alves of
our lips . . . I will heal their backsliding, I will love them
freely, for Mine auger is turned away from him." Just observe that,
Turn! _Turn!!_ Turn!!! rings all through these passages.

Now, if you have wandered, remember that you left Him, and not He
you. You have to get out of the backslider's pit just in the same way
you got in. And if you take the same road as when you left the Master
you will find Him now, just where you are.

If we were to treat Christ as any earthly friend we should never
leave Him; and there would never be a backslider. If I were in a town
for a single week I should not think of going away without shaking
hands with the friends I had made, and saying "Good bye" to them. I
should be justly blamed if I took the train and left without saying a
word to any one. The cry would be, "What's the matter?" But did you
ever hear of a backslider bidding the Lord Jesus Christ "Good bye";
going into his closet and saying "Lord Jesus, I have known Thee ten,
twenty, or thirty years: but I am tired of Thy service; Thy yoke is
not easy, nor Thy burden light; so I am going back to the world, to
the flesh-pots of Egypt. Good bye, Lord Jesus! Farewell"? Did you
ever hear that? No; you never did, and you never will. I tell you, if
you get into the closet and shut out the world and hold communion
with the Master you cannot leave Him. The language of your heart will
be, "To whom shall we go," but unto Thee? "Thou hast the words of
eternal life" (John vi. 68). You could not go back to the world if
you treated Him in that way. But you left Him and ran away. You have
forgotten Him days without number. Come back to-day; just as you are!
Make up your mind that you will not rest until God has restored unto
you the joy of His salvation.

A gentleman in Cornwall once met a Christian in the street whom he
knew to be a backslider. He went up to him, and said: "Tell me, is
there not some estrangement between you and the Lord Jesus?" The man
hung his head, and said, "Yes." "Well," said the gentleman, "what has
He done to you?" The answer to which was a flood of tears.

In Revelation ii. 4, 5, we read: "Nevertheless I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left the first love. 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." I want to guard
you against a mistake whic