I. When principle is weak the far country is fatal. If any one is obliged to leave home not from love of idleness, not from love of pleasure, not from love of liberty, but on such business as brings young men to our large towns every day do not forget that God is here.
II. The portion of goods which fell to the prodigal must have been a handsome patrimony, and it would have been his wisdom to wait for it till the proper time. But with indecent haste he forestalled his reversion, and what he obtained so easily he quickly fooled away. Daily bread costs little, but dainties are dear, and are never so costly as when they are gifts from the devil.
J. Hamilton, Works,vol. ii., p. 287.
Riotous Living.
I. Pleasant as is the lot of our inheritance, it is well to remember that the thickets and steep places are haunted. Frightful ogres frequent them, and they are sure to sally forth on the heedless wanderer. The names of three of the best known are: The Lust of the Eye, the Lust of the Flesh, and the Pride of Life; or, as they are sometimes called Vanity, or the love of display; Sensuality, or the love of low pleasure; and the Affectation of Fashion, or the keeping-up of appearances.
II. If you would pass innocently through a difficult world keep within the rules. Let your life be open, your eye single, your walk in the broad light of day. To the great temptations the great antidote is not a limited income so much as a large self-denial.
J. Hamilton, Works,vol. ii., p. 300.
References: Luke 15:13. J. Bainton, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xix., p. 220; Ibid.,vol. xxii., p. 220; Church of England Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 143.