backslider
backslider
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THE BACKSLIDER IN HEART
By Charles G. Finney
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.
Proverbs 14:14.
I cannot conclude this course of lectures, without warning converts
against backsliding. In discussing this subject, I will show:
I. What backsliding in heart is not.
II. What backsliding in heart is.
III. What are evidences of backsliding in heart.
IV. What are consequences of backsliding in heart.
V. How to recover from this state.
I. WHAT A BACKSLIDING HEART IS NOT.
- It does not consist in the subsidence of highly excited religious
emotions. The subsidence of religious feeling may be an evidence
of a backslidden heart, but it does not consist in the cooling off of
religious feeling.
II. WHAT BACKSLIDING IN HEART IS.
- It consists in taking back that consecration to God and His
service, that constitutes true conversion.
2. It is the leaving, by a Christian, of his first love.
3. It consists in the Christian withdrawing himself from that state of
entire and universal devotion to God, which constitutes true religion,
and coming again under the control of a self-pleasing spirit.
4. The text implies that there may be a backslidden heart, when the
forms of religion and obedience to God are maintained. As we know
from consciousness that men perform the same, or similar, acts
from widely different, and often from opposite, motives, we are
certain that men may keep up all the outward forms and
appearances of religion, when in fact, they are backslidden in heart.
No doubt the most intense selfishness often takes on a religious
type, and there are many considerations that might lead a
backslider in heart to keep up the forms, while he had lost the
power of godliness in his soul.
III. WHAT ARE EVIDENCES OF A BACKSLIDDEN HEART.
- Manifest formality in religious exercises. A stereotyped, formal
way of saying and doing things, that is clearly the result of habit,
rather than the outgushing of the religious life. This formality will be
emotionless and cold as an iceberg, and will evince a total want of
earnestness in the performance of religious duty. In prayer and in
religious exercises the backslider in heart will pray or praise, or
confess, or give thanks with his lips, so that all can hear him,
perhaps, but in such a way that no one can feel him. Such a
formality would be impossible where there existed a present, living
faith and love, and religious zeal.
2. A lack of religious enjoyment is evidence of a backslidden heart.
We always enjoy the saying and doing of those things that please
those whom we most love; furthermore, when the heart is not
backslidden, communion with God is kept up, and therefore all
religious duties are not only performed with pleasure, but the
communion with God involved in them is a source of rich and
continual enjoyment. If we do not enjoy the service of God, it is
because we do not truly serve Him. If we love Him supremely, it is
impossible that we should not enjoy His service at every step.
Always remember then, whenever you lose your religious
enjoyment, or the enjoyment of serving God, you may know that
you are not serving Him aright.
3. Religious bondage is another evidence of a backslidden heart.
God has no slaves. He does not accept the service of bondsmen,
who serve Him because they must. He accepts none but a love
service. A backslider in heart finds his religious duties a burden to
him. He has promised to serve the Lord. He dare not wholly break
off from the form of service, and he tries to be dutiful, while he has
no heart in prayer, in praise, in worship, or in any of those exercises
which are so spontaneous and delightful, where there is true love
to God. The backslider in heart is often like a dutiful, but unloving
wife. She tries to do her duty to her husband, but fails utterly
because she does not love him. Her painstaking to please her
husband is constrained, not the spontaneous outburst of a loving
heart; and her relationship and her duties become the burden of her
life. She goes about complaining of the weight of care that is upon
her, and will not be likely to advise young ladies to marry. She is
committed for life, and must therefore perform the duties of married
life, but it is such a bondage! Just so with religious bondage. The
professor must perform his duty. He drags painfully about it, and
you will hear him naturally sing backslider’s hymns:
Reason I hear, her counsels weigh, And all her words approve And
yet I find it hard to obey, And harder still, to love.
