THE TURNING POINT. LUKE xv. 17. "When he came to himself." 'HE Parable of the Prodigal Son, is imbedded in the eart of every feeling and thoughtful man, as a diahond is set in a coronal of jewels. It has a lustre eculiar to itself, bright from its purity, glistening ke a dew drop in the sun. I am sure now, my brethen, ye who love God, that emotions of no common rder are called forth into active play, whenever you ear read, whenever you think on, the Parable of the rodigal Son. Ah! He who uttered it knew full well ne depths of divine love, and human frailties. Jesus me to find a vent for the prodigal's tears; to turn is sorrowing heart homewards; to make reconciliation ith the offended father a fact; and to display to the es of mortals, and immortals, the loving embrace offended Father, and penitent child. Oh! have ou experienced this thing, all of you? Have you ft off your sinful rambles, and betaken you to God your Father, and found in Him, Pardon, Rest, and Joy, through Jesus Christ? If so, I am glad; if not, I am sorry. For 'tis a blessed thing to find our home in God's love; 'tis a wretched thing, and full of woeful travail to lead the life of a prodigal. I want you to consider with me this morning, my brethren, a little portion only of the parable; just that part which speaks of the waking up of the wanderer; it says, "He came to himself." You are well acquainted with the main bearing of the parable; how it sets before us the Jew and the Gentile, as the two sons of the gracious Father. And how the younger one, the Gentile, in the vanity of his mind, took his journey into the far-off lands of ignorance, rebellion, and sin; how he spent his substance in riotous living, idolatry, uncleanness, pride, and folly. How then, through mysterious discipline, he bethought him of his father's house, was converted and saved. You know too, how the elder son, the Jew, moved with annoyance, jealousy, envy, and lack of affection, chafed in his mind, because his brother was received with so hearty a welcome. How, by degrees, he lost his patrimony, from indulging in pride and falsity; for Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Jew, like Cain the first murderer, became a fugitive and a vagabond, and God put a mark on him. You know all this, and more; for the parable has a private, as well as a public, application. You know how, in multitudes of cases, (in your case perhaps) the parable suits ex actly the experience of a penitent sinner. How few are there who have never rambled! How few who have never experienced the swellings of conceit, and in hasty enterprize gone forth in search of that, which nowhere can be found but at home-Happiness, the thing; and the home, God! The parable draws in lively colours every stage of the prodigal's experience. The upstart ignorance of youthful ardour. The fearful bane of unbridled license. The mortification of disappointment. The misery of want. The unkindness of the world. The heavings of sorrow and contrition. The reminiscence of home. The attractions of a parent's heart. The trembling steps of penitence; and the mighty comfortings of a father's embrace. Oh! if anything can move a heart to feel, it is the picture thus drawn by the Holy Saviour, of such as He came to save. It is not well to force words to yield a meaning that hey do not naturally present, but we may ask, when he words of the text are sounded in our ears"When he came to himself," whither had he been? How did he continue to forget himself so ? To be a stranger, an lien, an outcast, may I not say a corpse, in the living home of his experience, in the temple of his soul ! Eve forgot herself when she took of the forbidden ree. Adam forgot himself when he also took and at. We forget ourselves when we do what is wrong. or remember, that which constitutes the essence of elf, is from God. The spirit of man is from God. |