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A25343 Ancient truth revived, or, A True state of the antient, suffering Church of Christ, commonly (but falsly) called Brownists, living in London, and other places of this nation wherein I. Is shewed (in the preface) the state of the gospel-church, from the time of Christ's ascension, to the end of the world, gathered out of the book of Revelations, II. The confession of our faith, grounded on the doctrine of the apostles and prophets, III. By vvhom the gospel vvas first preached in this island, IV. Our practice in the worship of God, according to the practice of the primitive church, with an explanation of every ordinance, and vvho have right to administer the same, V. The first day of the week proved to be the gospel-sabbath. 1677 (1677) Wing A3076; ESTC R40283 61,216 57

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Testament we are taught the Doctrine of Christ's Oblation Rev. 11.1 Heb. 13.10 So likewise from the Altar of Incense the Doctrine of his Mediatorship Rev. 8.5 So the Passover to the Supper 1 Cor. 5.7 8. Circumcision to Baptism Col. 2.11 the Pillars to the Teachers Gal. 2.9 And when the Tabernacle is mentioned it is a sign of God's dwelling with his People Rev. 21.3 Also the Candlesticks signify the Churches Rev. 1.20 And so likewise the 7th-day-Sabbath to our Rest in Christ Heb. 4.10 From all which Shadows and many more we may draw spiritual Comfort forasmuch as our Faith is not built only on the Doctrine of the Apostles but also upon the Doctrine of the Prophets Christ being held forth to be the chief Corner-Stone in both as they are expounded by Christ and his Apostles And so if the Lord open the Eyes of our Understanding as he did his Disciples Luk. 24.45 we shall behold the wondrous things in God's Law Psal 119.18 Therefore Christ beginning at Moses and in all the Prophets expounded the Scriptures in all things concerning himself which until the vail be taken away from off the eyes and heart none can steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished 2 Cor. 3.13 neither do understand how Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to all that believe Rom. 10.4 yet not one tittle useless but all Scripture is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness able to make the Man of God perfect in all understanding in the mystery of the same 2 Tim. 3.16 as in that mystery why Moses must be honoured above all other Prophets to be buried of God himself Because the Law of Shadows was given by the hand of Moses from God therefore God would have the Shadows of his Son honourably buried by the Lord Jesus who buried all Shadows in the Law with the time himself resting in the grave the whole time of the seventh-day Sabbath so buried all Moses's Shadows in the Law And therefore in this sense is it written The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. So that by Grace we are saved in Christ and not by the works of the Law as the seventh-day Keepers expect in the New-Testament A form of words saying Remember to keep holy the first day as it was said in the Law to keep the seventh day These with Thomas are weak in the Faith that must feel by the sense of Nature before they will believe and so remain under the Curse and not the Blessing by exercising Faith and not resting on the letter of the Law in expecting a literal Commandment in the Gospel for all our belief and practice and so make the Gospel a secondary Law of Works when all Christians ought to stand on a better foundation and to know that the things chiefly necessary to be specified in the New Testament were the exhibiting the Messiah in the flesh for the redemption of his People with the manner of his Birth Life Doctrine Suffering Death Burial Resurrection and Ascension and sitting at the right-hand of God with the calling of the Gentiles to the Faith with their Infants to be fellow-heirs with the believing Jews and their children forasmuch as the Promises in the Prophets belonged to them with the abolishing the Ordinances with the time in the Law in the literal performance as aforesaid and now to follow the footsteps and examples of Christ and his Apostles who have established by their practices in the Churches new Ordinances new Ministers Maintenance Time and Place for Gospel-Worship c. as we have proved before and that the Apostles with the Churches did keep the first-day of the week for Gospel-Worship so did the Christians some hundreds