The Revelation Revealed, Chapter 2 · Verse 3
Verſe 3. And haſt born, and hast patience, and for my names ſake haſt laboured, and haſt not fainted.
Obſerve from this,
Obſerv. That falſe Teachers, and falſe Apoſtles, are great perſecuters of the faithful ones of Chriſt. The church of Epheſus had ſuffered much from ſuch falſe Teachers, for Chriſt's ſake, and his truth. The falſe Prophets of old were alwaies againſt the true ones, and cauſed them often to be ſmitten and afflicted; as Micaiah was jeared by Zedekiah, Which way went the Spirit from me to thee? 1 Kings 22. 2, 4. and that not all, but was ſmitten diſgracefully on the check alſo: Shemaiah ſtirred up the authority againſt Jeremiah the Lord's Prophet, and would have caſt him in the priſon, Ier. 29.24. Yea ſaith Ezekiel 22.25. There is a conſpiracy of her Prophets in the midſt thereof; not only like Foxes, but even like Lions, ravening the prey. Theſe falſe Teachers have been always very pernicious to Gods true church: What great perſecuters Arrius and his followers were to Athanaſius and the Orthodox? They were the Prieſts and falſe Prophets of old, that ſhed the blood of Chriſt and his Apoſtles, though not by their own hands, yet by incenſing the authority to do it: How willingly would Pilate releaſe Chriſt, if it were not for the out-cry of the Prieſts and their followers: falſe prophets ſtill exclaim and faſtigate the Magiſtrate, and tells them, that they ſhall do God good ſervice in ſacrificing the Saints, which they term heretiques, or ſchiſmatiques, and troublers of their peace and union; but when you meet ſuch a fiery perſecuting ſpirit in any that pretend to Chriſt, judge of it whence it is by theſe Scriptures, Gal. 5.20. Col. 3.12, 13. So great hath been the malice of falſe Prophets, and falſe Teachers, ever againſt the true Saints, that they have never reſted till they have got their blood ſhed. It was the Pope and his falſe Prelates and Prieſts, that firſt filled all Europe with blood; it was the ſame curſed progeny that brought ſo many precious ſouls to the ſtake and faggot in Queen Maries days, otherwiſe of her ſelf, as Hiſtory teſtifies, of nature good enough.
Quere But it may here be queried; for what things ought we to ſuffer with patience and conſtancy, and not to faint under the burden thereof?
I have partly formerly anſwered this queſtion in the ninth verſe of the firſt chapter: I ſhall here add one word more, for the rectifying the judgment, and keeping the conſcience undefiled herein Firſt, Know that every ſoul is ſtrictly obliged to obſerve all the Laws of God, whether Moral, Natural, or Poſitive, and to undergo all ſufferings whatſoever, rather then to diſhonour God by the breach of the former, or neglect his worſhip by the contempt of the latter: We are not only bound, under perſecutors to keep the conſcience undefiled, in not committing groſs ſins, as Idolatry, &c. but alſo we are obliged to perform all our poſitive chriſtian duties, though we ſuffer for it: as we find that Daniel gave a teſtimony in this caſe, though to the hazard of perſecution to extremity, and would not forbear his three times a day ſolemn prayers, and that upon his knees in his chamber, and his windows open towards Jeruſalem; though he knew his enemies might by that means ſurprize and accuſe him, and cauſe him to be caſt into the Den of Lions; yet did he hold himſelf bound daily to the Law of outward Worſhip, though the looking to Jeruſalem was but a ceremony ordained by God upon Solomon's prayer, 1 Kings 8.9. Alſo the Macchabean Worthies did not think that perſecution did, or could diſcharge them from the ſtrict obſerving even of the Ceremonial Law, of not eating Swines fleſh, but for it endured all extremity of torments, as the Story relates; and for it are juſtly ranked among the Worthies of the old Teſtament, who lived and died in faith, Heb. 11. So jealous is God not only for the preſervation of his Moral Laws, but even of thoſe Ceremonial and Ritual Laws; that after he hath diſcovered his Will about them, and commands them, they forthwith become morally poſitive Laws, and obligent, until their repeals from the ſame authority are manifeſted and cleared. Therefore by this Judge, what a lax and looſe Religion does Hobbs his Leviathan preſcribe unto us, to ſubmit to any Religion that the chief or ſoveraign Magiſtrate ſhall dictate to us; and that it is not chriſtians duty to ſuffer for any Article, but for that, that Jeſus Chriſt is the Meſſias; ſo ſubjecting almoſt the whole will of God in morals and poſitives, unto the will of man. But as to this, let us like true chriſtians pray, Libera (Domine) nos a malo.