The Revelation Revealed, Chapter 2 · Verse 5
Verſe 5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy firſt works; or elſe I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candleſtick out of his place, except thou repent.
The Spirit ſets a foreign, or Memento, home on the affection and zeal-fallen church of Epheſus, and to re-mind her of her firſt ſtate and condition, when ſhe had a greater meaſure of zeal and love both towards God and his Saints, then now ſhe had; that that conſideration might ſo work upon her, as to make a renovation in her affections, and to be-think her ſelf of a recovery of that meaſure of zeal and love which once ſhe had, and bring forth ſuch fruits and good works as formerly ſhe did, as the true effects and iſſues of that love, or elſe &c. Hence Note.
Obſerv. That the contemplation of grace, is the only Goſpel motive unto true repentance. The commemoration of God's former gracious dealing unto a backſlidden ſoul, will operate very ſtrongly (if not judicially hardned) to recal him unto his God.
The ſtraying prodigal experienced this truth in himſelf, Luke 15.17. when he came to himſelf, and conſidered, how that many hired ſervants in his fathers houſe had bread enough, and yet he ſtarving for hunger, it made him to reflect upon that full and gracious condition when he was as an obedient ſon with his father, which moved him to ſet on the reſolution to be a Trewant no longer, but to ariſe, and go unto his Father, and ſay, Father, I have ſinned againſt heaven, and before thee. If any thing will break the courſe of ſin, and recall the heart unto its firſt love, the conſideration of the former gracious dealings of God with it, will effect it: It will reaſon thus with it ſelf, was it not better with me when I kept cloſe to God, then now it is ſince I have broken with him? Was not my ſoul more at peace within it ſelf, when I was more zealous of God's glory, and of keeping his commands, then now when I am more remiſs, and colder in my affections, both towards God and chriſtian duties? Was not then my food more ſpiritual, and my delights more heavenly, then now when I am clogg'd with the vanities of this world, and the bewitching luſts thereof: Had I not then a freer acceſs to God, and of a freer ſpirit in my approches, crying Abba, Father, then now, having ſtrayed from him, inſtead thereof having a ſpirit of bondage, and of fear? In ſhort, when I kept cloſe with God, did not a face of heaven (as it were) appear in all my performances and relations; but now having departed from him, all is turned into hell and bitterneſs againſt me? Surely thoſe conſiderations of grace formerly received, will work more upon an ingenious ſpirit, then any thundring Legal threats whatſoever: yet I add, if theſe will not do, Chriſt hath another courſe and method, and can come judicially, and remove his candleſtick from amongſt ſuch obſtinate and unrepentant ſinners.
Obſerv. 2. Another Note is, That true Goſpel repentance conſiſts not only in changing the mind, but of practiſe and converſation alſo. foreign, Reſcipicite, to wax wiſer, or repent, do not only conſiſt to grow wiſer in the judgement, but in the choice of the practical affections alſo. If the will be not right, as to its objects, as well as the judgement, it will not denominate a true repentant. The church of Epheſus was right, as to her faith, for which ſhe ſuffered in patience, yet her practiſe and affections were not ſtreight, for which ſhe had the check, and commanded to do the firſt works, works of love, works of charity, works of piety, which formerly ſhe had been zealous in: In true repentance there is a Terminus a quo, and Terminus ad quem. Turn ye, turn ye every one from the abomination of his ways: there is the terminus a quo: but this is not all, a negative righteouſneſs will not ſerve turn, but there muſt be Terminus ad quem, a poſitive righteouſneſs alſo: There muſt be a doing of the firſt works of holineſs and godlineſs towards God, and of love and righteouſneſs towards all; but more eſpecially towards the houſhold of faith: Theſe are the adequate ingredients of true and Goſpel repentance. It is a groſs deceit in many, that think that they have believed ſufficiently, and they have repented ſufficiently, when they have altered their judgment, or at leaſt, their weather-cock opinion, from one external form unto another; as when an Epiſcopal man is become for a Presbyterie. O moſt kind and benigne Sun-ſhine, quoth he; but when a Presbyterian turns Independent in judgement, he preſently cries out, that heaven is opened unto him; never conſidering that the kingdom of heaven does conſiſt in godlineſs and righteouſneſs, but in outward forms of worſhip, which if rightly regulated, ſomthing of each might be rightly admitted to make a juſt compoſure. In the next place, ſome think their repentance very ſound, when they have changed one errour for another; when of an Arminian or Pelagian, are become Antinomiſts, rightly ſo termed, denying and oppoſing the morality of the Law, as a rule of duty obliging unto chriſtians: when of an Arrian, or Antitrinitarian, are become Tridheites, or worſhippers of three Gods &c. So corrupt is the heart of man, that will make his own opinion an Idol, and all that looks not that way, nor brings any flowers to that ſacrifice (and yet otherwiſe apparently gracious) ſhall neither have the title of a true believer, or a repentant ſoul, amongſt them: Therefore with all ſuch I would leave this Scripture, as a Signet upon their finger, Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works.
