the Lord Jesus, in loc_. The successors
of Luther must, it seems, tread the mill from year to year on the
same limited curriculum of texts which their Kalendar contains; and
those of them who are weary of the restraint long in vain for an
opportunity to preach on such a subject as the prodigal, for it is
not set down in the bond. That Church surely is greatly defective
both in godliness and manliness, that cannot or will not throw open
all the Word of God alike, at all times, to its ministers and
congregations in their Sabbath solemnities.

It is not necessary in this case to submit a sketch of the material
frame-work: there it lies, and the simplest may see it for himself. The
least learned may go round without a guide, and not miss any essential
feature of the scene. In this case the bare reading of the story from
the Bible leaves the image sharply outlined, and permanently impressed
upon the reader's mind. Assuming that the body of the lesson may be
easily seen, let us proceed at once to seek for its soul in the
spiritual meaning, which the picture covers and yet reveals.

"A certain man had two sons:" one of the greatest difficulties meets us
in the first line. It is evident that God, as specially manifested in
the Gospel, is represented by the father; but who are represented by the
two sons,--the elder, who remained at home, and the younger, who went
away? On this point three distinct interpretations have been suggested:
the two brothers of the parable may represent angels and men, Jews and
Gentiles, or Pharisees and publicans. I do not think it is a profitable
method to send these three into the field to fight until two are
destroyed, and one is left in undisputed possession. I am convinced that
we shall more fully and more correctly ascertain the mind of the Lord by
employing them all than by selecting one.

In representing the human figure, an artist may proceed upon either of
two distinct principles, according to the object which, for the time, he
may have in view. He may, on the one hand, delineate the likeness of an
individual, producing a copy of his particular features, with all their
beauties and all their blemishes alike: or he may, on the other hand,
conceive and execute an ideal picture of man, the portrait of no person
in particular, with features selected from many specimens of the race,
and combined in one complete figure. The parable of the prodigal is a
picture of the latter kind