248 



LIEUT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY^ R.A., ON 



Texts 



References Approximate 

 Jrveteienceb. . Month. 



Remarks. 



(/■) " I am the Light 

 of the world." 



(g) '-Hethatentereth 

 in by the door is the 

 shepherd of the 

 sheep ... I am the 

 door of the sheep." 



j- John viii, 12 



1 



I 



[> John X, 2, 7 



I 



j 



September-^ 



November <| 



Reference to 

 lamps at the Feast 

 of Tabernacles, 

 John vii, 2. See 

 The Temple: its 

 J/inistrj/, etc., A. 

 Edersheim. 



After the Feast of 

 Tabernacles, J ohn 

 vii, 2, and before 

 the Feast of Dedi- 

 cation, which was 

 winter, John x, 22, 

 early December — 

 a time of year when 

 sheep were folded 

 every night. 



Hence we see that allusions were made to things actually 

 present ; consequently, if we find other allusions, such, for 

 instance, as the comparison of the Baptist to the shining of the 

 morning star, we may reasonably conclude that the planet w^as 

 then to be seen in the early morning before sunrise. If this is 

 so, we shall find an indication of the dates of the ministries 

 of Christ and of John, and consequently of the Crucifixion. 



Explanation of the Diagram. 



Mr. Wickham, F.E.A.S., 1st Assist. Piadcliffe Observatory, 

 Oxford, and Mr. Crommelin, F.E.A.S., Assist. Observer, Royal 

 Observatory, Greenwich, have calculated data about Venus as 

 the morning star, A.D. 23-34, from which the diagram (p. 266) 

 has been constructed ; in it, the periods, when the planet was 

 the morning star rising an hour or more before daybreak, are 

 indicated by heavy black lines on the riglLt of the central line ; 

 to complete the diagram the periods when the planet was the 

 evening star, setting an hour or more after the sun, are 

 indicated by corresponding dotted lines on the left of the same 

 central straight line. The horizontal cross lines indicate the 

 solstices, and the crosses in the straight line the equinoxes, and 

 the Ijracket the period of the Lord's ministry. 



On reference to the diagram we learn that the morning star 

 continuously shines for about seven and a half months at the 



