“And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
Sardis is the name of a most flourishing and famous City, where the Kings of Lydia kept their courts. Thou art said to live, but art dead indeed. The fifth place is unto the Pastors of Sardis. The exordium is taken out of verses 4 and 16 of the first Chap. The proposition of reproof is in this verse: of exhortation joined with a threatening in the two verses that follow, and of qualification by way of correction unto the comfort of the good which yet remained there, verse 4.