The prodigal son. In four parts

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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THE PRODIGAL SON BECOMES A SWINE-HERD-

(Seepage 92.)

THE

i^KODIGAL SON.

Sn /flttr 3(^attH.

BEING A

PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF LUKE XV. 11-32.

CAREFULLY REVISED AND ENLARGED
BY

REV. D. F. BRENDLE, A.M.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN.

PHILADELPHIA:

LINDSAY & BLAKISTON.

1862.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, iu the year 1862, by

D. F. BRENDLE,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the

Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGA.N PRINTED BY 0. SHERMAN & SON.

/ 3 3

TfTR Library

Oi- C( >Vr; !< r,;gg
WASHINGTON

TO ALL

THE YOUNG MEMBERS

OP

CHRIST^S KINODOM,

THIS

LITTLE TOLUME
IS

Bespecttulljf 33etifcate^

BT

THE AUTHOR.

(iii)

PEEFACE

This work is a translation from the
German^ which the author published a
year ago^ and is now carefully revised and
enlarged.

In offering a work of this kind to the
public on an all-important and difficult
subject^ methinks I hear the gentle reader
say:

" 'T is pleasant, sure, to see one's name in print ;
A book's a book, although there's nothing in 't."

We have, however, no particular apology
to make for offering it to the public, as it
must either sink or swim upon its own
merits.

1^ (V)

vi Preface.

I would say^ however^ that my mind
has been directed to this subject for some
time^ and knowing no practical work of
the kind in extant^ and believing at the
same time that such a work would result
in much good, we offer the '^Prodigal Son!'
to the public, only regretting that the
task has not been executed by a more
able and skilful hand. Yet I would say
to the reader, '' Examine before you con-
demn."

In the preparation of this work we
made use of the following works, viz.:
Lange, Ewald, Olshausen, Ahlfeld, Couard,
Keach, Lisco, Trench, and others; we
therefore do not deem it necessary always
to mention from which of these authors
we received this or that thought.

We would say here to the reader that we

Preface. vii

offer no denominational work ; but one^ as
we believe, which contains the truth as
revealed in Christ Jesus, and adapted for
all Christian denominations.

With these remarks we hope and pray
that it may be accompanied by the bless-
ing of God, and become a means, not only
of restoring prodigal sons and daughters,
but also a means to prevent such as are
yet within the household of faith from
exchanging it for the starvation and rags

of the world.

D. F. B.

Bethlehem, Pa., July 4, 1862.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

The Creed Page 13

Lord's Prayer 14

The Bible 21

Parable, definition of 22

Why Christ spake in Parables 23

Different Views of this Parable 26

Correct View 27

The Younger Son 30

I. THE PRODIGAL SON AT HOME IN HIS
FATHER'S HOUSE.

1. His Home, and what he has there.

a. Home ...... 33

6. The Son at Home 35

c. His Innocence and Happiness. 36

d. Baptism the Key to the Church 38

2. A Word of Warning to Parents and Children.

a. How Character is formed 40

h. Hastening from Home 41

c. Our Christian Duty 42

3. Young Man, Stay at Home.

a. Advantages of Home 45

6. Evil Suggestions when from Home 47

(ix)

Contents.

c. The Power of Sin 49

d. The Habit of Sin 50

e. Our City Courts 51

y*. Day of Judgment 52

g. Consider your Danger 53

4. His Ungrateful Request.

a. The Portion of Goods 56

h. The Christian's Prayer 59

c. The Earthly Relation leads to the Heavenly. 59

II. HIS DEPARTURE FROM HOME.

1. The Division of Goods.

a. Why demanded by the Younger Son 61

6. The Father's Love 64

c. The Apostasy of the Heart 66

d. His Departure 67

e. His Pleasure in Sin 68

/. The Distant Country 72

g. The Famine 75

Ti. The Call of his Father 75

2. His Misery and Poverty.

a. The Drunkard 79

6. The Gambler 82

c. Mammon 83

d. Dancing. 85

e. The Wail of the Damned in Hell 87

3. His External Embarrassment.

a. The Wicked Citizen 90

h. His Occupation 93

c. Satan's Fields 94

d. Feeds Husks to Swine 96

e. The Sinner's last Refuge 99

Contents. xi

III. HIS RETURN AND RECEPTION.

a. His Cry in Misery 105

1. He Came to Himself.

a. His Course one of Madness 109

6. The Table of his Father Ill

c. The Hired Servants 112

d. Why Sinners often Perish 116

2. His Good Resolution.

a. The Turning-point. ^ 117

h. The Resolution itself 120

3. He Voluntarily Confesses his Sins.

a. Regeneration 125

b. Conversion 131

c. Sinned against Heaven 132

d. His UuTVorthiness and Humility 135

4. HoTV HE Carries out his Resolution.

a. The Language of his Soul 136

6. His Repentance 137

c. Why some are Lost. 138

5. He Perseveres in his Return.

a. Some ashamed of Christ 139

6. The Happy Meeting.

a. The Father sees him return 143

h. He hastens to meet him 144

c. The Father's Kindness 146

d. His Confession 149

e. His Repentance genuine 151

7. The Hearty Reception.

a. The Prodigal in the Father's House 155

6. The Blessings he receives * 157

xii Contents.

c. The Servants 158

d. The House the Church 158

c. The Kobe 100

/. The Ring 161

g. The Shoes 163

8. The Feast of Joy.

a. The fatted Calf. 166

h. The Feast of the Gospel 167

c. The Guests 168

d. The Ground of this Joy 169

e. Ilis being dead, and now alive 170

f. His being lost, and now found 172

g. Why no Mediator mentioned 176

lY. THE CONDUCT OF THE ELDER SON.

1. The Elder Son's Return.

a. His displeasure 180

2. He acts wickedly, and without Feeling.

a. The Conduct of Church members 184

3. The Father does not permit his Joy to be dis-

turbed.
a. His Reproach against the Father 191

4. The Elder Son and his Self-righteousness.

a. Who the Elder Son represents 194

5. The Father\s Invitation to him 195

c. What Effect it had 199

5. The Earnest Warning against Self-right-

eousness.

a. Self-justification 202

h. Why not all fall thus deep 207

6. Retrospect and Exhortation 208

THE CKEED. THE LORD^S PRAYER.

In the name of God the Father, and of God the Son,
and of God the Holy Ghost. Amen.

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker
of heaven and earth :

And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son our
Lord ; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost^ born
of the Virgin Mary ; suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried ; He descended into
hell ; the third day He rose from the dead ; He
ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand
of God the Father Almighty ; from thence He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the holy Catholic
Church ; the communion of saints ; the remission
of sins ; the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting.

2 (13)

14 The Prodigal Son.

Lord, we believe ; help Thou our unbelief!

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be
Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temp-
tation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever
and ever. Amen.

LUKE 15 : 11-32.

And he said, A certain man had two sons :

And the younger of them said to his father,
Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth
to me. And he divided unto them his living.

And not many days after, the younger son gath-
ered all together, and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riot-
ous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty
famine in that land ; and he began to be in want.

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of
that country; and he sent him into his fields to
feed swine.

And he would fain have filled his belly with the
husks that the swine did eat : and no man gave
unto him.

And when he came to himself, he said. How
many hired servants of my father's have bread
enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger !

I will arise and go to my father, and will say
unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and before thee,

(15)

16 The Prodigal Son.

And am no more worthy to be called thy son :
make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw
him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his
neck, and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth
the best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring
on his hand, and shoes on his feet :

And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and
let us eat, and be merry :

For this my son was dead, and is alive again :
he was lost, and is found. And they began to be
merry.

Now his elder son was in the field : and as he
came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music
and dancing.

And he called one of the servants, and asked
what these things meant.

And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and
thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he
hath received him safe and sound.

The Prodigal Son. 17

And he was angry, and would not go in : there-
fore came his father out, and entreated him.

And he answering said to his father, Lo, these
many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I
at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never
gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my
friends :

But as soon as this thy son was come, which
hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast
killed for him the fatted calf.

And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with
me, and all that I have is thine.

It was meet that we should make merry, and be
glad : for this thy brother was dead, and is alive
again ; and was lost, and is found.

2* B

HYMN.

'* Tho' parents may in covenant be,
And have their heaven in view ;
They are unhappy till they see
Their children happy too.

'* Their hearts with inward anguish bleed,
When all attempts prove vain,
And they pursue those paths that lead
To everlasting pain.

** They warn, indulge, correct, beseech,
While tears in torrents flow ;
And 'tis beyond the pow'r of speech.
To tell the griefs they know.

^^Till they can see victorious grace,
Their children's souls possess ;
The sparkling wit, the smiling face.
But adds to their distress.

(19)

20 The Prodigal 8on.

" See the fond father clasp his child ;
Hark! how his bowels move —
Shalt thou, my offspring, be exiPd
From God, my Father's love ?

^' Shall cruel spirits drag thee down
To darkness and despair,
Beneath th' Almighty's angry frown,
To dwell for ever there ?

'' Kind heav'n, the dreadful scene forbid ;
Look down, dear Lord, and bless;
I '11 wrestle hard as Abr'am did.
May I obtain success I"

THE PRODIGAL SON.

The Holy Bible is our greatest and
richest treasure; it alone reveals fully
God the Father^ God the Son, God the
Holy Ghost; and it alone teaches us the
manner of our creation, the fall, the re-
demption wrought by Christ; it shows
us how to find this Redeemer, and how
to obtain life everlasting. As God has
not His equal, neither has the Bible.
There are thousands of stars, but only
one sun; thus, we have thousands of
books, but only one Bible. As the hea-
vens are higher than the earth, even so
is the Bible superior to all other books.
Consider how it would be without the
sun; then you may understand how it

would be without the Bible.

<21)

22 The Prodigal Son.

*' Within this awful volume lies,
The mystery of mysteries ;
Oh ! happiest they of human race,
To whom our God has given grace.
To hear, to read, to feel, to pray.
To lift the latch, and force the way ;
But better they had ne'er been born,
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn."

Reverence it^ therefore ; examine it
faithfully^ and learn by blessed experience,
to go the way of salvation^, which Christ
has revealed and marked out in this Book
of Books, and particularly in this Parable.
The Parable of the " Prodigal Son" is a
kind of summing up in a short form the
whole body of Divinity. This book will
therefore be to the common reader, a
short and simple exposition of some of the
principal doctrinal points, upon which our
salvation depends.

A Parable is the natural representation
of divine truth, always in accordance with
nature ; it moves in the spiritual world,

The Prodigal Son. 23

but never transgresses the actual order of
things natural.

Our Savior spoke man}^ things in par-
ables. The object in doing so, no doubt,
was to impress divine truth more deeply
upon the minds and hearts of men,
especially of the scribes and Pharisees
of his day.

When the disciples came to Jesus, and
asked : " Why speakest thou unto them
in parables?" He answered and said
unto them : " Because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the king-
dom of heaven, but to them it is not
given. '"^ Or as St. Luke says : " Unto you
it is given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of God ; but to others in parables;
that seeing they might not see, and hear-
ing they might not understand 5"-}- by
which he Avould say : Unto you, who are
my disciples, and enjoy my love and

*Matth. 13 : 10, 11. f Luke 8 : 10.

24 The PnoDiaAL Son.

friendship, it is given to know the mys-
teries of the kingdom of God ; but unto
them that are without,"^ who will not
believe in me, these things are spoken in
parables : And because those who are
without are satisfied with the parable,
without endeavoring to penetrate into its
meaning, or applying it to themselves,
the word of truth can never be unto them
a savor of life unto life.

In the course of our exposition of the
Parable of " the Prodigal Son," we will
often be required to make prominent the
dark shadows of sin and of vice, and to
exhibit the solemn denunciations of the
Lord against them in His word ; but we
beseech you, dear reader, not, on this ac-
count, to lay aside this book, but to read
on and compare your life with what is
presented in this parable, praying to the

* Mark 4 ; 11.

The Prodigal Son. 25

Lord, at the same time, that he may bless
it to your spiritual and eternal profit.

Of all the parables spoken by our Lord,
this one is the most captivating and affect-
ing. It is almost impossible to read it
without being deeply impressed with the
sublimity of its character, and profoundly
moved by its exhibition of love and mercy.
It is certain, that sin cannot be painted
in darker colors, or human misery be de-
picted in sadder features, than is done in
this parable. And where can we find a
more glorious evidence of the paternal
love and mercy of God, than just in the
mode of treatment of the father towards
his prodigal son represented here ?

This parable may be called the pearl
and crown of all the parables of Scrip-
ture ; one too, which contains within itself
such a circle of truths and doctrines, that
we may justly call it a gospel within the
gospel. For here is beautifully repre-
3

26 The Prodigal Son.

sented, in the history of an individual^
sin and all its horrible consequences ; the
necessity of repentance and conversion^
as well as the friendly reception and re-
conciliation on the side of God.

There have always been two different
views in the Church in regard to the
great primary application of this parable.
There are those who have seen in the two
sons the Jew and the Gentile^ and in the
younger son's departure from his father's
housC;, the history of the great apostasy of
the Gentile world ; in the Prodigal's return
they see the reception of the Gentile world
into the privileges of the new covenant ;
in the conduct of the elder brother, how-
ever^ who would not enter into the house
of paternal joy^ they see a lively type of
the narrow-hearted^ self-righteousness of
the JewSj who grudged that the Gentiles
should be admitted to the same blessings
as themselves.

Others, again, beheld in the younger

The Prodigal Son. 27

son a type of all those who^ whether
Jews or Gentiles, whether in that old dis-
pensation which was then drawing to an
end, or brought up in the bosom of the
Christian Church, have widely departed
from God by their sins; and after having
tasted the misery of a sinful life, have by
His grace been brought back to Him, as
to the only source of comfort and life ;
while they have seen in the elder brother
either a narrow form of real righteous-
ness, or, accepting his own words, of
Pharisaical righteousness, — one righteous
in his own sight, but not in the Lord's.

The latter view seems to me to be the
more correct, without, however, entirely
excluding the former. For the children
of Israel were the covenant people ; Abra-
ham's descendants were the family of
God ; they were under His discipline and
guidance ; they preserved His law ; they
maintained always a certain communion

28 The Prodigal Son.

with Him; they never entirely severed
their connection with Him ; they possess-
ed His word^ His revelation ; they wor-
shipped and served Him; they rejoiced
in His protection and His special provi-
dence ; wherefore also the father in this
parable says to his elder son : '' Son^ thou
art ever with me ; and all that I have is
thine." — The Gentiles^ on the other hand,
renounced their Great or^ devoted them-
selves to all the abominations of idolatry,
broke up all communion with Him, who,
nevertheless, is their Lord and God, and
'^ changed the glory of the incorruptible
into an image made like to corruptible
man," as St. Paul describes their apos-
tasy. Kom. 1 : 21-26. — Nevertheless,
this is not the leading thought of the
parable. For it was spoken in reply to
the murmuring of the scribes and Phari-
sees, who were offended that Jesus re-
ceived, and even ate with publicans and

The Prodigal Son. 29

sinners : " Then drew near unto him all
the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured,
saying, This man receive th sinner S; and
eateth with them.''"^

Before the first interpretation can have
any claim to stand, it must first be shown
that these publicans and sinners were
heathens, which, indeed, the Church father
Tertullian undertook to do, but, as we
believe, without success. Besides, there
is abundant scriptural evidence, that many
of the publicans, probably of those in
Judea, if not all, yet far the greater num-
ber, were of Jewish birth. Zachaeus was
a son of Abraham ;f and Levi, who sat
at the receipt of custom, must needs have
been so too : and publicans were among
those who came to the baptism of John. J
There may, indeed, have been some hear

*LnIve 15 : 1, 2. f Luke 9 : 9.

X Luke t : 9.

30 The Prodigal Son.

then publicans within the limits of Judea;
but doubtless these whom Jesus received
were of Jewish origin^ for with none but
Jews did he familiarly live during his
walk upon earth ; for as He himself says,
He was " not sent but unto the lost sheep
of the house of Israel.'"^

These publicans and sinners were Jews
— outcasts^ indeed^ of the nation^ scorned
and despised, and no doubt justly, until
the words of Christ had awakened in
them a nobler life. Thus far Christ had
only given a few hints, that the Gentiles,
as well as the Jews, were called to Chris-
tianity, and there only to his chosen dis-
ciples, and which, for a long time after,
were stumbling-blocks even to them.

Consequently, we believe that we can
affirm, that our Savior would represent,
in the younger son, all those who have
separated themselves by a sinful life from

* Matth. 15 : 24.

The Prodigal Son. 31

the Jewish Cliurch^ and thereby also from
God.

And as this was the case with the Jews^
who abandoned the Jewish Churchy it is
nevertheless not confined alone to them,
but also is applicable in our time to all
those who abandon the Christian Churchy
and live in the misery of sin and corrup-
tion. Far as the sinner may have de-
parted from Godj he is still encouraged
by this parable of the '' Prodigal Son" to
return to the Father's house^ and to the
Father s love.

It is a blessed thought, that the younger
son represents sinners, who are not, as
many affirm, outside of God's covenant,
but within it, for it evidently means such
as belonged to the old covenant by cir-
cumcision, and w^ere thereby called to His
kingdom of blessedness. In regard to the
Christian Church, it means all those wdio
belong to the kingdom of grace by bap-
tism and confirmation, but who have re-

32 The Prodigal Son.

nounced their baptismal covenant^ made
in their behalf, when infants, by their
parents ; which they either only renewed
with their lips, and not with their hearts,
or, perhaps, entirely repudiated. More-
over, such also are meant, who were bap-
tized as adults, who took the oath of
fidelity, but who, alas ! soon violated it,
departing from God, from the Church,
from the Father s house, that they might
serve sin, thereby bringing disgrace upon
themselves, and upon the Church of Christ.
All these are represented by the younger
son, and are also encouraged by his con-
duct to return speedily to the Father s
house and heart.

We shall divide our exposition of the
parable into four parts :

I. The Prodigal Son at Home in his
Fathers House,

II. His Departure from Hoine.

III. His Return and Receptio^i.

IV. The Conduct of the Elder Son.

The Prodigal Son. 33

I.

THE PRODIGAL SON AT HOME IN HIS
FATHERS S HOUSE.

1. His Home^ and loJiat he has there.

Home ! It is difficult to define what
home is. A poet was once asked, "What
is a poet?'' to Avhich he replied, "A poet
is — a poet." With equal appropriateness
we answer, Home is home.

"Home's not merely four square walls,

Though with pictures hung and gilded;
Home is where affection calls —

Filled with shrines the heart hath builded.''

Home is one of the most delightful
words in the English language, and it is
no wonder that it should have become the
subject of poetry and song. There is
music in the sound ; and in every heart
c

34 The Prodigal Son.

that is not yet wholly corrupted^ there is
a chord that vibrates to the note. It will
ever awaken a long train of associations
and recollections^ painful or pleasant, as
may have been the conduct of the person
by whom the word is repeated. It is at
home that parents and children, brothers
and sisters, mingle in the sweet fellowshipi
of domestic bliss, as long as Providence
permits them to dwell together.

Home has different aspects. The home
of the infant is the mother's bosom. The
home of the child is the family nursery,
with its playthings. The home of the
youth is the garden, the meadow, and the
play-ground. The home of the man is
his country — his native land. The home
of the Christian is the Church.

