Meditations the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Chapter 10
CHAP. X.
Representeth how quickly man forsakes God, when God leaves him to himself; with the Reasons whence it comes to pass; and the Ʋses we are to make hereof, from the first Clause of the following Verse,
And not many days after, &c.
THE younger Son having got his Portion into his own hand, begins to act his part; first in sin, in this verse; secondly in sorrow, in the 14, 15, 16th verses; thirdly in repentance, in the 17th, &c. In the two former he is the picture of all natural men; in the third but of some, yea of few. In acting his part in sin; first, he presently leaves his Father's house: secondly, he goes into a farr Countrey: thirdly, there he spends all his Portion in luxury and riot.
Now in this Prodigal Son there are represented to us many things in natural men of sad Observation.
1. Here we see how soon man leaves God, when God leaves man to himself; man makes hast to sin against God. Not many days after the younger Son took his journey into a farr Countrey, &c.
This is the temper and inclination of the rational Creature, they sin so soon as they can; and herein they appear to be irrational: We see this both in the Angelical and Human Nature. The Angels that were left to themselves sinned presently, Jude 6.they forthwith left their first estate: John 8.44.The Devil abode not in the truth, saith our Blessed Saviour in the Evangelist John. The Angels that fell from their pure and excellent state immediately, they left their own habitation, as St. Jude expresseth it, i. e. their heavenly places. Hence it is said, Job 4.18.that God charged his Angels with folly, because of their mutability and inconstancy in holiness and happiness.
Some of the School-men hit right in this. A Creature, saith Aquinas, though never so excellent and holy, may and will sin, if not prevented and assisted by grace. And this was the Answer St. Augustine gave to the Question, How the Angels came to sin so soon, Quia non Deus sunt, because they are not God. God only is immutable in his being; With him there is no variableness, James 1.17.neither shadow of turning. I am the Lord, I change not, Mal. 3.6.
But many Angels changed their condition presently; The Devil sinneth from the beginning: 1 John 3.8.the Devil, that is, the Prince of the Angels that left their first estate. A space there was between their Creation and defection; First, that it might appear they came holy Angels out of God's hand: And secondly, that they might remember afterwards, and for ever, from whence they were fallen; as our Lord said to the Angel or Pastor of the Church of Rev. 2.5.Ephesus. Yet 'tis likely it was but a little after their holy Creation before they sinned; it was before the sin of man, Gen. 3. 2 Cor. 11.3.for man sinned by the instigation of the Devil.
And as the Angels soon fell from glory, so did man from grace, from his innocent state, from his likeness to God after which he was made: Gen. 1.26.Some think he fell the same day he was created; others think not so. Psal. 40.12.The Scripture saith, Man being in honour, abideth not. He lodged not one night in his honour, as the Hebrew imports.
It is the nature of man to make haste to sin, as the Lord said to Moses (when he was with him on the Mount) of the Children of Israel, Exod. 32.8.They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: and of the same people in the Judges, Judges 2.17.They turned quickly out of the way their fathers walked in, which kept my Commandments. And the Psalmist speaking of man's disposition and complexion by nature, saith thus of him, That he is estranged from the womb, Psal. 58.3.he goes astray as soon as he is born. Men are born with evil Dispositions, and act them so soon as their Faculties can sin, if grace prevent not.
Young Nettles sting, and young Crabs go backward; and so man in his youth dedicates himself to sin, Eccles. 11.10. 2 Tim. 2.22. Gal. 1.6.Youth and Childhood are vanity; and St. Paul speaks of youthful lusts. How soon were the Galatians removed, or transported as the Greek signifies, unto another Gospel. The Church of Corinth was presently corrupted; and so were the Seven Churches of Asia.
Reasons of the Doctrine.
1. Because the corrupted nature of man is greedy of sin, They work all uncleanness with greediness: Eph. 4.19.They have a strong appetite to sin; the strength of appetite, as in the Hebrew, Isa. 56.1.therefore called greedy dogs. Man sinned almost so soon as he was, and if he might, he would sin as long as he is, and would, Omnis peccator peccat in aeternum.if he could, sin for ever, and be for ever that he might sin: How will men break through all restraints to sin? as Balaam would have rush'd through all the checks and disappointments he met with in his way to curse Israel.
Though the dumb Ass forbad his madness, 2 Pet. 2.16.and the Angel stood in his way with a drawn sword to stop him, Num. 22.23 to 30.yet he was violently hurried on with the strong impulse of his own lusts.
St. Ambrose speaks of one Theolimus, On Luke 4.who being told by his Physician, That unless he left his intemperance, he would lose his eyes: His heart was so desperately set on his lust, that he replied, Tunc vale lumen.Then farewell eyes; I must drink, though I drink out my eyes.
Thus do the hearts of many say, though not their mouths, Farewell God, farewell Christ, farewell Heaven, I must have my lust. Amnon's lusting after Tamar is an instance in the case. Psal. 14.2.The fool hath said in his heart there is no God, i. e. O that there were no God! Look what trouble it is to Saints to part with God, such trouble it is to wicked men to part with sin. There is no hope, No; 2 Jer. 25.for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go. The immediate reason of mens sinning is their will: It was so in the fall, and so it is since.
2. A second Reason why men make so much haste to sin is their weakness; no man by nature hath strength enough to hold out against temptations to sin: If God were not infinite in strength, he would not be immutable; 1 Sam. 15.29.The strength of Israel will not repent, or change. But the first temptation turned man upside down; and since the Devil had that success, he follows man close with temptations; and if he fails in one, Num. 22, & 23.he presently tries another, as Balaam did experiments to curse Israel.
