either to the other two portions of fupreme Deity, to Demi-Gods or God's-men like himself; or lastly, to fimilar beings of the merely maternal fpecies produced from the wombs of virgins, without the previous generating inftrumentality of men..

When we meet thefe excellent fcriptural exhortations to moral perfection and purity, "be ye perfect even as your father who is

in heaven is perfect," and " he, that hath "this hope," the Gospel-hope of an happy immortality, in him," God, "purifieth

himself, even as he is pure," it is selfevident they are to be underfood of relative, not of abfolute, perfection and purity, of perfection and purity in kind, not in degree, of perfection and purity to the extent of finite human ability. Man, being not poffeft of the infinite attributes of the divine nature, cannot be all-perfect, in the ftrict literal fenfe, in which God himself is; no, not even that accomplished finlefs man, the man Chrift Jefus, who exprefsly disclaims, the epithet good,' when applied to him in this improper unwarrantable acceptation

of it, rebuking in ftrong interrogative terms the young man, who falutes him with the appellation of "good mafter;" "why "calleft thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God."

But, when Chrift fays to his difciples, "I have given you an example, that ye "fhould do as I have done to you," and his apostle reminds us, that "Chrift left

us an enfample, that we fhould follow "his fteps," it is plain, that abfolute perfection, and a complete imitation of his obedience to God, beneficence to man, and fpotlefs innocence, are here implied and recommended. The man, who can entertain a doubt, that this is not the meaning of these paffages, need only confult 1 John iii. 16. to fatisfy himself in this point. Here from the well attefted fact, that he,' Chrift, laid down his life for us,' not in our ftead, but on account of our fins, an inference is deduced, that we ought to lay ' down our lives, for the brethren,' or on account of the brotherhood of Chriftians, if urgent neceffity fhould require us to give

this

this moft fignal teftimony of our unfeigned love for them, and of our fteady adherence to the Christian cause.

Hence, as we are required to imitate Christ in that highest instance of his obedience to God, and love for man, his death, it is plainly a duty incumbent upon us to become, like him, abfolutely perfect in the discharge of every moral obligation whether of the religious, focial, or perfonal fpecies. The abfolute moral perfection therefore of Chrift must be abfolute human perfection; for to suppose that Chrift expected, that men fhould equal him in moral perfection, who, on the Athanafian and Arian hypothefes, are reprefented to be an order of beings, not his equals, but his inferiors, in intellectual ability, is an abfurdity fo glaring, that to mention it is to confute it. In that cafe his apostles, who, like him became obedient unto death, would have more than equalled him, would have excelled him; and, to adopt a well known fcriptural comparison, would have delivered the fame tale of bricks, with

the scanty materials of stubble, which he produced from plenty of ftraw,

Jefus therefore was plainly a man, in the only true acceptation of the word, viz. the male offspring of a man, begotten upon the body of a woman. This man and this woman were husband and wife of the house and lineage of David. By the Mofaic laws the Jews were injoined to marry into their own refpective tribes and families; and though their pedigrees were probably lost in the confufion, which neceffarily attended the Babylonish captivity, yet, as the other prophecies refpecting the Meffiah were literally fulfilled, we may take it for granted, that the divine providence fo ordered it, that both the parents of Jefus fhould be lineally defcended from David, fo that the prophecies, which represent the Meffiah as the branch of David,' fhould receive their completion. as well as the reft; and in fact, genuine Christian Scripture harmonizes with the Jewish prophecies in this particular, a circumftance, which I hope will induce you,

my

my Jewish friends, in procefs of time, to acknowledge the Jefus of the Christians for the promised Meffiah.

1

I enjoy the heart-felt fatisfaction of thinking, that, by vindicating the intire. perfect manhood of Jefus against the Athanafian, Arian, and Socinian hypothefes, I have contributed to the extent of my ability, to remove the veil from your hearts, and to prepare the way for your clear perception of this great truth, the past first advent of your Meffiah. If in treating this fubject I have used repetitions, I hope they will not be deemed vain repetitions, as they proceed from a benevolent defire to convince you, on the grounds both of reafon and prophecy, that the misunderstood Jefus was, like his fellow-men, a very man of the feed of David, a point neceffary to be fully established, before it can be expected you should believe this Jefus to be your Meffiah. Hence I truft, you will excuse me, if here alfo I repeat what I formerly urged, namely, that the predictions of God's prophets to your ancestors

concerning