The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

coanting^hoose, in the street; in all that he saw, and
in all to whom he spoke. It was refined; it was
elegant; it was profound; it was supremely
attractive. He might resist, but he could not push it
aside. Bven in resisting, he had already yielded to
it. For, once open the door to the questions which
it brought, if it were only to expel, or repel them,
he must give up that principle of simple aatjiority
on whidi traditionalism as a system rested.
Hellenic criticism could not so be silenced, nor its
searching light be eztin-gniflbed by the breath of a
Rabbi. If he attempted this, the truth would not only
be worsted before its enemies, but suffer detriment
in his own eyes. He must meet argument with
argument, and that not only for those who were
without, but in order to be himsdf quite sure of
what he believed. He must be able to hold it, not
only in controversy with others, where pride might
bid him stand fast, but in that much more serious
contest within, where a man meets the old
adversary alone in the secret arena of his own
mind, and has to sustain that terriUe hand-to-hand
fight, in which he is undieered by outward help.