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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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BOOK adyerse opinion expressed in <strong>the</strong> Talmud,<br />

that we cannot help snsh I pecting some internal<br />

connection between <strong>the</strong> two.^ ' <strong>The</strong> writings to<br />

which we have referred have all a decidedly<br />

Hellenistic tinge <strong>of</strong> thought.^ Still <strong>the</strong>y are not <strong>the</strong><br />

outcome <strong>of</strong> pure Hellenism. It is <strong>the</strong>refore with<br />

peculiar interest that we turn to Philo, <strong>the</strong> great<br />

representative <strong>of</strong> that direction, to see whe<strong>the</strong>r he<br />

would admit an idea so purely national <strong>and</strong>, as it<br />

might seem, exclusive. Nor are we here left in<br />

doubt. So universal was this belief, so deep-seated<br />

<strong>the</strong> conviction, not only in <strong>the</strong> mind, but in <strong>the</strong> heart<br />

<strong>of</strong> Israel, that we could scarcely find it more<br />

distinctly expressed than by <strong>the</strong> great Alex<strong>and</strong>rian.<br />

However low <strong>the</strong> conditiQ^ <strong>of</strong> Israel •Je^^on**.<br />

might be, he tells ua,* or however scattered <strong>the</strong><br />

people to <strong>the</strong> ends <strong>of</strong> ^M» w <strong>the</strong> earth, <strong>the</strong><br />

banished would, on a given sign, be set free in one<br />

day. In consistency with his system, he traces this<br />

wondrous event to <strong>the</strong>ir sudden conversion to<br />

virtue, which would make <strong>the</strong>ir masters ashamed<br />

to hold any longer in bondage those who were so

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