Obſerv. 3. Another Note from the authority of the perſon, (Chriſt) that gives this memento, is, That Chriſt's commands in his Word, ſhould be very powerful and efficacious, to bring us unto repentance. Shall Chriſt be our Anamneſtes, or Remembrancer, and ſet our faults before us, by his Spirit in the Word, and ſhall not our hearts be molten for it? Shall he call from heaven to us in his ever-living word of Propheſie, and ſhall we not intend, or hearken to that heavenly viſion? He gave but one glance on Peter, reflecting on his unkindneſs and denial, which cauſed Peter to turn aſide, and weep bitterly: And ſhall he not only look upon us with his daylie providential acts of goodneſs and mercy, which leadeth unto repentance, but give us line upon line, and precept upon precept, and yet not return by repentance: It is the ſigne of moſt obdurate hearts, and of ſtiff-necked ſinners.
But ſome will ſay, We want wills to it, and if Chriſt gave wills as well as commands, we ſhould readily follow him.
I anſwer, firſt, Where Chriſt lays his commands on his choſen ones, he alſo gives there the firſt grace of his Spirit to enable to obey that command; and we know the Spirit may be oppoſed, and the Spirit may be quenched, and is ſo often by our own defects, and by reaſon of the abundancy of corruptions; ſo that the want of wills to good things, proceed from our own baſe and corrupt wills, not for want of power from Chriſt, who commands us to them; but take notice, though the operations of the Spirit may by the Elect themſelves be oppoſed, darkned, and quenched partially, but not totally and finally, but at laſt will get the victory, in bringing forth the work of God unto perfection.
Secondly, It is in vain for perſons in an …nregenerate ſtate to complain for want of wills, for before Chriſt moves thereon by his Spirit of grace, they cannot rightly will any good thing or work; but the firſt grace being given to any, and after follows a complaint of want of will to holy performances, it is a good ſigne, that there is a good will unto it, or elſe there would not be a complaint, which is only for a greater meaſure, not for a total want of will unto it.
Thirly, and laſtly, Underſtand that Chriſt often exhibits his commands of faith and repentance, even to the reprobate themſelves, to manifeſt unto them their duty, the due performance whereof, they have in their original firſt parent loſt and forfeited, and God is not obliged to reſtore it, ſeeing the vindication of Gods juſtice is as dear unto him as his mercy; and therefore when Chriſt in his Miniſtery bids ſuch perſons to believe and repent, they never complain of want of wills unto the work, but rather add ſin unto ſin, in a more obdurate unbelief. But to proceed.
Or elſe I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candleſtick out of his place, except thou repent.] As if Chriſt had ſaid unto the church of Epheſus, if thou wilt not return unto me, and unto thy firſt love, by this gracious warning I have given thee, be ſure I will come in judgment againſt thee, and that ſhortly; and though my appearance as yet unto thee (whiles there is hopes of thy recovery) be in the likeneſs of the Son of man, one of thy own nature, and compaſſionate towards thee, yet know, if thou wilt not repent, and do thy firſt works of love, zeal, and charity, I ſhall forthwith come in another like reſemblance, having mine eyes as a flame of fire, and a two-edg'd ſword proceeding from my mouth, and deſtroy thee and thy church-ſtate, and that quickly, unleſs thou ſpeedily amend thy faults.