He that loves not his home is a traitor
to his country, a hypocrite to his God,
and is not to be trusted. It is love of
home that inspires man to noble actions ;

The Prodigal Son. 35

and only where it is entirely lost, can the
sun of a nation's glory and power set in
darkness and blood.

''Wherever thou mayest be, Home is the centre
where the heart turns."

The parable permits us first to behold
the Prodigal Son at home in his father's
house, in a state of honor and happiness.
^*^A certain man/' says Christ, ^^had two
sons." They were both at home with
their father, making each other happy.
All that the fiither owned was theirs;
what he acquired, he acquired for them.
Every labor and every enjoyment was
mutually shared. It was with them, as
it is in every happy family: the father
commanded, the children obeyed, — and
both were not conscious of command or
obedience.

The Prodigal Son was therefore at
home in his father's house, and, as a child

36 The Prodigal Son.

and son of innocence and love, he was
very happy. He possessed everything
that could make him happy and honored.
There he enjoyed the love of father and
of mother; there he had a good name^
and could move in the honorable circle of
the family.

/""^'^w as not this the original state of man ?

I God created him upright, innocent, and
happy. God was his father; Paradise
was his home ; the earth his possession ;
angels were his companions ; happiness
his blessed lot. Everything that the in-
finite wisdom and love of his heavenl}^
Father could divise; indeed, everything
that man could reasonably enjoy, was pro-
vided for him as a divine gift, and was
given to him to promote and secure his
happiness. Nevertheless, he permitted
himself to be conquered by Satan, and
fell, and involved all his descendants in

i sin and misery.

The Prodigal Son. 37

But after the first man, Adam, discov-
ered his loss and misery, the heavenly
Father again revealed His love and mercy
in choosing the Jewish nation, which He
sanctified to Himself by the blood of the
atonement. Man was now restored to great
happiness and honor.

On account of the redeeming grace of
God, we also are able to speak of and re-
joice in a still more glorious abiding in
our Father's house — the Christian Church.
The old Adam led himself and his descend-
ants out of the house of Paradise, b}^ his
transgression ; the new Adam brought his
own back again, by his righteousness and
obedience even unto death. The day
when He opened the doors, when He re-
moved the angel with the flaming sword,
is not yet far removed. It is the blessed
Good-Friday. By eating of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, we lost
God's protection and were driven from His
4

38 The PRODiaAL Son.

house ; but our return has been secured
for us on the tree of Golgotha^ on the
cross.

The Christian Church possesses a much
higher revelation of God^ than that made
in creation^ or possessed by the house of
Israel; so that in it alone the greatest
happiness and honor are to be secured.

Holy baptism is the key of the Chris-
tian Church — our Fathers house. He
who remains in the covenant of baptism,
who serves in sincere faith and child-like
love, who would be nothing other than a
child of his heavenly Father, he is in his
Father's house, even though he had no
earthly house or home in which to lay his
head. God's holy purpose of grace is the
foundation of this house ; His infinite love
the walls ; His mercy and goodness, which
reach as far as the heavens, are the roof;
and Christ is the door. So long as we
possess a true, child-like faith, and perse-

The Prodigal Son. 39

vere in following Christy do we remain in
this house.

The Prodigal Son was in his father's
house with honor. Thus he remained for
a time in the enjoyment of the highest
earthly happiness. But^ alas! he became
dissatisfied^ satiated with his happiness.
It was too good for him at home. He
would live freer and faster; he would be
his OAvn master. To be directed and led
by his father's love appeared to him to be
compulsion and irksome restraint; he
wished to rule himself, and therefore he
asked for his portion of goods.

2. A Word of Warning to Parents and
Oliildren.

There is a great responsibility resting
upon every parent for the manner in which
he or she may bring up their children.
We must not forget that their character

40 The Prodigal Son.

for time and for eternity is usually formed
in youth^ and while at home.

" Have you ever watched an icicle as it
formed ? You noticed how it froze one
drop at a time until it was a foot long, or
more. If the water was pure, the icicle
remained clear, and sparkled brightly in
the sun ; but if the water was the least
muddy, the icicle looked foul, and its
beauty was spoiled. Just so our charac-
ters are forming — one little thought or
feeling at a time, adds its influence. If
each thought be pure and right, the soul
will be lovely, and will sparkle with hap-
piness; but if impure and wrong, there
will be final deformity and wretchedness."

How many a drunkard has been induced
to visit the tavern, in the first place, in
order to escape from the troubled atmo-
sphere of his own home, and the constant
reproaches, merited perhaps, but not less

The Prodigal Son. 41

galling, of a too irritable and a too vindic-
tive partner!

On the other hand, how many a gentle
spirit has been crushed and broken by the
brutal and ruffian remarks of some tyrant
husband ! How gradually, but with a
change far too rapid, has the idol object
of ^^ove's first dream" degenerated into a
cold, selfish, and indifferent husband !

"One little word, if softly spoken —
One little tear, if kindly shed —
Can heal the spirit bruised and broken,
And cure the heart that long hath bled.''

We may be certain that there is some-
thing wrong in the disposition of the man
or woman who does not eagerly turn home ;
or whose thoughts are not directed thither.
Whoever shuns home as something un-
pleasant, or is eager to find a pretext to
hasten away, has already lost its charms
and smiles, and nothing is left but the
name of home.
4-

42 The Prodigal Son.

If the best of Fathers had a prodigal,
what can be expected of the children of
wicked parents? Remember^ ^^ childhood
is like a mirror, catching and reflecting
images from all around it ; and that an
impious thought, uttered by a parent's
lips, may operate like a careless spray of
water thrown upon polished steel, staining
it with rust, which no after scouring can
efface." But how often do parents forget
this admonitory thought ! Insolent an-
swers and rebellious dispositions in chil-
dren are passed by unrebuked and unre-
strained, yea, even often excused. Need
we wonder then, that so many young men
go astray, and that there are so many
disobedient children and domestic feuds ?

Have you, fond father or indulgent
mother, nothing wherewith to charge
yourself on this score ? Are you endeav-
bring to bring up your children " in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord?"

The Prodigal Son. 43

If so^ yours is a Christian home, and Avhen
you depart^ your cliildren will look back
with hearts glowing with grateful recol-
lections, and bless the memory of their
departed parents.

" Thou shalt teach/' salth the Lord,
^^my words diligently unto thy children,
and talk of them when thou sittest in thy
house."

Herod slew the bodies of children ; but
you, by neglecting their spiritual wants,
murder their immortal souls. He mur-
dered the children of others, but you
would murder your own ! He employed
others to do it, but you would do it your-
self!

If, after the lapse of a few years, your
neglected child be taken from you, and
consigned to the grave, you will meet it
again before the bar of an avenging Judge.
It will stand there as a witness against
you, and, instead of blessing you, it will

44 The Prodigal Son.

curse you for your parental unfaithful-
ness^ and then " it shall be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you."

Father^ where is thy son ? Where is
thy daughter ? In what town ? In what
house ? In what company ? How is he
or she employed ? It behooves you to be
able to answer these questions by night
as well as by day; on Sundays^ as well
as on week-days ; wherever you are^ and
whatever you are doing. You are the
guardian of your children ; and whether
they are emploj^ed at work, or relaxation
and amusement, it is your duty to super-
intend and direct them.

'' Plant Virtue, and Content 's the fruit. "

Hear what David says : " I have been
young, and now am old ; yet have I not
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread."

The Prodigal Son. 45

3. Young MaUy stay at Home.

By staying at home^ as an obedient and
faithful son^ you will enjoy many advan-
tages and blessings. It is here that your
character^ for time and for eternity, is
usually formed. Your future goodness
and greatness is generally determined by
the character you form in youth ; as the
youth;, such in all probabihty will be the
man.

By the books you read, we know your
disposition ; by the company you keep,
your character. While at home in your
father's house, if you are seen with a
stranger, or with a companion of bad or
even doubtful character, you are ques-
tioned, and warned by your parents. If
you bring home a book, it is examined,
approved, or rejected and forbidden. If
you stay out beyond the usual time, a
mother's anxious eye will be turned upon

46 The Prodigal Son.

you^ and a father's voice will admonish
you. In shorty you will feel that you are
within the range of an ever-present in-
spection^ and under the pressure of a
never-relaxing restraint.

Places of sin and pollution are strictly
forbidden^ and you may feel little inclina-
tion to visit them. Morning and evening
you hear the Scriptures read, and the
voice of prayer ascending to God in your
behalf

'^ There, angels bright,

Came down at night.
To watch. ^^ your *' puIse^s play;

Their shadowy wings,

In circling rings,
Went up at break of day."

But once away from your father's house,
you will soon fall into temptation and sin.
Your proud and unsubdued heart will
whisper : " Thy father will not be here to
see it, if you sin; thy mother will not

The Prodigal Son. 47

know it. You are under no inspection
now; restraint is removed. You can go
where you like^ associate with whom you
please^ and fear neither rebuke nor re-
straint."

Oh ! what base and wicked suggestions
are those^ which lead a young man to take
advantage of a father s absence, and to do
that which he knows would provoke his
strongest reprobation, and fill his heart
with the bitterest grief.

" The devil is ever watchful and ready
to whisper into the ear of a young man
away from home, that parental will and
restriction is over; it is time for you to
think and act for yourself, — you are your
own master. You are now a young man,
and no longer a child. You are capable
of judging, discriminating, and determin-
ing between right and wrong. You have
the right to select your own books, to
form your own standard of morals, to

48 The PRODiaAL Son.

choose your own company^ and to lay your
own plans of action. Who has authority
now to interfere with you ? "

How many a proud young man has gone
from his father's house, from his native
place, to live among strangers, as the Prod-
igal did ; far from home, and farther still
from God, among a people to whom God
is not known !

You may, by your wicked life, '^ break
the hearts of your parents; make your
brothers and sisters ashamed to own you ;
be a nuisance and pest to society, a bane
to your country, the corrupter of youthful
morals, the seducer of female virtue, the
consumer of the property of your friends ;
and, to reach the climax of your mischief,
you may be the ApoUyon of the circle of
immortal souls in which you move, send-
ing some to perdition before you reach it
yourself, and causing others to follow you
to the bottomless pit, where you shall

The PRODiaAL Son. 49

never escape the sight of their torments,
nor the sound of their imprecations ! "

" How great the power of sin, and how
maUgnant its virulence, that can spread
its influence so widely, and exert its force
wath such deadly effect, not only destroy-
ing the sinner himself, but involving others
in his ruin ! " No man goes alone to per-
dition ; no one perishes alone in his ini-
quity ; as w^e sin together, so we shall also
be damned together.

Hearken then, oh sinner ! Here is
something that you should ponder well,
for you not only sustain the character of
a suicide, but of a murderer, and of all
murderers the worst, for you are the mur-
derer of souls !

What a critical position you occupy !
You are capable of rising to so much ex-
cellence, or of sinking to ruin so deep, and
misery so intense !

Reflect, and be wise ; consider well
5 D

50 The Prodigal Son.

your latter end;, and stay in your father's
house :

*' Thou shalt have no occasion of fear,
From the dread by night ;
From the arrow that flieth by day;
From the pestilence in darkness walking ;
From the cutting off which destroys at noon-day."

You know not the deceitfuhiess of your
hearty nor the corrupting influences that
are around you. You are led on by a
gradual progress in a guilty career^ till the
measure of sin is filled. Who that ever
ended his days on the scaffold^ or in the
felon's dungeon^ would^ at one period of
his life^ have thought it possible that he
could ever have become so wicked and
hardened as to commit crimes of such
desert ?

Habit renders all things easy, even the
most atrocious crimes ; and habits of vice,
like other habits, begin Avith acts, many
of them trifling ones. The most alarming

The Prodigal Son. 51

view of sin is its progressive nature. Sin
is the most deceitful thing in the universe.
This is manifest from the insidious man-
ner in which it leads the transgressor in
his way, ever furnishing him with excuses
at every stage of progress he makes, until
he is hopelessly lost.

Look at our city courts. What a vast
number of criminals are charged with,
and convicted of all kinds of crimes, from
the smallest to the greatest and basest !
Not long since a paper headed its criminal
column with the words: ^^An army of
burglars and thieves." Day after day
crimes of the darkest dye are perpetrated;
robbery after robbery, and murder after
murder, are committed. The devil incar-
nate is walking, as it were, in broad day-
light through our land, and no one takes
warning. Where will it end ? and what
will become of us ? may well be asked by
serious minds.

62 The Prodigal Son.

^^ I can imagine you/' says one, " in the
day of judgment, pressing to lay hold upon
the hand of your father, but he turns from
you as from an object of disgust, exclaim-
ing, ^ Your father no longer ! ' You then
direct an imploring look to the mother
that bore you, and, laying hold on her
robe, you piteously exclaim : ^ My mother,
do you not know me ? ' Gathering up her
garments of light, she shakes you off with
the dreadful disownment : ' I know not
the enemies of the Lord.' They pass to
the right hand of the Judge, while you,
by a power you cannot resist, are sent to
the left — and what remains ? You will
present from that day the melancholy
spectacle of an outcast from heaven, a
homeless immortal, a vagrant in the uni-
verse, a wretched wanderer through eter-
nity."

'' So do the dark in soul expire,
Or live like scorpions girt by fire ;

The Prodigal Son. 53

So writhes the mind remorse hath riven,
Unfit for earth, undoomed for heaven —
Darkness above, despair beneath,
Around it flame, within it death.''

Stop here and ask, Lord^ am I this
thoughtless son, this child of perdition?
Do, perhaps, foolish thoughts also dwell
in my soul, which should be humble and
lowly ? Has, perhaps, the power of self-
will also broken the bonds of love in
my case, which should bind me to my
heavenly Father, and to His service ? Do
I also live after the lusts of the flesh, and
in the turmoil of pleasure, without the
fear of God, suppressing the warning
voice of conscience in the service of sin ?
Am I also one of those who despise the
relation of child-like dependence on the
father, and have I forgotten the child-like
reverence, which I owe to my father, as
also the confiding love, which makes it
my dut}^ to obey my father s will ? If so.

64 The Prodigal Son.

then listen to the gracious invitation :
" Come unto me^ all ye that labor, and
are heavy ladened, and I ^vill give you
rest." Come in, ye halt, and lame, and
blind, there yet is room. Are you within ?
then remain there. Do 3'ou stand on the
threshold, in order to go out ? then look
back once more, reflect once more, what
grace and what peace your ftithers, who
lived before you, enjoyed in this house,
which is the Church of God.

And you, who have already gone out,
think yet once more, what you have re-
ceived and enjoyed since you abandoned
your blessed Savior. If you Avould answer
honestly, you would say : " Since then I
have no foundation on which I can stand,
no walls to protect me against the assaults
of temptation, no roof, beneath which I
may enjoy rest in trouble, or peace in
death. It was much better when I was
at home in mv father s house." So re-

The P II d I g a l S o n .

main within ! close the doors ! admit not
the tempter ! close the shutters^ your
ears, against his enticing words. There-
fore remain within !

*' Now in the heat of youthful blood
Remember your Creator, God ;
Behold the months come hastening on,
When you shall say, my joys are gone.

*' Behold the aged sinner goes,
Ladened with sin and heavy woes,
Down from the regions of the dead,
With endless curses on his head.

** Children, in years and knowledge young,
Attend the counsels of my tongue ;
Your parent's hope, your parent's joy.
Let pious thoughts your mind employ.

*'If you desire a length of days.
Restrain your feet from impious ways ;
Love Christ, and all the good and great.
And peace shall crown your mortal state.

*' God from on high beholds your thoughts,
His book records your secret faults,
The works of darkness you have done.
Must all appear before the sun.

56 The Prodigal Son.

" The vengeance to your follies due,
Should strike your hearts with terror through ;
How will you stand before His face,
Or answer for His injured grace.

'* Almighty God, turn oft the eyes
Of youth from sin and vanities ;
And let the thunder of Thy word,
Awake their souls to fear the Lord."*

4. His Ungratefal Request,
On a certain day the younger son came
and said to his father : '' Give me the por-
tion of goods that falleth to me." f

His request sounds as if it were right
and almost imperious^ and is at the same
time a clear evidence that he had lost all
love for his father and for his home ; for
without even having an apparent right,
he demands of his father the part of his
goods that would fall to his share after
his father's death. It is not necessary to

* By Dr. Harbaugh, written for this work.
fLuke 15: 12.

<X It

The Prodigal Son. 57

affirm, that the voun(2:er son claimed '^ the
portion of goods " as a right, but only as
a favor ; '' That portion which will here-
pr Ml to me, which thou designest for
nx- at last, I would rather have it now
and go to foreign lands, in order to trade

This portion, according to the Jewish
law, would be only the third part ; for the
elder son would receive twice as much as
the younger. " But he shall acknowledge
the son of the hated for the first-born, by
giving him a double portion of all that
he hath : for he is the beginning of his
strength ; the right of the first-born is his.'"^

What does this request mean, when we
give it its spiritual significance ? It is a
proof that man would be independent of
God, that he would be a God to himself
and live according to his own will. '' For
God doth know, that in the day ye eat

*Deut. 21 : lY.

58 The Prodigal Son.

thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ;
and ye shall be as gods^ knowing good and
evil." ^

Such an one is a man that has grown
weary of God and of God's blessing, and
imagines that he is able to order and sup-
port his own life. He seeks to cast off
the rule of his father, and thinks that he
can manage his own affairs best. What
was the first sin, but the rejection of all
divine restrictions ? Although these were
reasonable and designed to promote the
well-being of man, yet he would act ac-
cording to his own will, and have his
power and goods in his own hands, be-
lieving that he could be a fountain of
blessedness to himself.

All the subsequent sins of the younger
son are included in this one, and are but
the development of this, the sin of sins.

The true Christian feeling is directly

* Gen. 3 : 5.

The Prodigal Son. 59

opposite to the request^ '- Give me my
portion of goods." The Christian prays,
it is true, daily, '' Give us this day our
daily bread." But therein he acknow-
ledges that he looks up to God for the
supply of all his bodily and spiritual
needs. The earthly relationship which
supplies the ground-work of this parable,
where the son first grows weary of re-
ceiving from the father, and soon leaves
his father's house, is much narrower than
the heavenly one ; though the contempt
of the earthly relationship, of the earthly
father, is also a contempt of the heavenly
relationship, of the heavenly father.
How often is it forgotten that :

''From the Family we pass into the School;
Out of the School into the Church;
Out of the Church into Heaven. ^^

The earthly relationship should lead
us into the knowledge of the blessings
laid up in the heavenly ; and when chil-

60 The Prodigal Son.

dren despise the earthly relationship, then
the higher and heavenly one will also be
despised. How many children treat their
parents, just as this son did? approaching
them with the same ungrateful insolence,
as he did his father, in order to be rid of
all their restraints. They forget the fifth
commandment, " Honor thy father and
thy mother, that thy days may be long
in the land, which the Lord thy God hath
given thee."

The Prodigal Son. 61

II.

HIS DEPARTURE FROM HOME.

1. The Division of the Goods.

** Thankless, the Prodigal receives
The bounty of his sire,
Rejoicing only in the hope
To have his own desire.

"And far from home, in climes of vice,
He joins the heedless throng ;
Begins in pleasure to rejoice.
And chants the mirthful song."

