John 6:66-69

From that time many of His disciples went back.

Those who are mentioned in regard to

I. THE CHARACTER THEY ASSUMED. Disciples. This term was first used to designate the Apostles; then it was applied to or assumed by many whom our Lord had to distinguish from His “disciples indeed.” How many there are who are Christians only in name!

II. THE COURSE THEY PURSUED. They went away from Him.

1. They relinquished all attendance on His ministry.

2. Disowned all attachment to His person. 3, Repudiated all sympathy with His design. ,

4. Threw off His authority.

III. THE REASONS WHICH OPERATED LEADING THE MEN TO GO ASTRAY. Because He insisted

1. That all secular concerns were subservient to the salvation of the soul, which offended their avarice.

2. That all things pertaining to salvation belonged to God alone, which wounded their self-righteousness.

3. That they could not come to God except by Himself, which went counter to all their theological prepossessions.

4. That unless there was constant progressive fellowship with Himself experimentally they could not obtain ever-lasting life.

IV. THE DANGER THEY INCURRED. Where should they go? To go away from Christ a footstep was to go to perdition. (W. Brock, D. D.)

The touching appeal.

I. THE FACT RECORDED.

1. The designation given them. Disciples.

2. Their number was considerable.

3. The period of their desertion--“From that time;” the delivery of the discourse.

II. THE APPEAL MADE was

1. Touching.

2. Seasonable. When others turn their backs it is well to warn those who remain.

3. Important. Backsliding is a sin of peculiar aggravation.

III. THE ANSWER GIVEN.

1. To whom shall we go?

(1) To the scribes and Pharisees? They are blind guides.

(2) To heathen philosophers? Their foolish hearts are darkened.

(3) To the law? It thunders above our guilty heads its anathema.

(4) To the world? It has proved itself deceitful.

(5) To the ways of sin? The end of them is death.

2. “Thou hast the words of Eternal life--we will stay with Thee, the Son of the living God for

(1) Pardon;

(2) purity;

(3) wisdom;

(4) strength;

(5) consolation. (Anon.)

A home question and a right answer

I. THE REASON FOR THE QUESTION. It was asked because

1. It was a season of defection. In all churches and ages there have been times of flocking in and flying out; ebbs and floods; and it is well at such seasons that decisive questions should be put.

2. It was a season of defection among the disciples; not merely camp followers who went after Him for the loaves and fishes. And this sets forth the grievous guilt of those who wear their Prince’s regimentals and then turn aside to false doctrine or sin.

3. It was a defection on account of doctrine because of the preceding discourse.

4. This defection was a “going back.” They did not go off the straight road, they simply reversed their steps and went back to their old lives.

5. It was open defection. They once walked with Jesus in the public streets, but now they will have no more to do with Him. This was at least honest and better than many a modern hypocrite.

II. THE QUESTION ITSELF. He might well press it for

1. One of them would certainly do so. He only chose twelve, yet one was a devil.

2. All of them might do so, and apart from His grace would. “Let him that thinketh he standeth.”

3. If they turned aside it would be specially sad. The chaff had been blown away and only the wheat was left, and that mixed with a little tares. These were picked men. How sad when an office bearer falls!

4. Apostasy is very contagious. Like sheep who, if one goes wrong, the next will follow.

5. He wishes His following to be perfectly voluntary. None can walk truly with Jesus who walk unwillingly.

III. THE ANSWER WHICH QUICK-VOICED PETER GAVE. It was threefold.

1. “To whom shall we go?” The thought was intolerable. Would you like to follow your old sinful life again?

2. “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” We cannot go away when we think of eternity. Those who turn back from Christ, what will they do in eternity?

3. We believe, and are sure, etc. Do you believe that? How then can you go away? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

A mournful defection

I. WHY DO MEN GO AWAY?

1. Because they cannot bear Christ’s doctrine. “This is a hard saying.” There are many points in the gospel offensive to human pride.

