"And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want." And so will each one find, who, turning away from God, has drawn his pleasures from the things of the world. These cannot satisfy the longings of the immortal mind even could they last; but they do not and cannot last. A famine comes, when the poor cheated soul is far off from God, and he begins to feel his want. He finds out that the things for which he forsook his Father's love, are but wretchedness and misery, and that it is an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord his God.

66

There is no need of outward loss or mishap to bring on this sort of famine. Every earthly thing he has, may abound more and more. A man's friends may consider him very rich, and think that he must be, or ought to be, very happy, and yet the feeling of want creeps upon his soul; and in the midst of worldly goods, he still cries out, "who will shew us any good?" When the famine in the parable came on, and the prodigal began to be in want, he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine." He was in want, but he had no thought as yet of return. He put himself farther than ever from his home, for he joined himself to one who was a citizen of the far-off land, one who naturally and entirely belonged to it. Small help he found. It was different from what it had been when others could help the prodigal "to waste his substance in riotous living," and share with him his pleasures. Now he wanted comfort--the citizen had none to give; he wanted money and food-he sent him into his fields to feed his swine, the vilest, and to a Jew, the most accursed of all employments; but the prodigal was an hungered, " and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat." No doubt he might have done this,-perhaps he did; but the food of beasts will not satisfy the wants of man.*

*The animals in the countries round the Mediterranean Sea, are chiefly fed

Then follows that mournful, touching line, "and no man gave unto him." None. He had been cared for in his father's house, but now he was in a far-off land; not brought there by duty, for then a blessing would have followed him, the feeling of home would have kept him from such depths of wretchedness; but he was among strangers, whom he had sought because their vicious tastes were like his own, and now that he was in sorrow and in want, no man gave unto him."

The whole picture in this parable is wonderful in its strong yet simple truth. It plainly shows what sin is, and what its punishment; for all sin, whether of a greater or lesser sort, is a turning away of the heart from God, and brings with it its sure punishment, the miserable feeling of wretchedness and want. It sets before us this deepest truth-that none but God can satisfy the longing of an immortal soul-that as the heart was made for Him, so He only can fill it.

It may be thought that this parable only shows the history of open and daring sinners. It is true that in the prodigal we see the picture of one who goes the farthest lengths in profligate wickedness, and that few fall so low as he did; but all may fall as low. When the heart wearies of the service of God, who can say what shall follow? What then is to be done? How prevent the first turning away from Him when the temptation arises? Our hearts are so desperately wicked, that thoughts of discontent, and weariness, and discouragement, will sometimes come, we know not how. What must we do? Pray them down. Ask God for "the healthful spirit of His grace." Look for active, zealous employment in His service, remembering that His loving-kindness is so great that He looks upon the

upon the pods of the Carob tree, the fruit of which is like a large bean-pod, curved almost into the shape of a sickle. This useful tree grows plentifully in some of the northern parts of Italy, near Nice, and its fruit is there the usual food of the horses.

commonest duties of life as His service, provided they be done for His sake and to forward His will.*

What is the prodigal but a true picture of the sinner's downward, miserable course? He may begin by using sinful pleasure as a servant, that it may minister to his happiness; soon he will find himself its slave, and an unpaid slave, for he will receive nothing in return but weariness and disgust; and the world, to whom he has sacrificed himself, cares nothing for him; but when misfortune has come, will trample on him. Each one who has so done, and so suffered, may truly say when he has looked for comfort from the companions of his days of sinful pleasure, that " no man gave unto him."

Prayer.

"And no man gave unto him." But thou wilt give. Oh thou who art the hope of fallen man, the treasure of his happiness. With thee there is pardon and peace for the wearied soul who turns from the husks of the world to thee. We bless thee, we adore thee, that we cannot be happy without thee. Our hearts were made for thee, and thy love must fill them, or we shall ever be in want. Oh holy Jesus, beloved Lord! how great is

*The sick may say, "How can I do this? I am laid on my weary bed, pain of body, and distress of mind beat my spirit down. Glad would I be to rise, and in God's service do my daily duties, but I have none, for I am not able for any, and though I have known God to be my Father, hard thoughts of Him will rise in my mind: I am worn out with waiting for relief, and none is coming. I fear that soon it will be found my heart has turned quite away, and that though I cannot stir from my bed, my thoughts and wishes have left my Father's house, and are seeking for comfort in a land far off from Him."

Oh say not so, yours is the hardest service of all, and therefore must have the best reward. If you will but "trust Him for His grace" He will help you to bear in patience. The sick child is the dearest to its parent, and you will be God's best beloved, if you will glorify Him on your bed of sickness, shewing to all, that even in your sad case there is a joy which pain cannot hinder,-the joy of being the child of God. Even amidst your sufferings you are happier than the prodigal was when he sat among the swine, "and no man gave unto him."

thy kindness thus to show us that if, like the poor prodigal, we seek for pleasure far from our father's house, we do but kill our joy. Thou art our friend, and we have none besides Thee. Oh help us in our time of need. When thou seest the first rising discontent, chase it away by thy good Spirit. Shed the feeling of thy love like the morning light upon our souls, and the darkening cloud shall flee away. Hear us, O our God, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

[When divided here, read again from 11th to 16th verse.]

PART III.

The prodigal sat alone in his misery. The companions of his days of riot came not near him. The swine feeding around him were the only living creatures with whom he had now to do; and was it for this he had left the loves and friendships of his home?-of his father's house? How long he sat pondering on his misery we know not: but he was no citizen of that far-off country, and thoughts of his home came back upon his mind. Why had he left it? It was that he might lead a life of pleasure, and the end of it was this-hungry and wretched he sits among the swine! "He came to himself," yes, to himself, to his better nature, which in his childhood had been happily to rest on his father's love, and know no higher good than his kindness. With the thoughts of home came back a thousand recollections of all the happiness and kindliness he had left behind him. He saw his madness and his sin. Then he spoke, "How many servants of my father's house 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, and am no more

worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants."

Oh blessed sorrow, how blessed is thy work when God teaches by thee!

The prodigal now not only feels that he has been a fool,* but that he has sinned against his God; and this is the sign and seal of his having come to himself; for man is created to love and serve God, and each outbreak of his own may hurt himself, and wound the hearts of others, but its worst character is that it is sin against God. The sinner has not come to himself till the Spirit of God has made him to know and feel that the end for which he was created, is, "to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever."+

The prodigal remembers that he is still a son, but he feels that he is no longer worthy of being counted as one of his father's own happy family. Glad will he be if he is allowed to return as a servant in the household, which he so rashly left. If he may but serve where once he lived the master's son, he will think he has more than he deserves. How has waste and disappointment humbled him!

Let us not in the interest of the story lose the spiritual teaching which the Lord Jesus would carry in this parable to all our hearts.

He shows us by the experience of the prodigal that it is in His great kindness God leaves us to find the fruit of our own misdoings. If we have been as the prodigal was, of God's family, though most unlike in mind and in spirit to the true children of God, yet if we have been of Christian nature and have once shared in Christian privileges-having in baptism received the sign and seal that we are God's-however we may wander into the far countries of sinful pleasure-even of desperate wickedness-we cannot shake off from us the fact that we rightfully belong to our Father's house, and thoughts † See the Scottish Shorter Catechism.

*Luke xii. 21.