One may know that it
is all forgiven, one may be sure that the misunderstanding has
faded in the light of the other dawn, but still the cold base
shadow, the thought of one's perverse cruelty, strikes a gloom upon
the mind.
But with God, when one once begins to draw near to Him, one need
have no such poignant regrets or overshadowing memories; one may
say to Him in one's heart, as simply as a child, that He knows what
one has been and is, what one might have been and what one desires
to be; and one may cast oneself at His feet in the overwhelming
hope that He will make of oneself what He would have one to be.
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, it is not the poor wretch
himself, whose miserable motive for returning is plainly indicated--
that instead of pining in cold and hunger he may be warmed and
clothed--who is the hero of the story; still less is it the hard
and virtuous elder son. The hero of the tale is the patient,
tolerant, loving father, who had acted, as a censorious critic
might say, foolishly and culpably, in supplying the dissolute boy
with resources, and taking him back without a word of just
reproach.
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