Obſerv. Hence Note, That a ſpeedy repentance is the only means to avert the judgements of God from falling upon a church or people. Ahab's repentance, though it was but hypocritical and unſound, yet ſtayed God in executing his judgements on him. The repentance of David and Solomon for their Adultery and Idolatry, ſtayed God's hand againſt them; and many others of the Kings of Iſrael experienced the goodneſs of God in this particular, and by reaſon of their ſincere endeavours of returning unto God, by demoliſhing their abominations and idolatries, God promiſed them he would not bring the evil in their days, which he had denounced againſt his Idolatrous people the Jews, but ſhould be gathered in peace unto their fathers. The Ninivites upon their repentance in ſackcloth and aſhes, on Jonas preaching, had a longer date ſet to their political ſtate and City: and this repentance too ought to be ſpeedy; for who knows how long God will ſuffer (though long often he does) before he ſends forth the unevitable decree of execution: As God is merciful, ſlow to anger, ſlow to wrath, yet know, that God is alſo juſt, and that one attribute is as dear unto him as another; the duty we ſee is preſently required, and we know not, though God defers the execution, whether he will give us hearts again unto the work, after we have once ſlighted his gracious calls and invitations thereunto: It was an old Proverb, Sero ſapiunt Phryges, which may be our lot, if we defer too long: and we know that to be true, that ſera penitentia raro vera: and conſider how it was too late for Jeruſalem to howl and cry after ſhe had ſlighted the many gracious invitations of our Saviour unto repentance, who would have gathered her, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wing: When Titus the Roman General had caſt a Trench againſt her walls, and bolted up her gates by the ſiege of a potent Army, Chriſt tells the church of Epheſus, and the reſt of thoſe Siſter Aſian churches, if they do not repent, he will come quickly in judgements againſt them, as indeed he did in few ages after, by the incurſions of barbarous Nations, and quite removed their churches from amongſt them.
Quere. But is not this a Legal teaching, to denounce wrath and judgements on non-amendment, or for want of repentance?
I anſwer, Such as object thus, are much miſtaken; for repentance is not ſtrictly a Legal duty, but a duty Evangelical, and of grace: for the Law admits of no repentance: for it ſaith, The ſoul that ſinneth, ſhall die: It is the Goſpel of grace alone, that ſaith Repent, and live; that is, Return from thy wicked ways, and accept of Chriſt as thy Lord, Saviour, and Teacher, and thou ſhalt be ſaved: The Law is inexorable, and exacts the whole ſatisfaction as the penalty of the breach thereof, which was fully laid on Chriſt, and ſatisfied by him; It is grace alone that accepts the will for the deed, and admits of repentance in the ſinner, whiles the Surety hath compleatly ſatisfied the juſtice and rigour of the offended Law.
Secondly, What God hath ſanctified, no man ſhould call unholy; for hath not Chriſt commanded this duty of repentance very abundantly in the Goſpel, and very often to be interpreted for faith it ſelf, and ſhall we count it Legal? Repent, and be baptized, for the remiſſion of ſins, Acts 2.38. Repent, or ye ſhall all likewiſe periſh, &c. But I confeſs there is no little difference between Repentance under the Goſpel adminiſtration, and the old Teſtament adminiſtration; under the one, the doctrine thereof is more clearly taught, upon more evident terms of grace: In the other, more darker, and on more ſenſitive and carnal grounds. As Chriſt under the Law was vailed under clouds, and typical ordinances, but under the Goſpel, more clearly preached unto all; ſo his doctrines of grace, faith, and repentance, were not by far ſo radiant before the days of his manifeſtation in the fleſh, as after; ſo the difference lies in the degrees of clearneſs, not of the verity and truth of the doctrine.
Quere 2. But again ſome may query, Is not this to joyn Repentance unto Chriſt in ſome cauſality unto ſalvation, and to ſet them both, as it were, in a joynt commiſſion, though ſomwhat ſubordinately unto that great end?
