of a famine. "There arose a mighty famine in that land," a mighty dearth and scarcity of divine knowledge, which is the bread of life to the soul; for "man doth not live by bread alone, but by the word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." A famine of this sort is thus described by the prophet Amos: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." This was exactly the case of the Gentiles, when they had squandered away the riches of divine knowledge which they had received from their heavenly Father at the beginning. Then there arose a sad famine of the word of God; and they began to be in want of something that would satisfy the empty soul. Then their philosophers and seekers after wisdom ran to and fro from one end of the earth to the other, to procure a little true religious knowledge; but it was not to be found. And the famine was over all the face of the Gentile world, and the land fainted by reason of the famine. But as there was no true bread of life to be procured, the soul must endeavor to satisfy itself with something. Accordingly, we read of our young prodigal, that, "He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him." دو they were Gentiles, therefore, they were under "the power of Satan." Now the employment which the grand adversary of man's happiness finds for him, when once engaged in this service, is this. He sends him into proper scenes of sin and wickedness, vanity and folly, there to gratify the desires of corrupt nature, enslaving him by this means to his own brutish lusts and passions. This is most exactly described in the parable, by the circumstances of his being "sent into his master's fields to feed swine; to which ravenous and unclean animals, the insatiable earthly lusts of concupiscense are, with great propriety, resembled in holy Scripture. The misery of the employment is, that these lusts are never to be satisfied; a truth to which the heart of every sinner will bear a sad testimony. Besides, God made the soul of man for himself, and therefore bequeathed it unquietness till possessed of its Maker. Vain then is the employment of those who seek to procure the happiness of the soul, by indulging the appetites of the body. Men are daily inventing new schemes to effect it; till diversion is grown a science, and amusement become a toil. But if we ask them, they will one and all tell us, it is not yet effected. Something, to a man possessed of all that earth can give him-something is still wanting. O fools and slow of heart to believe what the prophets and apostles have spoken! The comforts of religion are wanting, and these they will not look after; but still, copying the example of their ancestor, the poor Gentile prodigal, they would "fain fill their bellies with the husks which the swine do eat ;" they are endeavoring to nourish their immortal spirits with the empty unsatisfying things of this corruptible world, which are calculated for the bodily appetites only. But let all who have followed this prodigal in his departure from his father, come hither, and hearken, and he will tell them what God hath done for his soul, and call them to follow the noble example he hath set them in his return and reconciliation. "No man," says Christ, "can serve two masters." But one he must serve. And if he quits the service of God, he soon becomes a slave to the devil. This was the case of the Gentile prodigal. When he had deserted the service of his heavenly Father, God Almighty, the next thing we hear of him is, that he had joined himself to another master; namely, to him, who since he has been cast out of heaven, walks And here, let us observe with attention a up and down in the earth, seeking those complete description of the process of true who have left their old Master and Father, repentance and justification in the Gentiles, to hire them into his service. The prodigal and all who are sinners like them. The was in that condition; and accordingly Sa- violence of the famine had brought the tan took possession of him. For thus St. wretched prodigal to the last stage of disPaul tells the Ephesians, that before their tress. He had tried in vain to satisfy himconversion "they walked according to the self with "that which was not bread. prince of the power of the air, the spirit Hungry and thirsty, his soul fainted in him; that worketh in the children of disobedi- and he drew near to the gates of death." ence." And the design of the Gospel is But now the grace of God, which leadeth elsewhere said to be, to "turn the Gentiles to repentance, began to work upon him. It from the power of Satan to God." While hath been ready to do so all along; but as it is said of Christ, that he "could do no mighty works in some places, because of men's unbelief," so his grace does not work upon men's minds, when they are determined not to suffer it. While the prodigal's heart was in the flutter, and hurry, and dissipation of pleasure and extravagance, no mighty works of salvation could be wrought in it. But when it was humbled by affliction, and broken with continual tribulation, it became a proper subject for the operations of divine grace. Accordingly, the good Spirit of God immediately began with his preventing favor, and led him step by step, till his repentance and reconciliation were completed. "And when he came to himself, he said, 'How many hired servants of my father have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants."" A sense of sin is the beginning of repentance; and a sense of misery begets a sense of sin. The Gentiles (and the case is the same with sinners of all ages) could not but feel the poverty and wretchedness into which they had fallen. And when a man feels himself