BACKSLIDERS. moved from him that called you into the Gal. 4:9. But now, after that ye have Gal. 5:7. Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 1 Tim. 1:19. Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 1 Tim. 5:15. Some are already turned aside after Satan. 1 Tim. 6:10. The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 300 Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely So called: 21. Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. 2 Tim. 1:8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: 2 Tim. 2:12. If we deny him, he also will deny us: 2 Tim. 4:10. For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, Heb. 3:12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Heb. 4:1. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Heb. 5:11. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Heb. 6:4. It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5. And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6. If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 7. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth Heb. 10:26. If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27. But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath count ed the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 38. If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; Heb. 11:14. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. Heb. 12:15. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby may be defiled; 2 Pet. 1:9. He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 2 Pet. 2:20. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 95 2 John 9. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. Rev. 2:4. I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5. 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. 21. I gave her space to repent of her forni cation; and she repented not. 22. Behold, I' will cast her into a bed, and them that com mit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23. And 1 will kill her children with death; Rev. 3:2. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Rev. 21:8. The fearful, and unbelieving, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. See APOSTASY; BACKSLIDING OF ISRAEL, below; CHURCH, BACKSLIDDEN; REPROBACY. INSTANCES OF: Saul, 1 Sam. 15:11,26-28. Solomon, 1 Kin. 11:4-40; Neh. 13:26. Amon, 2 Kin. 21:22,23. Rehoboam, 2 Chr. 12:1,2. Asa, 2 Chr. 16:7-9. Joash, 2 Chr. 24:24. Amaziah, 2 Chr. 25:27. Syrians, Isa. 17:10,11. Jonah, Jonah 1:3. The disciples, Matt. 26:56; John 6: 66. Peter, Matt. 26:69-75. Corinthian Christians, 1 Cor. 5:1-8; 2 Cor. 12:20,21. Galatians, Gal. 1:6; 3:1; 4:9-11; 5:6,7. Hymenæus and Alexander, 1 Tim. 1:19,20. Phygellus and Hermogenes, 2 Tim. 1:15. Demas, 2 Tim. 4: 10. Churches of Asia, 1 Tim. 5:15; Rev. 2:4, 14,15,20; 3:2,3,15-18. PROMISES TO: Lev. 26:40. If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; 41. And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: 42. Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. Deut. 4:29. But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; Deut. 30:1. And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee, 2. And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; 3. That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. 4. If any of thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee: 5. And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. 6. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. the LORD thy God will put all the upon thine enemies, and on them thee, which persecuted thee. 8. shalt return and obey the voice of t and do all his commandments whi mand thee this day. 9. And the ] God will make thee plenteous in ev of thine hand, in the fruit of thy b in the fruit of thy cattle, and in th thy land, for good: for the LORD V rejoice over thee for good, as he over thy fathers: 10. If thou shalt unto the voice of the LORD thy God his commandments and his statut are written in this book of the la thou turn unto the LORD thy God thine heart, and with all thy soul. Deut. 32:26. I said, I would scat into corners, I would make the brance of them to cease from am 28. For they are a nation void of 29. O that they were wise, that the stood this, that they would consi latter end! 1 Kin. 8:33. When thy people smitten down before the enemy, they have sinned against thee, turn again to thee, and confess th and pray, and make supplication in this house: 34. Then hear thou in and forgive the sin of thy people I bring them again unto the land w gavest unto their fathers. vs. 35 2 Chr. 30:9. For if ye turn again LORD, your brethren and your child find compassion before them that 1 captive, so that they shall come a this land: for the LORD your God i and merciful, and will not turn face from you, if ye return unto h Job 22:23. If thou return to the A thou shalt be built up, thou shalt iniquity far from thy tabernacles. shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and of Ophir as the stones of the br Yea, the Almighty shall be thy def thou shalt have plenty of silver. then shalt thou have thy delight mighty, and shalt lift up thy face 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer and he shall hear thee, and thou thy vows. 28. Thou shalt also thing, and it shall be established and the light shall shine upon thy When men are cast down, then say, There is lifting up; and he the humble person. 30. He shall island of the innocent: and it is de the pureness of thine hands. Psa. 17.5. Hold up my goings in that my footsteps slip not. Psa. 56:13. For thou hast deli soul from death: wilt not thou d feet from falling, that I may w God in the light of the living? Psa. 81:13. Oh that my people ened unto me, and Israel had wal BACKSLIDERS.-PROMISES TO. ways! 14. I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. Isa. 42:3. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: le shall bring forth judgment unto truth. Isa. 57:18. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. 19. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him. Jer. 3:4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? 5. Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? 6. The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree and there hath played the harlot. . And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. 12. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will t keep anger for ever. 13. Only acknowleige thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 14. Turn, O backdiding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one facity, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 15. And I will give you paslors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16. And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. 17. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 18. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. 19. But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 20. Surely as a wife treachrously departeth from her husband, so have ve dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. 21. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. 22. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. Jer. 4:1. If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. 2. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. 14. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thour umayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? Jer. 6:16. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Hos. 14:4. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger has turned away from him. Zech. 10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them. Mal. 3:7. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mineordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Matt. 23:37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Rev. 3:8. I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. See PENITENCE; PENITENT; SEEKERS. RETURN OF: Psa. 80:3. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. 4. O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? 5. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. 6. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. 7. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. 14. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; 15. And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. 16. It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. 17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. 18. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. 19. Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Isa. 17:7. At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. Isa. 29:24. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine. Isa. 31:6. Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7. For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. Jer. 50:4. In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. 6. My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. Hos. 3:5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days. Hos. 6:1. Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. INSTANCES OF: Jews, Ezra 6:16-21; 10. David, Psa. 51. Jonah, Jonah 2; 3. Peter, Matt. 26:75; Mark 14:72; Luke 22:62. T John 20:27-29. E BACKSLIDING OF ISRAEL: And he called the name of the place M and Meribah, because of the chiding children of Israel, and because they to the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among not Deut. 4:25. When thou shalt beg dren, and children's children, and y have remained long in the land, an corrupt yourselves, and make a image, or the likeness of any thin shall do evil in the sight of the Lo God, to provoke him to anger: 26 heaven and earth to witness again this day, that ye shall soon utterly from off the land whereunto ye go ov dan to possess it; ye shall not prolon days upon it, but shall utterly be des 27. And the LORD shall scatter you the nations, and ye shall be left few i ber among the heathen, whither th shall lead you. 28. And there ye sha gods, the work of men's hands, wo stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor smell. 29. But if from thence the seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt fi if thou seek him with all thy heart a all thy soul. 30. When thou art in tion, and all these things are com thee, even in the latter days, if thou the LORD thy God, and shalt be o unto his voice; 31. (For the LORD t is a merciful God;) he will not forsal neither destroy thee, nor forget th nant of thy fathers which he swa them. Deut. 31:16. And the LORD said unto Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathe this people will rise up, and go a y after the gods of the strangers of th whither they go to be among them, a forsake me, and break my covenant have made with them. 17. Then m shall be kindled against them in th and I will forsake them, and I will 1 face from them, and they shall be de and many evils and troubles shall befa so that they will say in that day, these evils come upon us, because ou not among us? 18. And I will surely face in that day for all the evils whi shall have wrought, in that they are unto other gods. 19. Now therefore this song for you, and teach it the chi Israel: put it in their mouths, that t may be a witness for me against the of Israel. 20. For when I shall have them into the land which I sware un fathers, that floweth with milk and and they shall have eaten and fille selves, and waxen fat; then will th unto other gods, and serve them, a voke me, and break my covenant. it shall come to pass, when many ev troubles are befallen them, that th shall testify against them as a witnes BACKSLIDERS.—BACKSLIDING OF ISRAEL. shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. 22. Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. 23. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee. law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations. Psa. 78:10. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; 11. And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. 40. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42. They remembered not his hand, 24. And it came to pass, when Moses had nor the day when he delivered them from the made an end of writing the words of this law enemy. 43. How he had wrought his signs in a book, until they were finished, 25. That in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Moses commanded the Levites, which bare Zoan: 56. Yet they tempted and provoked the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, the most high God, and kept not his testi26. Take this book of the law, and put it in the monies: 57. But turned back, and dealt unside of the ark of the covenant of the LORD faithfully liketheir fathers: they were turned your God, that it may be there for a witness aside like a deceitful bow. 58. For they proagainst thee. 27. For I know thy rebellion, voked him to anger with their high places, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet and moved him to jealousy with their graven alive with you this day, ye have been rebel- images. 59. When God heard this he was lious against the LORD; and how much more wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: 60. So after my death? 28. Gather unto me all the that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I tent which he placed among men; 61. And may speak these words in their ears, and call delivered his strength into captivity, and his heaven and earth to record against them. 29. glory into the enemy's hand. 62. He gave For I know that aftermy death ye will utterly his people over also unto the sword; and was corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the wroth with his inheritance. 63. The fire conway which I have commanded you; and evil sumed their young men; and their maidens will befall you in the latter days; because ye were not given to marriage. 64. Their priests will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to pro- fell by the sword; and their widows made voke him to anger through the work of your no lamentation. hands. 30. And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended. Deut. 32:5. They have corrupted themelves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. 6. Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not Inade thee and established thee? 15. But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. v. 18; Num. 14:43; Judg. 2:12; 10:12-14. 2 Chr. 24:20. Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD he hath also forsaken you. 2 Kin. 18:1,12; 2 Chr. 13:11; 27:2; 29:6,8. Ezra 9:10. Now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments, 13. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punshed us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; 14. Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? Neh. 9-26. Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy Psa. 106:13. They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: 14. But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. Isa. 1:4. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 21. How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22. Thy silver has become dross, thy wine mixed with water: Isa. 50:1. Isa. 2:6. Thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Isa. 5:24. As the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and de |