The Prodigal Son Returns to His Father

JESUS WAS A LOVER OF HAPPY ENDINGS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Luke 15:17-20But when he came to himself he said,
How many hired servants of my father’s have bread
enough and to spare, and I perishhere with hunger! I
will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him,
Father, I have sinned againstheaven, and in thy sight:
I 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.—Luke15:17-20.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The Return to the Father
1. This is one of a group of three parables which our Lord delivered at one
time, for one purpose, while He sat surrounded by representatives ofthree
greatclassesoflisteners.
First, Jesus had of course close aroundHim the circle of His chosenApostles.
To them it was a parable of faith—of the faith they were about to be sent forth
to preach to all the children of God scatteredabroad. Secondly, pressing
eagerlythrough the disciples, who had been taught by the Lord not to repel
them, there “drew unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him”;
that is, the greatworld of sinners, who knew themselves to be sinners, but in

whom (because they are not self-righteous)the Incarnate Word discerneda
readiness for repentance and faith. To them—despairing of themselves, and
encouragedin their despair by their teachers—itwas,above everything, a
parable of hope. Thirdly, this parable was heard by those who counted
themselves righteous and despisedothers. Presentas critics, not as hungering
and thirsting learners, the group of Pharisees stoodaloof. Having no
sympathy with humanity at large, they murmured at the Son of Man for
giving welcome to an audience which included prostitutes and cheats. To them
it was certainly a parable of charity.
2. The parable has been aptly and beautifully called“the evangelwithin the
evangel”—the heartof the Gospelof Jesus. If our Lord had only appeared on
earth and given utterance to this one gracious story, He would have conferred
on humanity an unspeakable boon and completely altered our views of God
and man, of sin and of destiny. The salient messageofthe parable is
unmistakable. The hunger at the heart of God for the return of the prodigal
and the hunger at the heart of the prodigal for God and home—that is the
broad, patent, outstanding truth.
The thoughts suggestedby the passage maybe grouped under three titles—
I. Reflection.
II. Repentance.
III. Restoration.
I

Reflection
“When he came to himself.” The prodigal had not been himself when he
beggedhis father to advance him his patrimony, nor when he wastedhis
substance in riotous living. During that unhappy time, when he wandered into
a far country, and consortedwith swine, and human beings who lived like
swine, he had lost or forgottenhimself. As soonas he came to himself, he rose
and went to his father. So then, according to our Lord’s parable, a man turns
to God at once when his mind is in a healthy state. It is natural for man to be
religious;and if he is not, there is probably something wrong with him.
For religion is holiness, and holiness is health. When some one whom we love
is cross or irritable, we sayof him, “He’s not himself to-day.” When one
whom we have known for years does something unworthy, we say, “Ah, that’s
not himself at all.” And what is that but our instinctive certainty that a man is
more than his vices or his failures, and that if we want to know him as he is,
we must take him at the level of his best? It was always thus that Jesus judged
humanity. He was a magnificent and a consistentoptimist. He never made
light of sin, never condonedit. To Him it was always terrible and tragic. But
then the sinner was not the real man; sin was a bondage, a tyranny, a
madness;and it was when the tyranny of sin was broken that a man came to
his true self.
1. The prodigal’s repentance beganin a self-colloquy—aninterior
conversation, anexamination of his conscienceby himself: it is a confessionto
himself. Repentance always begins in thoughtful interior soliloquy; and all
soliloquy, as Shaftesbury has said in his Characteristics, is an inward
dialogue, is really a colloquy. The profoundest and the purest thinking of
individual men has not only been in this form, but it has been communicated
to their fellow-men, and handed over to our use in the shape of dialogue. The

work of Socrates was done by dialogue. The written works of Plato are castin
the form of conversations,in which it is plain that he has made himself the
thinker in eachconverser. It is enough to say that Shakespeare is a dramatist,
and that Faustis a play. The most universally used and the most helpful of all
asceticaltreatises, The Imitation of Christ, is given for our use in the form of
interior colloquies. The younger brother of God’s household, the Gentile
Humanity, summed up in the famous words, “Know thyself,” the conclusion
of his searchfor the right end of human thinking. The elder brother,
CircumcisedHumanity, utters the same conclusionin the words of his own
Psalmist, “Commune with thine own heart.” “O what heaps of filth,” cries one
who has enteredas deeply into the Gentile spirit as into the Jewishspirit, “and
what foul disorder there must necessarilybe in a breastwhich is never looked
into!”1 [Note:T. Hancock.]
There is hope for the worstof men if they begin to reflect. Reflectionis the
first step on the ladder which leads a sinner up to God—the first step on the
bridge which he crossesoverto return to God. The Scripture bids us
“considerour ways.” This is what the prodigal did, and it ended in his return
to his father.
A famous Bishop once made this appealto a wild young man: “Promise me
that you will do this one thing to oblige me. Go and shut yourself up in an
empty room for the whole of one day.” He did so to please the Bishop. Having
nothing whateverin the room to take his attention, it forcedhim to reflect,
and in the end to repent and to reform.2 [Note:H. G. Youard.]
2. What did the prodigal reflect on?
(1) He reflectedon his present miserable condition.—He stoodthere solitary
in the field. His clothes were torn into rags, his eyes were sunkenin their

sockets, his cheeks were hollow, his lips were parched and cracked;he looked
the very effigy of famine itself. The swine were feeding around him: he was
gnawing at the husks which the swine had tossedout of the troughs with their
snouts. “And no man gave unto him.”
We canhardly enter into the shudder of horror which passedthrough the
listening group when they heard Jesus declare that the starving young Jew
joined himself to a rich Gentile swine farmer, that he forcedhimself a willing
bondsman upon the foreigner, that he stuck to him, that he would not be
denied. He who beganby asking his father to give him everything, now prays
to his enemy to allow him anything. The proud child of Abraham receives an
insult, and grasps at it thankfully. He is sent, as if he were a slave, into the
alien’s fields to feed swine.
How admirably has Watts representedthe “ProdigalSon” as an example of
the largerliberty which sin offers to the deluded soul, and which ends in
destitution and in the company of the swine. He is resting at the foot of a huge
fig-tree whose leaves overshadowhis nakedness from the scorching sun, in a
woebegone attitude, feeling to the full the wretchedness ofhis position, with a
most expressive countenance full of sadness andremorse, bethinking himself
of the bread enough in his father’s house and to spare, while he perishes for
lack of food, and there is no one to pity or help him. His forlorn, destitute look
shows the ruin of a nature so noble that it cannot be content with its
circumstances, but recalls a happier and worthier condition. The contrast
betweenthe two natures, the human and the swinish, is brought out with
subtle power. The swine lying in indolent sensualenjoyment on the ground
show the satisfactionofcreatures that are at home in their circumstances,
whose wants are bounded by their nature, and supplied in the wilderness
where man finds nothing suitable for him. Man has a largernature than any
husks of the world’s goodthings canfeed—whichnothing that God can give—
no creature good—nothing but God Himself can satisfy. And therefore he is
miserable even when worldly things are most favourable to him, until he has

come to himself, and resolvedthat he will arise and go to his Father, and to
the true home of his spirit.1 [Note:Hugh Macmillan, Life-Work of G. F.
Watts, 165.]
(2) He reflectedon his past error and folly.—He saw what was the genesis of
his whole miserable condition: he ought never to have left his father’s home.
That was the beginning of his undoing; and, if he was everto be saved, he
must get back to where he startedfrom. “Why!” he says:“in my father’s
house the very servants have enough and to spare, whilst I, his son, perish
with hunger.” In the pasthe had been stinted in nothing, and now he was
dying from hunger. The truth dawned upon him. He saw not only his perilous
condition but the reasonfor it. The insane man had become sane.
At St. Helena the Emperor turns upon Gourgaud with pathetic truth: “You
speak of sorrow, you! And I! What sorrows have I not had! What things to
reproachmyself with! You at any rate have nothing to regret.” And again:
“Do you suppose that when I wake atnight I have not bad moments—when I
think of what I was, and what I am?”1 [Note:Lord Rosebery, Napoleon, the
Last Phase, 49.]
Why feedestthou on husks so coarse andrude?
I could not be content with angels’food.
How camestthou companion to the swine?
I loathed the courts of heaven, the choir divine.

Who bade thee crouch in hovel dark and drear?
I left a palace wide to hide me here.
Harsh tyrant’s slave who made thee, once so free?
A father’s rule too heavy seemedto me.
What sordid rags float round thee on the breeze?
I laid immortal robes aside for these.
An exile through the world who bade thee roam?
None, but I weariedof a happy home.
Why must thou dweller in a desert be?
A garden seemednot fair enough to me.
Why sue a beggarat the mean world’s door?
To live on God’s large bounty seemedso poor.

What has thy foreheadso to earthward brought?
To lift it higher than the stars I thought.2 [Note: R. C. Trench, Poems, 234.]
(3) He recalledthe privileges and the happiness of the home on which he so
lightly turned his back. The poor prodigal—homeless, friendless, starving—
remembered his home, his father’s loving care of him, his mother’s tender
schooling. He could see, as in a vision, the old house where he was born, the
garden where he played as a child, the flowers that he had trained, the trees
that he had climbed. He had growntired of home; now how he longed to see it
once more! In his father’s house there was plenty of bread and to spare, and
the loving ministry of his parents.
The German poet tells us of a robber who, in his lawless strongholdbeside the
Rhine, remembered the days when he, a little child, could not sleepunless his
mother had kissedhim. Danton, one of the blood-stained leaders of the French
Revolution, thought lovingly in his latter days of the little village where he was
born, and visited the simple farm where he spent his childhood. Napoleon, a
crushed and ruined man, could recallwith a sigh the day when he receivedhis
first communion in his innocent boyhood long ago. Many a one in his hour of
remorse and misery has echoedthe words of Job—“Oh, that I were as in
months past, as in the days when God preservedme; when his candle shined
upon my head, and when by his light I walkedthrough darkness;as I was in
the days of my youth, when the secretof God was upon my tabernacle.”1
[Note:W. Buxton, The Battle of Life, 112.]
Does that lamp still burn in my Father’s house

Which he kindled the night I went away?
I turned once beneaththe cedarboughs,
And marked it gleamwith a golden ray;
Did he think to light me home some day?
Hungry here with the crunching swine,
Hungry harvest have I to reap;
In a dream I count my Father’s kine,
I hear the tinkling bells of his sheep,
I watchhis lambs that browse and leap.
There is plenty of bread at home,
His servants have bread enough and to spare;
The purple wine-fat froths with foam,

