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
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
THE Stumbling-Stone OR A Discourse touching that offence which the World and Worldly Church do take against 1. Christ Himself 2. His true Word 3. His true Worship 4. His true Church 5. His true Government 6. His true Ministry Wherein the UNIVERSITY is reproved by the WORD of GOD. Delivered partly to the University-Congregation in Cambridge partly to another in the same Town Together with A brief touch in the Epistle for the present on the late quarrelsom weak and erroneous Animadversions of one Mr. Chambers called Doctor in Divinity and Pastor of Pewsy in Wiltshire By William Dell Minister of the Gospel and Master of Gonvil and Caius Colledge in Cambridge Mihi plane omnium jucundissima facies ista in rebus est videre ob verbum Dei studia dissentiones fieri is enim est Verbi Dei cursus casus eventus nam dicit non veni pacem mittere sed gladium Luther LONDON Printed by R. W. for Giles Calvert and are to be sold at the Black-spread Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1653. To the Reader HEre I present thee with this Discourse which met with such notable Opposition and Contradiction from the Vniversity of Cambridge to whom it was delivered and also from such of the Town then present who are baptized into the University spirit And yet every point of this Doctrine will appear to spiritual men to be the Word and Truth of God and if need shall require I can yet more fully prove it to be so by the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles and by the Doctrine of Christ himself the Head of both and that against not only One but All Universities and also against the Gates of Hell and Powers of darkness And by this gross Opposition against the plain Gospel thou maist judge and discern that this Vniversity which hath beeen counted one of the Eyes of the Nation SEEING SEES NOT and which hath been counted a Fountain of Knowledge and good Learning HEARING HEARS NOT NEITHER UNDERSTANDS Whereby we may conceive that gray Haâ—rs are upon it and that the time of its departure is near except it REPENT I had thought also at this time to have given a farther Testimony for Jesus against the Mysterie of iniquity which hath hitherto prevailed in the Ecclesiastical State and in the Vniversities the Head and Heart of it but that this work under my hands multiplied into too great a Proportion for an Epistle And also because I intend to add threunto my Testimony against that Mysterie of Iniquity which hath hitherto also prevailed in the civilState Antichrist having with his deceivableness of unrighteousness seduced and deluded both ever since the Reign of Constantine And this twofold Testimonie through Grace given and hoped to be given I intend very shortly to publish For I Judge it most necessary for the true Church to be acquainted herewith especially after so many of the Seals have been opened and also seeing the time of the Restitution of all things makes haste upon us and we hope is even at the doors Wherefore we continually intreat that the Arm of the Lord would awaken and put on strength not only as in Ancient times and in the days of old but more also to wit as his Spirit by his Prophets hath foretold he will do in the last time when he will reveal his Arm for Christ and his seed in his greatest Might and Glory And let the Remembrancers of the Lord not keep silence till the cursed Kingdom of Antichrist with all its Religion Works Duties Doctrines counterfeit Law and Gospel false Clergy false Church false Power and Jurisdiction or Discipline false Ordinances and false all things be utterly overcome with the Spirit of Christs mouth and the Brightness of his coming And till the true spiritual Church that through Faith Hope and Love lives out of this World and the Elements thereof in the Kingdom of Gods dear Son be made an Eternal Excellency and the Ioy of Generations and till they who have afflicted it and domineered over it be made to come humbly bending to it and to lick the dust of its feet as the Lord hath promised Farther I thought good at this time to advertise thee of the Animadversions of Mr. Humfry Chambers called Doctor in Divinity and Pastor of Pewsy in the County of Wilts on a discourse published by me entituled The Crucified and quickned Christian In which Animadversions as he calls them after Mr. Christopher Loves Example who was one of his Forerunners in this opposition to the Truth he hath Doctor-like contradicted the manifest Truth and the very Substance Marrow and Mysterie of the Gospel which being made void which yet is impossible as to the true Church there would be neither true Righteousness nor Life nor Redemption nor Salvation nor the true Christ nor the true God in Christ left remaining to Believers All which I make account in due time to make appear by the Scriptures for I allow