2. For the sake of gain.

3. Because terrified by persecution. Although the fires of Smithfield are extinguished there is much persecution still. Godless husbands tyrannize over their wives; employers over their servants; workmen over each other.

4. Out of sheer levity. In a list of wrecks you will find some which have gone down through collisions, or by striking on a rock; but sometimes you meet with one “foundered at sea”; how, no one knows, on a calm day. So there are many who make shipwreck of faith in easy circumstances. At the space of a moment they profess Christianity, and then suddenly, to everybody’s surprise and without troubling themselves about it, renounce it.

5. Through wicked companions and unequal marriages. It is hard to keep religion when one pulls one way and one another.

6. For the sake of sensual enjoyments.

7. Through change of circumstances.

(1) Some because they have become poor and cannot look and do as they did.

(2) Some because they have become rich and religion is unfashionable with the set to which they now belong.

8. Unsound doctrine occasions many to apostatize.

9. Laziness causes others to turn aside. They do nothing, and as a consequence soon have nothing to do.

II. WHAT BECOMES OF THEM?

1. Some are very unhappy, and return.

2. Others are hardened in their obduracy and go from bad to worse.

III. WHY SHOULD NOT WE GO AS OTHERS HAVE GONE? Only because of the grace of God.

IV. IF YOU WOULD BE PRESERVED FROM FALLING you must

1. Keep humble and rely on the Holy Spirit of God.

2. Be jealous of your obedience, be circumspect.

3. Watch and pray.

4. Shun profane company. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Apostasy

I. OUR LORD’S QUESTION was

1. The language of affection. Spoken in view of the loss of friends and immortal souls He came to save.

2. An implied warning. The propriety of such a question now rests on two grounds.

(1) The possibility, so far as they know, that professed disciples are not real disciples.

(2) The possibility that if real disciples they may apostatize. How our Lord’s declaration (John 6:70) must have constrained each to ask “Lord is it I?”

3. Anxious concern in view of abundant reasons for it.

(1) Many disciples had already forsaken Him.

(2) They were all the subjects of much weakness and prejudice.

(3) They were to be exposed to many temptations and dangers.

4. They were ignorant to a great extent of the nature of Christ’s salvation, and similar reasons exist in the present day for anxious concern and it may be useful to consider some of the sources of danger.

(1) The deep depravity of the human heart. How easily does this depravity

(a) lead men to deny or disregard the great practical truths of the gospel;

(b) to lose all just impression of the distinction between Christians and the world;

(c) to disregard the comparative worth of temporal and eternal things;

(d) to become insensible to the danger of small departures from duty;

(e) to banish the thought of eternity;

(f) to become more solicitous to preserve appearances before men than reality before God;

(g) to neglect the means of grace.

(2) The power of temptations without us, arising from wealth or poverty, business, society, etc.

II. THE DISCIPLE’S ANSWER, which bespeaks a just sense of his wants as a sinner and of his dependence on Christ as a Saviour.

1. As sinners we need the forgiveness of God, and can obtain the blessing only through Christ.

2. As sinners we need sanctification, guidance, support, consolation which no one but Christ can give.

3. We need eternal life: Christ only has the words of eternal life. (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)

The uses to be made of the falls of Christians

It behoves us

I. TO THINK WITH GRATITUDE OF THOSE WHO YET STAND, Many went away, but some, and they of the most value, remained. To despond would

1. Unduly magnify the importance of the apostles.

2. Give too much pleasure to the enemies of God.

II. TO FEEL AND ACKNOWLEDGE OUR OWN DANGER.

1. Because others have gone their own way and there is no likelihood of our following them, that is not to say that we are not in danger of pursuing a way of our own from Christ. You are in no danger of drunkenness, are you in danger of pride?

2. This sentiment will provoke charitable sentiments respecting falls of others.

III. TO COME WITH ALL FAITH AND SUPPLICATION TO THE SAVIOUR FOR PROTECTION AND MERCY. Neglect of this is the fruitful cause of backsliding. (S. Green, D. D.)