Indeed this is a queſtion worthy the clearing, which many unskilful ignorantly handle, not knowing how to divide the Word of God aright, do miſerably ſtumble in it. Underſtand, for clearing of this in the order of cauſes, God's free love is the firſt moving and predeterminating cauſe unto life and ſalvation, Chriſt next is the alone procuring and meritorious cauſe; and as Chriſt hath purchaſed the Elect unto himſelf by his death and merit; ſo as a King, or a Soveraigne Legiſlator, he ſets up a Royal Law for his Redeemed people to walk by; to wit, that of Repentance towards God, and Faith unto Jeſus Chriſt. Now he ſets not Faith nor Repentance in any cauſality with himſelf in this great work of life and ſalvation, this is only but a principal part of his revealed Will and Law, that he will have his redeemed ones to walk in; he doth not require thoſe graces in them, as co-operating, or efficient cauſes unto life or juſtification, nor as conditions, properly ſo called, for on the performance of every condition, by vertue of compact, it hath a legal influence, merit, and cauſality unto the production of its end: Neither indeed is there any ſuch compact in the Word ſince the fall of Adam, that on the performance of any conditions, be they never ſo Evangelical, as Faith, Repentance, &c. Juſtification, or life, was promiſed thereupon, only the condition of the old covenant between God and man, was death upon diſobedience, and life upon obedience: Man having forfeited the one by his diſobedience, Chriſt ſteps in as the Mediator of a better and ſurer covenant, and makes his ſoul an offering unto death, which was the full performance of the penal condition due unto the ſinner, and ſo abſolutely purchaſed a bleſſed ſeed unto himſelf, and on ſuch ſtable conditions performed altogether by himſelf, that they cannot poſſibly forfeit their inheritance, being in ſo ſure a hand, and are ſtill heirs, though whiles under years they differ not from ſervants; that is, whiles under ſin, and unregeneracy, are ſtill in bondage, until faith come to diſcover their heirſhip, and intereſt unto the purchaſed poſſeſſion; and in the mean time, by evil works, they are as enemies, ſtrangers, and aliens to God, and the commonweal of Iſrael, according to the old Legal diſtinction, they have notwithſtanding Jus ad Rem, though not Jus in Re.
And though I deny faith or repentance to be conditions (properly ſo called) in the covenant to life or juſtification, yet I ſay, they are required in the ſame new Law, Covenant, or Teſtament, as conditions, improperly ſo called, or as conditions in order preceding one the other, and as benefits of the ſame covenant: But ſeeing the word condition is of late glown ſo rampant, and overmuch perfumed with the Spiceries of Rome, I ſhall willingly let it lie, as that other term of merit, which in their firſt births were more innocent, and inoffenſive, and ſhall rather call them as duties and qualities required in the new covenant by Chriſt, as neceſſary in all his redeemed ones to life and ſalvation: And when I ſay they are duties neceſſary, I would be underſtood, not abſolutely neceſſary, but virtate precepti, and virtute medii, unto all ſuch as are capable of their duties, but not unto Infants or Idiots, that want the uſe of reaſon; for to believe and repent, are acts of the will and underſtanding, which Infants or Idiots are not capable of; and therefore we exempt them from ſalvation, dying ſo, if the condition of faith was abſolute and peremptory, as Augustine once dreamed, and therefore was called durus pater Infantum: and all others muſt conclude the like harſh judgement on them alſo, that hold actual faith and repentance as abſolute neceſſary conditions unto juſtification and life.
But again, If it were true what the Arminian ſays, That none are ſaved but on the condition of the To credere, or act of faith, and none damned but for unbelief; then I re-aſſume, that ſome perſons according to this, are neither damned nor ſaved; for Infants dying ſuch, as aforeſaid, cannot have (by reaſon of their incapacity) the act of faith nor unbelief, which is a privation by refuſal or reſiſtance of the truth made manifeſt: Indeed ſuch abſurdities do they incur, that aſſert ſuch abſolute conditions in the covenant of grace to be done on man's part; yet I ſay, they are abſolute and peremptory on Chriſt's part to be performed, and he having fully finiſhed all the conditions for his elect ones by his death (though ſome of them dying Infants) yet are ſaved by vertue of that everlaſting covenant made with Chriſt, in, for, and on the behalf of all his choſen ones, of whom he will not loſe one which the Father hath given him.
