52 The Typical Christian. CHAP. 



the privileges and blessings which are theirs as 

 God's children, not on condition of works but of 

 faith. The elder son is told by his father, " Thou 

 art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine"; 

 the first hired labourers go home to their eternal 

 reward with the wages of a lifetime of toil and en- 

 durance in the master's service. No further blessing 

 is needful or possible, except a right and thankful 

 appreciation of that which they already enjoy. 1 



The elder son and the first hired labourers are 

 typical men of the old moral world. Christ has 

 taught us new and higher principles than theirs, but 

 the Gospel must be based on the Law : Christ came 

 not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it. Such men 

 are certainly not typical Christians, but neither are 

 the latest hired labourers, still less the returned 

 prodigal : the typical Christian is the elder brother 

 when he is reconciled to the returned prodigal ; 

 the typical Christian is the labourer, who, after 

 bearing the burden of the day and the scorch- 

 ing heat, learns graciously to acquiesce in his 

 Master's action in placing on an equality with 



1 Stier quotes with approval Luther's saying that "they 

 take their penny and are damned " ; but this seems perversely 

 wrong. The saying of the owner of the vineyard to the 

 murmuring labourer, "Take that which is thine and go thy 

 way," has nothing to do with "Depart, ye cursed," and means 

 nothing harsher than "Cease this useless ^disputing, and go 

 home to supper with thy well-earned wages " ; for the imagery 

 of the parable does not include any invitation to a dinner or 

 supper, from which exclusion Avould be a punishment. 