At the request, "^ Father, give me my
portion of goods/' a division was made.
He not only gave the younger son his
portion, but also the elder his portion ;
with the difference, however, that the
younger son got his portion into his own
6

62 The Prodigal Son.

hands, whilst the father still managed
that of the elder, who remained at home.
The father gave the younger son his por-
tion, well knowing that it would profit
nothing to retain him at home, for his
love towards his father had grown cold,
and he had become, in heart, estranged
to that home.

How did this come to pass with the
younger son ? When one goes out in the
morning to cut weeds, the sickle is sharp,
and cuts well ; but as the day advances,
it becomes blunt. So it is often also with
the discipline of children. Commonly
the sins and misconduct of the older chil-
dren are punished with sharpness, but
when it comes to younger ones, it has
already become blunt. We would accom-
plish everything in regard to them with
the words of love, but we often reap from
them only cursing and ingratitude.

The younger son did not bear his yoke

The Prodigal Son. 63

well in his youth. Therefore he would
now cast it off entirely^ and depart with
his goods.

But what have you to demand^ or to
call your own ? Your soul belongs to
God vour Father, for when He created
3"ou^ He breathed into you the breath of
life. Your body is also His^ for He formed
you in the womb. Your goods are His,
for He is the eternal lender, who has
loaned them to you for a time, and you
will never be able to acquire a clear and
full title to them.

Do you wish to be rid of your Father
and of God by the division of the goods,
then see, what kind of a sj^irit it is that
rules the servants of sin, and what slaves
they are. The one is ruled by pleasure,
the other by avarice, and the third by
pride ; learn to know, therefore, that true
freedom consists only in obedience to God.

64 The Prodigal Son.

" If the son makes you free^ ye shall be
free indeed."

By this division of the goods the father
gave him an additional evidence of his
love, in order to see, whether, perhaps,
he would not repent; and whether he
might not by this favor regain his love.
But all was in vain.

Man is a spiritual being, and has a free
will. If God's service becomes irksome
to him, and he promises greater freedom
to himself elsewhere, God does not hinder
him from making the trial, and from
making the woful experience, that true
freedom and true happiness are to be
found alone in Him ; that departing from
Him, he inevitably falls under the horrible
bondage of his own lust and of the world,
and under the tyranny of the devil.

Therefore do not depart from the house-
hold of faith, or the wild, roving bands
of Satan will lead you into snares and

The Prodigal Son. 65

destroy you ; but rather, when under sore
trial, and temptation, ask your Redeemer,
whom your soul loveth, where He feedem
His flock, and where He shelters His people
from the scorching sun of trial and tribu-
lation, He will softly answer thee. Walk in
the footsteps of the Apostles, and Martyrs,
and Confessors, and Saints, and bring
your children up in the sanctuary of the
Lord your God, and you shall be safe
from the path of the destroyer. Hear
therefore, sinner :

" The Devil comes with all his craft,
The world with vanity and pride ;
^ The flesh with lust, where'er thou art.
Comes to ensnare thee and destroy."

Now the younger son is that which
he desired, lord of himself, but also heir
of his own folly, as we shall soon see.

He receives his portion. " And not
many days after, the younger son gathered
all together, and took his journey into a
6^^^ E

66 The Prodigal Son.

far country." That is, after several days
he left his father s house.

The apostasy of the heart always pre-
cedes the outward apostasy of the life,
though the last sooner or later follows the
first.

But the inconsiderate youth could not
tear himself away at once; there was
still something that drew him to his
father. He only left his father after
several days.

He first turned everything that fell to
his share into money, or into valuables
that he could easily carry with him, " and
took his journey into a far country." That
is, he collected all his energies, with the
determination of getting, through their
help, all the gratification he could out of
the world ; he now turned his back upon
God, his heavenly Father.

*^ How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have a thankless child.''

HIS DEPARTUEE FROM HIS FATHER.

(See page 66.)

The Prodigal Son. 67

His father told him of his danger, re-
minded him of the happy life they had
thus far led together, which he would
find nowhere else : but the son had
lost all love for domestic happiness; it
was no longer pleasant for him to be
wdth his father. His father took leave
of him wdth tears and fears. He ap-
prehended that the young man would
be unfortunate, that he would lose his
child.

He now went from the house of his
father into the w^orld of sin and folly.
His father, his mother, his sisters and
brother looked after him with weeping eyes
and anxious hearts. Friends approached
him, and sought to convince him of his
error, and to demonstrate to him the love
and goodness of his father, as well as the
danger to which he was exposing himself.
But it was all in vain. Nothing was able
to move his hard heart. Go he would,

68 The PnoDiaAL Son.

and go he did. He apprehended nothing
of the danger which he approached^ but
visions of freedom and happiness seduced
him onward.

" Buds are filling, leaves are swelling,
Flowers on field and bloom on tree ;
O'er the earlh, and air and ocean,
Nature holds her jubilee."

Sin is the separation of the soul from
God ; to sin means to wander away from
cummunion with God^ and this way only
leads farther and farther away from God.

Whoever forsakes the assembling of the
faithful^ becomes lukewarm, and quickly
cold in heart towards God, and more and
more careless about heavenly things, and
is soon offended ; and falls an easy prey
to the wicked one.

We hear the rattlings of the world upon
every street and high-w^ay, but the road
to the house of God is comparatively
silent. Where money is to be made, honor

The Prodigal Son. 69

to be gained, pleasure to be enjoyed, and
time to be killed ; there is all life and ac-
tivity. And what is worse, many even
who attend to the sacred ordinances of
God's house, have not always the purest
motives, for

** Some go to church just for a walk,
Some go there, to laugh and talk,
Some go there the time to spend.
Some go there to meet a friend,
Some go to learn the parson's name,
Some go there to wound his fame.
Some go there for speculation,
Some go there for observation,
Some go there to doze and nod.
But few go there to worship God."

The heart first looks upon the forbidden
fruit. Then follow desire and consent to
the temptation, and the perpetration of
the sin rapidly succeeds. ^^When lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin j and

70 The Prodigal Son.

sin^ when it is finished, bringeth forth
death." ^

This departure from God is not instan-
taneouS; but it proceeds step by step. It,
however, goes forward very rapidly. At
first the erring one is absent from the table
of the Lord, then he withdraws gradually
from the prayer-meetings ; he goes no
more to church ; sings and prays no more
with the people of God.

On the Sabbath he is found fishing, or
gunning, perhaps in the tavern, or even
sitting among the scoffers of religion ; at
the card-table, or in houses of ill-fame,
and he becomes not only a Sabbath-
breaker, but also a despiser of God and
sacred things. He hardens his heart and
loses all fear of God, respect for himself
and better men. He drinks in sin and
vice as water, and is at last abhorred and
avoided by all good men.

* James 1:15.

The Prodigal Son. 71

The Prodigal Son was, no doubt, happy
in his freedom in a foreign country, but
only so long as his goods lasted. He ate
and drank of the best ; he wore the best
clothing, and had numerous servants.
He did as he pleased ; the gratification
of his desires was his only work, the only
duty that he acknowledged. Home, bro-
ther, father, mother, everything was for-
gotten : he is full and happy for the short
time that it continued.

^' Live while you live, the Epicure will say,
And take the pleasure of the present day :
Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries,
And give to God each moment as it flies.
Lord, in my view, let both united be —
I live in pleasure when I live in thee.'^

The liberal love of his father furnished
him with sufficient means. He thought
as little of employing himself usefully,
as he did of want and privation. He
would spend his youth in enjoyment and
7

72 The Prodigal Son.

pleasure^ and for this he had every means.
He also did not lack pleasant acqnaintr
ances and glad companions. For who-
ever is rich^ will find everywhere, even
in foreign lands, so-called friends, who
will gladly attach themselves to him,
and, if he is deficient in experience and
prudence, they will soon profit by him.
Thus, in his opinion, the thoughtless
young man had nothing more to wish
for. Cheerful and without care, he spent
his days in riotous living.

The ^^far distant country" is a coun-
try where God does not dwell. There
he spent his goods in debauchery.

What is meant by ^^ wasted his sub-
stance with riotous living?" This may
refer to the time which God gives us to
work out our salvation; or to the trea-
sures and riches of the earth; for that
was a part of the portion which he de-
sired ; this he might consume and spend

The Prodigal Son. 73

on harlots ; or it might refer to his gifts
and natural powers, and abilities/ or to
his conscience, which his sins had wasted
away. More particularly, however, to
the rich gifts and blessings which he re-
ceived in the Church, and to the holy in-
fluences under w^hich he was brought up,
as a son of the kingdom of God.

Thus also the sinner may imagine, that
he is doing well in his estrangement from
God ; for the world has its allurements,
the flesh its pleasures. The Prodigal Son
did not at once, but only gradually, dis-
cover his error.

One piece of clothing after another
was sold ; one debt upon another was
made, and it became every day less pos-
sible for him to pay them.

He was able to live for a long time
from his goods, but they were finally all
spent; that is, everything was enjoyed
that the world ofiered. After his means

74 The Prodigal Son.

had been consumed^ he found nothing
but misery in the world of sin. '^ He
began to be in want." Instead of the
choicest food, he had now no bread; in-
stead of the most costly clothes, only
rags to cover his nakedness. He now
looked around for his friends. He would
now eat and drink with those who
formerly ate and drank with him. But
when he called upon them the first time,
they were not at home ; the second, they
had nothing themselves; the third time,
they did not know him, and could not
recollect that they had ever helped to
consume his goods ; the fourth time, they
gave him good advice : he had much pro-
perty, and should have taken better care
of it. Now he discovered that his false
friends were like birds of passage, who
remain with us as long as the weather is
warm, the grain in the field, and the
grapes on the vine ; but as soon as these

The Prodigal 8on.

are gone^ they depart also. Every one
fawned upon him before ; now no one re-
garded hhn.

He also began to experience^ that there
was a famine in the land^ a famine of
truth and of love^ and of all nourishment
for the soul. He now saw^ that he had
made a bad bargain.

This was but a foretaste of his coming
woe, and without doubt^ a call to return
home ; but man is^ according to the Scrip-
tureS;, blind^ deaf, and dead ; he hears not
the voice of his God and Father, when He
invites and calls him to return.

*'Stop, poor sinners, stop and think,

Before you further go ;
Will you sport upon the brink

Of everlasting woe?
On the verge of ruin stop,

Now the friendly warning take ;
Stay your footsteps, ere ye drop

Into the burning lake.

7*

76 The Prodigal Son.

'* Say, have you an arm like God,

That you His will oppose ?
Fear ye not that iron rod

With which He breaks His foes ?
Can you stand in that dread day,

Which His justice shall proclaim,
When the earth shall melt away,

Like wax before the flame ?

*' Ghastly death will quickly come.

And drag you to His bar ;
Then to hear your awful doom,

Will fill you with despair.
All your sins will round you crowd ;

You shall mark their crimson dye;
Each for vengeance crying loud ;

And what can you reply ?

*' Though your heart be made of steel,

Your forehead lined with brass;
God at length will make you feel,

He will not let you pass.
Sinners then in vain will call.

Those who now despise His grace,
Rocks and mountains on us fall,

And hide us from His face."

The Prodigal Son. 77

But his proud heart would not yet
bow^ for his self-confidence was not en-
tirely exhausted.

Why is it^ that sinners are so hard to
be convinced of sin ?

It may be because sin is of such a
bewitching nature, and has got such deep
root in their hearts and affections, that
they are naturally wedded to their lusts;
their alienation from God is deep, and
because the devil has such hold and
power over them, that he constantly de-
ceives and beguiles them.

*'A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the arms to sleep ;
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,
And thy want as an armed man.''

My dear reader, in looking around you,
how many prodigal sons and daughters can
you not count in your neighborhood, who
were, perhaps, your acquaintances, school-

78 The PRODiaAL Son.

companions, or fellow-Christians, who have
ruined themselves in a like manner?
Learn wisdom, therefore, from this para-
ble, and remain in your father's house.

2. His Misery and Poverty.

*' Life 's a folly, age a dream,
Borne along the common stream;
Earth ^s a bubble, light as air,
If my rest is centered there.
How can that be solid joy.
Which a moment may destroy V^

It is not said, that man must be poor
in worldly goods, when he has lost his
spiritual ones, — his true riches. The
want of the soul is also to be found as an
uninvited guest at the table of the rich,
in the palaces of kings, and at all earthly
feasts; and the soul often suffers more
want and poverty in these places, than in
the huts of the poor.

This being in want portrays as well the

The Prodigal Son. 79

great apostasy of the heathen world, which
seeks in vain to satisfy itself with empty
husks^ as the case of a single soul. All
men are conscious that a sinful life is both
an expensive and a miserable life.

Look at the habitual drunkard. Plis
life is one of misery and shame. He is,
in a fearful sense, the mere sport of a
demon. However kind, gentle, and gener-
ous he may be in his sober moments, the
chances are as a thousand to one, that
when under the influence of liquor, he
will either become as an idiot, a brute, or
a fiend. All sense of propriety will be
forgotten, — all dignity of character will
be thrown aside.

Many hearts have been broken, many
families have been impoverished, and
many human beings have been hurried
into premature graves, through the agency
of intemperance ! The catalogue, if it
could be obtained, would present a terrible

80 The Prodigal Son,

array indeed. Fond and favorite sons
have become outcasts and vagabonds, and
doting parents have wept bitter tears over
the fallen and degraded. Character has
been destoyed, health has been ruined,
and even murder has been committed
through the agency of this terrible vice.
There is scarcely a family in the land, that
has not, or does not now suffer to a greater
or less extent from it. Some of the loftiest
intellects have yielded to it, some of the
noblest hearts have fallen beneath its fell
power.

And yet the drunkard's prayer is still
heard: ^^ There's my money — give me
drink. There 's my clothing — give me
drink. There's the clothing, food, and
fuel of my wife and children, — There 's
the education of my children, the price of
my house, the rent I have robbed my
landlord of — give me drink. Pour me
out drink, I will yet pay more for it.

The Prodigal Son. 81

There 's my health of body and peace of
mind, — my character as a man and my
profession as a Christian, I will give all
for drink. Yea, I have still more to give.
There 's my heavenly inheritance, and the
eternal friendship of the redeemed — there
— there — is my hope of salvation ! I
will give up my Savior ! I will give up
my God ! I will resign all that is great,
and good, and glorious in the universe —
I will give up all for drink."

'^ Who hath woe ? who hath sorrow ?
who hath contentions ? who hath bab-
blings ? who hath wounds without cause ?
Avho hath redness of eyes? They that
tarry long at the wine ; they that go to
seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon
the wine when it is red, when it giveth
his color in the cup, when it moveth
itself aright. At the last it biteth like
a serpent, and stingeth like an adder."
Prov. 23 : 29-33.

82 The Prodigal Son.

Again, to what an awful extent is not
the vice of gambling carried on in our
land. Not only do gambling establish-
ments exist by scores in our large cities,
but there are also many like establish-
ments in our towns and villages, where
the fortunes and souls of men are ruined
forever. The whole system of gambling
is a tissue of dishonesty, deceit, hypocrisy,
and fraud. The gambler covets his neigh-
bor's property; his object is to win it,
honestly if he can, dishonestly if he must.
The gambler is

** A polished, subtle knave, with mellow voice,
But heart as hard as iron.''

Oh ! what a tale will be told at
the day af judgment against gambling
'' Hells." Thousands of young men have
been, and are still being, ruined in them.
They are sinks of cold, hard-hearted
fraud and iniquity. The heart must be
hard, indeed, that can excuse or encourage

The Prodigal Son. 83

such a system of downright robbery,
which ruthlessly beggars the unguarded,
carries anxiety and anguish into the
family circle, and leads many men to
desperation and suicide. And no wonder,
for it is said that $20,000,000 are annu-
ally gambled away at faro in New York.

Oh ! my young friends, heed the timely
warning if the gambling-table has allure-
ments for you — forsake it at once. These
gambling ^^ hells" are surely the outer
courts of that other liell^ "where the
worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched."

If you have never been within them,
never enter, for in them the road to ruin
begins.

The worship of Mammon is another
one of the prevailing passions of our coun-
try. The desire for wealth is so strong,
that principle and honor are disregarded
in its pursuit. Success is often made to
8

84 The Pkodigal Son.

sanctify vice and dishonesty^ and the
infamous doctrine is endorsed, '^ Make
money;, my son, honestly if you can, but
by all means make money."

An immortal mind grovelling in the
dust, and having for its highest aim the
accumulation of wealth, which is never
to be enjoyed ! while despising those in-
corruptible riches which shall endure for-
ever ! Whoever tasted the pleasures and
comforts of religion, can but pity the
poor wretch whose soul is chained to
earthly treasures, and tortured on the
rack of avarice ! Will the recollection of
bags of gold, and chests of dollars, trea-
sured up in this fleeting world for profli-
gate heirs, alleviate the anguish of the
miser's soul in the place of punishment ?
Will the gay and licentious worldling
find his torments assuaged by revolving
the idea, that he was transported to hell
in a splendid chariot ? and that his de-

The Prodigal Son. 85

generate offspring, left behind, will follow
in the same pomp to the place of misery ?
Alas ! such recollections will only increase
your pain, and add new fuel to the fire
which will never be quenched.

" Oh, cursed lust of Gold ! when for thy sake
The fool throws up his interest in both worlds ;
First starves in this, then damned in that to
come.'^

How frequently, when a young lady is
spoken of as possessing all the qualifica-
tions that adorn her sex, do we hear the
question asked, " Is she rich T instead of,
is she virtuous, intelligent, and pious !

Thus our sons and daughters grow up
under the false impression, that money is
the one thing needful. Vice in silk and
lace is preferred to virtue in calico.

Dancing is another one of our fashion-
able sins and follies, and it is not only
detrimental to health, but highly injuri-
ous to morals. Many, very many, dis-

86 The Prodigal Son.

eases are contracted in the ball-room,

which hurry their victims to the grave.

'*The song, the dance, the midnight hour,
With pale consumption hovering by."

It is equally, if not more destructive
of purity and virtue. " We have often
been amazed/' says Dr. Tyng, '' that any
parent of pure moral taste could allow a
daughter to mingle in dances under any
pretext. We will not describe them.
They are too well known to require it.
That they are disgusting, and tend to
gross moral corruption, cannot be suc-
cessfully denied. And yet Christians, at
least in name, are found to countenance
them by their presence, and sometimes —
we are ashamed to write it — even by
their own participation. And even those
who do not attend such places and amuse-
ments themselves, do not hesitate to send
their children to dancing-school, to learn
and to acquire the taste that can only be

The Prodigal Son. 87

gratified in after life in these ungodly
and corrupting pleasures."

Even thus it is with all vices, — they are
painful and demoralizing. Go ask the
condemned criminal in his chains, he will
confess, that a sinful life is both an ex-
pensive and a miserable one. Or tran-
spose yourself with me in spirit into the
kingdom of the damned, and ask that
father : " Why so restless ?" that mother :
Why in tears ?" that son, that daughter :
" Why so unhappy T or that infidel there,
who curses the day of his birth : " Why
so hopeless ?" they will all answer : " This
is the reward of sin." Oh ! the life of sin
is a painful and miserable life. And from
ten thousand voices, out of the bottomless
abyss, sounds the wail :

Eternity ! — that awful sound I
O sound, that pierces through my soul !
element, without an end !
8*

88 The Prodigal Son.

Eternity ! time without time !

