"God of all grace and majesty,
Supremely great and good!

If I have favour found with thee
Through the atoning blood;

"The guard of all thy mercies give, And to my pardon join

A fear, lest I should ever grieve
The gracious Spirit divine.

"Since mercy is indeed with thee,
May I obedient prove,
Nor e'er abuse my liberty,

Or sin against thy love:

"This choicest fruit of faith bestow
On a poor sojourner:
And let me pass my days below,
In humbleness and fear.

"Still may I walk as in thy sight,
My strict observer see,

And thou, by reverend love, unite
My wandering heart to thee.

"Still let me, till my days are past,

At Jesu's feet abide:

So shall he lift me up at last,

And seat me by his side."

SERMON XX.

THE PRODIGAL SON'S RETURN.

LUKE XV. 11–24.

"And Jesus said, 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. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father 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. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, 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."

THIS affecting, this instructive, and encouraging parable has been blessed of God to the good of many a soul now in heaven; and it has frequently been a comfort to the writer of this address. May the good Lord make it a blessing to all who hear it. The Scriptures speak of three kinds of death. Death natural, or the death and corruption of the body; death spiritual, or a state of soul condemnation, such as every individual is living in until he is quickened unto newness of life by the converting and sanctifying Spirit of God; and death eternal, or that state of inconceivable and eternal misery which every unrepenting and unpardoned sinner enters on after the close of the universal judgment.

The prodigal son's case, as represented in the foregoing parable, holds up a picture of man in his unconverted, unsanctified and carnal state. He was,

when he left his father's house, in a state of spiritual death-dead as to all experimental knowledge of God, or concern about his soul; and thus said in Scripture to be "dead while he lived." His state is also placed in another point of view, or further described as being lost. He is said to have been lost before he was found. This also is the case and condition of every man by nature until the Holy Ghost operates on his soul, and brings him into a new and right state. You all understand how, and in what sense the expressions “dead to any thing,” and “lost to any thing,” are used. When we thus express ourselves concerning any one's conduct, we mean that the person is unconcerned about the matter, that he has no mind, no inclination, no desire after the thing; that he cares nothing about it. This is the state of a carnal, unconverted, unregenerated soul as to God and his Christ; as to salvation, heaven, death, hell, and judgment. He is unconcerned about these solemn subjects; he is stupidly indifferent to the

whole matter; he has neither heart nor soul, as we say, to listen to, or think about them. As to the sinful, vain, and foolish ways of the world, and the pursuits and gains of business, and the applause of his fellow creatures, to these things he is all alive; but bring his attention to spiritual and heavenly topics, he is almost as unconcerned about, almost as dead to them as is a dead body in the grave. On the other hand, the heavenly-minded Christian is said to be crucified or dead to those very sins and ways which the others are all alive to. The young man, during the time of his prodigality, had no right sense or feeling of the duty, the reverence, the gratitude or love he owed to his father. He had then no relish for, no delight in the scenes and comforts of his father's house. Neither the company of his parent, nor the society of his father's friends suited his taste; on the contrary, what they preferred he rejected, and what they rejected that he preferred. Self-indulgence, self-will, and a desire to be from under the eye and re