September 29

"While he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." —Luke 15:20.

IT is always God's manner. He responds to my first approaches. He sees the sunrise in my soul, the new day stirring there, while the skies are still a canopy of black, and the night winds are cold, and the birds are not singing yet in the fresh morning air.

It is because He knows the sorrows of my past. The stings of conscience, the upbraidings of memory, the weariness and emptiness of heart, the mighty famine which swept down on me in the far country—He is aware of them all, for He sent them Himself, to drive me to Him.

And it is because He knows the difficulties of my present. Ah, the home-coming is hard for a prodigal son: I am full of questions and fears. The elder brethren, the faithful servants in the house, the Church and the Christian society, those who have never fallen as I have done: are they not likely to judge me sorely? So God Himself comes out to take my part.

And it is because He knows the possibilities of my future. He is going to change the broken column into a pillar in His temple. He is going to make the dying brand a torch flashing forth His truth and light and love. Out of the refuse of our mines science extracts to-day the most valuable acids and the most exquisite dyes: it is an emblem of what He will do with me. That is why He is so tenderly and so passionately eager to have me back again; that is why He cannot stay.

Let me search all the world, no earthly father loves like Him.