"But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward." (Jer. 7:23-24)

In the 1800's, when there was a split in the Lord's church over the Missionary Societies, those who promoted the Societies called themselves "progressive." This was supposed to mean that they were the ones "progressing" in the Lord's work. The true Christians began to call them "digressive," because, in reality, that was what they were.

The word "gressive" is from the Latin and means "to walk or go," and has many interesting compounds. "Transgressive" means "To step or go beyond" "digressive," "to turn aside" "retrogressive," "to go back" "progressive," "to go forward" "aggressive," "ready to go."

Let us have a marked readiness to go forward in the Lord's service, and shun falsehoods and worldly endeavors that take us backward.