ability in the man Christ Jesus to satisfy divine justice, their scheme, than upon ours.

upon

We have many other remarks to make upon this extraordinary doctrine, that there can be no atonement for sin, unless made to the infinite God, by the infinite God. But we venture, for the present, to rest the answer to their objection on what has already been observed.

"PART II.

SECTION I.

HAVING shown upon what grounds we are not convinced, by the arguments of the advocates for the supreme and independent deity of Christ, we proceed to state what appears to us direct and positive proof, that Christ is not the most high God, but a being entirely distinct from God, inferior and dependent, his Son, servant, messenger, &c.

The first, which naturally presents to our view, is, that the divine oracles declare Jesus Christ A HUMAN PER. SON, or A HUMAN BEING. If this can be made clearly to appear, the doctrine, that he is a divine person only, must be relinquished. For, upon no principle can it be made to appear, that a divine person, and a human person are but one person only.

And this would seem to need no particular testimonies, since we all agree, that he was completely and perfectly man. For nothing is more plain, than that he cannot be completely man, if any essential property of man be wanting. Now all men are, confessedly, human persons. A man never existed, who was not of this description. No one of our race, excepting a mere animal ideot, can be conceived of, without being considered as a human, intelligent, moral agent, distinct from all other orders of personal existences, capable of using or having applied, with strict propriety, and without figure, the personal pronouns I, thou, and he, in relation to himself and others of the human race; capable of distinct thought and actions, internal and external: In short, having an intelligent spirit, united to a fleshly body, mutually acting upon, and being acted upon by each other; yet, at the

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same time, distinct and separate from all other souls andbodies whatsoever. This is the plain, obvious idea of a complete man. Where these things exist, it is the universal decision of common sense, that there is, to all intents and purposes, a human person. These are the very things, which go into the idea conveyed by the phrase.

Now to deny, as our opponents do, and are compelled to do, in order to make out their doctrine of "two natures in one person forever," that Christ was a complete human person, is evidently to deny, that he was really and completely a man. For in taking away his human personality, you take away the essential properties of human nature. The supposition, that one is completely a man, and yet no human person, is grossly absurd. Pray, what kind of a creature would that be, concerning whom it might be strictly and truly said, that he is a complete and perfect man, and yet that he is not strictly and truly, a human person! Surely our opponents must have discovered a certain secret in the word, person, that they are able to work the wonder of divesting a man of his human personality, while they allow all the essential properties of his nature to stay behind!But leaving the consideration of this secret, which, it must be supposed, cannot easily be communicated to the understandings of common people, let it be our inquiry, what say the scriptures respecting this matter?

1. They assert, Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren.* Now if Christ were in all things, like unto his brethren of the human race, it is plain, that, whatever they are in the scale of existence, he was the same. They are human beings and human persons, in distinction from all other orders angelic or divine. If Christ were not a human being and person in distinction from all other orders, angelic or divine, surely he was not in all things like unto his brethren. A human being and person is a different order, or grade of existence from a divine being and person. Man is not of that order of personal existences, which comprises angels. Nor is he of that highest order, constituted by the

* Heb. ii. 17.

Deity. He is of an order inferior to both. If Christ ranked in the order of man, he was neither Angel norGod. To say, that Christ was not a human being and person, as is the case with man, is surely to make him something different from his brethren. He surely cannot have that essential likeness to them, which they have to one another. If therefore Christ were a man, in all things, even in all the essential and distinguishing features of human nature, like unto his brethren, he certainly must have been, to all intents and purposes, a human being, a human person.

But how does this comport with the doctrine, that he is a divine being only; a divine person only? or indeed that he is a divine being or person at all? Is not a divine being one being? Is not a human being one being? And does not one divine being and one human being, when added together, amount to two beings? Further; is not a divine person one person? Is not a human person one person? And does not one divine person and one human perşon, when added together, amount to two persons? Now is it not an evident contradiction in terms to say that two beings, in number, make no more than one being in number? Or that two persons, in number, make no more than one person in number? And is it not in mathemat ical demonstration, that, if Christ be a divine being and a human being, he is two beings? And, if a divine person and a human person, he is two persons? And, is it not plain, that, in order to reduce these two beings or persons to one being or person, there must necessarily be a subtraction of one being or person? [2-1=1.] Now if Christ were either a human being and person, or a divine being and person, and yet was but one being and person only, then, if he were a divine being and person, he was not a human being and person; and vice versa. But the scriptures declare that he was in all things like unto his brethren; that is a human being and person, for such are they. It undeniably follows, therefore, that he was not a divine being and person at all, but human being and person only.

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me."

2. All the personal pronouns are applied to Christ and other representations are made concerning him, as being a human person; and this without figure. "I can do nothing of myself." "I am not alone but the Father is with me." "Therefore doth the Father love me because I lay down my life." "Jesus wept. Then said the Jews behold how he loved him." "Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour," "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? "No man said, why talkest thou with her?" “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto "This said he signifying what death he should die." 66 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” "Go, tell the brethren Iascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God."-All these personal pronouns, and this manner of speaking, are wholly without figure, and most evidently describe Christ to be a human person. There is not a single instance to be found on the page of scripture, which represents him not a human person; which represents him an impersonal human nature; or, to talk in the style of our opponents, which makes this representation concerning his humanity, There is no one representation, which may be adduced to prove, that Paul, Peter, James, or John, was a human person, which cannot, with the same propriety and in the very same manner, be also applied to Christ in proof that he was a human person. Those, who deny him to be really and truly a human person, will not be able to produce a single text of scripture, which designates him a man, which does not also designate him a human person, And if all the personal phraseology and representation, applied to Paul and proving him a human person, be also applicable to Christ; in the name of consistency, why shall we suppose such phraseology and representation to prove the human personality of the one, and not of the other! It is high time for our opponents to cease their charge a, gainst us, of perverting the plain letter of scripture, so long as they affirm, that these representations do not designate him a human person. Is he also a divine person?