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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	church_n	heaven_n	peter_n	4,199	5	7.9041	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16943	The house of God The sure foundation, the stones, the vvorkmen and order of the building. The incomparable strength of that house, and the vaine assaults and batteries of Satan and all his power. In a sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, December 24, 1626. / By Matthevv Brookes.	Brookes, Matthew, fl. 1626-1657.	1627 (1627)	STC 3836; ESTC S119308	25,408	48

in the third yeere of his Ministrie which was the 33. yeere of his age An. Osiand Harm Euang. lib. 2. cap. 32. went the second time vnto the borders of the Gentiles and vpon the confines of Caesarea Philippi propounded vnto his Disciples this question Whom doe men say that I the sonne of man am and when as hee had receiued their answer reporting the opinions or diuers conceipts which the people had of him Mar. 6.14 15. Luc. 9.7 8. some giuing out that he was Iohn the Baptist some Elias some Hieremias or one of the Prophets Our Sauiour who was not ignorant of this hauing for this purpose asked the question doth from thence take occasion to come neerer to their consciences that so he might see what good vse they had made of that heauenly doctrine which hee had taught them and those diuine Miracles which he had wrought before them and to demand further saying Whom say ye that I am To which proposition when Peter readily replyed saying Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God hee hath then that he look't for and taketh occasion from thence to cleare the whole matter and to make it appeare who are his chosen people by what lawes he will gouerne them what that building of his might be which the Temple figured and that elected place which he would neuer leaue nor forsake First he assureth Peter that the answer which he had giuen him was not nati ex carne sanguine the sensuall wisdome of a man borne of flesh and blood but renati ex spiritu sancto the heauenly wisdome of a man borne againe of the holy Ghost Flesh and blood hath not reuealed it vnto thee but my Father which is in heauen Secondly he letteth Peter to vnderstand what prerogatiue he had obtained by laying vp in his heart that good lesson taught him by the Spirit of God viz. hee is made a member of that spirituall building which Christ would to bee built vpon himselfe as the foundation the fruite and effect whereof is that he should neuer fall away from Christ to his destruction And I say vnto thee Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Churh and the gates of Hell shall not preuaile against it Lastly he doth amplifie this prerogatiue by declaration of that priuiledge which he receiued by his Ministeriall function and the fruit and effect of the same And I will giue vnto thee the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heauen whatsoeuer thou shalt loose on earth shall be loofed in Heauen That which I will set before you is the prerogatiue which Peter obtained by the faith which he had receiued the fruite and effect whereof was his good confession and heerein confider three things First his personall benefit Thou art Peter Secondly whereunto that personall benefit hath relation viz. the building this is described and the dignitie and worthinesse of it expressed by a double exposition the first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is not only a Church but the Church of Christ my Church Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hence you haue the definition of that Church as if he should say My Church is that building which I will build vpon this Rocke which thou hast confessed and therein you haue two propositions First The Church is builded by Christ I will build my Church Secondly Christ his Church is builded vpon a Rocke and that not euerie Rocke but vpon this Rocke Vpon this Rocke I will build my Church Lastly the inference or conclusion because it is the Church of Christ because he builds it because hee builds it vpon that Rocke therefore the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it Heerein consider two things First what those gates of hell are secondly how they preuaile not against that My Church the Church of Christ I shall shew you that the Iewes were not onely the Church of Christ the Mount Moriah not properly the foundation or the stones of the Iewes Temple the stones of that building I will shew you that the Church is the company of Gods Elect and chosen that Peter was not the head of it but a stone of the building that Christ is the sure foundation and that whosoeuer is builded on him shall neuer be broken downe no not by the gates of hell Let me beg your attention in the name of Christ Of Peters prerogatiue and therein first of the personall benefit which he receiued which is the first thing THou art Peter The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall doth signifie a stone the prerogatiue therfore which Peter had is this he is made a stone non conuersione naturae not by conuersion of his nature into stone sed done gratiae but hee is made a stone by the gift of grace And he is made a stone two manner of waies