of themselves in such a state, they are really “dead” and “lost.”] But the Prodigal was not gone beyond recovery, as is evident from, II. His return— During his departure he had been as a person destitute of reason. At last however, “coming to himself” he thought of his father’s house. The various steps of his return are worthy of notice— [He first reflected on the folly and madness of his former ways, and on the incomparably happier state of those who lived under his father’s roof, and whom perhaps