Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	see_v	think_v	1,546	5	4.0548	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A82320	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 Cains Colledge in Cambridge.	Dell, William, d. 1664.	1653 (1653)	Wing D930; Thomason E692_1; ESTC R206987	41,191	48

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

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 u● 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

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