Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	heaven_n	pharisee_n	scribe_n	2,390	5	10.4944	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62565	The indispensable necessity of the knowledge of the Holy Scripture in order to man's eternal salvation and ignorance therein, the mother of idolatry and superstition asserted in a sermon / preached by John Tillotson ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1687 (1687)	Wing T1198; ESTC R31967	15,700	26

THE Indispensable Necessity OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE IN ORDER To MAN's Eternal Salvation and Ignorance therein The Mother of Idolatry and Superstition Asserted IN A SERMON PREACHED by JOHN TILLOTSON D. D. and Dean of Canterbury MATTHEW xxiii 13 ●o unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men and ye neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in Imprimatur C. A. Nov. 17. 1685. LONDON ●●inted for Will. Norris at the Maiden-head in Holbourn 1687. Price Stitched three pence MATTHEW xxiii 13 Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men and ye neither go in your selves nor suffer ye them that are entring in THE Scribes so often mentioned in the Gospel were the great Doctors among the Jews the Teachers and Interpreters of the Law of God. And because many of them were of the Sect of the Pharisees which above all others pretended to ●kill and knowledge in the Law therefore it is our blessed Saviour does so often put the Scribes and Pha●isees together And these were the Men of Chief Au●hority in the Jewish Church Who equalled their ●wn Unwritten Word and Traditions with the Law ●f God Nay our Saviour tells us they made the Commandments of God of none effect by their Traditions They did in effect assume to themselves infallibility ●nd all that opposed and contradicted them they brand●d with the Odious Name of Hereticks Against these ●ur Saviour denounceth this Woe here in the Text Woe ●nto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye shut up ●●e Kingdom of Heaven against Men c. All the Difficulty in the Words is what is here ●eant by shutting up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men ● Luke expresseth it more plainly ye have taken away ●●e key of Knowledge ye entred not into your selves and ●●em that were entring in ye hindred By putting these ●●o Expressions together we shall the more easily ●●me at the meaning of the Text. Ye have taken away 〈◊〉 key of Knowledge and have shut up the Kingdom of ●●aven against Men. This Metaphor of the 〈…〉 Knowledge is undoubtedly an Allusion to that known Custom among the Jews in the admission of their Doctors For to whomsoever they gave Authority to interpret the Law and the Prophets they were solemnly admitted into that Office by delivering to them a Key and a Table-book So that by the key of knowledge is here meant the Interpretation and understanding of the Scriptures and by taking away the key of Knowledge not only that they arrogated to themselves alone the Understanding of the Scriptures but likewise that they had Conveyed away this key of Knowledge and as it were hid it out of the way neither using it themselves as they ought nor suffering Others to make use of it And thus they Shut the Kingdom of Heaven against Men which is very fitly said of those who have lock-the Door against them that were going in and have taken away the key By all which it appears that the Plain meaning of our Saviour in these Metaphorical Expressions is that the Scribes and Teachers of the Law under a Pretence of Interpreting the Scriptures had perverted them and kept the true Knowledge of them from the People Especially those Old Prophecies 〈◊〉 the Old Testamant which concerned the Messias An● by this means the Kingdom of Heaven was shut again●● Men And they not only rejected the Truth themselves but by keeping Men in Ignorance of the true meanin● of the Scriptures they hindered Many from embracin● our Saviour's Doctrine and entering into the Kingdo● of Heaven who were ot●erwise well enough dispose● for it Having thus Explained the Words I shall from th● main Scope and Design of them observe to you thes● two things I. The necessity of the Knowledge of the holy Scriptures in order to our Eternal Salvation It is called b● our Saviour the key of Knowledge that which lets Me● into the Kingdom of Heaven II. The great and inexcusable fault of those who deprive the People of the Knowledge of the Holy Scri●●tures They shut the Kingdom of Heaven against Me● and do what in them lies to hinder their Eternal Salvation and therefore our Saviour denounceth so heavy a Woe against them I shall speak briefly to these two Observations and then apply them to those who are principally concerned in them 1. First I observe hence the Necessity of the knowledge of the holy Scriptures in order to our Eternal Salvation This is by our Saviour called the key of knowledge that which lets Men into the Kingdom of Heaven Knowledge is necessary to Religion It is necessary to the being of it and necessary to the life and practice of it Without Faith says the Apostle it is impossible to please God Because Faith is an act of the Understanding and does necessarily suppose some knowledge and apprehension of what we believe To all acts of Religion there is necessarily req●ired some act of the Understanding so that without Knowledge there can be no Devotion in the Service of God no Obedience to his Laws Religion begins in the Understanding and from thence descends upon the heart and life If ye know these things says our Saviour happy are ye if ye do them We must first know God before we can worship him and understand what is his Will before we can do it This is so very evident that one would think there needed no Discourse about it And yet there are some in the World that cry up Ignorance as the Mother of Devotion And to shew that we do not wrong them in this matter Mr. Rushworth in his Dialogues a Book in great vogue among the Papists here in England does expresly reckon up Ignorance among the Parents of Religion And can any thing be said more absurdly and more to the Disparagement of Religion than to derive the Pedigree of the most excellent thing in the World from so obscure and ignoble an Original and to make that which the Scripture calls the beginning of Wisdom and the Excellency of Knowledge to be the Off-spring of Ignorance and a Child of Darkness Ignorance indeed may be the cause of Wonder and Admiration and the Mother of Folly and Superstition But surely Religion is of a nobler Extraction and is the Issue and Result of the best Wisdom and Knowledge and descends from above from the giver of every good and perfect Gift even the Father of Lights And as Knowledge in general is necessary to Religion so more particularly the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures is necessary to our Eternal Salvation Because these are the great and standing Revelations of God to Mankind wherein the Nature of God and his Will concerning our Duty and the Terms and Conditions of our Eternal Happiness in another World are fully and plainly declared to us The Scriptures are the Word of God and from whence can we learn the