This short Scripture which I haue read vnto you , is a Remembrance or rifling vp of an olde and knowne historie , in which historie there is a tragedie , and in which tragedie there is a Metamorphosis or strange transformation of a miserable , a sinfull and wofull woman , for but a glaunce of her eie , and for but winding her head awry , yet suddainly blasted , and destroyed vnrecouerablie : Now happie ( I feare ) had she been , if shee had neuer been , and better to haue been borne blind , then to see with such eies , or to haue raked them out with her nailes , then to look so vnluckely : but howsoeuerit happened vnhappily for her , yet makes it for Gods glory , to which end euen our sinnes are directed , and still it makes for our example , for which it was first by Moses written , and now againe by Christ remembred , Remember Lots wife ; that as she remembred where she liued , so we might remember how she died , and looke back to her , as she looked backe to Sodom .

Two things are in this Scripture distinctly to bee considered : First , to what part of the minde this exhortation is directed , which is not to the first vnderstanding or originall apprehension , but to the Memorie ; Remember : Secondly , the subiect or matter of this Remembrance , which is , Lots wise . For the first , we are to consider , that Remembring alway presupposeth foreknowing , for in order of nature , once we learne to know , and euer after we call to minde what first wee learned and knew before , so as neither can a man forget what hee neuer knew , neither can any man remember but what hee knew before ; therefore Christ doth not heere take vpon him to bee the Author of the storie , or to plot out a new description or narration of the matter , but takes it vp at the second hand from Moses , as Moses at the first hand had it by reuelation from God , and so vpon good and iust occasion he remembreth it to the Church anew : therefore as S. Paul saith of the Law , I speake to them that know the Law , Rom. 7. 1. so doth Christ of Lots wife heere , hee speakes to them that know her well enough , that haue often read , and much heard of her , that as they know her , so they may remember her ; for they go together , Prou. 4. 5. Get wisedome , get vnderstanding , and forget not ; first to get , and then not to forget : and as the Psalmist saith , o my people heare my law , Psal . 78. and Salomon saith , My sonne , forget not my law , Prou. 3. So do Moses and Christ in one and the same subiect answere one another ; Moses teaching to know it , but Christ admonishing to remember it . Themistocles was wont to say , that it was needfull for men to learne the arte of forgetfulnes , in that sense wherein Paul sapke , Philip . 3. I forget that which is behind ; that if men had attained to perfection in any thing , they should forget what they had already , lest by remembring it too much , they should grow idle and secure , and care to get no more : And surely if it can be any way expedient to learn the Art of forgetfulnes , to which we are so apt by nature , as we need no helpe of Art ; then must it needs be euery way necessarie to learn the Art of Memory , which is Ars artium , an art adding perfection to euery art , in which regard many haue written whole bookes to adde perfection to it ; for if ( as men say ) it bee no lesse a vertue to hold a good thing then to get it , and as great an honor to keep a Castle as to winne it , then to remember a good thing shall be as needfull as to learne it , and to retaine knowledge as singular a vertue as to attaine it ; nay it is great pitie that he should euer know a thing that cannot remember it : he that learnes a thing , and then forgetteth it , is like him that findes a treasure and then loseth it , which as hee was very fortunate to find , so was he a very foole to lose ; put both together , and they spell a fortunate fool : The Ostrich , Iob 39. layeth many goodly egs ; but she layeth them in the sand , and when she hath layed them , there she leaueth them , and comes no more at them , for which cause God there condemneth her for a foole . A feather of that bird doth he beare , and a bird of that feather shal he be , that learnes to know a thing , and then forgets it ; like Adam , who was once possest of Paradise , and could not hold it ; and like the diuell , who had once a place in heauen , and then went and lost it .

