58 very hard for his fath e r or mother or any of his friends to do anything w ith him. I do no t know where his mother was. Perhaps he had sent h er to the grave w ith a broken h eart.—Moody. v. 13. G athered all tog ether and took h is journey. Having indulged his inde pendent feelings toward his fath e r and his wish to have a separate establish m ent from him , he knew he would be freer to carry out his plans if he got away from th e old home. Anywhere n ear his fath e r th e re is a check upon him. The influence of his home will clip his wings. If he could get away th e re would be a chance to develop, and so he goes into a far country. P er haps I am addressing some who have reached th a t stage. Now th ere is all th e delirium of self-indulgence. Now it is all gaiety. You are making haste to enjoy yourself. Sin is a dangerous joy. E re long th ere will come another stage when “ all is spent.”— Spurgeon. In to a ta r country. The prodigal took his goods and w ent where his h eart already was.— Troy. v. 14. Arose a m ighty fam ine. Notice what kind of a fam ine it was. It was not a fam ine of husks. There are plenty of those. It was not a fam ine of swine’s flesh. There was plenty of th a t. There was a fam ine of th a t which was clean and fit for a Jew to eat. There is never a fam ine of husks. The devil has not had a famine^for the last nineteen hun dred years. Go where you will, you will always find plenty of devil’s food for hungry souls, but it will not satisfy.— Morehouse. The fam ine of which Christ here speaks presides often a t the sumptuous table of rich men. I t finds its way into th e palaces of kings. In these palaces, a t those tables, th e soul may be fam ishing, yea, ready to perish w ith hungeri-rf-Trench. Began to be in want. God has had to b ank rup t many a man before He could bring him to his senses.— Sawyer. v. 16. Husks th a t th e swine did eat. Only a Jew could feel th e intensity of th is picture.— McNeill. No m an gave un to him. W hat! No man? Of all his form er friends, of those who had stood by him so faithfully as long as he had money to spend and luxuries to offer? None. The last crust had been de voured. There he sits, the prey of hun ger in his body and remorse in his soul. At th is moment a change tak es place. It is a change from insanity to, sanity. His face tu rn s toward th e home of his infancy. “He came to him self.”— Aitken. v. 18. I have sinned. He gave up all
T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S idea of self-justification, for he said, “ I have sinned.” Before, he would have said, “I have a rig h t to do as I like w ith my own." But now he boasts no longer. Not a syllable of self-praise falls from his lips. Every man, to be taken into the F a th e r’s house, must come down from his high places and acknowledge his iniquity.— Spurgeon. v. 19. I am no m ore worthy. Chap te r 18, verses 13 and 14, tell us whom God counts w orthy to be called His son. — Sel. When it comes to merit, he did no t deserve even th e place of a servant. A lost man has no ground whatever upon which to ;claim a place,t^-Lewis. Make me th y h ired servant. Oh, the narrowness of some of our prayers! The prodigal’s petition was, “Make me a servant.” A place in th e household as a child was a place too b right for his thought. In one aspect it shows his hum ility, yet the immediate effect of the fath e r’s embrace was to raise his expec tatio n and prayer, to deliver him from th e sp irit of servantship which engen dered fear, and give him th e royal sp irit of a son^-M cIntosh. v. 20. Came to his fath er. If one has been in th e F a th e r’s house as a son, he, lik e the prodigal, Is. still a son and will be constantly constrained by the Spirit to arise and go to th e F ather. Sel. When he was yet a g rea t way off. These words must have a wonderful meaning, for th e measurem ent is from God’s standpoint. It would be an awful th ing to be a g reat way off according to m an ’s conception, bu t when it is the conception of One who is infinite, we are startled , and yet our amazement gives way to in stan t adoration, for we are told th a t even if we are so g reat a distance away from Him we are not to be discouraged. “Ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” (Eph. 2:13, 17). H is fa th e r saw him . This is th e God of th e Bible. The fath e r did not w ait un til he was washed and dressed before he kissed him, and neith er does God. The son made his confession, bu t when he got to the point of saying, “Make me as one of thy hired servants,” the fath e r stopped him. God will hear nothing of th a t. However far away we have been He will make us sons. There was th e best robe (Isa. 61: Id ; Zech. 3:3-5; Phil. 3 :9 ) and th e ring, th e pledge of sonship (Eph. 1:13, 14; Gal. 4 :6 ), and shoes (Eph. 6 :1 5 ). Then, to crown all, th ere was th e feast. The feast aw aits every w anderer retu rn in g to God.— Torrey. Ran and fell on his neck. F ilial love may die in the son’s
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