"one of thy hired servants.

But the father said "unto his servants, Bring the best robe, and put it

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on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on "his feet. It is meet that we should rejoice; for "this my son was dead, and is alive again, he was "lost, and is found."

May these words, which no human imagination could have conceived, and which no human tongue could frame, be verified to you, my brethren, and to every penitent heart that now beats amid this wide and dangerous world! May the Spirit of that tender and compassionate Saviour who pronounced them, descend upon all your souls, and visit you with all his consolations, and strengthen you with all his grace! And in these hours of religious preparation, may the circumstances of this invaluable parable teach you what is the Mercy of God, and what are the Duties of MAN!

SERMON XX.

ON THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON.

LUKE IV. 11.

"And he said, A certain man had two sons-'

OUR meetings at this season, my brethren, are the most solemn and the most affecting which our religion prescribes. We come from all the secret chambers of pious meditation, where we have been communing in sadness with our hearts; where memory and conscience have visited us with tidings of sorrow and of shame; and when, in looking back upon the days which are past, the best of us must feel how imperfectly they have corresponded with the hopes and the views with which they began. And we now enter this house with no sentiments but those of humiliation,-to confess before God the errours of our ways, to implore his forgiveness for all that is past, to express our wishes and our purposes of amendment,—and to pray for that assistance from Heaven which cannot be given us by men.

It is in these moments, humble and contrite as they are, and gloomy as they appear to a superficial world, that Heaven most peculiarly descends to meet us.--It is at this sacred season that the Son of God comes as it were again, with all the promises of his Gospel

upon his lips, to tell us to be" of good cheer, for "that he can make us whole ;"-to point to that sacrifice which has made a "final atonement for the sins "of all them that are penitent;" and to display to our grateful view the mighty Father, whose paternal eye has never left us amid all our wanderings, and who now comes forward, as it were, with extended arms, to animate us to pursue our journey to our real home. Amid the melancholy and the contrition of the past season, it is a moment that meets us like the dream of the Patriarch in the Wilderness, when, amid the darkness of the night," he saw a "ladder as it were let down from Heaven, and an"gels of mercy descending upon it," to cheer him amid all his doubts and his fears; and to open to him the lofty scene where faith and obedience were finally to close. May this be the effect of these sacred moments upon all our souls! and may we so gather around the altar where the human nature of our Saviour is laid, that in his greater capacity, as the High Priest of his people, he may pronounce the forgiveness of all our sins!

To prepare us for the solemnities of this season, I availed myself of that portion of Scripture which applies so nearly to our condition,-the parable of the prodigal and the penitent son. We have seen thè errours of the young man ;-we have seen the love and the pity of the father;-and still more, that blessed termination of the story which gives to our weak and fallen nature, its fairest and its highest

hopes. I am at present to close the subject, by leading you to consider the Character of this penitent ;-the sentiments which procured him pardon,and the conduct which led him to his home. It is here, my brethren, that the story is most essentially useful to us; and as there are none of us who must not be conscious of some departure from our father, there are none of us who are not interested in learning what is the path by which we also may hope to

return.

1. The first thing then observable, in this view, in the character of this young man, is the simplicity and entireness of his Repentance. In the picture that is given of him and of his sorrow, there is no subterfuge, no apology, no hypocrisy. When he comes to himself, he feels all his misery and unworthiness, and he confesses it. He looks about for no argument. He states no example to apologize to himself for his sins. The memory of what he was,— the consciousness of what he is,-the feeling of what he ought to be, are all that his mind is capable of. It is here we see the beginning of his salvation. The spirit of God has found him, and he obeys its voice. Though sinful, though miserable, though bowed down by shame and sorrow, he is not yet lost; his original nature revives; amid these troubled waters, the purity of his soul is renewed; and the agony he suffers, is the kindly throe of nature, which struggles to deliver itself from the load by which it was oppressed. Can there be to us a stronger representation of true repentance? Can there be a more

convincing evidence of the merciful purposes which it is intended to serve? and, when we contemplate it, do we not feel the truth of the lofty assertion of the prophet, "That the high and holy One that in"habiteth eternity dwelleth" upon earth, most chiefly "in the humble and the contrite heart ?"

There is yet another observation which arises from this part of the story of the prodigal. It is on the dignity and amiableness of repentance. We have seen him in various lights,—we have seen him with indignation in the midst of his vices ;-we have seen him with pity indeed, but yet with satisfaction, when punishment overtakes him. It is now, and now only, that we begin to look upon him with love. In the blessed moment when he says, "I will arise and "return to my father," his character begins to open and to expand upon us. We see virtues which have hitherto been buried, awakening into life, we trust he may yet be worthy and be happy; and we follow his story with renewed hope, and with deeper interest.

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-My penitent brethren! let me implore you thus to look upon yourselves.-Such is the light in which you also appear to all who are good and wise on earth,—to all who are great and glorious in Heaven. The hour in which you too say, "I will arise" from the errours into which I have fallen,---is the hour in which your character also begins to open and to ex pand in the eyes of religion. The spirits of the just here, and the "spirits of the just who are now made "perfect," follow your steps with deeper interest, and Heaven opens its everlasting gates to invite you to

come in.