Therefore ( Beloued ) Memorie will come to haue a singular place in Diuinity , and in religion ; yea euery man by memory becomes excellent in euery Art ; the Schollar , the Lawyer , the Physition , the Mathematician ; yea and many a Merchant thinkes his booke of Accounts or remembrances to be his Canticum Canticorum , the most Catholike and Canonicall booke he hath : therefore let no man looke to excell in matters of religion , and not to keepe a register , that is , not to remember it ; especially religion being a thing which men are so apt to forget . S. Hierom saith of the conquering Romanes , that amiddest their greatest pompe and triumphes , they had euer one at the backe of the Chariot to pull the Conquerer by the sleeue , and so oft as the people shouted and cried , to crie to him againe , Memento te hominem esse , Remember thou art a man . And is it possible , a man should forget himselfe to be a man ? much more then had wee neede of one thought , to stand vp alwaies in the chariot of our heart , and to crie , Memento Deum esse , Remember there is a God ; for we are indeed by nature forgetfull : Pharaohs Butler forgat Ioseph , Gen. 40. and Ioseph forgat his fathers house , Gen. 41. 51. The Disciples of Christ ( which men seldome doe ) forgat to take bread with them , Matth . 16. Nebuchadnezzar once dreamed , and forgat his owne dreame , Dan. 2. Yea we read of one Messala Coruinus so sottish and forgetfull , as hee forgat his owne name ; much more may wee suspect our selues and feare , lest we forget Gods name , for the Creator and the creature being names so neere a kin , we may not forget the one , and then thinke to remember the other ; therfore we must so learne to know God , as that we may remember him , and so heare of the iudgements of God , as that we may meditate on them ; yea it was Dauids vsuall phrase , not to say , I look vpon thy law , as men commonly come to church to look vpon the walles , and then forget that euer they were there , but , O how I loue thy law ( saith he ) it is my continuall meditation ; Psalm . 119. and the best way to helpe memory is continuall meditation .

That we should as well remember the iudgements of God , as learne to know them , God hath ordained a Sabbath for remembrance , not that we should remember God but one day in seuen , but that if we would be forgetfull , yet we should remember him one day in seuen at the least : for this cause hath God ordained a Sacrament for remembrance , Hoc facite in commemorationem mei , Do this in remembrance of me , Luk . 22. yea and for this end hath God filled the world with remembrancers , ordaining the creatures continually to put vs in mind of the Creator , in the heauens to behold his greatnes , though God bee greater then the heauens ; in the Sunne to behold his brightnesse , though God bee brighter then the Sunne ; in the Starres to see his beautie , albeit there be no beautie like to his ; in the thunder the terror of his presence , albeit the thunder roare not halfe so loud as he ; in the fowles of the ayre , his care and prouidence ; in the course of nature , his mutable wisedome ; in the creation of the world , his eternall power and God-head ; that so often as we see these ( and we cannot but see them often ) so often wee should remember him that made them .

That God did not meane the law should be forgotten , it may appeare by the first publishing of it , which as it is Exod . 19. was giuen in thunder and lightning , that the amazing of their minds with such a terror might make them to remember it the better ; as a Schoolemaster , when he will haue his scholar not to forget such a rule , sets it on with a beating ; so likewise did Moses when he had written Exodus , which was indeed the booke of the law , afterward wrote Deuteronomie , which was nothing else but a remembrance of the law . Hitherto likewise tended the practise of the Church , which kept the tables of the Law in the Arke , Deut. 10. and the booke of the Law in the Arke , Deut. 31. and caused it afterward to be read euery Sabbath in the Synagogues , Act. 13. Lest all this should not serue to keep the Law in mind , Moses took a surer course to set it before Deut . 6. their eyes ; for the Iewes were commanded to binde it on their hands , that their hands might learne to liue by law : they were commanded to hang it between their eies , that they might learne not to looke , but to looke by law , yea to weare it vpon their foreheads , ( the very seat of memory ) that they might alwaies remember and meditate of the Law : they were commanded to write it on their gates and doores without , that they migh remember they had their entrance and first admission in condition of obedience to the Law : they were commanded to write it on the walles and postes within , that they might remember their standing was supported , and their state maintained by law : they were commanded to write it on the phylacteries and skirts of their garments , that they might remember their chiefest beautie , ornament , and honor was to honor God in the keeping of the Law : such care had God to keepe his law in their hearts , as their heads , and their hands , and their houses , and their gates , and their garments must be garnished with it , and all for this end that they might remember it . In Leuit. chap. 11. those only beasts were cleane , which when they had eaten a thing , did ruminate and chew vpon it ; so are they the best hearers , which when they haue heard a thing doe ruminate and meditate vpon it , that is , remember it . In the ceremoniall law , Moses was commanded when hee had made the candlesticke , to make the snuffers too , Exod . 