Oil and spices make sweetthe air,
While I perish hungry and bare.
Rich and blessedthose servants, rather
Than I who see not my Father’s face!
I will arise and go to my Father:—
“Fallenfrom sonship, beggaredof grace,
Grant me, Father, a servant’s place.”1 [Note:Christina G. Rossetti, Poems,
251.]
II
Repentance
1. Repentance means a change of mind, so that we hate the evil which we once
loved; we shrink from the bad company in which we delighted; we go back to
the Godwhom we neglected;we turn from the cup of sinful pleasure as from
poison. It will not do for us to remain with the swine and the filth of sin, and

bewail that we are not clean. If we would be cleanwe must leave the dirty
ways;we must arise. The prodigal made up his mind at once. He did not
hesitate as to what he should do; he did not try to join himself to yet another
citizen of the far country, or to seek some othersin. There was only one thing
for him to do, and he did it.
In illustration of the change in life and position which this meant, the story of
Marie Antoinette has been told, how she took off her old robes and put on
new, as she entered France to become its queen. It just meant that she had put
off the Austrian princess, and put on the French queen. So it is to be with us.
Our repentance must mean a new life, in the freedom of sons. It must mean
amendment of heart, and character, and will: the putting off of the old man,
the putting on of the new.2 [Note:V. L. Johnstone, Sonship, 66.]
2. The prodigal saidto himself: “I will arise, and go, and say.” What is the
meaning of these three expressions?Theyare of the simplest kind and belong
to the common vocabulary of everyday life. Yet there is contained in them a
perfect description of what is required of every man in the act of repentance.
Every man who “repents him truly of his former sins” must first “arise”—
must then “go”—andmust then “say.”
(1) “I will arise.” That means strictly “standupright.” For sin drags a man
downwards, and the first step towards repentance from sin is to refuse to
remain at the low level to which one has sunk. Get on your legs!Look up to
Heaven, to the God and Father of us all! We know that, even as regards our
bodies, it means something to keepthem from bending and stooping towards
the ground. We know that the downcastlook and the drooping head are to be
avoided. Only when we are in grief, or in disgrace, are these postures
allowable. We see, then, that even our bodies teachus the need of uprightness.
But this lesson, which even our bodies teachus, is in like manner the first
lessonwhich the soul has to learn in the act of repentance. Repentance is, in

the first instance, a looking upward, a standing upright. It consists in saying,
“I will not wallow any more on the ground. I feelthat there is something
within me which requires to be lifted above the level to which I have hitherto
descended. Why should I not look beyond my past experiences to a better and
higher life in the future?”
I spent a very interesting and on the whole a very encouraging time in
Northampton. I preached twice—onceonSunday at the dedicationof St.
Crispin’s, and once on Sunday at St. Sepulchre’s. It certainly was a greatfact
to see two hundred and fifty bona-fide Northampton shoemakers filling nearly
half the new church; and to have pointed out to me churchwardens and
committee-men, zealous Churchmen and communicants, who two years ago
were fierce Bradlaughites and infidels. I talked with one of these. I shall not
easilyforget the quiet earnestness andmodesty of the man, nor the way he
spoke of his conversionthrough hearing a sermon on the ProdigalSon. “It
was that,” he said, “that did it.” I felt at the moment what a Divine unending
powerthere is in that greatword of Christ. How mightier than all our words
and deeds!How often in the world’s history has that word, “I will arise and go
to my Father,” moved hearts that nothing else could move?1 [Note:Life of
Archbishop Magee, ii. 204.]
I will arise, repenting and in pain;
I will arise, and smite upon my breast
And turn to thee again;
Thou choosestbest;

Lead me along the road Thou makestplain.
Lead me a little way, and carry me
A little way, and hearkento my sighs,
And store my tears with Thee,
And deign replies
To feeble prayers;—O Lord, I will arise.1 [Note:Christina G. Rossetti, Poems,
251.]
(2) “I will go.” That means strictly, “I will go on a journey.” The man must
not only stand upright in his present position, he must take up a new position.
Now this new position is a long wayoff from the position which he at present
occupies, and therefore a journey is required. Indeed the chief source of his
unhappiness has now come to be preciselythis very fact, that though he hates
his former sins, he is still living in the midst of those sins. He is there where he
ought not to be—far, far awayfrom his Father’s house, a strangerin a
strange land. So then all his efforts must be concentratedona removal of
himself, of his body not less than his soul, from the hateful house of bondage
in which he is at present dwelling. “I will go,” he says, “leave it all behind me,
place myself out of its reach.” And so he girds up his loins, takes with him his
weapons, and starts on his journey.

Mr. Spurgeon, after preaching on “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canstmake me
clean,” receivedthe following letter:—
“I feel so happy to tell you that the Lord has pardoned a poor outcastof
society. I got into your place, in a crowd, hoping nobody would see me. I had
been out all night, and was miserable. While you were preaching about the
leper, my whole life of sin rose up before me. I saw myself worse than the
leper, castawayby everybody; there is not a sin I was not guilty of. As you
went on, I lookedstraight awayto Jesus. A gracious answercame, ‘Thy sins,
which are many, are forgiven.’I never heard any word of your sermon, I felt
such joy to think that Jesus died even for a poor harlot. Long ere you get this
letter, I trust to to be on the wayto my dear home I ran awayfrom. Do please
pray for me that I may be kept by God’s almighty power. I can never thank
you enough for bringing me to Jesus.”
“If it had not been for that sentence about going home,” said Mr. Spurgeon, “I
might have had some doubts concerning her conversion;but when a fallen girl
goes home to her father and mother it is a sure case.”2 [Note:Mrs. Spurgeon,
Life of C. H. Spurgeon, iv. 32.]
One of the saddestletters in all literature is a letter written by our own poet,
David Gray. David Gray was born eight miles from Glasgow;he went to the
Free Church Normal in that city. His honest father would have made a
preacherof him, but God forestalledthat by making him a poet. Well, nothing
would satisfy David but he must go to London. He suffered much there and
fell into consumption. And this is one of his lastletters home:—“Torquay,
Jan. 6, 1861. DearParents,—Iam coming home—home-sick.I cannot stay
from home any longer. What’s the goodof me being so far from home and
sick and ill? O God! I wish I were home never to leave it more! Telleverybody
that I am coming back—no better: worse, worse.What’s about climate, about
frost or snow or cold weather, whenone’s at home? I wish I had never left

it.… I have no money, and I want to get home, home, home. What shall I do,
O God! Father, I shall stealto you again, because Idid not use you rightly.…
Will you forgive me? Do I ask that?… I have come through things that I shall
never tell to anybody but you, and you shall keepthem secretas the grave.
Get my own little room ready quick, quick; have it all tidy, and clean, and
cosy, againstmy homecoming. I wish to die there, and nobody shall nurse me
exceptmy own dear mother, ever, ever again. O home, home, home!”1 [Note:
G. H. Morrison, Sunrise, 10.]
(3) “I will say.” Our life’s journey is not to be all toil and travel; but our souls,
in the course of the progress they are making, must break forth into an
expressionof themselves to God, must relieve themselves by an utterance of
their entire repentance and of their earnestlonging for forgiveness. “Iwill
say, I will tell the Father all that I have been longing to make known to Him
ever since I beganto stand upright. Full, frank, free and open, shall be my
confessionofmy past sins. Asking nothing from Him except to be forgiven,
willing to take my place merely as a hired servantin His house, I will pour
forth my whole soul before Him. I will castmy burden upon Him, and trust to
Him to deal with me as He thinks fit. And I will choose the best words I can
bring to my mind. I will selectthe most suitable forms of language knownto
me, by means of which to show my thankfulness to the Fatherwho has so
greatly loved me. ‘I will say.’Let it be an apt utterance, even if but a homely
one. I will not excuse myself by urging that it is enoughif I feeland think, but
I will take every pains, and leave untried no effort, so that I may render up to
God the heart of a true penitent who is yet not satisfied, unless, togetherwith
his heart’s worship, he can offer up also prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.”
ProfessorGeorgeMilligan, in his volume on Greek Papyri, (p. 94), quotes a
striking letter from a prodigal son to his mother written from Fayum
sometime in the secondcentury of our era. The letter which is now in the
Berlin Museum runs:—

“Antonius Longus to Nilous his mother; many greetings. I continually pray
for your health. Eachday I direct supplication on your behalf to the Lord
Serapis. I wish you to know that I had no hope that you would come up to the
metropolis. On this accountneither did I enter into the city. And I was
ashamedto come to Karanis because I am going about in rags. I am writing to
let you know that I am naked. I beseechyou, mother, be reconciledto me. But
I know what I have brought upon myself. Punished I have been in any case. I
know that I have sinned.”
The pathetic letter, which is incomplete, breaks off with these words:—
“Come thyself.… I have heard that … I beseechthee … I almost … I beseech
thee … I will … not … do otherwise.”
III
Restoration
1. In this wonderful picture, Jesus has given us the most attractive and most
perfect image of God that came from His lips. That longing and looking for
His lostone’s return; the going out to meet him; the kiss of welcome andthe
fond embrace;the prompt, frank, and complete forgiveness;the utter silence
and forgetfulness concerning the evil and shameful past, as if it had never
been; the festalrobes and the rejoicing guests;the infinite tenderness,
delicacy, and sweetnessofit all, make up an appealing and affecting portrait
which chains our admiration, stirs our deepest hearts, and goes beyond all
thought. We feel that there is something far more than human in this. It is the
beauty of God; it is the unspeakable grace ofthe Divine Fatherhood;and it is

the great, pitiful, forgiving heart of God that the story brings to view, and that
stands for ever prominent in our thoughts of it.
A lad from the north country strayedor stole into one of our greatLondon
cathedrals. He was lonely, dejected, friendless, and ashamed. He had sown his
wild oats and a goodmany other things—gambled, drunk, and fooled away
money, health, and character. Disgraced, hungry, desperate, and broken-
hearted, he crept in with the vast congregationto the sacredbuilding. The
preacherread the lessonfor the day. It was this incomparable parable. He
read it without comment, but with clearand impassioned elocution. The
outcastdrank it all in with ears and heart strained to intensity; and when it
was finished, forgetting the place, people, and everything else, he cried out
audibly, “Eh, but yon was a grand old man!” And the whole world of Bible-
readers have said substantially the same thing when they came to this
imperishable picture.1 [Note: J. G. Greenhough, Parables ofJesus, 393.]
2. Though the prodigal sins, yet, as the parable shows, the fatherly heart never
changes. The separationbetweenman and God, the separationbetweenus
and God, has always been on one side only—on ours. “Be ye reconciledto
God.” It is this unshakencertainty of the Fatherhood of God that can save
man at his worstfrom despair. God’s forgiveness is not indeed weakness, an
easyoverlooking ofsin. To know what sin is in itself must make that thought
impossible. But forgiveness is God’s delight in seeing His children realize their
sonship; it is God’s welcome home to them.
Spake our Lord: “If one draw near
Unto God—with praise and prayer—

