SERMON XVIII.

ON THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON.*

LUKE XV. 11.

"And he said, A certain man had two sons."

Of the various seasons of devotion which our religion prescribes, the season of Lent is at once the most solemn and the most salutary. From the dangers and the temptations of the world, it summons us to solitude and meditation, and from the deluding voice of man, to listen to the voice of God. Over the wide extent of the Christian world, it reminds us that all the holy and the good are engaged in the same purifying work of self-examination; and while we "commune with our hearts in our chambers," and are still," the Son of God seems again to des"cend from heaven, to seek and to save those that "are lost."

Upon such a season, my Christian brethren, we have now entered. The voice of our religion invites us, with a tone which has in it more of tenderness than of command, to thought and recollection. It tells us, that things more valuable than all that time includes, are now at stake. It reminds us that years are passing, and that we are all passing to our

* Preached in Lent.

graves;-that the seasons which are given may never return; that "now" to all of us may be the time accepted by heaven: And there are none of us, 1 am sure, who do not feel, that were such a season devoted to its genuine ends we should close it by being wiser, and happier, and better.

The great duty of this season is that of Repentance, the first duty of every fallen being; and, to all of us, the first indispensable condition of that pardon which the Son of God hath purchased for mankind. It is for the excitement and encouragement of this momentous duty, that all the services of our church are at this time adapted; and it is upon the supposition of its sincerity (a supposition which your own hearts alone can justify,) that the great solemnity of the season is properly and effectually to close. "Judge, therefore, yourselves," my brethren, "for "He who alone can justify is that Lord to whom all "hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom 66 no secrets are hid."

Upon the subject of repentance, you know, however, my brethren, that there have been many mistakes; and there are weaknesses incident to human nature, which will ever continue those mistakes, unless the individual has the strength and purity of mind to remedy them for himself. The men of this world will ever be willing to exchange repentance for penance, and to substitute temporary mortification for actual amendment. The visionary and the enthusiastick, on the other hand, will ever be willing to believe that "faith" is more important than "obedi

"ence;" and that all the duties of life may be neglected, provided "the one thing needful" for them

selves be secured.

Between these errours, all of us, my brethren, are placed our constitution, our education, our systems of thought, our habits of society, give us an early bias to one or other, which nothing but serious and continued reflection can correct. And in the present moment, therefore, I know not that I can more usefully occupy your attention, than in leading you from the errours of men to the Fountain of Truth ;—in leading you to see the great doctrine of repentance in the light in which our Saviour has himself placed it, in that ever memorable parable of the Prodigal Son, of which the words of the text are the beginning; and which, therefore, ought ever to be present to our minds, whenever we think or pray for forgiveness. The parable itself must be familiar to all; it is intelligible to the lowest of the human race, while it contains a doctrine of comfort and of animation to which the human race itself could never attain; and, on subjects so solemn, it is wise in us to follow, not the opinions of men, but the simple revelations of the blessed Saviour of the world.

There are, then, three great views which this parable seems to me to involve, and which are peculiarly fitted for our meditation at this season.

1. The first is, the Character of human nature, and the consequent necessity of repentance.

2. The second is, the Character of the great Father of existence, and the purposes of moral punishment.

3. The third is, the nature of genuine repentance, and the rewards which are promised to it.

-It is upon the first of these subjects that I am at this time to offer you some very plain and familiar observations.

The parable itself is a picture of human life,—it is a representation which has been verified in every age since the hour when it was spoken; and there are none of us in the present moment, but must feel that its story is, in some degree, our own.

It

opens with the uniform opening of human life,"A certain man had two sons." It is the picture of that scene in which we all at first wakened upon existence, the scene of obscurity, of innocence, and of protection, the sacred cradle in which all our wants were supplied, and all our wishes gratified, by means of which we were unconscious, and when no desire or passion had as yet occurred to disturb the purity and happiness of the infant spring of being. To the character of this earliest age, our Saviour himself frequently and fondly recurs;--of such he always says, is the "kingdom of Heaven;" and in one memorable passage, when his disciples asked him "who is "the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?" he called

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a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily, I say unto you, except ye "be converted, and become as little children, ye "shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven." To the character of this earliest age, accordingly, there is, as I have often observed to you, a strong tendency

of our imagination to return; nor is it without an important end, for it is thus we are made to compare the past with the present, the progress of our being with its spring, the attainments of our "own "inventions," with the simple instincts of nature when we had no inventions. It is the characteristick of man to look to the past and to the future; and I know not, therefore, my brethren, that there is one subject of meditation more fit or more useful for us all at this time, than to go back to the years of our infancy, to remember what then constituted our happiness and our gayety,—to weigh, whether life has brought us any purer or more heartfelt enjoyment; and (if we find it has not) to consider well what are the causes, that the progress of time has not corresponded to its beginning.

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"And the younger son said unto his father, Father

give me the portion of goods that falleth to me: "And he divided unto them his living." In the desire which these words express, is described the first beginning of all human sin and errour. Out of the secure and innocent cradle of infancy, the youth of man gradually arises with new powers and new desires; ardent for enjoyment, confident in its own wisdom, and disdaining the sober advices of the Father, which tells them, that they are going "into "a stranger land."-Upon this dawn of moral nature how many are the "goods" which the profusion of the Universal Father pours! Upon all, life, and hope, and health, and gay spirits, and generous hearts, and minds unconscious yet of actual wrong;-upon others,