miserable, it is but natural for him to consider how he came to be so. The cause appeared plain enough to the Gentile, when enlightened at first by the Scriptures of the Old Testament dispersed in the Septuagint version, and then by the Gospel preached through all nations. Aided in his medita tions by these helps, he quickly traced all his misfortunes up to the fountain head, which was his leaving the church, the house of the living God, his heavenly Father. Now he began thoroughly to comprehend the misery of his state, and to envy the happiness of those who had continued in their Father's house, and served him day and night in his temple. They were not confounded in the perilous time; and in the days of dearth they had enough and to spare. They feasted evermore at the table of their heavenly Father, and found the light of his countenance to be life, and his favor and grace as a cloud of the latter rain; while his soul was starving for lack of knowledge and truth, and frozen for want of charity. "How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" He was now, as it is finely expressed, " come to himself," and to a remembrance of his true condition and interest. From the hour he left his father's house to this moment, he had been in a dream; and found himself just awaked out of what may be called a deep sleep, in the language of St. Paul, who thus addresses a sinner, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise." Accordingly, being now awake, he determined instantly to arise, and tread back the steps by which he had departed from his father; to make a frank and full confession to him of his past sins; to acknowledge himself utterly unworthy of any favor at his hands; and to declare his readiness to submit to any penance, to live in any state of humiliation, that his father should be pleased to impose; only begging, at any rate, to be admitted into the church to serve him again. This resolution he had no sooner formed, than he made haste, and prolonged not the time to put it in practice. He arose, returned to his father, and said unto him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants." Which words, as put in the mouth of the prodigal Gentile, returning at the preaching of the Gospel to the church of God, the house of his heavenly Father, may, it is apprehended, be thus paraphrased-"Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; I acknowledge and bewail my manifold sins and wickedness, which I from time to time," from the first hour of my departure, " most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy di vine Majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against me. I do earnestly repent, and am heartily sorry for these my misdoings: the remembrance of them is grievous unto me; the burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon me, have mercy upon me, most merciful Father. For thy Son my Lord Jesus Christ's sake forgive me what is past, and grant that I may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life, to the honor and glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is the confession which the church enjoins us, poor prodigal sinners of the Gentiles, to make, as often as we return from feeding upon husks in the world, to eat the bread of life in our Father's house. And a noble comment it is upon the short but full confession of the prodigal in the parable. Let us now hear what was the reception this returning penitent met with, and, consequently, what reception we shall meet with, when we return like him. "But while he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him;" and while he was confessing his sinfulness and unworthiness, "he said to the servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost and is found. And they began to be merry." and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Therefore make a joyful noise unto the Lord of all the earth, make a loud noise, and rejoice and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp, with the harp Here let all sinners (and sinners we all are) and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets behold the loving kindness of our heavenly and sound of cornet make a joyful noise beFather to those who truly repent and turn to fore the Lord the king." Such was the joy him, as it was displayed towards the Gentiles at the reception of the returning prodigal, upon their conversion. The bowels of his because he who had been dead in sin, was mercy yearned over them in their lost estate; alive to righteousness; and he who had been and he longed for their return, as a father for lost to the church for ages and generations, that of his child gone from him. When the was found and restored to it. Well, surely, time of life was come, he saw them while might they "begin to be merry." Who they were yet afar off, and had compassion would not be merry with them? Who could on them, and ran forth to meet them by the have any objection to their being so? Alas! preaching of the apostles, and embraced them there is one that never would be merry with in the arms of his mercy, and gave them the them, and to this day cannot bear that they sure pledge and token of reconciliation and should be so, but gnashes his teeth, and conlove, by the word and spirit of his mouth. sumes away with envy. And that is our No sooner did he behold them making their elder brother the Jew, whose unreasonable humble confession to him, meekly kneeling behavior upon this occasion, with the father's on their knees, than he ordered his ministers just reproof to him, is represented to us in to bring forth from the wardrobe of heaven the concluding part of the parable. the best robe, the robe of righteousness