25. 38. whose vse was , when the lights in the Tabernacle were cloyed , to cleare them , or ( as commonly we say ) to snuffe them ; wherein mystically ye must thus much vnderstand , that so often as the spirituall light of knowledge growes dimme in your minds , the Priest hath Ius repurgandi , authoritie and power to cleere it , that is , by remembring it anew , to adde a new impression and strong imagination to it : and therefore if yee will heare of Lots wife , or any good thing , and then againe forget it , take it how yee will ; God hath put the golden snuffers into our hands , and howsoeuer you snuffe , we must snuffe too . In the Gospell the blessing is not onely vpon him that heareth the Word , but , Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it , Luk . 11. In the Church of God there is not only Paul to plant , but Apollos comes after with his water pot to water what Paul hath planted , lest it die ; 1. Cor . 3. So as vnlesse you will driue Apollos , and all the disciples of Apollos , that is , all waterers out of the Church , yee must giue Christ leaue to remember what Moses had taught before , and your selues must endeuor to remember what ye haue learned before . Little cares the diuell how much men heare , so they remember nothing ; yea the diuell ( to chuse ) would haue men to heare , so they did not remember , that in hearing , and then againe forgetting , they might stand more answerable for that they heare . The inconueniences of not remembring , do no where better appeare then in Peter , for Christ told Peter , Luk . 22. that the diuell had a desire to sift him , and indeed the diuell did sift him , and shake so much out of him , as by not remembring the words of Christ , hee forsware Christ ; for when he remembred the words , the text saith plainly , He went out and wept bitterly ; and Luke 22. 61. 62. what is this , but for a man to haue a sieue in his hand , and to haue eares like a sieue , when he shall receiue instruction at one eare , and let it out at both ? like a sieue which takes in water at one place and lets it out at an hundred . And therfore when a man hath heard a Sermon , and streightway forgetteth it , let him strongly suspect , the diuell hath sifted him . In the parable of the sower , one part of the seed fell by the high way side , and that the little birds picked vp , Matth . 13. which is nothing else but the Word preached to forgetfull hearers ; and the little birds , what bee they , but worldly thoughts and cares , which consume and eate vp the spirituall seed as fast as it is sowen ? Therefore to our planting wee must adde watering , and to our hearing remembrance .

And where are then our fine Athenian eares , such as neuer vouchsafe to open , but when some new thing is deliuered ? If a man come with Scitote , and teach to know some new thing , hee is welcome ; but Mementote , a remembrance of the old is a meere Bis coctum , stale , and vnsauorie ; and hee that preacheth so , is like him that powreth twice sodden broath out of the pot . Men come now adaies to a Sermon as to a play , Aut nouum dicas , aut nihil dicas , either some new thing or nothing , either a new matter or none at all . Speake ye of Lots wife ! and what of her ! our pulpits are made for Moses that tels the tale while it is new ; the bel-frey is good enough for him that remembreth it when it is old . Preaching is become like apparelling , we can fancie it no longer then the fashion is new : If wee come to a Sermon and heare no new thing , we think that time was lost , and bid Fie on such a man , as the Israelites did on Manna , because they had it euery day ; heere is Manna , and Manna , and nothing but Manna ; and so say we , we heard to day the high-way points of faith and good workes , with the vulgar doctrine , and common place of repentance , and heard nothing but that we knew before , and men grow angrie if they heare of one thing twice , as if their patience were greatly abused : Nay wee are come to that nicenes now , that we can scarce endure to heare one man twice ; when a man comes out first , we admire him without measure , and euery man is readie to cast vp his cap , to carie branches of palme before him , and to crie Hosanna , yea and to say of him , as the Samaritanes said of Simon Magus , This man is that great power of God ; but when nine daies are once ouer , and hee begins to be stale , why then , Arescit anima nostra , our soule is dried vp with this Manna , giue vs some other meate . But ( beloued ) if ye will haue your minds reformed , the way is , not to draw vp your minde to your eares , but to carrie downe your eares to your minde , that ye may relish , not that which is most plausible , but that which is most profitable ; and say not , when you haue heard what you haue heard before , that ye knew all this before ; for how then ! It seemeth by this that you came to Church , and knew not why , like the men of Ephesus who assembled together , and could yeeld no reason why : for what is the end Act. 19. 