4. An ungoverned temper. While the heart is full of love, the temper
will naturally be chastened and sweet, or at any rate, the will keep
it under, and not suffer it to break out in outrageous abuse, or if at
any time it should so far escape from the control of the will as to
break loose in hateful words, it will soon be brought under, and by
no means suffered to take control and manifest itself to the
annoyance of others. Especially will a loving heart confess and
break down, if at any time bad temper gets the control. Whenever,
therefore, there is an irritable, uncontrolled temper allowed to
manifest itself to those around, you may know there is a
backslidden heart.
5. A spirit of uncharitableness is evidence of a backslidden heart.
By this, I mean a lack of that disposition that puts the best
construction upon every one’s conduct that can be reasonable
a lack of confidence in the good intentions and professions of
others. We naturally credit the good professions of those whom we
love. We naturally attribute to them right motives, and put the best
allowable construction upon their words and deeds. Where there is
a lack of this there is evidence conclusive of a backslidden or
unloving heart.
6. A censorious spirit is conclusive evidence of a backslidden heart.
This is a spirit of fault-finding, of impugning the motives of others,
when their conduct admits of a charitable construction. It is a
disposition to fasten blame upon others, and judge them harshly. It
is a spirit of distrust of Christian character and profession. It is a
state of mind that reveals itself in harsh judgments, harsh sayings,
and the manifestation of uncomfortable feelings toward individuals.
This state of mind is entirely incompatible with a loving heart, and
whenever a censorious spirit is manifested by a professor of
religion, you may know there is a backslidden heart.
7. A lack of interest in God’s Word, is also an evidence of a
backslidden heart. Perhaps nothing more conclusively proves that
a professor has a backslidden heart, than his losing his interest in
the Bible. While the heart is full of love, no book in the world is so
precious as the Bible. But when the love is gone, the Bible
becomes not only uninteresting but often repulsive. There is no faith
to accept its promises, but conviction enough left to dread its
threatening. But in general the backslider in heart is apathetic as to
the Bible. He does not read it much, and when he does read it, he
has not interest enough to understand it. Its pages become dark
and uninteresting, and therefore it is neglected.
8. A lack of interest in secret prayer is also an evidence of a
backslidden heart. Young Christian, if you find yourself losing your
interest in the Bible and in secret prayer, stop short, return to God,
and give yourself no rest, till you enjoy the light of His countenance.
If you feel disinclined to pray, or to read your Bible; if when you pray
and read your Bible, you have no heart; if you are inclined to make
your secret devotions short, or are easily induced to neglect them;
or if your thoughts, affections, and emotions wander, you may know
that you are a backslider in heart, and your first business is to be
broken down before God, and to see that your love and zeal are
renewed.
9. A lack of interest in the conversion of souls and in efforts to
promote revivals of religion. This of course reveals a backslidden
heart. There is nothing in which a loving heart takes more interest
than in the conversion of souls in revivals of religion, and in
efforts to promote them.
10. A lack of interest in published accounts or narratives of revivals
of religion, is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. While one
retains his interest in the conversion of souls, and in revivals of
religion he will, of course, be interested in all accounts of revivals of
religion anywhere. If you find yourself, therefore, disinclined to read
such accounts, or find yourself not interested in them, take it for
granted that you are backslidden in heart.
11. The same is true of missions, and missionary work and
operations. If you lose your interest in the work, and in the
conversion of the heathen, and do not delight to read and hear of
the success of missions, you may know that you are backslidden in
heart.
12. The loss of interest in benevolent enterprises generally is an
evidence of a backslidden heart. I say, “the loss of interest,” for
surely, if you were ever converted to Christ, you have had an
interest in all benevolent enterprises that came within your
knowledge. Religion consists in disinterested benevolence. Of
course, a converted soul takes the deepest interest in all
benevolent efforts to reform and save mankind; in good
government, in Christian education, in the cause of temperance, in
the abolition of slavery, in provision for the needs of the poor, and
in short, in every good word and work. Just in proportion as you
have lost your interest in these, you have evidence that you are
backslidden in heart.
