[3.] It was shameful ; for she is made a public and lasting monu- ment of shame to herself, but of instruction to us. Where there is sin at the bottom, there will be shame at the top. If ever God open the conscience, we ourselves shall be ashamed : Rom. vi. 21, ' What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?' What fruit then ? But besides it bringeth a blot ; besides that (l)6/3o<i BiTraiov 'xjro'yov, God setteth us forth as spectacles of public shame. Some God hangeth.up in chains of darkness, as warnings to the rest of worldly sinners. Sin brings dishonour to God ; and therefore no wonder if it do bring dishonour to us. If we be not tender of God's name, he will not spare ours. Besides the wound in the conscience, there is a blot and a stain that will not easily be washed off. God threateneth his people that they shall be a proverb and a taunt to all that pass by, Jer. xxiii. 8, and Lara. ii. 15.
[4.] It was a judgment suitable to that which was inflicted on the rest of the Sodomites. All Sodom was turned into a salt sea ; the cities were destroyed by sulphur and brimstone ; but the country about was filled with salt, that it might be fruitful no more : for it is said, Deut. xxix. 23, that ' if Israel kept not covenant, the land shall be burned with brimstone and salt; neither shall it be sown, nor bring forth, nor shall any grass grow in it ; like as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah;' and Zeph. ii. 9, * As I live, saith the Lord, Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah ;
A SERMON ON LUKE XVII. 32. 373
even the breeding of nettles, and pits of salt ;' so that the cities being consumed, the land did lie in heaps and pits of salt. Now propor- tionably, Lot's wife, by her lingering and liking to this place, was tuined into salt also, and those that like the sins of a place shall partake of their plagues. When we are called out of mystical Babylon (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'), surely it concerneth us to be thorough with God ; for those that seem to escape may be overtaken with the judgment of the place, and led forth with the workers of iniquity.
Secondly, I must show how profitable it is for us to meditate on this instance, even for all those who are called from wrath to a state of rest and glory.
1. That it concerneth such not only to consider the mercies of God, but also now and then the examples of his justice, that ' we may serve him with fear, and rejoice with trembling,' Ps. ii. 11. We are in a mixed estate, and therefore mixed affections do best. As we are to cherish the spirit or better part with promises and hopes of glory, by which the inner man is renewed day by day, so we are to weaken the pravity of the flesh by the remembrance of God's judgments, not only threatened, but also actually inflicted ; for instances do much enliven things. When the apostle had reckoned up the judgments of God on the Israelites in the wilderness or passage to Canaan, he maketh this use of it, 1 Cor. x. 11, 12, ' Now all these things happened to them for examples, «? rviroi, and they are written for our admoni- tion, upon whom the ends of the world are come : wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall' Now, what was done to them maybe done to us; for these judgments are patterns of providence ; and if we would blow oft' the dust from the ancient pro- vidences of God, we may easily read our own doom or desert at least. The desert of sin is still the same, and the exactness of divine justice is still the same ; what hath been is a pledge and instance of what may be. And scripture history is not only a register and chronicle of what is past, but a kind of calendar and prognostication of what is to come. Mark, again, this must be considered by him that seemeth to stand, or to have good advantages by grace. Here was a woman taken as a brand out of the burning, and in a fair way of escape, yet after- ward perished, and is set up as a public monument of salt, to season the rest of the world. All these things are warnings to us; and the most spiritual ought to take heed by them. So oui- Lord Christ, when he meutioneth the disastrous end of those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, and those on whom the tower of Siloam fell, would have all make this use of it Luke xiii. 5, ' Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.' He would have us make use of judgments for our caution and warning, to quicken and increase our repentance. Elecforum corda semper ad, se sollicite redeunt — Tender hearts apply all to themselves ; they find it an help : it doth not weaken their confidence and joy in the Lord, but it doth increase their caution and watchfulness.