house, no doubt, he thought himself the more at liberty, and the nearer happiness, doct

Let us follow him in this fearch after happi nefs. Every restraint was now removed; the world was all before him, and he entered it with, that fame unthinking fpirit with which he had left the kind protection of a father's house, Wherever the tabret and harp refounded, where ever, the voice of joy and mirth was heard, there was he in queft of pleasure, furrounded by the gay, the joyous, and the profligate. His paffions were his conductors; and følly and extrava gance went hand in hand with him, in all his motions. ORD 13 ca maped ...It required no fpirit of prophecy to foresee the end. The next verfe recites it: He wafted all bis fubftance in riotous living. And it had been marvellous had it been otherwife; for when our paffions fairly take the lead, they feldom stop till they are stopped by the impoffibility of pro ceeding.

5 be

It was not, however, our Saviour's intention to warn us against riot and extravagance, as the natural fources of poverty and distress-this is a worldly leffon-all the wife and prudent men of the world have this leffon by rote. Our bleffed

Saviour's

Saviour's meaning was fpiritual: he meant to teach us, that when we once leave our father's houfe-that is, when we once, in earnest, forfake the paths of religion, there is no faying where we may ftop. We generally proceed headlong on. Our vicious habits get ftronger our paffions become more ungovernable; and there is feldom a reformation, unless God should pleafe, in his goodnefs, to awaken us by calamity.

This was God's method of dealing with the unhappy prodigal. After he had spent all, the text tells us, there arofe 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 be fent him into his fields to feed fwine; and he would fain have filled his belly with the hulks which the fwine did eat; and no man gave unto him.-Here was a falling-off indeed! The gay, the joyous youth, who pursued pleasure in every fhape, and counted days only as they diverfified his pleasures, is now in want of the common neceffaries of nature; and he who thought the kind restraints of his father a burden, is now forced to fubmit to the greatest ignominy and diftrefs. And thus it will ever happen to us,

when

when we give up religion and duty, and feek our happiness from the world. Though for a while the pleasures of fin may captivate, and unlawful gain may bring its prefent advantage, yet, we may depend upon it, a time will come when fin will affert its dominion: the pleafures of fin are the devil's baits merely to enfnare his fervants; but he never means to treat them with indulgence. The difference, in this respect, between the fervants of God and the fervants of the devil, is this: the former are led through the gate of restraint to the mansions of happiness; the latter, through the gate of pleasure into the regions of defpair. Sin is, in the end, the feverest task-mafter we can ferve: it conceals its wages indeed from fight, because they are bad; but we know well enough, and from the beft authority, what wages they are: not such a death as we daily fee, the feparation of foul and body, but fuch death as He inflicts, who throws both foul and body into hell.-It would be fomething however gained, if the fervants of fin could be happy till the time of their death-if they could be fure of enjoying their fhort, fcanty portion in this world: but even this is not the cafe; and we may talk, if we please, of the hardships

hardships of religion, but, depend upon it, we feel greater hardships inflicted on us by fin.Where one evil of life is brought upon us by God's appointment, a thousand are brought upon us by ourselves. Indeed, most of the evils of life are brought upon us by our own misconduct. It is this moft commonly, rather than God's vifitation, that fends the prodigal into the fields to feed fwine, and to wish in vain for the hufks.

A

After the prodigal had been reduced to this diftrefs, we next read, he came to himself-that is, he came to a fenfe of his own folly: he now faw clearly that he had been the author of his own fufferings; and that what he imagined was his happiness, had proved his ruin.-Alas! for the folly of mankind, that they can rarely come to themselves without fuffering under the rod of affliction. Our heavenly Father may shower all his kindneffes upon us-it avails nothing-we continue rebellious children; but no fooner is the hand of affliction laid upon us, than we come to ourselves: neceffity is a great tamer—it will humble the proudest heart.

After the prodigal had thus come to himself, the next step was to make good refolutions:

I will arife, and go to my father, and fay unte him, Father, I have finned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy Jon. A good refolution, however, is of no great value in itself-it is generally a plant without a root, and foon withers: a good refolution contributes no more to our repentance, than the first step of a journey towards bringing us to the end of it. A firft ftep in a journey, however, must be taken, before we can proceed; fo that a good refolution, though of no confequence in itfelf, is however a matter of abfolute neceffity, if we are in earnest.

The poor prodigal before us was in earnest. He not only faid, I will arife and go, but he did arife, and did go to his father, and laid the deep contrition of a penitent heart before him. It must have cost him, no doubt, many a fevere pang to bring down his proud heart to fuch hu miliation. The fcoffs of those who had seen him go off with fo much pride and self-sufficiency, and now faw him return with so much disgrace, he was fure to meet his father's just displeasure he had too much reafon to fear, and could hardly hope to find acceptance. And, no doubt, the devil would throw out new folicitations be

fore