Secondly,—­That whether these miracles were really performed, or not, depends entirely upon the credibility of the authors themselves who have thus quoted! which, as shall be shown hereafter, may be disputed; and, thirdly, it could be retorted upon Protestants, that this same argument is the same in principle with the often refuted popish argumentation.  The Papists pretend to derive all their new invented and absurd doctrines and practices from the scriptures by their interpretations of them; but yet, when their interpretations are attacked from scripture, they immediately fly from thence to the miracles wrought in their church, and to the visions of their holy men and saints, for the establishment of their interpretations, by which they support those very doctrines and practices.  And particularly they endeavour to prove thus the doctrine of transubstantiation, from the numerous miracles affirmed to have been wrought in its behalf, which reasoning Protestant Christians assert to be an argument absurd and inconclusive, therefore, they should not use it themselves.

We allow, that if these interpretations of the sense of the Old Testament had been in existence before the Christian era, it might be something.  But we beg leave to remind them, that it is certain, that these interpretations were not published till after the events to which they are referred took place, which is a circumstance of obvious significancy.

In fine, to this argument I would answer, as in Cicero (de Natura Deor.  Ed. Dav. p. 209) Cotta did to Balbus—­“rumoribus mecum pugnas, ego autem a te roitones requiro.”

CHAPTER VII.

Examination of the arguments alleged from
the Hebrew prophets, to PBOVE that Jesus was
the messiah.

But it may be asked, how it was possible, that wise and good men could have been led to embrace the religion of the New Testament, if there were not in the Old Testament some prophecies which might be conceived by them to supply, at least, plausible arguments to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah?  Are there no other passages in the prophets besides those quoted in the New Testament, and are there not a few passages quoted in the New Testament, which appear more to the purpose than those we have been considering?  To this I candidly answer that there are, and this chapter will be devoted to the consideration of them.

Two of these prophecies, one from Genesis, and the other from Daniel, are thought by the advocates of Christianity, (because they conceive them to point out and to limit the time of the coming of the Messiah,) to be stronger in their favour than any of those quoted in die New Testament.  If so, it is a very singular circumstance, that the inspired authors of the New Testament did not make use of them, instead of others