SERMON V.

LUKE XV. 13.

And not many days after, the younger fon gathered all he had together, and took his jour- ́ ney into a far country.—

I

KNOW not whether the remark is to our

honour or otherwife, that leffons of wifdom have never fuch power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the ground-work of a ftory which engages the paffions is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon? or, is the heart fo in love with deceit, that where a true report will not reach it, we mult cheat it with a fable, in order to come at truth?

Whether this parable of the prodigal (for fo it is ufually called)is really fuch, or built upon fome story known at that time in Jerufa lem, is not much to the purpofe; it is given us to enlarge upon, and turn to the best moral account we can.

"A certain man, fays our Saviour, had two "fons, and the younger of them faid to his "father, Give me the portion of goods which "falls to me: and he divided unto them his "fubftance. And not many days after, the "younger fon gathered all together, and took "his jonrney into a far country, and there "wasted his substance with riotous living."

The account is fhort: the interesting and pathetic paffages, with which fuch a tranfaction would be neceffarily connected, are left to be fupplied by the heart :——— -the ftory is filent—but nature is not:a tender expoftulation would fall from the father's lips, no doubt, upon this occafion.

-much kind advice, and many

He would diffuade his fon from the folly of so rash an enterprize, by fhewing him the dangers of the journey, -in the experience of his age, the hazards his life, his fortune, his virtue would run, without a guide, without a friend: he would tell him of the many fnares and temptations which he had to avoid, or en. counter at every step,-the pleasures which would folicit him in every luxurious court,the little knowlege he could gain-except that

of evil: he would fpeak of the feductions of women, -- their charms. their poitons:what hapless indulgences he might give way to, when far from restraint, and the check of giving his father pain.

The diffuafive would but inflame his defire.

He gathers all together.

I fee the picture of his departure:--the camels and affes loaden with his substance, de. tached on one fide of the piece, and already on their way: the prodigal fon ftanding on the fore ground, with a forced fedateness, ftruggling against the fluttering movement of joy, upon his deliverance from restraint:~~ the elder brother holding his hand, as if unwilling to let it go:the father,fad moment! with a firm look, covering a prophetic fentiment, "that all would not go well with his child,"approaching to embrace him, and bid him adieu. Poor inconfiderate youth! from whose arms art thou flying? From what a shelter art thou going forth into the storm? Art thou weary of a father's affection, of a father's care? or, Hopest thou to find a warmer

intereft, a truer counsellor, or a kinder friend in a land of strangers, where youth is made a prey, and so many thousands are confederated to deceive them, and live by their spoils?

We will feek no farther than this idea, for the extravagancies by which the prodigal fon added one unhappy example to the number: his fortune wafted,-the followers of it fled in course, the wants of nature remain, the hand of God gone forth against him,—“For when he had spent all, a mighty famine arofe in that country."-Heaven! have pity upon the youth, for he is in hunger and diftress, strayed out of the reach of a parent, who counts every hour of his abfence with anguifh,-cut off from all tender offices, by his folly,and from relief and charity from others, by the calamity of the times.

Nothing fo powerfully calls home the mind as diftrefs: the tense fibre then relaxes,-the foul retires to itself,-fits penfive and fufceptible of right impreffions: if we have a friend, it is then we think of him; if a benefactor, at that moment all his kindneffes prefs upon our mind.

Gracious and bountiful God! Is it

not for this, that they who in their profperity forget thee, do yet remember and return to thee in the hour of their forrow? When our heart is in heaviness, upon whom can we think but thee, who knoweft our neceffities afar off, -puttet all our tears in thy bottle,-feeft every careful thought, heareft every figh and melancholy groan we utter.

Strange! that we fhould only begin to think of God with comfort,-when with joy and comfort we can think of nothing else.

Man furely is a compound of riddles and contradictions: by the law of his nature he a, voids pain, and yet unless he fuffers in the flesh, he will not ceafe from fin, though it is fure to bring pain and mifery upon his head for ever.

Whilft all went pleasurably on with the prodigal, we hear not one word concerning his father---no pang of remorse for the fufferings

in which he had left him, or refolution of re. turning, to make up the account of his folly : his first hour of diftrefs feemed to be his first hour of wisdom :--When he came to himself, he faid, how many hired fervants of my father 1 .