112 THE BEV. PROFESSOR A. S. GEDEN, M.A., D.D., 



why the Professor thinks that this rule was not followed when our 

 Lord uttered His words about the harvest. Nothing in the context 

 contradicts the supposition that it was then summer time. 



A very interesting simile is contained in the seventh verse of the 

 first chapter of this Gospel, in which John the Baptist is compared 

 to the morning star and our Lord to the sun. As the planet heralds 

 the coming of the sun, so did the Baptist herald the coming of our 

 Lord. This simile is frequently made in Scripture (Mai. iii. 1 ; 

 iv. 2; Luke i. 76, 78 ; Matt. xi. 10; John iii. 28, 30; etc.). It has 

 been recognised by Dr. F. B. Meyer,* and probably by others, for 

 Drydenf used this figure when he wrote of the Duke of Monmouth, 

 " Fame runs before him, as the Morning Star." 



This raises an interesting point. There are some eighty mentions 

 of John the Baptist in the Gospels, during and just before our Lord's 

 ministry. Many of these references are contained in parallel pas- 

 sages in different Gospels, and in some instances the Baptist's name 

 is repeated several times during one discourse. The various occa- 

 sions of references to him may therefore be reduced to a very much 

 smaller number of groups. In each group approbation or rejection 

 is expressed. According to Sir Isaac Newton's observations, we 

 may expect to find that the morning star was actually shining on 

 the days when approbation was expressed, and not shining when He 

 was rejected. This is found to be actually the case, if the generally 

 accepted date, a.d. 29, is taken for the Crucifixion at the end of a 

 ministry of three years and a half. 



The periods of shining of the morning star in the first century are 

 well known from ordinary astronomical calculations, and a reliable 

 chronology of the ministry has now been found. We have not space 

 to prove this here, but it is mentioned as an example of the unlooked- 

 for results to which Scriptural simile and metaphor may conduct us. 



There seem to be examples in this Gospel of what may be called 

 double similes ; for instance, our Lord spoke of the Baptist as " the 

 lamp that burneth and shineth " (John v. 35, R.V.). A lamp is a 

 very appropriate simile for the morning star, as everyone who has 

 watched its rising in the darkness of the night must allow. 



Our Lord made use of the second part of the same simile when 



* John the Baptist, pp. 7 and 75. 

 t Absalom and Ahitophel. 