13. The loss of interest in truly spiritual conversation is another
evidence of a backslidden heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). This our Lord Jesus Christ
announced as a law of our nature. No conversation is so sweet to
a truly loving heart, as that which relates to Christ, and to our living
Christian experience. If you find yourself losing interest in
conversing on heart religion, and of the various and wonderful
experiences of Christians, if you have known what the true love of
God is, you have fallen from it, and are a backslider in heart.
14. A loss of interest in the conversation and society of highly
spiritual people, is an evidence of a backslidden heart. We take the
greatest delight in the society of those who are most interested in
the things that are most dear to us.
Hence, a loving Christian heart will always seek the society of those
who are most spiritually minded, and whose conversation is most
evangelical and spiritual. If you find yourself wanting in this respect,
then know for certain that you are backslidden in heart.
15. The loss of interest in the question of sanctification is an
evidence of a backslidden heart. I say again, the loss of interest,
for, if you ever truly knew the love of God, you must have had a
great interest in the question of entire consecration to God, or of
entire sanctification. If you are a Christian, you have felt that sin
was an abomination to your soul. You have had inexpressible
longings to be rid of it forever, and everything that could throw light
upon that question of agonizing importance was most intensely
interesting to you. If this question has been dismissed, and you no
longer take an interest in it, it is because you are backslidden in
heart.
16. The loss of interest in those newly converted, is also an
evidence of a backslidden heart. The Psalmist says: “They that fear
Thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in Thy
word” (Psalm 119:74). This he puts into the mouth of a convert, and
who does not know that this is true? There is joy in the presence of
the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth, and is there not
joy among the saints on earth, over those that come to Christ, and
are as babes newly born into the Kingdom? Show me a professor
of religion who does not manifest an absorbing interest in converts
to Christ, and I will show you a backslider in heart, and a hypocrite;
he professes religion, but has none.
17. An uncharitable state of mind in regard to professed converts,
is also an evidence of a backslidden heart. Charity, or love,
“believeth all things, hopeth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7), is very
ready to judge kindly and favorably of those who profess to be
converted to Christ, and will naturally watch over them with interest,
pray for them, instruct them, and have as much confidence in them
as it is reasonable to have. A disposition, therefore, to pick at,
criticize, and censure them, is an evidence of a backslidden heart.
18. The lack of the spirit of prayer is evidence of a backslidden
heart. While the love of Christ remains fresh in the soul, the
indwelling Spirit of God will reveal Himself as the Spirit of grace and
supplication. He will beget strong desires in the soul for the
salvation of sinners and the sanctification of saints. He will often
make intercessions in them, with great longings, strong crying and
tears, and with groanings that cannot he uttered in words, for those
things that are according to the will of God. Or, to express it in
Scripture language, according to Paul: “Likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans
8:26, 27). If the spirit of prayer departs, it is a sure indication of a
backslidden heart, for while the first love of a Christian continues he
is sure to be drawn by the Holy Spirit to wrestle much in prayer.
19. A backslidden heart often reveals itself by the manner in which
people pray. For example, praying as if in a state of self-condemnation,
or very much like a convicted sinner, is an evidence
of a backslidden heart. Such a person will reveal the fact, that he is
not at peace with God. His confessions and self-accusations will
show to others what perhaps he does not well understand himself.
His manner of praying will reveal the fact that he has not
communion with God; that instead of being filled with faith and love,
he is more or less convicted of sin, and conscious that he is not in
a state of acceptance with God. He will naturally pray more like a
convicted sinner than like a Christian. It will be seen by his prayer
that he is not in a state of Christian liberty that he is having a
Seventh of Romans experience, instead of that which is described
in the Eighth.
