LIEUT.-COL. G. MACKINLAY, ON SOME LUCAN PEOBLBMS. 199 



because the greater Omission begins earlier than the other, 

 and in Luke (C) the introduction disappears altogether. Tlie 

 parts after the Omissions in Luke (A) and Luke (B) both 

 resemble Luke (C), and they differ greatly from the introduc- 

 tions ; the conditions after the Omissions are utterly changed, 

 we then come, as it were, under the more immediate shadow of 

 the cross, when many prophecies of the coming Crucifixion are 

 plainly expressed. 



Does not the arrangement caused by these two Omissions 

 remind us of some masterly piece of music, in which after 

 sweet restrained melodies, there comes a pause, — a pause of 

 expectation, to be followed by some crashing notes of an utterly 

 different, perhaps almost of a discordant character ?— a striking 

 contrast to that which had gone before. So in each of the 

 introductory parts in Luke (A) (vi, 20, to ix, 17) and Luke (B) 

 (xi, 1, to xiii, 21) we have the quiet Ministry of the Lord 

 undisturbed by any great alarms ; but after the Omissions, 

 corresponding to the pause in the music, we find ourselves in 

 each case plunged at once into deeply moving scenes ; in Luke 

 (A) we have sudden and very plain prophecies of the coming 

 Passion,* and in Luke (B) we abruptly begin the account of the 

 startf for the last journey which led to death at Jerusalem. 



This explanation of the reason for the great (and also for the 

 greater) Omission is surely in keeping with the methods of the 

 skilful and accurate historian Luke is universally allowed to 

 have been, and it avoids all suggestion of mistake in reference 

 or in copying, which must run counter to the opinions of those 

 of us who believe that St. Luke was divinely guided and inspired 

 in the preparation of his Gospel. 



We have as yet but little considered the arrangement of 

 Luke (C). As this is the last of the three, we do not wonder 

 that an introductory part is no longer employed, but the 

 narrative begins chronologically just after the time of the end 

 of the great Omission of Luke (A) (see diagram), autumn 

 A.D. 28 : this last account then only records the last six months 

 of the Ministry. In general arrangement it may be said, as 

 already mentioned, to resemble the second parts of Luke (A) 

 and Luke (B). It plunges immediately " in medias res," the 

 Cross is brought into view at once,^ and the cost is deliberately 

 counted.§ But though Luke (C) covers a shorter period of time 



* Luke ix, 22, 31, 44. 

 I Luke xiv, 27. 



t Luke xiii, 22. 

 § Luke xiv, 28. 



