A30209:41
The strait gate, or, Great difficulty of going to Heaven plainly proving
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.
London: printed for Francis Smith, 1676
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
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 the donor and disposer of that kingdom to whom he will: further, this place is called his house, and himself the master of it (when once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to ⟨p. 13⟩the door (ver. 25.) But we use to say, that the master of the house, is not the door: men enter into heaven then, by him, not as he is the gate or door, or entrance into the celestial mansion house, but as he is the giver and disposer of that kingdom to them who he shall count worthy, because he hath obtained it for them.
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 the doner and disposer of that kingdom to whom he will: further, this place is called his house, and himself the master of it (when once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to ⟨p. 13⟩the door (ver. 25.) But we use to say, that the master of the house, is not the door: men enter into heaven then, by him, not as he is the gate or door, or entrance into the celestial mansionhouse, but as he is the giver and disposer of that kingdom to them who he shall count worthy, because he hath obtained it for them.
2. That this gate is the very passage into heaven, consider the text hath special reference to the day of judgment, when Christ will have laid aside his mediatory office, which before he exercised for the bringing to the faith his own elect; and will then act, not as one that justifies the ungodly, but as one that judgeth sinners; he will now be risen up from the throne of grace, and shut up the door against all the impenitent, and will be set upon the throne of judgment, from thence to proceed with ungodly sinners.