Duke University Libraries 
 
 A tract for the 
 Conf Pam 12mo #565 
 
A TRACT FOR THE AKMY. 
 
 DY \VM. C. IIUCK. 
 
 .Alii V BACKSLIDER I 
 
 \)\<\ ' allegiance to € 
 
 he a christian i -.elf. to the peoj 
 
 in church relath u? Did you submit to the orcfii b 
 ol baptism, and take on vou the Kojentrj vows of a dis 
 ciple of Christ, and of the fellowship of the serin's; and 
 have you since alienated yourself from Messiah, o 
 ly re; to the Savi or, violated 
 
 ■ : solemn lip of the 
 
 saints, made ll iates and confidents, 
 
 deflected from the path of rectitude and prac 
 
 tieal offender against the laws ©f Christ, ami a shame- 
 less contemner of ri ■# and all good men? If 
 so, then are you a backslider? 
 
 Alas ! 3:011 have forsaken the fountain of living waters, 
 and hewn to yourself broken cisterns that can hold no 
 water of life. Ah! y r ou have put the Saviour to open 
 shame and cr noted his precious Llood ; wherewith you 
 were snuctified, an unholy thing y 8 ur present 
 
 wicked course you<%are, virtually, trampling that pre 
 cious blood under your impious feet; (), how can you 
 
 ipe the damnation of hell? Awake, awake from 
 your 'delusion. Rouso yourself to a consci 
 
 • true condition, and seek to recover yourself from 
 >f the devil, 
 i let us reason I 
 
 < 
 
thus requite tho love of God, who gave hi»holy Son to 
 suffer and die for you ? 0, how can you thus contemn 
 the. love and compassion of that blessed son of God 
 who humbled himself to the shame and agony of the 
 cross to redeem, you from the penalty of God's violated 
 law, and to prepare for yon a mansion in heaven'' Lei 
 shame cover your face. X-et remorse seize upon your 
 guilty soul, and heart-broken penitence urge you to 
 the foot of the cross foi mercy ; it may be that your 
 case is not hopeless. 
 
 It may be, however, that you never were a truly con- 
 verted soul. You may have been deceived, and deemed 
 yourself a christian when you were not. You may 
 never have had any change of heart; and may be now 
 only following the natural prrpensmes of your un*anc- 
 tified and carnal heart. It may be that you never have 
 felt the evil ot an inherently corrupt and depraved 
 heart; never realized the evil nature of sin ana its of- 
 fensivcness to God; nor the justice of Gt>\ in your 
 condemnation as a sinrer. You set out merely to es- 
 cape the punishment due to sin, and felt no solicitude 
 to be delivered from sin itself. You dreaded God's 
 wrath and sough: to avoid the penalty of bis violated 
 law; but you had no love for God, His holy character 
 nor his law. Yv>.u were conscious that you had acted 
 wickedly, and supposed tnat when you had reformed 
 your life, and lived morally, lhat you were, a religious 
 p«rsou ; but you never realized that you were inherent' 
 ly depraved, and that your whole heart and soul must 
 be renewed by the regenerating power of the Holy 
 Spirit, before you could love God and exercise vital- 
 faith in Christ. You neverJplt that you were so utterly 
 lost and helpless, as a sinner, that unless the righteous- 
 ness of Christ was imputed to you by him, as an act oi 
 pure grace, that you must perish forever; no, you re- 
 garded all vour sins to consist in acts, and thought you 
 had a good heart ; that reformation was all that was 
 
necessary, arid thai you were able to reform at any 
 time; and this is all the religion you havo ever baa. 
 When, therefore, you made a profession of religion, 
 you were as " the sow that was washed ; ' and now you 
 are as the "sow that has returned to wallowing in the 
 mire again." The nature of the animal was never 
 changed, only her circumstances; antl so it is with you. 
 When you reformed ami made a profession of religion, 
 jou were like the man out of whom the evil spirit went ; 
 nnd now you are like him after that evil spirit returned 
 with seven other spirts more wicked than himself. See 
 Mat., 12 : 43. Mark it, the evil spirit was not cast out 
 "nv a s'ronger than he; for had he been cast out, he 
 could not have returned, as to \vh own hcuse, at bis 
 own option. 
 
 Though you nave been thus deceived and misled, 
 your case nny not be utterly hopeless. God is gractons, 
 and it may be that He will yet have mercy on you, if 
 yod haste as a peuiient to Christ. O, be entreated to 
 atop in your downward course. No longer harden your 
 heart and stiffen your neck against God. O. repent of 
 your sius aud seek to know God and Jesus Christ his 
 son before it is too late. 
 
