Luke 15:14

And when he had spent all Historically,

"On that hard Roman world, disgust And secret loathing fell;

Deep weariness and sated lust Made human life a hell."

M. Arnold.

Individually, "The limits are narrow within which, by wasting his capital, a man obtains a supply of pocket-money." G. Macdonald.

there arose a mighty fa7nine in that land God has given him his heart's desire and sent leanness withal into his bones. The worst famine of all is "not a famine of bread or a thirst of water, but of hearing the words of the Lord" (Amos 8:11); and in such a famine even "the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst" (Amos 8:13). "They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns; broken cisterns, that can hold no water," Jeremiah 2:13.

he began to be in want The whole heathen world at this time was saying, "Who will shew us any good?" Weariness, despair, and suicide were universal. Individually this is the retributive anguish of those who have wasted the gifts of life.

"My days are in the yellow leaf,

The flowers and fruits of love are gone,

The worm, the anguish, and the grief

Are mine alone.

The fire that on my bosom preys

Is lone as some volcanic isle;

No torch is kindled at its blaze

A funeral pile."

Byron.