"Professed and Went Back."
"HE professed, and went back." "But," replied an old brother, "did he ever profess and go forward?" And there is no doubt that that is the question. It is an easy matter to make a profession; but the important matter is going forward. Of course, if one only professes, and remains as he is, he can't be said to go back, for the simple reason that one must go forward before he can go back. A man at the foot of the ladder has no distance to drop. And we suspect the reason so many "go back," as it is called, is simply that they have never gone forward, but rested in a mere profession; and when a professed convert makes a tumble, the remarkable thing is that the people who make the most noise about it are and have always been at the foot of the ladder; they make such an ado about So-and-so falling back, and yet So-and-so has only fallen down to where they are themselves. The true child of God will mourn over those who go back instead of rejoicing or talking about it; and he will be always rejoiced to hear of souls professing and going forward.—Messiah's Herald.