by his faith and by his function Heere is our Sauiour as good as his word and performeth that promise which he made vnto him Ioh. 1.42 when his brother Andrew first brought him vnto Christ Thou art Simon the sonne of Iona thou shalt bee called Cephas which is by interpretation a stone And our Lord did reserue the confirmation of his promise till Peter had made this good confession The Church of God which is the companie of those whom God hath elected to life eternall is often in the Scriptures resembled to a materiall Temple and in particular to the Temple of Hierusalem so that as that was called a house Mat. 21.13 the house of prayer so is this called a house 1 Pet. 5.2 a spirituall house for distinctions sake The materiall house was built of stones layed one vpon another the spirituall house is likewise said to bee builded 1 Cor. 12.26 1. Pet. 2.5 builded of stones not naturall stones but liuing stones The naturall stones of the materiall Temple were ioyned and cimented one to another that so the building might rise vp to perfection and the spirituall stones are fitly framed together Eph. 2.21 that the building may grow vnto an holy Temple of the Lord. Now to make the similitude more plaine the materiall Temple had a strong foundation a Rocke next to which were stones of great strength to support the whole fabricke of the building which stones might not improperly be called the foundation being indeed a second foundation most necessarie for so great a pile and afterwards it was raised with costly and curious stones 1 King 6.7 such as Salomon made ready and brought thither or such as those stones which the Disciples did maruell at in the Temple Mar. 13.1 for the fairenesse and the greatnesse of them Antiq. lib. 15. cap. 14. which stones as saith Iosephus were 25. cubits long 8. cubits high and 12. cubits broad In like maner this spirituall building is built on Christ a most strong and sure foundation that is the first

bolted by gates you may vnderstand omne robur omne munimentum all power and all fortification and by Hell omnem vim contrariam Satanicam omnem host is impetum the Diuell himselfe and all his angels all the power that they haue the wicked world Illyric voce porta all tyrants and seducers which are the Diuels instruments For to make the matter more plaine in the words of a learned man the state of the faithfull and chosen of God in this present life is as it were a Warfare 2 Cor. 10.4 whereof the Church is called Militant The aduersaries and enemies whom we must fight against our Sauiour speaketh of them as of a strong kingdome Ephes 6.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10.4 which he calleth Hell because it warreth all for Hell and the Diuell is the prince of it The gates of Hell therefore doe signifie the holds the fortresses and munitions wherewith the powers of Hell doe fight against vs and assault vs that is euen all whatsoeuer the Diuell can doe by force or fraud all the which is meant by the name of gates because the gates of forts are wont to haue the best munition Epiphan lib. ●n●●●r Aug. de S●mb 〈…〉 ●●b 1. cap. 6. and to be fenced most strongly So that the gates of Hell are not onely Heresies though Heresies are of them as Epiphanius and Austin note but also persecutions and specially sinnes in a word all euils sweet or sowre faire or foule Orig. in Mat. tract 1. Chrysost cont gent. quod Christus est Deus Greg. in 5. Psal poenitent Theophil in Mat. 16. Hier. Raban Com. in Mat. 16. Raynold Confer cap. 7. diuis 8. Cypr. ad Donat. Epist 2. that seeke to subdue vs to euerlasting death as Origen Chrysostome Gregory Theophilact and others well obserue Let me now say vnto you as Cyprian said to a friend of his Suppose thy selfe to bee carried to the top of some high hill view the world beneath thee doe not touch the earth looke round about thee and behold how tempestuous the world is iam saeculi ipse misereberis tuique admonitus plus in Deum gratus maio●e laetitia quod enaseris gratulaberis certainely thou wilt pitty the world thou wilt be admonished of thine owne condition and being more thankfull vnto God wilt reioyce exceedingly that thou hast escaped such a place For shall I tell you Ye shall see wonders in the world and I will report that vnto you which if yee haue the Spirit of God in you shall prick your consciences In the Booke of Iudges it is reported as an argument of Samsons great strength Iudg. 16.3 that he carried the gates of Gaza vpon his shoulders an act almost as great as what the Poets can report of Atlas But see not the weake gates of Gaza but the strong gates of Hell not vpon the shoulders and backs of men and women only but that which you may admire set vpon their heads layed out by their cheekes worne vpon their hand-wrests hung at their eares O tempora ô mores else what meaneth this monstrous pride of apparell of tyres of bracelets of Iewels ouerflowing our nation like a generall deluge You put the gates of Hell into your purses by taking of bribes vsurie money euill gettings you set them at your tables in the persons of Hereticks and seducers you lodge them in your beds by vnlawfull lusts you let them in at your eares when you listen to vngodlines you looke vpon them with your