Man is too weak a Creature to stand out a temptation to sin without the aid of grace, either preventing or assisting grace, besides inherent: It was seen in Hezekiah, and in Peter, when left to themselves. Grace it self, of it self, is not immutable. The godly know by experience that it is subject to ebbings and flowings; and the reason why the people of God do not quite lose grace, is not from the nature of grace in it self, but because grace in the Saints is fed by grace from the fulness of Christ; John 1.16. Jer. 32.40.and because the Covenant of grace hath undertaken they shall not totally and finally fall from grace.
And again, grace is upheld in the godly by their communion with God, and therefore the more this communion is interrupted, the less grace, and the more sin Saints themselves have: Hence it is that when they come to live in the blessed vision of God in Heaven, they cease to sin, and there is no more capacity of sinning.
This is the reason why the elect Angels, 1 Tim. 5.21.so called in Scripture, stood in their first estate; free grace preserved them in the beatifical vision, and still doth; And they always behold the face of my Father in Heaven, saith our blessed Saviour. Matth. 18.10.O remember that man is by nature a weak Creature, and yet very wilfull, and would be independent on God, 2 Tim. 2.26.and so the Devil leads him captive at his will.
Application.
1. This shews us the necessity and mercy of preventing and restraining grace; were it not for this, the World would be fuller of sin than it is, even like the old World; all places would be Sodoms, and the godly as Lots therein. Psal. 32.91.But God makes wicked men chew upon the Bit; he seeth they have need of Bit and Bridle, as well as the Herse; Isa. 37.29.I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, saith the Lord to Sennacherib.
If God had not restrained Balaam, he would have cursed Israel; he made many attempts after disappointments. Gen. 20.6.Had not the Lord withheld Abimelech, he had wronged Sarah: And when the Lord saw that nothing would be restrained from the builders of Babel which they had imagined to do, Gen. 11.6, 7.he confounded their language.
2. This may be of use to humble us all, Ʋse 2 that we were innocent, and without sin so little a while; we made haste to sin, we soon left God in Adam, as this younger Son did his Father; this I say should humble us, Hos. 6.4.that our goodness was as the morning cloud, and passed away as the early dew. Our first Parents were holy Creatures when they came out of the hand of a holy God; but they were like the Ephemera, their holiness was but holiness for a day; Jer. 2.32.I but we have sinned days without number, as the Lord said to his people in Jeremiah. We begin betimes to sin, and hold on till God break us off from so sinning. This was the melting Confession of the Lord's people; Jer. 3.25.We have sinned against the Lord our God, We have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth.
And as this should humble us, that we begin so early to sin; so we have reason to be humbled, that usually we are so long before we are good: It is commonly many years before our Conversion to a state of grace: Some come not in to God till the sixth hour; Mark 20.others not till the eleventh; O how should this humble late Converts, that they are good so little a space on earth? Some indeed give God the kindness of their youth; Jer. 2.God hath their First-fruits; he sets them apart for himself from their infancy; Jer. 1.5.Before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee, saith the Lord to Jeremiah. Samuel was good from his youth; 1 Sam. 3.1. 1 Kings 18.12.The Child Samuel ministred unto the Lord: I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth, said Obadiah to Elijah. And Timothy knew the holy Scriptures from a child, 2 Tim. 3.15. but these are rare Birds.
There are some indeed that think themselves to have been Saints, but no such matter: as that young, rich, … ….20.great man, All these have I kept from my youth; but he was mistaken.
And there are others make a shew betimes, as if they would look towards God and Heaven, but retreat again; such as God spake of in Jer. 2.2. I remember thee, and the kindness of thy youth; and yet in the fifth Verse he complains that they were gone farr from him, and become vain. Some have kindness, or rather seem to have kindness for God in their youth, but never after; They begin in the spirit, but end in the flesh. Gal. 3.3. Rev. 2.4.The Angel of the Church of Ephesus left his first love.
3. Ʋse 3 This may speak comfort to those that are Saints, and God's holy ones indeed▪ And wherein? Because they have a contrary disposition to this of natural men: Natural men make haste to sin; they make haste to do good; I made haste, Psal. 119.60.and delaid not to keep thy Commandments. This gracious disposition was prophesied should be in Converts among the Gentiles: Psal. 68.31.Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hand unto God: And the Inhabitants of one City shall go to another, saying, Zach. 8.21.Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, I will go also.
The will of a godly man is seldome behind to any holy duty; To will is present with me. Rom. 7.18.And where this is, there is a badge of grace, and of a holy nature: The flesh indeed makes them linger sometimes, as Lot did in coming out of Sodom; Gen. 19.but when the regenerate part sitteth in the chair, then the Soul calls, as the Lord did to Lot, Haste thee, haste thee to Zoar. As other men hasted after their gods, Psal. 16.4.so David hasted after his God; Awake up my glory, awake Psaltery and Harp, I my self will awake early. Psal. 57.8.With my spirit will I seek thee early, Isaiah 26.9.
Delays in Religion are dangerous; Heb. 3.7.To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts. The foolish Virgins were too late to enter in to the Marriage with the Bridegroom. Mark 25.11.Thus much for the Observation from the first words of the Verse (And not many days after) viz. That so soon as God leaves man to himself, he soon goes away from God.