32. of mens assembling and meeting at the Church ? Ye will say , to heare and to learne some new thing : Indeed that may well be one end among other , though not the only end excluding all other ; for as ye come to learne anew , so come ye likewise to remember the old : nor must yee thinke that we preach alway to your vnderstanding , to teach you what ye knew not before , but most commonly to your memory , to put you in mind of that ye knew , lest ye forget it : I haue not written vnto you ( saith S. Iohn ) because ye know not the truth , but because yee know it , 1. Ioh . 2. 21. A very strange consequent : and S. Paul to the Romans , I am perswaded of you , that yee are full of all goodnesse ; yea and more then so , that yee are full of all knowledge ; yea and more then so , that yee are able to admonish one another , they were so grounded as euery priuate man amongst them was meete to make a Preacher : neuerthelesse ( saith he ) I haue written vnto you , as one that puts you in remembrance ; Rom. 15. 14. 15. Neither must ye thinke that all Scripture is only for instruction , but chiefely for remembrance : I write no new commandement to you , but an old ( saith S. Iohn ) which ye haue had from the beginning : 1. Ioh . 2. 7. nor was Paul ashamed to say ouer againe , what he had said immediatly before , As I said before , so I say againe , if any man preach otherwise then that yee haue heard , let him bee accursed , Gal. 1. 9. And againe , I haue told ye oft , and now againe I tell yee weeping , that many walke as enemies of the Crosse of Christ : Philip . 3. 18. Nor doubted Peter to say , that he wrote his second Epistle only for remembrance , This second Epistle write I now vnto you , to call to your remembrance the words of the Prophets and Apostles , 2. Pet . 3. 1. 2.

For he that driues a naile into a knottie peece of wood , knocks not once , but againe and againe to fasten it : so God minding to settle deep in our dull hearts , both the knowledge and conscience of the Law , did by often repetitions remember it ; euen as Pharaoh when he dreamed of the plentie , and famine in Egypt , his dreame was doubled , because ( as his Interpreter told him ) God would establish it , Gen. 41. 32. Yea and where Atheists barke at the Scriptures for being by often repetition tedious , the deuout and sober minded do thence take occasion to adore , whence they to detest ; for it hath been held as a rule in former times , Quoties Scriptura repetit , mysterium est , that so oft as the Scripture repeates and saith one thing ouer and ouer , there is sure some mysterie , or some great matter in it ; for as when the Hounds open loude and free , the huntsman gathereth that there is some game ; so when the Scripture vseth importunitie in a point , it is a signe there is some great thing to be marked .

Be ye therefore I beseech you ( Right honorable and well beloued ) be ye I beseech you of Dauids mind , for God spake once or twice ( saith Dauid ) that power belongeth vnto God , and I heard it , Psal . 62. 11. No doubt a patient auditor ; God spake of one thing twice , and he heard it , whereas commonly if we speake of one thing twice , or but remember an old matter , we can get no audience , no man will heare it . Now if this be so , then am I cleane lost and shamed . If this be the course , that men may remember no old matters , but still to teach , and to bring in new , then what shal I do with Lots wife heere , or of all places , what doe I heere ? I must remember to you the iudgement of God vpon Lots wife ; I know ye know it alreadie ; yea and I know this besides , that I can obserue nothing , and teach nothing out of it , but that which hath been obserued and taught before , Et nihil dictum quod non dictum priùs , I shall say nothing but that which hath bin said before : yet if there be any heere which knoweth not the storie of Lots wife , then shall I stand in Moses stead to teach it him : If ye know the storie of Lots wife , yet giue me leaue , a poore disciple of Apollos , to water your knowledge , that is , to Remember it : if ye did once know it , and haue now forgotten it , yet heare it againe , and ye shall remember it better , and ye shall find it true which S. Paul saith , It grieues not mee to write the same things to you , and for you it is a sure thing , Philip . 3. 1. But say ye both know it well , and well remember it , yet the very act of remembrance in the actes and iudgements of God , is one of the most diuine duties we can performe to God ; Dauid often testifying of himselfe , that he did meditate in the Law of God , and of the workes of GOd , and that not once in seuen daies , but seuen times in a day , yea and all the day , and therfore pronounceth him the happie man that so doth : Blessed is hee whose delight is in the Law of the Lord , and in his Law doth meditate day and night , &c. And so much for the first part generall , concerning Remembrance .

