ON SIMILE AND METAPHOR IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 113 



He called Himself " the Light of the World " (John viii. 12), for the 

 sun is most certainly the light of the whole earth. 



Holman Hunt's picture of the Light of the World, beautiful as 

 it is, entirely misses the point, and the force of this simile, because 

 he represents our Lord provided with a very poor artificial light, 

 reminding us of the words about the burial of Sir John Moore when 

 the lantern was dimly burning — a much lesser light than that at the 

 Feast of Tabernacles, whereas the sun is infinitely greater in brilliance. 



Our warm thanks are due to the Professor for his helpful and 

 suggestive paper on this important subject. 



The Rev. Dr. J. Agar Beet said : Dr. Geden was for fourteen years 

 my colleague at the Wesleyan College, Richmond, and throughout 

 that time I found him a fully reliable and very helpful friend. The 

 teaching about Christ in the Fourth Gospel is a definite and most 

 valuable addition to that in the other Gospels. Its immense 

 superiority to everything else in pre-Christian literature, Jewish or 

 Gentile, and its controlling influence on Christian thought in all 

 ages, point to Christ as its only possible ultimate source. If so, it 

 is much more likely that the record is due to the Beloved Disciple, 

 who can be no other than the Apostle John, rather than to some 

 unknown writer whose memory has altogether passed away. 



Moreover, Paul's central doctrine (Rom. i. 16) of salvation by 

 faith is clearly implied in John iii. 15-18 and elsewhere, and is thus 

 traced to the lips of Christ. The great words God is Love, in 1 John 

 iv. 8, 16, are a definite advance on, yet a fair inference from, all 

 other teaching in the New Testament. In them is revealed the 

 guidance of the Spirit of God. 



Lt.-Col. M. A. Alves said : On p. 100, upper part, the reader has 

 struck at one of the tap-roots of the misunderstanding of the Scrip- 

 tures, viz., " the literal interpretation of figurative expression." In 

 another part of the paper, on p. 105, re Lazarus, he has touched 

 another tap-root, viz., the grammatical interpretation of idiomatic 

 expression. 



It is not only in the East, see p. 101, that metaphor is at home. 

 The Red Indians of America dug up the hatchet, or buried it, and 

 smoked the pipe of peace. The loving-cup, the touching of wine- 

 glasses, and the fellowship of the snufi-box, are, or were, well under- 

 stood amongst ourselves ; and it was left to men, who bartered their 



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