Doctrine the carnal Church is a great enemy to and The carnal Church offended at this Doctrine will not suffer Christ to speak by whom he pleaseth that so all men may be necessitated to hear its Clergy whether they speak the word of Christ or no but of this more hereafter And thus you have seen how Christ gives forth himself to be known by his works and by his word and without these two we can have no certain Testimony of him in the world Now Christ having returned this full and satisfactory Answer The Conclusion of Christs Answer to Iohn to Iohn to declare to him who he was adds this in the conclusion And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me For notwithstanding the works and word of Christ which are The World offended at Christ notwithstanding his works and Word the works and word of God in the flesh yet the Wisdom and Prudence of the flesh and the Religion and Righteousness of the World which do not much regard those things do finde much matter of scandal and offense in Iesus Christ wherefore Christ saith Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me Now in discoursing touching the Offence which is taken against This Offence discoursed of Christ by men I shall observe this Order I shall shew 1. Who they are that are offended at Christ 2. What those things are whereat they are offended and why they are offended at them 3. What a great evil it is to be so offended 4. What a great blessednes it is not to be so offended and 5. Make some Vse of all 1. Point Who they are that are offended at Christ 1. Who offended at Christ 1. The whole World And here I affirm first that the whole world in general is offended at Christ for they living without the word and Spirit of faith must needs be offended at Christ by all those scandals which are raised up against Christ by the Devil and men and they all having a false apprehension of Christ do suck in as readily as a spring doth water what ever aspersions and reproaches are raised against him and so must needs be offended at him and therefore saith Christ Mat. 18 ver 7. wo be to the world because of offences for Offences must needs come and the world will needs receive them and therefore wo be to the world So that the whole World that is whosoever are not true believers and born of God are all offended at Christ and his Gospel and all the children of the first Adam are offended at the second Adam who is wholly unlike to them yea and in all things most contrary to them 2. Yea secondly Not only the common people of the World And herein the chief and choice men of the World vulgar and contemptible men are offended at Christ but also all the chief and choice men of the world Kings of the earth and Rulers and Judges and Magistrates as in Psalm 2. and all the best and learnedst and wisest and greatest and most honourable men these all are offended at Christ 1 Cor. 2. 8. which none of the Princes of this world knew he means it of Philosophers aswell as of secular Powers and not knowing him they Crucified him 2. Not the World only are offended at Christ but also the Worldly and carnal Church the Outward Visible National Church 2. The Worldly Church this is very much offended at him This we see in Christs time that the only Visible Church of God in the World the Church of the Jews for the Church of the Old Testament was a Visible Church but the Church of the New Testament is a Spiritual Church and not visible I say the Jewish Church which had the Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalmes and observed all the outward Ordinances of God exactly they were all Offended at Christ and made an Order that whosoever acknowledged him should be excommunicated and cast out of the Synagogue And this Offence was foretold by Isai chap. 8. ver 14. where he saith of Christ And he shall be for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of Offence to both Houses of Israel for a ginne and for a snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem So that not Babylon only but Ierusalem and not the Heathen only but both the Houses of Israel were offended at Christ and this makes the evil yet more grievous And yet this is not all but secondly and not only the carnal Christians but the carnal Clergy are offended at Christ and not And herein the Ministers and chief Rulers only the common people of the National Church but the chief Rulers the most eminent and in appearance most Godly and Holy and Orthodox of the Clergy are above all others most grievously offended at Christ This also we see done in Christs time when the Scribes and Pharisees and Rulers of the People men of great reputation and renown for Religion and Righteousness these were chiefly and above the rest of the Church offended at Christ and as Christ everywhere was most sharp against them and did most reprove them so they did most bitterly oppose Christ And this also was foretold by the Spirit of Prophesie Psalm 118. 22. The stone which the Builders refused is become the Head of the corner this rejected stone is Christ himself and these Builders were the chief Rulers and Governors of the Church and accordinly both Christ and the Apostles applyed this Scripture to them as you may see Mat 21. 42. and Act. 4. 