Going and staying

I. THE SADNESS OF APOSTASY.

1. Many take up a profession of Christianity who afterwards go away.

(1) The matter of fact. They ran well, and to all appearances judged by outward standards, were excellent Christians.

(2) To what this is owing.

(a) Largely from the want of the root of grace within;

(b) From insufficiently counting the cost.

(c) The want of a sensible joy in Christ as soon as was expected.

2. The sadness of their case.

(1) In general it is worse than if they had never made a profession of Christ (2 Peter 2:20).

(a) As the Holy Spirit is grieved, and it may be, retired, their recovery is more doubtful.

(b) As they have put themselves out of the way of the Spirit’s influence it cannot be expected that it should follow them.

(c) As Satan has got faster hold of them.

(2) As their case is now worse than it was at the beginning, so by forsaking Christ they judge them- selves unworthy of eternal life and out of the way of heaven. In the day of judgment they will be convicted of base ingratitude, the greatest treachery and unfaithfulness and of the most unaccountable folly.

II. CHRIST’S TENDER CONCERN FOR THE SAFETY OF HIS REAL DISCIPLES.

1. How this appears.

(1) In His incarnation and death;

(2) In His intercession;

(3) In His approachableness.

2. Whence it proceeds from.

(1) Their being ransomed by Him (1 Peter 1:18);

(2) Their being entrusted to Him by the Father (John 6:38);

(3) Their being not only His servants and friends, but the members of His body;

(4) Their being specially loved by Him;

(5) Their danger through apostasy and their blessedness through abiding with Him.

III. THE BELIEVER’S REASON FOR CLEAVING TO CHRIST.

1. They are sensible that they have no one but Christ to whom to go.

2. They dread the thought of going away, considering its sin, folly, misery and ingratitude.

3. How many soever revolt from Christ, sincere believers will and ought to cleave to Him still.

(1) To repair the dishonour cast upon Him by apostates and to witness that He never gave any just occasion to leave Him.

(2) To show that their choice of Him is not built on what others say, but upon what they know and experience of Him. (D. Wilcox.)

Experience and hope conservative of faith

1. In the discourse of this chapter we have many “dark sayings,” which gave great offence to many, and were the occasion of the apostasy of some of our Lord’s disciples.

2. The men who replied to our Lord felt the mysteriousness of His teaching as deeply as others, and at different times confessed as much. But in spite of all difficulties they did understand that their Master had what no other teacher had--“the words of eternal life,” and for that reason they would cling to Him. So with many of His disciples in the present day.

I. THE MEANING OF ETERNAL LIFE.

1. It has been said that “Eternal” is expressive of the character and quality of a thing not of its continuance, and stands for what is divine and spiritual in present enjoyment, e.g

(1) If any being possessed of animal or intellectual life were to have its being perpetuated for ever, though this would be life everlasting it would not be life eternal.

(2) If an angelic or human being possessed of this divine life were to be annihilated for a period it would still be proper to say that they had been made partakers of eternal life.

2. This is only half a truth and needs completing before we can grasp what was in the disciples’ minds. Let all this be granted, yet the subject of our Saviour’s teaching must have included perpetuity. He called them to a subjective life now, and declared that that in its ultimate issues, was to be their everlasting possession.

II. LET US SEE HOW THIS MEANING MAY BE ILLUSTRATED IN THE ANSWER OF THE DISCIPLES. This answer could not have embodied all that we know. It was given previously to our Lord’s redemptive work which throws such light on our Lord’s teaching, aud previously to the dispensation of the Spirit. Moreover, they were slow to learn and misunderstood the meaning of much which our Lord did teach. Nevertheless, they knew something about eternal life from

1. Our Lord’s teaching.

(1) He demanded of them a present divine life in its origin, continuance, and outward graces.

(2) He authenticated the popular belief in a life after death.

