Turn, Oh Ye Backsliding Children
“Turn, oh ye backsliding children; for I am married to you, saith the Lord.”—Jeremiah 3:14
When a child departs from an indulgent father, or a wife forsakes an affectionate husband, they in effect say, they have other objects with whom they are more delighted, and from whom they expect greater happiness. Oh backsliding soul, is such thy conduct towards the best of Fathers, the most affectionate Bridegroom? Thy present practice loudly speaks this language, ‘I have other lovers, and after them I will go.’ Monstrous ingratitude! A child of special grace, and yet fly from thy most loving Father; a spouse of the most affectionate Bridegroom, and yet be unchaste to thy rightful Husband. Shocking carriage! Yet, hear and wonder, hear and love, love and be ashamed, be ashamed and return; for, marvelous grace, though thou hast broken thy marriage-contract, forfeited the privileges of children, yet the relation continues. ‘I am married to you’—children still, notwithstanding all their unkind carriage, ‘saith the Lord.’ Amazing love: instead of, I will pursue with vengeance, overtake with destruction; it is, I entreat with love, expostulate with kindness, invite with affection.
Who are thy present lovers? Remember, the rivals of thy Lord are thy greatest foes, and seek thy present misery and eternal destruction. Dost thou ‘live after the flesh?’ Have Satan’s wiles and the snares of the world prevailed over thee; the world, the flesh and the devil? Poor soul, canst thou be happy in their friendship and embraces? Oh no: thou art got into bad, yea the worst company. What leanness of soul is brought upon thee? Thy love to Jesus is grown cold, thy faith in him wreak, zeal for him and his truth have forsaken thee, the way of sin and folly pleaseth thee, sweet intercourse in private prayer, communion with thy God in public ordinances, is gone. Thou neglectest thy duty, and art grown shy of thy Father and his children. But still thy father calls, thy husband wooes thee again and again to turn—to return. Love, the bond of relation, never alters on God’s part, notwithstanding base, backsliding, and monstrous ingratitude on thine. Special grace makes love-calls effectual. Such shall one day call to mind ‘the love of their espousals;’ be ashamed and confounded for all they have done, and take up this language, ‘l come unto thee, for thou art my Father. I will go and return unto my first Husband, for then it was better with me than now.’ Hos. 2:7.
Better, yea, best of all those times
What I to Jesus cleaved,
Return unto the rest, my soul,
No longer be deceived.
Thy Father stands with open arms,
Thy bridegroom calls in love;
Return, thou, wandering soul, to me,
And my affections prove.
William Mason (1719-1791) was a High-Calvinist author. For many years he served as a Justice of the Peace, and in 1783 was appointed a Magistrate. He served as editor of the Gospel Magazine before and after the editorship of Augustus Toplady. He is best known for a morning and evening devotional entitled, “A Spiritual Treasury For The Children Of God.”