The subiect of this remembrance is Lots wife , who in the second place comes to be considered of . A more plausible subiect ( I am sure ) it had bin , to speake vnto you of Lot himselfe , then of Lots wife , for he was saued , and she was destroyed , he a speciall figure of mercie and saluation , but she a partaker of the common condemnation , and what haue we to do with them that were condemned ? Euery man saith now , we liue in the time of the Gospel , what haue we to do with the iudgements of the Law ? We are come to the Hebr . 12. 22. peaceable hill of Sion , why are we then brought backe againe to mount Horeb ? When the Law was first giuen , the Iewes ranne away for feare , and euer since when the iudgements of the Law are remembred , we are readie to go away for anger ; for we haue Euangelicas aures , our hearts indeed are all sinne , but our eares are all of mercy , and therefore he that will set vs a song , must set it to the tune of the Gospell : as if the Law ( like an old almanake ) were cleane out of date , we must heare of nothing but Pax vobis , Peace and peace ; and we must see nothing , but Ecce Agnus Dei , Behold the Lambe of God ; but yet wee must remember that that Lambe was a Lion too , Reuel . 5. 5. 6. and that Christ and Moses met both vpon the mount , in whom the Law and the Gospell did both shake hands together : Matth . 17. And what if Christ be our peace ? yet is he Iustice too ; for in him it was prophecied , that Mercy and truth should meet , that Iustice and Peace should kisse one another , Psalm . 85. And from him proceeded Blessings to the meek , Blessings to the mercifull , Blessings to the pure in heart ; and from him likewise , Wo to thee Corazin , and wo to thee Bethsaida . And therefore if we liue in sinne , the Law and Iudgement must be preached vnto vs , yea though in the time of the Gospell . There is a time to slay , and a time to heale , saith Salomon , Eccle . 3. Now the time of healing is when men haue sinned and are wearie of it , but the time of wounding is when men sinne and sinne , and yet are senselesse in it , which is the sicknes of this age , euen of this last and worst age wherein we liue ; yea Christ prophecieth heere plainly , that toward the latter end of the world men shall grow senselesse , and secure , and asleepe in sensualitie , that they shall do as they did in the daies of Lot , and in the desolation of Sodom , that they shall do as in the daies of the flood , they shall eate till they surfet , and drink till they be drunke , they shall marrie , and giue in mariage , they shal buy and sell , and plant and build , they shal build houses , as Stratomachus saith of the men of Rhodes , Aedificant quasi semper victuri , comedunt quasicras morituri , They build houses , as if they should liue euer , but they eate and drinke as if they should die to morrow : therfore to such men , and to such a time Christ thought it much better to remember Lots wife , then to remember Lot .

Now forsomuch as no man is remembred for nothing ; but either for some good thing , or for some euill , either for being notable , or else for being notorious , two things in Lots wife are very memorable and worthy our meditation , the one is the sinne committed by her , the other is the punishment inflicted on her ; so then wee must remember her for that shee did , and wee must remember for that she suffered ; we must remember how she liued , and we must remember how shee died ; we must remember how she turned from God to embrace the world , and ( which is euer memorable ) how in embracing it , she perished with it . Who list to vnderstand the storie of her sinne , may reade it at large in the report of Moses , who in the nineteenth of Genesis recordeth a bill of inditement against her , thus ; That whereas God for the abomination of those sinfull cities had sent downe an Angell of vengeance to destroy them , yet Lot found such fauor for himselfe and his familie , as that in the vtter wast and desostroy them , yet Lot found such fauor for himselfe and his familie , as that in the vtter wast and desolation of foure whole cities , he only was exempted , and the fift citie ( which was Zoar ) for his sake preserued ; only this required at his hands , to make haste and bee gone : but what haste Lot made , wee will not now dispute ; and yet by his leaue ( though it stood vpon his life ) he made no more then he should ; but Moses puts in a sweete parenthesis , ( God being mercifull to him . ) But his Gen. 19. 16. wife , this woful woman , of whom we are now to speake , shee made much lesse , yea shee made a great deale too little , for while her husband was a great way before , she was a great way behind , and lingred so long that she lost her life . And for so much as it seemeth to point out a doctrine more particularly for women , I would she might stand vp as a piller for all women to looke vpon , yea and as well for men too , to let both men and women know how dangerous a thing it is for man to tempt his Maker , and to dallie with the iudgements of God .