Half a cubit, God will go
Twenty leagues to meet him so.”
He who walkethunto God,
God will run upon the road,
All the quicklier to forgive
One who learns at last to live.2 [Note:Sir Edwin Arnold.]
A greatpreacher used to tell the story of a farmer he knew. His daughter ran
awayfrom home, once, twice, three times, and on going into the county town
one day he was told that she was up before the magistrate for disorderly
conduct. His landlord sat on the bench, and said: “Mr. So-and-so, we all
respectyou; take your daughter home.” But the old man said: “She is no
daughter of mine any longer. I forgave her once, I took her back twice, but
when she went awaythe third time I gatheredmy people togetherin family
worship and took my knife and cut her name out of the family Bible.”
3. The Father’s welcome exceeds the son’s fondest dream. “Make me,” said
the prodigal, “as one of thy hired servants.” He was a slave on his outward
journey, a slave in the land of revelry and indulgence, a slave in the midst of
the husks, the troughs, and the pig dealers, a slave when he came to himself
and thought of his father’s hired servants, a slave every stepof the way home
as he rehearsedhis plea and story. But as he drew near to the old homestead

the child-life beganto flutter in his heart, and as he saw his father’s look, and
heard the gladness ofhis father’s voice, and felt the warmth of his father’s
kiss, the son beganto grow, and grew so fast that as a matter of fact he never
finished his story. The son could not saywhat the slave had prepared and
rehearsed. Thatis the remedy—a renewedlook at God’s face and a better
acquaintanceshipwith the Father’s heart. It is the surprise and sacrifice of
Divine grace that will depose the servantand crown the son.
When father and sonhave met, there is no longer any word of hired servants.
Fear, shame, distrust of self, the burden of responsibility, are all swallowedup
in love. One sight of the father’s face, the great embrace of the beloved arm
thrown around his rags, the tears that fell upon his neck—these settle allthe
problems which in cold blood we settle otherwise.
Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might;
Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, pass’din music out of sight.
Self-distrust even has passed, for love has found a natural and happy solution.
No hard responsibilities to which our moral characteris inadequate are thrust
upon us; no unbearable lonely freedom is given us to manage rightly. The
responsibilities of life in the father’s house are different from those of the far
country. Forthe father is there, and we have learned at lastto love him, and
that love has become a far more commanding law than hired service canever
know.1 [Note:J. Kelman, Ephemera Eternitatis, 278.]
There are no degrees offorgiveness. There are degrees in the holiness that
follows forgiveness;but pardon must be perfectat its birth. Forgiveness
restores eachman to the place he had before he fell. If the prodigal had been a

hired servant previous to his fall, he would have been made a hired servant
again. There would have been no sting in that; it would have involved no
stigma. But to make him a servant after he had been a son would have
perpetuated the pain of memory. Nothing impedes my progress like
remembrance of a dark yesterday. When the page is already blotted, I am apt
to blot it more. I lose heart; I say, “It is already tarnished; what does it matter
now?” If I am to get a fair start, it must be a bright start—a start with the
ring and the robe. It will not help me that you lift me from the far country if
you give me a place secondto my former self. That secondplace is my
yesterday, and I should walk by its darkness. It would dog my footsteps;it
would never let me go. I should not feelthat sin was unworthy of me—below
me. I should always be fingering my ticket-of-leave.I should never be able to
soarfor the remembrance of the irons; memory would clip the wings of
hope.2 [Note: G. Matheson, Leaves for Quiet Hours, 126.]
Lord, I would rise, and run to Thee,—
Christ of God, who didst die for me;
But my feet are bound with the chains of sin,
And my heart is ashes and dust within.
Lord, I would rise, and run to Thee
If Thou’dst open mine eyes and let me see

How beautiful shines Thy deathless love
In Thy face that is bending my face above!
But sometimes come drifting the mist of tears,
And shadows ofsorrow, and clouds of fears;
Till night sinks around me o’er sea and land,
And I know not whether to move or stand.
Yet I’d wait without dread till the dawn came sweet
As a dream of Thy beauty about my feet.
And I’d stretch out my hands and run to Thee
If Thou’dst open mine eyes and let me see.
Lo, the arms of Love are openedwide.
“Child, see the wound in My broken side.

And thy wearinesslies on the heart of Me!”
Lord, I will rise and run to Thee.1 [Note:L. MacleanWatt, In Poet’s Corner,
75.]
The Return to the Father
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Soul's Return
Luke 15:17-19
W. Clarkson
Out in the far country, living a life of guilty waste, ofdreary want, of shameful
degradation, the prodigal sonwas in truth a man "beside himself;" he was
lost to himself; he had takenleave of his own better self, of his understanding,
of his reason;from his own true selfhe was afaroff. But now there is -
I. A RETURN TO HIMSELF.
1. He regains his wisdom as he gains a sense of his folly. He returns to his right
mind; he loses his infatuation as he perceives how greatis his foolishness to be
in such a state of destitution when he might "have all things and abound."
What insensate folly to be starving among the swine when he might be sitting
down at his father's table! The soul comes to itself and regains its wisdom

when it perceives how foolish it is to be perishing with hunger in its separation
from God when it might be "filled with all the fulness of God." Our reason
returns to us when we refuse to be any longermisled by the infatuation, by
"the deceitfulness ofsin," and when we see that the pining and decayof our
spiritual powers is a poor exchange indeed for the wealth and health of
spiritual integrity.
2. He is restoredto sanity of mind as he obtains a sense ofhis sinfulness. To be
able to say, as he is now prepared to say, "I have sinned," is to come back into
a right and sound spiritual condition. We are in a wholly unsound mental
state when we canregard our disloyalty and disobedience to God with
complacencyand even with satisfaction. Butwhen our ingratitude, our
forgetfulness, our unfilial and rebellious behaviour towards God, is
recognizedby us as the "evil and bitter thing" it is, as the wrong and shameful
thing it is, and when we are ready, with bowed head and humbled heart, to
say," Father, J have slinked," then are we in our right mind; then have we
returned to ourselves.
II. A RESOLVE TO RETURN TO GOD. This return on the part of the
prodigal:
1. Arose from a sense ofthe greatness ofhis need.
2. Was basedon a sound confidence, viz. that the father, whose dispositionhe
knew so well, would not rejectbut receive him.
3. Included a wise and right determination, viz. to make a frank confession of
his sin and to acceptthe humblest position in the old home which the father
might allot him.
(1) Out of the greatness andsoreness ofour need we come to the conclusion
that we will return unto God. Our state of guilt and shame is no longer
tolerable;we must turn our back on the guilty past and the evil present; there
is no refuge for our soul but in God - "in God, who is our home."
(2) We may hold fast the firm conviction that we shall be graciouslyreceived.
Of this we have the strongestassurancewe could have in the characterand
the promises of God, and in the experience of our brethren.

(3) Our resolution to return should include the wise and right determination:
(a) To make the fullest confessionofour sin; meaning by that not the use of
the strongestwords we canemploy againstourselves, but the full outpouring
of all that is in our heart; for, above all things, God "desires truth in the
inward parts."
(b) To acceptwhateverposition in God's service he may appoint us. Not that
we are expecting that he will make us "as a hired servant;" we may be sure
(see next homily) that he will place us and count us among his own children;
but so humble should our spirit be, such should be our sense of
undeservedness, that we should be ready to be anything and to do anything, of
howeverlowly a characterit may be, which the Divine Father may assignus
in his household. - C.
Biblical Illustrator
A certain man had two sons.
Luke 15:11-32
The prodigal and his brother
F. W. Robertson, M. A.
I. GOD'S TREATMENT OF THE PENITENT.
1. The alienation of the heart from God.(1)Homelessness.(2)Worldly
happiness is unsatisfying. Husks are not food.(3) Degradation.
2. The period of repentance.(1)The first fact of religious experience which this
parable suggeststo us is that common truth — men desertthe world when the
world deserts them. The renegade came to himself when there were no more
husks to eat. He would have remained awayif he could have got them, but it is
written, "no man gave unto him." And this is the record of our shame.
Invitation is not enough; we must be driven to God. And the famine comes not

by chance. God sends the famine into the soul — the hunger, and thirst, and
the disappointment — to bring back his erring child again.(2)There is
another truth contained in this sectionofthe parable. After a life of wild
sinfulness religionis servitude at first, not freedom. Observe, he went back to
duty with the feelings of a slave:"I am no more worthy to be calledthy son,
make me as one of thy hired servants." Any one who has lived in the
excitement of the world, and then tried to settle down at once to quiet duty,
knows how true that is. To borrow a metaphor from Israel's desertlife, it is a
tastelessthing to live on manna after you have been feasting upon quails. It is
a dull cold drudgery to find pleasure in simple occupationwhen life has been
a successionofstrong emotions. Sonship it is not; it is slavery. A son obeys in
love, entering heartily into his father's meaning. A servantobeys
mechanically, rising early because he must; doing, it may be, his duty well, but
feeling in all its force the irksomeness ofthe service. Sonship does not come all
at once.
3. The reception which a sinner meets with on his return to God. The banquet
represents to us two things.(1) It tells of the father's gladness on his son's
return. That represents God's joy on the reformation of a sinner.(2) It tells of
a banquet and a dance given to the long lost son. That represents the sinner's
gladness whenhe first understood that God was reconciledto him in Christ.
There is a strange, almostwild, rapture, a strong gush of love and happiness
in those days which are called the days of first conversion. When a man who
has sinned much — a profligate — turns to God, and it becomes first clearto
his apprehensionthat there is love instead of spurning for him, there is a
luxury of emotion — a banquet of tumultuous blessedness in the moment of
first love to God, which stands alone in life, nothing before and nothing after
like it. And, brethren, let us observe — This forgiveness is a thing granted
while a man is yet afar off.
II. GOD'S EXPOSTULATION WITH A SAINT. The true interpretation
seems to be that this elder brother represents a real Christian perplexed with
God's mysterious dealings. We have before us the description of one of those
happy persons who have been filled with the Holy Ghostfrom their mother's
womb, and on the whole (with imperfections of course)remained God's
servant all his life. For this is his own accountof himself, which the father

does not contradict. "Lo! these many years do I serve thee." We observe then:
The objectionmade to the receptionof a notorious sinner — "Thou never
gavestme a kid." Now, in this we have a facttrue to Christian experience. Joy
seems to be felt more vividly and more exuberantly by men who have sinned
much, than by men who have grown up consistentlyfrom childhood with
religious education. Rapture belongs to him whose sins, which are forgiven,
are many. In the perplexity which this fact occasions,there is a feeling which
is partly right and partly wrong. There is a surprise which is natural. There is
a resentful jealousywhich is to be rebuked. And now mark the father's
answer. It does not accountfor this strange dealing by God's sovereignty. It
does not cut the knot of the difficulty, instead of untying it, by saying, God has
a right to do what He will. He does not urge, God has a right to act on
favouritism if He please. Butit assigns two reasons. The first reasonis, "It was
meet, right that we should make merry." It is meet that Godshould be glad on
the reclamationof a sinner. It is meet that that sinner, looking down into the
dreadful chasm over which he had been tottering, should feela shudder of
delight through all his frame on thinking of his escape. And it is meet that
religious men should not feel jealous of one another, but freely and generously
join in thanking God that others have gothappiness, even if they have not.
The spirit of religious exclusiveness, whichlooks downcontemptuously
instead of tenderly on worldly men, and banishes a man for ever from the
circle of its joys because he has sinned notoriously, is a bad spirit. Lastly, the
reasongiven for this dealing is, "Son, thou art always with Me, and all that I
have is thine." By which Christ seems to tell us that the disproportion between
man and man is much less than we suppose. The profligate had had one hour
of ecstasy— the other had had a whole life of peace. A consistentChristian
may not have rapture; but he has that which is much better than rapture:
calmness — God's serene and perpetual presence. And after all, brethren,
that is the best.
(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
A mirror of mercy

