posted December 29, 2019 11:09 PM
Christmas Season 2019 
quote:
Originally posted by Randall:
http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000779.html
Julah in the above link provided the url to this photocopied book.
The Light of Nations
by Deems, Charles F. (Charles Force),
1820-1893
Publication date- 1884
Topics- Jesus Christ
Publisher- New York, Gay brothers & co
Collection- library_of_congress; americana
Digitizing sponsor- The Library of Congress
Contributor- The Library of Congress
Language- English
Published in 1871 under title : Jesus;
in 1880 (?) under title: Who was Jesus?
"Sources" : p. 724-726
____________________________________
Material on the Magi --
- http://archive.org/details/lightofnations00deem/page/44
quote
..and the Magi had an idea of a Sosiosh, or Redeemer, to come, …
From the time of Cyrus there were ever many Jews in the Persian or Parthian country, and many things pertaining to the Hebrew religion must have been well known to the Magi.
But how did they come by their idea of a star?
It was the universal beliefs of their times that the stars controlled the fates of men.
The science that professed to look into their influences was called Astrology, and the Magi were astrologers.
An ancient prophet, who was of the East, and who was not a Jew, had foretold a Jewish Messiah in the remarkable prediction,
"There shall come a Star out of Jacob,
and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel (Numbers 24:17},
words then understood as foretelling that a new star would shine at his birth.
In all Syria there was in their time an expectation that this personage would soon appear, which must have been common to the Jews in the East and in the Far East.
Within that very century, this belief, as Suetonius and Tacitus state, had much to do with the uprising of the Jews against the Romans, in which Jerusalem perished.
That which is further required to explain why they were so sure they saw the Star of the King of the Jews is furnished by a discovery of Kepler.
He traced back the orbits of the planets,
and found that near the time of the birth of Jesus
certain of the planets were in position of great import in astrology;
JUPITER and SATURN were in conjunction;
that is, very close to each other,
and were in such a place in the zodiac that the like happens every 800 years;
and there were other astrological signs,
all giving the idea that some great event was to come to pass in Judaea, as Kepler says,
"according to the rules of Chaldean art as existing even till his own time."
The new star therefore seemed to them the Star of the King of the Jews;
and it seems providential that Kepler enables us to see how the Magi came scientifically to this opinion, for the silence of the Bible as to anything supernatural in this proves it was not revealed to them.
The conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn occurred twice, in the spring and in the autumn of the same year,
and some had thought the Magi saw the earlier one when they were in the East, the later one when they left Jerusalem, and that it was in the direction of Bethlehem, and so acted as a guide to them.
But it is neither manly nor honest thus to evade the astronomical difficulties of their guidance by the star.
It does not suit the words of Matthew, who says it was a star, and it went before them;
and the latest astronomical researches {1880s?}, while they prove the accuracy of Kepler's discovery, prove that this conjunction was not in such a direction from Jerusalem that it could in any way have been a guide to Bethlehem.
Upon arriving in Jerusalem the Magi seem to have gone at once to the king's palace.
By any rate, Herod learned that they were present in the city, and ascertained the object of their coming.
With his usual craftiness he called together the Sanhedrin, to learn 'where', according to the sacred book of the Hebrews, the Messiah should be born.
They recited to him the well-known prophecy in Micah (vs. 2) pointing to Bethlehem.
Calling the Magi to him, Herod carefully inquired the time at which the remarkable "star" had made its appearance.
Then he directed them to go forthwith to Bethlehem and ascertain exactly all the facts in the case and report to him, pretending that he was equally desirous to pay due deference to the royal infant.
The Magi resumed their journey, still beholding the luminous appearance in the heavens, until they reached Bethlehem, where of course, in so tiny a village, they had no difficulty in ascertaining the place where the infant Jesus actually was, as the star somehow indicated the very spot.
They worshipped him, and opened their treasures; and according to oriental etiquette, presented him with costly gifts-- gold and frankincense and myrrh.
That night they dreamed.
And in their dreams they were warned not to return to Herod.
They were believers in visions.
They hearkened to this.
Instead of going back to Jerusalem they returned to their own country, by some other way, probably going south of the Dead Sea.
The night after the departure of the Magi,
Joseph dreamed a dream, in which he saw an angel, who said to him, "Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."
Joseph obeyed the warning, and conveyed the mother and child to Egypt.
This country was the most convenient refuge for them, being easy of access, politically disconnected from Judaea, and inhabited by many Jews, who had been long-settled in the country.
pp.43-46.
- http://archive.org/details/lightofnations00deem/page/n5
Index in the back.
- http://archive.org/details/lightofnations00deem/page/716
Table of contents.
- http://archive.org/details/lightofnations00deem/page/n13
(music) We Three Kings of Orient Are 
(Jennifer Avalon, lyrics) [3:21] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8mjRxkMBkE
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