In a tract by the Rev. Mr. Craig, Vicar of Leamington, entitled “Astral
Wonders,” is to be found the following remarkable passage:—“Let me
narrate to you an anecdote concerning Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire. Sir
Isaac wrote a book on the Prophet Daniel, and another on the Revelations;
and he said, in order to fulfil certain prophecies before a certain date
terminated, namely 1260 years, there would be a certain mode of
travelling of which the men in his time had no conception; nay, that the
knowledge of mankind would be so increased that they would be able to
travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour. Voltaire, who did not believe
in the Holy Scriptures, got hold of this, and said, ‘Now look at that
mighty mind of Newton, who discovered gravity, and told us such marvels
for us all to admire, when he became an old man and got into his dotage,
he began to study that book called the Bible; and it appears that in
order to credit its fabulous nonsense, we must believe that mankind’s
knowledge will be so much increased that we shall be able to travel fifty
miles an hour. The poor ‘dotard!’ exclaimed the philosophic infidel,
Voltaire, in the complaisancy of his pity. But who is the dotard now?”