SERMON XLII.

THE PRODIGAL SON.

PART 1.

S. LUKE XV. 11, 12, 13.

"A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them

said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods which falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living."

As years roll away, and we come nearer our latter end, I suppose we all feel more and more, among other serious lessons which God's good Providence is continually teaching us, how much we ought to value these holy seasons and times, in which He calls us nearer to Him, and further away from the world, to humble ourselves in His more immediate Presence. I say, my brethren, as we live longer in the world, we may well feel more and more aware of the preciousness of such times as this, and alas! more and more ashamed of the way in which too commonly we have hitherto trifled them away. This sort of penitent feeling, I am sure must be good both for you and for me. We should encourage it, if we have it if we

have it not, we should pray God of His great mercy to put it in our hearts. We should seek and try, in every way, to make this Lent, which is fast passing away, a blessed time, a time of penitence and prayer. It has come into my mind that we may find help in this necessary work by considering together, as carefully and reverently as we can, some portion of Holy Scripture, when we assemble here on the Friday evenings of Lent. And the portion which I have thought of is the parable of the prodigal son, in the fifteenth chapter of S. Luke: which parable contains in short a whole Gospel for the penitent sinner; good tidings of great joy for us all: the very salvation of our souls, if we will lay it to heart. But, as I said, we must consider it together. Both I who read or speak, and you who come to hear, must be minding what is said, and inwardly in our hearts endeavouring to be the better for it: else we shall both lose our blessing.

Let us then consider together what Christ would teach us by this most merciful parable: and in doing so it will be convenient to divide the parable into so many portions, and take one portion for each of the Fridays in Lent: that so, if it pleases our heavenly Teacher, we may be the fitter and readier to kneel down under His Cross on that best and greatest Friday.

I suppose that we many of us know in general the substance of the parable of the prodigal son. But I will read it over to you out of S. Luke's Gospel. And as many as can, I advise them to turn to it in their own Testaments, and look it over as I read. It will much help their attention and understanding, both now and on other evenings. "A certain man had

And when he had mareesmshey tamine in that land: and

be becna to be in vent And le vent and voined humself to a ettiren t that ountry; and he sent lum into Dera della to feed swine. and he wenli fin lave fei is belly with the basks that the swine id eat: and no man mve unto him. Ani vien le came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread nough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will rise and zo 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. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way of 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 musick 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. And he was angry, and would not go in therefore came his father out, and intreated 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."

An attentive person will readily perceive that the history here related by our Lord divides itself into five parts. The first, tells us how the son became prodigal: the second, how miserable he made himself; the third, how he returned to his father; the fourth, how his father received him; the fifth, how his brother complained, and how he was answered. These five parts seem to contain in them the whole blessed doctrine and discipline of Christian repent

ance.

The first part, which tells us how the son became a prodigal, begins at the eleventh verse, and goes on to the end of the thirteenth. "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 gathered all

together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living."

By the Father, of course, is meant Almighty God, "of Whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named," Who with impartial love and kindness vouchsafed in the beginning to be the Father both of Jews and Gentiles: of His own people and of strangers; and again, Who made Himself by Holy Baptism the Father both of those who should abide with Him, and of those who should fall away from Him: just as this father in the parable was the father alike both of the one son and of the other; of him who turned out wild, and of him who stayed quietly at home. Earthly parents cannot of course know how their children will turn out: no wonder if they look with equal fondness on the one and on the other: on him who shall afterwards prove reprobate, as on him who will be the comfort of their old age. But Almighty God our heavenly Father, He knows beforehand, He knows from the beginning, all the sins, negligences and ignorances by which so many of His children would grieve Him and dishonour His name, and yet He did not the less adopt them for His children. He knew, before we were born, how many things we should do to affront Him, how we should set at nought His plain commandments, and scorn His gracious ordinances; how we should dislike His House and grow weary of His Presence, what perverse pleasure we should too often take in following after His enemy, and spoiling His work. Yet for all this He loved us and chose us in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world, that we should not be heathens, but Christians: not strangers, but