A Warning Against Looking Back

In Exodo, Judaicus populus, ad umbram nostri et imaginem praefiguratus, cum, Deo tutore et vindice, evasisset Pharaonis atque Aegypti, id est diaboli et saeculi, durissimam servitutem; circa Deum perfidus et ingratus, adversus Moysen mussitat, respiciens solitudinis ac laboris incommoda, et non intelligens libertatis ac salutis beneficia divina, reverti quaerit ad Aegypti, hoc est ad saeculi, servitutem unde fuerat exutus, cum magis fidere deberet in Deum et credere; quoniam qui a diabolo et saeculo liberat populum suum, protegit liberatum: Quid hoc nobis, inquiunt, fecisti in ejiciendo nos de Aegypto? melius est nobis servire Aegyptiis quam mori in solitudine hac. Et dixit Moyses ad populum: Fidite, et state, et cernite salutem quae a Domino est, quam vobis faciet hodie: Dominus ipse pugnabit pro vobis, et vos tacebitis. Quod nos admonens in Evangelio suo Dominus, et docens ne ad diabolum rursus et ad saeculum, quibus renuntiavimus et unde evasimus, revertamur, dicit: Nemo retro attendens et superponens manum suam super aratrum, aptus est regno Dei. Et iterum: Et qui in agro est, non convertatur retro. Memores estote uxoris Loth. Ac, ne quis aliqua vel cupiditate rerum, vel suorum dulcedine retardetur quominus Christum sequatur, addit et dicit: Qui non renuntiat omnibus quae sunt ejus, non est potest meus esse discipulus. Sanctus Cyprianus, Epistola ad Fortunatum, De Exhortatione Martyrii Source:Migne PL 4.660c-661b

In Exodus the Jewish people, prefigured as a shadow and image of us, with God for their protector and avenger, when they had escaped from the most bitter slavery of Pharaoh and of Egypt, that is, of the devil and the world, faithless and ungrateful concerning God, murmur against Moses, and looking back on the discomforts of the desert and of their labour, and, not understanding the Divine benefits of liberty and salvation, they seek to return to Egypt, that is, to the world, the servitude from which they had been drawn forth, when they should rather have trusted and believed in God, because He who delivers His people from the devil and the world, protects them when they are delivered. 'Why have you done this to us,' say they, 'casting us out of Egypt? It is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this desert.' And Moses said to the people, 'Trust and stand fast, and see the salvation which is from the Lord, which He shall make for you today. The Lord Himself shall fight for you, and you will be silent.' 1 The Lord, admonishing us concerning this in His Gospel and teaching that we should not return again to the devil and to the world which we have renounced and from which we have escaped, says, 'No man looking back and putting his hand to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God.' 2 And again, 'And let him who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife.' 3 And lest any one should be slowed from following Christ by desire for wealth or the attraction of his own family, He adds and says: 'He who does not forsake all he has cannot be my disciple.' 4 Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Letter to Fortunatus, On Exhortation to Martyrdom 1 Exodus 14.11-14 2 Lk 9.62 3 Lk 17.31-32 4 Lk 14.33