of years after as is shewed in Anno Christi 111. Ignatius in Epistola ad Magnes after the Sabbath or setting aside the Sabbath as some translate it Let every one that loves Christ keep holy the Lord's Day the Queen of Days the Resurrection day the highest of all Days Anno 150. Justin Martyr Apol. 2. saith Vpon the day call'd Sunday or Lord's Day all that abide within the Cities or Villages do meet together in some place where the Records of the Apostles and Writings of the Prophets are read unto us then standing up together we send up our Prayers to Heaven which being ended there is delivered unto us Bread and Wine And the richest sort every one as his good will is contributeth something towards the relief of the poor Brethren Anno 160. Dionysius Bishop of Corinth in his Epistle to Soter Bishop of Rome Euseb Histor Eccles lib. 4. cap. 22. saith We have spent or passed through the Lords Day to day an holy Day Anno 226. Origen Exod. 16. Homil. 7. saith Vpon the Lords Day the Lord always rains Manna from Heaven namely the heavenly Truth of the Word read and preached to the People All which Testimonies and many more shew that the Christians before Constantine's time did keep the first Day for the Gospel-Sabbath and not as some have said that the first Day was not kept till Constantine's time which is a gross Mistake for Constantine did not reign till about the Year of our Lord 316. And because as is likely the first Day then as now among Christians was prophaned with Mens corrupt Minds in doing their worldly business and neglect of God's Service therefore did Constantine the Emperor as our King hath now sign an Act or Edict for the better keeping or restraining Abuses in Civil things on the Lord's Day yet the Edict in Constantines time did not any more than this Act in our time doth prove by its then setting forth that the Lord's Day was not kept before as Authors afore named shew before Constantine's time and in our Days before the Act came forth the Lord's Day was kept holy a Sabbath to the Lord though by many much prophaned And thus we see how greatly some that go by the Name of Seventh-Day Men are mistaken to say that the first Day of the VVeek was not kept for Gospel-VVorship till Constantines time Moreover though the seventh Day in the fourth Commandment is abolished and the first Day come in the place yet the Holiness remains to the first as it did to the seventh Day by virtue of the fourth Commandment As for Example If the same Scriptures in the Law commandeth the Worshippers under the Gospel to be holy as God is holy because the Covenant by which the Lord was a Husband to them was holy 1 Pet. 1.15 16. Levit. 11.44 Then the same Scriptures that commanded the Time for Worship under the Law commands the Time for Gospel-Worship to be kept now holy under the Gospel Esay 58.13 14. Moreover as there was a Time when the Seventh-day Sabbath did begin so there is a Time when the Gospel-Sabbath taketh its beginning And because many People in divers Nations differ much about the Time as
Members of Christ's Church as many Heathen Magistrates in the Apostles days were h then are they said to have their portion in the Holy Land and they do bring their honour and glory as the Gentiles their i riches in becoming Nursing-fathers k preserving the Church from outward Injuries while they in Spirit and in Truth l worshipthe Lord in keeping his Commandments and so the m Earth is said to help the Woman As these Scriptures shew a 2 Chron. 26.16 18. b Jer. 27.6 8 12. c Jer. 40.5 d Jer. 29.22 23. e Jer. 29.7 f Mat. 17.24 25 26 27. g Rom. 13.6 h Ezek. 48.21 i Isa 60.3 6. Rev. 21.24 k Numb 11.12 Isa 49.23 l John 4.24 Phil. 3.3 Rev. 22.14 m Rev. 12.16 Again there are three Kingdoms here on Earth first the Kingdom of Magistratical a Government in Nations secondly the Kingdom or spiritual b Government of Christ in his Church thirdly the Kingdom of c Darkness where Satan the d Prince of this World ruleth in the hearts of the children of e disobedience The two first Kingdoms or Governments are ordained of God the third was usurped of the Devil The time when his Kingdom began was so soon as Man fell by his means into f Sin and thus Satan as a strong Man armed took g possession in our first Parents until a stronger than he came upon him and dispossest him to wit Christ by God promised to them that the Seed of the h Woman to wit Christ should bruise the Serpents Head and God gave them faith to believe the same and thus Christ threw out i and took possession in his Elect Children whom the Father had given k him to dwell in their hearts l by faith Thus the War began betwixt Christ and Satan in Paradise a figure of the m Church and n Heaven it self so that in a Mystery it is written There was War in Heaven o Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragon fought and his Angels and prevailed not neither was place found any more in Heaven for them Thus Christ in the purpose of God and in the fulness of time by his death spoiled p Principalities and Powers as it is written For this purpose the Son of God was manifest that he might q destroy the Works of the Devil Thus Christ by the Ministry of his Word as a r Prophet worketh upon the knowledge of his Elect Children that they may discern Sin and Righteousness as a Priest to work upon the Will and Affections s killing them a t sacrifice Which Work of Christ Abel by faith saw by killing the sacrifice he was worthy to die and by offering it up on the Altar he u confessed that Christ must die for his Sins but Cain who was not of the number of the Elect yet shewed he a form of Godliness offered his m Sacrifice as Hypocrites do without faith therefore it was not accepted as Abel's was for which cause he x slew his Brother so he is said to be of that wicked One in whose posterity Satan had his Kingdom called the World of y ungodly which perished in the Flood and their Spirits remain in prison in expectation of endless woe to have their portion with him they served a Rom. 13.2 b Psal 149.6 7 8 9. Mat. 18.18 c Rev. 16.10 Eph. 6.12 d John 14.30 e Eph. 2.2 f Gen. 3.1 John 3.8 g Luke 11.21 h Gen. 3.15 i Heb. 2.14 15. k John 6.37 39. l Eph. 3.17 m Cant. 4.12 n Luke 23.43 o Rev. 12.7 Dan. 12.1 p Col. 2.15 q 1 John 3.8 r Acts 3.22 s Phil. 2.13 t Rom. 12.1 u Heb. 10.4 Psal 40.6 7. Gal. 3.24 w Prov. 15.8 Isa 66.3 x 1 John 3.12 y 2 Pet. 2.5 1 Pet. 3.19 Mat. 25.41 Moreover after the Flood Satan began his Kingdom again in Noah's Son Canaan the Son of Ham whom Noah a cursed for his sin of tale-bearing who ought to have b concealed and not to have reproached his Father nevertheless in the Field of the c World God hath his Elect in whom as aforesaid Satan ruleth for a while until Christ by the Word of his Grace worketh Repentance in them to the acknowledgment of the Truth that they may be recovered out of the d snare of the Devil captivated by him at his will Thus we see the Work of Christ is to dispossess Satans Government or Kingdom out of the hearts of his Elect as is opened to us in Rev. 11. When Gods time was come that he would restore his Church by raising up of his Elect out of the e grave of sin wherein they lay f dead under the Antichristian Errors and Doctrines of Devils whom the Lord g awakened by the h Lightnings and thundering Power of his Law as was signified by the Temple of God being opened in Heaven and the voices of his servants signified under the seventh Angel sounding his true Doctrine out of the same which caused such an Earthquake or trembling that some like i Felix trembled yet not bettered but were angry to have the Doctrine of eternal k Judgment preached against the Romish Hirlot their Mother who had made all Nations drunk with the Wine or salfe Doctrine of her Fornication in this Earthquake Others like as the m Jaylor were converted insomuch that the tenth part of the City n fell from the belief of the Antichristian Errors to believe the Doctrine of Christ's Temple and Altar See the Preface to the Reader Thus the o Arrows of Gods Truth pricking the hearts of the Elect wrought so effectually that there was slain of Men or Names of Men p seven thousand now no more to be q named of the number of the Beast but of the number of the r Names that do follow the Lord Jesus on such is written a new s Name even the Name of the City of the Heavenly Jerusalem the Mother of all God's Children So that now in whom Satan had his Kingdom by ruling in them Christ by faith now dwelleth and ruleth which causeth the Angels who are round about the Throne of Christ in his Church to rejoyce at the conversion of poor sinners and so likewise do the Saints as it is written There were great voices in Heaven to wit in the Church saying The Kingdoms of this World are become the u Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever And again Now is come salvation and strength and the w Kingdom of our God for the Accuser of our Brethren is east down And thus the Kingdom of the World that Abraham was Heir of to wit the World of the Elect which in the dispensation of times are brought into subjection to Christ by the faith of Abraham as it is written If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and Heirs according to promise a Gen. 9.25 29. b Prov. 11.12 13. 17.19 c Mat. 13.28 d 2 Tim. 2.25 26. e Ezek. 37.13 John 5.25 f Rev. 20.5 Eph. 2.1 g Eph. 5.14 h Hos 6.5
