He was severely just in administering the duties of his responsible office, and was both respected and feared by all backsliders.
"The Story of Malta"
Maturin M. Ballou
If they hadn't any, others had; and those others were the very ones with power to make backsliders uncomfortable.
"The Heather-Moon"
C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
The Reformer relieved his mind in the pulpit at the end of May or early in June, rebuking backsliders, and denouncing the Queen's rumoured marriage with any infidel, "and all Papists are infidels."
"John Knox and the Reformation"
Andrew Lang