20. A backslidden heart will further reveal itself in praying almost
exclusively for self, and for those friends that are regarded almost
as parts of self. It is often very striking and even shocking to attend
a backsliders’ prayer meeting, and I am very sorry to say that many
prayer meetings of the Church are little else. Their prayers are timid
and hesitating, and reveal the fact that they have little or no faith.
Instead of surrounding the Throne of Grace and pouring their
hearts out for a blessing on those around them, they have to be
urged up to duty, to “take up their cross.” Their hearts do not, will
not, spontaneously gush out to God in prayer. They have very little
concern for others, and when they do, as they say, “take up their
cross and do their duty,” and pretend to lead in prayer, it will be
observed that they pray just like a company of convicted sinners,
almost altogether for themselves. They will pray for that which,
should they obtain it, would be religion, just as a convicted sinner
would pray for a new heart; and the fact that they pray for religion
as they do, manifests that they have none, in their present state of
mind. Ask them to pray for the conversion of sinners, and they will
either wholly forget to do so, or just mention sinners in such a way
as will show that they have no heart to pray for them.
I have known professed Christian parents to get into such a state
that they had no heart to pray for the conversion of their own
children, even when those children were under conviction. They
would keep up family prayer, and attend a weekly prayer meeting,
but would never get out of the rut of praying round and round for
themselves. A few years since I was laboring in a revival in a
Presbyterian Church. At the close of the evening sermon I found
that the daughter of one of the elders of the Church was in great
distress of mind. I observed that her convictions were very deep.
We had been holding a meeting with inquirers in the vestry, and I
had just dismissed the inquirers, when this young lady came to me
in great agitation and begged me to pray for her. The people had
mostly gone, except a few who were waiting in the body of the
church for those friends who had attended the meeting of inquiry.
I called the father of this young lady into the vestry that he might
see the very anxious state of his daughter’s mind. After a short
personal conversation with her in the presence of her father, I
called on him to pray for her, and said that I would follow him, and
I urged her to give her heart to Christ. We all knelt, and he went
through with his prayer, kneeling by the side of his sobbing
daughter, without ever mentioning her case. His prayer revealed
that he had no more religion than she had, and that he was very
much in her state of mind under an awful sense of
condemnation. He had kept up the appearance of religion. As an
elder of the Church, he was obliged to keep up appearances. He
had gone round and round upon the treadmill of his duties, while his
heart was utterly backslidden. It is often almost nauseating to
attend a prayer meeting of the backslidden in heart. They will go
round, round, one after the other, in reality praying for their own
conversion. They do not so express it, but that is the real import of
their prayer. They could not render it more evident that they are
backsliders in heart.
21. Absence from stated prayer meetings for slight reasons, is a
sure indication of a backslidden heart. No meeting is more
interesting to Christians than the prayer meeting, and while they
have any heart to pray, they will not be absent from prayer meeting
unless prevented from attending by the providence of God. If a call
from a friend at the hour of meeting can prevent their attendance,
unless the call is made under very peculiar circumstances, it is
strong evidence that they do not wish to attend, and hence, that
they are backsliders in heart. A call at such a time would not
prevent their attending a wedding, a party, a picnic, or an amusing
lecture. The fact is, it is hypocrisy for them to pretend that they
really want to go, while they can be kept away for slight reasons.
22. The same is true of the neglect of family prayer, for slight
reasons. While the heart is engaged in religion, Christians will not
readily omit family devotions, and whenever they are ready to find
an excuse for the omission, it is a sure evidence that they are
backslidden in heart.
23. When secret prayer is regarded more as a duty than as a
privilege, it is because the heart is backslidden. It has always
appeared to me almost ridiculous, to hear Christians speak of
prayer as a “duty.” It is one of the greatest of earthly privileges.
What should we think of a child coming to its parent for its dinner,
not because it is hungry, but as a duty. How would it strike us to
hear a beggar speak of the “duty” of asking alms of us. It is an
infinite privilege to be allowed to come to God, and ask for the
supply of all our wants. But to pray because we must, rather than
because we may, seems unnatural. To ask for what we want, and
because we want it, and because God has encouraged us to ask,
and has promised to answer our request, is natural and reasonable.