11. So that the Builders that teach and instruct and govern the Church and are reputed the best and most profitable and necessary men in it yea the very Pillars of the Church so that all would come to nought and to ruine without them these are the men that are most offended at Christ These are the Husbandmen mentioned by Christ Mat. 21. that conspired against the Son of the Lord of the Vineyard and killed him and these have been and still are * Nullus est alius Antichristus in mundo neque venturus quam Sacerdotes 10. Hus. By Priests he means the Clergy who challenge to themselves a proper and singular Priest-hood distinct and apart from other Christians the chief and great outward Antichrist in the World Now when the People see the Rulers and Governors of the Church who are thought to have more Knowledge Learning Light and Religion then others offended at Christ this exceedingly increases their Offence and when they see the Builders rejecting and throwing away this Stone this causes them to reject him also with the greater indignation And thus you see that this Offence at Christ is a great and a large evil and is spread over all the World and Worldly Church and very few there are who do escape it And this for the first thing 2. Point At what things in Christ they are Offended and why they are 2. General At what offended in
Christ Offended at them Now the World and the Worldly Church are Offended 1. At Christ Himself 2. At his true Word 3. At his true Worship 4. At his true Church 5. At his true Ministry 6. At his true Government Of these things I shall speak in Order according to the good hand of God with me and shall desire to be so faithfull to Christ as not to depart one hairs breadth from his truth though it may be it will come to pass that all or the greatest part of you will be grievously Offended at it I begin with the first and will shew that the World and Worldly Church are offended 1. At Christ Himself 1. At Christ himself and in him And they are offended at him in many regards of which I shall mention these five 1. They are offended at the meanness of his ontward condition 1. At the Meaness of his outward condition in the World in the World For indeed he was in a very low plain simple and contemptible condition in the dayes of his flesh as any ordinary Tradesmen in this Town and lived with Ioseph in his Trade of a Carpenter Wherefore Paul saith of him Phil. 2. that he made himself of no account and took upon him the forme of a servant and was made in outward appearance as any other man That is he was in the outward condition of any ordinary man in the World Now this mean condition of Christ did much offend them for thought they is this the Christ of whom all the Prophets have spoke such glorious things whom all the Iews expect and who is the desire of all Nations Is this He whose name is wonderfull Councellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace of the increase of whose Government and Peace there should be no end upon the Throne of David and upon his Kingdom to order it and to stablish it with Justice and Judgement from henceforth and for ever Is this plain ordinary man the Messias how can this thing be For they thought that the true Christ of whom such excellent things were spoken should be some great Prince or learned Priest and that that form of a servant and mean condition in which he was could in no measure agree or be sutable to the true Christ And for this cause they were greatly offended at him and thought Him not worthy to be in any place of reckoning 2. They were offended that he being in so mean an outward 2. That in so low a condition such high things were spoken of him condition John Baptist should yet speak such high things of Him and he of Himself Iohn Baptist testified of him that he was the only begotten Son in the bosome of the Father the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World the fountain of the fulness of all the Saints the beloved Son unto whose hands the Father had given all things and that he that did believe in him had everlasting life and he that did not should not see life but the wrath of God should abide on him c. and these all were wonderfull things to be spoken of one whose outward condition in the World was so plain and contemptible And as Iohn had spoken these things of Christ so Christ every-where gives forth himself as the Son of God and said He and his Father were one And this exceeding offended the Iews as you may see Iohn 5. 18. The Iews sought to kill him not only because he had broken the Sabbath but also because he had said God was his Father making himself equal with God And Iohn 10. 31. The Iews took up Stones to Stone him and said we Stone thee not for a good work but for blasphemy and because thou being a man makest thy self God And so they were all offended at this Mystery God manifest in the flesh in the flesh of so mean and despicable a person in the eye of the World 3. They were offended at Christ because in him was no humane 3. Because in Christ was no meerly humane nor carnal thing or worldly thing which any Natural or Carnal man could possibly like of or delight in He excercised no worldly witt Wsdom Reason Learning Parts nor any thing that might commend him to the World neither did he live in any outward formes of Religion or Worship which might commend him to the carnal Church There was nothing in Him but the presence and manifestation of God the Word of God the Righteousness of God the Nature of God the Spirit of God the Works of God and God was all in all in Christ and God is wholly contrary to the World and the World to God And so the World and worldly Church were wholly offended at Christ He being altogether in the Father and the Father in him in such sort that the Father in him spake all the words and did all the works and he