Christ through our abiding in him so they shall as certainly perish and be ruined through His abiding in Us and their dashing against Him in Us. 2. To carry our selves aright in the midst of offences let us be sure that the Word we believe and hold forth is Christs Word 2. To be sure the Word we confess is the true Word of God and then we may be very confident that this truth and cause shall and must remain how many Adversaries soever it may have and though the World and Devil may rage against it yet as hath been said they shall never be able to overthrow it much less to root it out A true Christian must be able to say I know the Word which I believe and profess is the only Word of the Lord God and his everlasting and unchangeable truth and the last manifestation of his will by his own Son and what ever Word agreeth not herewith is false and of the Devil and Antichrist and therefore by this Word will I stay though all the VVorld be against me And when we are thus certain of the Word of God through Faith and the Spirit it comforts the heart and makes it glad and settles it in inward Peace and Rest in the midst of all outward Oppositions and Troubles as through Gods goodness we have found by Experience For when we know that the VVord which we have received and profess is the very Doctrine of the Son of God then also we know that it shall prevail against all Kingdoms Common-wealths States Governments Societies Universities against all Laws Orders Decrees Acts and against all sorts and degrees of worldly and Ecclesiastical Powers which are contrary thereunto and shal in the time appointed by God utterly consume them and bring them to nothing And by these Means to wit by abiding in Christ and being all in Him And by being sure that the Word we believe and profess is His Word we may live safely in the midst of all offences without the least prejudice Vse 4 4. Lastly I shall speak a few words to those in this Vniversity and Town who are offended at Christ and his Gospel and also a few words to those who through the Grace of God have escaped this offence and so shall conclude this matter And first for you who are offended at Christ and his VVord 1. A Word to them who are offended which we must needs say is come amongst you in Truth and in plainness and are angry at it and storm at it and reproach it and think and contrive how to resist it and to hinder the free course and passage of it in this place because it is not only contrary to the Philosophical Divinity of the Schools and Vniversity and the common carnal Religion of the Nation but doth also reprove and condemn them and will have the haughtiness of men bowed down and the pride of men laid low and the Lord Iesus Christ and his things only exalted and that here where the VVit and VVisdom and Parts and Learning and Accomplishments of men have ruffled it and reigned hitherto I say you that are thus offended for this cause are offended at Christ himself and at God in Christ and you do stumble at the stumbling Stone and shall so fall thereby as to be broken in pieces Yea this Stone it self shall fall upon you and shall grinde you to pouder and you shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power and this destruction shall be poured on you with the greatest severity and wrath that God himself can inflict in all his Infiniteness and Eternity For if as the Penman of the Epistle to the Hebrews saith the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every trangression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward what escaping can there be for them who neglect that great salvation which was published at first by the Lord Christ and after confirmed by the first believers and witnessed to by Signs and Miracles and gifts of the Spirit by God himself Heb. 2. 2 3. and if as the same Believer saith he that despised Moses Law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall he be guilty who treads underfoot the Son of God c. And assuredly it had been much better for you that you had lived among the Heathen and Pagans where the Gospel of God our Saviour had never been heard then to hear this joyful sound which manifests the Love of God and brings along with it Remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit through faith in Christ and to be offended at it and so to be destroyed by the word of salvation and to be immediately punished with eternal death by him who is the true God and eternal life And this is the heavy burden which the VVord of the Lord hath laid on your shoulders and you cannot remove it 2. And then for you true Believers you little flock you few chosen out of the many called who hear the VVord of Christ and 2. A Word to them who are not offended are not offended at it though you hear it everywhere and that with both ears in this Vniversity and Town Contradicted Misreported Reproached Scandalized and called Error Heresie New Light Faction Schism Sedition and hear all manner of evil spoken against it falsly not only by the rude and ignorant People but also by the Scribes and Pharisees and Hypocrites of this place and yet for all these offences you are not offended at it but own it and love it and imbrace it notwithstanding all the extream disadvantages it hath from this Place which is counted by carnal people the very fountain of Religion and the Ministry knowing by Gods own teaching that it is the