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A41567
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The true character of the spirit and principles of Socinianism, drawn out of their writings With some additional proofs of the Most Holy Trinity, of our Lord's and of the Holy Ghost's divinity. By J. Gailhard, Gent.
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Gailhard, J. (Jean)
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1699
(1699)
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Wing G130; ESTC R213338
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180,830
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207
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great Sin to disobey God with neglecting and slighting his Ordinances Sure I am a great threatning was Thundered against such in the case of Circumcision Gen. 17.14 The uncircumcised man Child was to be cut off from his People for he hath broken my covenant which was the Reason of it and we have a notable Evidence of the danger which in the inn Moses was in for having neglected it in one of his Sons Exod. 4.24 25. when the Lord met him and sought to kill him Now Baptism is an introduction into the Church whereby we are made Members of it admitted into God's Covenant and take upon us his Badges and Livery the washing of the new Birth and the renewing of the holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 which in the matter of our Salvation is no small thing yet they say * Scrivierus de bapt it belongs to our Sins no more than Noah's Ark Jeremiah's Yoke and King Joash's Arrows without special command of God but do they every day look for a Command did not Christ once for all say go and Teach all Nations Baptising them Did not after that precept the Apostle's baptise Persons and whole Families Matth. 28.19 but Socinus †Disp de bapt c. 16. baptismum aquae c. as if he had known Christ's mind better than himself and his Apostles saith the Baptism of Water was not Commanded by Christ but only freely used by the Apostles And that the Baptism of Water was only for a time not perpetual so it doth not belong to those who come after the Command of outward washing given by C. 5. p. 53. Peter Acts 2.28 was not for ever but only for a time thus he and others of his Kidney go on after that rate They also slight infant Baptism as of no advantage which may as well be left off as used They positively say * Racov. Cat. p. 151. Infants do not at all belong to the Ceremony of Baptism for neither is there any Precept for it in Scripture nor have we any example of it This to favour Anabaptists yet the Baptism of Infants is a Divine Ordinance and this is to Unchurch and Unchristianise them 'T is an errour saith one of them to think that the Baptism of Infants is a Divine Ordinance or really a thing that agrees therewith Many more things of that nature we read in their Writings As to the Lord's Supper they are against the name for they would not have it call'd Sacrament and have very wrong Notions of the thing for they make of it a bare empty Ceremony which neither effects any thing in us not doth God thereby bestow any grace upon us only we thereby return God Thanks yet Paul calls the bread which we break the Communion of the Body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 and the Cup of Blessing which we Bless the Communion of the Blood of Christ Therefore the Elements in that holy Sacrament are no empty signs for therein the Lord's Body is to be discern'd and he who doth not Eateth and Drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning the Lord's Body Chap. 11.29 The word Sacrament they call barbarous invented by idle Men containing something of superstition or in part of Idolatry and hath been made use of to conceal the fraud But the word hath abundantly been used by the Orthodox Fathers and Doctors of the Latin Church among the Latin prophane Authors it hath several significations as first the Money in the hands of their pontifs in loco Sacro deposited by those that were at Law also it signified an Oath which was taken upon the invocation of God hence in Cicero's sense Sacramento contendere and jure jurando affirmare to take a Sacrament or an Oath are the same among the Ecclesiastical Authors sometimes 't is taken in a large sense for every Secret or Mystery of Christian Religion at other times in a stricter sense for a sign instituted of God whereby he doth Seal his graces and benefits unto his People as here it is Sacrament a Sacred because 't is a Sacred thing and also therein we take an Oath to Christ to own him as our head and to fight under his banners Now the signification of words is what use makes them to be and 't is received in all Orthodox Schools as appears by the several Confessions of Faith so though it be abused and misapply'd by some as Papists 't is no just cause to wrangle with the word nor for me here to say any more about it the Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mystery which is no less Ambiguous than that of Sacrament But to the thing nobis in coena c. saith one * Smalc disp de Coenâ thes 106. 't is the veriest and purest truth of the Gospel that in the Supper nothing is confer'd on us only we thereby give God Thanks to say that in that action Christ doth communicate to us his Body and Blood is a doctrine to be rejected as absurd pernicious and an old Womans Tale and the very Children may understand how much they dote and are near upon running mad who in the eating of Bread and drinking of Wine seek for the Body and Blood of Christ thus these Wretches do ridicule and impiously prophane the high mysteries of our Faith and though we explain it to be not in a corporeal manner as Papists say but in a spiritual yet they will not be satisfied for say they †Racov. Cat. p. 146. sunt qui c. there are those who in the Lord's Supper think to be truly partakers though spiritually of the Body and Blood of the Lord which Opinion is with the rest deceitful and erroneous And 't is added haud animadvertunt c. ‖ Lib. quod Regni polon c. Cap. 4. Err. 5. they do not take notice how in that Sacred Ceremony there is nothing belonging properly to any singular advantage for us in the matter of Eternal Salvation but only it tends to the glory of God and of Christ. They destroy the nature of the Sacrament which by a visible sign represents an invisible grace for as Bread nourishes our Body so doth Christs Body Spiritually feed our Souls and as Wine quickens and chears up the Body so the Blood of Christ works the same effects upon our Souls which to deny is to make the Seals of the Covenant to be insignificant and unprofitable and to deprive us of the Spiritual Joy Comfort Assurance and increase of Faith which thereby we receive for the Lord's Supper is a comforting and a strengthening Ordinance †disp 12. de coen thes 78. How can it be true saith Smalcius that in the use of the Lord's supper Faith is strengthened and increased seeing some who receive it may happen to be most confirmed before they receive Socinus Morosovius c. say the same but there is no Man so much strengthened and confirmed but he may admit some farther degree of
