The Backslider - A Guide For Young Disciples - 1823

The causes of backsliding are many, and various. It is to be apprehended that a cause , which operates in many cases, is the want of real grace . Many profess religion , who never possessed it. When they fall away the church of Christ sustains no real loss ; the number travelling to heaven is not diminished ; for they were hypocrites or self-deceivers. The word of God represents this, as a principal cause of backsliding. " They went out from us, but they were not of us.