Page 44 - 03 The Seven Churches Continued

DANIEL AND THE REVELATION-Uriah Smith

~The Response of History to the Revelation~

Chapter 3 – The Seven Churches (continued)
The Token of Love. — This, strange as it may

seem, is chastisement. “As many as I love, I

rebuke and chasten.” If we are without

chastisement, we are not sons. Hebrews 12. “A

general law,” says Thompson, “of his gracious

economy is here set forth. As all need

chastisement in some measure, they in some

measure receive it, and thus have proof of the

Saviour’s attachment. This is a hard lesson to

learn, and believers are dull scholars; yet here

and throughout God’s word and providence it

stands, that trials are his benedictions, and

that no child escapes the rod. The incorrigibly

misshapen and coarse-grained blocks are

rejected, while those chosen for the glorious

structure are subjected to the chisel and the

hammer. There is no cluster on the true vine

but must pass through the winepress. ‘For

myself,’ said an old divine under affliction, ‘for