But to pray as a duty and as if we were obliging God by our prayer,
is quite ridiculous, and is a certain indication of a backslidden heart.
24. Pleading for worldly amusements is also an indication of a
backslidden heart. The most grateful amusements possible, to a
truly spiritual mind, are those engagements that bring the soul into
the most direct communion with God. While the heart is full of love
and faith, an hour, or an evening, spent alone in communion with
God, is more delightful than all the amusements which the world
can offer. A loving heart is jealous of everything that will break up
or interfere with its communion with God. For mere worldly
amusements it has no relish. When the soul does not find more
delight in God than in all worldly things, the heart is sadly
backslidden.
25. Spiritual blindness is another evidence of a backslidden heart.
While the eye is single the whole body will be full of spiritual light,
but if the eye be evil (which means a backslidden heart) the whole
body will be full of darkness.
Spiritual blindness reveals itself in a lack of interest in God’s Word,
and in religious truth generally. It will also manifest a lack of spiritual
discrimination, and will be easily imposed upon by the insinuations
of Satan. A backslidden heart will lead to the adoption of lax
principles of morality. It does not discern the spirituality of God’s
law, and of His requirements generally. When this spiritual
blindness is manifest it is a sure indication that the heart is
backslidden.
26. Religious apathy, with worldly wakefulness and sensibility, is a
sure indication of a backslidden heart. We sometimes see persons
who feel deeply and quickly on worldly subjects, but who cannot be
made to feel deeply on religious subjects. This clearly indicates a
backslidden state of mind.
27. A self-indulgent spirit is a sure indication of a backslidden heart.
By self-indulgence, I mean a disposition to gratify the appetites,
passions, and propensities, to “fulfill the desires of the flesh and of
the mind” (Ephesians 2:3).
This, in the Bible, is represented as a state of spiritual death. I am
satisfied that the most common occasion of backsliding in heart is
to be found in the clamor for indulgence of the various appetites
and propensities. The appetite for food is frequently, and perhaps
more frequently than any other, the occasion of backsliding. Few
Christians, I fear, apprehend any danger in this direction. God’s
injunction is: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye
do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Christians
forget this, and eat and drink to please themselves, consulting their
appetites instead of the laws of life and health. More persons are
ensnared by their tables than the Church is aware of. The table is
a snare of death to multitudes that no man can number. A great
many people who avoid alcoholic drinks altogether, will indulge in
tea and coffee, and even tobacco, and in food that, both in quantity
and quality, violates every law of health. They seem to have no
other law than that of appetite, and this they so deprave by abuse
that, to indulge it, is to ruin body and soul together. Show me a
gluttonous professor, and I will show you a backslider.
28. A seared conscience is also an evidence of a backslidden heart.
While the soul is wakeful and loving, the conscience is as tender as
the apple of the eye. But when the heart is backslidden, the
conscience is silent and seared, on many subjects. Such a person
will tell you that he is not violating his conscience, in eating or
drinking, or in self-indulgence of any kind. You will find a backslider
has but little conscience. The same will very generally be true in
regard to sins of omission. Multitudes of duties may be neglected
and a seared conscience will remain silent. Where conscience is
not awake, the heart is surely backslidden.
29. Loose moral principles are a sure indication of a backslidden
heart. A backslider in heart will write letters on the Sabbath, engage
in secular reading, and in much worldly conversation. In business,
such a person will take little advantages, play off business tricks,
and conform to the habits of worldly business men in the
transaction of business; he will be guilty of deception and
misrepresentation in making bargains, will demand exorbitant
interest, and take advantage of the necessities of his fellow-men.