could neither do nor speak any thing of himself he was taken up unto so neer Union and Communion with God 4. They were offended at the reproaches and misreports that 4. They were offended at his Reproaches went commonly abroad touching Christ raised for the most part by the Scribes and Pharisees and Rulers of the Church because they knew and were assured that Christs prevailing would be their undoing Therefore they gave out that he was a Sabbath-breaker a Blasphemer an unlearned and ignorant man and that made him err a Vitious man a Glutton and Winebibber a friend of Publicans and sinners and that he had a Devil and was mad these were the common reports that were commonly divulged abroad touching Christ and that by the Teachers of the best repute in the Church and the common-people reckoned them to be very true and thereupon were horribly offended both at Christs Doctrine and works And this was Christ a very sign to be spoken against which Isaiah foreseeing in the Spirit speaks thus in the person of the offended Jewish Church Isai 63. 3. He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not And Christ himself by the Prophet complains of this usage saying they laid to my charge the things that I knew not But yet these false reports so far prevailed that he became a Stranger to his brethren and an Alien to his Mothers own Children 5. They were offended at him because of his bitter and shamefull cross and sufferings and herein lay the heighth and depth of that 5. At his sufferings Offence for which the VVorld and worldly Church look at Christ For the Ecclesiastical Power condemned him as a deceiver and blasphemer and they also prevailed with the secular Power to condemn him as a Seditious person an Enemy to Caesar and a Rebel And so after all the works of God which he had done and works of God which he had taught they
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
after as Believers received the Spirit so they became Ministers of the New Testament as we see in the Acts of the Apostles and in the first 300. years after Christ For there is but one only Ministry of the New Testament which is common to all men alike who have received the Spirit of God and to none else though never so excellently qualified with Natural Abilities and Humane Learning For the things of the Gospel are altogether invisible things and The things of the Gospel cannot be known but by the teaching of the Spirit cannot be known but by the teaching of the Spirit though a man have all the Wisdom and Knowledge in the World as Paul declares 1 Cor. 2. ver 8 9 10. Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor the Heart of man understood the things which God hath prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them to Vs believers by the Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God For what man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man that is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God Now we have received not the Spirit of the World which for its highest perfection hath only humane Wisdom and Knowledge but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God Where we learn that the things of the Gospel and of the Kingdom of God are not known at all nor discerned in the least measure but by Gods Spirit which Spirit is given to all that believe and this Spirit alone is sufficient both to enable us to know clearly and certainly the things of God and also to publish them unto others and nothing of Man or the Creature can add to it Wherefore when Christ chose his Ministers according to his Fathers Councel he chose not the Wise and Learned but plain simple men that it might appear to all the World throughout all ages how infinitely able the Vnction of his Spirit alone is without any addition of any thing else for the Ministry of the New Testament and Christ upon the serious consideration of this strange choice of God by Him breaks forth into this Thanksgiving Mat. 11. 25. I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things that is the Word of Faith and Mystery of Christ and his Kingdom from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them to babes even so Father because it pleased thee And David admiring this wonderfull dispensation speaks thus in the joy of his heart Psal 8. ver 1 2. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy Name in all the World who hast set thy Glory above the Heavens and then showing wherein this high Glory of God appears saith Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger God useth no other Instrument to overcome the greatest Enemies and Avengers that arise in the World and worldly Church then the strength he ordaines out of the mouths of babes and sucklings that is true believers who live only on the sincere milke of the Word The Lord had all the World before him to have chosen out of it whom he pleased to be the Instruments by whom he would hold forth his Word and Gospel to all Nations Yet in his infinite wisdom and gracious Councel and good Pleasure he would pass by the Wise and Learned men and great Philosophers and subtile Disputants as Paul affirms 1 Cor. 1. 