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MYTHOLOGY
that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all" (John, iii. 28-31).
Also:
"I indeed baptize you with water: but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize yon with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Luke iii. 16).
John said all this, yet a few months later when he was thrown into prison by Herod, he actually sent his disciples to ascertain whether Jesus was "he who should come," or should they look for another (Matt. xi. 2 and 3).
I need not comment upon this grotesque change of front on the part of John in my own words; I shall simply let Mr. Evanson (a curate of the church from which he ultimately withdrew on account of his critical views about the authenticity of such passages) tell you what he thought on the subject :
"Now it seems simply impossible that John, after being from his earliest infaucy personally acquainted with Jesus, and not only in possession of all the information respecting him, which he must have learnt from the two families, but so miraculously impressed with affection and reverence for him as to exalt with joy, though but an embryo in the womb, at the mere sound of his mother's voice, could at any time have entertained the least doubt of Jesus being the Messiah" (see the History of The New Testament Criticism, p. 91).
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