30. Prevalence of the fear of man is an evidence of a backslidden
heart. While the heart is full of the love of God, God is feared, and
not man. A desire for the applause of men is kept down, and it is
enough to please God, whether men are pleased or displeased. But
when the love of God is abated, “the fear of man,” that “bringeth a
snare” (Proverbs 29:25), gets possession of the backslider. To
please man rather than God, is then his aim. In such a state he will
sooner offend God than man.
31. A sticklishness about forms, ceremonies, and nonessentials,
gives evidence of a backslidden heart. A loving heart is particular
only about the substance and power of religion, and will not stickle
about its forms.
32. A captiousness about measures in promoting revivals of
religion, is a sure evidence of a backslidden heart. Where the heart
is fully set upon the conversion of sinners and the sanctification of
believers, it will naturally approach the subject in the most direct
manner, and by means in the highest degree calculated to
accomplish the end. It will not object to, nor stumble at, measures
that are evidently blessed of God, but will exert the utmost sagacity
in devising the most suitable means to accomplish the great end on
which the heart is set.
IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF BACKSLIDING IN HEART.
The text says, that “the backslider in heart shall be filled with his
own ways.”
- He shall be filled with his own works. But these are dead works,
they are not works of faith and love, which are acceptable to God,
but are the filthy rags of his own righteousness. If they are
performed as religious services, they are but loathsome hypocrisy,
and an abomination to God; there is no heart in them. To such a
person God says: “Who hath required this at your hand?” (Isaiah
1:12). “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God
knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men
is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). “I know you, that
ye have not the love of God in you” (John 5:42).
2. He shall be filled with his own feelings. Instead of that sweet
peace and rest, and joy in the Holy Ghost, that he once
experienced, he will find himself in a state of unrest, dissatisfied
with himself and everybody else, his feelings often painful,
humiliating, and as unpleasant and unlovely as can be well
conceived. It is often very trying to live with backsliders. They are
often peevish, censorious, and irritating, in all their ways. They have
forsaken God, and in their feelings there is more of hell than of
heaven.
3. They will be filled with their own prejudices. Their willingness to
know and do the truth has gone. They will very naturally commit
themselves against any truth that bears hardly upon a self-indulgent
spirit. They will endeavor to justify themselves, will neither read nor
hear that which will rebuke their backslidden state, and they will
become deeply prejudiced against every one that shall cross their
path, who shall reprove them, accounting him as an enemy. They
hedge themselves in, and shut their eyes against the light; stand on
the defensive, and criticize everything that would search them out.
4. A backslider in heart will be filled with his own enmities. He will
chafe in almost every relation of life, will allow himself to be vexed,
and to get into such relations with some persons, and perhaps with
many, that he cannot pray for them honestly, and can hardly treat
them with common civility. This is an almost certain result of a
backslidden heart.
5. The backslider in heart will be full of his own mistakes. He is not
walking with God. He has fallen out of the Divine order. He is not
led by the Spirit, but is walking in spiritual darkness. In this state he
is sure to fall into many and grievous mistakes, and may get
entangled in such a way as to mar his happiness, and, perhaps,
destroy his usefulness for life. Mistakes in business, mistakes in
forming new relations in life, mistakes in using his time, his tongue,
his money, his influence; indeed, all will go wrong with him as long
as he remains in a backslidden state.
6. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own lustings. His
appetites and passions, which had been kept under, have now
resumed their control, and having been so long suppressed, they
will seem to avenge themselves by becoming more clamorous and
despotic than ever. The animal appetites and passions will burst
forth, to the astonishment of the backslider, and he will probably
find himself more under their influence and more enslaved by them
than ever before.
7. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own words. While in
that state, he will not, and cannot, control his tongue. It will prove
itself to be an unruly member, full of deadly poison. By his words he
will involve himself in many difficulties and perplexities, from which
he can never extricate himself until he comes back to God.