2. Our Lord’s example embodied the first and was connected by Him with the prospect of entering upon an endless life which they were to share. There was no uncertainty about this, and when asked if they would abandon Him of whom they had learnt it, they felt it to be impossible.

III. TO WHOM COULD THEY GO?

1. To the Sadducees--the rationalists of the age? They rejected immortality, and this being gone, what room was there for the culture of a divine life, or even of secular virtue, seeing that “we might eat and drink for to-morrow we die.”

2. To the Pharisees--the ritualists of their day? They believed in a future life, but held such views of what constituted the present religious life of man as to rob it of everything, spiritual and divine,

3. To the Essenes--the ancient monks and ascetics? These went further than the Pharisees. They tried to reach the Divine by ceasing to the human, and by practices which, if universal, would have brought society to an end, showed that they could not have the words of eternal life. (T. Binney.)

A critical hour

What the first battle is to an army whose general wishes to test its courage, so was this trial to the disciples. In this crisis there were two causes of trouble and temptation for their faith.

I. THE FORSAKING OF JESUS BY THE MULTITUDE.

1. The inclination of most men is to yield to the authority of numbers. This is seen in the camp of the freest philosophy as well as in that of religion. Nothing is more rare and difficult than adhesion to truth in the face of dominant opinions, as is shown by the history of great inventors, teachers, martyrs. In the eyes of the multitude truth, like victory, lies on the side of great battalions.

2. All is not absolutely false in this assumption. True religion should be the lot of all; and the gospel is universal. Yet it has never made any appeal or sacrifice to popularity and has triumphed in the teeth of antipathy and resistance.

3. On the other hand, as in the text, there are defections from it, and these defections severely try those who abide.

II. THE STRANGE CHARACTER OF THEIR MASTER’S TEACHING. At present the subject of the discourse seemed fantastic and impossible. But by and by in the Cross they understood it, which teaches us that the gospel contains mysterious points which raise difficulties and objections which are only to be overcome gradually. Most accept it on a side which responds most to their inmost aspirations, and accept the rest on trust; and, after years of Christian experience, they come to a comprehension of the harmony of revelation. Suppose, then, one of you in a situation like the apostles, what must you do?

1. The partisans of absolute authority say, “Submit yourselves, and the more difficult the submission, the more valuable the faith.” But it is never safe for a man to go against his conscience, and it is no honour to God to bring him the heart of a slave and the blind obedience of a fanatic.

2. Reject every doctrine that wounds the conscience or the reason. This is what these disciples did, and forgot many admirable discourses and works of mercy. And how many to day yield without a struggle, never trying to get to the bottom of their doubt, nor asking if there is not a deeper meaning!

3. The faithful apostles by their example seem to say, “Wait.” Why?

(1) Because religious truth must be full of mystery. A Divine revelation which should not surpass our comprehension would be no revelation.

(2) Because the fault may be less in the doctrine than in our minds.

(3) Because an experience a thousand times repeated proves that that which hurts us is precisely that which ought to heal us. Were the Pharisees right in being offended at the universality of the gospel?

(4) Because the greater part of the gospel enlightens, consoles and sustains. Will you reject this for the fraction which you misunderstood?

(5) Because experience may, and will, show you the futility of your objection, “If any man will do,” etc. (E. Bersier, D. D.)

The dividing point

In the state of Ohio there is a courthouse that stands in such a way that the raindrops that fall on the north side go into Lake Ontario at the Gulf of St. Laurence, while those that fall on the south side go into the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. Just a little puff of wind determines the destiny of a rain drop for two thousand miles. And how small apparently the influence which decides whether the current of our lives shall flow towards Christ or away from Him.

Speculation and faith

1. The chief cause of declension in the Church is the pre-occupation of the mind with an imaginary Christ. This narrative teaches us that a miracle is no match for a pre-determined judgment. These men believed on Christ because they saw His miracles, and they framed in their minds a conception of what that Messiahship should mean; but when they found that Christ’s conception differed from theirs, in spite of the miracles, they rejected Him. They could not understand a Messianic empire over the hearts of men.