 But it may be that you were really a convened. per- 
 son, and have been led away by evil associates and the 
 corrupting influences by which you have beeU| sur- 
 rounded; so tnat you have fallen into practical sin, 
 have neglected prayer, dishonored your saviour and 
 opened tlie mouths of the impious to reproach religion 
 and to blaspheme the holy name by which you were 
 called. Ah, you have pierced vour own soul through 
 with many sorro «'s S 0, my brother, I come to call 
 you back from your estrangement— to recover you from 
 your fall. Will you heed a brother's affectionate coun- 
 sel? 0, think of the height from which you have 
 fallen, and tremble at your tolly and your guilt. Yes, 
 you have cause to repent in sackcloth and ashes, in 
 
view of your impiety and ingratitude to that "Saviour 
 who shed his blood for your redemption. O, how couM 
 you thus forsake that adorable and loving Savioor? 
 How could you turn your back upon him who. lived and 
 died to save you from the wrath to come ; and who 
 sent his holy spirit to enlighten and sanctify you, and 
 to comfort you with hopes of a blessed immortality be- 
 yond the grave? Will you still continue n guilty apos- 
 tate from Christ, and by your shameful and wicked 
 course open the Saviour's wounds afresh? il O, wan- 
 derer, return, return and seek an injured Saviour's 
 love/' If you ever were a converted person, God will 
 recover you from your present estrangement ; but O, 
 what stripes await you'-*- what ,b.jtterno?s of soul you 
 will realize — what scalding tears' you will shed, when 
 you are brought to a, just sense of your guilty wander- 
 ings from God, It is said that Pet r was always moved 
 to tears, in all his after life, whenever- lie heard a cock 
 crow, because he was renniided. thereby that he hd 
 denied his Lord and Master; end so will it be with you. 
 Your present aberrations will plant thorns in your dying 
 piilcw. God may graciously forgive all these si as, but 
 ii a christian you can never forget them. 0, then, 
 cease to accumulate. sorrows to yourself, and to treasure 
 np groans and, tear?? for the dying hour. Jf you are 
 never recovered to the love of Christ, then you furnish 
 indubitable proof that you have been either a hypo/rue 
 or a deceived person from the, beginning ; and must be 
 born again, or perish forever. 
 
 But perhaps; my brother, God has already restored 
 you to your right mind, and you may now be in deep 
 i.*ony and penitence on account ot your recent back- 
 alidings. Your sins may now rise up like u»oun tains 
 before you, a;id seem emirely <o separate you from 
 God, 0, you have wept over your folly, and repented 
 of your ins, your ingratitude, your carmiliiy and 
 worldly ruir.detfness ; but the Lord stilt hides his face 
 
from you. You have confessed and renounced your 
 Fins, and at th"» merry seat plead for pardon ; but there 
 seems to be no mercy for you. Your sins seem to Be 
 so enormous, so aggravated, so heinous to you and in 
 God 8 sight ; and your present convictions so pungent, 
 lhat von have come to the conclusion that surely you 
 never could have heen a converted soul. You think a 
 converted person never could have done so hadly as 
 you h:ive. Ah, you think that you never left such deep 
 and pungent convictions he Tore ; aud this may be so, 
 but still it does not follow that you rn.iy not have been 
 a truly converted person, before you had so grossly 
 deflected from the law of God. Many, many restored 
 backsliders have I known, who had come to such con- 
 clusions ahout themselves, and sought re-baptism, under 
 the impression that they had been convened since their 
 first baptism. I hope thai this little Tract will fall into 
 the hands of such persons, as it nmy be the means, 
 under God, of correcting their mistakes, consequent 
 upon the appearance of things. 1 oiler the following 
 solution of such ca-es of conscience, that the persons 
 comerr.ed may be led to a just conception of the truth, 
 and find solid consolation in its hearty reception. In a 
 criminal pro-eeution, the attorney for the State has the 
 rijrht to commence the development of the case at any 
 point he may ehoQse, so- as to present the entire case to 
 the court and jury in the clearest point of light possi- 
 ble j but at whatever point he may choose to open the 
 case, his object and intention is to ful'.v develop the 
 whole ca-e, so that the law may be fully vindicated and 
 guilt puuished. It must also be understood that, Ex- 
 ecutive clemency can reach the case of the coademned 
 criminal, only. A criminal uncondemned cannot be 
 pardoned. If when fairly tiied by the laws of Ws 
 country, ho is not found guilty, he is acquitted; not 
 pardoned. But if found guilty, and the sentence of 
 law has been pronounced against him, the Executive 
 
6 
 
 may issue a pardon, and arrest the execution of the 
 sentence. And, when thus pnrdoned, his life can neve* 
 be jeoparded again for the same crimes. 
 