8. He will be full of his own trials. Instead of keeping out of
temptation, he will run right into it. He will bring upon himself
multitudes of trials that he never would have had, had he not
departed from God. He will complain of his trials, but yet will
constantly multiply them. A backslider feels his trials keenly, but,
while he complains of being so tried by everything around him, he
is constantly aggravating them, and, being the author of them, he
seems industrious to bring them upon himself like an avalanche.
9. The backslider in heart shall be full of his own folly. Having
rejected the Divine guidance, he will evidently fall into the depths of
his own foolishness. He will inevitably say and do multitudes of
foolish and ridiculous things. Being a professor of religion, these
things will be all the more noticed, and of course bring him all the
more into ridicule and contempt. A backslider is, indeed, the most
foolish person in the world. Having experimental knowledge of the
true way of life, he has the infinite folly to abandon it. Knowing the
fountain of living waters, he has forsaken it, and “hewed out to
himself cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah
2:13). Having been guilty of this infinite folly, the whole course of his
backslidden life must be that of a fool, in the Bible sense of the
term.
10. The backslider in heart will be full of his own troubles. God is
against him, and he is against himself. He is not at peace with God,
with himself, with the Church, nor with the world. He has no inward
rest. Conscience condemns him.
God condemns him. All that know his state condemn him. “There
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21). There is
no position in time or space in which he can be at rest.
11. The backslider in heart will be full of his own cares. He has
turned back to selfishness. He counts himself and his possessions
as his own. He has everything to care for. He will not hold himself
and his possessions as belonging to God, and lay aside the
responsibility of taking care of himself and all that he possesses. He
does not, will not, cast his cares upon the Lord, but undertakes to
manage everything for himself, and in his own wisdom, and for his
own ends. Consequently, his cares will be multiplied, and come
upon him like a deluge.
12. The backslider in heart will be full of his own perplexities.
Having forsaken God, having fallen into the darkness of his own
folly, he will be filled with perplexities and doubts in regard to what
course he shall pursue to accomplish his selfish ends. He is not
walking with, but contrary to God. Hence, the providence of God will
constantly cross his path, and baffle all his schemes. God will frown
darkness upon his path, and take pains to confound his projects,
and blow his schemes to the winds.
13. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own anxieties. He
will be anxious about himself, about his business, about his
reputation, about everything. He has taken all these things out of
the hands of God, and claims them and treats them as his own.
Hence, having faith in God no longer, and being unable to control
events, he must of necessity be filled with anxieties with regard to
the future. These anxieties are the inevitable result of his madness
and folly in forsaking God.
14. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own
disappointments. Having forsaken God, and taken the attitude of
self-will, God will inevitably disappoint him as he pursues his selfish
ends. He will frame his ways to please himself, without consulting
God. Of course God will frame his ways so as to disappoint him.
Determined to have his own way, he will be greatly disappointed if
his plans are frustrated; yet the certain course of events under the
government of God must of necessity bring him a series of
disappointments.
15. The backslider in heart must be full of his own losses. He
regards his possessions as his own, his time as his own, his
influence as his own, his reputation as his own. The loss of any of
these, he accounts as his own loss. Having forsaken God, and
being unable to control the events upon which the continuance of
those things is conditioned, he will find himself suffering losses on
every side. He loses his peace. He loses his property.
He loses much of his time. He loses his Christian reputation. He
loses his Christian influence, and if he persists he loses his soul.
16. The backslider in heart will be full of his own crosses. All
religious duty will be irksome, and, therefore, a cross to him. His
state of mind will make multitudes of things crosses that in a
Christian state of mind would have been pleasant in a high degree.
Having lost all heart in religion, the performance of all religious duty
is a cross to his feelings. There is no help for him, unless he returns
to God. The whole course of Divine providence will run across his
path, and his whole life will be a series of crosses and trials. He
cannot have his own way. He cannot gratify himself by
accomplishing his own wishes and desires. He may beat and dash
himself against the everlasting rocks of God’s will and God’s way,
but break through and carry all before him he cannot. He must be
crossed and recrossed, and crossed again, until he will fall into the
Divine order, and sink into the will of God.
17. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own tempers.
Having forsaken God, he will be sure to have much to irritate him.
In a backslidden state, he cannot possess his soul in patience. The
vexations of his backslidden life will make him nervous and irritable;
his temper will become explosive and uncontrollable.
18. The backslider in heart will be full of his own disgraces. He is a
professor of religion. The eyes of the world are upon him, and all
his inconsistencies, worldly-mindedness, follies, bad tempers, and
hateful words and deeds, disgrace him in the estimation of all men
who know him.
19. The backslider in heart will be full of his own delusions. Having
an evil eye, his whole body will be full of darkness. He will almost
certainly fall into delusions in regard to doctrines and in regard to
practices. Wandering on in darkness, as he does, he will, very
likely, swallow the grossest delusions. Spiritism, Mormonism,
Universalism, and every other ism that is wide from the truth, will be
very likely to gain possession of him. Who has not observed this of
backsliders in heart?
20. The backslider in heart will be filled with his own bondage. His
profession of religion brings him into bondage to the Church. He
has no heart to consult the interests of the Church, or to labor for its
up-building, and yet he is under covenant obligation to do so, and
his reputation is at stake. He must do something to sustain religious
institutions, but to do so is a bondage. If he does it, it is because he
must, and not because he may. Again, he is in bondage to God. If
he performs any duty that he calls religious, it is rather as a slave
than as a freeman. He serves from fear or hope, just like a slave,
and not from love. A gain, he is in bondage to his own conscience.
To avoid conviction and remorse, he will do or omit many things,
but it is all with reluctance, and not at all of his own cordial goodwill.
21. The backslider in heart is full of his own self condemnation.
Having enjoyed the love of God, and forsaken Him, he feels
condemned for everything. If he attempts religious duty, he knows
there is no heart in it, and hence condemns himself. If he neglects
religious duty, he of course condemns himself. If he reads his Bible,
it condemns him. If he does not read it, he feels condemned. If he
goes to religious meetings, they condemn him; and if he stays
away, he is condemned also. If he prays in secret, in his family, or
in public, he knows he is not sincere, and feels condemned. If he
neglects or refuses to pray, he feels condemned. Everything
condemns him. His conscience is up in arms against him, and the
thunders and lightnings of condemnation follow him, whithersoever
he goes.
V. HOW TO RECOVER FROM A STATE OF BACKSLIDING.
- Remember whence you are fallen. Take up the question at once,
and deliberately contrast your present state with that in which you
walked with God.
2. Take home the conviction of your true position. No longer delay
to understand the exact situation between God and your soul.
3. Repent at once, and do your first works over again.
4. Do not attempt to get back, by reforming your mere outside
conduct. Begin with your heart, and at once set yourself right with
God.
5. Do not act like a more convicted sinner, and attempt to
recommend yourself to God by any impenitent works or prayers.
Do not think that you must “reform, and make yourself better”
before you can come to Christ, but understand distinctly, that
coming to Christ, alone, can make you better. However much
distressed you may feel, know for a certainty that until you repent
and accept His will, unconditionally, you are no better, but are
constantly growing worse. Until you throw yourself upon His
sovereign mercy, and thus return to God, He will accept nothing at
your hands.
6. Do not imagine yourself to be in a justified state, for you know
you are not. Your conscience condemns you, and you know that
God ought to condemn you, and if He justified you in your present
state, your conscience could not justify Him. Come, then, to Christ
at once, like a guilty, condemned sinner, as you are; own up, and
take all the shame and blame to yourself, and believe that
notwithstanding all your wanderings from God, He loves you still
that He has loved you with an everlasting love, and, therefore, with
lovingkindness is drawing you.
FIRES OF REVIVAL
http:www.concentric.net~fires