Moses seemeth to endite her for two things , first for being behind , secondly for looking behind ; to which was added a punishment in proportion , that she was left behind . Now his wife behind him looked backe , and she became a piller of salt , Gen. 19. 26. His wife behind ; How behind ? I hope , not behind with the world , for she loued the world too well ; but behind either with God , in preferring smoake and vanity before him ; or behind with the Angels of God , notwithstanding the great haste imposed by them ; but chiefly behind her husband in lingring vpon the way , and losing ground of him ; and if she did so , it was her fault , yea it was a trespasse in marriage , for her husband was her standard , whom shee ought not in times of trouble to forsake : yea the wife must neither be before her husband , nor behind him , but iust with him ; for neither was she made of any part before , nor of any part behind , but out of his side , that she might go side by side . Mariage is resembled to a yoake , Be not vnequally yoaked with infidels , 2. Cor . 6. Now they which are yoaked must goe in paires , one iust beside another , for if one go before , and another go hehind , then are they not like oxen , but like horses , not like cleane beasts , but like vncleane . It was neuer well in wedlock since Satan first preuailed to seuer the wife from her husband ; I speake not of a diuorcing of their persons , but a diuiding of their wils , when as if he wil one thing , she wils another ; if he like one thing , she likes another ; if he be behind , she will be before ; or as Lots wife heer , if he be before , she wil be behind , and I thinke sure , that amongst other circumstances of her sin , she was punished for her neglect and contempt in this . But Lot was at this time much more then a husband to his wife , for the Angels came especially to him , the destruction of Sodom was reuealed to him , the promise of particular preseruation made to him , the charge of making haste was laid on him , all came at the first hand to him ; so as now he is made a Prophet , an oracle , a leading starre to his wife ; and yet for all this , His wife behind him . But it is a wonder to see in men made all of one mother earth , such difference of mettall , and contrarietie of spirits ; some men like S. Peter runne before their masters , and their paternes , for Christ had scarce begun the parlee , when he had got out his sword , and charged vpon the maine battell ; and therefore it is no maruell if the race of the Peters euer since do run before the rest of the Church , since the first Peter of whom they hold , outran euen Christ himselfe . Some women likewise runne before their husbands ; like Eue , who had plucked and eaten vp the apple , before Adam durst to touch it ; and where Iob ment to curse but the night or the day of his birth , his wife went before him , and pointing him to heauen , bad him Curse God and die . 1. King . 21. But Achabs wife was a woman beyond all women , yea a woman by her selfe , for Achab came faintly , and vpon faire conditions to buy or change a vineyard , and could not ; and because he could not , he went to bed heauy , halfe dead vpon it , but iezebel deliuereth him speedily without purchase or change , what he could not buy for loue nor for money . Some men cleane contrarie are of heauy , lumpish and leaden spirits , like Ionas when the winds roared , and the seas raged , as if heauen and earth would haue gone together , then was he fast a sleep in the bottom of the ship ; he had lead in his eies : and the two disciples that went to Emaus , they were Tardi corde , Luke 24. 25. they had lead in their hearts , as Lots wife heere had lead in her heeles . But let vs call her to account , & aske what cause she had to hang so far behind ; will she say she limpt , or that she was lame ? then was it , Animo magis qùam corpore , her limbes were all right , but her heart was out of ioynt ; or will she say , shee was weary ? weary indeed , but it was of well doing ; or will she say she was tired , or that she fainted ? and so perhaps she did , but it was in her faith ; or will she say , she was not well at ease , or that she was sicke ? so said Rachel when her father bad her rise , she was not well she said , for The maner of women was vpon her , Genes . 31. 35. And what is the maner of women ? to pretend one thing when another is the cause ? yea and so it is a sore disease with men too . But of what disease did she labour , or whereon was she sicke ? she was sicke of Sodom , as Achab was of Naboths vineyard ; she was sicke of her owne wil , for she went vnwillingly : No maruell then if she made no more haste , since she went whither she would not . Ah that crooked wil of ours , so eager on that which is euill , and so vnwilling to any thing which is good ; so hot and so hastie to his owne hurt , but so loath , so lingring , and so far behind , when mercie and saluation is before .