the Athenians kept the first Day from Evening to Evening as the Jews kept their Sabbath the Chaldeans begin the time at Sun-rising the Aegyptians at Noon but most People in these Western parts of the World keep the first Day from Midnight to Midnight which most agreeth with the time of Christ's Resurrection who lying in the Grave the whole Seventh-day Sabbath rose most likely so soon as the seventh Day ended because then the first Day began with the Sun-rising for it riseth to us after twelve a clock So Christ the Sun of Righteousness is said to be risen very early in the Morning while it was yet dark John 20.1 So then the Seventh-day Sabbath was past Mat. 16.1 at the rising of the Sun Acts 2. For it may be said the Sun is risen after twelve a clock as we call it Morning at one a clock about which time our Gospel-Sabbath takes its beginning and endeth about the same time as Paul upon an extraordinary occasion continued his Preaching with the Performing of the rest of Christ's Ordinances till twelve a Clock of the First Day of the Week at Night Acts 20.7 And as the time being changed to the first Day with the Holiness thereof even so by the virtue of the fourth Commandment are we also forbidden all manner of Work on the first Day as was forbidden on the seventh Day of old As saith the Prophet If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a Delight the holy of the Lord honourable not doing thy one pleasures nor speaking thy own words Isa 58.13 Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord ver 14. But it is much to be feared that Gospel Professors are not acquainted with this Scripture when on the first Day of the Week they can work in their Trade apart some all day some carry home Work sell Wares write Letters of worldly Business ride Journies make Bargains and cast up their Books of Accompts take Voyage to Sea Let all such know that because Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do evil Eccles 8 11. God will punish the Breakers of this Time for Gospel-Worship as he did the Breakers of the Seventh-day Sabbath under the Law Moreover If the Lord made it a special Reason that Israel of old should keep the Seventh day Sabbath upon their Deliverance out of Aegypt on which Day it may be supposed they came out Deut. 5.15 Sure our Spiritual Deliverance from the Spiritual Bondage of Sin and Satan of which Bondage Aegypt was a Figure is therefore a more weightier reason why we should keep the Day of our Deliverance even the first Day of the Week the Day wherein the Redemption of all the Elect was accomplished by Christ's Resurrection from the dead And again if Israel were enjoyned to keep the Seventh-day upon their Deliverance how much more are all Christians bound upon the same Ground and Reasons to keep the Day of our Deliverance And again If the bringing of Israel out of Aegypt was such a Work as God for the memorial thereof made both the Day and Month the Beginning and first Month of the Year which was not so before Exod. 12.2 and the Deliverance as afore but a Figure of our Spiritual How much more then is that Day to be accounted of and kept holy above all Days in the Year in which we were delivered from our Spiritual Bondage by the Resurrection of Christ who suffered on that day that Sin was first committed in Paradise and also after he had suffered for Sin lay in the Grave the Seventh day Sabbath the chief time that the Sacrifice for Sin was consumed on the Altar And thus when the holy Scriptures which consist of Prophecies Histories Parables Mysteries Statutes Judgments and the like are rightly as saith the Apostle divided we may not be ashamed as some whom he blamed that desired to be Teachers of the Law understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath for the Gospel-Sabbath mingling the Law and Gospel together either in our Justification before God and likewise in practice by keeping the Letter of the Law in the Seventh-day Sabbath as the only Time for Gospel-Worship so making the Lord Jesus in his Church inferior to Moses And lastly Having given this brief observation of the