§. IV.
In Page 6. he saith, Give me my Bible again. This Jest may be returned with seriousness, It is well he call'd for his Bible again, for he had spoke without Book sadly before, in saying, Good Works are to come in in the Substance of the Gospel. This 'tis for Men to speak without the Bible, which alone, by the Spirit, makes wise to Salva∣tion: But I fear some sad use he will make of his Bible; for it soon follows in the same Page, that which I grieve at, viz. his making a Jest of Christ's putting himself into our Place, State and Condition, which he jeers with the Socinian Retort; If so, then (saith he) Christ was destitute of a Righteousness, and we too, to intitle us to Eternal Life. For Answer, If Christ was not in our Place, State and Con∣dition, what's become of the Gospel? We have lost it, if the Just did not suffer for the Unjust, if the Lord did not lay on him the Iniquity of us all, if he was not the Man of Sorrows that bare our Griefs. Was he not in our Place, State and Condition, in all this? And to say that then he was destitute of a Righteousness, is to deny his being God-Man; or not to distinguish between his being Perfect in himself, and so holy, harmless, separate from Sinners, and his being made Sin and a Curse for us, as being our Representative. Methinks those that call themselves Poor Presbyterians, should not so coalesce with the Socinians to enforce such a Consequence from Christs being our Surety, as the Socinians do to say, That if Christ stood in our Place, then he wanted a Righteousness in himself. You may as well say, that Christ was not made Righteousness to us, if he was made Sin for us: how could he be both? Very well. He was made our Righteousness, as we having his compleat God-like, yea, God's Righteousness; as it was his Righteousness the Son of God imputed to us, so he was made Righteousness to us; and he was made Sin for us, by the Lord's imputing and laying our Sins on him, and yet he, though made Sin, was still the most holy Son of God, without Sin in him.