I know not for this grief of mine,

Whither it will lead or tend I
My troubling soul affrighted quakes,
Whene'er this Word within me Vakes.

And it is thus with all sins and vices^
excepting only avarice^ which gnaws and
consumes the inner life of the sinner.
Pride^ ambition^, licentiousness^ all destroy
those who are the victims of them.

The Prodigal Son^ therefore^ wasted all
his portion by riotous living. A rich in-
heritance was consumed^ and that in a
short time.

Now " a mighty famine arose in that
land." Though God calls louder and
louder^ does he hear? Does he retrace
his steps ? No ! He only falls deeper and
deeper into the misery of sin and of de-
struction^ not obeying the after call of his
father :

The Prodigal Son. 89

*' Awake, man, and from thee shake

This heavy sleep of sin !
Soon shall the highest vengeance take ;

Soon shall His wrath begin
To smite the wretched sinner home ;

In awful terrors He shall come,
To mete to all on earth their due reward,

Only the righteous spares our angry Lord.

'* Come then, ye sinners, great and small,

Weeping and mourning sore,
Low down before His footstool fall,

And vow to sin no more.
In faith and godliness array

Your souls against that final day ;
So shall ye 'scape His wrath, and blessed die.

Heirs of the kingdom with our Lord on high."

3. His External Emharrassment.

" There is a moral of all human tales ;
'T is but the same rehearsal of the past ;
First freedom, and then glory — when that fails.
Wealth, vice, corruption — barbarism at lasf

The sinner, after being disappointed
and made miserable, as he harvests the

90 The Prodigal Son.

fruits of his sins^ ventures still into greater
and deeper ones^ and every one becomes
a bud that stimulates to new transgres-
sions ; his moral feeling is more and more
blunted, his conscience more and more
deadened ; as we see from the parable of
the unjust steward, who fearing his re-
moval from office, deprives his master
still further of other property, in order
thereby to fasten himself upon his credi-
tors, that he might find a living and a
home to hide his shame.

Even so the Prodigal, after having spent
his fortune, and being in want, he hangs
himself upon a wicked citizen of a far
country.

This citizen, says St. Bernard, is Satan
himself, or one of his angels; more
probably one of the malignant spirits,
who has, by voluntarily, wilfully and
maliciously sinning, subjected himself to

The Prodigal Son. 91

Satan, and has thereby become a citizen
in the land of sin.

The word " citizen" indicates the dis-
tinction between the Prodigal Son and the
man with whom, for a while, he connected
himself The Prodigal Son, with all his
misery, was not a '^ citizen," but a stranger,
in that far land. He did not naturalize
himself there, neither did he feel himself
at home. And there is also hope for the
greatest sinner, so long as he feels him-
self a stranger in the land of sin; but
when he has once become a citizen there,
when he is troubled with no longings
after a lost paradise, after a better land
that he has left behind; oh! then his
case is hopeless.

^^He went and joined himself to a
citizen of that country." That is, the
sinner sells himself to the world; he
entangles himself more deeply in it, until

92 The Prodigal Son.

he has enjoyed its pleasures, and the
world uses him as its drudge.

The help which he received from his
new master was small. This is an evi-
dence, that the sinner finds no mercy, no
love, no pity, from his fellow-sinner.
'^ Behold," says the Lord, '^ therefore, I
will gather all thy lovers, with whom
thou hast taken pleasure, and all them
that thou hast loved, with all them that
thou hast hated ; I will even gather them
round about against thee, and will dis-
cover thy nakedness unto them, that they
may see all thy nakedness.""^

This new master, to whom he joined
himself in his want, cared not whether
he had him or not ; and if he must needs
engage him, who so adhered to him for a
morsel of bread, he will send him away
from his presence to the meanest and
vilest employment which he has. '' He
sent him into his fields to feed swine."
*Ezek. 16 : 37.

The Prodigal Son. 93

A striking picture of the shame and
nameless misery into which sin plunges
man.

The spendthrift becomes a swine-herd^
the vilest and most degraded of employ-
ments in the eyes of a Jew ; so that
misery would seem to have come upon
him to the uttermost. A swine-herd was
accursed among the Jews.

Behold, what degrading employment
Satan gives to his servants ! How does
such a man sink from one degree of misery
to another, covered with shame and dis-
grace, until his soul mingles with the
lowest and vilest I As swine-herd, '-' he
would fain have filled his belly with the
husks that the swine did eat ; and no man.
gave unto him."

*' He gathered dust when he had hoped to see
The richest fruits ; the buds that promised
fair
Were early blasted, or but grew to be
A mockery — a harvest of despair."
9 G

94 The Prodigal Son.

By these Fields and Swine ^ we under-
stand the ungodly multitudes that meet
together to gratify their sensual lusts ;
these are Sedans fields^ where nothing
grows^ but what comes up spontaneously.

Vain^ wicked, and profane fellows^ and
impudent harlots^ may be compared to
swine^ because they have the evil quali-
ties of those brutish creatures^ therefore
Christ says^ ^^ cast not your pearls before
swine."

Again, swine are also unclean creatures;
they love to wallow in mud, filth, and
miry places. Thus these ungodly mor-
tals love their brutish lusts, and to wallow
in the mud and mire of filth, and abomi-
nable pollution of sin, and uncleanness.
And as it seems pleasant to swine to wal-
low in the mire, even so it is natural and
pleasant to these sinners to wallow in all
beastly sins, lusts, and filthiness.

Again^ swine are craving, and very

The Prodigal Son. 95

greedy creatures ; they have no measure
in eating and drinking, they eat till they
almost burst; so these wicked and un-
godly persons are so greedy and unsatis-
fied, that they set no bounds nor measure to
their lusts, though they consume all they
have 5 some are mere epicures, gluttonous
persons ; and others, like swine, will drink
until they can neither stand nor go, and
wallow m their own filthy vomit.

Swine, if washed, will soon return to
their wallowing in the mire ; so if any
ungodly persons are outwardly reformed,
or washed from gross acts of wickedness,
their natures being not changed, com-
monlv return a«;ain to their former evil
and filthy courses; so that in them the
proverb is made good, " the sow that was
washed is returned to her wallowing in
the mire again."

Swine also feed on husks and grains,
but never look up from whence they

96 The Prodigal Son.

came^ and tread pearls under their feet ;
so these brutish creatures feed on trashy
the husks and grains of this world^ and
tread under their feet the pearls of grace
— all heavenly and spiritual things.

These '^ husks" are the fruit of the
carob tree^ which grows in Syria, Judea,
Spain, and the northern part of Africa,
and are used for the feeding of domestic
animals ; perhaps it was the sweet fruit
of the St. John's bread tree, which, on
account of its abundance, w^as very cheap,
and although sweet, was nevertheless un-
healthy.

This fruit is something like a bean-pod,
and its name in the original means,
" little horn." By these " husks," in their
spiritual sense, we generally understand
the vanities of the world, as riches, honors,
and pleasures, or " the lust^ of the flesh,
the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of

The Prodigal Son. 97

life;" or wliateoever things are of this
world, and not of the Father, are husks.

There is, however, one great difference
between natural and metaphorical swine.
The first retain their nature, and can
never be anything else but swine ; the
second may have their brutish nature
changed, and by the power of divine
grace, become sheep and lambs of Jesus
Christ.

Now, by feeding swine may be indicated
a going among the very lowest of the
wicked, either to taverns, ale-houses, play-
houses, &c. ; and diverting them v/ith
profane and idle tales, or filthy talk and
stories; for such things those wretches
feed upon, as their meat and drink ; or he
may have fed them also by gratifying
their base and brutish lusts, as is done
by such as keep company with harlots.

By feeding swine may also be meant
that Satan prevailed upon him to let
9-^

98 The Prodigal Son.

loose the reins of Ids lusts^ and to deny
himself nothing that his sensitive parts
could desire, in order to crush the storm
of conscience, which was rising on ac-
count of the famine ; which no doubt was
a call of God, and a dread of his future
state, and denoted his fear of perishing
forever.

Thus it must be evident that the
wretched Prodigal has, under sore con-
victions of conscience, thus assented to
Satan's suggestions, to go and feed swine,
by which means his conscience was again
put to sleep. But all that he could ex-
pect from these husks, was but to dull
the gnawing pain of hunger, not that he
should with them satisfy it, for we know
that the food of beasts could not appease
the cravings of man.

Where are now his former companions ?
Why does he not now return to his former
resorts of pleasure and vice ? Oh, sin is

The Prodigal Son. 99

the heaviest and most dreadful of evils !
Sinners sacrifice each other. The great-
est mercy that can be expected from the
wicked, is terrible. All his companions
now turned their backs upon him, and
would not know him. He is now even
too mean for them. They are ashamed
of him, and because his money is all
spent, he can find a refuge nowhere.

^'But lo, the famine coming on,
Now dies the song profane ;
The youth beholds his substance gone,
And begs the husk in vain.

*^ The terrors of the world to come
Have struck his pleasures dead —
And far from God — and far from home,
His every friend has fled.'^

The son who would not be treated
liberally by his father, is compelled to be
the servant and slave of a foreign master,
— he who would not be ruled by God is
compelled to serve the devil, — he who

100 The PRODiaAL Son.

would not abide in his father's royal palace,
is sent to the field among servants^, — he
who would not dwell among brethren and
princes^ is obliged to be the servant and
companion of swine^ — he who would not
feed on the bread of angels, begs in his
hunger for the husks of the swine.

Thus do sin and the pleasures of the
world rew^ard those who entirely suppress
the divine in them, and permit the animal
and sensual to rule them ; and the at-
tempt to satisfy the hunger of the soul
with such husks, is fruitless.

What a picture this of a man, who
seeks to appease the hunger of the im-
mortal soul by unlimited sensual grati-
fication ! The great misery is, that the
hope of appeasing his hunger becomes
continually less, and the pangs continually
sharper, and the bonds of his slaverj^
heavier, and the hope of casting them off
ever diminishing.

The Prodigal Son. 101

All the monstrous luxuries and frantic
wickednesses which we read of in the
later Roman histor^^ at the close of the
world's Pagan epoch^ stand there like the
last despairing effort of man to fill his
belly with the husks. All the wishes of
her emperors and nobles could be carried
out under all circumstances by wealth
and power. In this light we may be-
hold the incredibly sumptuous feasts^ the
golden j)alaces^ the enormous shows and
spectacles^ and all the pomp and pride of
life carried to the uttermost, the sins of
nature, and the sins below nature. But
because from amidst all these the voice
of human misery only made itself the
louder heard, this attempt only proved
the more plainly, that the heathen sys-
tem of morals was only food for bestial
sensuality, and not nourishment for the
human soul.

In this parable we have placed before

102 The Prodigal Son.

our view a man who has done evil with
both hands earnestly^ and debased him-
self even unto hell.

The Prodigal Son has sunk into this
misery. Compare his present with his
former condition^ when he was still at
home^ surrounded with joy and wealth.

Behold his pale^ sickly face ; his filthy,
torn, and ragged garments. See him per-
forming his accursed work, for a Eabbi
says : " Accursed are all M^ho feed swine."

Behold the sad result of his departure
from home. Truly, ^^the way of the
transgressor is hard." Thus, says one :
" when a great English Poet, with every
thing that fortune, and rank, and genius,
could give him, — and who had laid out
his whole life for pleasure, and not for
duty — yet before he had reached half
the allotted period of man, already ex-
claimed," —

The Prodigal Son. 103

*' My days are in the yellow leaf,
The flowers, the fruits, of love are gone ;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone — "

What are these deeply affecting words,
but the confession of one, who having
spent all, had found himself in want ?
Or again 5 the Prodigal's misery, his sense
of the barrenness of sin, find a yet deeper
voice : —

*' The fire that on my bosom preys.
Is lone as some volcanic isle ;
No torch is lighted at its blaze,
A funeral pile I''

104 The Prodigal Son,

III.

HIS RETURN AND RECEPTION.

Hitherto we have followed the Prodigal
Son step by step in his sinful career, which
carried him further and further from God.
Now we will consider his better side — what
befell him in the depth of his misery ; his
conversion, his return to his father, and his
restoration as a son in his father's family.

He had, indeed, departed far in the
service of sin, and had engaged in a most
dishonorable occupation far from his fa-
ther's home, and found himself altogether
helpless. He had no friend, who could
speak to him a word of sympathy, of
comfort, and of encouragement. He now,
without doubt, thought of his affectionate,
forgotten father, as also of his brother and

The Prodigal Son. 105

the happy life he formerly led with them.
But all this was but a sad remembrance
of lost happiness.

In this misery he cries out of the depth
of his soul : " I perish wdth hunger ! "

*' The Prodigal, ^\^th streaming eyes,
From folly just awake,
Reviews his wanderings with surprise ;
His heart begins to break.

"I starve, he cries, nor can I bear
The famine in this land.
While servants of my father share
The bounty of his hand. ''

Though he had forsaken God^ he had
not been forsaken by Him in the ^'far
country.'' God^ indeed^ hates sin, but He
loves the sinner. Me hedges up his way
with thorns. " Therefore, behold, I will
hedge up thy way with thorns, and make
a wall, that she shall not find her paths." ^

* Hosea 2 : 6.
10

106 The Prodigal Son.

As if he would say '' it was I that made
an hedge and a wall, when thou wast be-
ginning to turn to things in which I de-
lighted not. It was I that made thy
sweet bitter, thy day night, thy smooth
way thorny. It was I that stirred up thy
conscience and understanding, thy will
and thy affections, after thy great and
woful decay. It was I that put life into
thee, my son! to seek me that thou
mightest find me, and in finding, find
thine own health, and happiness, and
salvation."

God makes his sin bitter to him, that
he may leave it. He allows the world to
make its bondage hard to sinners, that
they may know the difference between His
service and the service of sin. '^ Never-
theless they shall be his servants; that
they may know my service, and the service
of the kingdoms of the countries." ^
* 2 Chron. 12 : 8.

The Prodigal Son. 107

Here we have an example^ where the
severity of lovmg paternal discipline is
not in vain. The dark side of his sinful
life is now past. He begins to reflect.
He stands still — his misery brings him to
reflection.

1. He came to Himself.

How deeply significant are these words, '
" he came to liimsel/r To come to one's
self and to come to God^ is one and the
same thing. When we find ourselves we
find Hinij who is the true ground of our
being and of our life ; or rather, as St.
Augustine says : '' To find God, is to find ]
ourselves." ''"^^

Where did he begin to consider his
situation and to reflect upon himself with
earnestness ? Not at the richly furnished
table, where wine m^lkes the heart glad and
dispels all care ; not amid his excesses and
sinful enjojonents ; not in the circle of his

108 The Prodigal Son.

riotous friends ; not amid the turmoil and
distraction of the vforld. For in these
circumstances there is generally no time
for sober reflection. But "he came to
himself" where there was no longer any
opportunity to suppress the voice of con-
sciencC;, but where he was alone with
God. There the oft dismissed questions
came : How have you lived ? how deep
have you fallen? what will become of
you? Hitherto he had been roaming
through the world with his thoughts. The
lusts of the fleshy the lusts of the eye^ and
the pride of life^ were the things that re-
joiced his soul. The joyous summer of
his pleasures soon came to an end^ and
the winter of grief early blighted its prom-
ising blossoms. There he stood^ shivering
and naked upon the barren field^ feeding
swine and hungry.

*' How many, many memories
Swept over his spirit then."

The Prodigal Son. 109

His entire course towards and in the
far country^ was one of madness and of
folly. He showed this in casting off the
paternal yoke of wisdom and of love.
And did he not also show it, by attempt-
ing to place his trust in his own ex-
perience ? Did he not show that he was
mad and foolish^ by going into a far and
strange country^ without an object, with-
out counsel, and instruction? Did he
not show^ himself to be such, by squander-
ing his property in a short time, and by
becoming a companion, perhaps, of thieves,
robbers, and murderers, and by being in-
different in regard to his circumstances,
until his own destruction stared him in
the face ? These all were certain signs
of his folly and madness. Sin is most
certainly contrary to all sound reason,
and all true wisdom.

Oh, what folly ! to despise and re-

10* H

110 The Prodigal Son.

nounce God^ in order to become one's own
lord and master.

Oh, what folly ! to suppress the divine
powers of the soul, in order to serve sin,
the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Oh, what folly ! to neglect the great
object of life, and to forget, that we have
a soul to win or to lose ; that we were
not only created for this world, but for
God, for heaven, and for eternal life.

Oh, what folly ! to be indifferent in re-
gard to our true happiness, and to plunge
ourselves into the deepest misery through
this indifference.

Oh, what folly ! to disregard entirely
death, judgment, and eternity. All this
the Prodigal Son did. But at length " he
came to himself." He stood still in his
career of sin, and began to reflect.

He now conversed with himself. Sad
thoughts filled his heart, and tears of re-
pentance flowed down his cheeks. He

The Prodigal 8on. Ill

noWj for the first time^ thought worthily
of his home, which he had so shamefully
despised ; of his father, who so tenderly
loved him ; of his brother and sisters,
who warned him of his danger, and of
his ingratitude towards God and man;
and he exclaims, at the awful abyss of his
sinful life : " How many hired servants
of my father's have bread enough and to
spare, and I perish with hunger ?'' The
eyes of him, who had slumbered and
slept so long and so securely in sin, are
now opened, so that he sees, and freel}^
confesses his miserable condition : '' I
perish with hunger."

^' Gleicbwie des Hirsches mattes Herz,
Noch frischem Wasser schreiet,
So schreiet anch mein Seelenschmerz :
Ach ! dasz icli war' befreiet
Von meiner schweren Siindenpein."

He now remembers the table of his
father's house, where they had bread and

112 The Prodigal Son.

water of life^ and so often and so happily
sung together :

*' Ich komm jetzt als ein armer Gast,
Herr, Zu Deinem Tische,
Den Du flir mich bereitet hast,
Dasz er mein Herz erfrische.
Wenn mich der Seelen-Hunger nagt,
Wenn mich der Durst des Geistes plagt,
Bis ich den Schweisz abwische.''

But from all this glory he separated
himself.

There is nothing that so causes the
sinner to see his misery, as to compare
himself with all things around and be-
neath him.

The Prodigal Son sees the many hired
servants in his father s house, who have
bread enough and to spare, and says : " I
perish witli hunger."

Who are these hired servants of God ?

1. They are the flowers and lilies of
the field. " Consider the lilies of the

The Prodigal Son. 113

field how they grow ; they toil not, neither
do they spin ; and yet I say unto you,
That Solomon, in all his glory, was not
arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if
God so clothe the grass of the field, which
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you,
Oyeof little faith ?"^

2. The beasts of the field. These all
live ill peace, and attain the object and
end of their creation. They are, in a
certain sense, " hired servants" of God.

3. The birds of the air. Behold, how
they assemble at the early dawn, to chant
sweet notes of praise to their Creator,
while we still rest upon our pillow.
" Behold the fowls of the air : for they
sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather
into barns ; yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Are ye not much better
than they?"t

* Matthew 6 : 28-31. f Ibid., 6 : 26.

114 The Prodigal Son.

*' Sweet bird ! thy bowV is ever green,
Thy sky is ever clear ;
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No winter in thy year.''

The sinner sees peace and joy every-
where; ^"'but I/' he must say^ ^^ perish
with hunger."