VVord of Righteousness and Life and the Truth as it is in Iesus though contrary to the sense of the Vniversity and Schools who have generally their teaching from man To all such I say by the word of the Lord blessed are ye of the blessed of the Lord for you are all taught of God touching Christ and have heard and learned the Son from the Father and through this teaching you have true faith in Christ and so know him by experience whereupon Christ is most precious to you and through this faith you are established on Christ so that nothing from Earth or Hell can remove you And being so established through Vnion with Christ you can no more perish then Christ can perish and you shall as ceâ—tainly be saved as Christ is saved This is your blessedness from the Lord and the World and the Devil shall never be able to make it void And therefore go and eat your bread with cheerfulness and lie down and rise and live in safety under the shadow of the Almighty though in this World and in this Place you dwell among Bears and Lyons and have your conversation in the midst of Scorpions for Christ himself hath blessed you in himself and you shall be blessed for ever Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me FINIS
sweet Saviour that in him is nothing but love and mercy and goodness and compassion and kindness to such as are in distress and in grievous fears and agonies from the sense of sin and wrath and from the presence of Death and Hell working in them And we must believe Christ to be such an one as the Gospel represents him that we may come to him with comfort and put our whole trust in him in all times of sin and sorrow and in all hours of darkness and temptation and let us never entertain any other thoughts of Christ then these but let us hold him unchangeably for such an one as the Gospel reveals him what ever the Law or our evil consciences or the Devil shall suggest to the contrary and then in all our distresses we shall not be affraid of Christ as of a severe Lawgiver and an unexorable Iudge but may run to him as to our mercifull and powerfull Saviour whose proper Office is among the afflicted And thus we see that Christ is known by his Works and what kinde of works they are Secondly Christ would be known by his Word 2. Christ known by his Word And as Christ is known by his Works so also by his Word and therefore he saith Go shew Iohn the things you see and hear and the things you hear as well as the things you see and that is that the poor have the Gospel preached to them For Christs works and Christs Word do alwayes go together Christs works and word go always together Christs Life is alwayes accompanied with Christs Doctrine and his works with his Word The best works that any man can do without the word of the Gospel accompanying them are not Christs Works and the most glorius word that any man can hold forth without the works of Christ accompanying it is not Christs word but Christs works and Christs word go alwayes together both in himself the Head and in the true Church his body Wherefore Christ saith Go shew to Iohn the things you see and hear the things you see the blind receive their sight c. the things you hear and the poor have the Gospel preached to them Now the Gospel is the free promise of God in which nothing The Gospel what it is but meer love mercy and grace is offered in Iesus Christ to them that believe though they be never so great and grievous Sinners in themselves And nothing is more joyfull then this to the soul that is under the sense of Sin and wrath and he that receives this Word of Grace by true faith doth not weigh a feather all the terrors of the Law Sin Death and Hell So that all the outward works of Christ are a small matter if compared to the Gospel Now this Gospel is preached to the Poor that is to the Poor in It is preached to the poor Spirit and these are such who do not love nor desire nor delight in present things but are so afflicted and oppressed in their heart consciences with the sense of sin and wrath that they regard not the world nor the Riches Pleasures and Honors of it but all they mind or care for is Iesus Christ and in Him the love of God and the Remission of sin and the gift of the Spirit These are the Poor to whom Christ Preaches the Gospel and they only regard and entertain the Gospel whil'st the Lovers of this world and the Lovers of themselves and this present life care not for it And thus is Christ known by preaching the Gospel to the poor Christ known by the Gospel as Moses by the Law Moses his Ministry was full of wrath terror and death to sinners but Christs ministry holds forth nothing to the greatest sinners in the world that are sensible of sin but the free Grace and Mercy of God to them even to them in pardoning their sin and Christ known by the Word in the Church his body aswel as in himself the Head giving them righteousness and by this word Christ is well known to the whole true Church of God And as Christ is known by his Word in himself the Head so also in the Church his Body for whereever Christ is present there is his Word aswell as his works and where Christs true Word is not neither is his presence there Wherefore all the faithfull as they have received the Gospel themselves so they hold forth the same Gospel to others upon all opportunities according to the Covenant which God made with Christ touching his Seed which is mentioned Isa 51. ver 21. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my Spirit which is upon thee and the words which I have put into thy mouth that is the Gospel shall never depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth and for ever By which Scripture we may learn that the Ministry of the New-Testament is a common Ministry belonging equally and alike to all the seed of Christ that is to all true believers for when Christ dwells in their hearts by faith who shall hinder Christ in them from speaking the Word of God by them For God doth not consider men as the World doth to wit as they are Tradesmen or Gentlemen or Schollars or Clergy-men but God considers men either as Believers or Unbelievers he considers men as Believers or Vnbelievers And if they be Vnbelievers then are they destitute of the true presence of Christ and of the true Word of Christ what ever their outward condition be in the World yea though they be Schollars and Clergy-men and if they are Believers then have they Christs true presence and word with them what ever their outward condition is in the world yea though they be Gentlemen or Tradesmen and every one of them saith with David and with Paul I believed therefore have I spoken So that we are not to conceive of the spiritual Church according The true Ministry is only of Believers to any outward state or condition in the world but according to Faith through which Christ dwells in the hearts of believers and if Christ the living word of God dwel in them he will not keep silence And this confession of the word before the world Christ requires of all believers alike saying He that confesseth me before men him will I confess before my father and before his Angels and there is no true and right confessing Christ without holding forth the word and Doctrine of the Gospel So then every one that is of God speaks Gods word and he that speaks it not is not of God for in all the true children of God the Spirit of their father speaks in them And thus the true presence of Christ is known by the word of the Gospel in the Church his body and in every one of his Members aswell as in himself the head This
at last Crucified him between two Thieves by the common consent of all the People and destroyed the Son of God as if he had been the Son of Perdition And in all this bitter suffering no body afforded him the least pitty or compassion but the common People mocked him and said he saved others but cannnot save himself if thou be the Son of God come down from the Cross And this usage Christ complains of to his Father Psalm 22. 6. where he saith that He by his cries had no deliverance which yet Others who had trusted in God obtained but saith he I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the People All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shout out the lip they shake the head saying be trusted in God that he would deliver him let him deliver him if he delight in him And Isaiah saith that by reason of this strange suffering of Christ many were astonished at him his visage was marr'd more then any mans and his face more then the sons of men and through this suffering of Christ all the World were so extreamly offended that Christ crucified was to the Iews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness And thus was and is the VVorld and Worldly Church offended at the true Christ whom the Scriptures hold forth Indeed the false Church have fancied to themselves such a Christ as flesh and blood can like of well enough a Christ fashioned after the mind and will and Wisdom and Prudence and Righteousness of man and such a Christ they extol and magnifie to wit for their own worldly advantage sake as the Papists have fancied the por Virgin his Mother who kept Iosephs house and provided his diet and layd her hands to the performance of his ordinary household affairs to be a gallant Lady and have clothed her in Silke and Sattin and rich attire and such a Mother of Christ they do highly esteem whereas the poor Virgin the true believer who lived in the plain and laborious imployment of a Family they would even scorn to regard such an one No more will the carnal Church regard or value the true Christ in his mean condition and marred Visage And thus much for their Offense at Christ himself 2. The World and Worldly Church are offended at Christs true 2. They are offended at his his true Word VVord Because Christ under the New Testament hath given forth a New VVord which is the VVord of the Gospel And this also they are offended at in many regards as 1. Because it is the word of Faith the word of Faith and not 1. Because it is the Word of faith of Sense the Word of Faith and not of VVorks For this VVord of Faith is wholly a Spiritual Word and hath nothing in it that is sutable to flesh and blood Nothing in it that pleaseth the Fancy or Reason or Understanding of man it hath nothing in it 2. Because it exalts Christ alone and God in Christ wherein a Natural or Carnal heart can take pleasure but is throughout a Word of Faith 2. They are offended at the New word of the New Testament because it exalts Christ alone and in him the Power of God and the Wisdom of God and the Righteousness of God and the Things of God and cries down all the Things of the World in which men trust and delight and all the common Religion and Righteousness of the World and makes