 Now let it be understood that, in a gospel sen^e, 
 every pardoned sinner has been absolutely, personally 
 and judicially tried by the law of God, before the high 
 court of heaven, for all his crimes and offences against 
 the law and the majesty of the Divine Government — 
 Moreover, that he was found guil'y, and that h» was 
 pardoned, only through the grace of God in Christ 
 Jesus, after he wa" fully convicted of the divine justice 
 in his condemnation. When, therefore, he has been 
 freely and graciously pardoned, it is manifest that ^he 
 will nev-^r be arrested again, under the law of God, for 
 the sins tor which he had obtaine 1 pardon. 
 
 I say that the sinner, in being brought to Christ, 
 under the economy of the gospel pisses the ordeal of 
 n distinct, definite and full adjudication of the claims of 
 the law of God upon him; and that when pardoned, he 
 never will be brought to trial again, either in this life 
 or in the life to corao. God brings a sinner into judg- 
 ment but once, and h'13 decisions are final and unrer 
 versable. 
 
 The sinner is arrested by the Holy Spirit. The pro- 
 cess of trial may be opened at any point in the case. 
 The Holy Spirit may first discover to the sinuer the 
 deep depravity of his heart, or he may, first of all, 
 array before him the enormity of his life and habits. 
 It is immaerial at what point in the oase the investi- 
 gation begins ; God intends (hat the sinner shall see 
 his whole case. His inherent and practical eins must 
 all be arrayed before him, and he must be brought to 
 ^ee and fully concur in the justice of hi* condemnation, 
 before a pardon can issue in his favor. In whatever 
 way the investigation may be opened or prosecuted, this 
 fact must be noted, that sooner or later, the, sinner will 
 be brought to regard his inherent corruptions, bis innate 
 

 hostility to God, hi^ieart-sins, as the^most flagrant of 
 his offences; and as requiting, most of all, the par- 
 doning grace of God. Now, should his natural and 
 inherent guilt be pardoned, it ia most certain that they 
 never will be nor can be charged against him again. 
 God never will bring him into judgment for original 
 sin again. 
 
 Now mark it, backslider. Should such a pardoned 
 sinner restrain prayer and be led off to sin — should he 
 backslide and dishonor hi^ profession, and reproach 
 the name of Christ by his impious lite, God will bring 
 him back, either by the wooings of special love or by 
 the rod and stripes; and when restored to his proper 
 mind, his sins of life, his acts of disobedience may re- 
 coil like a mountain weight upon his heart; and he may 
 feel so deeply and pungently convicted for them, as to 
 be led to fear that he never knew the grace of God, 
 but had been deceived. If, however, he will carefully 
 and prayerfully examine the various exercises of his 
 mind and the several states of his conscience, he will 
 
 Eerceive that, as a backslider, he is not convicted for 
 is inherent sins — the original sin of his fallen nature, 
 which formed so prominent a part of his first convic- 
 tions. Nor is he convicted for any sin committed before 
 his backsliding. His present convictions refer only U> 
 the sins committed in his recent deflection from the 
 path of duty. And if he finds this to be true, then has'' 
 he positive evidence, however pungent his conviction 
 may be thaflne was previously a renewed and pardoned 
 sinner ; and that he is now only being chastised, as a 
 son, to bringr him back to his Heavenly Father, from 
 whom he has so deeply revolted. God has assured us 
 that, although He will not urterly take away his loving 
 kindness from his children, he will, nevertheless, visi* 
 their subsequent iniquities with stripes and their tran 
 gressions with a rod. While, therefore, a sinner p' 
 doned, has all his sins " covered " by that act of gr 
 
&.CL 
 
 & 
 
 still, God as a gracious Father, visits their subsequent 
 
 transgression s with convictions and correctives, to keep 
 them from the ways of sin, and to ke*p them near his 
 own paternal side. 
 
 If a. backslider is subsequently convicted for original 
 sin as well as lor practical iu'ipiety, lie may take it for 
 granted that he never knew the pardoning love of God ; 
 Jor God never tries a sinner twice far the name crime. 
 
 And now. my backsliding reader, having given you a 
 graphic outline of a chrbtian's^xporience, and a scrip- 
 tural rule, by which you may unerringly determine the 
 state of your soul and the ground of your hope, let me 
 entreat you to read it prayerfully and carefully. And 
 may God sanctify these humble pages to your recovery 
 from sin, and to your consolation in Christ the Kcdcetu- 
 er. Amen. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
 P H8.5