" Ach, aiis diesses Thales Griinden,

Die der Kalte Nebel driickt,
Konnt ich doch den Ausgang finden,

Ach, wie fiihlt ich mich begliickt I
Dort erblick' ich Schone Hiigel,

Ewig yung und ewig grein !
Hatt' ich Schwingen, hatt' ich Fliigel,

Nach den Hiigel zog' ich hin."

4. But in a higher sense are men hired
servants. Man sees many of his fellow-
men^ who^ with httle Christian culture^
work rather in the spirit of servants than
of sons, rather looking to their hire than
to the spirit, which is active through love,
and which makes them happy and joyful

The Prodigal Son. 115

in the fulfilment of their duties^ and yet
not without reward.

It is true, these may not have the
highest joy of salvation, but they are
much happier than he. They have, at
least, bread enough and to spare ; while
he is tormented with a fierce hunger,
which is ever craving, but which can
never be satisfied. It is a good sign,
when the sinner stands still and begins
to consider.

How many would have betaken them-
selves to some other citizen, w^ho promised
them a little hope and greater reward !
Or have thought. We will let it be so for
a while, perhaps our condition will soon
change ; perhaps more favorable circum-
stances will soon arise ; the famine will
cease, the want will decrease, and we will
find opportunity and means to elevate
ourselves again to a condition of pros-
perity. Or it may be they learn to dress

116 The Prodigal Son.

their husks^ so that they shall look like
human food^ and they then deny that
they are the fodder of swine^ and glory-
ing in their shame (as many yet do) ;
they deny that there is any difference
between the food of men and of swine.

Men often perish^ because they do not
reflect^ or because they wish to perish.
Oh ! my friend^ have you never seen a
hopeless sinner die ; how he bewailed the
first step of sin ; how he saw the terrors
of hell seizing hold of him ; how he trem-
bled and shook^ and would not die^ curs-
ing the day of his birth^ and going into
eternity with the curse upon his lips ? If
not, you have not seen^ what^ alas ! many
a Christian minister is compelled to see.
But the Prodigal Son acted otherwise ;
his reflection became for him the fore-
runner of repentance and reformation.

The Prodigal Son. 117

2. His good Resolution.

He resolved to repair, if possible, the
evil he had done, and to return to his
home ; for he said : " I will arise, and go
to my father, and will say unto him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and
before thee."

There are, in nature, turning-points to
life, and turning-points to death. A turn-
ing-point to death occurs every autumn,
when the sap withdraws in the trees and
plants, from the trunk to the roots. The
fresh life of trees then ceases to circulate.
Their leaves begin to grow yellow and
red. This change seems beautiful to chil-
dren. But he who has knowledge of life
and death, perceives in this change the
color of sickness. It resembles the last
jflush that often appears upon the cheeks
of the dying shortly before death. An-
other and a better turning-point occurs
11

118 The Prodigal Son.

in spring. The sap rises again into the
trunk of the tree, and flows through all
the branches and twigs. Strong buds
break through the bark. They appear
weak and gray at first, but they soon un-
fold, leaf by leaf, into the complete color
of life.

As in nature, so also in human life
there are turning-points to death and to
life. We have seen in the life of the
Prodigal Son one of these turning-points.
It occurred when he said to his father :
^^Give me the portion of goods that
falleth to me." We have seen, how from
that time the juice of his life began to
dry up. This turning-point occurs in
human experience, when we depart from
God and from Christ, when the life in us,
which flows from the vine Christ, begins
to dry up. It may be, that we may bring
forth many good fruits even after this
departure, but they have no life in them.

The Prodigal Son. 119

They are nothing other than the last
fading leaf of the tree^ or the last flush
on the cheek of the dying. The work
of death has commenced, and it will con-
tinue to the sad end, unless a new turn-
ing-point to life occurs. But must this
occur ? Many a dead branch stands bare
in spring. The others are decked in ver-
dure, but one or more are naked and
dead. Its twigs are bare; the storms,
which cause the others to flourish and
grow, snap off one twig after another.
For it there is no turning-point to life.
Thus also among men, there are thousands
who remain so dead and dry, that they
are not revived, the storms of divine judg-
ment snap ofi* one branch of their lives
after another, until it is finally said of
them : " As the tree falleth, so it lieth."
Thus it is, but it is not God's fault. He
gives times and seasons enough, which,
by repentance and faith, should become

120 The Prodigal Son.

turning-points to life for us. Such a turn-
ing-point to life is now presented to us in
the career of the Prodigal Son.

We may picture him to ourselves as
having sat long upon the ground^ reflect-
ing upon his extreme misery^ for man
casts himself upon the earth in his utter
desolatenesSj as Job did. ^^ And he took
him a potsherd to scrape himself withal ;
and he sat down among the ashes ;" and
his friends who visited him '' sat down
with him upon the ground seven days and
seven nights^ and none spake a word unto
him : for they saw that his grief was very
great." '^

The Prodigal Son did not reach this
position without great sorrow, and we
also do not arrive at it without like sorrow.
No child is born without great pain. The
new man in us is also not born without
great pain.

* Job 2 : 8-13.

The Prodigal Son. 121

He, at last, like Augustine in the depths
of his wicked wanderings, heard the low,
sad echo of his youthful religious impres-
sions, and gives utterance at last in noble
strains, '^ Thou, God, hast created us for
Thyself, and our hearts are without rest,
until they rest in Thee."

And now, as the star of hope rises in
his heart, he gathers up anew his broken
energies, and says : " Why do I suffer
hunger ? Why sit I here among swine ?
Why do I serve the devil ?" He springs
up, as if snatched from death and hell,
saying tenderly : " I will arise and go to
my father."

This rising signifies the leaving of his
former evil practices, and his evil com-
panions ; seeking refuge in prayer, hear-
ing and reading Scripture, and meditating
over his sad lot.

His language indicates, that this reso-
lution was the result of deep conviction ;
11*

122 The Prodigal Son.

and he now determines, that he will no
longer walk in the way of sin and of
death. He is penitent and contrite — his
mind is altogether changed. His eyes^
which were formerly directed towards
sin, are now turned towards the proper
object — his fathers house. The reso-
lution is formed — ^^ I will go home — go at

once."

'*I cannot rest, I may not sleep,
No joy or peace I know ;
My soul is torn with anguish deep.
And fears a deeper woe.

" Then through this life of dangers

I onward take my way ;
But in this land of strangers

I do not think to stay ;
But onward on the road I fare
That leads me to my home.''

** Home ! sweet, sweet home."

How necessary and important is such
a resolution ! For the want of it many

The Prodigal Son. 123

have remained wavering and undecided,
until the door of grace, of hope, and of
eternal life, has been closed forever.

Such a resolution, however, can only
be formed through earnest prayer for
divine aid and firm trust in divine grace.
All confidence in ourselves must be utterly
renounced.

Let no one imagine, that he can save
himself from his misery, or that others
can deliver him from the destruction of
sin. No ! for he who is himself a sinner
can neither save himself nor others. God,
and God alone can do it. Our Savior
says : " No man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sent me draw
him." '^ And " having, therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way,
which he hath consecrated for us, through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and

* John 6 : 44.

124 The PRODiaAL Son.

having a high-priest over the house of
God; let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith^ having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our
bodies washed with pure water." ^

3. He Voluntarily Confesses his Sins.

The Prodigal Son proposes to say, when
he returns : '' Father, I have sinned !" —
He will call him '^ Father," even though
he has sinned against him ; for as the re-
lation between him and his father was one
which his obedience did not constitute, so
his disobedience could not annul it.

But what is it that gives the Prodigal
Son ground to believe, that his father will
receive and not repel him? It is the
covenant of baptism upon which he rests
in hope. He was a ^on, was born a son
of God at his baptism, and his calling of

* Heb. 10 : 19-22.

The Prodigal Sox. 125

God is without repentance^ or recall on
his part.

We may illustrate this by our natural
birth. We become sons or daughters of
our earthly parents by being born flesh of
their flesh, and bone of their bone. And
once children, we remain such, however
wicked our walk and conduct may be.
If we are finally lost, we go to perdition
as the children of our earthly parents.

Now, spiritually considered, we are all
creatures, but not all children of God by
nature ; for " no man can say that Jesus
is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost ;" *
and no one can enter into the kingdom of
God, except he is born again of the Holy
Ghost. For Christ says : " Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God."f

Regeneration is a work of God, which

* 1 Cor. 12:3. f Jo^^^ ^ : 5.

126 The Prodigal Son.

He must perform for us^ and to which we
can contribute as little as to our natural
birth.

This spiritual birth takes place when
we consecrate in good faith our children^
or ourselves as adults^ to the triune God
in holy baptism."^

''I am baptized into Thy name,

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost !

Among Thy seed a place I claim,
Among Thy consecrated host;

Buried with Christ, and dead to sin,

Thy Spirit now shall live within.

**My loving Father, here dost Thou
Proclaim me as Thy child and heir ;
My faithful Savior biddest me now

The fruit of all Thy sorrows share ;
Thou, Holy Ghost, wilt comfort me,
When darkest clouds around I see.''

* Comp. Gen. 11 : 1. Mark 10 : 14-lG. Acts

22 : 16; and 2 : 38, 39. Rom. 6 : 3, 4. Gal.

3 : 21. Col. 2 : 11, 12. Titus 3 : 5, etc. Eph.
5 : 26. 1 Pet. 3 : 21.

The Prodigal Son. 127

Our spiritual birth^ through the Sacra-
merit of Baptism^ is far superior to our
natural birth. Here only vanishes the
dark picture of human life^ which fills us
at every birth with so much fear and
dread.

True, the child is unconscious of the
act; it neither knows his parents upon
earth, nor his Father in heaven ; it also
gives no thanks, shows no love, nor can
it form any holy resolutions ; even then
it is called to be sanctified and blessed, by
Him, who had once been a child and
sanctified childhood. Holy prayers also
are offered up, the Creed is repeated, and
finally it is baptized in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The parents
are standing prayerful around; with their
eyes they are only conscious of water,
but with the eye of faith they see the
Avonderful repetition of Jordan, where the

128 The Prodigal Son.

Son of God was baptized by John, and
fulfilled all righteousness.

As a holy consecration fitted Christ for
the great mission of Redemption, even so
shall baptism sanctify and introduce us into
the sphere of our heavenly calling. As then
the voice from heaven spake, " This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,"
in baptism, therefore, we not only receive
a name to bear on earth, but become
spiritual children and heirs of the Saints
in light. As the Holy Spirit came upon
Christ, to consecrate Him for His mission,
so is baptism a regeneration, and renewal
of the Holy Ghost, and covenant with God.

In baptism we are implanted into Christ,
received as children of God, and are anoint-
ed by the Holy Spirit, and we step into
His innocence and righteousness.

Baptism is not only the birth of regene-
ration and renewal of the Holy Ghost,
but also the introduction into the bosom

The Prodigal Son. 129

of the Christian Church, into the com-
munion of Saints, that we may no longer
stand alone, being surrounded by those
of the household of faith, who care and
provide for our wants, as children and
heirs of heaven. Singular birth of re-
generation ! Festival of our childhood,
first day of our life, thou day of sacred
baptism ! The day of our birth would,
indeed, be a day of sorrowful remembrance
through life, if it were not sanctified by
the grace of God, into a day of spiritual
regeneration. This spiritual, as well as
our natural birth, can take place but once,
and is fully illustrated in the Parable
of the Leaven, which can be but once
leaved.*

* '^ In regard to man^s conversion, on the other
hand, it is different. Conversion is that free and
voluntary act of the penitent sinner, by which, with
the help of divine grace, he renounces and turns
from sin and unrighteousness, as being offensive to
12

130 The PiiODiaAL Son.

If we have thus once become the chil-
dren of God^ then we remain so through
all eternity; our sinful life also cannot
separate us from this relation to God ; and
if we are finally lost^ it will be as children^
who were once consecrated to God.

God, and engages to lead a holy life. In conver-
sion, the awakened and penitent sinner reflects for
himself upon his past course and present state,
grieves for himself over his sins, prays for himself
for the pardon of his iniquities, resolves for him-
self truly to forsake those iniquities and to lead a
new life, and strives for him.self to do all this. For
all these exercises of his mind and heart, he is, of
course, indebted to the Spirit of God, whose warn-
ings, entreaties, and invitations, have graciously
and powerfully constrained him to feel, and pray,
and resolve, and strive as he does. But still these
several acts are his own, self-conscious, personal
acts. As in regeneration he is passive, so in con-
version he is active." — Dr. Bomberger's /7?/an^
Salvation, pp. 32, 33. See also, Isaiah 55 : l-t.
Ezekiel 14:6; and 18 : 30-32. Matth. 3:2;
and 4 : 1^. Acts 8 : 22 ; and 26 : 30, 31. Bev.
2 : 5.

The Prodigal Son. 131

The recollection of his baptism is not
to the baptized sinner as a menacing
angel, keeping with a fiery sword the
gates of that Paradise which he has for-
feited, and to which he now vainly desires
admission again ; but it is just in his bap-
tism that he finds consolation and strength.
Wretched and degraded though he be, he
may yet take the dearest name of Father
on his lips, and claim anew admission into
the household of faith, on the ground
that he was once a member thereof, and
that his privileges abide for him still in
their full force, although he had wasted
much of his time in a foreign service.
His confession is sincere and candid. He
holds nothing back. Neither does he
attempt to throw the blame upon another,
as Adam did upon Eve,"^' but he says : '^^ I
have sinned against heaven and before

* Gen. 3 : 12.

132 The PRODiaAL Son.

thee." This is the language of sincere
repentance.

I "He recognizes that he not merely sin-
ned against man^ but against heaven^ or
against God. He shows his repentance
to have been wrought by God^ a work of
the Spirit, in that he acknowledges his
sin in its root^ as a transgression of the
divine law^ and as exceedingly sinful^

\ being wrought against God. Thus David^
when he exclaims^ ^^ Against thee^ thee
only have I sinned ;" ^ although his of-
fences had been against his fellow-men.
We may injure ourselves by our sin, we
may wrong our neighbor^ but strictly
speaking, we can only sin against God;
and the recognition of our evil as first and
chiefly an offence against Him, is of the
essence of all true repentance, and dis-
tinguishes it broadly from many other
kinds of sorrow which may follow evil

*2Sam. 12 : 13.

The Prodigal Son. 133

deeds. When we come to give these words
their higher application, the two acknow-
ledgments, " I have sinned against heaven^
and before tliee^' merge into one, ^' I have
sinned against thee, my Father in heaven."
And the Lord, thy God, '^ Is not He thy
father that hath bought thee ? hath He
not made thee, and established thee." ^

Not only here, but throughout all Scrip-
ture, this willingness to confess is ever
noted as a sign of true repentance, even
as the sinner's refusal to humble himself
is the sure sign of a continued obstinacy.
St, John says : ^^ If we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all un-
righteousness. If we say that we have
not sinned, we make him a liar, and his
word is not in us."f Augustine says:

* Deut. 32 : 6. f 1 John 1 : 8, 9, 10.

12*

134 The PRODiaAL Son.

"He shows himself worthy, in that he
\ confesses himself unworthy." With this
deep feeling of unworthiness, he will con-
fess that he has justly forfeited all which
was once his, and that his course was a
course of sin and shame. He will say :
" I now see it, I feel it, I lament it. I
abhor and condemn myself. With folly
and wantonness I have done this evil
against heaven and before thee, and I am
no longer Avorthy to be called thy son ;
make me as one of thy hired servants."

*^ With deep repentance I '11 return

And seek my father's face ;

Unworthy to be calPd thy son,

I'll ask a servant's place."

He will now be satisfied with any place
in his father's house.

This is true confession, such as belongs
to the essence of all true repentance. The
words : '^ Make me as one of thy hired
servants," we will consider further on.

The Prodigal Son. 135

How deeply humble does he now feel !
And thus must you, oh sinner ! humble
yourself, if you would find favor with
God. For there is nothing greater in the
gifts of the Holy Spirit^ — nothing more
precious in the treasures of God^ — nothing
more lioly among all the noble graces of
the Christian life, than true humility.

To feel and to confess that you are not
worthy to be called a son or daughter of
God, — herein consists your worthiness.
The Prodigal Son is willing to do a ser-
vant's work, to live industrious and frugal/
if he only may obtain forgiveness. '' I
had rather be a door-keeper in the house
of my God, than to dwell in the tents of J
wickedness." "^^

''Now I forbid my carnal hope,
My fond desires recall ;
I give my mortal interest up,
And make my God my all.^'

* Ps. 84 : 10.

136 The Prodigal Son.

This is the feeling of the sinner. When
he recognizes his error, he would rather
renounce everything, and be the lowest
in his father's house — in the Church of
Christ — than serve the devil any longer.

4. How he carried out Ms Resolution.

It is said : "^ He arose and came to his
father." There is no tarrying now with
him ; what he has determined to do, he
does at once, without delay. He does
not postpone it to another time. His
misery and his danger both urge him on;
his home-sickness was so great, that he
arises immediately to go home. The
language of his soul was now :

^* How oft, alas ! this wretched heart
Has wander'd from the Lord !
How oft my roving thoughts depart,
Forgetful of His word.

*' Yet sovereign mercy calls, 'Return:'
Dear Lord, and may I come I
My vile ingratitude I mourn ;
Oh, take the wand'rer home !

The Prodigal Son. 137

*' And canst Thou, wilt Thou yet forgive,
And bid my crimes remove ?
And shall a pardon'd rebel live
To speak Thy wondrous love ?

*' Almighty Grace, thy healing pow'r,
How glorious, how divine I
That can to life and bliss restore
So vile a heart as mJne.

'* Thy pard'ning love, so free, so sweet,
Dear Savior, I adore ;
Oh! keep me at Thy sacred feet.
And let me rove no more."

The resolution of repentance is often like
the attempt to climb an iceberg. You
place your foot forward only to find it slide
back again. Ask yourself, how often you
resolved to renounce some deeply rooted
sin, lying, unfaithfulness, swearing, drink-
ing, etc., and how miserably you failed in
the attempt. It is only upon the shore
of the new life, that we rightly experience
how our strength was broken by the long
service of sin. We then realize what St.

138 The Prodigal Son.

Paul means when he says : '' To will is
present with me^ but how to perform that
which is good^ I find not. For the good
that I would^ I do not ; but the evil which
I would not^ that I do." * Did the Prod-
igal Son go to his lord^ to take his leave ?
Then he must have tarried but a short
time. And if you^, oh sinner ! would tear
yourself away from your companions in
sin^ you must avoid a long leave-taking.
When our blessed Savior was upon earthy
calling upon men to follow him, one said
unto him : '' Lord^ I will follow thee ; but
let me first go bid them farewell which
are at home at my house. And Jesus
said unto him, No man having put his
hand to the plough, and looking back, is
fit for the kingdom of God." f

Many a poor sinner has been lost, be-
cause he has postponed his repentance
from time to time. Men have often right

* Rom. 1 : 18, 19. f L^^e 9 : 61, 62.

The Prodigal Son. 139

views ; they are convicted^ and resolve to
return home ; but^ alas ! there it ends^
until it is said : " The harvest is past, the
summer is ended^ and we are not saved." *
The Scriptures say : '' To-day if ye will
hear his voice, harden not your hearts."
" Behold^ now is the accepted time^ now
is the day of salvation."

