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Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
death_n angel_n eternal_a zion_n 22 3 8.4695 4 false
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A30209 The strait gate, or, Great difficulty of going to Heaven plainly proving by the Scriptures that not only the rude and profane, but many great professors will come short of that Kingdom / by John Bunyan. Bunyan, John, 1628-1688. 1676 (1676) Wing B5600; ESTC R26567 52,935 156

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1. An intimation of the kingdom of heaven 2. A description of the entrance into it 3. An Exhortation to enter into it and 4. A motive to inforce that exhortation First An Intimation of the kingdom of heaven for when he saith strive to enter in and in such phrases there is supposed a place or state or both to be enjoyed enter in enter into what or whether but into a state or place or both and therefore when you reade this word enter in you must say there is certainly included in the text that good thing that yet is not expressed enter in into heaven that 's the meaning where the saved are and shall be into heaven that place that glorious place where God and Christ and Angels are and the souls or spirits of just men made perfect enter in that thing included though not expressed in the words is called in another place the Mount Sion the heavenly Jerusalem the general assemblie and Church of the first born which are written in heaven Heb. 12. And therefore the words signifie unto us that there is a state most glorious and that when this world is ended and that this place and state is likewise to be enjoyed and inherited by a generation of men for ever Besides this word enter in signifieth that salvation to the full is to be enjoyed only there and that there only is eternal safety all other places and conditions are hazzardo●s dangerous full of snares imperfections temptations and afflictions but there all is well there is no devil to tempt no desperately-wicked heart to deliver us up no deceitful lusts to intangle nor any inchanting world to bewitch us there all shall be well to all eternity Further all the parts of and circumstances that attend salvation are only there to be enjoyed there only is immortalitie and eternal life there is the glory the fulness of joy and the everlasting pleasures there is God and Christ to be enjoyed by open vision and more there are the Angels and the Saints further there is no death nor sickness no sorrow nor sighing for ever there is no pain nor persecutor nor darkness to eclipse our glory O this Mount Sion O this heavenly Jerusalem 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3 4. Psal. 16. 11. Luk. 20 35 36. Heb. 12. 12 23 14. Behold therefore what a great thing the Lord Jesus hath included by this little word in in this word is wrapt up an whole heaven and eternal life even as there is also by other little words in the holy Scriptures of truth as where he saith knock and it shall be opened unto you and the elect have obtained it This should teach us not only to reade but to attend in reading not only to read but to lift up our hearts to God in reading for if we be not heedful if he give us not light and understanding we may easily pass over without any great regard such a word as may have a glorious kingdom and eternal salvation in the bowels of it yea somtimes as here a whole heaven is intimated where it is not at all expressed The Apostles of old did use to fetch great things out of the Scriptures even out of the very order and timeing of the several things contained therein see Rom. 4. 9 10 11. Gala. 3. 16 17. Heb. 8. 13. but Secondly As we have here an intimation of the kingdom of heaven so we have a description of the entrance into it and that by a double similitude 1. It is called a gate 2. A strait gate strive to enter in at the strait gate 1. It is set forth by the similitude of a gate A gate you know is of a double use it is to open and shut and so consequently to let in or to keep out and to do both these at the season as he said let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened till the sun be hot and again I commanded that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath Neh. 7. 3. chap. 13. 19 20. And so you finde of this gate of heaven when the five wise virgins came the gates were open but afterward came the other virgins and the door was shut Matt. 11. So then the entrance into heaven is called a gate to shew there is a time when there may be entrance and there will come a time when there shall be none and indeed this is a chief truth contained in the text strive to enter in at the strait gate for many I say unto you will seek to enter in and shall not be able I reade in the Scriptures of two gates or doors through which they that go to heaven must enter 1. There is the door of faith the door which the grace of God hath opened to the gentiles this door is Jsus Christ as also himself doth testifie saying I am the door c. Acts. 14. 27. Joh. 10. 9. By this door men enter into Gods favour and mercy and finde forgiveness through faith in his blood and live in hope of eternal life and therefore himself also hath said I am the door by me if any man enter in he shall be saved that is received to mercy and inherit eternal life but 2. There is another door or gate for that which is called in the text a gate is twice in the next verse called a door there is I say another gate and that is the passage into the very heaven it self the entrance into the celestial mansion-house and that is the gate mentioned in the text and the door mentioned twice in the verse that follows And thus Jacob called it when he said Bethel was the house of God and this is the gate of heaven that is the entrance for he saw the entrance into heaven one end of Jacobs ladder stands in Bethel Gods house and the other end reacheth up to the gate of heaven Gen. 28. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. Jacobs ladder was the figure of Christ which ladder was not the gate of heaven but the way from the Church to that gate which he saw above at the top of the ladder Gen. 28. 12. and Joh. 1. 51. But again that the gate in the text is the gate or entrance into heaven consider 1. It is that gate that letteth men into or shuteth men out of that place or kingdom where Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is which place is that paradice where Christ promised the thief that he should be that day that he asked to be with him in his kingdom it is that place into which Paul said he was caught when he heard words unlawful or impossible for a man to utter Luk. 13. ●0 chap. 23. 24. 2 Cor. 12. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Quest. But is not Christ the gate or entrance into this heavenly place Answ. He is he without whom no man can get thither because by his merits men obtain that world and also because he as the father is