262 LT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY, ON THE EMPHASIS OF ST. LCKE. 



There is a remarkable instance, in Luke xiii, 31-34, on our 

 Lord's journey to the feast of the Dedication, when Herod tried to 

 drive Him out, and sought to kill Him, and our Lord replied, " Go, 

 tell that fox," etc. Luke then proceeds to put in our Lord's words, 

 spoken three months later, in the Mount of Olives, as if they were 

 spoken here : " 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, 

 and stonest them that are sent unto thee ; how often would I have 

 gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood 

 under her wings." Of course, the conjunction of the two is remark- 

 able, and you have a picture of the fox after the hen, and the hen 

 protecting the chickens, which would be lost if you did not couple 

 together events which are really separated by three months' time, but 

 here you get the whole scene. Surely the order is not chronological. 



In Luke xxii, 14, Judas is spoken of as being at the Lord's 

 Supper, whereas earlier it is stated that he left before. These are 

 some illustrations which show that the order to which Luke refers 

 is literary rather than historical. 



The Kev. A. H. Finn : Is it quite safe to conclude that the 

 passage in Luke xii must have been spoken in summer, because it 

 mentions fruits, corn, lilies and grass 1 The allusions are perfectly 

 general, and I think could have been uttered at any season ; and 

 moreover, in Palestine, these things do not all belong to any 

 particular season. Lilies and grass Avould belong to the Passover 

 time, the corn to Pentecost, and the fruits to late summer or early 

 autumn. 



However, I think the main subject of the paper is triplications, 

 which interested me specially, because in my studies in the Old 

 Testament T have come across triplications of triplications in 

 Genesis, in relation both to the Deluge and to the destruction of 

 souls, and the decrease of the waters. We must not suppose that 

 Luke chose three, just to emphasize the subject. Does it not 

 suggest the idea that triplication is not a question of the author's 

 arrangement, but lies further back in the Providence of God, in 

 arranging history to enforce attention 1 



The Chairman : This is a paper rather to study than discuss, 

 and it is very difficult indeed even to enter into any considerable 

 argument about it offhand, at a meeting like this. Colonel Mackinlay 

 has contributed such valuable investigations on other parts of the 