5. He perseveres in Jits Return.

He goes towards home step by step
with firm determination. Although he
had wandered far away, still nothing is
able to detain him, until he arrives in his
father's house.

There is much that can prevent, and
that does prevent, the penitent sinner
from returning to God. How often do
we see a morbid sensibility of shame, keep
young people from Christ. They cannot

* Jer. 8 : 20.

140 The Prodigal Son.

bear the broad laugh^ the sneer of con-
tempt; the witty jest; nor endure the
attack of the profane^ the raillery of the
impious. They blush, and conceal their
secret attachment to God and His Church,
as soon as it is assailed. Oh ! my young
friends, flee not when the enemy of your
soul roars, much less surrender your sal-
vation, when he only hisses at you in the
skin of a fool. Be firm, and remember
that God, the Church, truth, heaven, the
Bible, conscience, salvation, saints, and
angels, are all on your side, to strengthen
and to support you at all times.

Look at your Redeemer, as He stands
in the hall of Pilate, when He was made
the object of every scorn and indignity ;
and will you shrink from a few sneers and
scoffs for Him? Remember our Lord's
most alarming language — " Whosoever
shall be ashamed of me, and of my words,
in this adulterous and sinful generation,

The Frodigal Son. 141

of him also shall the son of man be
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of
his Father, and with the holy angels."
But, if you are a Prodigal Son, permit
nothing to keep you back. Remember,
that only he who perseveres to the end,
can be saved.

If, nevertheless, Satan, the world, and
your own flesh and blood, would entice
you, and keep you back, give them no
heed, but cry out : " Eternal life, eternal
life," that is my desire, my hope, my com-
fort, and my all.

'* See where rebellious passions rage,
And fierce desires and lasts engage ;
The meanest foe of all that train,
Has thousands and ten thousands slain. ^'

Happy change ! The Prodigal now
comes within the blessed reach of hope.

We have yet to consider the most
beautiful part of this parable. The Prod-
igal Son is still on his way homeward,
13 K

142 The Prodigal Son.

n

and we will now soon see the blessed fruit
of true repentance and sincere reformation.
He is now near to his father's house, but
his mind is full of fear, his heart trembles,
and there is an inward conflict between
shame and sorrow, fear and hope.

The Savior describes the father as look-
ing towards the country, whither the son
had wandered. Without doubt, he often
thought of and longed after his disobedient
child.

6, The 7iaj)p7/ Meeting.

The son thinks not of tarrying any
longer. What he has determined to do,
he does without delay, and he will soon
prove how much larger are the riches of
grace, which are laid up with his father,
than he had dared to hope. For it is
said : '^ But when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him, and had compas-
sion, and ran and fell on his neck, and
kissed him."

HIS EEOEPTION BY HIS FATHER.

(See page 142.)

The Prodigal Son. 143

'' Far off he saw him slowly move,
In pensive silence mourn ;
The father ran with arms of love,
To welcome his return/^

This meeting contains many beautiful
traits.

1. How often may not the father have
gone out with a heavy and anxious heart
to look for his son^ hoping to see him re-
turn from the far country! How often
may he not have wished and sighed ; Oh !
that my unfortunate son would hasten
back again to my embrace ! At length
his eyes behold him^ " when he was yet
a great way off." He sees him in his rags
and misery ; but he sees him return ; he
recognizes him as his disobedient^ obsti-
nate child;, ragged and emaciated; but also
as his beloved, long-lost son.

The evidences of the father s love are
described with a touching minuteness.
He had often longed for and looked for

144 The PRODiaAL Son.

the return of his son. It is God, the
gracious Father, who puts into the heart
of the sinner even the first weak motions
towards good, and He also listens to the
first faint sighings of his penitent heart ;
and when he returns, He does not wait
still he has come all the way, but

2. He hastens forward to meet him.

The father does not wear an aspect of
severity, but one of loveliness, and at once
welcomes him with a kiss. This kiss is
not only an evidence of affection, but it
was in the East also the pledge of recon-
ciliation and peace."^

Neither did the father conceal himself,
nor wait until the penitent heart of his
child had made its confession, but full of
love he hastens towards him to encourage
him to hope and rejoice.

How kind and condescending the father
of the Prodigal Son ! — It is thus the Lord

* Gen. 33 : 4.

The Prodigal Son. 145

hastens after erring sinners, and beseeches
them to return to Him, that they may
find life. " Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the Lord ; though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as
snow ; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool."*

Thus God draws nigh unto them that
draw nigh unto Him. Therefore " draw
nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to
you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and
purify your hearts, ye double-minded." f

It was the father who put the first good
thought into his mind, who also hears the
first sigh of the sinner. " Lord, thou hast
heard the desire of the humble ; thou wilt
prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine
ear to hear." % Yes, though they may be
ever so far from Him.

" But when he was yet a great way off."
Though there may be much of ignorance

* Isaiah 1 : 18. f James 4:8. % Ps. 10 : H.
13**

146 The Prodigal Son.

in returning sinners stilly far too slight a
view of the evil of sin^ or of the holiness
of the God with whom they have to deal,
He meets them, notwithstanding, with the
evidences of His mercy and reconciled love.

This shows that the sinner is not made
to go through a dreary apprenticeship of
months' duration by God, as is done by
the sects, but He at once embraces him
in the arms of His love, and gives him at
the first moment strong consolations, per-
haps stronger and more abundant than
afterwards, when he is settled in his
Christian course. And this is necessary
to assure him that he is accepted in Christ
Jesus, and to convince him of that which
it is so hard for the sinner to believe, that
God has put away his sin, and is at peace
with him. This is the great work, which
is only possible to faith.

3. The father manifests a placable dis-
position towards his son.

The Prodigal Son. 147

When the father saw him, he " ran and
fell on his neck, and kissed him." He
came towards him in the Prophets, who
foretold the birth of the Savior ; he also
came towards the heathen in the dark
presentiments which they had of a future
glorious age, in which righteousness and
peace would kiss each other on e^irth.
But he fell upon the neck of all mankind
in Christ, and in the hour when we, with
all our righteousness, wisdom, beauty,
art, wealth, and honor, fall at his feet and
seek his grace in Christ, then he falls upon
our neck and kisses us.

The father also makes the first move-
ment towards reconciliation. He it is who
gives the first good thought, in that He
arouses the sinner by the influence of His
Spirit, and leads him back to His father's
house.

The heart of God the Father is always
full of love and mercy. This is His nature,

148 The Prodigal Son.

for He is the God of love ; and it is also^
at all times^ His greatest pleasure to mani-
fest this love towards the poor sinner ; not
only to wait until he comes^ but to hasten
towards him^ to embrace and kiss him.
The father does not reproach him with
his sins ; he does not say to him^ as many
fathers would. You have been a miser-
able wretch, or a godless child, having
squandered all that I gave you, wickedly,
and now having come home in filthy rags,
no shoes to your feet, and almost starved
with hunger ! be gone out of my doors ;
will 7, thinh you^ receive such a vile person
as you have been ? No, not a word of
upbraiding is heard, in regard to his lewd
course of life.

By this example of God, parents should
learn to pass by great sins in their re-
bellious children, when they return peni-
tent and humble ; and not show an irre-
concilable spirit towards a prodigal child,
though it should have spent all in a wicked

The Prodigal Son. 149

course of life, or even on harlots; yet
they should forgive, and be kind, and win
them back, with bountiful love and good-
ness.

This father of fathers does not even
say, I forgive you, for he had already for-
given him ; but the father, forgetting the
past, receives him at once, and before he
can make a confession, and it is only after
he has been lovingly received that he
makes

4. His confession, which he had re-
solved in his misery to make, and says :
'- Father, I have sinned against Heaven,
and in thy sight, and am no more worthy
to be called thy son." This confession
must be made, as a duty w^e ow^e to God.
For, by sinning, we have robbed God and
His law of their divine honor; by con-
fession, w^e establish it again.

*' Now at last I end the strife,
To my God I give my life

150 The Prodigal Son.

Wholly, with a steadfast mind ;
Sin, I will not hearken more ;
World, I turn from thee, 'tis o'er;

Not a look I'll cast behind.

*'Hath my heart been wavering long?
Have I dallied oft with wrong ?

Now at last I firmly say :
All my will to this I give,
Only to my God to live,

And to serve Him night and day.

*'Lord, I offer at Thy feet
All I have most dear and sweet ;

Lo ! I keep no secret hoard !
Try my heart, and lurks there aught
False within its inmost thought,

Take it hence this moment, Lord !

'^I will shun no toil or woe,
Where Thou leadest I will go.

Be my pathway plain or rough;
If but every hour may be
Spent in work that pleases Thee,

Ah, dear Lord, it is enough !

The Prodigal Son. 151

*' One thing will I seek alone,
Nought without me shall be known,

Sought, or toil'd for, more by me ;
Strange to earth and all her care,
Well content with pilgrim's fare,
Shall my life be hid in Thee.

"Thee I make my choice alone.
Make for ever. Lord, Thine own.

All my powers of soul and mind ;
Yes, I give myself away,
Let the covenant stand for aye

That my hand to-day hath signed."

This is the proper course for a penitent
sinner; for though God forgives, man
must not, therefore, forget to be thankful.
This confession was made after, and not
before, the kiss of reconciliation ; for the
more the sinner knows and tastes of the
love of God, the more he grieves ever to
have sinned against that love. It is under
the genial rays of this paternal love, that
the frozen heart begins to thaw and to
melt, and the tears of repentance to flow.
14

152 The Prodigal Son.

The knowledge of God's love in Christ
is the salt^ which alone can turn the bitter
and barren-making streams of remorse
into the healing waters of repentance.

Hence we see, that true repentance fol-
lowS; and does not precede divine forgive-
ness ; and thus too will repentance be a
thing of the whole life long, for every
new insight into that forgiving love of
God, is as a new reason why we should
mourn that we ever sinned against it.

How beautifully does this parable ex-
hibit the difference between the Church
of God, — the kingdom of Christ, — and
the sect spirit ! This spirit teaches, that
a^ soon as the sinner has obtained forgive-
ness, he may lay aside the work of re-
pentance, at least until he becomes un-
converted again; and therefore it also
often affirms, the longer men can be kept
in suspense concerning their forgiveness.

The Prodigal Son. 153

the better, as in this way a deeper foun-
dation of repentance will be laid.

This is surely a wrong view of the re-
lation in which true repentance and for-
giveness stand to each other ; their true
relation is rather revealed to us in such
passages as Ezek. 36 : 31, when the Lord
says : " Then shall ye remember your
own evil ways, and your doings that were
not good, and shall loathe yourselves in
your own sight for your iniquities and
your abominations ;" and w^hat the Lord
means by these words, He gives us to un-
derstand, ver. 24-30 : Then after I have
cleansed you, — after I have given you a
new heart, and all my richest blessings,
then ^^ shall ye remember your own evil
ways, and your doings that were not good,
and shall loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquities and your abomi-
nations." Compare also Ezek. 16 : 60-
63, where the Lord declares : " Neverthe-

154 The Prodigal Son.

less^ I will remember my covenant with
thee in the days of thy youth^ and I will
establish unto thee an everlasting cove-
nant. Then thou shalt remember thy
ways, and be ashamed/' &c.

Although the younger son has the evi-
dence that his father is pacified towards
him, he, nevertheless, confesses his sins.
He does not, indeed, say all that he had
once intended,— he does not say : '' Make
me as one of thy hired servants;" for
this, undoubtedly, was the heaviest burilen
of his repentance. Yet, why should he
now ask to be made a hired servant, since
his father was willing to receive him as a
son? Why should the son, who only
prayed for a little, refuse to receive much,
if the father was willing to bless him so
abundantly? This is an evidence that
the grace which he has already received,
he has not received in vain. '^ For godly
sorrow worketh repentance to salvation

The Prodigal Son. 165

not to be repented of; but the sorrow of
the world worketh death."

7. The Hearty Reception.

We have seen the Prodigal Son in the
arms of his father^ but now he is led
into the house by his father's hand, and
here the numerous treasures laid up for
him by the father are shown to him. But
it is to be well observed, that he did not
receive these treasures outside of^ but
vnthin the house.

Augustine says : " That under God the
Father, we are children in the mother,
the Catholic Church, and fellow-citizens
in the heavenly Jerusalem."

It would be no more reasonable to pre-
sume that any one independent or out-
side of the Church, could be a good and
holy man, than to suppose that the Mis-
sissippi might roll on its flood of waters
to the ocean, though all its tributary
14^^ L

166 The Prodigal Son.

streams were cut ofF^ and it were re-
plenished only by occasional drops from
the clouds.

The house here signifies the Church of
Godj '''^ which is the body of Christy the
fulness of him that filleth all in all/'
where the polluted soul is cleansed through
the believing use of the means of grace.

" God in His earthly temple lays
Foundation for His heav'nly praise ;
He likes the tents of Jacob well,
But still in Zion loves to dwell.

''His mercy visits ev'ry house,
That pays its night and morning vows,
But makes a more delightful stay,
Where churches meet to praise and pray."

Here it is that believers hold the sweet-
est fellowship with heaven, and that the
delightful communion of saints is most
fully realized.

In the house took place

1. The change of clothing.

The Prodigal Son. 157

His soiled and torn garments are ex-
changed for those of the family, and
hereby the father declares that he intends
again to give him a name and a place in
his house ; for he " said unto his servants,
Bring forth the best robe, and put it on
him, and put a ring on his hand, and
shoes on his feet."

These are all ornaments, not of the
slave, but of the free ; all, therefore,
declaring his restoration to his former
dignity, and his lost privileges.

The best robe is brought ; the best that
was in the house, or the robe which he

formerlv wore when he walked a son in

*.>

his father's house, and which had been
kept for him, and was now to be restored.
That is, the righteousness of Christ
is now again imputed to him, and the
sanctity of his soul is restored, by being
introduced again into his baptismal privi-
leges, so that he can pray.

158 The Prodigal Son.

** The Savior's blood and righteousness
My beauty is, my glorious dress ;
Thus well array'd, I need not fear,
When in His presence I appear. '^

But who are meant by the servants ?
They are the ministers of the gospel^ and
the officers of the Churchy especially the
ministers, who are appointed of God to
administer the means of grace in "^Hhe
house" — His Church. Occupying this
position in His Churchy it is impossible for
ministers to perform their sacred duties^
unless they have hearts deeply imbued
with the love of Christ.

The office of the ministry is of such a
character^ that it requires great self-denial,
zealj faithj, and love.

In regard to elders, none ought to be
elected to this office who are not cordially
devoted to the service of God. It is a
grievous offi3nce to God, and an injury to
the Church, when this office is entrusted

The Prodigal !Son. 159

to men who are characterized by levity ;
especially when the object of so doing is
to secure some earthly interest.

Deacons also should be exemplary in
faith and in practice, that the congrega-
tion may be edified by their example.
On this account light-minded men ought
not to seek^ nor be appointed to this
office.

That deep devotion and earnest piety
should characterize such as occupy sacred
offices in the Chnrch, is most necessary
and reasonable. None other certainly
can stand properly as God's functionaries
— organs of the divine — the representa-
tives of the Spirit of Christ and of his
Church.

Such undoubtedly were those servants
who brought the best robe, and such
ought all Church officers to be, particu-
larly miyiisters.

160 The Prodigal Son.

^'Ye servants of the Lord,
Each in his oJB&ce wait,
Observant of His heav'nly word,
And watchful at His gate.''

But let no one think that a minister is
a servant of men^ and that he must preach
simply to please men having " itching
ears." No ! he is a servant of the Most
High God;, who^ if true to his callings will
hear said to him : " Well done^ thou good
and faithful servant; thou hast been
faithful over a few things^ I will make
thee ruler over many things." ^

We can easily imagine that the ser-
vants first removed the tattered garments,
the poor swine-herd's rags, which were
hanging about him. This is confirmed
by a similar course of procedure^ where
it is said : " Take away the filthy gar-
ments from him. And unto him he said,
Behold I have caused thine iniquity to

* Matth. 25 : 21.

The Prodigal Son. 161

pass from tliee^ and I will clothe thee
with change of raiment. " '"^

This bringing out of the best robe, and
putting it upon him, especially signifies
that act of God^ which is a release from
condemnation, and also an imputation of
the merits and righteousness of Christ.

In this sense the prophet says : " To
appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the
oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness." f

2. A ring is put on his hand.

The ring was used among the ancients
as a badge of honor, as none but noble
persons were permitted to wear it. " If
there come into your assemblies a man
wdth a gold ring, you say to him, Sit thou
in a good place," &c.

Among the Romans it was a token of
freedom, for neither bondmen nor stran-

* Zech. 3:4. f Isaiah 61 : 3.

162 The Prodigal Son.

gers were allowed to wear it^ but only
such as were free-born^ or purchased their
liberty; and this may have been the case
among the Egyptians^ for Joseph was a
prisoner when Pharaoh sent for him ; and
this giving of the ring to him may not
only signify that he was the most honor-
able person in the kingdom^ even next to
the king himself, but also be a pledge of
his liberty and citizenship, as a freeman
in the land.

This ring is the sign of the gift of the
Holy Spirit, with which the Prodigal Son
was adorned. The ring was often also a
seal, to assure the possessor that the Spirit
of God sealed to him a much larger in-
heritance in the future, which, like the
laws of the Medes and Persians, was not
to be altered. For *^Hhe Spirit beareth
witness with our spirits, that we are the
children of God."

The ring, too, is often the pledge of

The Prodigal Son. 163

betrothal. ^^And I will betroth thee unto
me forever : yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness^ and in judgment, and
in loving-kindness, and in mercies, and I
will even betroth thee unto me in faith-
fulness ; and thou shalt know the Lord."*
This ring was put upon the Prodigal as
an emblem of his soul's espousals with
Christ.

A ring is also an emblem of eternity, —
it has no end ; so all spiritual privileges
and freedom are eternal.

3. Shoes are also put on his feet, which
was not the case with servants and slaves,
and which shows that he was received as
a son, and not as a hired servant.

Shoes were also an ornament to the
feet, and denote a willingness and a fit-
ness to travel through any difficult, stony,
or thorny paths, where such as are bare-
footed dare not venture ; thus the resolu-

*Hosea 2; 19, 20.

15

164 The Prodigal Son.

tion of the will^ and spirituality of the
affections^ helps a Christian to venture
through all difficulties in God's ways. A
man that wants courage, zeal, and reso-
lution, is afraid to venture through the
thorns and briers of the flesh, temptation
of Satan, the cares of the world, and the
deceitfulness of riches.

Shoes, too, may represent a mortified
disposition to the world ; for as shoes keep
the feet at a distance from the earth, so
the believer tramples upon all sinful
pleasures, riches, and honors of this evil
world ; and as shoes strengthen the feet,
so hereby the feet of the soul are strength-
ened.

The Prodigal will now have a different
walking. He is now going in a heavenly
and spiritual course of life ; before, he was
carnally-minded, but now he is spiritually-
minded; before, he was bent on things
below, but now are his '' affections set on

The Prodigal Son.

things above ;" before^ his feet probably
carried him to the " tents of wickedness/'
but now into the courts of God's house.

These shoes keep the feet of our soul
in an upright course of life before God^
because of the difficulty of the way in
which we are to walk, and prevent us
from either falling or sliding, and of being
wounded in our souls. Many who lack
these shoes have been wounded to death,
through the deceitfulness of sin.