eyes when you see in your houses that accursed thing which you ought to restore you lay them vp in your hearts when you deuise vaine things Certainely for many considerations this Citie may be called an holy Citie for heere the Word of GOD is most plentifully preached heere are good Lawes and for ought I know good Magistrates and I make no question many thousands of honest and obedient hearts Yet the cause being the same the complaint must needs be the same also Isai 1.21 How is the faithfull Citie become an Harlot The abuse of all good things within this place is wonderfull and doth ring Migremus hine in the eares of euery good man who might vtterly faint and bee discouraged did he not hope verily to see the goodnes of the Lord in the Land of the liuing I say the wickednesse of the place might vtterly dismay deceiue and ouerthrow the children of GOD themselues had not Christ so builded them vpon himselfe that the gates of hell shall not preuaile against them The words are Secondly how the gates of Hell preuaile not against the Church of Christ Psal 139.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee doth not say they shall not assaile it but they shall not preuaile against it Many a time haue they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say Many a time haue they afflicted me from my youth yet they haue not preuailed against me 2. The plowers plowed vpon my backe they made long forrowes 3. The Lord is righteous he hath out asunder the cords of the wicked 4. These gates of hell doe assaile the Church generally and euery particular member of the same both externally by slanders and persecutions and internally by motions temptations and inward suggestions so that to speake properly in all places and at all times the gates of hell come about them like Bees for the Diuell the Prince of Hell our Aduersarie 1 Pet. 5.8 as a roring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may deuoure They haue likewise preuailed thus farre that they haue tempted them sometimes by great and grieuous losses of their goods names and bodies but that which the Poets feigne of Sisyphus wee may truly affirme of them their labour is lost and the mischieues which they haue deuised haue euer returned vpon themselues They were neuer able to mooue the Church or any true beleeuer from that Rocke Shall I say more The impious attempts of the gates of Hell haue beene as well to the publike weale of the Church Rom. 8.28 as to the priuate good of her particular members For all things worke together for good to them that loue God to them who are the called according to his purpose Vpon this resolution the people of God haue constantly indured couragiously contemning all the gates of hell battering the Walles of the Church like that great Ram with which the Romane Armie did day and night beate the Walles of Hierusalem Troy was besieged tenne yeeres in the end it was taken by policie Numantia was besieged fourteene yeeres and then conquered by famine Tyrus a Citie walled with the Sea in seuen moneths was ouercome by assault But the Church of GOD straitly begirt not by Agamemnon and Menelaus not by Scipio Africanus or Alexander the Macedonian not for tenne or foureteene yeeres but from the beginning of the world and expecting to be so dealt withal vnto the worlds end by the Deuil

this building and shall neuer finally perish because hee hath builded him vpon himselfe for he hath said I will neuer leaue thee Heb. 13.5 nor forsake thee Now all the furious winds of Aeolus velut agmine facto Qua data porta ruunt the Diuell and all the gates of Hell fight against the Church of Christ and hence those wars and rumors of warres that fall vpon Christendome like a mighty storme possessing the eares of men with the dolefull tidings of Cog and Magog armed compleatly to fight against the Saints of God Will you know the euent of all these warres conspiracies tumults seditions plagues They besiege an inuincible sort the gates of Hell shall not preuaile against it Mitylene a magnificent Citie was by the report of Vitrunius Vitru lib. 1. rarely builded but very badly situated For when the South-wind bloweth the Inhabitants grow sicke when the West-wind they cough but when the North-wind doth blow they are made well The Church Militans is rarely builded yet badly situated as it were in the vnhealthy Marishes of Egypt one while the South-wind bloweth and it is sicke this is when Heresies spring vp with the Gospell as tares among Wheat You remember how sicke the Church was of no lesse then 80 Heresies within the first 500 yeeres after Christ you remember the growth increase and power of the Arian and Papall heresies Sometimes the Church cougheth and doth labour for life vnder the strength of a disease this is in time of tribulation as in Egypt in the Babylonish transportation in those ten bloody pursuites next following Christs ascension adde here the Arian and Papall persecutions With this grieuous disease the Church is sorely smitten at this time and laboureth for life being not altogether free from the languishing ill of Heresies This is the cough of the Lungs a griefe very dangerous to the Patient the poore distressed Spouse of Christ but God the Physician wil turne