Bishop Cowper.
1. First, then, in that he is calleda young man, there is noted in him want of
knowledge and experience as the ground and fountain of all his folly, he knew
not as yet what his father was worth unto him. And, therefore, he is not afraid
to forsake him. This is to teachus that none forsakes the Lord, but such as do
know Him not, and understand not that in so doing they forsake their own
mercy. As beasts that know not the value of pearls care not to trample them
under their feet, or as young children laugh at the death of their parents,
because they know not for the present what they lose thereby, but afterwards
remember it with grief; so blinded man without remorse runs awayfrom God,
not knowing what he lost by departing from the Lord, for He is light, and they
go into utter darkness that go from Him. He is life, and they are but dead who
abide not in fellowship with Him. One example of this we have in the elect
angels;they are never weary to behold His excellent Majesty;they find ever
new matter of joy in His face.
2. Secondly, in this prodigal child is noted here, that natural rebellion which is
in all men; that they will not submit themselves to the will of God their
Heavenly Father, but will follow their own wills.
3. The third evil noted here in this prodigal is his hypocrisy; he calls him in
word father, but in deed did not so accountof him; he carried not towardhim
the heart of a child; this is a part of that poison wherewithSatan hath infected
our nature. Is there any comparisonbetweenthat which thou givest the Lord
and that which thou gettestfrom Him?
4. That he seeks a portion of his father's goods, but not his father's favour and
blessing, represents to us the earthly minds of naturalists, who prefer the gifts
of God to God Himself.
(Bishop Cowper.)
The parable of the prodigal
A. G. Thomson, D. D.

Captain Sir W.E. Parry observes, "There is nothing even in the whole
compass ofScripture more calculatedto awakencontritionin the hardest
heart than the parable of the Prodigal Son. I knew a convict in New South
Wales, in whom there appearedno symptoms of repentance in other respects,
but who could never hear a sermon or comment on this parable without
bursting into an agony of tears, which I witnessedon severaloccasions. Truly
He who spoke it knew what was in man." It is the prince of parables, a gospel
within the gospel, a mirror of man, an artless yet profound little drama of
human ruin and recovery. Wonderful, indeed, is its power to touch the
sensibilities. "I have wept but once these forty years, said a veteranmilitary
officer, and that was when I heard Jesse Bushyhead, the Cherokee preacher,
address his countrymen from the parable of the ProdigalSon, the tears
flowing fasterthan he could wipe them away."
(A. G. Thomson, D. D.)
The parable of fatherhood
Bishop Alexander.
I. LET US FOLLOW THE SINNER IN HIS REBELLION. In this part of the
picture we shall perceive that sin is vicious in principle, ruinous in operation,
and ever multiplying its destructive issues.(1)SIN IS VICIOUS IN
PRINCIPLE.
1. What is the unexpressedbut fundamental axiom of all sin? A human being
exists to pursue his own gratification, without regard to the will of God. That
is it.
2. The younger sonacts out the rule of life ascribedto him. Forobserve, the
employment of the resources ofexistence forself-indulgence he claims as a
right. "Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me."
3. Now definite plans for self-indulgence follow. His notions of life and felicity
are not a theory, but meant to be a practice;and he does his best to be ready
for it.

4. Notice, next, the haste of sin. "Notmany days after, the younger son
gatheredall together." It might have been the most sublime and hallowed
enterprise in the world. The rapidity of his movements must not be attributed
exclusively to the impetuosity of youth, but to the precipitancy of all sinful
passion.
5. Remark, finally, here, the presence ofGod is "unfriendly to sin." "And
took his journey into a far country." Banishment from home would have been
accounteda greathardship, if it had been enjoined as a duty. The toils and
perils of the road would have occasionedno little murmuring, if his hard
travail had contemplated any other end than selfenjoyment. He is eagerto
swallow his indulgences, and equally anxious to be beyond his father's eye and
all the restraints of home. "Let me alone" is the impatient cry of sin to all
remonstrance. "A far country" is always the covetedparadise of fools.
II. SIN IS RUINOUS IN OPERATION. "And there wastedhis substance in
riotous living."
III. SIN IS EVER MULTIPLYING ITS DESTRUCTIVE ISSUES. There is no
standing still in goodor evil. The wheels ofhuman progress never reston their
axles.
1. Insteadof attaining to happiness, he is overtakenby poverty.
2. Now Providence fights againsthim. Nature is in the universal league against
transgression.
3. He is already feeling the pinch of wrong-doing. "And he began to be in
want." The fruit of evil deeds is revealing its poison. He finds himself in the
graspof premonitory pangs.
4. Observe next, that the old principle is to be workedin new ways. "And he
went and joined himself to a citizen of that country." You see that he has not
become a citizen himself. He is still a stranger. He cannot absolutely settle
down out there. No. A man cannot find entire satisfactionin a life of self-
enjoyment without God. With nothing but worldly things he cannotattain to
rest.

5. He now sinks to a lower level of degradation. A swine-herd!
6. Take notice, further, that the swine-herd is prepared to accepthis shame.
"And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did
eat." Ever since he left his father's house his inclinations have descended
lowerand lower. He tried to fill, to satisfy himself with them, but he could not.
They merely stayedhis hunger. There was a bitterness in their flavour which
something in his palate nauseated. The pleasure of eating was gone. The food
of a beastcannot satisfy the soul of a man.
7. Last of all, his schemes of felicity and methods of relief are all overturned
together. "And no man gave unto him." It does not mean, that no man gave
him swine's food. The swine-herd had the care of the husks, and ate plenty of
them, but he could not enjoy them. "No man gave unto him" what could
satisfy and bless a human soul. Man is the highest creature in the world; but if
you seek your happiness or your deliverance from misery at his hands, you
must end in failure. "Citizens" out in that country, "far" from God, could not
surround a prodigal with the goodwhich a father's love at home canalone
supply. "No man gave unto him," because no man had anything to give.
II. LET US WATCH THE SINNER IN HIS REPENTANCE. There are four
elements of repentance here requiring analysis.
1. REFLECTION. "And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired
servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare!" Sin creates a sort of
moral insanity. While spurred by appetite and in the race after indulgence,
the mind is actuatedby a species offrenzy. "I perish with hunger!" There is
the memory of a better past in that exclamation. This same recalling of
brighter hours bows the spirit into the dust.
"This is truth the poet sings,
That a sorrow's crownof sorrow is remembering happier things."Bygone
years to a sinner, howeverin his beginning, is a glance up an ascending incline
towards sunnier days.
2. RESOLUTION. "Iwill arise and go to my father." He no soonerdiscerns
his hapless state, than he determines to leave it. You are to imagine him

prostrate, brooding in indecisionor despair. But he will lie no longer in
inaction. He protests, "I will arise," and he rises.
3. RECOGNITION OF GUILT. His resolution, while unenfeebled by
hesitation, was not formed in insensibility to his evil. He sees mostdistinctly
the relationof sin towards God and towards himself.(1) The relation of sin
towards God. "I have sinned againstheaven." Evil insults the purity and
despises the love of God. It destroys His moral order, and spurns the felicity
which He offers.(2)The relation of sin towards himself. "And am no more
worthy," etc. His sense ofill-desert is real and deep.
4. RETURN TO GOD. His was no empty vow.
III. LET US BEHOLD THE SINNER IN HIS RESTORATION.
1. NOTICE GOD'S RECOGNITION OF THE EARLIEST BEGINNINGS
OF PENITENCE."Whenhe was yet a greatway off, his father saw him." He
had not seenhis father, but "his father saw him." Unconsciouslyto the son,
the love of the father has been drawing him all the way. If he had lost the
image of his father from his memory, he would never have attempted to
return.
2. OBSERVE GOD'S WELCOMETO THE REPENTING.(1)The tenderness
of God is wonderful, He "had compassion." Greatreasonhad God to be
angry with that sinful creature, with me, with you; but He "had
compassion."(2)How willing God is to succour!"His father saw him, and had
compassion, andran" to welcome him. "Ran," — willingness is too feeble an
epithet to denote the impulse. There is eagernessin "ran." God is hasting to
save and bless.(3)Praydo not overlook God's readiness to acceptand pardon
just as you are. "Saw," "hadcompassion," "ran," "andfell on his neck, and
kissedhim."
3. NOW TURN TO BEHOLD HOW GOD LAVISHES HIS AFFECTION ON
THE ACCEPTED PENITENT. The father is not going to treat his son as an
"hired servant." God's forgiveness must be God-like. God's love is always
greaterin experience than in our most sanguine wishes and brightest hopes.

