves(Jer. 23:24).

2. They regard iniquity in the heart, whoentertain and indulge the desire of sin,although in the course of providence theymay be restrained from the actual com-mission of it. I am persuaded the instancesare not rare, of men feeding upon sinfuldesires, even when through lack of oppor-tunity, through the fear of man, or throughsome partial restraint of conscience, theydare not carry them into execution.

3. They regard iniquity in the heart, who

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reflect upon past sins with delight, orwithout sincere humiliation of mind. Per-haps our real disposition, both towards sinand duty, may be as certainly discoveredby the state of our minds after, as at thetime of action. The strength and sudden-ness of temptation may betray even agood man into the commission of sin; thebackwardness of heart, and power ofinward corruption, may make duty bur-densome and occasion many defects inthe performance; but every real Christianremembers his past sins with unfeignedcontrition of spirit, and a deep sense ofunworthiness before God.

4. They regard iniquity in the heart, wholook upon the sins of others with appro-bation; or, indeed, who can behold themwithout grief. Sin is so abominable a thing,so dishonoring to God, and so destructiveto the souls of men, that no real Christiancan witness it without concern.

5. In the last place, I suspect that theyregard iniquity in the heart, who are back-

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ward to bring themselves to the trial, andare not truly willing that God Himselfwould search and try them. If any there-fore are unwilling to be tried, if they arebackward to self-examination, it is an evi-dence of a strong and powerful attach-ment to sin.

John Witherspoon (1722-1749)

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fleeing out of sodom

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