The penitent shall be equipped for holy
obedience; therefore, Paul says, -^And
your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace." ^

Not the least strength shall be wanting
to him. Everything necessary is given ;
and after this has taken place, then comes
the time for rejoicing.

*Eph. 6 : 15.

166 The Prodigal Son.

8. The Feast of Joy.

The Prodigal Son returns fatigued and
exhausted by the journey from the far
country^ whither he had wandered, and
emaciated for want of proper food. Hence
his father says to the servants : " Bring
hither the fatted calf^ and kill it ; and let
us eat, and be merry." That is to say :
Set before him the choicest provision of
my house ; he shall eat the fat, the most
delicious food ; the very best that I have
shall not be withheld from him ; he shall
eat that which is " meat indeed, and drink
that which is drink indeed."

1. We remark, that the joys of the
gospel are often compared to a feast.
'' The kingdom of heaven is like unto a
certain king, which made a marriage for
his son," '•' &c.

* Matth. 22 : 2-14.

The Trodigal Son. 167

This is a great feast, and also richly
provided with spiritual nourishment. Al-
though the feast in this parable may have
reference to the Lord's Supper, to which
the Prodigal Son now comes, yet the chief
reference is, without doubt, to the festal
joy and rejoicing which is in heaven at
the sinner's return, and no less in the
Church on earth, and in his own heart
also. " I say unto you, that likewise joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth, more than over ninety and
nine just persons wdiicli need no repent-
ance." And " there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that
repent<3th." '^'

*' Thro' all the courts the tidings flew,
And spread the joy around —
The angels tuned their harps anew,
The Prodigal is found ! "

2. The guests are numerous. — The

* Luke 15 : 7, 10.

168 The Prodigal Son.

father calls his servants together^ to par-
ticipate in his joy. The news of the re-
turn of the Prodigal Son spreads rapidly.

In the preceding parables^ the shepherd
summons his friends^ after he had again
found his sheep which had wandered into
the wilderness^ and said unto them: "Re-
joice with me; for I have found my sheep
which was lost." ^

And the woman called her friends and
neighbors^ after she had found the piece
of silver, and said unto them: "Rejoice
with me; for I have found the piece which
I had lost." t

So in this parable, the father summons
hi^ servants to rejoice with him in his joy.

It is the nature of joy, that it desires
to impart itself to others. And if this be
true of earthly joy, how much more of
the yet holier joy of heaven!

* Luke 15 : 6. f Luke 15 : 9.

The Prodigal Son. 169

After the fixther had called the guests
together^ he declares to them

3. The ground of tlds joy, in which
they were invited to share. In an earthly
household, as also in the Church, we might
naturally conclude some to have made
part of the household now, w^ho had not
made part at the time of the Prodigal
Son's departure. It was, therefore, neces-
sary to declare to them that this wan-
derer, this beggar, was no other than a
son of the house, whom they should hence-
forth regard as such.

The father solemnly reinstated him,
before them all, in all the honors of the
family. That is, he is again received as
a member of the Church of Christ, from
w^hich he had separated himself by his
sins.

''- This, my son," he says — and, com-
paring the present with the past — 'Svas
dead, and is alive again." " Dead ! " for

170 The Prodigal Son.

the state of sin is ever considered in Scrip-
ture as a state of death. " We know that
we have passed from death unto life^ be-
cause we love the brethren. He that
loveth not his brother abideth in death." '^''

This spiritual death consists in a sinful
separation from God^ which soon extin-
guishes the light of the soul ; like a candle
that is blown out^ the candle remains^, but
the light is gone ; or^ like a tree that is
deadj the body and arms remain, but the
life is gone, its leaves are fallen off, its
branches withered and dead. Even thus
it is with all sinners, — they are without
the principle of divine life in their souls —
they are dead,

A dead man's beauty is gone, and his
countenance is changed ; so the spiritual
beauty of a sinner is gone, by reason of
sin. Virtue puts beauty and glory on the

* 1 John 3 : 14.

The Prodigal Son. 171

soulj but sin mars this beautiful image of
God.

Dead men also are cold as ice; even so
sinners without a principle of true spirit-
ual life are cold to spiritual and heavenly
things 5 they are without motion ; they
breathe not. So unregenerated persons
pray not. This is the soul's moving —
its spiritual breath — its arm to move the
universe.

Dead men^ too^, speak not; they cannot
praise and magnify God. Even so, men
dead in trespass and sin cannot bring God
honor, nor sing to His praise —

''Lord, how delightful 'tis to see
A whole assembly worship Thee ;
At once they sing, at once they pray;
They hear of heaven, and learn the way."

While dead, they neither hear, feel, see,

taste, nor smell ; they have lost all the

spiritual senses of the soul ; though guilt,

like a mountain, lies upon them, they feel

M

172 The Prodigal Son.

it not; they are also loathsome in the
sight of God^ and all gracious persons;
and all their brave ornaments and odors
are but the perfuming of a dead corpse.
Moreover^ a dead man is not fit to remain
above ground^ but to be buried ; so
wicked men will eventually be buried in
the gulf of despair.

The father says further : '^ He was lost^
and is found." The Apostle Peter says :
" Ye were as sheep going astray^ but are
now returned unto the shepherd and
bishop of your souls." ^

To be lost is to have strayed away
from God our Creator^ and from Christ
our Redeemer; while thus lost we are
undone. We say of a man that falls into
the sea^ who is left without help^ or of a
man condemned to die, without hope of
pardon, he is a lost and dead man.

In the first place, we have all lost God,

* 1 Pet. 2 : 25.

The Prodigal Son. 173

and Paradise^ with all that Ave possessed
in our creation ; secondly, we have lost,
as prodigals, all the blessings and ad-
vantages that we had under the Jewish
dispensation; thirdly, we have lost, as
prodigals, all the greater and higher
privileges and blessings of the Christian
Church.

While thus the lost was found, and the
dead alive, " they began to be merry."
The father rejoiced; the Prodigal Son
rejoiced; the servants rejoiced; angels
in heaven rejoiced ; they all rejoiced to-
gether, because the lost was found, and
the dead alive.

Now the Prodigal can sing:

" Now I have found the ground wherein
Sure my soul's anchor may remain ;
Ev'n Christ, who to atone for sin
Was as a spotless victim slain ;
Whose mercy shall unshaken stay,
When heaven and earth shall flee away.

174 The Prodigal Son.

/' Lord, Thy everlasting grace

Our scanty thought surpasseth far;
Thy bosom yearns with tenderness,
Thy arms of love still open are ;
Thy heart o'er sinners can't but break,
Whether Thy grace they slight or take.

'^ Fixed on this ground will I remain,
Tho' my heart fail and flesh decay ;
This anchor shall my soul sustain

When earth's foundations melt away :
Mercy's full power I then shall prove,
Lov'd with an everlasting love."

While the Prodigal is thus absorbed in
his joyful song^ it breaks forth in the
spirit world :

** Hark 1 what mean those heav'nly voices,
Sweetly sounding through the skies :
Lo ! th' angelic host rejoices,
Heav'nly hallelujahs rise.

*' Listen to the wondrous story

Which they chant in hymns of joy;
Glory in the highest, glory !
Glory be to God most high !

The Prodigal Son. 175

*' Peace on earth, good will from heaven,
Reaching far as man is found ;
Souls redeemed and sins forgiven,
Loud our golden harps shall sound."

Not only does the Prodigal and angels
rejoice, but also all Christendom :

Saints of God on earth abiding,
Teachers, Parents, here below,

Who shall hear the joyful tiding,
Feel of joy the warmest glow.*

All at last for joy shout :

Therefore let us all united,
Love the Lord our Savior God I
Steadfast in our faith abiding.
Though the earth shall be subsiding,
Eternal shall our faith the same,
For ever true to Him remain ;
Let's love the Lord, forever more
He ^1 lead us to the heavenly shore.*

It was not strange, that the song of

* Translated from the German.
16

176 The PRODiaAL Son.

joy was heard afar off. If the finding
of a lost piece of money^ and the recovery
of a lost sheepj caused great joy^ how
much greater must be caused by the
restoration of an immortal soul ! What
joy should not the restoration of a lost
sinner on earth awaken^ when even the
angels of God rejoice over it !

4. Here^ however, a question arises,
which claims an answer. Everywhere in
the gospel, Christ is represented as the
only ground of our salvation, and of our
happiness. There is salvation in no other
than Christ ; there is none other name
given among men, whereby we must be
saved. The condition of such salvation
is also faith in Christ, and in His holy
merits; and no one can come to the Father
but through Him.

But how does it now happen, that
nothing at all is said in this parable about
Christ and His salvation ? No mention
at all is made of a mediator and inter-

The Prodigal Son. 177

cesser^ of a Savior and Reconciler. Whom
does the Lord describe in the parable
under the image of a loving father^ as
previously under the image of a shepherd ?
No other than Himself. It was not neces-
sary to mention a Mediator and Savior^
for it is the Mediator Himself, who de-
scribes Himself according to His pardon-
ing love ; who here in a striking parable
confirms what the scribes and Pharisees
held as an objection to Him, namely, that
He received sinners.

Sinner ! may not this make you will-
ing to return home, with the Prodigal?
Is not the entertainment promised to you
in the kingdom of God, inviting to you?
Do you not yet believe that there is that
to be found in God and Christ Jesus,
which you never find anywhere else ? Do
you not yet wish to be united again to
Christ, and have the door, on the way to
eternal happiness, opened to your never-
dying soul? If all this representation

178 The Prodigal Son.

has no effect upon you^ we ask you not
to speak evil of those that have willingly
denied themselves^ and forsaken all to
follow Jesus ; nor of those things which
you know not, and understand not ; for
remember that ^Hhe natural man re-
ceive th not the things of the spirit^ nei-
ther can he know them." Happy^ thrice
happy^ eternally happy^ are those that
can say : '^ Truly our fellowship is with
the Father^ and with his Son Jesus
Christ."

Here this parable^ like the two pre-
ceding, might have ended. But the Lord
speaks in the eleventh verse of two sons,
and He has promised something more. A
new beauty is derived from the contrast
which is brought out between the large
heart of God and the narrow grudging
heart of man, on which account we will
now proceed to consider the elder son
and his conduct.

The Prodigal Son. 179

IV.

THE CONDUCT OF THE ELDER SON.
1. His return from the Field.

" Now his elder son was in the field ;
and as he came and drew nigh to the
house, he heard music and dancing."
While the house is ringing with festal
rejoicing, he returns from the field, where,
no doubt, he had been, as usual, engaged
in labor. At least so much is implied in
the words, and this intimation is not given
us without good reason For while the
other son had been wasting time, and
means, and strength, and his whole in-
heritance, in idleness and sinful pleasures
abroad, he had been engaged at home, on

180 The Prodigal Son.

his father's ground^ in pursuit of useful
industry.

This^ however^ is no justification^ but
an explanation of the complaint which he
thinks himself warranted to make.

This isj without doubt, a picture of the
Jev/s in general, who hated the heathen
in their hearts; but more especially of
the envy of the Pharisees, because He re-
ceived publicans and sinners, " and even
ate with them."

As he ^^drew nigh to the house, he
heard singing and dancing." — Here we
observe that, according to the customs of
the East, the guests were mere listeners
and spectators — the singers and the
dancers being hired for the occasion, as
was the case also at funerals. " They
shall call the husbandman to mourning,
and such as are skilful of lamentation to
wailing." * He was surprised at these

* Amos 5 : 16.

The Prodigal Son. 181

unexpected and unaccustomed sounds in
the house. This ah^eady, that such a
thing should take place in the house with-
out his knowledge^ offends him, and, with
an astonishment that betrays dislike, ^4ie
called one of the servants, and asked what
these things meant."

What subtle self-righteousness is indi-
cated in his mode of procedure ! He does
not go in ; he does not believe that when
his father makes a feast, he has reason to
be merry. And although he had already
determined to disapprove what was going
forward, he still remains without; and,
instead of himself asking his father, he
calls one of the servants, to learn from
him the cause of the joy, or, as he says,
^Svhat these things meant," — and de-
mands an explanation, as if they required
it. ^^And he said unto him. Thy brother
is come ; and thy father hath killed the
fatted calf, because he hath received him

182 The Prodigal Son.

safe and sound." The servant confines
himself to the external features of the
case ; he only reports that he came back
safe and sound^ and that his father had
killed the fatted calf. Instead of being
joyful and glad in his hearty he is dis-
pleased ; instead of embracing his brother^
and greeting him with a fraternal kiss,
he '' would not go in."

The joy of the father, however, is deep,
that he has now again recovered his son ;
him, who was once dead, but who is now
alive ; him, who was once lost to him and
to God, now again found by both at the
same time. And the tidings that his
father had received his brother safe and
sound, that he had fortunately returned,
and that his father rejoiced on this ac-
count, moved him to displeasure instead
of joy. " He was angry, and would not
go in."

What aroused his displeasure ? Had

The Prodigal Son. 183

injustice been done him? Had he been
offended or wronged ? Did the return of
his brother, or the reception that he met
with from the father, inflict shame or in-
jury upon him? Nothing of the kind.
Perhaps he thought he ought to have first
consulted him, and have permitted him to
prescribe his conduct towards the Prodigal
Son.

But perhaps the father erred. He man-
ifested mildness and caution, when he
should have been strict and severe. He
forgave, where he ought to have punished.
He received the son with forgiving love,
whom he ought to have rejected with
displeasure, especially as he himself de-
clared that he was not worthy to be called
his son. But what is all this, but to say,
that God has no right to save sinners in
this way. Or that He must learn from us
the method according to which He should
receive sinners.

184 The Prodigal Son.

2. He acts wickedly and without Feeliiig.

He should have rejoiced over his brother^
over his younger brother; instead of which
he would neither acknowledge nor receive
him^ neither show mercy nor forgiveness.
" His father came out, and entreated him."
For the sake of the elder son the father
left the festive board for a moment.
Nevertheless, he w^ould not lay aside his
displeasure, but began loudly to complain
of unfair treatment and of the bounty
which was bestowed upon his brother's
misconduct, and invidiously compares the
father's conduct with his brother's ex-
travagance. '' But as soon as this thy
son was come, which hath devoured thy
living with harlots," &c. He tears off the
veil that had been cast over his sinful
life. He says not, my brother, but thy
son — thy wicked gon, — for Mm you have
killed the fatted calf!

The hearts of some people greatly de-

BEHAVIOR OF THE ELDER SON.

(See page 1S4.)

The Prodigal Son. 185

light, if tliey can find an opportunity to
lay bare the faults of others. Not so
^vith the Prodigal's father; he would have
willingly passed over all his crimes, with-
out so much as referring to them, but the
vain-glorious, self-righteous brother must
lift the veil that had been cast over his
sinful life. Thus you will ever find the
self-righteous among the people of God,
constantly watching for opportunities to
expose the erring, instead of hiding, as
they should do, their sins, and assisting
them in their recovery. And says one :
" It is an easy thing to find fault, and to
open the wounds of the Church to the
gaze of the world. There are those who
find it much easier to whisper the defects
of the Church to the wicked, than to
cover them by the mantle of charity.
There are those who find it more pleasant
to publish the weaknesses of the Church
17 N

186 The Prodigal Son.

upon the house-tops^, than to weep over
them in silence and in secret."

" There are persons found standing in
the Church as members^ who resemble
those birds which soar and wdng their way
over all the beauties of a landscape^ ad-
miring no lovely tree^ no fragrant flower^
no graceful stream, no golden field, but
eagerly light at last to gloat upon a horrid
carcass ! So there are men who pass over
a thousand things in the Church which
they might praise to others, to feed their
morbid spirits on some weakness and
blemish. Like the dragon-fly, they love
sores, and on them will thev feed !" The
Psalmist says : '' I will keep my mouth
with a bridle, while the wicked is before
me."^

'' Give me the heart that fain woukl bide —

Would fain another's fault efface ;
How can it pleasure human pride

To prove humanity but base?

* Harbaugh's Golden Censer, p. 358.

The Prodigal Son. 187

No : let us reach a higher mood,

A nobler estimate of man ;
Be earnest in the search of good,

And speak of all the best we can."

"Thou never gavest me a kid." By
this he would say. To me, who have served
you so faithfully, you have never even
given a kid, that I might rejoice. But
thy son, who has squandered thy goods
sinfully and shamefully, and who has re-
turned after many years of disobedience,
he is at once restored to his former position
in the house, to him shall be given the
best also that yet remains in the house !

He no longer recognizes him as his
brother, but speaks of him as of a stranger.
For him you have not only killed a kid,
but the choicest calf in the stall. What
would he have said, if he had known all,
and seen him arrayed in the best robe,
and with all his other ornaments ?

If we ask what is meant by the father s

188 The Prodigal Son.

bidding him^ or to whom is the father's
request addressed ? the answer is^ To the
sinner ; and since we all are sinners^ to us
all without a single exception. Yes^ it is
addressed to you, ye proud and self-right-
eous ones, who in unbelief find fiiult with
the arrangements of your God, who des-
pise His grace, and refuse to submit in
humility to His divine counsels for your
happiness, who are not willing to accept
the terms which His wisdom and love
have devised for the salvation of lost sin-
ners. There where the voice of joy re-
sounds over the recovered son, the father
beseeches you, in infinite love, be recon-
ciled with God !

It is addressed to you, ye deluded souls,
who through pride and vanity, through
avarice and covetousness, through enmity
and hatred, through excess of sensuality
and lust, through shame and disgrace,
frivolously dissolved your union with

The Prodigal Son. 189

God^ and find your heaven in the vile
service of the world and of sin. The
father beseeches you most earnestly. Re-
turn, ye apostate children, I will heal
your backsliding.

It is addressed to you, w^hen your con-
science warns you against sin, when it
convicts of sin and punishes you, because
you have been guilty of wrong-doing; is
this anything other than a request of your
heavenly father ? When the ambassadors
in Christ's stead preach the words of
eternal life, which His only begotten Son
once proclaimed, then His love addresses
you, to win you from death to life.

He calls you, when you stand comfort-
less at the graves of your beloved ones.
As you look down into its gloom, which
wdll soon hide from you all that you prize
on earth, must you not confess, as your
eyes overflow with tears, and your tongue
17*

190 The Prodigal Son.

gives utterance to sad complaints^ or is
silenced by pain^ that your God is speak-
ing to you, that your father is speaking
to your ^YOunded heart? Yes, He beseeches
us when He gives, when He takes, when
He blesses, and when He afflicts.

He beseeches also when He sends sick-
ness into your family, or when He visits
you, and lays you on a sick bed, through
a divine chastisement.

He calls you at this moment by this
voice of His word; He calls us all, large
and small, rich and poor, high and low,
old and young. He calls us most earnestly
and affectionatelj^, and perhaps, at this
moment, for the last time.

^' Who knows how near my end may be ?

Time speeds away, and Death comes on ;
How swiftly, ah ! how suddenly

May Death be here, and life be gone !
My God, for Jesus' sake, I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day.

The Prodigal Son. 191

'' The world that smiled when morn was come,
May change for me ere close of eve ;
So long as earth is still my home,

In peril of my death I live ;
My God, for Jesus' sake, I pray
Thy peace may bless my dying day."