Christ all in all and God in Christ and all other things nothing So Paul 1 Cor. 1. preached to them that did believe Christ the power of God and Christ the wisdom of God and nothing else 3. They are offended at this Word because it cannot be learned as humane Arts and Sciences can to wit by the teaching of man 3. Because it can only be learned by the Teaching of God together with their own pains and endeavors but only by the teaching of God and his Spirit as it is written They that is the true children of the Spiritual Church shall be all taught of God he therefore that hath heard and learned of my father cometh to me All my divinity said Luther consisteth in this that I believe that Christ only is the Lord touching whom the scriptures speak and neither my Grammer nor Hebrew tongue taught me this but it is the work of the holy spirit Now when God teacheth us his word Himself we have an other When God teacheth us his Word we know it otherwise then other men understanding of it then other men who hear and read the same outward words and yet want that inward Teaching For then have we the spiritual meaning of the Word and the very mind of Christ in it which others want that are not so taught And this offends the carnal Christians grievously that the spiritual Christians have another knowledge and understanding of the Word then they VVhereupon they thus break out what say they are you the only men who have the word of God and is all wisdom and knowledge comprehended in your brests and do you know more of the Mysterie of of Christ then the grave and learned men who have studied the Scriptures all their life and will you with your pretended teaching overthrow that Orthodox sense of the Scriptures that we have had so many yeers and thus they are greatly offended 4. They are offended at this word because it discovers the 4. Because it discovers the wickedness of the World and worldly Church wickedness of the world and worldly Church at a very high rate The world doth not seem the thousand part so wicked anywhere as it doth where the Gospel comes For where this cleer light of God shines and the word comes in any degree of truth and Power there not only the wickedness of the world appears out of measure wicked but also the Religion and Righteousness and Works and Duties of the carnal Christians are manifested to be gross hypocrisie and the deceivableness of unrighteousness and wholly contrary to Christ the righteousness of God and so nothing else but a more plausible way to Death and Hell Where the Word of Christ or the Gospel of God comes in power Many who seemed good are discovered to be very evil by the light of the Word there many who before seemed very Godly and Religious people and very good Christians and very quiet and peaceable men do presently become full of wrath and rage and cursed enmity against it and call it Error and Heresie and Blasphemy and so do no less then spit in the very face of the Truth and Gospel of Christ which he hath manifested above all his name And no man could ever have imagined they had been such children of the Devil before the word came And thus by the coming of the Word in the Spiritual Sense and Doctrine of it many that did once seem to be Christs Friends are manifested to be
his utter Enemies And this also was foretold by Simeon Luke 2. Where he saith that by the coming of Christ in his word the thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed and then that unbelief and enmity against Christ that before lay hid is discovered and brought forth by the Preaching of the Word as we have seen heretofore and still see by daily experience And for this cause also they are offended 5. They are offended at the true Word because everywhere so 5. Because so few entertain it few entertain it and embrace it As when Christ himself preached there were very few in all Iudea and Ierusalem that entertained his Doctrine and though sometimes many thronged to hear him yet at another time they were so offended at his Doctrine that they all forsook him so that Christ said to the twelve Iohn 6. Will ye also go away Now this makes many to be offended at the true Word that when it comes to any town or people the far greater part should reject it and speak evil of it and they for the most part the greatest wisest and learnedst men and that only a few poor and contemptible people should receive it this also exceedingly offends 6. And lastly They are offended because the true Word of Christ 6. Because it occasions troubles where it comes in any evidence and demonstration of the Spirit brings Troubles Tumults Stirs and Vproars in the VVorld ac to that of Christ Mat. 10. 34. I came not to send peace but a sword for I am come to set a man at variance against his Father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter in law against her mother in law For the true word of Christ is such a sword as cuts in sunder all Natural and Civil relations and takes away the peace of any place where it comes in power Christ saith also Luke 12. 