2. But they ought to have understood something; that the position of Christ would invest Him with mystery, and that His teaching would be original, and that His disciples should have no pre-occupations and be able to distinguish between statement and parable, and that Jesus required childlike honesty and docility in his hearers.

3. The chief disputants on this occasion were leading Jews striving to turn the current of popular favour from Jesus. The declaration at which they affected to stumble was that of John 6:51. “How can this man,” etc. (John 6:52), was the carnal reasoning of the adversaries. The Master’s reply afforded no help, but rather otherwise (John 6:53). The disciples were silent, but these strange words shocked the men who had imagined that fellowship with Jesus would be a steppingstone to power (John 6:60). His explanation (denied to incorrigible adversaries)to them preserved a medium between the indulgence of curiosity and the repression of an honest desire to learn the truth (John 6:62).

4. These “went away” because no proof could touch them which threatened their anterior conception of Christ. Not miracle, nor the unique personal influence of Jews.

5. This picture of the force of a pre-judgment inspired by passion will guide the Christian Student in interpreting modern unbelief. Science is supposed to have no prejudgments; but then it affirms that a miracle is inconceivable, and therefore no testimony can make the record of a miracle credible. What is this but a prejudgment I And since Christianity is based upon the resurrection of Christ, then, according to this, it is logically a fraud. Let us now consider

I. THE APPEAL OF CHRIST.

1. It should be regarded as an appeal when the Church is surrounded by an unstable mood of thought concerning Christ.

2. This mood is highly dangerous and brings death with noiseless footsteps, and its ravages are seen, when, in connection with some sentiment of passion or selfishness, it puts back the faith or destroys it; and it is answerable for the loss to Christ of thousands of our youth, and the wide failure of initial steps of Christian profession.

3. It may be traced in modern secular literature when the writer simply refers to a Christian doctrine or fact, indicating no bias whatever, so different to those firm strokes which fifty years ago showed us if the public mind was pervaded by an impression of the Divine authority of the Scriptures.

4. Not that this necessarily threatens an unusual reverse to the Christian faith, but everything depends upon the way in which this unstable mood is dealt with during the next fifty years.

5. The appeal of Jesus is intended to bring into conspicuous contrast the immovable form of the Rock of Ages.

II. THE ANSWERING CONFESSION OF THE CHURCH. Are we prepared to drift? or to prosecute a new search? If Christ has failed to give us the words of eternal life, where shall we go to fro’ them?

1. To some ancient religion? Thanks to modern research, the new science of comparative theology is now accessible to every one. The question is not whether the religious systems of India or China are not possessed of fine sentiment, but whether they can compete with Christianity.

(1) What are they all but at best obscure impressions of mysteries which in Christianity are definitely proclaimed!

(2) What have they done for the people I Instead of elevating the general mind, they have narrowed, impoverished and depraved it. Modern research therefore pronounces that the religion of the future must be the Christian or none.

2. To modern philosophy?

(1) Where is its moral power to come from?

(2) How is this moral power to be disseminated? With all its boasts, it is built upon an hypothesis which, as yet, has constructed no thing: whereas we have a faith which has been attested by the history of centuries, whose Divinity is verified this day by the only civilization which is living. (E. E.Jenkins.)

Temporary discipleship

I. THAT JESUS CHRIST AND HIS DOCTRINES ARE NECESSARILY OFFENSIVE TO UNREGENERATED HUMANITY. But let us inquire what were the hard sayings, the unpalatable truths, that offended the crowd.

1. That Christ was greater than Moses. This was a mortal offence to the Jews. While Moses was yet alive the treatment he received was anything but respectful, but after his death their veneration for the great lawgiver knew no bounds. Again, they spoke of the manna in the wilderness very highly indeed, but their fathers had a very different opinion of it.