But no maruell if this woman lingred so farre behind , for she looked backe , as if she would haue gone back , or as if she had left her heart behinde ; And vbi amor ibi oculus ; as where the treasure is , there will the heart be also , so where the heart is , there will the eye be also : of the heart and the eie , we may say as Iacob of Simeon and Leui , Brethren in iniquitie : The eie is but a broker to the heart ; the eie sheweth what is louely , the heart loueth ; the eie liketh , the heart affecteth ; the eie looketh out like a skoute , and saith , a louely obiect commeth , the heart putteth on affection and pursueth : The eie saith , Hoc est pulchrum , the heart saith , Hoc est meum . This sympathie betweene her heart and her eie , did Lots wife feele when shee came from Sodom , that she might haue said to her selfe , as Salomon to the Spouse , Thou hast wounded Cantic . 4. my heart with a looke of thine eyes : For whither went she ? to Zoar ; whence came she ? from Sodom ; from her kindred and from her friends , from her country where she had liued , from her house where shee had dwelt , from her gardens , and from her pleasures , from sweet aire , greene pastures , and pleasant waters , yea from a paradise , ( For as was the garden of the Lord , euen so was Sodom before it was destroyed , Gen. 13. ) from thence came this wofull woman , and as if she thither would againe , thither she lookes ; she goes forward and lookes cleane backward , as if God had broke her necke when he brought her thence : And but that God cut her off , somewhat sure she had to say to Sodom , when she looked vpon it , as if shee would haue taken her leaue of it , and bid it farewell , as if she would haue wept vpon it , as Hagar wept on Ismael , or Christ vpon Ierusalem : And must I leaue thee Sodom , and part for euer from thee ? then once againe let me looke vpon thee , since I must looke no more , yea let me die with thee , since thou must liue no more ; for where was euer Paradise if not in thee ! or what wil heauen be when thou art gone ! O thou the light of mine eies , and delight of my soule , whom heauen it selfe doth but match in happinesse , ouermatching only in eternity ; what a life it was to liue in thee ! If we wished for wealth , we wallowed in it ; if for honor , it waited on vs ; and when we would bee merrie , Plentie , ease , and peace sang melodie to it . Such a bewitching it is to the soule of man to fall in loue with the world , that we oft times looke back , and go back , and wish we were there , from whence without great grace we were not deliuered . Therfore fie vpon the fleshpots of Egypt , for it is they which haue bewitched vs : but Remember Lots wife ; yea remember Moses who Hebr . 11. 25. forsooke the court of Pharaoh , and chose to suffer aduersitie with Gods people , rather then to enioy the pleasures of sinne for a season : Remember Eliseus , who forsook the gold and siluer at the 2. King . 5. Dan . 1. 8. hands of Naaman : Remember Daniel , who despised the daintie meats of Babylon : Remember Christ , who fled into a mountaine when they Iohn 6. would haue made him King ; yea remember all the Prophets , Martyrs , and Saints of God from time to time , which held the world in skorne , and stood at defiance with it ; as Peter with Simon Magus , when he tempted him with money . Thinke thou art now betweene Sodom and Zoar , that is , going from the world to God ; the Angels haue cried vnto thee , as Reuel . 18. Come out of Babylon , so come out of Sodom , lest ye be partakers of her plagues ; yea thinke that Angels are come into thy house to fetch thee out and to hasten thee ; therefore looke not aside , for the way is full of snares ; nor looke behind , for Sodom cals vpon thee and saith , come againe , come againe to Sodom ; she sends out her messengers , Epicures and carnall companions to call vpon thee , and euery one saith , come againe , come againe to Sodom ; yea she casteth vp her lures to tempt and allure thee , come againe , come againe to Sodom : but Remember Lots wife .