Gen. xix. 17. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain : escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
IT is extremely profitable to observe how ready God is to honour those who honour him. Lot had been a very distinguished character in Sodom. He had seen and heard with much concern the iniquities that were committed by those around him : " he had vexed his righteous soul with their unlawful deeds from day to day ; " and had set them a pattern of piety and virtue. Nor was he inattentive to the welfare of strangers: he was ready at all times to exercise the rights of hospitality, and to shew to others the same liberality which he would wish to meet with at their hands. Indeed his sense of honour in this respect carried him beyond the bounds of prudence or propriety: for when he was protecting his guests from the assaults of those who would have injured them, he even preferred the sacrificing of his daughters, to the suffering of the laws of hospitality to be so grossly violated. That he erred in this matter, we have no doubt ; because he had no right to commit one sin in order to prevent another. But he meant well: and probably was so agitated with fear and horror, as scarcely to be aware of the im- propriety of his proposal. His zeal for God, and his attention to his guests, were well rewarded. He was informed that the persons whom he had received under his roof were angels in human shape ; that they were sent to destroy the cities of the plain ; and that they were commissioned to rescue him and his family from the common ruin. In what manner they executed their commission, we may judge from the urgent advice which they gave him in our text; and which we shall consider,
I. As given to Lot —