History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.189

v7.c95.189

²⁵⁰⁹ Compare Epistle to Galatians by Apostle Paul 6.7 'whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap'. Even in the Old Testament we find in the Book of Job, chap 4.8 'they that plough iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same'. From the question of the disciples of Jesus as regards a man blind from birth 'Master! who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind' (St. John IX. 2), it appears that the idea of Karma was prevalent among the Jewish people in the time of Jesus. From Matthew XI. 14 and XVII. 12-13 it appears that John the Baptist was declared to be an incarnation of 'prophet Elias.' Shaw Desmond in 'Re incarnation for every man' points out (on p 63) that the doctrine of re incarnation was taught in the Christian Church in the early centuries and that the 2nd Council of Constantinople in 551 A. D. made the doctrine of re. incarnation an anathema.