From this precedent diſcourſe you may plainly conclude, that though I grant repentance a neceſſary Goſpel duty, and for divers good ends it is ordained ſo, yet do not in the leaſt place it in any ſubordinate cauſality, joyntly with Chriſt, in the work of our ſalvation, but only as our duty, thorowfare, or way thereunto, commanded and inſtituted by Chriſt, as part of his new Law, that he himſelf might have the pre-eminence in all things, and the name and glory alone of our ſalvation. And this hereon ſhall ſuffice. See more hereon v. 23.
Obſerv. 2. Another Note hence is, That the doctrine of judgments and threats, is a very uſeful Goſpel doctrine.
When Chriſt hath paſſed with his doctrine of grace, and offers a reconcilement freely, if the ſinner will but turn from his iniquities, and repent, and yet the ſinner will refuſe his gracious terms, he hath another burden to tell him, that after he hath refuſed ſo great ſalvation, he can caſt both ſoul and body into hell fire: the moſt obdurate and incorrigible child muſt have the ſharpeſt rod; a ſmile, or a love-token will work upon the ingenious, but ſaith Solomon, a rod is for the back of a fool. Neither is judgement a ſtrange work unto Chriſt; for as he is related unto his church, as a Saviour, and a Father, reſpecting his grace and loving kindneſs, ſo he is as well a Judge, and a Legiſlator, and ſo may juſtly chaſtiſe his church, as contemners and tranſgreſſors of his Royal Law. If he calls us to repent, which is part of his new covenant Law, as he did the church of Epheſus, and yet go on obſtinately in ſin, juſtly may he remove his candleſtick from amongſt us: If his Lamb-like quality of mercy and grace will not invite us to return, he can roat as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, which will cauſe us to call upon the mountains to fall upon us, and to hide us from the preſence of the Lamb: wherefore they are much miſtaken, that would ſhut out as uſeleſs, the doctrine of threats and judgements from the Goſpel, which are to be preached ſoberly, and conditional, not peremptory and abſolute; for if there were not a curb, and fear of loſs and puniſhment, the wanton ſtraying ſoul would hardly be reclaimed, though the more tender hearted the apprehenſion of grace and love might reclaim and mollifie.
Obſerv 3. Another Obſervation is, To take off God's candleſtick, or to unchurch a Nation or people, is the moſt grievous of all God's judgements.
Chriſt could not afflict the church of Epheſus with a greater loſs, then to remove his church from among them: for hereby,
Firſt, Privatively, His glory and ſpecial preſence of grace and favour is withdrawn.
Secondly, The guidance, light, and comfort of his holy Spirit is departed.
Thirdly, His Ordinances are all defiled and vaniſhed.
Fourthly, His ſpecial protection is withdrawn alſo.
Fifthly and laſtly, Inſtead of his gracious preſence, they have his preſence in wrath, judgements, and fiery indignations; Inſtead of his Spirit of light and comfort, they have the diſmal ſpirit of darkneſs, errour, and deſpair; inſtead of Chriſt's holy Ordinances, they have the Divel's ſacrifices; and inſtead of God's ſpecial protection over them, they are carried captives by Satan to all foul and unclean luſts whatſoever. This is the moſt ſad condition, when God does unchurch a people for their ſins: witneſs the habitation of theſe ſeven Aſian churches, wherein the Synagogue of Satan in Mahumatiſm and Heatheniſm is ſet up in the room of Chriſt's holy Doctrine and Ordinances, and all for their impenitency and obſtinacy in their loud crying abominations: and therefore I cannot too often recognize this verſe to backſlidden ſouls, Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy firſt works; or elſe I will come againſt thee ſhortly, and will remove thy Candleſtick out of his place, except thou repent.