19. that God hath said I will destroy the Wisdom of the Wise and bring to nothing the Vnderstanding of the Prudent God is so far from making use of Humane Wisdom and Prudence in the Gospel of his Son that he quite destroyes it and brings it to nothing Wherefore Paul adds v. 20. Where is the wise where is the learned or lettered man where is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe By the foolishness of preaching that is by the Word of Faith out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings which the World reckons foolishness by this alone doth God bring about the Salvation of the Elect. Now at these things how grievously are the Worldly wise and deep learned ones as they esteem themselves offended that Gods Spirit alone should be a sufficient Vnction for the Ministry of the New Testament and that God should on set purpose lay aside the Wise and Prudent men and choose babes and out of their mouth ordain his great strength to set up Christs Kingdom in the world and to destroy Antichrists Yea this Doctrine will chiefly offend the * University â—nd all in it of all Degrees Objection By the Univerty Vniversity For you will say If this be so What need is there then of our Philosophy and of our Arts and Sciences to the Ministry of the New Testament And what need is there of our Acts and Cleâ—ums And what need is there of our Scarlet and Tippets And what need is there of our Hoods and Caps c. If the Vnction of the Spirit alone be sufficient for the right Ministry and Christ do perfect his praise by the mouths of Babes and sucklings then what need is there of all these things I Answer No need at all as to Christs Kingdom and the Ministry Answer to it of that For it is one of the grossest errors that ever reigned under Antichrists Kingdom to affirm that Vniversities are the fountain of the Minsters of the Gospel which do only proceed out Quò indubiè taxat Academias in quibus tales homines creantur è quibus prodicrunt omnes in orbem praedicatores c. Totus enim orbis in hac sententia est hos fontes esse è quibus scaturiant qui docere populum debeant Hic est error horrendus abominandus ut nihil aeque aversandumulla ex re quam ex Academiis prodierit c. Luth. in loc Objection of Christs flock And because you will be greatly offended at me for speaking thus you shall hear what Luther saith to this matter on 2 Pet. 2. 1. upon these words but there were false Prophets among the people as there shall be false Teachers among you the word Peter uses here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 false Doctors or false Masters and Luther saith it came to pass by the singular Councel of God that our Teachers should be called Doctors and Masters that it my appear to all whom Peter here means and he farther saith that Peter hereby doth undoubtedly tax the Vniversities in which such men are created and out of which have proceeded all the Preachers in the World so that
there is no Town or City under the whole Kingdom of Antichrist which hath not such Doctors and Masters as are Created in the Vniversities For the whole world saith he is of this Opinion that the Vniversities are the fountains whence they should flow who ought to teach the People Now this saith he is a most horrible and abominable error so that nothing hath proceeded in all the world out of any thing so much to be opposed as out of Vniversities wherefore saith he Peter saith that all these are false Masters and false Doctors Thus Luther Now if any say This Doctrine being commonly taught and received will throw down the Vniversities I answer If thâ— Vniversities will stand upon an Humane and Answer Civil account as Schools of good Learning for the instructing and educating Youth in the knowledge of the Tongues and of the liberal Arts and and Sciences thereby to make them usefull and serviceable to the Commonwealth if they will stand upon this account which is the surest and safest Account they can stand on and will be content to shake hands with their Ecclesiastical and Antichristian Interest then let them stand during the good Pleasure of God but if they will still exalt themselves above themselves and place themselves on Christs very Throne as if they had ascended up on high to lead captivity captive and to give gifts to men for the work of the Ministry and so will presume to darken the Glory of Jesus Christ and his true Ministry which He sends forth as his Father sent Him then let them in the Name of Christ descend into that darkness out of which they first sprang that the Glory of Christ may fill the World And thus have I declared how the World and worldly Church are offended at Christ and his Word and Worship and Church and Government and Ministry and so consequently at all his things And now I proceed to the third General I propounded to wit to shew 3. Point How great an evil it is to be thus offended at Christ and his Things The third General To be offended at Christ 1. It s a sign men are ignorant of Christ And this appears in many particulars 1. One Evil is That to be offended at Christ and his Things is a certain Evidence that men are wholly Ignorant of Christ and of God though they be called Christians and have the Name of God alwayes in their mouths For if men knew Christ aright and God in Christ it were impossible they should be offended at Him and inasmuch as they are offended it is certain they do not know Him by any revelation from the Father Wherefore Christ tells his Disciples Joh. 16. 