God in the Sanctuary Where the Prophet speaks of the Son of God Who went up before his People in the Wilderness and at whose presence the Earth shook the Heavens dropped and Sinai it self was moved The third Age of the Church is from Moses to Christ's coming which was fill'd up with variety of considerable Dispensations And this fourth which is her present Age hath been is and shall be attended with very notable Periods began at the coming in the Flesh of the Son of God and it we may call her Manhood when the Food of Milk and Ceremonial Ordinances ceased and she began to be fed with strong and substantial Meat when the Manna discontinued and the true Bread came from Heaven to nourish us the Shadows yielded the place to the true Body and all legal Stars disappear'd at the rising of the Sun of Righteousness And this Age of the Christian Church shall continue till the last Day when the fifth Age shall begin never to have an end this shall be the Age of Perfection and of Eternal Glory He who now is the Head and King of the Church was so from the beginning and shall be such for ever Now the Apostle saith that Christ is the head of the Church Eph. 5.23 and the Saviour of the body and none else and that Body which was from the beginning of the World never was without a Head for without it it could not be a Body both to animate and rule it for that is the Head's Office according to that famous Prophecy of the Meisiah's Birth Mic. 5.2 in Bethlehem Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler of Israel To come forth Gen. 17.6 Gen. 25.25 and 38.28 signifies to be begotten and born either by the Father or by the Mother and unto me that is for me to reveal my Glory saith the Father who there speaks Now absolutely the King and Ruler of Israel is the God of Israel such is the Son I heretofore mention'd the Text in Zechariah 2.8 For thus saith the Lord of Hosts after the glory hath he sent me unto the Nations c. which affords matter of observation more than I took notice of at that time Here speaks the Lord of Hosts which is a Title never attributed to any but to the Essential Infinite and Eternal God The Lord of Hosts in the place declares he is sent a thing in Scripture never said of God the Father but in many places 't is asserted of God the Son and by the Son himself for how often doth our Saviour say that the Father sent him so that to be sent is a Property of the Son therefore the Son must be the Lord of Hosts here said to be sent And as to come answers to being sent so in consequence of that Mission the Lord saith I come Sing and rejoyce v. 10. O Daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord which was literally fulfilled after the Birth of the Son of God These words Lo I come are a confirmation and farther declaration of what David had said long before when God desired no more Sacrifice and Offering nor required Burnt-Offering Ps 40.6 7. nor Sin-Offering that is when the Ceremonial Law was drawing to an end Then said I the Son Lo I come and Christ declared He came from the Father and in the Father's Name As to the other part I will dwell in the midst of thee it was fulfilled at that time when John said of the Son The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us Joh. 1.14 Let us admire at that Holy Scripture Harmony earthly Jerusalem was the Figure of the Church whose Head King Saviour and Preserver the Lord Jesus is and ever was For I saith the Lord will be unto her a Wall of Fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of her v. 5. This coming of the Lord of Hosts shall not only be cause of Song and Joy to the Daughter of Zion but also many Nations shall be joyned unto the Lord in that Day and shall be my People and I will dwell in the midst of thee v. 11. and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee This is a Prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles at or a little after the time when the Lord of Hosts should come to dwell in Sion which was fulfilled when after the Son of God's coming into the Flesh and his dwelling among the Jews after his Death and Resurrection the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles and the Christian Church formed Here we must take notice of how this Prophet Zechariah was one of the two whom God made use of to exhort and encourage the Children of Israel Ezr. 5.1 2. returned from the Babylonian Captivity to build the second Temple which was to stand till the coming of the Lord of Hosts and King of Zion as this Prophet calls him chap. 9.9 As also did Haggai the other Prophet who besides named him the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 And I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come And I will fill this House with glory saith the Lord of Hosts that is the Presence of the Messiah Son of God was to fill with Glory the second Temple which at that time they were about building upon which account the glory of that latter House was to be greater than that of the former the Lord Jesus who called it his House having with his Presence often sanctified it and been the chief glory thereof which soon after it lost by his Death when the Vail of the Temple was rent and about forty Years after the whole was quite destroyed by the Romans when according to our Blessed Saviour's Prophecy there was not one Stone left upon another that was not thrown down and what he said was attended with a Character and Evidence of his Divine Authority and infallible Truth in these Words Matth. 24.35 Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my Words shall not pass away but most certainly shall be fulfilled This same Prophet in the next Chapter as indeed in many other places of his Vision doth yield Matter enough upon this point As in Job we read of Satan coming before God with malicious Insinuations against that Holy Man and to obtain leave to do him mischief so here we find the Angel of the Lord to judge between Joshua the High-priest and his Adversary Satan who appeared there to oppose and resist him This Angel of the Lord whom elsewhere I at several times have had occasion to speak of is the Lord himself for in the 2d verse 't is said And the Lord said unto Satan Zech. 3.1 2 the Lord rebuke thee O Satan Twice the Lord answers this other Expression And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 9.24 Brimstone and Fire from the Lord and certainly