3 Remember[145] therefore how thou hast received and heard; and hold fast, and [146]repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee [147]as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 3. _Remember therefore how thou hast received._ This may refer either to some peculiarity in the manner in which the gospel was conveyed to them――as, by the labours of the apostles, and by {90} the remarkable effusions of the Holy Spirit; or to the ardour and love with which they embraced it; or to the greatness of the favours and privileges conferred on them; or to their own understanding of what the gospel required, when they were converted. It is not possible to determine in which sense the language is used; but the general idea is plain, that there was something marked and unusual in the way in which they had been led to embrace the gospel, and that it was highly proper in these circumstances to look back to the days when they gave themselves to Christ. It is always well for Christians to call to remembrance the “day of their espousals,” and their views and feelings when they gave their hearts to the Saviour, and to compare those views with their present condition, especially if their conversion was marked by anything unusual. ¶ _And heard._ How thou didst hear the gospel in former times; that is, with what earnestness and attention thou didst embrace it. This would rather seem to imply that the reference in the whole passage is to the fact that they embraced the gospel with great ardour and zeal. ¶ _And hold fast._ (1) Hold fast the truths which thou didst then receive; (2) hold fast what remains of true religion among you. ¶ _And repent._ Repent in regard to all that in which you have departed from your views and feelings when you embraced the gospel. ¶ _If therefore thou shalt not watch._ The speaker evidently supposed that it was possible that they would not regard the warning; that they would presume that they would be safe if they refused to give heed to it, or that by mere inattention and indifference they might suffer the warning to pass by unheeded. Similar results have been so common in the world as to make such a supposition not improbable, and to make proper, in other cases as well as that, the solemn threatening that he would come suddenly upon them. ¶ _I will come on thee as a thief._ In a sudden and unexpected manner. See Notes on 1 Th. v. 2. ¶ _And ye shall not know what hour I will come upon thee._ You shall not know beforehand; you shall have no warning of my immediate approach. This is often the way in which God comes to men in his heavy judgments. Long beforehand, he admonishes us, indeed, of what must be the consequences of a course of sin, and warns us to turn from it; but when sinners refuse to attend to his warning, and still walk in the way of evil, he comes suddenly, and cuts them down. Every man who is warned of the evil