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Rh quotes; he protests vehemently against Levi’s attack on the doctrine of the virgin birth: “The Unitarians who profess Christianity with this exception, may dispute the testimony of the sacred writers in this particular; and the Jews may deny their account in toto,” nevertheless Cumberland holds fast to conventional Protestant doctrines of the divine birth, the superiority of the miracles of Jesus over those of Moses, the claim of Jesus to the title of Messiah. Cumberland’s arguments are studded with Biblical quotations; they are couched in the language of religious casuistry worthy of a typical Christian minister of his day.

Cumberland permits his controversial ire to prejudice him against Levi; he calls him “our Jew who tauntingly asserts” the supremacy of Judaism; “the modern caviller;” he mentions “the bold assertion of David Levi, the Jew (whose hostile opinions we tolerate);” he remarks: “Our Jew has quickened his argument with some facetious irony, and he follows it with Rh