And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Ver. 22. And ye shall be hated] Haud perinde crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt, saith Tacitus of those poor Christians, that by Nero were haled to death for setting the city of Rome on fire, which was done by himself. Tertullian telleth us that their name, and not their crime, was punished in Christians. So Luther complaineth that there was in his days no crime comparable to that of professing the gospel. Nullum flagitium hodie par est huic uni et summo sacrilegio, sc. Evangelion Dei confiteri. Luther, Epist. ad Episc. Sambiensem. Melch. Adam, in Vit. Brent.
But he that endureth to the end] Apostasy loseth the things that it hath wrought, 2 John 1:8. Non quaeruntur in Christianis initia, sed finis, saith Jerome. It is the evening that crowneth the day, and the last scene that commends the interlude.