no Doctrine that is not according Christ is the only Law-giver and the Spirit is the only Law Interpreter to the Doctrine of Christ and the writings of his Apostles and Prophets which are a most sure and infallible word if they be understood according to Christs mind and not according to Mans. Now when I read those Animadversions I found them very Captious Slight Weak and grosly erroneous and somewhat like the Animadversions of the Sorbonists on some of Luthers writings And this hath not been my Judgement only but also it hath been represented to me from godly and understanding Christians that this great undertaking of this Doctor is judged such by them that it deserves no more Refutation his Animadversions compared only with the Discourse it self being sufficiently for ever already confuted by it And truly I cannot but bless God who hath given his Truth so weak an Enemy and Error and Darkness so weak a Patron But by this the true Church may judge also what a sad Ministry these poor Nations have received from Antichrists Ordination when the chief Doctors the very Scribes and Pharisees among the Clergy do not know the very first Principles of the Gospel in any spiritual light or by any Teaching from God but all their cold faint and uncertain Doctrine they scrape from Fathers and Schoolmen and from other Ordinary Systemes of Divinity without any presence of Faith or anointing of the Spirit whereby all their Doctrine becomes carnal and corrupt and contrary to Christs mind and agreeable to Antichrists So that I cannot choose but conclude with John Hus THAT ALL THE CLERGY MUST BE QUITE TAKEN AVVAY ERE THE Ioan. Hus libr. de vita Reg. Antichrist cap. 37. CHURCH OF CHRIST CAN HAVE ANY TRUE REFORMATION Another thing hath happened in this matter which makes me wonder and that is that those few Shreds of weakness and Error published by Mr. Chambers should be so honourably licensed by so famous a Divine as the present Vicechancellor of
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
helped them And this is the chief and indeed the only true VVorship of the New-Testament For the Gospel hath taught us that Christ is the trueTemple wherein the Church of the New-Testament which is a Kingdom of Priests are all alike to Worship God without any difference or distinction of persons And also that Christ is our Rest aswell as our Righteousness and it is as great a sin to make another Rest then Christ as it is to make another Righteousness then Christ For in him alone we are compleat and furnished to all things that appertain to the Kingdom of God And stand in need of nothing out of him Wherefore it is said Heb. 4. 3. He which hath believed is entred into the rest that is into Christ and his Righteousness and so hath ceased from his own works as God did from his Now the World and worldly Church are greatly offended at this And because this Spiritual worship makes no great shew Spiritual Worship And that first because it makes no great shew nor presents no glorious outside to the World to win their favour and applause and so they despise it as a Notional or Melancholick thing And secondly because this is wholly out of the reach and Power of the Natural man and no man by his free will or Natural abilities And also is out of the reach of the Natural man can attain thereunto VVherefore they are offended at this kind of VVorship and would have a Worship in the dayes of the Gospel after the manner of the VVorship of the Law a Worship standing in outward works and Duties and Ceremonies and in Observation of Dayes Times Places Persons And are much scandalized at that Worship which stands only in Faith and Love and makes void all other things 4. They are offended at the true Church of Christ 4. At the true Church of Christ Because Christ under the New Testament hath set upon a New-Church which is not outward and visible as the Church of the Old Testament was Neither carries in it any worldly Pompe Power and Glory as the Church of Antichrist doth but it is wholly spiritual and invisible and as utterly unknown to the World as Christ himself The true Church under the New-Law is the Congregation of spiritual men gathered together not in one outward place but in What the true Church is one Faith Hope and Love in one Spirit in one Christ in one God It is the company of the faithful and elect which have Christ for their Head And this Church is not known by any outward Orders or Forms It is known only by the Word of faith or Ceremonies or manner of life but only by the Word of Faith seeing this true spiritual Church is conceived and formed is brought forth and brought up is fed and clothed is strengthned and adorned is protected and perfected by this word of faith alone Yea the whole Nature and life and being and action of this Church is in the word of faith 2. They are offended at this Church because it is the habitation of God and his very Kingdom