2. That God is the God of the Gentile as well as the Jew (John 6:37). Another hard saying

3. That the atonement (the bread from heaven) is the life of the world. Millions wilfully reject this heavenly food, to pine away and die on the unwholesome, adulterated fare dearly supplied by pleasure, ambition, and philosophy, falsely so called. Such were the hard sayings that made many of the disciples turn back and walk no more with Jesus. But what offended the Jews is no longer offensive to us. Yet many forsake Him in our days.

(1). Because they do not know Him. One may be acquainted with all the facts of His life, from the manger to the cross, and yet be totally ignorant of the principles that animated that life.

(2) Because they cannot have Christ and their sins at the same time. The people of Rome demanded of Brutus why he had stabbed Caesar, by his own admission “the foremost man of all the world”; and he answered to this effect, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” The surgeon of intemperate habits kills himself by degrees, and knows it; does he hate life? No, he loves drink more, and is content to fall into a premature grave. Men are loth to admit this, and many try hard to deceive themselves and others that they are kept away by doubt, as though intellectual pride was pardonable and praiseworthy. Samson perished under the ruins of his prison--why? Was it for the want of evidences? I trow not. His burning lust for Delilah brought him to that vulgar, shameful end. Demas turned His back upon the Redeemer, and forsook Paul and the churches when they greatly needed his sympathy and help. Was it “doubts” that caused his apostasy? No; he “loved the present world.” “Your iniquities have separated between you and God.”

II. JESUS CHRIST HAS NO DESIRE TO SEE PEOPLE FOLLOWING HIM AGAINST THEIR INCLINATION. “Will ye also go away?” The question suggests two things

1. That the gospel is a moral influence, and not a coercive agency. In making a personal appeal to the undecided, once and again have I been told, by way of self-justification, that they expect some irresistible power, some messenger from the dead, to compel them to believe the gospel. Oh, false and foolish expectation! In a speech of the Earl of Chatham the following passage occurs, which, with a little modification, will help to illustrate this point:--George the Third endeavoured to give undue influence to the prerogative of the Crown; but the great orator strenuously opposed him, and stood up for the constitution, saying, “The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail--its roof may shake, the wind may blow through it, the storm may enter--but the King of England cannot enter. All his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.” You are at perfect liberty to stay with Him or go away with the multitude that do evil--choose ye.

2. That religion without love is no religion at all. In this commercial age people are apt to introduce a mercenary spirit even into spiritual things, and ask with the apostate Jews, “What profit shall we have if we pray to Him?” Many of us, in our visits to rural districts, where the inhabitants cling tenaciously to primitive customs, have been made sad and solemn by meeting a funeral procession bearing a dead one to his burial; and although strangers to us, no one need tell us who the relatives of the departed one are--they are easily distinguished from all others both by their nearness to the coffin and their willingness to endure any inconvenience in order to follow him they loved to his long, long home. Others may, and will, turn back half-way, if the distance be far and the weather foul, but such is their grief after the departed that, however rough the way and stormy the weather, they will walk to the brink of the grave, and shed the tears of affection on his coffin-lid as they look down and bid their last farewell. The relatives of the Saviour likewise are easily recognized by their nearness to Him in thought and duty, and also by their fidelity to their beloved Redeemer, through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report, even unto death.

III. THERE ARE A FAITHFUL FEW IN EVERY AGE AMONGST THE FAITHLESS MANY. “To whom shall we go?” Go to the service of mammon with boats and fishing-tackles, and leave others to become fishers of men. Go to swine-land, the far country of self-indulgence and carnal pleasures, and spend your substance with the prodigal in riotous living. Go to Vanity Fair and the City of Destruction: follow the crowd! No; we have already been to all those places, and failed to find a resting-place for a weary, heavy-laden soul. You had better stay, then. Peter’s reasons for staying were

1. Because no one else could give such a clear account of the future. “Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

2. Because He was the Divine Redeemer. “And we believe, and are sure, that Thou art Christ, the son of the living God.” (W. A. Griffiths.)

