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; he was lost, and is found."

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THE caution of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Christians, "that they should not receive the grace of God in vain,” led, upon a former occasion, to the consideration of the fearful consequences of transgression in Christian men; of that cleaving moral taint which remains even in those cases (few, out of many) where the sinner is recovered from the snare of Satan; a taint which weakens the soul in its new efforts after holiness, and clinging to it always long, sometimes even to the end, prevents its full growth in purity and peace. This is that consequence of moral evil, which, in God's ordinary dealings with

His people, is not at once remitted on repentance, and which remains as a bitter and enduring warning to them, that they should not tamper with iniquity, nor stain the brightness of their Christian garment by permitted sin.

But, besides this effect of wilful transgression, which is wrought within ourselves upon our moral being, there is another, every where declared in holy Scripture :—an effect, that is to say, upon the relation in which we stand to God; upon our state, as well as upon our nature. The baptised infant and the faithful Christian are, we know, in very truth accepted of God in Christ; his anger is turned away from them, and He is at peace with them. This state of peaceful acceptance we know, too, is wholly inconsistent with a course of indulged sin, which must suspend, and, for the time, do away to us as individuals the blessing of pardon and acceptance. But is it lost for ever? There is no second baptism; no new laver, whose waters can be sanctified to the mystical washing

away of sin. But is there for the sinner no assurance of forgiveness? Is he to go heavily, doubting long whether his repentance, though sincere, may be received; and, at the best, to have a trembling hope that he may at last be pardoned; whilst, in the mean time, he waits upon a God who hideth away his face, or reveals it rather as a severe exactor of deserved punishment, than as a Father waiting to be gracious? Or, on the other hand, is there to the baptised Christian who hath fallen from God, and wandered into the evil ways of allowed sin, is there still for him, upon his turning unto the Lord, a full and free and ready pardon, even as before his baptism? is there, from his baptism, that assurance of a Father's waiting favour ? is there still, in the blood of Christ, which by his sin he has trodden under foot, a cleansing virtue for him; so that, whensoever he does turn in truth, he may take to himself surely all the promises of God, and look up again, without doubting or distrust, to the loving countenance of his heavenly Father?

It is of peculiar moment that the answer to this question should be clear: both because it lies so near to the very foundation of Christ's Gospel, that the personal hope of numbers every where must depend upon it; and because it will greatly influence the whole tone in which they to whom "the ministry of reconciliation" is committed must address themselves to men. Now, the parable of the prodigal son seems expressly constructed by our Lord to be a standing reply to this question in all ages of the Church. The only other explanation which it can receive, namely, that it was designed to shadow out the election of the Gentile Church, will by no means satisfy the occasion or construction of the parable: it may, indeed, bear this application; and its being found amongst the writings of St. Luke, rather than in any other gospel, seems to shew that it was so applied by the disciples. But this is the very character of all the words of Jesus; springing from some passing incident, and spoken to suit some present case, yet so instinct with life, so full