and "Now his elder son was in the field; and garment of salvation; that fine white linen, spotless and bright as the sun, which is the righteousness of saints, the wedding garment of the church of the redeemed. These robes the Father commanded the ministers of his sanctuary to bring forth, and put them on the new converts, by investing them in baptism with all the righteousness, merits, and graces of the Lord Jesus Christ; giving them at the same time, a lively impression of his Spirit which is the seal of adoption, a pledge of the inheritance in heaven, an earnest of the eternal promises, a token of their espousals to the Lamb of God, signified in the parable by "putting a ring on his hand; " bestowing on them such graces and assistances as might enable them to walk in the way of his commandments and in the practice of good works, to secure themselves from the thorns of worldly cares and the mire of earthly pleasures, and to tread upon the serpents and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy, the devil and his temptations, all which is described by "putting shoes upon his feet." And, lastly, the ministers were to prepare the Christian sacrifice, on which the now accepted Gentiles were to feast at the table of their heavenly Father, singing and making melody to the Lord, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven: "O sing unto the Lord a new song sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; show forth his salvation from day to day. He hath remembered his mercy and truth; his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen, as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant? And he said unto him thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed for him the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in; therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he answering, said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." The Jews, hearing the sound of the Gospel, and the voice of joy and rejoicing in the church, were continually "calling to the servants" of God, the apostles and first preachers of the word, and asking "what these things meant ;" and were always answered, as in the parable, that "their brother was "come;" that God had granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life; that they were now come into the church; and the one great sacrifice was offered for them, and for all men. And are not the words of the parable fulfilled to this day? "They are angry, and will not come in." No, not though their Father, God Almighty, time after time came out and en treated them by the voice of his Son, by the | all the innumerable waves of the wide ocean. preaching of his apostles, by the allurements Indeed, the father in the parable, ever tender of his mercies, and by the terror of his judg- and loving, and willing to try every way to ments. All, all would not do. Their Father bring them in, does not object their transthey rebelled against, his Son they crucified, gressions to them, but answers upon their his apostles they persecuted, his mercies they state of the case; that even supposing they forgot, and his judgments they defied. Seven- had served and obeyed him as they said they teen hundred years are past; still, still "they had, they could never complain of wanting are angry, and will not come in!" Their marks of his favor, seeing they had "ever plea is, as represented in the parable, that been in his house," the church, with him as they served God many years; that they never his children, and "all that he had was theirs ; transgressed at any time his commandment; for to them pertained the adoption, and the that God had not showed them sufficient marks glory, and the covenants, and the giving of of his favor; but treated this worthless prodi- the law, and the service of God, and the progal Gentile better than he had treated them; mises; theirs were the fathers; and of them, a plea, every article of which is full of pride, as concerning the flesh, Christ came." Why, falsehood, and envy. Pride is at the bottom therefore, should they be angry, because the of all. They loved to justify themselves by poor Gentiles were suffered to partake of the works of the law, as St. Paul says of them; these good things, when they had qualified "going about to establish their own righteous- themselves for it by repentance and faith? ness by the works of the law, they did not And what sort of materials must their hearts submit themselves to the righteousness of God, be made of, when they could not acquiesce in which is by faith in Jesus Christ." Accord- that tender, merciful, and loving declaration ingly their plea runs altogether in the boast of their heavenly Father-" It was meet that ing strain. First, "They had served God we should make merry and be glad; for this many years." Not to mention how they thy brother was dead, and is alive again; was served him, it was God that enabled them lost, and is found?” both to will, and to do; so that there was no room for boasting. Secondly, "They had never, at any time, transgressed his commandment;" in other words, they thanked God they were not as other men were, adulterers, fornicators, extortioners, unjust, or even as this prodigal Gentile. Now, supposing all this to be true, they were still unprofitable servants; they had done only that which it was their duty to do. But St. Stephen convinced them that they were infamous transgressors, having, indeed, received the law, but not kept it; so that what they reckoned matter of glorying, was, in reality, the sentence of their condemnation. In this part of their plea, therefore, there is a mixture of pride and falsehood. Thirdly," God had not showed them sufficient marks of favor." This was false, for he was continually showering his benefits upon them; and for many, many years, their fleece had the dew, when all the rest of the ground was dry. Fourthly, "He treated the Gentiles better than he had treated them." This was false again, as well as envious; for if they would come in, they might have partaken with the Gentiles in the feast and the joy, and been for ever with them in the church; nor would the accession of the nations have diminished aught from them, but rather it would have added an infinite increase of joy and pleasure to them, had the love of God and of their brother been in their hearts; as the light of the sun is not lessened, but increased, by being reflected at once from Beholding, therefore, the sad consequences of departing from our Father's house, let us take up the resolution of the holy Psalmist ; "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Let us think that we hear our bless ed Master, astonished, as it were, to see himself forsaken by so many of his disciples, saying unto us, as once he did to the twelve, "Will ye also go away?" And let us answer with one accord, as they did by the mouth of St. Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." But what was it that seduced the prodigal Gentile to leave so gracious a Father, and to quit the house where his glory dwelt? What but an impatience of restraint, a fond desire of independency, and of being wise above what is written. Warned, therefore, by his fate, let us love the discipline that withholds. us from sin; let us glory (if we must glory) in that dependency on our Maker, and those whom his providence has set over us, by which alone, after all, the church and the world are supported and preserved; and let us at last learn to believe in God, and rest assured, upon his word, that the wisdom of this world is as unsatisfactory as its riches, honors, and pleasures; and that, amidst the greatest abundance of them all, "a mighty famine will arise" in the soul for want of more substantial food; which, if it be not remedied in this life, by "seeking meat from God," will continue to torment in those regions of sorrow where hunger and despair are co-eternal Let the sinner, whom the chastising hand | ward so happy an event. And since of all of God has brought to himself; whose eyes human means, that of showing him the dishave been opened by affliction, to behold his pensations of Jesus, whom his wicked hands real state and condition; who has felt the crucified, in his own Scriptures of the Old truth which he refused to believe, that the Testament, is the most likely to contribute toworld is vanity, and sin folly; let such a one wards the blessed work, let this be an addilisten to the admonitions of conscience, and tional motive to us to study day and night cherish the first dawnings of divine grace in the true import of those lively oracles. But his heart; that so the Sun of Righteousness, since such a conversion as this must be most there arising, may disperse every cloud, and eminently the work of the Almighty, let not cause every shadow to fly away; till having our most fervent prayers be ever wanting to by slow and imperceptible degrees ascended him, that he would now at length look down the heights of the sky, he stands fixed in his from heaven upon his ancient people; that meridian, diffusing on all beneath him the he would take from them all ignorance, hardperfect day. For, however darkness may at ness of heart, and contempt of his word, and present cover the transgressor, and gross dark-so fetch them home to his flock, that they may ness overwhelm his soul, as once it did the be saved among the remnant of the true IsGentile world, yet let him know, to his great raelites. May it be our happy lot, by our and endless comfort, that, upon his sincere prayers and labors, to hasten the coming of repentance, the Lord shall arise likewise upon that glorious day (though our eyes may not him, and his glory shall be seen upon him. behold it) when the elder brother shall feel Let him only follow the example of the re-the just reproof of his Father piercing his inturning prodigal, and he shall not fail of his most soul, and be prevailed upon to lay aside reward, even reconciliation, and peace, and his pride, envy, and obstinacy; when the love, and joy, and rejoicing, in the house of fulness of the Gentiles shall meet with the his heavenly Father. conversion of the Jews, and the two brothers, Lastly, let us of the nations, whom unde-reconciled to their Father, and to each other, served mercy has numbered amongst the chil-by the blood of Jesus, shall, with united dren of God, let us beware that we copy not hearts and voices, praise the Lord for his goodafter the pattern of the Jew, or envy him the ness, having each in his turn experienced that glory of his future conversion and restoration. his mercy endureth for ever. Rather let us endeavor to the utmost to for DISCOURSE XXVI: KNOWLEDGE AND CHARITY. 1 CORINTHIANS, viii. 1. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. person ever entertained a higher idea of true wisdom than St. Paul, who has employed the most exalted strains of divine oratory to set forth the excellency of knowledge and understanding. But yet the holy apostle saw, that learning makes not the man of God perfect; that something may still be wanting in him who is at the top of intellectual attainments; and that the complete scholar may fall short, at last, of the kingdom of heaven. He saw that spiritual, like bodily wealth, unless used for the benefit of others, would prove no blessing to its owner, serving only to hasten his fall and increase his condemnation. And, |