iv The Twofold Lesson of both Parables. 51 



parables there are two distinct lessons ; one of them 

 obvious, the other more recondite. In the parable of 

 the Prodigal, the obvious lesson is that God forgives 

 freely and without upbraiding, so that restoration 

 is complete when repentance is sincere ; that God 

 welcomes repentant prodigals, and man ought to 

 welcome them. In that of the Labourers, the obvious 

 lesson is the kindred one, that those who enter the 

 service of God late in life shall, if their service is 

 sincere, be placed on an equality with those who have 

 served God all their lives that mere length of service 

 and quantity of work do not count when the eternal 

 recompenses are awarded. The more recondite lesson 

 of the parable of the Prodigal is a warning against 

 the special dangers of a life spent from the beginning 

 in the service of God ; the danger of such service 

 becoming mechanical ; the danger of trusting in 

 one's own righteousness rather than in the grace 

 of God, and of permitting an alienation of the 

 heart from God to go on unchecked because un- 

 noticed. And the more recondite lesson of the 

 parable of the Labourers is the kindred one that 

 those who have done very lengthened or very 

 eminent service to God are in danger of trusting in 

 their own services, and of regarding with jealousy 

 those who are placed on an equality with them after 

 services which have been much shorter, or in the 

 eyes of men much smaller. These two errors are 

 the same in kind, and the proper safeguard against 

 both is the same; namely, a truer appreciation of 