4. LISTEN TO GOD'S EXHORTATION TO HIS UNIVERSE TO SHARE
HIS JOY. "Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be
merry." "Merry" is an old Saxonword. Its meaning has somewhatnarrowed
and loweredin our later tongue. "Be merry," here, in the original is "rejoice."
A feastbetokens gladness among all nations. The occasionis great, and great
is to be the exultation. "Let us eatand rejoice." The father does not ask his
household to be glad and he himself remain only a spectatorofthe universal
delight. It is, "Let us eatand rejoice." It is God's own joy that He would have
His creatures share and proclaim.
(Bishop Alexander.)
The prodigal son
E. N. Kirk.
I. AN EXHIBITION OF THE CONDITION AND THE CONDUCT OF MAN
IN HIS NATURAL AND SINFUL STATE.
1. Absence of gratitude, or any sense ofobligation to his father.
2. Impatience of his father's government.
3. Breaking awayfrom his father's control.
4. Squandering his father's property contrary to his father's intention.
5. But his schemes allfailed to make him happy.
II. WHEN MEN BEGIN TO FEEL THEIR WANT, THEY TAKE
ERRONEOUS COURSESTO DELIVER THEMSELVES. One flies to his
worldly companions;another to scepticism;another to business; another to
pleasure;another to some external reformation; another determines to read
his Bible a little more, and to pray a little more — not meaning by prayer his
heart really coming back to God, but the utterance of some words and going
more frequently on his knees. Thatis not prayer. Prayeris the child coming
back to his Father; prayer is the heart meeting God; prayer is the heart
delighting in God, pouring out its desires into the bosom of infinite Love, and

feeling that God is there. You must get back to God through the mediation,
the merit, and the sacrifice ofthe Lord our Righteousness andour Redeemer.
All other refuges will fail: all other processeswill fail: you may have
convictions, and then you may do this, that, or the other that I have described;
still you are in want. Husks, husks, husks are all you have receivedby staying
awayfrom your Father's house.
III. THE NATURE OF REPENTANCEAND SUBMISSION — the way to get
home to our Father. The young man is said to have come to himself: that
means that he was beside himself before. Hence you find that the Word of
God denominates sinners "fools":and because they are practically so foolish,
they would rather remain undisturbed in their sins for a few days, than go
through the bitterness of repentance and the self-denial of religion now, that
they may wearan eternal crown, and live in immortal peace. There is another
proof of the derangementof the human heart. It is the feeling which men
have, that they can be happy awayfrom God, and that they know more about
the secretofhappiness than the God who made them. So repentance is
turning to our right mind. Repentance is beginning to look at things aright —
beginning to reason, and feel, and purpose, and act aright. The young man
determines to come home, to confess his sin without any palliation. The
willingness to humble ourselves, that is coming home. Look for a moment at
this young man, and see how difficult it was for him to come home, and how
impossible it would have been, if he had not humbled his pride. In the first
place he had to go back in his rags. "There is not a child in the village but will
see me; and they will say, That is the young man who went out in such
splendid style; and they will point the finger at me and mock me": and yet
says be, "I will arise and go."
IV. GOD'S RECEPTION OF THE RETURNING SINNER.
(E. N. Kirk.)
The efficacyand joy of repentance
Bishop Wm. Alexander.

I. THE PARABLE. It can stand the two tests which Byron declared to be
decisive upon the merit of literary creations. It pleases immediately, and it
pleases permanently. The rose needs no essayto prove that it is a rose. This is
fragrant with the breath of Christ, and coloured with the summer of His
touch.
1. The prodigal's sin.(1) In its origin it is selfishness.(2)In its progress it is
dissipation.(3)In its result, sin is famine and degradation:in action, the life of
the stye, which is sensuality;in thought, the systemof the stye, which is
materialism. One of the citizens of that country sends him "into the fields to
feed swine."(4)But the essenceofhis sin is the miserable determination to
remove as far as possible from his father's presence.
2. The prodigal's repentance. "He came to Himself." He had been outside his
true selfbefore. When a man finds himself, he finds God.
3. The reception of the lostson. Forevery stepthe sinner takes towards God,
God takes ten towards him. We will not dwell upon the particulars of that
greatreception. Enough to mention "the first stole";the ring of honour; the
shoes forbidden to slaves;the sacrificialfeast;the father's voice passing into
the chant of a wondrous liturgy; and seenand heard across the darkening
fields by the elder brother as he unwillingly faces homewardthe long line of
festallight, the symphony of instruments, and the choirs of dancers.
II. CHARACTERISTICSOF REPENTANCE.
1. Its efficacy. Notin the nature of things; not inherent in it. The sinner is in
an awful land, where every rock is literally a "rock of ages";where the facts
which some men call spiritual are bound by a fatal successionquite as much
as the facts which all men callmaterial; where God is frozen into an icicle,
and no tender touch of miracle can come from His law-stiffenedfingers;
where two and two always make four, and your sin always finds you out. To
remove this impotence and inefficacyof repentance, Jesus livedand died.
Repentance is His indulgence, flung down from the balcony by our great High
Priest. Repentance is His gift; the efficacyof repentance is His secret.

2. Its joy.(1) There are two considerations whichhave always been urged by
masters of the spiritual life.(a) To judge the inner life only by the joy of which
it is conscious is a sort of spiritual epicureanism. "The tears of penitents are
the wine of angels";but they were not intended to intoxicate those who shed
them.(b) Pastsin, even when its guilt is pardoned, has penal consequences
upon the inner life. It continues in the memory with its poisonedsprings and
in the imagination with its perilous susceptibilities.(2)Yet they know not the
mind of God to whom penitence is only bitter. There are
"Tears that sweeterfar
Than the world's mad laughter are."Thereis a triumphant, a victorious
delight, which leads the will along the narrow way, and will not be gainsaid. It
is a mutilated Miserere whichomits the verse "Make me to hear joy and
gladness, that the hones which Thou hast broken may rejoice." Byone of
those apparent contradictions which lies at the root of the Christian life, a
perpetual yearning after pardon is consistentwith a perpetual serenityof
hope. God would mould His penitents that they may combine sorrow with joy;
that they may hear at once a sigh in the depths of their souls, and a music far
away. There must be in the renewed nature something of the iron that has
been moulded in His furnace, and something of the rose which has been
expanded in His sunshine. The life of Frederick the Great, by a writer of
transcendentgenius, contains incidentally a recordof the death of an English
generaldefeatedin Canada. Twice only did the unhappy officerrouse himself
out of the mortal stupor into which he fell from a brokenheart. Once he
sighed heavily — "Who would have thought it?" Many days after he said with
more animation — "Another time we will do better." And then " the
cataracts ofsoft, sweetsleep" rusheddown upon the weary man. Do not these
two sentences give us this view of the twofold aspectofrepentance? — the
first, the humiliation of the beatensoldier as he comes to himself; the second,
his hope through Christ as he catches the music of the march of victory.
(Bishop Wm. Alexander.)
The pearl of parables

C. S. Robinson, D. D.
I. WE SHALL NEED TO GROUP TOGETHER AT THE OUTSET THE
PARTICULARS WHICH SHOW THIS YOUNG MAN'S ALIENATED
CONDITION AT THE MOMENT WHEN THE STORYGIVES HIM
INTRODUCTION. (see vers. 11, 12).
1. He was estrangedfrom all love for his father. His affections had been
soured and turned before he made this abrupt demand. He addressedhis
father as to a division of his estate in a cool, technicalway.
2. He was awayfrom his home (see ver. 13). His father's residence whichhe
had left is pictured in the parable, with the family life in it, by two or three
strokes ofa master hand. Even the servants had enough and to spare. Feasts
were not unknown. Music and dancing were part of the entertainment. But it
is plain that the old father meant to be masterthere; and that was precisely
the condition of life this impulsive youth resolvedto escape.
3. He had fallen into poverty (see ver. 14). Removedfrom influences which
had hitherto kept him in check, he beganthe careerof a profligate and
debauchee. A little time spent in this voluptuous folly sufficed to run through
his fortune.
4. At last he sank to the lowest, and became a servant. He went and offered
himself to a master. The citizen of that country put him at the very worst
business he had for any menial to do.
5. At this moment the young man was actuallyhungering in the presence of
his beasts (see ver. 16). So far from having the right to despise the lowly
creatures of his charge, the prodigal beganthe rather to envy them. The
picture must be turned now to show just how it illustrates the condition of a
sinner alienated from his Father in heaven. His own pride of heart lies at the
bottom of his departure; he wants to be masterof himself. Gathering together
all his resources oftime, talent, energy — all his powers of mind and body —
he rushes awayinto the world of dissipation and lust. Now he goes to the devil
directly and hires himself out, and Satanaccepts him at his own valuation,
and puts him among the swine.

II. LET US NOW SEEKFOR THE PARTICULARS WHICH DISPLAY
THIS PRODIGAL'S ENTIRE CHANGE IN PURPOSE AND FEELING BY
WHICH HE WAS AT LAST LED BACK TO HIS HOME IN PENITENCE
AND PEACE. (see ver. 17).
1. First of all, he began to think "I thought upon my ways and turned my feet
unto Thy testimonies." The expressionhere is as singular as it is strong —
"When he came to himself." A sort of madness was in his heart. He sees where
he is, and what he is, and what he has so long been doing.
2. Then he began to remember. That is Scripture counselfor us in these later
times — "Rememberfrom whence thou art fallen." The prodigal recollected
the kindness of his home in the days gone by.
3. Then he began to regret. His grief overthe wickednessofhis careeris
shown by the softness and gentleness ofhis forms of meditation. We discover
no demonstrations of spite.
4. Then he began to hate. Abruptly, but for ever, he throws up his engagement
with his cruel master. He renounces absolutely all the associations ofhis life in
this far country.
5. Then he began to resolve (see vers. 18, 19). So critical is this as a point in his
experience, that we must analyze it stepby step to the end.(1) He resolvedhe
would arise. If he was actuallybent on making a change, he must be up on the
instant and out of this. Nothing could be gained by delay.(2) He resolvedhe
would go to his father. To whom else couldhe go? Drudgery was here,
freedom was yonder. Shame was here, honour was yonder. Slavery was here,
duty was yonder. Starving was here. plenty and to spare were yonder.(3) He
resolvedto speak to his father. Observe, in this little speechhe says over and
over againto himself there is not one word about food or raiment, or future
fortune. He is going to getthe awful past right before he begins on anything
else. He decides that he will confess before he begins to plead; what he wants
is pardon.(4) He resolvedto be obedient to his father. Unworthy of sonship, he
will ask for a servant's place. Indeed, now he has come to see that the lowest
position in his father's house is higher than the highest he ever discoveredin
all these reckless,wickeddays since he left it. Here, again, we must pause to

turn the story, so as to see in all plainness how it illustrates the process of
mind and behaviour through which a contrite sinner returns to his Father in
heaven in the hour of his resolve. These steps are all homeward steps.
III. There remains for our study now only one more grouping of particulars
which show THIS PRODIGAL'S RECEPTION WHEN AT THE LAST HE
ARRIVED IN HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND CAME TO HIS FATHER'S
HOUSE.
1. He carried out his purpose of arising and going to his father (see ver. 20). It
would have done no goodjust to resolve and then sit still there among the
swine.
2. He carried out his purpose of confessing his sin to his father (see ver. 21).
Perhaps he had been fainting with hunger; but hope would tell him of comfort
by and by. Perhaps he would meet a train of travellers, who would laugh at
his sorry look and condition; but he would think of help coming before long.
Perhaps his heart wholly sank at the moment when from the last hill he saw
his home; but he would be sure to fall back on his sure faith in his father's
affection.
3. He carried out his purpose of full obedience of his father. To be sure, not a
word was said about his being a servant any more. He was a sou now, and all
the old honour had come with the robe and the ring. But the unspokenresolve
still remained in his heart (see Hebrews 5:8).
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The prodigal son
T. D. Gregg, M. A.
I. THE SON'S FORTUNE,AND HIS WAY OF SPENDINGIT. What, then,
was his fortune? Man is gifted with health, by which he is able to enjoy life —
strength, to provide for its necessities — faculties (such as common sense,
reason, the understanding), to guide him to God as his true happiness —
affections, to endear him to others, and others to him. Appetites of various