3. that the chief ground of that offence which the World and worldly Church should take against them who are his true Members and have received the same Word and Spirit with him through true faith is because they have not known the Father nor Him For he that knows Christ in Christians is not offended at them and he that knows God in Christ is not offended at Him But they that are offended at Christians know not Christ and they that are offended at Christ know not God 2. When men are offended at Christ and his things it is a sign 2. That they are Unbelievers they are real Vnbelievers what ever forms of Godliness they may live under and though it may be they have been old Professors for Peter saith Christ is precious to them that believe wherefore they that are offended are destitute of Faith 3. They that are offended at Christ lose all that spiritual and eternal advantage that comes by Christ to true believers and so 3. They loose all advantage by Christ fall short of the Love of God in Christ of Reconciliation with God in Christ of the Righteousness Wisdom and Power and of all the fulness of God in Christ of eternal Redemption from the Law Sin Death and Hell by Christ and of all that great Salvation that is in and by Him And Jesus Christ is wholly in vain to them 4. When men are fully and irreconcileably offended at Christ 4. Are manifest Reprobates and his things it is a Sign they are of the wicked one of the seed of the Serpent and very Reprobates as Christ told such offended Iews Ye are of your Father the Devil and my sheep hear my voice but you hear it not but are offended and therefore you are none of my sheep that is none of the Elect And again saith Christ all that my Father giveth me shall come to me Wherefore they that come not to Christ but are offended at him are not given to him of God and consequently are Reprobates 5. They that are offended at Christ are utterly ruined through 5. Are utterly ruined such offence Wherefore Christ is called a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to them that are disobedient and stumble at the Word And he is said to be set for the fall and ruine of many in Israel and Mat. 21. 44. Christ saith Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whosoever it shall fall it shall grinde him to pouder For whoever stumbles or dashes against this Stone dashes against God himself in the nature of Man He dashes against the Councel and Decree of God against the Wisdom and Vnderstanding of God against the Love Mercy Righteousness Truth and Power of God against the eternal Word and Spirit of God and no man perishes like that man For he incurrs all that Wrath Vengeance Destruction Damnation which the Lord God himself in all his infinite VVisdom Knowledge Righteousness Justice and Power can inflict on him to all eternity and so he is indeed ground to pouder Yea farther that man that stumbles against Christ is not only Ruined without remedy ruined by such offence but ruined without all means or hope of Recovery They that are broken against Him and by Him are broken in pieces like a potters vessel which can never be made up again They that fall against Him never rise again they that are ruined by him are never repaired again If a man were dashed in pieces by Moses he might be repaired again by Christ but he that is destroyed by the Saviour by whom shall he be saved He that was condemned by the Justice of God for Sin might recover again by the Love and Mercy of God in Christ But he that is destroyed by the Love and Mercy of God is past all Hope and Remedy Wherefore I intreat you to consider this thing with all your hearts For nothing makes such ruines in the world as this Sin Mens being offended against Christ and his Gospel This is the sin that ruined Ierusalem of old and Germany of late and if any thing undo this Commonwealth this will undo it the offence that is taken by mean men and by men in Place and Authority against Christ and his Gospel And this is the
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
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
this they are blessed 4. They who have received the Revelation of the Father and 4. Through this establishment are free from perishing through this Revelation true Faith and through this true Faith firm Establishment are farther Blessed in that all such are past perishing For he that cleaves so inseparably to Christ that nothing can offend him and is so firmly built on Christ that nothing can remove him It is impossible for him to perish by any thing Wherefore it is said behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone Elect and precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded And Mat. 16. saith Christ On this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail 5. And last of all They that have escaped the Offence of Christ are sure of Salvation For such do truly partake of all that infinite 5. Are sure of Salvation and everlasting advantage that is by Christ they partake of his own Righteousness and Wisdom and Truth and Power and Nature and Life and Word and Spirit and of all his fulness and thus they have true possession of the beginnings of eternal life as John saith These things have I written to you that believe that you may know ye have eternal life abiding in you 1 Joh. 5. 