state of the Church of Christ from his Ascension to the end of the World with the Confession of Faith in which the Primitive Churches were established and the heavenly Order they performed all the Ordinances of Christ with the Ministry Maintenance and Time Let the Reader wisely observe that in this last Age of the World we are told that after the last glorious Reformation under the seventh Angel as is described in the Preface Satan will be loosed out of his Restraint or Prison again and because he knows he hath but a short time will gather together his Armies comprehended under the name of Gog and Magog Rev. 20. whose names signify covered or to cover to wit but not with my Spirit saith the Lord Isa 30.1 but with his Angelick Doctrines as if they came from Heaven So will he use his uttermost sleights to deceive as Christ saith if it were possible the very Elect by his false Apostles and Prophets with their vain titles and gilded shews of Church and Ministry So that the Harlot or false Church called a Beast is said to have Horns like the Lamb Christ Rev. 13.11 yea she is said to be arrayed with Purple and Scarlet gilded with Gold precious Stones and Pearls Rev. 17.4 as if she were the Queen and Spouse of Christ Psal 45.9 13. Ezek. 16.10 13. Cant. 7.5 She hath Peace-offerings and Vows Prov. 7.14 as if she were the very Church of God Psal 66.13 Bread and Water to refresh her Children Prov. 9.16 17. and her number great and many Jer. 5.7 yet but a well-favoured Harlot Nah. 3.4 who by her alluring tongue whereby she lieth in wait to deceive Eph. 4.14 Rom 16.18 hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slain by her for her house is the way to Hell going down to the Chambers of Death Prov. 7.26 27. Therefore what special care ought every one to have that tender their souls eternal happiness to examine what estate they are in and whether the Congregation they are members of be the true Church of God seeing in these last days Christ telleth us that many false Christs and false Prophets shall arise and deceive many Now if in Nature we were warned of these dangers and harms to the Body what strong watch would we set at our gates both night and day to prevent it how much more being warned by these Lines of the dangers of these last and perilous days wherein so many unstable souls are beguiled that never try by God's Word what they hear but if it suit with the natural sense it is yeelded to for a Truth when as the natural man cannot judg in matters of Faith seing he perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God and so upon this false ground is the whole Gospel of Christ perverted and made a secondary Law of works that if men believe as the general part of the Church believes it is true belief and if they go to hear a Sermon and sometimes break Bread it is all the service God requires of them in the Church or Congregation Let us intreat such not thus to deceive themselves or any longer be led away by Deceivers to think if they imitate a part of God's service or without Faith in what they do they are in a good condition Let such know the contrary for Cain as well as Abel offered sacrifice yet were not both accepted Gen. 4. Israel in their Apostacy erected a Temple an Altar and Ministry 1 King 12.28 And did not the two women plead both considently for the living Child 1 King 3.16 and whose could it be but hers that loved it most Even so who is the true Church of Christ but they that love him most and who are those Churches that love Christ most but they that keep all his Commandments as it is written He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me Joh. 14.21 But how shall such Churches be said to love Christ that shut out of his Church or Kingdom his true Ministry and also the performance of several of his Ordinances For proof thereof we refer the conscienable Reader that will judg without partiality comparing the practice of the Church in this day and their faith to the primitive practice that we the poor despised Christians falsly called Brownists have here set down as our Belief and Practice desiring the Lord in his mercy to bless these our Labours to this Generation even the elect among them that they seeing their Lords pleasure may flee to him whom they love in his true Church as Doves to their windows Isae 60.8 Now to him that is able to keep us from falling even the only wise God and our Lord Jesus Christ be all Glory Honour and Praise rendred now and for evermore Amen FINIS