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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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always consistently carried out; <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>re were<br />

Rabbis who computed a man's future from <strong>the</strong><br />

constellation (<strong>the</strong> Mazzd[)y ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> day, or <strong>the</strong><br />

hour, under which he was bom.* It was supposed,<br />

that some persons had a star <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir own,' <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

(representative) stars <strong>of</strong> all proselytes were said<br />

to have been present at Mount Sinai. Accordingly,<br />

<strong>the</strong>y also, like Israel, had lost <strong>the</strong> defilement <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

serpent (sin).' One Babbi even had it, that success,<br />

wisdom, <strong>the</strong> duration <strong>of</strong> life, <strong>and</strong> a posterity,<br />

depended upon <strong>the</strong> constellation.^ Such views<br />

were carried out till <strong>the</strong>y merged in a kind <strong>of</strong><br />

fatalism,^ or else in <strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> a ^ natal affinity,'<br />

by which persons bom under <strong>the</strong> same<br />

constellation were thought to st<strong>and</strong> in sympa<strong>the</strong>tic<br />

rapport.^ <strong>The</strong> fur<strong>the</strong>r statement, that conjunctions<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> planets'<br />

1 I cannot, however, see that Baxtorf charges so<br />

many Rabbis with giving <strong>the</strong>o^wlves to astrology<br />

as Dr. Oeikie imputes to him—nor how Humboldt<br />

can be quoted as corroborating <strong>the</strong> Chinese record<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> appearance <strong>of</strong> a new star in 760 (see <strong>the</strong>

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