God.

In Jeremiah ii. we find God pleading with them as a father would
plead with a son. "Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your
fathers found in Me, that they are gone from Me, and have walked
after vanity, and are become vain? . . . Wherefore I will yet plead
with you, saith the Lord; and with your children's children will I
plead . . . For my people have committed two evils: they have
forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."

Now there is one thing to which we wish to call the attention of
backsliders; and that is, that the Lord never forsook them; but that
they forsook Him! The Lord never left them; but they left Him! And
this, too, without any cause! He says, "What iniquity have your
fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me?" Is not God the
same to-day as when you came to Him first? Has God changed? Men are
apt to think that God has changed; but the fault is with them.
Backslider, I would ask you, "What iniquity is there in God, that you
have left Him and gone far from Him?" You have, He says, hewed out to
yourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. The world cannot
satisfy the new nature. No earthly well can satisfy the soul that has
become a partaker of the heavenly nature. Honor, wealth and the
pleasures of this world will not satisfy those who, having tasted the
water of life, have gone astray, seeking refreshment at the world's
fountains. Earthly wells will get dry. They cannot quench spiritual
thirst.

Again in the 32d verse: "Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride
her attire? yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number."
That is the charge which God brings against the backslider. They
"have forgotten Me, days without number."

I have often startled young ladies when I have said to them, "My
friend, you think more of your ear-rings than of the Lord." The reply
has been, "No, I do not." But when I have asked, "Would you not be
troubled if you lost one; and would you not set about seeking for
it?" the answer has been, "Well, yes, I think I should." But though
they had turned from the Lord, it did not give them any trouble; nor
did they seek after Him that they might find Him.

How many once in fellowship and in daily communion with the Lord now
think more of their dresses and ornaments than of their precious
souls! Love does not like to be forgotten. Mothers would have broken
hearts if their childr