and valuable sorts. The appetite of eating and drinking, which affords
legitimate pleasure and real advantage when moderately indulged; the
appetite for seeing, whichopens a door to much useful discovery and delight,
which enables us to admire on every hand the infinite wisdom, power, and
goodness ofour Creatorand our God; the appetite for hearing, by which
Divine knowledge getsadmittance into the soul, by which the agreeable
converse ofour friends, and the delightful strains of heavenly melody, may be
enjoyed and indulged in. These, and many others. are precious items in the
portion which God bountifully bestows upon His children. They should be
enjoyed at His discretion, according to His command, and for His glory. Not
so, however, the sinner. Like the prodigal, he gathers his riches, and takes his
journey into a far country — that is to say, he wanders far from God and
heaven. The prodigal becomes a worldling; he carries his portion into the
unregenerate world, and there wastes his substance in riotous living. His gifts
are debauchedand misused; they are all made the servants of sin. Hunger
eaters to gluttony; thirst to drunkenness; the eye administers to lust; it reads
wickedlooks, delights in wanton shows, in pomp, and vanity, and folly. The
ear drinks in blasphemy, irreligion, and indecency. The heart is made the
residence of evil affections;the head and understanding, of wicked, ungodly,
infidel principles. The summer of life is spent in bringing to maturity the seeds
of evil which were scatteredin its spring — the autumn, in the neglectof what
is good, and in the ingathering of what is bad, the poisonedfruits of a
debauched manhood. The winter of life comes on, and in its train sharp
disease, racking pains — a bloated, enfeebled, disordered carcase — a foolish
head, an unregenerate heart, a guilty conscience.There is now no more
capacityfor enjoying pleasure;the sight is gone, the hearing lost, the appetite
vanished, the strength decayed, the health squandered, the affections debased,
the faculties degraded— the whole substance wastedin riotous living.
II. HIS DESTITUTIONAND REPENTANCE. "And when he had spent all
there began to be a mighty famine in that land." So it is with sinners. They
derive their pleasure from sensualenjoyments — the indulgences of the flesh;
but, when they spend their strength, there is an end of these indulgences. The
eye refuses to see, the ear to hear, the members to stir, in obedience to the
miserable slave of sin. "And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks

that the swine did eat." It is among the miseries of sinners that the appetite
for wickedindulgence increases as the capacityfor gratifying it decays. The
longerthe heart has been exercisedin iniquity, the deeperwill be the
corruption with which it is tainted. "And no man gave unto him." Be assured,
sinner, this is a true picture of the world. While you cantreat them — while
you have anything that they candevour, they will praise and flatter you; but,
when your substance is gone, you will find it true that no man will give unto
you — none of your sinful companions. They have their own devouring lusts,
their filthy lusts, to gratify. Do you think that they will deny themselves for
your necessities?"And when he came to himself" — mark the expression, as
though he had been in a fit of madness. It is thus the sinner is here spokenof;
yea, and elsewhere the Holy Ghost says, "Madnessis in their hearts while they
live." "I will arise," etc. Here, then, were no excuses, no palliations — no
saying others were in fault, I was led astray, I have not been as bad as some —
no promises of greatthings for the future — no saying, I will devote myself to
thy service, I will fight thy battles, I will do wonders for thy cause;but a
simple declarationof guilt and wretchedness:"I have sinned, I am unworthy;
I do not deserve the characterof thy son;make me as one of thy servants;
regard me as one of them." He resolves to plead, not his merit, but his misery,
and he puts his resolve into execution. For —
III. "HE AROSE AND CAME TO HIS FATHER." "He arose and came":it
is important that you should mark this — he did not rest contentwith mere
resolutions of repentance. He did not say, "I will arise and return," and all the
while stay where he was, desiring still to feed on husks. This too many do.
"And .while he was yet a greatway off," etc. Oh, the melting tenderness of
our God and Saviour! He watches the very first movements towards
repentance.
(T. D. Gregg, M. A.)
The reformed prodigal
J. Thomson, D. D.

I. LET US INQUIRE WHO THE YOUNGER SON IS INTENDEDTO
REPRESENT. The parable is addressedto the scribes and Pharisees;but
there was nothing in their characterwhich resembled what is ascribedto the
younger son, or that could admit a comparisonwith him. But, as we are told,
it was delivered in the presence ofpublicans and sinners, who had assembled
in crowds to hear Jesus, it cannot be doubted that it was that class who are
portrayed by the younger son. The publicans and sinners are never
representedin the Gospels as influenced by the religious opinions which
prevailed among the Jews, but rather as led by their feelings;just as the
younger son is exhibited in the parable. They are, however, drawn as more
easilyinstructed, and more susceptible of repentance and reformation.
II. LET US NEXT POINT OUT WHAT USEFUL INSTRUCTION WE MAY
DERIVE FROM THE CONDUCT OF THE YOUNGER BROTHER.
1. We see that extravaganceand licentiousness are usually followedby want.
Whoever, then, practices these vices, cannotplead ignorance oftheir natural
and unavoidable consequences. Nordo evil effects belong to these vices alone;
for every other vice has its peculiar evil consequenceswhichaccompanyits
train, as uniformly as a shadow goes along with a moving substance whenthe
sun shines. Thus, even truth from the mouth of a known liar is usually
receivedwith incredulity, and always with suspicion. Pride is incessantly
exposedto imaginary affronts and realmortifications, which cause to the
unhappy victim many agonizing moments. The vain man is miserable when he
is doomed to negligence and contempt, instead of receiving the covetedand
expectedpraise. The gratificationof revenge, in reality, consists of the pains of
the rack.
2. As the evil consequencesofsin are thus so evident to all, we ought to be
convinced that this knowledge was intended to lead us to amendment. Such,
indeed, is representedas the effectproduced on the young man in the parable.
His sufferings occasionednot only that repentance which consists in strong
feelings, but that reformation which consists in a change of conduct. This is
exhibited as genuine and sincere;it was speedy, nor was it partial but
universal.

III. OUR ATTENTION IS NEXT CALLED TO THE ELDER BROTHER.
We have concludedthat the younger brother was designedto representthe
publicans and sinners. Norcan we have any doubt that, under the similitude
of the elder brother, the scribes and Pharisees are intended. It is true the
charactergiven of the elder brother is good — that he had servedhis father
many years, and never transgressedhis commands. But we must not overlook
the circumstance that this favourable characteris given by himself, while his
conduct exhibits an opposite picture, bearing a close resemblanceto the
scribes and Pharisees;for they deemed themselves not only faultless but
meritorious, as they are represented by the Pharisee in the parable, who
thanked God for his superiority to others, and plumed himself because he
fastedtwice in the week, and gave tithes of all his possessions.Like the great
body of the Pharisees,the elder brother is selfishand indifferent about others.
He is angry at the fond receptiongiven to his penitent brother, envious of the
marks of favour conferred on him, and mortified at the supposedpreference
to himself by his noble-minded father. Had he possessedany natural affection
he would have cordially testified his delight at the return of his long-lost
brother. Had he felt as he ought to have done, he would have learned that his
own happiness was highly enhanced;for there is no joy so elevatedand
refined as that which a goodman feels at the return of a son, or a brother, or
a friend, to God and duty.
IV. Lastly, THE CONDUCT OF THE FATHER IN THE PARABLE IS
EVIDENTLY INTENDEDTO REPRESENT THE GOODNESSOF OUR
ALMIGHTY FATHER.
(J. Thomson, D. D.)
The prodigal son
T. Kelly.
1. This young man was laying his life-plans, and his first idea was to getaway
from his father.
2. Freedomfrom restraint leads to recklessness.

3. Recklessnessleads to want.
4. Want leads to recollection.
5. Recollectionleads to repentance.
6. Repentance leads to reformation.
7. Reformationleads to restoration.
8. Restorationleads to rejoicing.
9. Rejoicing overthe returning prodigal is well; but the conductand character
of the elder brother are immeasurably better.
(T. Kelly.)
The parable of the prodigal son
Geo. Gerrard.
I. SELF-WILL LEADS TO PRODIGALITY.
II. PRODIGALITYLEADS TO WANT.
III. WANT AWAKENS MEMORY.
IV. AWAKENED MEMORYLEADS TO REPENTANCEAND RETURN.
(Geo. Gerrard.)
The prodigal
The Lay Preacher.
Let us regard it as giving a picture of man —
I. IN THE DIGNITY OF HIS ORIGIN. This young man was the son of a
father who could bestow on him a large fortune, and surround his life with
comfort and splendour. He was born to dignity. The destitution and misery to

which he had reduced himself was not his natural heritage. "We are also His
offspring."
II. IN HIS DESIRE FOR INDEPENDENCE. All sins may be regardedas the
unfolding of this single sin of selfishness.Hence the necessitythat we should
enter the Kingdom of God, where He asserts andmaintains His dominion over
us.
III. IN THE LIBERTYALLOWED HIM, WITH THE RISK OF ITS
ABUSE. When a man feels that the service of God is not perfectfreedom, that
he can better himself in some condition of his own seeking,Godallows him to
make the trial. The foolish experiment discovers atlength to him that he is not
really free by throwing off his former yoke. He has but exchangedit for a far
heavier one.
1. We learn from this that the apostasyofthe heart begins before the apostasy
of the life.
2. Man abuses the liberty allowedhim, and abandons himself to the dreadful
possibilities of sin. Liberty is indeed a noble endowment, yet it is terrible to
have the powerto ruin ourselves. We cangain nothing by contending with our
Maker.
IV. IN THE MANNER OF HIS SPIRITUAL RECOVERY. This recoveryis
possible. Such is the glad sound of the gospel. Letus trace the steps by which
the prodigal gainedthe favour he had forfeited.
1. He was made to feel his utmost need.
2. His reformation commencedin thought.
3. He was sensible of the honour he had rejected.
4. He resolves to casthimself upon the mercy of his father.
5. He frames the design of his confession. Sin is acknowledgedin its root —
"before Thee."
6. Still remaining as a son, he desired to be reckoneda servant.