3. The Father does not permit his Joy to he
distiirhed.

It is too joyful an occasion for the
father to be disturbed by the complaints
and temper of the elder son. There shall
not be, if he can help it;, a cloud upon
any brow, and instead of answering him
with severity, he expostulates with him,
and seeks to convince him of the un-
reasonableness of his complaint.

*' Speak kindly to the erring !

Thou yet may lead them back,
With holy w^ords and tones of love,
From misery's thorny track ;

192 The Prodigal Son.

<< Forget not thou hast often sinned,
And sinful yet must be —
Deal gently with the erring one,
As God hath dealt with thee.''

Nor does the father fail to warn him
that he is now falling into the very sin
of his brother, when he said : " Give me
the portion of goods that falleth to me."

The elder soon feels as though he did
not truly possess what he possessed with
his father, but that he must separate, and
divide it from his father s stock, before he
could truly call it his own. Accordingl}^
he truly had just as little love for the
father, as the younger son had when he
left his fathers house. The father's
answer is a warning against this evil,
which lay at the root of the elder bro-
ther's conduct, namely, an unloving and
imthanhfid spirit^ which manifested itself
only more plainly in the younger brother,
and most plainly in the wicked husband-

The Prodigal Son. 193

men^ who said : " This is the heir ; let
us kill hiin^ that the inheritance may be
ours."

The entire speech of the elder brother
is a reproach against the father. — '- You
show greater favor towards your favorite,
whom you have spoiled and pampered^
than towards me," The father answers
mildly : " Son, thou art ever with me^
and all that I have is thine." He makes
him see his unloving spirit out of which
his discontent proceeded. " Thou didst
never separate thyself from me. and didst
continually participate in the joy of my
house ; grudge not thy brother a joy, of
which he has been so long a time de-
prived."

He says not, this my son, as the bro-
ther's ungraciousness would have it, but :
'^ Thou shouldest make merry and be glad,
for tliis till/ hrother was dead, and is alive
again ; was lost, and is found."

i94 The Prodigal Son.

This thy brother^ thy kindred, to whom
thou owest love and kindness. Thou
shouldest;, therefore, rejoice to have thy
brother again. He was also dead to thee;
also was lost to thee ; he is also alive
again for thee ; has also been found again
for thee ; yea, for me and for thee. Truly
a powerful exhortation to brotherly love,
which we owe to each other, as men, and
especially as Christians.

What influence the father's words had
upon the elder son, we are not told.

4. The Elder Son and his Self-righteous-

ness.

1. The elder son represents one who
has been restrained from flagrant sins and
vices by the law; who has been occupied,
though in a slavish spirit, in the works
of the law. No doubt, reference is had
here to many of the Pharisees ; many of
them were hypocrites; but also many

The Prodigal Son. 195

were earnest. Nevertheless^ in much
blindness of heart they followed after a
righteousness which was in fact nothing
else than pure self-righteousness. This
righteousness was superficial in its char-
acter^ for they only endeavored to fulfil
the letter of the law, and did not attain
to any such deep knowledge of the cor-
ruption of their own hearts, as would
render them mild and merciful to others,
and humble them before God.

Such murmurers may be here meant ;
persons not utterly to be rejected, nor the
good in them to be utterly denied, but
who need rather to be shown the faulti-
ness, imperfection, narrowness, and love-
lessness of their religion. They are to be
invited to renounce their servile spiritual
service, and to enter into the glorious free-
dom of the children of God, which Christ
has secured for us.

In this sense w^e must understand the

198 The Prodigal Son.

that what was given to his brother was
taken from him ; but in the free kingdom
of love^ of the grace of God^ one has not
less because the other has more^ but all
is possessed by each. Thus, for example,
each says, My Church, and rightly ; and
yet each one does not possess it for him-
self alone, nor can he separate a part of
it for his own special use ; but it belongs
equally to the whole congregation. The
way to God's worship is free and open to
all; all can hear, sing, pray, and be
blessed, and, therefore, no member has
less because another has more. Thus it
is also in the kingdom of the love and
grace of God. The fountain of divine
grace is not a little scanty spring, but an
inexhaustible stream, on whose banks all
may stand and draw, and none need suffer
thirst because others drink.

To each of His true servants and chil-
dren the Lord says, as the father did to

The Prodigal Son. 199

his elder son : " All that I have is thine."
If any then is in want, and thinl^s that
he has not enough, he is in want, as is
the elder son here, not in God, but in his
own narrow, grudging heart.

What effect the father's words produced
upon the elder son, is not related, because
it was also yet uncertain whether the
scribes and the Pharisees might not also
be w^on to repentance, which was as much
needed by them as by the publicans and
harlots.

The Lord also does not say that he refused
to the last to come in, or that he was
finally excluded ; but He only gives us a
hint, that as yet the kingdom of God was
not closed against the Pharisees ; and that
they too, as well as the sinners, were invited
to abandon their low, poor, and formal
righteousness, and to enter into the glori-
ous liberty of the kingdom of Christ.
" Even so we, when we were children,

200 The Prodigal Son.

were in bondage under the elements of
the world; but when the fulness of the
time was come^, God sent forth his son^
made of a woman^ made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law^
that we might receive the adoption of
sons." ^ Therefore they were invited to
be present at that spiritual festival, where
the shadows of the old covenant were
changed into the realities of the new
covenant in Christ.

It is true^ but few of the Jews believed
on Christ/ and dreadful was the judgment
of God^ which was visited upon them on
this account^ in the destruction of Jeru-
salem. A few only came with the Gen-
tile world to the great festival of recon-
ciliation. Had the Gentiles been sent for
a time into " the field/' that is^ had they
been placed under the law^ it would have
been quite different ; but that they should
be brought at once from the service of

* Gal. 4 : 3-5.

The Prodigal Son. 201

sin into the festival of reconciliation^ —
this was more than the Jews could bear.

Others^ who were mistaken^ looked in
upon this festival of reconciliation, that
is, of the gospel; or, like the Ebionites,
pretended to go in, but as soon as they
discovered that they met together with
those who were formerly Gentiles, pre-
sently withdrew themselves again.

We, who are of Gentile descent, must
not forget that the whole matter has been
reversed, and that we are in danger of
acting like the elder son. For the time
is coming, when the Jews, who are now
without, who are now feeding upon husks
far away from their Father's house, will
acknowledge Christ and come joyfully to
the festival of the gospel, when we shall
be in danger of falling into the sin of the
elder brother, through our own narrow
righteousness.

Wherefore we have given us here
18-^' o

202 The PRODiaAL Son.

5. An Earnest Warning against Self -right'
eousness.

The man who is restrained from ex-
ternal vices by the law^ is disposed to
think himself to be better than other
men, and easily glorifies himself, as the
elder son, saying : ^^ Lo ! these many years
do I serve thee ; neither transgressed I at
any time thy commandment." What
blindness, — ^what pride! And yet, how
many men are there not, at the present
day, who glory in their honesty, and in
their civil rectitude, but know nothing of
the spirit of love !

A Rabbi says : ^^ If there are only three
righteous persons in the world, they are
myself and my two sons ; if only two,
myself and my oldest son j if only one,
myself"

Thus do self-righteous Christians also
think and speak. No one can speak evil

The Prodigal Son. 203

of us ; we have not murdered ; we do not
steal;, nor rob^ nor deceive; we do not
lead dissolute lives ; we are industrious ;
we care for those of our own household ;
we give to every one his due ; we go to
Church, w^e pray, we give alms, &c.
And many go contented into eternity in
such great blindness.

" Lo ! these many years do I serve thee ;
neither transgressed I at any time thy
commandment."

Who of us can honestly and truly say
this ? The best man on earth is defective
and imperfect, and has nothing to glory
in but his own weakness. Paul says ;
" Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect ; but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for
which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended ; but this one thing I
do, forgetting those things which are be-

204 The Prodigal Son.

hind^ and reaching forth unto those things
which are before, I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus." "^ And in reference to the
woman taken in adultery, Christ says :
^^He that is without sin among you, let
him first cast a stone at her." f

There are also some among the various
Christian denominations, vv^ho are full of
the spirit of the elder son ; who still enter-
tain the thought, that they are much
better than all other Christians. We
would only remind these of the Phari-
see, who went up to the temple to pray,
and thanked God that he was not ^^as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adul-
terers, or even as this publican." J

He imagined, because he had avoided
gross outbreaks of vice, that he lacked

* Philippians 3 : 12-15. f John 8 : 1.

J Luke 18 : 11, 12.

The Prodigal Son. 205

nothing. Whilst the publican felt and
confessed his burden of sin^ and went
justified to his house, the Pharisee lacked
all feeUng of sin^ all love, as well as all
humility.

Such persons do not pray for the par-
don of their sins^ nor yet for grace ; nei-
ther did Christ come into the world for
such, but He came to seek the lost, to
save sinners^ as He Himself says : " They
that be whole need not a physician^ but
they that are sick." Wherefore He warned
the Pharisees^ and solemnly declared :
^' Except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Phari-
sees, ye shall in no case enter into the
kingdom of heaven."

In like manner He also warns us against
narrow self-righteousness, which has no
worth before God. Let us take our places,
therefore, among penitent sinners, and
pray to God that He may preserve us in

206 The Prodigal Son.

the faith^ and that Christ may be and re-
main our righteousness, ever remembering
that

''Pray'r is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

'^Pray'r is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear ;
The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.

**Pray'r is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try ;
Pray'r is the sublimest strains that reach
The majesty on high.

**Pray'r is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
His watchword at the gate of death —
He enters heav'n with pray'r.

*^ Pray'r is the contrite sinner's voice
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice,
And cry, ^'Behold, he prays."

The Prodigal Son. 207

But some one may say : " Why should
I despair? The thief on the cross was
saved at the hast hour." Ah ! in that
narrative of sacred history there is some-
thing most alarming. That record was
made, that none might despair, and but
one such is found in the Bible, that none
may dare presume. The husbandman, in
autumn and winter, will in vain implore
the Almighty to grant him a crop, after
he has foolishly squandered and slept
away his seed-time and summer, and
planted and cultivated not his grounds.
Or you may say : " There are not many,
but only a few who have so deeply fallen
into sin." This may be true, but all can
fall so deeply, and sin so much and so
greatly.

All misery and sin is possible from the
first departure from God ; they are the
natural consequences of such departure ;
and if we have not fallen so deeply, we

208 The Prodigal Son.

must attribute it to the restraining grace
of God. In this parable the Lord per-
mits the sinner to go as it were to the
gates of hell ; and without this^ the parable
would be imperfect^ and not a parable for
all sinners, and would fail to show that
man can still return to God from the
greatest departures and sins. '' Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white
as snow ; though they be red like crim-
son, they shall be as wool." "^

6. The Retrospect and Exhortation,

1. When a pilgrim stands at the end
of his journey, he looks back once more in
spirit over the way he has travelled, and
he reflects once more upon the joys ex-
perienced, the dangers escaped, and asks
himself earnestly. What have I learned ?

We have come to the end of our medi-

* Isaiah 1:18.

The Prodigal Son. 209

tations on this parable. What profit and
blessing have we received from them?
Would that we might, upon this retrospect,
experience the blessed joy of the Prodigal
Son after his return to his father's house,
and be able to say, We are in our Father's
house, we are God's children ; and at the
same time feel the desire to remain in our
Father's house until our end on earth.
Every one who reads this parable, cannot
but pity the unfortunate one. His sad
fate appeals to our hearts, and awakens
in us feelings of the deepest sympathy.
But this is not all that our Lord wishes
to accomplish by this parable. We should
not regard the Prodigal Son as a stranger,
but each one should regard himself as the
Prodigal Son, each one should read his own
history in the history of this son, each one
see himself in this picture. We should
see in his apostasy our own apostasy from
19

210 The PEODiaAL Son.

God^ our own sins against God^ and our
own misery without God.

This story of the Prodigal Son may have
moved us even to tears^ but mere tears
are not conversion. It may have aroused
us to make pious resolutions^ but these
are not complete repentance. If we have
truly turned from our sins to our God and
Father, then we have also been really
improved and blessed.

2. My friend, are you still a prodigal
son, wandering from God, your heavenly
Father ? If so, then hear, God is calling
you to honor and happiness. He gives
you opportunity, and exhorts you to
surrender yourself to Him. Hear His
voice in Nature around you. It proclaims
to you. There is a God. It preaches law
and order. Hear God's voice within your-
self. He speaks to you through reason
and conscience. Hear His voice in the

The Prodigal Son. 211

doctrines of Jesus and in His works. His
life, death, resurrection, and ascension to
the Father. It speaks to you throughout
the whole Bible; it is brought near to
your heart and feelings in the Lord's
Supper.

You hear His voice when parents,
teachers^ friends exhort you by word and
example to practise wisdom, virtue, and
godliness. You hear it in every pleasure.
It says. Hear and be thankful !

It calls to you loudly in suffering and
in death, in order that your heart may
be softened. Do not despise it. Come !
Partake of the blessedness that God offers
you. Become a follower of Jesus on earth,
and then a happy spirit in heaven.

** Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore,

Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and power ;

He is able ; He is able ;

He is willing ; doubt no more.

212 The Prodigal Son.

'' Come, ye weary, heavy laden,

Lost and ruin'd by the fall ;
If ye tarry till ye 're better,

Ye will never come at all ;
Not the righteous; not the righteous;
Sinners Jesus came to call.''

In the tender and affectionate addresses
which Jesus spoke to His disciples shortly
before His crucifixion^ He declared that the
most intimate and vital relation existed
between Himself and His disciples^, — a
relation that no power, not even that of
death, could break up.

If, therefore, this relation exists not
only in time, but also extends to eternity,
how many spirits in heaven must be con-
cerned about our temporal and eternal
welfare !

Perhaps a beloved departed father, or
a dear mother, who have here on earth
often prayed in tears for yon., prodigal
son, or for you^ prodigal daughter, that

The Prodigal Son. 213

you might be brought to walk in the way
of virtue and godliness.

Or a brother^ a sister^ a friend, or a
beloved child^ who call to you from the
spirit- worlds by all that is holy^ to strive
after your salvation^ in order that you
may also dwell with them in the eternal
glory of heaven.

Therefore think of your pious parents^
and of your happy departed children^ who
were so dear to you^ and repent^ return
to God^ that you may find them again in
the land of blessed immortality.

'' Hark ! heard ye not a sound
Sweeter than the wild-bird^s note, or minstrePs

lay?
I know that music well, for night and day
I hear it echoing round.

**It is the tuneful chime
Of spirit voices! — 'tis my infant band
Calling the mourner from this darkened land
To joy's unclouded clime.
19*

214 The Prodigal Son.

'^ My beautiful, my blest !
I see them there/' surround the heavenly " throne ;
With winning words, and fond beseeching tone
They woo me to my rest."

'' What mercy^ if the death of a child
prove the life of the parent !"

3. Children J my earnest prayer for you
is^ that God may keep you from the ways
of sin !

But if any one of you should wander
from the right path^ then hear the voice
of love calling you to return. God gave
His son to you ; Christ died upon the cross
for you J that you might not be lost for
God, for the Savior, for the Church, for
yourself.

Doubt not. Have confidence towards
God in Jesus Christ. Seek grace ! God
will permit you to find Him.

Oh youth ! consider the dangers of
youth, of frivolity, of self-will, and of
seeking after independence ; they will

The Prodigal Son. 215

work your ruin, if you do not resist them.
It is a favor of God, that sin makes men
miserable. From it proceeds repentance,
from repentance return, and from return
salvation.

Remain faithful to God. Never depart
from Him, and you will have a great ad-
vantage. He that is recovered is also
happy ; but he never can be as happy as
you, if you remain faithful to God.

4. And if you see a man who has
fallen, perhaps deep and terribly fallen,
do not cast him off. Jesus received sin-
ners ; do you also receive them. Extend
your hand to the fallen. Perhaps you
may be able to raise him up again, to give
him again to God, and to his Savior.

*'If a soul thou would'st redeem,

And lead a lost one back to God —
Would'st thou a guardian angel seem
To one who long in guilt has trod —

216 The Prodigal Son.

Go kindly to him — take his hand
With gentlest words, within thine own,

And by his side a brother stand,
Till all the demons thou dethrone."

Has such an one injured you? Then
forgive^ as God forgives^, and as you hope
to be forgiven. Rejoice^ as the angels re-
joice over a sinner that repenteth. Your
joy in heaven will be increased by the
consciousness of having helped a soul
back to God and happiness.

5. No condition is more dangerous^ than
that in which a man believes that he is
already good enough^ and says^ If only all
were as good as I am ! Such a person
does not go forward ; on the other hand^
this vain imagination causes him to lose
the goodness which he possesses ; for he
looks down in pride upon others^ who are^
perhaps^ better than he is.

How many know anything of the re-
pentance of the Prodigal Son from their

The Prodigal Son. 217

own experience ? We were once^ all of
us^ prodigal sons and daughters^ and are
yet^ if we have not returned to our Father.

Oh man ! thou who still livest without
God and Christy be moved to return
speedily with the Prodigal Son to God^
your heavenly Father.

Consider^ that repentance and the re-
newal of the Holy Ghost must be ex-
perienced by you, or death, eternal death,
will follow, as the reward of your sinful
life !

God has prepared in Jesus Christ every-
thing necessary to secure the salvation of
your soul; all the means of grace are
freely offered and brought nigh to you.

You have the Bible, that sacred volume,
w^hicb, to use the words of Locke, has
'' God for its author, salvation for its end,
and truth, without any mixture of error,
for its contents," in which the way to
heaven is pointed out to you ; you have
p

218 The Prodigal Son,

prayer, by which you can speak with
God, and lay your wants before Him ;
you have the baptism of regeneration,
the Lord's Supper, and the Church, as the
bearer of all these means of grace, and
as the hospital for your sin-sick soul.

Why do you stand without before the
door, where sorrow oppresses you, where
you can have no real joy, no true satis-
faction ? Without, where the cares of life,
the lusts of the world, and sin, hold you
fast, and consume you. Go, go within,
into your Father's house, into Christ's
kingdom, into the covenant of believers,
that you also may be one of the blessed
of the Lord. Yes, let all come in, who
mourn over their sins, and weep over
their misery! Fear not! Trust in the
love of God, who calls you, who draws
you, who wills that you also shall be
saved ! He will receive you with joy.
This is the gospel of glad tidings which

The Prodigal Son. 219

is preached in His name. So soon as you
renounce the world and sin, a friendly
welcome will greet you from the house
of the Father, and your return to God
will be the way to the most blessed joys.

You will transform a wilderness into a
Paradise. You will escape a curse to in-
herit a blessing. You will press through
death to eternal life. Is there a more
blessed change? Therefore, come, taste,
and see, that the Lord is gracious. He
receives sinners, and makes them happy
for time and eternity !

God the Father stands ready to receive
you as his prodigal son or his prodigal
daughter !

Jesus Christ, the son of God, is ready
to speak pardon and peace to your sin-
stricken soul !

The spirit of God is ready to sanctify
you and to seal God's holiness in you.

The preacher of your congregation is

220 The Prodigal Son.

ready^ as the ambassador of Christy again
to receive you !

The wedding garment is ready^ and
you are heartily welcome to receive it !

The Church is ready again to receive
you as a son or a daughter!

Angels are ready to proclaim the glad
tidings of your repentance in heaven, and
all heaven is ready to echo, ^^ The dead is
alive, the lost is found !" Amen.

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