ON SIMILE AND METAPHOR IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 115 



destruction with eternal results, and '"'to a perpetual end " = no 

 more destruction. (See Ps. ix. 6.) 

 I could say much more on this subject, but time does not permit. 



Mr. Theodore Roberts differed from Dr. Geden's statement on 

 p. 104 that the Evangelist rarely went beyond the Jews in his vision 

 and thought, instancing the Lamb of God taking away the sin of 

 the world, God so loved the world," and " The Light of the World." 



He thought the Lecturer might have said more about the use of 

 water as a figure, pointing out that the authoritative commentary 

 on the blood and water flowing from the side of the dead Saviour 

 in 1 John v. showed that the incident was figurative of the two 

 aspects of the death of Christ, viz., expiatory towards God and of 

 cleansing towards man. The Epistle doubtless referred to the pre- 

 sent condition of Resurrection which our Lord had reached through 

 His death. He believed the water in John iii. 5 referred to cleansing 

 and in iv. 14 to satisfying, which are the two main uses we have for 

 water. 



Mr. Rouse said : With most of the utterances of this instructive 

 paper I for one am in hearty sympathy and accord, even where it 

 would supersede our time-honoured translation " born again " by 

 " born from above." And yet I find room for criticism in certain 

 features and phrases of the paper. The closing words hint at a 

 chronological order in John's Gospel, whereas it is the one Gospel 

 by which the length of Christ's ministry is determined, and an 

 opinion expressed on p. 107 would actually sweep aside one of the 

 chief links of that determination. When our Saviour, after His 

 interview with the woman by the well of Sychar, said to His 

 disciples, " Say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh 

 harvest ; behold I say unto you. Look upon the fields, for they are 

 white already to the harvest," He was, after His favourite custom, 

 comparing a natural fact with a spiritual one, and in this case 

 drawing a contrast as He had just drawn between material water 

 and spiritual water, and a little later in the record drawn between 

 natural bread and spiritual bread. Then where would have been 

 the contrast, if the natural harvest had not been four months away ? 



Mr, W. Hoste, referring to the Professor's quotation of John 

 iii. 12, " If I have spoken to you of the earthly things and ye believe 

 not, how will ye believe if I speak to you of the heavenly things ?" 



