But to this it may be replied, that these scriptures do not speak of a sinless perfection, but of such a perfection as is opposed to hypocrisy; as Hezekiah says concerning himself, that he had _walked before the Lord in truth, and with a perfect heart_, Isa. xxxviii. 3. Accordingly, the perfection of those who are thus described in scripture, is explained as denoting their uprightness. Thus Job is described, as _a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil_, Job i. 1. compared with 8. though he elsewhere disclaims any pretensions to a sinless perfection; as he expresses himself, _If I say I am perfect, mine own mouth shall prove me perverse_, chap. ix. 20. And when Noah is said to be _perfect in his generation_, this is explained as denoting that he was a _just_ or an _holy man_, and one that _walked with God_, Gen. vi. 9. As for other scriptures, which speak of perfection as a duty incumbent on us, they are to be understood concerning the perfection of grace, as to those essential parts thereof, without which it could not be denominated true and genuine, and not as respecting a perfection of degrees. True grace is perfect indeed, as it contains in it those necessary ingredients, whereby an action is denominated good in all its circumstances, in opposition to that which is so, only in some respects; and therefore it must proceed from a good principle, an heart renewed by regenerating grace; it must be agreeable to the rule which God has prescribed in the gospel, and be performed in a right manner, and for right ends: Thus a person may be said to be a perfect man, in like manner as a new-born infant is denominated a man, as having all the essential perfections of the human nature; though not arrived to that perfection, in other respects, which it shall afterwards attain to: Accordingly grace, when described, in scripture, as perfect, is sometimes explained as alluding to a metaphor, taken from a state of perfect manhood, in opposition to that of children: Thus the apostle speaks of some, whom he represents, _as being of full age_; where the same word is used[223], which is elsewhere rendered _perfect_; and these are opposed to others whom he had before been speaking of, as weak believers, or _babes_ in Christ; Heb., v. 13, 14. And elsewhere he speaks of the church, which he styles the _body of Christ_, as arrived to a state of manhood, and so calls it a perfect man; having attained _the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ_; still alluding to that stature which persons arrive to when they are adult; and these he opposes in the following words, to children, who, through the weakness of their faith, were liable to be _tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine_, Eph. iv. 13, 14. And in other places, where Christians are described as perfect, there is a word used, which signifies their having that internal furniture whereby they are prepared