James Durham on Revelation 2:1-3 - Excerpt

There is no sort of men more hurtful to the church by obstructing Christ's end in his ordinances, viz. the edification of his people. For such profit them not at all, Jer. xxiii. yea they stand in the way of their profiting sometimes by corrupt doctrine, sometimes by example, sometimes by saddening and weakening of these who look more tenderly to the practice of Godliness. And if no other way, yet by filling the room, and so standing in the way of peoples being provided with such as might be helpful and faithful. Now considering the great respect that our Lord Jesus hath to the edification of his people, and considering the weight that he has placed upon his ministry, as a means for promoting of that end, and withal the great obstruction that follows to that end, when this means disappoints it cannot but be accounted acceptable to him to remove such an obstruction.