49. I am come to send fire on the earth and what will I if it be already kindled This fire that Christ sends is the word in the ministration of the spirit of which the Lord saith by the Prophet is not my word as fire and this word comes to burn up all the corrupt Manners Fashions Customes Yea all the lusts and sins of the world and all the Antichristian Doctrine and formes of worship in the outward Church And when this fire begins to burn anywhere presently all the people are in an uproar and lay all their heads and use all their hands together to quench it So that where-ever the true word comes the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take councel together against it and say Let us break these bonds in sunder and cast away these cords from us which no flâ—sh and blood especially the Rich Wise Learned Honourable would endure to be bound in Now this exceedingly offends For say they before this kind of word came in all things were better and more quiet Under Episcopacy The world say before the Gospel came all things were quiet all things were wel and in good order But since this new Doctrine came in all things are full of trouble mischief wars and death and therefore they reckon this word the cause of all the evils we have and do endure But yet the cause of all these tumults are not truly in the word The word is not properly the cause of these Tumults but by accident but in the world and in the Devil Christ he will have his Christians to publish his word and thereby to gather together his elect unto him now the World and the Devil the Prince of it will not suffer this to be done quietly and hence arise all tumults The Devil who hath the first possession of the world would have all things quiet that he might keep his possession but Christ will not suffer it to be so but he will have all those whom his Father hath given him out of the Devils possession by the might and efficacy of his word but the Devil will not endure that this should be done quietly but stirs us all the World against the word And so where ever the word comes in truth there are alwayes troubles and uproares but where the word is preached and the world is quiet that for certain is not the true word of God Wherefore the dull and drousie Divinity of Synods and Schools The ordinary Divinity of the Schools is none of Christs Word cannot be the true word of Christ for that meets with no opposition and contradiction at all from the World or worldly Church it meets with no enemies and avengers amongst them but it is rather praised and embraced and honoured with degrees and Scarlet and the Professors and Publishers of it are in credit with men and worldly Powers and receive from them riches honour and quiet life whereas the true Doctrine of Christ can never be published without the offence of the world And thus much for their offence at the true word of Christ 3. They are offended at his true Worship 3. At his true Worship For Christ under the New-Testament hath instituted a New-Worship and this the World and worldly Church are also greatly offended at Because this Worship is wholly spiritual and hath nothing carnal Because it is Spiritual De instituendo cultu notanda est haec regula Sine Spiritu Sancto non est suscipienda ulla ratio aut modus colendi Dei Luther in c. 35. Gen. Cultus Dei principaliter vere consistit non in externis operibus sed in fide spe dilectione Dei. Luth. in cap. 25. Gen. in it but consists altogether of Grace and truth according to that of Christ Ioh. 4. 23. The hour cometh saith He and now is that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth For the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth and there is no worship in truth but that which is in Spirit And Paul saith of true believers Phil. 3. 2. we are the Circumcision who worship God in the Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh Now this spiritual VVorship stands in Faith Hope and Love whereby our old nature is mortified and we bring forth spiritual fruit unto God and to our brother And this Worship of the New-Testament being wholly spiritual is free from Time Place and Person as all spiritual things are and so at all times and in all places alike this worship may be performed by all persons alike who are true believers And so accordingly do all true believers at all times and in all places alike believe in God and trust in him and fear him and love him and delight in him and speak good of his name and also do good to their brother in Instructing Teaching Exhorting Comforting him and Helping him as freely as Christ hath
sin also that is like to undo and ruine the Vniversity and to race it down to the very ground even your horrible The University admonished Envy Enmity and Opposition to the truth of the Gospel When Christs word or the Truth as it is in Iesus is hated opposed derided and scoffed at in your Colledges in your Schools in your Meetings yea sometimes in your Pulpits this sin will dash you in pieces that you shall find none to recover you This sin will engage against you the Son of the living God and when his wrath is kindled against you not a little but to the very utmost for so great wickedness shall then your * Certum est Aristotelem mortuum damnatum esse Doctorem hodie omnium Vniversitatum magis quà m Christum Luth. Respons ad Libr. Ambros Cathar Masters Plato Aristotle Pythagoras c. wretched Heathens who with all their wisdom knew not Christ but are dead and damned many hundred years ago be able to deliver you Or shall Thomas and Scotus and other Schoolmen with their cold vain and Antichristian Divinity help you Or shall the Secular Arm and worldly Power whom you have seduced for many Ages be able to shelter you in such an hour No certainly but