Christ performed miracles, and the Apostles also, who converted all the
heathen; and all the prophecies being thereby fulfilled, the Messiah is for
ever proved.

617. Perpetuity.--Let us consider that since the beginning of the world the
expectation of worship of the Messiah has existed uninterruptedly; that
there have been found men who said that God had revealed to them that a
Redeemer was to be born, who should save His people; that Abraham came
afterwards, saying that he had had revelation that the Messiah was to spring
from him by a son, whom he should have; that Jacob declared that, of his
twelve sons, the Messiah would spring from Judah; that Moses and the
prophets then came to declare the time and the manner of His coming; that
they said their law was only temporary till that of the Messiah, that it
should endure till then, but that the other should last for ever; that thus
either their law, or that of the Messiah, of which it was the promise, would
be always upon the earth; that, in fact, it has always endured; that at last
Jesus Christ came with all the circumstances foretold. This is wonderful.

618. This is positive fact. While all philosophers separate into different
sects, there is found in one corner of the world the most ancient people in
it, declaring that all the world is in error, that God has revealed to them
the truth, that they will always exist on the earth. In fact, all other seas
come to an end, this one still endures, and has done so for four thousand
years.

They declare that they hold from their ancestors that man has fallen from
communion with God, and is entirely estranged from God, but that He has
promised to redeem them; that this doctrine shall always exist on the earth;
that their law has a double signification; that during sixteen hundred years
they have had people, whom they believed prophets, foretelling both the time
and the manner; that four hundred years after