All they which are in Asia be turned away from me.
To revolt and turn from our former profession is a foul fault and great offence
For Paul doth complain against it, and sets it down as a sin to be abandoned of all men (John 6:66; 1 Timothy 1:19; 1 Timothy 5:11-12). For in so doing we dishonour God; yea, no way more. For will not profane men judge that there is no profit or comfort in serving the Almighty when such forsake their profession? For thus they will reason: if that religion had been good, they and they would never have cast it off. Again, we weaken, as much as in us lies, the Church of Christ; for cut off a member, will not the body be the less powerful? And it gives the devil and his instruments the more encouragement. What? and may such cedars shake, totter, and fall? Then let the weak willows and poplar take heed of the wind. For blessed is he whom other men’s harms do make to beware. And it shall not be amiss here to lay down some causes of falling away. And they be either, first, inward, or, secondly, outward. The inward be four especially.
1. Weakness. Thus many have fallen of infirmity.
2. Some affection not mortified. For one such a Jonah in the ship will unsettle all.
3. Infidelity. When men want faith, they are unstable in all their ways.
4. Want of experience of that secret comfort which the Lord enfuseth into the hearts of such as stand resolutely for His truth in an evil time.
The outward causes are principally these:
1. Persecution. This hath turned millions backward, who in the days of peace had their faces to Sion-ward.
2. Some wrongs or injuries.
3. Scandal, or offences taken at some doctrine. “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him” (John 6:66).
4. The example of great men. Doth any of the rulers or pharisees believe in Him? This is a cord that pulleth thousands from the true path and rule (John 7:48).
5. When men have expected great promotion, but seeing their hopes frustrate, they turn aside. This is a great loadstone to draw an iron heart from the path to heaven.
6. Too much familiarity with men unsettled in the truth. Fearfully have some fallen by this stumbling-block. These be some of the main causes, both inward and outward, that have moved many to become back sliders. So that he that will go on constantly and with resolution must have an eye to all these things. (J. Barlow, D. D.)
Fickle friendship
What is sweeter than a well-tuned lute, and what more delightful than a faithful friend--one who can cheer us in sorrow with wise and affectionate discourse? Nothing, however, is sooner untuned than a lute, and nothing is more fickle than human friendship. The tone of the one changes with the weather, that of the other with fortune. With a clear sky, a bright sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have friends in plenty; but let fortune frown and the firmament be overcast, and then your friends will prove like the strings of the lute, of which you will tighten ten before yea will find one that will bear the tension and keep the pitch. (Christian Age.)
Turncoats
The flounder is an ill-looking, dark-coloured, flat fish, which creeps close along the bottom, and frequents, for the most part, banks of mad, from which it is almost indistinguishable. Mr. Agassiz has experimented upon young flounders and their power of changing colour. Placing them upon blackish tiles, they quickly turned mud-colour; moved thence to the “sand” tiles, only a few minutes elapsed before their leaden skins had paled to dull, yellowish white; transferred to the mimic “sea-weeds,” in less than five minutes a greenish hue overspread their skins, which would have served well in their native element to keep them unobserved against a mass of algae. (H. O. Mackey.)
Necessity of constancy
Without constancy there is neither love, friendship, nor virtue in the world. (Addison.)
Great wicked men fall by couples
(1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:17):--For the devil in all things seeks to imitate the Lord. If God have a Moses and an Aaron, he will have a Jannes and a Jambres. If Christ send out His true disciples by two and by two, Antichrist will do the like. We read of Joshua and Caleb, and of Sanballat and Tobiah: of Paul and Timothy, and of Philetus and Alexander. Because one will toll on and tempt another; for sin uniteth sinners, as grace doth the godly; and by couples they seem to be the less faulty, the more able to defend their false cause. Learn we hence to rise by couples; turn we and allure others to return. For woe to him that is alone when two strong men oppose him or a true cause. (J. Barlow, D. D.)