THE PRODIGAL SON.

LUKE XV. 32.

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

THESE words conclude the parable of the Prodigal Son. A parable, for its variety of incidents,. and the affecting manner in which they are related, remarkably beautiful, even in the letter of it. A younger fon, gay and thoughtlefs, as youth often is, grown weary of being in the house and under the direction of a kind and tender father, defires to have his fortune configned over to him, that he may go out into the world, and manage for himfelf. Having obtained his request, he immediately makes use of the fo much wifhed for liberty and independency, quits the habitation of his father, and takes his journey into a far country. Here, falling into bad company, and strong temptations, he found his good refolutions presently staggered; and his old principles not being firmly fixed, and having no fupport, foon gave way to a fet of new ones, better adapted to the times, and the fafhion of the country he was now in. Loofe practices were the neceffary confequence of false principles; and as the paths of fin are not only flippery, but all upon the defcent too, he fell from one wicked

nefs

aefs to another, plunged into all manner of riot. and debauchery, and spent the laft farthing. To complete his mifery, there arofe at that time a. mighty famine in the land where he was; and he was soon at a lofs where to get a piece of bread. Nay, to fo great extremity was he driven by the violence of the famine, that having been forced to fub-. mit to the very abject employment of feeding fwine, he tried in vain to fatisfy the cravings of nature, with the dry and empty husks that the fwine did eat. Thefe had nothing in them fit to nourish the human body. Hungry and thirfty, his foul fainted in him, and there was no man that took any · thought or care about him. The affliction was fharp; but the cafe required it; and now it began to work the intended cure. For by this time the fense of his mifery had, through God's grace, brought him to a fenfe of his folly, from which that mifery flowed; and when he was ftarving at night in the fields with cold and hunger, he could not help thinking of the happy fouls he had left behind him in his father's houfe, where there was joy, and comfort, and plenty of every thing. In that house he was once a beloved fon. But his wickedness had been too great to fuffer him to hope he fhould ever be owned there again in that capacity. Tribulation is the school of humility, and an excellent school it is. For by it the man whose pride and gaiety of heart were fuch, that he could not bear to stay in the house where he was a fon, became fo very meek and fubmiffive, that to be in that fame house as an hired fervant, was now the utmost of his wifhes. Nay, he hardly could bring himself to hope, that his father would take him in again, even as a fervant. In fear and trembling therefore he arofe, and returned to him whofe

face

face he was yet afraid, though fo defirous to feeBut lo, the bowels of the good old man yearned after his loft child, and he was continually looking out for him; fo that at his return, he saw him while he was yet a great way off; and with an heart overflowing with love and joy, ran forth to meet him, embraced him in his arms, fell upon his neck, and kiffed him. He would hardly ftay to hear his humiliation of himself, and confeffion of his unworthiness, but ordered his fervants instantly to produce the best robe, and put it upon him, and to put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and to bring forth the fatted calf, and kill it, that they might eat and be merry. All this was accordingly done, and now there was nothing to be heard but mufic and melody, and the voice of joy and thankfulness, in that house. But the elder brother, who had lived with the father, and happened at this time to be abroad in the field, about his bufinefs, coming home and drawing near to the house, was furprised with the noise of mufic and dancing; and calling one of the fervants out, he asked what it meant? The fervant told him, that his long loft brother was come home again, and that his father had killed the fatted calf, because he had received him safe and found. Upon this, instead of participating in the common joy, he fuffered pride and envy to get poffeffion of his heart; he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and intreated him; to whom he complained, that having ferved him fo long, without tranfgreffing at any time his commandments, he had never had fo much as a kid given him, that he might make merry with his friends with his friends; but as foon as this other fon was come, who had devoured his living with harlots, the fatted calf had been killed for

him.

!

him. Son (fays the good old man to him) thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine, so that thou mayest have a feast at any time, or rather indeed haft a continual feast; but furely, upon fuch an extraordinary occafion as this, it was meet that we should make merry, and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was loft, and is found.

Such is the parable of the Prodigal Son, according to the letter. Let us now endeavour to difcover the spirit and interpretation of this beautiful: parable.

"A certain man had two fons.'

This father is

God himself, the father of both Jew and Gentile, reprefented here, as in many other places, under the figure of the two fons. The Jew is confidered in Scripture as the elder; the Gentile as the younger. For thus, the rejection of the Jew, and the acceptance of the Gentile, were fhewed forth by the rejection of Cain, and the acceptance of Abel; the rejection of Ishmael, and the acceptance of Ifaac; the rejection of Efau, and the acceptance of Jacob. These two fons, Jew and Gentile, at the begin-. ning, lived together in their father's houfe, that is, the church, which (as fays St Paul) is "the house of the living God." There, under their father's immediate protection, they partook alike of the divine promises and facred fervices, and had all things. common; and there was, for fome time, no difference between them.

"But the younger fon faid unto 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, he gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and spent his. fubftance with riotous living." In thefe words is

described:

1

described the departure of the Gentiles from God, who having conferred his divine promifes, and in them the riches of the kingdom of heaven, on all alike, is faid to have " divided his living between his two fons." The elder, the Jew, continued with him in the church. This we know by the hiftory of Abraham and his pofterity, till the coming of Chrift. But the younger, the Gentile, growing weary of the fervice of God, and fond of independency, and the liberty of making his own religion, gathered together all the talents and abilities bestowed upon him, with the knowledge he had acquired from the divine revelations and inftitutions," and took his journey into a far country," in other words, he went out from the prefence of God in his church, and in his heart departed far from the Lord. Whence we often find the Gentiles fpoken of, under the phrafe, "Thofe that are A FAR OFF." Thus this poor filly prodigal became (as St Paul ftiles him)" an alien from the commonwealth of Ifrael, a ftranger from the covenants of promife, having no hope, and without God in the world." The promises and services carried off by him were applied to falfe objects ;. and he foon " wafted his substance," the riches of his understanding, "in riotous living," and devoured his eftate, the means by which his fpirit was to be supported, with harlots; in a word he fell into idolatry, which not only is itself spiritual fornication, but opened a door to all manner of lafcivioufnefs, by introducing it even into the temples and services of the gods. For which reafon St Paul clofely connects them in his account of this very tranfaction, the apoftacy of the nations, Rom. i. "They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image-WHEREFORE God also gave them

up