if you continue in your bitter Emnity against the true and spiritual Word and Gospel of Christ Christ lives and reignes to bring you down wonderfully and to make your Name a shame and a Curse to the whole true Church of God And this poor contemptible Doctrine of the Gospel which you hear to day and it may be most of you despise and esteem of no more then a straw for strength this very Word shall prevail against you and triumph over you And the poor People of God that small handfull of believers that are amongst you whom you despise in your hearts and reckon but as the filth and off-scouring of the place even they shall see your downfall and shall say Thou art righteous O Lord who hast judged thus and shall say again Even so Lord God almighty true and righteous are thy Iudgements And this now have I spoken in faithfulness to Iesus Christ and The Conclusion to the University in faithfulness to his true Church and in faithfulness also to the Vniversity that they might hear and avoid that Ruine with will otherwise inevitably befall them for their offence at Christ and his Gospel And now let them that can receive it receive it and let them that cannot deride and reject it But whether you receive it or whether you reject it sure I am I have spoken the Truth which God himself in his due time will witness to and so much also for this Point The fourth Point is 4. Generall The blessedness of them that-are not offended at Christ according The Blessedness of those who are not offended to Christs word here Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me Now those very few that are not offended at Christ and his things when the whole World and worldly Church are offended their Blessedness appears in many particulars 1. As first in that its evident that they all are taught of God 1. Such are taught of God and have heard and learned from the Father himself touching the Son And they that see Christ by the Revelation of the Father are not at all offended at him when all other men are For such do clearly see Christs Power in his weakness his Glory in his Reproach his Exaltation in his Abasement his Divine nature in his Humane they see his Sufferings were for our sins his stripes to heal Us his Death to deliver us from death and all this they know not only by the Letter of the Word but also by the Revelation of the Father in their hearts and so they cannot be offended at Christ who see him thus Wherefore when the World and worldly Church had many several Opinions of Christ and Peter notwithstanding acknowledged him to be the Son of the living God Christ replied blessed art thou Simon for flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee but my Father which is in Heaven and this is thy blessedness that thou knowest me by the Revelation of the Father and so knowest me aright and art not offended He then that is not offended at Christ when all other men are hath for certain the Fathers Teaching and sees Christ far otherwise then the World and worldly Church do He sees Christ in all his Mysterie and in all his Glory and when we see him thus we value him never the worse for the form of a Servant nor for all his reproaches and sufferings from the World but we rather behold these things with the greater wonder and comfort seeing for our sakes he humbled himself from the form of God to the form of a servant and in that form to the death of the Cross 2. They are blessed because through this Revelation of the Father they have true Faith in Christ wrought in them For true 2. Through this Revelation have true Faith Faith in Christ doth necessarily follow the Fathers Revelation and when God teaches us Christ we must needs believe in him and through this Faith we know him by Experience and he that knows Christ through the Experience of Faith finds and feels Christ to be all that to him which the Scripture speaks of him He through this faith feels Christ to be made unto him of God VVisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and all things and Christ being through Faith made all that to him which he is in Himself it is not possible he should be offended at him Farther through this Experience of Faith Christ becomes precious to him as Peter saith 1 Pet. 2. 7. to you who believe he is precious That very Christ which to others is a Stone of stumbling and a rock of offence is precious to them who have Faith and know him by Experience So precious that they esteem all the greatest and most excellent things in the world but dross and dung in comparison of Him and such believers have chosen to part with their Liberty their Estates their Relations and their own Lives all which are precious things in themselves rather then they would part with this infinitely more precious Christ 3. They are blessed in that through this faith they have establishment as Christ saith on this rock I will build my Church And he 3. Through this faith have establishment that hath Christ for his only Foundation is never offended at him what ever scandals the World and the Devil raise up against him But he that hath another Foundation then Christ to wit either his own works and Righteousness or the World and the Things of the World when scandals come they are presently offended and their offence against Christ declares they are not built on him But they whom nothing can offend they are surely built and established on Christ and in