The great security, that this shall be so, is found where Christ placed it, in the Father. "I will not leave you comfortless,"--or orphaned, as the word is literally to be translated,--"I will come to you. Ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." They that learn to live in the Father's love, are saved from the worst bereavement, and the orphanage of the earth opens to them the parentage of heaven. The first and secondary relationships of earth are both commended and consecrated by the relation prior to them both and primal of all, however late it may be understood; for in spiritual as well as earthly ties, it requires time and thought to know our truest friend; and the playmates of an hour win the child of mortality's ear more readily than the far-seeing parent, or than the Ancient of Days, the Father of all. Remember that whatever paternal wisdom or maternal tenderness we have ever known here, has its source and archetype on high. There dwells the Godhead that spoke and wrought through the victim of the Cross; there shines the wisdom that opened that disciple's vision; there burns the love that glowed in the mother's faithful heart. From the unseen, comes all the glory that is seen; and if any of us have an orphaned heart, as in some respects we all may have, let us find its solace in God, and whatever is God's. Let the sweet breath of May, that whispers to devotees of Mary's holy maternity, fill our hearts with more than vernal promise, ideals of more than human loveliness,--call us away from all wintry chills to the light and love of the Parent above all parents--to the home that unites all homes in one. _May._ The Young Prodigal. THE YOUNG PRODIGAL. How marked and how various has been the response of men to the Parable of the Prodigal Son since it first came from the lips of Him whose life so exemplified its mercy. Through all those changing centuries, the home has kept its place in the affections of mankind, and that pathetic domestic picture has never failed to waken regrets and compassion. The happiest household is not without some errors that cry for forgiveness, and not many are the families whose peace is not troubled by some prodigal. The parable presents at once an example of earthly experience and a lesson of heavenly mercy. Not forgetting the heavenly lesson, we dwell now more upon the earthly example, as we speak of the prodigal in the family, especially of his fall and his recovery. * * * * *