Departing from Jesus

In Mammoth Cave the old negro guide told us how people had been lost there from time to time. When found, they overwhelmed him with embraces and other demonstrations of gratitude. Some became insane through fright; some fled in terror from the guides. Once a woman was lost for about twenty-four hours. In that terrible darkness, in the silence in which hearts beat loud, she had waited in dreadful suspense. Superstitious dread filled her crazed heart. At last the guide came, his footfalls echoing like whispers and groans, his lantern casting ghostly shadows upon the walls. The poor terrified creature arose, and tied away into the darkness. The guide pursued--a veritable black devil he seemed! At last he overtook her--unconscious, prostrate, ashy white. In his strong arms he raised her from the ground, and carried her out to safety and light and home! How often is it so: When the Saviour comes, we flee from Him. Misconceptions of Him, distortions of Him, shadows of Him in this dark world, fancies of Him in our sinful hearts, make Him seem other than He is. And we flee from our Saviour and our Guide--flee away into the darkness. And yet He came to find us, to save us, to bear us to the light. “He came to His own, and His own received Him not.” (R. S.Barrett.)

The physiology of backsliding

Within the body of the Hermit crab a minute organism may frequently be discovered, resembling, when magnified, a miniature kidney bean. A bunch of root-like processes hangs from one side, and the extremities of these are seen to ramify in delicate films through the living tissues of the crab. This simple organism is known to the naturalist as Sacculina: and though a full-grown animal, it consists of no more parts than those just named. Not a trace of structure is to be detected within this rude and all but inanimate frame; it possesses neither legs, nor eyes, nor mouth, nor throat, nor stomach, nor any other organs, external or internal. This Sacculina is a typical parasite. By means of its twining and theftuous roots it imbibes automatically its nourishment ready-prepared from the body of the crab. It boards, indeed, entirely at the expense of its host, who supplies it liberally with food and shelter, and everything else it wants. So far as the result to itself is concerned, this arrangement may seem at first sight satisfactory enough; but when we inquire into the life history of this small creature we unearth a career of degeneracy all but unparalleled in nature. When the young animal first makes its appearance, it bears not the remotest resemblance to the adult animal. A different name even is given to it by the biologist, who knows it at this period as a Nauplius. This minute organism has an oval body, supplied with six well-jointed feet, by means of which it paddles briskly through the water. For a time it leads an active and independent life, industriously securing its own food and escaping enemies by its own gallantry. But soon a change takes place. The hereditary taint of parasitism is in its blood, and it proceeds to adapt itself to the pauper habits of its race. The tiny body first doubles in upon itself, and from the two front limbs elongated filaments protrude. Its four hind limbs entirely disappear, and twelve short forked swimming organs temporarily take their place. Thus strangely metamorphosed the Sacculina sets out in search of a suitable host, and in an evil hour, by that fate which is always ready to accommodate the transgressor, is thrown into the company of the Hermit crab. With its two filamentary processes--which afterwards develop into the root-like organs--it penetrates the body; the sac-like form is gradually assumed; the whole of the swimming feet drop off--they will never be needed again--and the animal settles down for the rest of its life as a parasite … There could be no more impressive illustration than this of what with entire appropriateness one might call “the physiology of backsliding.” We fail to appreciate the meaning of spiritual degeneration or detect the terrible nature of the consequences only because they evade the eye of sense. But could we investigate the spirit as a living organism, or study the soul of the backslider on principles of comparative anatomy, we should have a revelation of the organic effects of sin, even of the mere sin of carelessness as to growth and work, which must revolutionize our ideas of practical religion. There is no room for the doubt even, that what goes on in the body does not with equal certainty take place in the spirit under the corresponding circumstances or conditions. The penalty of backsliding is not something unreal and vague, some unknown quantity which may be measured out to us disproportionately, or which, perchance, since God is good, we may altogether evade. The consequences are already marked within the structure of the soul. So to speak, they are physiological. The thing affected by our indifference or by our indulgence is not the book of final judgment, but the present fabric of the soul. The punishment of degeneration is simply de-generation--the loss of functions, the decay of organs, the atrophy of the spiritual nature. It is well known that the recovery of the backslider is one of the hardest problems in spiritual work. To reinvigorate an old organ seems more difficult and hopeless than to develop a new one; and the backslider’s terrible lot is to have to retrace with enfeebled feet each step of the way along which he strayed; to make up inch by inch the leeway he has lost, carrying with him a dead weight el acquired reluctance, and scarce knowing whether to be stimulated or discouraged by the memory of the previous fall. (Prof. Drummond.)