V. IN THE MERCIFUL KINDNESS WITHWHICH HEAVEN FORGIVES
THE EVIL OF HIS LIFE. God draws nigh unto those who draw nigh unto
Him. When the face is turned towards God, the long journey is relieved by the
arrival of mercy before we have trodden every weary step.
1. The penitent is raisedto a position of honour.
2. There was sympathy awakenedforhim in the father's household.
3. The joy was suited to the time — "it was meet." But this intensity of joy
could not, in the nature of things, long continue. He, too, must shortly settle
down to the sobertasks of duty. The excitement of a greatcrisis must not be
the permanent condition of the soul, or her energies wouldbe consumedat too
high a rate; and, instead of the glow of health, there would be the burning of a
fever. Excessivejoy must subside into the patience of faith, and the labour of
love.
(The Lay Preacher.)
The parable of the prodigal son
Repertorium Oratoris Sacri.
I. THE PRODIGALSON LEAVES HIS FATHER'S HOUSE.
1. Why did he leave?
(1)Youth is the time of imaginations. The prodigal son promised to himself a
joyful life outside of his father's house.
(2)Youth is desirous of sensualpleasures.
(3)Youth desires to be independent, and will not obey.
2. How did he leave?
(1)The ungrateful demand.
(2)The going astray.

II. THE PRODIGALSON IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY.
1. He wastes his substance.
2. He begins to be in want. Poverty is the condition of the soul that seeks
happiness in the world. By losing his God, the sinner loses everything.
3. His degradation. He who would not perform the daily work in the house of
his father, is now obligedto labour as a hired servant.
4. He envies the brute beasts.
III. HIS RETURN AND RECEPTION.
1. The causes ofhis return.(1) It was causedby his misery. The famine calls
him back whom satiety had led away. God visits with grace him whom He
visits with affliction.(2) Forsakenby all the world, he returned to himself. The
first condition of conversionis knowledge ofone's self, and the knowledge of
the condition of our soul.(3)He saw the misery of his condition.
2. The steps he takes in order to return.(1) He makes a firm resolution, not
deferring his return to a later time, nor being deterred by difficulties.(2) He
still remembers the kindness of his father.(3) He acknowledgesthe enormity
of his sin.
3. His reception.
(Repertorium Oratoris Sacri.)
The prodigal son
J. Burns, D. D.
Look at the prodigal son —
I. IN HIS ORIGINAL CIRCUMSTANCESOF HONOUR AND HAPPINESS.
Upright. Innocent. Happy. God his Father. Eden his home. The earth his
domain. Angels his companions. All that Divine wisdom and love could
provide, he possessed. An ample portion was his inheritance.

II. IN THE ARROGANCE OF HIS PRESUMPTUOUS CLAIM. What did he
really want.? Where could he be more dignified or happy? But he seeksto
have his portion to himself. He desires to do with it as he pleases. He seeks to
throw off parental restraints and control.
III. IN HIS DISSIPATED WANDERINGS.
1. This wandering is very gradual and insidious.
2. Increasinglyrapid.
3. Awfully dangerous.
IV. IN HIS WRETCHEDNESSAND MISERY. Profligacyis followedby
want; extravagance by misery.
V. IN HIS UNALLEVIATED DISTRESS.
(J. Burns, D. D.)
The prodigal's return
J. Burns, D. D.
I. REASON RESUMESHER DOMINION.
II. THE RESOLUTION HE ADOPTS.
1. He determines on an immediate return to his forsakenhome.
2. He resolves freelyto confess his sins.
3. He resolves to be contentwith any place in his father's dwelling.
III. THE COURSE WHICH HE PROMPTLYCARRIES OUT.
1. Immediately; without delay.
2. And he perseveres in his homeward course.
(J. Burns, D. D.)

The sequel
J. Burns, D. D.
I. THE HAPPY MEETING.
II. THE HEARTY RECEPTION.
III. THE DISTINGUISHED BANQUET.
IV. THE COLD-HEARTED ENVY OF THE ELDER BROTHER. Lessons:
1. How generous and pure is the benevolence of the gospel. It is of God, and
from Him, and resembles His tender and infinite love.
2. How hateful is an envious self-righteous spirit. It is the sprit of the evil one,
and therefore from beneath.
3. Happy they who have repented of sin, and who have been receivedinto the
Saviour's family of love.
(J. Burns, D. D.)
The prodigal son
D. O. Mears.
I. THE PRODIGAL'S DEPARTURE.He disliked all parental restraint. He
broke the principle involved in the "first commandment with promise." In his
father's house vice was out of place. He made the world his servant, little
thinking how soonhe should be under its most cruel tyranny. He was sadly
deceived. We must never forgetthat all wasting of our gifts is a sin. Man is
made for a noble purpose; his duties touch eternity, and are given for use in
time. Shall we, for even a moment, dare assume that it is no concernof ours
how we employ our powers?
II. THE PRODIGAL'S DESPAIR. His situation is portrayed by the one
graphic description of Christ: "There arose a mighty famine in that land."

We are pointed to the darkestword in human history, precursor of the
pestilence and death. It tells of the stony bed where the brook once ran. It tells
of the fruitless trees, with branches prematurely stripped of their foliage." It
tells of the grass ofsummer all burned away. His property was all wasted, and
despair was settling down upon his soul. His life was a failure in such a land;
his "riotous living" was beginning its curse. No want of the human heart, good
or bad, is ever satisfiedhere. Even the disciple's anticipation is of a time when
he shall awake in Christ's likeness. Justso, the nobler desires turned
earthward are more insatiate still. Epicure was never satisfied. The
sustenance ofvicious desires only awakens new ones. The drunkard drinks
deeper week by week, his thirst deepenedwith every draught of the mocking
cup. The miser's lust burns fiercer as the gold in his chestbecomes heavier.
III. THE PRODIGAL'S RESOLUTION. We are told of an English soldier,
wounded and faint, left by the retreating army to die. Helpless and motionless
he lay, expecting his death, screenedfrom the burning sun by an overhanging
cliff. While his strength was ebbing fast there alighted just before his face a
greedy, ravenous bird, waiting for the end to come. Thoughts of himself
becoming the prey of that loathsome bird gave him a now energy, and he
slowlyarose and at lastwas saved. In almost a like helpless state the prodigal
"came to himself." Two thoughts convincedhim of his insane course — the
abjectness ofhis misery, perishing with hunger; and the remembrance of the
joys in the father's house. It was thus the dissolute John Newtonbecame
himself again. But for a like criticalresolve John Bunyan would everhave
remained the same worthless profligate as in his youth. A moral cowardmay
face the cannon's mouth, but only a hero will turn from his sin. There is a
splendour in such a moral conflict. Caesar's politicalfats depended upon his
passing the Rubicon; and yet the same resolutionis demanded in the ease of
every sinner.
IV. THE PRODIGAL'S WELCOME. Words are powerless in declaring the
richness of such a reception. The prodigal loved his father because his father
had first loved him. Day after day the hired servants had askedin vain, When
will his love grow less? But it never ceased.
(D. O. Mears.)

The prodigal son
A. E. Dunning.
I. THE SPIRIT OF THE SON AT THE BEGINNING. His underlying aim is
to look out for himself. He wanted his father's goods, but not his presence.
This is the germ of sin — an independent, proud, unloving spirit towardGod.
II. THE DEPARTURE. Notmany days after he found that he could be
independent, he started off on his journey. He who does not pray and obey
God, rapidly withdraws from Him. God is not in his thoughts, and therefore
he soonceasesto appreciate the characterwhich God loves. The true
generosity, which is love to men for their good, is lost. He loves men for what
they are worth to please himself. Reverence is lost. The courage ofgentleness
is lost. Abhorrence of wickednessis lost. He sees witin the rejectionof Divine
authority, courage in anger, manliness in vice.
III. THE LIFE OF UNHALLOWED PLEASURE. He chose the company that
fitted his spirit. He sought others for what he could get out of them; they
sought him for what they could get out of him. He had plenty of company as
long as he had substance to waste on them. What he spent on them was
wasted. What they gave him was wasted. The whole traffic was utter loss on
both sides. They had not only outward possessions,but a wealthof intellect,
affection, beauty, genius. They wastedit all. This the seekerfor selfand not
God always does. He uses his talents to coverup his real aims and passions.
Art has been made the handmaid of Sin. Music is calledin to adorn the
hideous nakedness ofvice.
IV. THE COLLAPSE. The famine beganwhen he had used up all he had.
When all is gone, Nature herself turns againstthe prodigal. The world is a
desertto a sinner who has run through the gifts of God, and he is absolutely
certain to run them through in a little while. Alas for him when his own
treasures are squandered, and the famine smites the far country! His one
friend he has eastoff to win the admiration of the friends he had chosen;and
they have casthim off as soonas his goods are gone.

V. THE NEW BUSINESS. No extreme of degradationcould be greaterthan
this to the mind of the Jew. He became the servant of a foreigner, whom the
Jew despised. He tended swine, which were hateful to the Jew. He was hungry
for the food which the swine fed on, and couldn't getit. Yet even this
degradationwas his own choice.
VI. THE AWAKENING. "He came to himself." Awakening to his
wretchedness, he remembers one friend. Oh, if Godwere not a friend, the
prodigal would sink into despair and hell when he comes to himself. He sees
now where he is, that he has brought himself into this poverty. Many call God
cruel after they have wastedthe abundance of gifts from him. They have
receivedall they ask for, have made no acknowledgment, have wastedall, and
then, finding themselves wretched, they say that God has done it. But not so
this prodigal. He said, "I have sinned."
VII. THE RESOLVE. He is awakenedto a hope of pardon and gracious
reception. But this does not hinder the full confessionof his sin. He accepts the
deepesthumiliation. He seeksnow not to maintain his pride, but to confess the
truth.
VIII. THE RETURN. He acted at once. Honestrepentance always does.
Resolvespostponedare lies. Men befoolthemselves with them. He did not wait
to cleanse himself and get a more becoming dress. He was not earning enough
to keephimself alive, far less could he save enough to better his appearance.
Besides, there was nothing in the far country which money could buy that
would make him in the leastdegree presentable at home. The gayand costly
attire which he wore when he was spending his living with harlots was as
repulsive to his father as his rags. He was not to become better in order that
he might go to his father, but he was to go to his father in order that he might
be made better. Yet he went back, not to claim anything. His father had given
him once all he had askedfor, and he had takenit as if it had belonged to him,
had wastedit, and ruined himself by it. He went back to make confession.
IX. THE MEETING. He was yet a greatway off when the father saw him.
Love is quicker than youth, loftier than pride, mightier than Satan. The love

of God is compassion. It suffers with the penitent. It would even spare the
recitalof the sad history.
(A. E. Dunning.)
The prodigal son
D. G. Hughes, M. A.
Six touching scenes.
I. A SINFUL LIFE.
1. A young man chafing under the restraints of home. This chafing arose —
(1)From a false view of true liberty.
(2)From a false view of true happiness.
(3)From a false view of self-guidance.
2. A young man demanding his portion of the inheritance. This demand arose
—
(1)From a desire to be independent of his father.
(2)From a desire to lay out his life and means according to his own plan.
3. The young man receiving "the portion which befell him."
(1)The father recognizedhis son's free agency.
(2)The father saw that his son's heart was already estrangedfrom him.
(3)The father felt that the bitter experiences oflife alone, if anything, would
undeceive his self-deluded and wilful son.
II. THE DEPARTURE FROM HOME.
1. The departure was not long delayed.
2. The young man took all he could claim.

