Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another : and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Ver. 25. Not forsaking] Schism is the very cutting asunder of the very veins and arteries of the mystical body of Christ. We may not separate, but in case of intolerable persecution, heresy, idolatry, and Antichristianism.
The assembling of ourselves together] επισυναγωγη, in Church assemblies and Christian meetings, as ever we look for comfort at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together (the same word as here) unto him,2 Thessalonians 2:1; the day whereof approacheth, as in this text. Christ will come shortly to see what work we make in this kind.
As the manner of some is] It was then, it was afterwards, and is still in these siding and separating times. The Donatists made a horrible schism for the life of Caecilian. So did various others for the pride and profaneness of Paulus Samosatenus. But never was there any schism so causeless and senseless as that of our modern sectaries.