The effects of backsliding on the steadfast

When, at the close of the First Empire, our soldiers fought against united Europe, there frequently arose from the midst of the battle a cry that troubled all hearts. The reason was that a corps of the army, deserting the flag of Napoleon, had turned to the enemy. It was so at Leipsic: when the Saxons abandoned the French eagles the blast of ruin passed over the whole army, for treason was seen everywhere. And we also, in the desperate struggle in which the Christian army is engaged, we have often seen discouragement agitate the, most steadfast, when in the front ranks of the enemy, to have to encounter those who but the day before helped our faith and stood close around our flag. Only yesterday our allies, to-day our implacable enemies, directing their sharp, haughty, and contemptuous criticism against a cause whose weak points were well known to them. The crisis has been a terrible one, and more than one heart has succumbed under the anguish. But in this heartrending apostasy we seem to hear the voice of our Head say to us, as formerly to His disciples, “Will you also go away?” In reply to this appeal we have acknowledged our Master; shame has laid hold on us for having a moment submitted to the contagion of example; we have felt that never should His cause be more dear to us than when it was abandoned by the multitude; that the number and assent of masses are nothing and ought to be nothing; and with a more profound faith we have said to the Christ, “Lord, to whom can we go?” (E. Bersier, D. D.)

A backslider’s end

Albert, Bishop of Mayence, had a physician attached to his person, who, being a Protestant, did not enjoy the prelate’s favour. The man, seeing this, and being an avaricious, ambitious, worldseeker, denied his God, and turned back to Popery, saying to his associates, “I’ll put Jesus Christ by for a while till I’ve made my fortune, and then bring Him out again.” This horrible blasphemy met with its just reward; for next day the miserable hypocrite was found dead in his bed, his tongue hanging from his mouth, his face as black as a coal, and his neck twisted half round. I was myself an ocular witness of this merited chastisement of impiety. (Luther.)

A brave martyr

Anne Askew, when asked to avoid the flames, answered, “I came not here to deny my Lord and Master.”

Where backsliding begins

In the Life of Philip Henry it is said, “He and his wife constantly prayed together, morning and evening.” He made conscience of closet worship, and abounded in it. It was the caution and advice which he frequently gave to his children and friends, “Be sure you look to your secret duty; keep that up, whatever you do; the soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it. Apostasy generally begins at the closet door.” Besides these, he was uniform, steady, and constant in family worship from the time he was first called to the charge of a family to his dying day. He would say, “If the worship of God be not in the house, write, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us,’ on the door; for there is a plague, a curse in it.’”

A backslider’s misery

After poor Sabat, an Arabian, who had professed faith in Christ by means of the labours of the Rev. Henry Martyn, had apostatized from Christianity, and written a book in favour of Mohammedanism, he was met at Malacca by the late Rev. Dr. Milne, who proposed to him some very pointed questions, in reply to which he said, “I am unhappy! I have a mountain of burning sand on my head! When I go about I know not what I am doing.” It is indeed “an evil thing and bitter to sin against the Lord our God.”

Reasons for backsliding

Those who forsake God to return to the world, do it because they find more gratification in earthly pleasures than in those arising from communion with God; and because this overpowering charm, carrying them away, causes them to relinquish their first choice, and renders them, as Tertullian says, the penitents of the devil. (Blaise Pascal.)