"Very well; I hope you feel the content you express: at any rate, your good sense will tell you that it is too soon yet to yield to the vacillating fears of Lot's wife. What you had left before I saw you, of course I do not know; but I counsel you to resist firmly every temptation which would incline you to look back: pursue your present career steadily, for some months at least." (367).
Jane has run away from Rochester after discovering his wife, Bertha Mason, and is speaking to a new acquaintance named St. John Rivers. St. John is advising her concerning her past relations with Mr. Rochester, in this advice he references the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, a man of God, and his family have been warned by angels to leave their home near the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as the cities will be destroyed for being so wicked. The angels also warned Lot to not look back at the city as they were fleeing. Lot's wife looked back when they were escaping and she turned into a pillar of salt. St. John is warning Jane that she should look to the future, her escape from Rochester, and not look back at her past for otherwise she may suffer a similar fate, figuratively speaking.