Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Ver. 5. From whence thou art fallen] viz. From thy former feelings and present fitness for God's kingdom,Luke 9:62 .
And repent] See the practice of this second repentance in the relapsed spouse returning to her old husband, Song of Solomon 5:6. See Trapp on " 2Co 7:11 " See an excellent letter of the Lady Jane to that apostate Harding, sometime her chaplain, Acts and Mon. fol. 1292, and what sweet counsel Bradford afterwards gave the same Harding, lb. fol. 1564, besides the example of Mr Bartlet Green, martyr, fol. 1680.
And do the first works] Begin the world again (as the Nazarite was to do that had broken his vow, Num 6:1-27), and, to set thee up afresh, make a gathering of prayers, and see that thy works be better at last than at first.
And remove thy candlestick] Sins are the snuffs that dim our candlestick and threaten the removal of it. And surely if we repent not, a removal thereof may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as to these seven Churches. There is a prophecy in Thelesphorus, reported, that Antichrist shall never overcome Venice, nor Paris, nor London; but we have a more sure word of prophecy here. This nation is sick of a spiritual pleurisy; we begin to surfeit on the bread of life. When God sees his mercies lying under table, it is just with him to call to the enemy to take away.
Except thou repent] Minatur Deus ut non puniat. God therefore menaceth, that men may be warned. As a bee stings not till provoked; so neither doth God punish till there be no remedy,2 Chronicles 36:16. Currat ergo poenitentia, ne proecurrat sententia, saith one; mittamus preces et lacrymas cordis legatos, saith another. Haste, haste, haste, to meet the Lord with entreaties of peace; lest we be laid waste as Sodom and desolate as the people of Gomorrah, Isaiah 1:9 .