The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1904-05-13
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson in the International Series for
May Is, 1eo4-The Prodi-
gal Son.
THE LESSON TEXT.
Uuke l5.ll-N.l

lLuke lo.ll-AJ
GOLDEN TExT.-Come, and let us re-
turn unto the Lord.-Hos. 81.
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
Parable of Barren Fig Tree. Luke ls:l-s /
Healing Infirm Woman. Luke l3:lo-u /
Teaching About the Kingdom. Luke l3:22-3o /
Warned Against Herod........Luke l3:si-s5 |
Discourse at Pharises's Table. Luke 1&:l-A |
Discourse on Counting the Cost.......
......---..............-... ..-...Luke H:ze-Ss
Parables. Lost Sheep and Lost Coin.
Parable, Lost Son.. Luke l5:ll-sz |
TIME.-January. A. ID. %.
PLACE.-Peraea; the same as the last
lesson.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Jesus has SO far Tvs. LID illustrated
from things lost; now 1t is a person. a
son. and II Is a fathers heart that bleeds
for him. In this. the greatest Of all
parallels. Jesus comes back to His own
illustration Of the relation between God
and man, and pictures 1t in the simplest
and most beautiful and most winning
way possible. Most of us are not and
need not be theologians in the ordinary
sense, but we may all master the theol-
ogy of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
and with that we have the essence of
the theology of Jesus. There are sew
eral varieties of theology to be found
| in the &c books that we call the Bible.
but whether they took shape before the
birth OF Jesus. or after His death. they
must square with His own teaching with
regard to God and man and salvation or
we cannot accept them for ourselves.
"A certain man had two sons" The
whole point Of the parable is in the re-
lationship: father and son. The young
er Of them" He was inexperienced and
headstrong. 1t is the old story of boy
| with a hankering. in itself natural and
right. to see the world and a broader
life than that of the home of his child
hood: he supposed he knew the world
had probably Dragged Of It: distance
had lent enchantment and he was wild
i to enter its varied and fascinating life
"The portion Of thy substance that fall
eth to me-" One-third Of the property
would be the portion" Of the younger
son; two-thirds that Of the elder. A
boys desire to realize the freedom and
activities Of manhood becomes wrong
the moment 1t forgets to have considera-
ton for the rights and feeling of others.
and the restraints existing because of
his relationship to home or society or
God. He divided unto them his liv-
ing" Not because he had to: not be-
cause he was convinced that his boy
would use the money wisely: but per-
haps because he saw that a time had
come in the boys life when he must be
thrown on his own responsibility. Men
are creatures of free will. and this boy
was become a man. Took his journey
into a far country" He wanted to get
away from all who had ever seen or
known him, from the restraint that
their presence would be to him. Riot
Gus living" Perhaps he had meant
only to see It; perhaps seeing life" to
him meant seeing low. immoral. abb
normal life. as II does to so many; per-
haps he thought he could play with fire
and not be burned. or perhaps II was 6
life of gay revelry had an almost ire
sistible attraction for him. and he flew
to 1t the moment he was free.
when he had spent ALL" That HI
spent all indicates the sheer madness
of his course. He ignored almost ever,
consideration that should influence 4
young man beginning life. There aros,
a mighty famine" The famine
usually comes to the one who ha
thrown away his opportunities. 1t Il
neither good economy nor good moral
to learn wisdom only from the bite
experiences OF foolishness and sin
This young man had not sense enough
to learn 1t in any other way. He did no
begin 10 see the point till he was ''il
want" Then. when the terribleness o
ii his mistake came to him. what did b
= do? Did he say: 81 will arise and go t
lmy father?" Did he admit that he ha
been wrong and go back? Not yet.
! lis hard to do that He became a swine
! herd. "Husks:" The nutritious pod
of the carob tree; somewhat like locus
! pods. The last resort Of starving Syrian
even to-day.
when he came to himself" One {
\ the most significant sentences in tn
! | whole parable; Jesus did not assum
\ that man is naturally depraved-a chill
of wrath, but the reverse. The far couI
! try. with its drunkenness and miser,
! he Is in, to be sure, but 1t is not hi
! home and that life is not his life.
/ is unnatural, abnormal and insan,
When the prodigal came to his sense
to himself. his real self. he realized
too-that though he was with the swim
he was not one of them-that he was th
| child Of his noble father. that his betts
self" was his true self and that in lea'
ing that nightmare land he was return
ing home. In calling men to follow Hi
Jesus is not calling them to leave the
own life to live one that Is not the
own. but from an abnormal and unsa
isfactory life Of wrong and unrest bas
II to the wholesome, natural life OF chi
dren OF God. He only wants us to con
to ourselves. for that will mean comiI
to Him.
AIMED AT THE HEART.
The promises add power to o,
prayers.
The help Of God is the only hope
man.
No need to eat brambles In order
get the berries.
He who would establish another
faith must be well founded himself