The Penn's Grove record., 1915-10-22
FIRST STEP TO GOD
There Is Hope for the Worst
ProdigaI When He Begins
to Reflect.


There is hope for the worst ~prodiga1
when he begins to reflect. Reflection
is the first step on the ladder which
leads a sinner up to God. The Scrip
ture bids us consider our ways" This
is what the prodigal did, and it ended
in his return to his father.
The prodigal reflected on his past
folly. He had been unfllial, thought
less, self-willed. He had gone to his
father and asked for his share Of the
Inheritance and then left home. His
motive was revealed by his subsequent
conduct in setting off with all his
means to a distant country where he
can forget home and family and be
away from any parental supervision.
There were passionate impulses with
in him to which he wanted to give free
rein. He wanted to have freedom to
SOW his wild oats.
He reflected on his present condition.
The inevitable end has come, and he
is In want and misery. He stands
there in the field with the swine about
him. His clothes are torn into rags,
his eyes are sunken. his cheeks are
hollow. He has come down to the
level of the swine, trying to subsist
on their food. The Hell-born and once
wealthy youth is driven by need to
force himself into an occupation which
must have been the ultimate degrade
ton to a Jew, that Of a swineherd.
Then, by contrast, he thinks of his
fathers house. The starving prodigal
remembers his home, his fathers low
ing care, and his mothers tender
schooling. He a see, as in a vision,
the old house where he was born, and
the garden where he played as a child.
oh, how the blessed scenes of child
hood linger with US and come back
wildly in our dark hours! The Ger
man poet tells us of a robber, who, in
his lawless stronghold beside the
Rhine, remembered the days when he
could not sleep unless his mother had
kissed him. Napoleon, a crushed and
ruined man, could recall with a sigh
the day when he received his first com.
munion in his innocent boyhood.
INC uTnIn8 FOIHIs
This reflection brings him to a reso-
luton, II will arise and CO." It was a
turning point in the prodigal's career
when he resolved to arise, that means,
to stand upright. Sin always drags a
man down, and the first step toward
repentance is to refuse to remain at
the low level to which one has sunk.
Get on your legs! Look up to heaven,
to the God and Father Of us all! We
know that the dropping head and the
downcast look are to be avoided even
as regards our bodies, and that such a
posture always means to US either
grief or disgrace. This lesson which
our bodies teach us is also the first
lesson in repentance, to stand upright
and lift our faces to God.
His resolution went further: "I viii
60" A man must not only stand up
right, but he must get out of his sin.
There is many a man who hates his
sins, but he continues to live in them.
He has never made up his mind to
go" 1t is not an easy thing to cut
loose from your old life; it takes the
help Of the Holy Spirit; but all resolu.
tions towards repentance will be of lit
tie avail unless you arise and go.
The next step in the prodigal's ca.
reer is repentance. 81 have sinned
against heaven and in thy sight" True
repentance must confess itself in full
confession to our Father. Past sin
remains an intolerable burden upon
the soul until we have laid our burden
upon the Lord and asked for forgive.
ness. We feel that reconciliation is not
complete as long as there is anything
unconfessed between US and our Fa.
Their.
Then there comes restoration. In
this wonderful picture Jesus has given
us the most perfect image of God that
came from his lips. That longing and
looking for the lost ones return; the
going out to meet him; the kiss of well
come; the prompt and complete for
%giveness; the utter silence concern
ing the evil and shameful past, as if it
had never been; the infinite tender
ness and delicacy and sweetness of it
all! We feel that there is something
more than human in this. 1t is the
beauty of God; it is the ~unspeakable
grace Of the Divine Fatherhood.
Though the prodigal sins, yet as the
parable shows, the Fathers heart
never never changes.