he was fretting against the discipline of home and planning to run away, he called his action "independence." In the "far country," he called it "pleasure. When he had spent all his money, and friends had forsaken him, he called it "bad luck." Even when he began to think, he called it "folly." But when he finally came to himself and decided to go home, he found the right name for such conduct. He said, "I have sinned."

Day after day he walks on. And now we come to the last picture. At the close of a hot summer's day, just as the sun is sinking in the west, we see an old man on a little hilltop. His hands are shading his eyes, and he is looking far off into the distance. How often he has been there we do not know, but I think many, many times. Suddenly that sad but noble face brightens. Those eyes, dim with age, are sharp with love. He sees his son. That son does not look much like the boy who went away, but the father recognizes him and runs to meet him. The poor sinner receives a royal welcome. The past is forgiven, the lost is found.

Here we have a picture of the wonderful love of God. How can anyone read this story and say that God will not accept him? Jesus says the father saw his son "a great way off." When God says He sees us a long way off, we are a long way off, I tell you. But Jesus says the father had compassion. This is a love word. God loves the returning prodigal. Ever since Adam sinned and hid in the garden, God has been looking for sinners and trying to tell them how much He loves them. When Jesus was here among men, He talked about many things, but His favorite theme was the love of His Father.

Many people call this story "the parable of the prodigal son." I think it ought to be called "the parable of the pardoning Father." The father is the biggest feature in the story. In it your Father speaks to you. Will you sin against such love? Or will you leave your husks, and sit down at the Father's table?

IN my personal work for souls, I once heard. this excuse: "I am afraid I can't hold out." Of the same nature is this one, heard often by every evangelistic worker: "I have tried and failed, and I am afraid to try again." The story is told of a little boy who, in learning to skate, naturally fell down a few times, and eventually was found flat on his stomach, on the ice. "Why don't you get up?" the man who found him asked. "I did get up several times," the boy replied, "but I always fell down again; and now I am afraid to get up any more.' I can not vouch for the truthfulness of this story. Boys learning to skate don't usually do that way; they keep getting up until they stay up. In making the application, I would not infer, either, that it is the natural thing to fall when one starts out to be a Christian. What I would say is, that it is just as foolish to refuse to start again if we have tried once and fallen, as it would have been for that little lad to lie flat on the ice and refuse to get up.

Now suppose that boy had had a big brother skating along by his side, holding his hand firmly so that he could not fall. That is just what Jesus will do for you. “I . . . will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." Isaiah 41: 13. Again, in verse 10 of the same chapter, we have this promise: "I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness."

The reason you do not stand in the Christian life is because you have taken your hand away from the hand of your Guide. You have wanted to go some place where He could not go with you. You have gone off to "chase the devil's rabbits." A father bought his little daughter a new muff. Of course, she must go outdoors and use it at once. Her father walked by her side. The

walk was icy, and he said, "You better let me hold one hand." But no; she wanted both of them in her new muff. In a moment, down she went, bumping her head sharply on the sidewalk. She began to cry; but when she could speak, she said, "Papa, hold both hands.

Some one has said that the greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. "The mountain tops must be reached, no matter how many times we fall in reaching them. The fall is not counted; it does not register; the picking up and going on counts in life." You certainly defeat the devil and glorify your Master when you see your fault, confess it, and push on. As soon as I pay down the money for an article, it becomes mine. In the same way, our sins belong to Christ by right of purchase. Will He refuse to take what He has bought with His own blood? No; gladly will He take your sins and cast them behind His back.

My Bible tells me of four men who thought enough of one of their sick friends to take off the roof of a building in order to get him into the Saviour's presence. One of the first things Jesus did, after forgiving this poor man's sins, was to command him to get up and walk. Could the sick man obey? Not of himself. But he could will to obey. When he did that, Jesus had to perform a miracle to meet that man's faith, and then he walked. When you fully surrender your will, God will perform a miracle, if need be, so that you can obey His commands to walk in paths of righteousness.

I quote from a renowned writer: "It is through the will that sin retains its hold upon us. The surrender of the will is represented as plucking out the eye or cutting off the hand. Often it seems to us that to surrender the will to God is to consent to go through life maimed or crippled. But it is better, says Christ, for self to be maimed, wounded, crippled, if thus you may enter into life. . It will require a sacrifice to give

My Bible tells me of four men who thought enough of one of their sick friends to take off the roof of a building in order to get him into the

Saviour's presence.

yourself to God; but it is a sacrifice of the lower for the higher, the earthly for the spiritual, the perishable for the eternal. . . . God does not design that our will should be destroyed; for it is only through its exercise that we can accomplish what He would have us do. Our will is to be yielded to Him, that we may receive it again, purified and refined, and so linked in sympathy with the divine that He can pour through us the tides of His love and power."

The devil will not let you go without a fierce battle. No captive feels his bondage until he begins to tug at his chains to get loose. Before you surrender to Christ, the devil pulls every string to your heart. You are taken captive by him at his will. How many there are who, when they yield, do not yield fully! They let the devil still pull on one string. Be sure he will pull just as hard on this one string as He did on them all. You know that particular sin, your upsetting sin, which has caused you all your trouble. Now surrender in that thing, and victory is yours.

Men are only ciphers. Put as many together as you will, they are nothing still. But God is no cipher. He is One. Our value and usefulness depend on which side of God we are on. If we are on the right side, we count for something. And if we are on the right side of God, we can not be on the wrong side of each other. What you fearful, timid people need is more faith in our great God. You must let go in everything, and let God. Stop trying in your own strength, and trust. There is One who can keep us from falling. (Jude 24.)

But one thing you must remember: God has made provision for man's spiritual needs. If you, day after day, refused to eat, your physical body would soon weaken and die. Unless you partake often of the bread from heaven, the Word of God, and unless you pray, you can never become spiritually strong.