wherein he himself is present is manifested 2. Because this Church is the Habitation of God speaks works reignes is glorified and is all in all in it And so it will not receive unto it self any thing of the Power Wisdom and Righteousness of Man They are much offended to hear that this Church is the Temple of the living God and that God hath said it himself that he will dwell in them and walk in them And that God is in them of a Truth and not by fancied habits of created grace And that they are filled with all the fulness of God And that they are living Stones in that Building wherein Christ himself is the chief corner Stone and that they are all built together by the Spirit to be the Habitation of God This doth so exceedingly offend them that is causeth them to Blasphem in crying out against this Doctrine of the Spirit of God as Blasphemy 3. They are offended at this New Church of the New Testament 3. Because it wil be the true Church alone because it will be the Church of God alone and will not acknowledge any to be of it but such as are born of God and have obtained like pretious faith with them And so will have no constant communion with any how skilful soever in the letter of the word and how eminent so ever in outward formes of Religion but only with such who have true fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Spirit 4. They are offended at this Church because usually God calls unto it not the Great and Honourable and Wise and Learned but 4. Because it consists of mean people mean plain and simple people according to that of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 26. You see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen Yea things that are not to bring to nought things that are So that this true Church consists of a smal company of Poor Mean Simple Base and despised men in the eyes of the World and worldly Church Yea of such who in their judgement deserve to have no place nor being in the World And who now out of their own choice would willingly joyn themselves to such a Congregation 5. The great and worldly wise people are much offended at this 5. Because of its outward afflicted condition Church because of its outward afflicted condition in the World it having fellowship with Christ in all his sufferings And so is alwayes Reproached Despised Slandered Torn Spâ—t on Buffeted Crucified and Mocked And from all most or some of these sufferings the spiritual Church is never priviledged in the World And by reason of these things the visage of the true Church seems foul deformed and offensive in the eys of men whilst the national and carnal Church is highly favoured esteemed and preferred it self and hath its chief Teachers honoured with Scarlet and Furrs So that if Christ were on the earth again in his mean and plain condition He would be ashamed to own Them and They would be as much 5. At the true Government of the Church 1. Because Christ will force none but perswade all ashamed to own Him And thus much for their offence at the true Church 5. They are offended at the true Government of this Church Because Christ under the New Testament as he hath set up a New Church so also he hath set up a New Government of this Church and this also offends in many regards 1. In that Christ will have none brought to his Church by outward * In toto Novo
Testamento non sunt praecepta urgentia sed tantum exhortationes obsecrationes Nec Christus nec Apostoli quenquam unquam coegerunt Spiritus fanctus vocatur in hoc Spiritus Paracletus ut exhortetur Luth. 2. Responso ad libr. Amber Cathar 2. Because an Equality in his Kingdom violence and compulsion though he have all Power in Heaven and in Earth But in the day of his Power that is of the Gospel he only entertains the willing People and compells no body against their wills seeing he seeks not his own profit but ours Our Lord Jesus Christ gathers his true Church on Earth according to the Councel and Mind of his Father in Heaven and so will entertain none but whom his Father draws because he will have his Church not one jot larger then the Election of Grace 2. They are offended at his Government in that in his true Church he makes an equality between all Christians through Faith and will have none over one another but will have all to serve one another in Love And so he will have him that would be the greatest to be the least of all and him that would be the chief to be the servant of all as Himself came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransome for many And He was greater then all the children of God not through any worldly Greatness Lordliness or Dominion but through his teaching and instructing them and loving them and serving them and suffering and dying for them And besides this Greatness there is nothing but Equality in his Church 3. They are offended at his Government in that Christ doth 3. Because he doth all by his Word