the wind neuer doubt it that it may be cured It was Athanasius resolution in those dayes of trouble which Iulian the Apostata brought vpon the Saints of God and when the Church of Alexandria whereof he was Bishop was compassed with a band of men when the poore flocke of Christ stood about him their Pastour with weeping teares fearing on their owne behalfe yet more caring on his Nolite inquit ô filij cōturbari Rufim Eccl. hist lib. 1. cap. 34. quia nubecula est citò pertransit My little children saith he be not afraid it is a little cloud the wind wil dispell it euen by and by Some cloud hangeth ouer that Citie of God the holy place of the Tabernacle of the most highest and doeth for the present let fall an vnwholesome raine vpon it but the wind will turne about to the North to cure it and the enemies thereof shall misse their marke because the gates of Hell shall not preuaile against it What can they doe more then God permitteth them to doe for the good of his Church and Chosen people He that said of that great Assyrian Tyrant 2 Kings 19.28 I will put my hooke in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turne thee backe by the way by which thou camest will also in good time put his hooke in their noses and his bridle in their lips and will turne them about to their ruine as the Tragedie of all persecutors in all ages shall witnesse with me But oh Horrore quatior fata quo vergant timens Trepidumque gemino pectus euentu labat I see the bloody stripes of Confessors their torments and tortures the cruell deaths of Martyres their murthers but cheries the subuersion of States Common-weales Kingdomes Nation rising against Nation and Kingdome against Kingdome What can these things portend but the vtter extirpation of the Church of Christ Answ Collect hence three things First a purgation by a fiery tryall of some particular places where the glorious Gospell of our Lord and Sauiour Christ hath been prophaned by Heresies by Schismes or by licencious liuing So fared it with Hierusalem as you may read 2 Chro. 36. from 11. to 22 verse And in this case when I behold the bruised face of our neighbour Churches States and Kingdomes being not able to giue a reason of the present misery I am compelled to admire with the Apostle saying How vnsearchable are his Iudgements and his wayes past finding out Secondly God will make his Church fruitfull by the blood of Martyrs and Confessors For the Church is the Paradise or Garden of God his people are his pleasant plants that his Garden may be fruitfull he doth water it with blood Sanguine fundata est Ecclesia sanguine creuit Sanguine succreuit sanguine finis erit Who knowes not that the Church was founded in blood the blood of the righteous Abel that it had her increase in blood the blood of the Prophets that it had her fulnesse of strength in blood the blood of the Redeemer and that it shall end in blood the blood of the Martyrs If therefore now at last a veine bee opened and the Church doth bleed after so many bloody battels after so many grieuous persecutions shall we at length stand amazed To what end haue the Apostles of our Lord prepared vs vpon a resolution saying that all that will liue godly in Christ Iesus 2 Tim. 3.12 shall suffer persecutions but that we should bee ready alwayes to lay downe our neckes to the blowes of tyrants and so much the rather for that it is to the growth and increase of the Church of God for Sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church Lastly God will honour some of his seruants before other as a King doth and these shall weare the precious Robes of bonds stripes imprisonment and death it selfe for what greater honour to a Christian then to suffer for that blessed Name by which he is redeemed It was ioy to the Apostles that they were accounted worthie to suffer for the name of Christ Till therefore our Church come to be purged by that fyerie triall or till our blood be shed to water the garden of our God or till the Lord will honour vs with the Crowne of Martyrdome in the middest of these troublesome dayes as fellow-feeling members of that mysticall Body of which Christ our Sauiour is the Head we rest constant and confident vpon that propheticall resolution Psal 46.1 God is our hope and strength a very present helpe in trouble Therfore will wee not feare 2. though the earth be remened and though the Mountaines be carried into the middest of the Sea 3. Though the waters thereof roare and be troubled though the mountaines shake with the swelling thereof 4. There is a riuer the streames whereof shall make glad the Citie of God the holy place of the Tabernacle of the most high The Citie of God is his Church watred with the streames of the blood of the Redeemer that Fountaine opened to the house of Dauid Zech. 13.1 and to the inhabitants of Hierusalem for sinne and for vncleannesse Seeing therefore that he hath taken vs into his protection built vs on himselfe watered vs with his blood it is enough for vs to commend our selues to his prouidence and to rest confident that because we haue him for our Rock Quatiat licèt Orbem tumultus terráque sedibus Conuulsa montium ruinis Arctet aquas pelagi frementis The gates of Hell shall not preuaile against vs. FINIS