bring him home to himself again: "For thus saith the Lord God,
Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out, as a
shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among the sheep
that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver
them out of all places where they have been scattered. I will seek
that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away; I
will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which
was sick." Ezek. 34:11-16.

Of God's ordinary way of fetching the backslider home I will not now
discourse; namely, whether he always breaketh his bones for his
sins, as he broke David's, or whether he will all the days of his
life for this leave him under guilt and darkness; or whether he will
kill him now, that he may not be condemned in the day of judgment,
as he dealt with them at Corinth. I Cor. 11: 30-32.

God is wise, and can tell how to imbitter backsliding to them he
loveth. He can break their bones and save them; he can lay them in
the lowest pit, in darkness and the deep, and save them; he can slay
them as to this life, and save them. And herein appears wonderful
grace, that Israel is not forsaken.

8. But suppose God deals not either of these ways with the
backslider, but shines upon him again, and seals up to him the
remission of his sins a second time, saying, "I will heal their
backslidings, and love them freely." What will the soul do now?
Surely it will walk humbly now, and holily all its days. It will
never backslide again, will it? It may happen it will not; it may
happen it will. It is just as his God keeps him; for although his
sins are of himself, his standing is of God; I say, his standing