The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-10-18
Coming to Ones Self.

morning service. Ihe truth, Wnlcu
the whole chapter teaches, of the joy
in Heaven over repentant sinners is
so familiar to us that we listen to it
almost with Indifference; but there is
one expression in the story OF the
Prodigal Son that cannot fail to strike
the most careless listener as remark
able, although that beautiful parable
has been so hackneyed, and so parodied
by would-be humorists as to have
been almost robbed Of its force and
effect. After telling of the riotous
life of the Prodigal, and how it had
| ended by reducing him to such pow
erty that he sought the meanest Of all
employments, and was fain to share
the coarse food of the swine he tend
ed, it says: "And when he came to
himself" To appreciate the full
meaning Of these words we must re-
member that the narrator is the Creator
of man, and knows every thought and
feeling of mans heart, and He it is
who tells US that man is not himself
when he is giving rein to the lowest
passions and appetites Of his nature,
and when he places himself physically
and morally on level with the beasts
that perish, and makes himself a
companion of swine. And that is
only when he,recognizes his degra-
dation, and determines to arise from it
and to endeavor to return to his proper
station among men, and to his
fathers house that he "comes to
himself" and is once more a man.
AS we listen to the parable, how
distinctly the scene rises before the
minds eye. The rough, uncultivated
country, with no human habitation in
sight, the level line Of the sea bound
ing horizon on one hand, and few
blue mountain peaks appearing on the
other; the herd Of swine feeding on
the husks, which have just been
thrown to them; and the poor, besotted
youth, still dressed in the soiled and
torn remnants of the rich raiment Of
better days, seated at little distance
from his charges, vainly trying to
satisfy his hunger with portion Of
their wretched food. With what a
dull glance his eyes wander over the
desolate landscape; how utterly hope
less seems his condition, and how poor
now seem to him the joys Of that
riotous life for which he is paying so
dearly by his present misery. His
thoughts wander back to boyhood days,
when his conscience was clear from
the dark stains that now rest upon it;
to that distant home, where he was
surrounded by every comfort and by
loving friends, and where he, the
youngest Of the family, was the pet Of
the household, and especially Of his
parents. He realizes as he had never
before done the depth and richness Of
his fathers love, and the conviction
forces itself upon him that it is still
unchanged, despite all that he has
done to forfeit it. At this thought
light comes i1to his face and he
springs up with the resolution, 81 will
arise and go to my father" He
has come to himself, his true self
once more. The demon that en-
shralled him is overcome and driven
out; he is once morein his right miud,
and he regards with horror and disgust
the life he has led since he left home
and wandered into this far country.
How many thousand times since
that simple story was first related in
distant Palestine, has it been enacted,
consciously or unconsciously, by re-
pentant prodigals; and. tothe honor
Of parental love belt said, that but sell
dom has the returning wanderer fail
ed to find in lis fathers house the
forgiveness and the welcome he SO
confidently counts upon. BY some
uerciful provision of nature it is
always the weak, the deformed, the
erring or the disobedient child of the
family which is most tenderly loved
by the parents; as though the very
sorrows and anxieties he causes make
the love for him strike deeper root in
the parents heart. The other child
rem who are lever with him., who
are upright and moral and obedient are
truly loved also, but it is for this
one prodigal that the tears fall and the
ceaseless prayer goes up that he may
be sled not into temptation, but de-
livered from evil. y
In some good women we see this