13. and Christ saith I give unto my sheep eternal life that very life which was in the Father and was communicated to Christ and manifested in his humane Nature And in all these Regards are they blessed that are not offended at Christ as Christ affirms blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me And so now I proceed to some Uses 5. General The Vses 5. The Vses 1. To warn all of all men sorts that they take special care that they 1. To admonish men to take heed that themselves be not offended at Christ be not offended at Christ and the things of Christ You have heard that the World and the wisest and greatest of the world and that the worldly Church and the holiest and most religious in that are offended at Christ And you have heard also how great an evil it is to be offended and how great a blessedness it is not to be offended Wherefore I do advise you from the Word to take care that you be not found amongst them who are offended at Christ Objection But you will be ready to say We hope we are not offended at Christ but we do love honor and embrace both Christ and the things of Christ Answer To this I answer That many do usually say they are not offended Many are offended at Christ who say they are not offended 1. They that are offended at the Word are offended at Christ at Christ and it may be some may think so too who yet indeed and before the Lord are grievously offended at Him as may thus appears For. 1. First He that is offended at the true Word of Christ is offended at Christ himself For Christ is the Word the Gospel Word the Word that was with God and was God and came into the flesh and that spake and did and suffered and overcame all in that flesh and Christ said it was expedient for the Church that he should withdraw his flesh or bodily presence and only continue that presence of his with them which is by the living Word of God through the Gospel And this is that Jesus Christ who is present with believers to the end of the World And so he that is offended at the true spiritual Word held forth by the confession of Faith is offended at Christ himself who is present in that Word Wherefore saith Peter 1 Pet. 2. 8. He is a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to them that Stumble 〈◊〉 the Word The most people adore the outward name of Christ but yet cannot endure the true Word of Christ Now all that are offended at the true spiritual Word of Christ and right Doctrine of the Gospel are offended at Christ himself and stumble at that stumbling Stone And thus multitudes are offended at Christ who do think themselves very free from this sin 2. They that are offended at true Believers are offended at Christ 2. And they who are offended at true Believers himself For they are in the World as He was and Walk as He did Walk And they are one flesh and Spirit with him They are his Members They are Himself And whosoever is offended at Them is offended at Him For Christ is the self same both in Himself the Head and in Believers his Members And These are the Children of God together with Him the first born and These are comprehended in the same Love chosen with the same Choice called with the same Calling Sanctified with the same Holiness Kept by the same Power and Glorified with the same Glory These partake of the same Divine Nature and have the same Word and Spirit dwelling in them in the same Righteousness Wisdom Grace and Truth and there is no difference between Christ and them but what is between the Head and the Members the first-born and his Brethren And so they that are offended at These would as certainly and necessarily be offended at Christ himself if He had lived in their time or if They had lived in his time It is manifest then that They who are offended at the Word of Christ and at the Works of Christ at the Nature and Life of Christ in Believers would have been offended at them in Christ Himself Yea they who are offended at Christ in Believers would much more have been offended at Christ in Himself because what is in a Christian but in part was fully in Christ And what is in a Christian in a small measure was in Christ without measure and there was in Christ a far more glorious presence and manifestation of God then in any Christian and proportionably would they have been offended at Him in Himself who are truly offended at Him in his Members 3. They who are offended at the Sufferings which come on 3. And they who are offended at the sufferings of Christians Christians for Christs sake are offended at Christ Himself because they suffer not on their own account but on Christs and the Cross they take up and bear is His and not their own If They would live as other men in the common Religion of the Nation and make use of the form of Godliness without the Power and comply with that Doctrine and Discipline which the Clergy shall allow for Orthodox and the Magistrate accordingly approve and confirm then might they live as quietly and prosperously as other men but because they cleave only to Christ and take Him for their only Master in the things of God and do receive his Word in Faith and then hold it forth to others therefore the World hates them as Christ said I have given them thy Word and the world hath hated them because they are not
of the world as I am not of the world Wherefore every true Christian who speaks and professes the VVord of Faith the VVord which exalts Christ alone and his things and throws down all other things of the VVorld though in the highest esteem with men must needs meet with his enemies and avengers his Scribes and Pharisees his Herods and Pilates And now when the carnal Church which hath the favor and countenance of the State sees poor Christians for the VVords sake suffering all the hatred malice and rage of the world and worldly Church they are greatly offended at them and in being offended at them they are offended at Christ Himself for it is his cause in which they suffer and not their own and it is he who suffers in his cause more then they as is evident by that complaint of his Saul Saul why persecutest thou me I say as it is Christ that is and doth all in his true Saints so also it is he that suffers all in them and they who are offended at these Sufferings of Believers which they suffer in and for Christ are offended at Christ himself And in these three regards it doth plainly appear that many who pretend to honor the outward Name of Christ are yet indeed grievously offended at Him Vse 2 2. The second Vse is another Caution to warn all men to take heed as not to be offended themselves at Christ so also not to be Caution not to be offended through the offences of others by considering 1. That it is no new thing for men to be offended at Christ troubled nor offended with the offences of Others But when we see the whole world and worldly Church offended at Christ and his things let us take care that we be not therefore offended also but let us consider 1. That it is no new thing that Christ and his Gospel should be stumbled at and contradicted by the World and worldly Church For thus it was foretold by the Prophets and thus it hath been done ever since Christ was manifested in the flesh In the days of his Ministry his Doctrine was so contrary to carnal reason and the humane apprehensions of men in matters of Religion that many of his Disciples said This is a hard saying who can bear it Joh 6. Yea many of his Disciples murmured at his Doctrine and went back and walked no more with him And all along during Christs Ministry many were snared and stumbled and fell and were broken thereby and he that is troubled and offended at this must get him another Christ and another Gospel For the true Christ is set for a sign to be spoken against the true Gospel is set for a Word of contention and contradiction to the carnal Christians to the whole VVorld Wherefore when we see in our time the VVorld and worldly Church offended at Christ and his Gospel let us know that thus it hath been from the beginning and let uâ— know that as Christ and his Gospel are the same now as they were then so the VVorld and Antichrist and the Devil the Head of both are the same also and therefore it cannot be but Christ and his Gospel must suffer the same 2. Christ and his Word are not the worse for the offence of the World contradiction in our time as they have done in all former times 2. That we may not be offended with the common and general offence of others let us consider that Christ and his Gospel are never the worse for the offence which the World takes at them but Christ is still the Son of the living God and the Gospel is still the Power of God to Salvation to every one that believes and Christ and his Word do still remain a sure foundation for the true Church of God That Christ crucified which is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness is notwithstanding to them who believe Christ the Power of God and Christ the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. So that Christ is not the worse for the Worlds being offended at Him neither do the faithfull think him the worse Nay the more vile he is to others he is still the more precius to them 3. Let us consider that notwithstanding all the offence of men Christ and his Gospel still remain and continue what they are and 3. Christ still remains for al such offence cannot be prevailed against Men may be offended at Christ and his Word but they canot destroy and extinguish them but they still remain and do alwayes prevail against all things that oppose them Wherefore to deliver us from the scandal of all Mens being offended against Christ we are to consider that as all the World have been are and will be against Christ so Christ and his Kingdom shall rise up and increase against all the World and against all their thoughts and endeavours And all their Councels Contrivances and industrious Actings shall not be able to hinder the Kingdom of Christ from prospering and growing great But it shall arise and stand up in all its Glory out of the midst of all the offences and contradictions in the world Wherefore Christ and his Kingdom are called a Tried stone for he hath long ago indured whatever the World and worldly Church could do against Him and whatever the might and malice of men and Devils could do against him and yet hath overcome all All that have opposed Him have been dashed in pieces by him in the several Ages of the World and He and his Kingdom still remain and shall remain for ever For He is a sure tried stone And they in this Town and Vniversity who are the most grievously offended at the Word shall not by all their subtilty Malice Slanders evil speaking nor by any thing they can say or do design or undertake be able to prevail against it but they must shortly die and depart out of the World and in despite of them leave this Word of God behind them to live and flourish and overspread the World And these considerations if entertained by Faith may keep us from being offended at the offence of the whole World And this for the second Use Vse 3 3. In the third place I shall shew you how believers ought to Direction how to carry our selves in the midst of offences 1. To abide in Christ carry themselves in the midst of those offences that are taken against Christ and against themselves for Christs sake that is for his Life and Doctrines sake 1. First then We ought to be careful to abide in Christ and to walk in Christ To speak all our words and to do all our works and to live our whole life in Christ and in his Spirit that so the World may not be offended at Vs who are nothing and do nothing in our selves but at Christ in Us who is and doth all in us And then as we shall certainly be established and preserved in