and Spirit only nothing in his Church by the Decrees or Constitutions of Ecclesiastical men or by the secular Arm and Power of the Magistrate but he doth all by his Word and Spirit and nothing else And these alone without the addition of any thing else are infinitely sufficient to do all that Christ would have done in his Kingdom 4. Because he will have us only to avoid hereticks and not to harm them 4. In that he will have Vs to love our Enemies and to do good to them that do evil to Vs and to pray for them that persecute Vs and despitefully use Vs He will not have us to be Enemies to any or to do evil to any or to persecute and use despite to any He will have us to beware of false Prophets but not to destroy them And to avoid Hereticks but not to kill them And will have neither of them burnt with any fire but the fire of * Igne Charitatis comburendi sunt haeretici quicunque impiè sapiunt docent Luth. Tom. 2. 5. Will have al done by the Law of Love only In Novo Testamento ostenduntur omnia quae facienda omittendaque sunt sed nemo cogitur omnibus permittitur ut vel pereant vel salvi fiant Luth. Respon ad Ambros Cathar 6 At his true Ministry This Ministry made only by the Unction of the Spirit Love 5. In that He will have all things in his Kingdom ordered and done only by the Law of Love and nothing by any Law of Violence or Compulsion Now this kind of Government of the true Church doth grievously offend the World and worldly Church and the Governors of both because They know no Government of the Church at all but that of the Ecclesiastical and Civil Power intermingled and if this be made void they can do nothing at all in the Government of the Church but think according to their unbelife all things presently will come to Confusion For they want Faith to commit the Government of Christs own Church to his own care by his Word and Spirit And thus they are offended at this true Government also 6. And Lastly for I will name no more particulars at this time They are offended at Christs true Ministry Because Christ under the New Testament hath erected and constituted a New Ministry not through any Ecclesiastical Ordination but meeerly through the Vnction of his Spirit without any Regard at all to a mans outward calling or condition in the World but whether as I said before a man be a Schollar or Clergy man or Gentleman or Tradesman if Christ call him and pour forth his Spirit on him that and that only makes him a true Minister of the New Testament And of this New and Offensive Ministry to the World and worldly Church Christ himself was the first For he was not of Christ himself the first of the New Testament Ministers the tribe of Levi as the Apostle saith Heb. 7. but of the tribe of Judah of which Moses speaks nothing touching Priesthood how then did Christ become the first and chief Minister of the New Testament The Spirit of Christ tells us by Isaiah chap. 61. and Christ himse tells us Luke 4. saying The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he hath annointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor to preach good tidings to the meek to bind up the broken-hearted c. So that our Lord Iesus Christ being according to the Dialect of Antichrist a Lay-man and having never learned Lettters nor been brought up a Scholar but being brought up with Joseph in the trade of a Carpenter and not ordained neitheir by the Church of the Jews nor allowed by them was yet the first and chief Minister of the New Testament through the Vnction of the Spirit only Now the worldly Church were extreamly offended at this very thing as you may see in the Gospel Mat. 13. ver 54. 55. Iesus came into his own country and taught them in the Synagogue insomuch that they were astonished for no man spake like him for he taught with Authority and not as the Scribes but they said whence hath this man this Mechanick man this wisdom and these mighty works is not this the Carpenters Son Is not his mother called Mary And are not his brethren and Sisters all with us and they were offended in him that such a man that had no Degrees nor Ordination should yet be a Minister And as Christ himself was the first Minister of this sort so he chose others in the same manner He chose Fishermen and Tent-makers He chose others like himself and Publicans plain men and of ordinary imployment in the world and only put his Spirit on them and this was their sufficient Vnction to the Ministry And thus it was foretold by Ioel chap. 2. ver 28. And it shall come to pass in the last dayes saith the Lord that I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesie There needs nothing to the Ministry of the New Testament but only Gods pouring out his Spirit Wherefore Christ bids his Disciples stay at Jerusalem till they should receive the promise of the Spirit and then they should go forth and Teach And so
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