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

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

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peculiarly painful exhibition <strong>of</strong> human misery <strong>of</strong><br />

body <strong>and</strong> soul, is strictly true to <strong>the</strong> times <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

people. Even now travellers describe a similar<br />

concourse <strong>of</strong> poor crippled sufferers, on <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

miserable pallets or on rugs, around <strong>the</strong> mineral<br />

springs near Tiberias, filling, in true Oriental<br />

fashion, <strong>the</strong> air with <strong>the</strong>ir lamentations. In <strong>the</strong><br />

present instance <strong>the</strong>re would be even more<br />

occasion for this than around any ordinary <strong>the</strong>rmal<br />

spring. For <strong>the</strong> popular idea was, that an Angel<br />

descended into <strong>the</strong> water, causing it to bubble up,<br />

<strong>and</strong> that only he who^«^ stepped into <strong>the</strong> pool<br />

would be cured. As thus only one person could<br />

obtain benefit, we may imagine <strong>the</strong> lamentations <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> * many' who would, perhaps, day by day, be<br />

disappointed in <strong>the</strong>ir bopes. This bubbling up <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> water was, <strong>of</strong> course, due not to supernatural<br />

but to physical causes. Such intermittent springs<br />

are not uncommon, <strong>and</strong> to this day <strong>the</strong> so-called ^<br />

Fountain <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Virgin' in Jerusalem exhibits <strong>the</strong><br />

same phenomenon. It is scarcely necessary to say,<br />

that <strong>the</strong> Gospel-narrative does not ascribe this '<br />

troubling <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> waters' to Angelic agency, nor

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