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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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contemporary expectation ? Would Jewish legend<br />

have ever presented its <strong>Messiah</strong> as bom in a<br />

stable, to which chance circumstances had<br />

consigned His Mo<strong>the</strong>r ? <strong>The</strong> whole current <strong>of</strong><br />

Jewish opinion would run in <strong>the</strong> contrary<br />

direction. <strong>The</strong> opponents <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> au<strong>the</strong>nticity <strong>of</strong> this<br />

narrative are bound to face this. Fur<strong>the</strong>r, it may<br />

safely be asserted, that no Apocryphal or<br />

legendary narrative <strong>of</strong> such a (legendary) event<br />

would have been characterised by such scantiness,<br />

or ra<strong>the</strong>r absence, <strong>of</strong> details. For, <strong>the</strong> two essential<br />

features, alike <strong>of</strong> legend <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> tradition, are, that<br />

<strong>the</strong>y ever seek to surround <strong>the</strong>ir heroes with a halo<br />

<strong>of</strong> glory, <strong>and</strong> that <strong>the</strong>y attempt to supply details,<br />

which are o<strong>the</strong>rwise wanting. And in both <strong>the</strong>se<br />

respects a more sharply-marked contrast could<br />

scarcely be presented, than in <strong>the</strong> Gospelnarrative.<br />

But as we pass from <strong>the</strong> sacred gloom <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cave<br />

out into <strong>the</strong> night, its sky all aglow with starry<br />

brightness, its loneliness is peopled, <strong>and</strong> its<br />

silence made vocal from heaven. <strong>The</strong>re is nothing

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