T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
59
h e a rt hu t eternal yearning lives in th e fa th e r’s. The w anderer’s h ea rt would be likely to sink as he came n earer the fath e r’s house. It had seemed easy to go back when he acted th e scene in imagination, b u t every step towards home makes the rea lity more difficult. P erhaps his resolution would have oozed out a t his fingers’ ends if he had had to march up alone in his rags and ru n th e g aun tlet of servants before he came to speech w ith his father. So his fa th e r’s seeing him and running to meet him is exquisitely in keeping as well as movingly setting fo rth how God’s love goes out to meet His retu rn ing prod igals. T hat kiss of welcome is the revelation of th e h ea rt of God and its outgoings to every w anderer who sets his face to retu rn .—^-Maclaren. v. 22. The fa th e r said to h is servants. This is th e reception of th e prodigal under grace. Contrast th e prodigal un der law (Deut. 21 :18 -21 ).—-Garry. The best robe. The fath e r supplied th e son w ith the robe before tak ing him to his table, although he could kiss him in his rags. Had th e son provided his own robe it would not have been grace__ C. H. M. R ing on h is hand. Off w ith th e rags. On w ith th e robe. Out w ith th e ring. Even so does God receive every one of us when we come back. The rich est ring th a t ever flashed on th e vision is th a t which our F a th e r puts upon a forgiven soul— th e ring of His adoption.--—Talmadge. v. 23. The fa tte d calf. There is ex cellent food provided by our Heavenly F a th e r for all those who arise and go to Him. Christ H imself is th e Bread of life. His flesh is m eat indeed. His blood is drink indeed. In Him th e re is a feast for souls, a feast of fat things. In our F a th e r’s house th e re is bread enough and to spare. How sweet will th e supplies of th e new covenant be and th e relishes of its com forts to those who have been laboring in vain for satisfaction in the creature.— Henry. v. 25. H is elder son. He stands for those in th e church who do not deeply loin in Christ’s longing to save th e lost. — Crabill. H ast killed fo r him th e fa tte d calf. If the elder son had been given his way he would have fed th e prodigal on cold potatoes if anything a t all. There are some in th e churches who have nothing bu t cold potatoes for the prodigals.—McNeill.
Memory Verse.— “God is love.” I Jo h n 4:8. Approach.— Give five squares o f paper to each pupil, and provide the class w ith colored pencils, which may be passed around as needed. Draw b e f o r e h a n d on BEGINNERS each piece of paper AND PRIMARY a n eat square, which Mabel h . M errill is to be th e frame of a picture. The teacher will work on the board, or large sheet of paper in view of the class. Draw th e story in five scenes, each in its square; th e division of the inheritance, the good-by, th e revelry in the fa r country, the swine feeding, the re tu rn and welcome. Use straigh t m arks fo r th e persons, swine, bean- pods, etc., only varying size, color, and position. The elder b ro ther will be green, th e fath e r blue, the prodigal will sta rt out a b right red and will be black as a sw ine-herd on his retu rn , bu t you will place red over it. The swine will be horizontal strokes of black and th e beanpods tiny strokes of green. You will be surprised to see how interested th e children will be in th e simple “ draw ing.” T ru st th e ir im agination.— Peloubet’s Select Notes. Iiesson Story.— To-day we have an o th er story in a home, bu t th is tim e th e re is a fa th e r and two sons and ser vants, for it is a home of wealth. The younger of th e two sons has asked the fa th e r to give him his share of the money, and now- we will pu t in our first little picture fram e th e fath e r and his two sons, and our story tells us th e fath e r has given them th e ir share of th e money. Now in th e second picture we will pu t th e fath e r and two sons again, b u t th is tim e the fath e r and older b ro ther have ju st said good-by to th e younger b ro ther who is seen a little distance away going away from home w ith his money. How do you th ink this
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker