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a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But how different is your behaviour to this spendthrift son of yours,-whom I will not condescend to call my brother, so much am I ashamed of him! As soon as he makes his appearance, even though you know that he has squandered your property in the very worst haunts of dissipation,-among harlots,— you are not satisfied with giving him a common welcome, but you have killed for him the fatted calf." The gentleness, and, if I may so call it, the submissive remonstrance, of the father, appear to great advantage in contrast with the tone of expostulation in which his son had ventured to address him. His answer bespoke the kind and considerate parent, and was calculated, by its justness, to allay the irritation of an over-excited mind, and make it perfectly submissive to its own duty, which had, for the moment been forgotten. "Son," said he, "thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." Every thing that I possess is at thy disposal, as to all the means of rational enjoyment. There has been no need of exultation and extraordinary conviviality, on behalf of one who is a constant sharer of my every-day comforts, and of whose society I have never been deprived. But it certainly is not only excusable, but right, "that we should make merry and be glad" on thy brother's account; for, knowing his habits, and regretting his absence, and often ruminating on the extremity of want to which he was in danger of being exposed, I feared that "he was dead," and, indeed,

I thought so;-but my heart is warmed with a father's affection, and I rejoice to find that he "is alive again." "He was lost, and is found."

The answer, indeed, addressed to the elder son, implied more than what I have stated. It intimated, in a moral sense, that the younger had been dead to all virtue and to all the rational purposes of life, and that he had returned to a sense of duty :-for we must remember that when, in the agony of all but despair, he returned to his paternal home, he introduced himself with that most pathetic confession,

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Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son !" He had been thoughtless and prodigal, but not so hardened as to make his father inexcusable for receiving him with compassion and fondness. He had, indeed, "been lost,"-lost to his family, and to all good men ;--but "he was found again," penitent and self-abased, capable of becoming and of continuing good for the future, and, consequently, an object worthy of forgiveness and love.

Happy are the effects of innocence in those who have grace and wisdom to retain it, and delightful it is to every beholder! But happy also are the consequences of true and active repentance to them who, through temptation and through blindness of heart, have been led into sin.

God is the tender and forgiving Father, who is represented in the parable before us; and we, as Christians, are his sons. What further proof can we

want, to convince us, that the doctrines of our Lord Jesus Christ apply no violence to human nature, but, on the contrary, are adapted to our condition, inasmuch as they come from one who "knoweth whereof we are made," and who himself condescended to be "made flesh," "for us men and for our redemption." "It is of his mercy that we are not destroyed; because his compassions fail not." The Holy Gospel impels us gently onward, when we are proceeding in a right course; and it persuasively endeavours to preserve us in that course. When we have deviated from the path of duty, it brings us back with promptness and safety, though without force. It aims not at extinguishing the passions, but at harmonizing and regulating them. It does not attempt to deal indiscriminately with men, without any regard to their characters, but it carefully marks the distinction of character. Its purpose is not to place good men, and bad men upon the same level, but to preserve the good in their integrity, and lead them on to higher degrees of "glory and virtue," and to recal sinners from the error of their ways, that they may be assisted by God's grace, to "work out their salvation." And, surely, it is an object worthy of our heavenly Father's wisdom and goodness, to make a compassionate provision for his fallen creatures, even when, through their own blindness and folly, they depart from the way of his commandments and are beguiled into sin. His Almighty power, suffers no degradation, but, on the contrary, appears in a most

amiable light, when it is exercised "in shewing mercy and pity." Indeed, it is in this light that the Gospel of Christ manifests its divine origin. Our blessed Creator, the Father of spirits treats us with the same tenderness, that an affectionate and judicious parent on earth feels towards the children of his love. He is, indeed, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; and well may we exclaim to him, in the depths of our heartfelt devotion. "Just and true

are thy ways, thou King of saints !''

ance.

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We see, by this parable, as well as by many others, what encouragement the Gospel holds out to repentThe repentance, however, to which it invites us, must be true and unfeigned, and such as is never again "to be repented of," or, in other words, such as we shall adhere to, and employ for the purpose of solid reformation, without changing our minds so as to fall back into sin. It must produce an entire change in the heart,―a newness of life,—a cautious and vigilant guard over ourselves, and a determination to obey, as far as in us lies, the entire will of God. We must take care that our conduct be such, as never to give occasion of lamenting to those good angels who once rejoiced over us as sinners that repented, or to excite indignation in good men, as if the cause of religion and innocence were deserted, through a fondness or partiality for persons without regard to characters. Such repentance must be lovely in the sight of God and men; since, though it is inferior to an uninterrupted and undeviating inno

ation.

cence, it is next to it in all moral and religious valuFor though it cannot undo what has been done, which, in the nature of things, is impossible; yet, through the merits and atonement of Christ, it recommends us to the divine love, and must end in happiness, if our contrition and self-accusation excite in us a strong sense of duty, and lead us to a consistent course of obedience.

Of such a nature will true and unfeigned repentance be;-and as such only can it be valued, or deserve, indeed, in any sense, to be called repentance :-for repentance without actual reformation is a mere name. This is a point which Christians ought always to remember; for if they deceive themselves in a matter so vitally important, they are lost. Above all, let them never pervert the Scriptures to flatter their own perverse passions ;-let them never so torture the Christian religion, as to make it speak against itself. For instance,-Because the labourers in the vineyard, who came in at the eleventh hour, are described by our Saviour as equally paid with those who had laboured all the day, shall any man be so perversely self-willed as not to labour at all in God's service, till the latest period of life?-shall he defer, till he is overtaken by a decrepit old age, those works of faithfulness and duty that can only be done effectually in his best years, and when his strength is unimpaired? Because the angels are described as rejoicing over a repentant sinner, shall capricious, obstinate men determine to run through a long career

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