Certainly nothing, but a real persuasion, that the prophecies of the Old Testament were really fulfilled in Jesus, could make them every where inculcate and appeal to the fulfilling of prophecy.

In order to support their hypothesis, Christians have been forced to seek evidence to prove, that the phrase--"this was done that it might be fulfilled," so frequent in the New Testament, meant no such thing, but was only a habit the Jews had got of introducing by such phrases a handsome quotation, or allusion, from the Old Testament.

But this evasion must be given up, upon two accounts.1.Because most of the European biblical critics of the present day (the learned annotator on Michaelis' Introduction to the New Testament, Dr.Marsh, among others) frankly acknowledge it not to be tenable; and 2.

Because it can be proved not to be so from the New Testament itself.

For example, when John represents (Jo.xix.