III. HIS MODE OF LIFE WHEN ONCE RELEASED FROM THE
RESTRAINTSOF HOME.
1. His life riotous.
2. His substance wasted.
IV. THE RESULT OF HIS SELF-ELECTEDLIFE.
1. Famine.
2. Want.
3. Degrading service.
4. Hunger.
V. THE REACTION.
1. Situation realized.
2. Reflectioncommenced.
3. Decisionresolvedon.
4. A plea constructed.
5. Decisionexecuted.
VI. THE FATHER'S LOVE.
1. Love's long range of vision.
2. Love's tenderness.
3. Love's generosity.
4. Love's joy.Lessons:
1. The infinite contrast — man's selfishness andGod's love.
2. The infinite folly — man breaking awayfrom God.

3. The infinite grace — God embracing, forgiving, and honouring the
returning prodigal.
(D. G. Hughes, M. A.)
The prodigal son
L. O. Thompson.
I. THE PRODIGAL'S SIN.
1. Discontent.
2. Departure.
3. Wilful waste.
II. HIS DESTITUTION.
1. Extreme poverty.
2. Deepdegradation.
3. Woful want.
III. HIS REPENTANCE.
1. Awakening.
2. Penitence.
3. Resolution.
IV. HIS RESTORATION.
1. Return.
2. Confession.
3. Welcome.Applications:
1. Too many imitate the prodigal in his sin, but not in his repentance.

2. The Father is ever ready to meet and receive, with a kiss of affection, the
returning prodigal.
3. God is exaltedto have mercy. There is grace for the chief of sinners.
Whosoeverwill, may return. Come home, prodigal!
(L. O. Thompson.)
The prodigal
J. Sanderson, D. D.
I. WILFUL.
II. WANDERING.
III. WASTEFUL.
IV. WANTING.
V. WRETCHED.
VI. WALKING HOME AGAIN.
VII. WELCOME.
(J. Sanderson, D. D.)
The prodigal's wandering, return, and reception
T.B. Baker.
I. A SINNER'S AVERSION AND ALIENATION FROM GOD.
1. A sinful state is a state of departure from God.
2. An extravagantor spendthrift.
3. A wretchedor destitute state.

4. A servile and slavish state.
5. A state of perpetual dissatisfaction.
6. A state of deadness or death.
II. THE SINNER'S RETURN TO GOD, AND THE MANNER THEREOF.
The first demonstration of his return is —
1. Considerationof his father's kindness.
2. By comparison, he saw his misery.
3. The view he gotof the superiority of his father's house.
4. Determination.
5. Confession.
6. Self-condemnation.
7. Humble submission.
8. Filial confidence.
9. His obedience.
III. THE SINNER'S APPREHENSIVE RECEPTION.
1. The father's affectionto his returning child.
2. Eyes of mercy: he saw him as from a mountain.
3. Bowels ofmercy: he feels compassion.
4. Feetof mercy: "he ran," while his son"came" only.
5. Arms of mercy: "he fell on his neck."
6. Lips of mercy: "he kissedhim."The provision presented.
1. He came in rags. "He put the best robe upon him, a ring on his hand, and
shoes on his feet" (see also Isaiah61:10).

2. He came hungry. "Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat,
and be merry" (see also John 6:54).
3. Greatjoy. "Let us be merry" (see Luke 15:10);"Let them also that love thy
name, be joyful in Thee (Psalm 5:11).
4. The conduct of the elder brother (25-30)serves as a reproofto the
Pharisees,who were displeasedat the conversionof the Gentiles.
(T.B. Baker.)
Parable of the prodigal son
T. Dwight, D. D.
I. Sinners regard God no farther than to gain from Him whatever they can.
II. Sinners waste the blessings whichthey receive from His hands, and reduce
themselves to absolute want.
III. Afflictions are very often the first means of bringing them to a sense of
their condition.
IV. When they first acquire this sense they usually betake themselves to false
measures for relief.
V. This situation of a sinner is eminently unhappy.
VI. The repentance of the gospelis the resumption of a right mind. Among the
things which the sinner realizes, when he first comes to himself, are the
following.
1. His own miserable condition.
2. That in the house of his heavenly Fatherthere is an abundance of good.
3. A hope that this good may be his. I shall now proceedin the consideration
of the progress ofa sinner towards his final acceptancewith God as it is
exhibited in the text. With this design, I observe —

I. True repentance is a voluntary exercise ofthe mind.
II. True repentance is a filial temper, disposing us to regard God as our
parent, and ourselves as His children.
III. True repentance is followed, of course, by a confessionof sin.
IV. A real penitent feels that all his sins are committed againstGod.
V. A real penitent is, of course, humble.
VI. A real penitent brings nothing to God, but his want, shame, and sorrow.
VII. A true penitent executes his resolutions of obedience.
VIII. God is entirely disposedto receive the sincere penitent.
IX. The richestprovision is made for the enjoyment of the sincere penitent.
X. There is a peculiar joy in heaven over the repentance of returning sinners.
(T. Dwight, D. D.)
Bitterness of prodigal sin
J. H. Thomson, M. A.
I. THE PRODIGAL'S SIN. Dissatisfaction. Alienation. Estrangement.
II. THE PRODIGAL'S MISERY. Sooneror later every sinner must be taught
that to be estrangedfrom God is to be estrangedfrom happiness.
III. THE PRODIGAL'S REPENTANCE AND RETURN.
1. Sanity returns.
2. Comparisonof the present with the past.
3. Resolutionto return. His condition has conqueredhis pride.
4. Confession.

5. Action.
IV. THE RETURNING PRODIGAL'S RECEPTION.
1. The Father's advance.
2. Acknowledgmentof sin and unworthiness.
3. Honour and dignity.
4. Festivity and rejoicing.
(J. H. Thomson, M. A.)
Sin and its consequences
W. M. Punshon, LL. D.
I. THE PRODIGAL'S SIN.
1. Alienation of affection. There was the root of his rebellion. His heart had
wandered from its early tenderness, and had become warped, by yielding to a
sinful lust of freedom, from its filial love. From this alienatedheart, in natural
sequence, flowedhis after disobedience and sin. With the heart thus alienated,
you canthe more readily explain the prodigal's impatience of restraint,
hankering after presentlicence of enjoyment, and departure from the house
of his father. All these followed as the natural consequencesofestranged
affection. A yoke that is felt must always be galling;an enforcedservitude
stirs up within the man all latent feelings of rebellion. Hence, when the
principle of filial love was gone, the restraint of the home became irksome, the
desire for independence grew into a passion, and then followedthe project of
the journey into a far country, and of the uncontrolled rioting in the portion
of goods.
II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. It were to defeatour own purpose to
affirm that there are no pleasures in sin. The world would never continue in
its ways if it reapedno gratification. There is, doubtless, something congenial
to the waywardheart in the objects of its fond pursuit, and there is often

thrown a blinding charm about the man, beneath whose spellunholy he
fancies every Hecate a Ganymede, and dallies with deformity which he
mistakes for beauty; but our point is this, that in every course of
transgression, in every departure of the human spirit from God, there is
debasementin the process, andthere is ruin in the inevitable end.
1. Homelessness.
2. Waste and degradation.
3. Abandonment and famine.
(W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)
The prodigal son
J. R. Boyd.
1. The fact that we are sinners is no reasonwhy we should stay awayfrom our
God.
2. We do not require to work some goodthing in us before God can love us.
The sinner may come to Godjust as he is, through Jesus Christ. The parable
firsts represents man in his departure from God. The son was at home,
surrounded with all the comforts of home, and secure in the affection of his
father; but he became dissatisfied, and wishedto depart and be independent.
How like to man's conduct towards his God I There have been vast efforts of
learning and of metaphysical skillput forth to accountfor the origin of evil,
but we will find nowhere a better explanation than that furnished by God
Himself: "Godmade man upright, but he hath sought out many inventions."
When the prodigal had apostatizedin heart from his father, he then went and
demanded his portion of goods. He is going to set up for himself, and demands
his rights. As has been observed, his demand sounds as if he had been
consulting his lawyer, and was particularly anxious to put his claim into
strictly legalphraseology. The father made no opposition, but let him have his
portion of goods. He saw that his heart was gone, and why should he retain his
body? God has given to us a portion of goods. It is those things which men

possessin common, irrespective of their character. When, however, man takes
these gifts and seeksto employ them independent of God, and even against
God, he plunges into fearful guilt and misery. What is meant by the prodigal
son going into a far country? It is doubtless intended to representthe spiritual
distance of the soul from God while in a state of unbelief. Our consciousnessof
sin makes us dread to think of God, and that dread ripens into absolute
enmity — "The carnal mind is enmity againstGod." When in this state of
mind men put all thought of God as far awayfrom them as they can. As you
have seena man bow a disagreeable visitor out of his house, so men put God
far from them, saying, "Departfrom us, we desire not a knowledge ofThy
ways." Oh! into what a far country has the sinner wandered when he has
reachedthis state!And the longer he continues in it the wider becomes the
distance betweenhim and God, till at last he drifts into the dark sea ofeternal
death. When the prodigal got into the far country we are told that he began to
be in want. This was a sad termination to his high prospects ofenjoyment.
Doubtless he thought that if he could only be once independent, and get away
from all parental control, his wants would all be supplied. But now his trouble
is only beginning. Lie has reachedthe far-off land of hope and promise, where
all his desires were to be gratified, but he finds instead that there is a "mighty
famine in that land." Thus end all men's attempts to be happy awayfrom
God. And the soonerwe become convincedof this the better, that we may no
longerfill our souls with disappointment and grief, by seeking happiness
where it cannot possibly be found; for exceptthose who have found peace in
Christ, the whole race in the scramble after the world may be classedunder
two heads — those who have been disappointed with the world, and those who
are going to be. In this state of famine and distress the prodigal "joined
himself to a citizen of the country." We would have supposed that his
sufferings, his bitter disappointments, his pinching wants, would have sent
him home at once. But no — man's lastresource is to go to God. When he fails
in one worldly project, he turns to another; and as eachnew plan fails to give
him the satisfactionhe expected, he concludes that the reasonis that he has
not yet got enoughof the world, and so with new vigour he takes a fresh start.
Man thinks that his happiness is to be found without, when it is only to be
found within. There can no more be happiness in a foul heart, than there can
be ease and comfort in a diseasedbody. This last change of the prodigal,

The Prodigal Son Returns to His Father

The Prodigal Son Returns to His Father

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