Matthew 7:14

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Ver. 14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, &c.] "In Lollards' tower, passing through six or seven doors I came to my lodging" (saith Philpot, martyr) "through many straits; where I called to remembrance, that strait is the way to heaven." The old copies read, Oh, how strait is the gate! by way of admiration, q.d. It is wondrous strait. a Not of itself, for Christ's yoke is easy, and his burden light; but we make it so hard and heavy to ourselves, by our singular peevishness and perverseness. Besides, the prince of darkness and his black guard favour this way, that is called holy, as little as the Philistine princes did David, yea, they persecute it to the death as Saul did, Acts 9:1,2. Hence the way to heaven is an afflicted way, a perplexed, persecuted way, crushed close together with crosses (as the word importeth), b as was the Israelites' way in the wilderness, or that of Jonathan and his armourbearer, that had a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other. And, while they crept upon all fours, flinty stones were under them, briers and thorns on either hand of them, mountains, crags, and promontories over them, sic petitur coelum, so heaven is caught, by pains, by patience, by violence, affliction being our inseparable companion. "The crossway is the highway to heaven," said that martyr. And another, "If there be any way to heaven on horseback, it is by the cross." Queen Elizabeth is said to have swum to the crown through a sea of sorrows. They that will to heaven must sail by hell's gates. They that will have knighthood, must kneel for it; and they that will get in at the strait gate, must crowd for it. "Strive to enter iu at the strait gate," saith our Saviour. Strive and strain even to an agony (as the word signifieth). Heaven is compared to a hill, Psalms 121:1; hell to a hole. To hell a man may go without a staff (as we say), the way thereto is easy, steep, strewed with roses. c It is but a yielding to Satan, a passing from sin to sin, from evil purposes to evil practices, from practice to custom, &c. Sed revocare gradum, but to turn short again, and make strait steps to our feet, that we may force through this strait gate (so strait, that as few can walk in it, so none can halt in it, but must needs go upright), hic labor, hoc opus est, onus non pulvinaris sed pulveris, this is a work of great pains, a duty of no small difficulty. "Many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter," but seeking serves not turn. Men must strive, and strive lawfully, run, and run lustily, tug and take pains till they sweat and faint, to get through this strait gate, this perplexed way; as unpleasant to nature as the way to Nineveh was to Jonah; as rough and rugged as that was to the Church, Hosea 2:6; as little traced and trod as the highways to Sion hill, which were overgrown with grass, because few or none came to the solemn feasts, Lamentations 1:4 .

And few there be that find it] So hard is it to hit, and as dangerous to miss. Many byways there are (these are so many highways to hell), besides false guides and steep declines not a few, to divert us: the devil with his false directions leading men hoodwinked to hell, as Elijah did the Syrians to Samaria. The world with its allurements and affrightments, -oh, how hardly scape we through the corruptions that are in the world through lust! d Our own hearts, how heavy are they to be drawn this way! A bear comes not unwillingly to the stake. It goes hard with a man when he must peremptorily deny himself; when he must deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, as dear unto him as himself, and be tied to live holily, righteously, and soberly in this present world, Titus 2:12; making conscience of those duties which the most men's hearts rise at, as to be hot in religion, fervent in spirit, precise in his whole course, conscientious and cautious of the least sin, &c. Heaven is a stately palace with a narrow portal, hence so few enter it. The proud man with his high looks cannot stoop to it. The ambitious with his aspiring thoughts cannot bend to it. The malicious is swollen too big for it. The covetous with his load of thick clay cannot get through it. The drunkard with his rotten lungs, the adulterer with his wasted loins, can have no admittance into it. There can in no wise enter anything filthy or loathsome, abominable or detestable, which a man would abhor for the ill-savour (as the word signifieth, Rev 21:27), e such as for the baseness thereof cannot be well named, it is so noisome to the senses. As soon may these men find fishes swimming in a wood, fruit trees growing in the sea, heaven in hell, as enter into the strait gate, not living strictly. Which because few can frame to, but deride those that do (counting and calling them, as the Spaniards are said to do the Portugals, poco y locos, few and foolish), therefore few are saved. Our Saviour calleth his flock a "little little flock," two diminutives,Luke 12:32, standing (as that small army of Israel in Ahab's time) "like two little flocks of kids," 1 Kings 20:27, when the wicked (as those Syrians then) fill the country. Was it not so, when Jerome complained that the whole world was turned Arian, f and Basil cried out, An Ecclesias suas prorsus dereliquit Dominus? Hath God utterly forsaken his Church? &c. "The love of many shall wax cold, but he that endureth to the end," &c. It is but a "he," in the singular, that endureth to the end, the "many" fall away from their former steadfastness.

a Τι στενη, i.e. Βαβαι, saith Theophylact; לא saith the Syriac. Non quia dura, sed quia molles patimur.

b Τεθλιμμενη, pressa: res enim compressione fiunt aretiores. Beza. Manibus pedibusque obnixe omnia facere. Terent.

c ολιγη οδος, μαλα δ εγγυθι ναιει. Hes.

d Irritamenta, terriculamenta,2 Peter 1:7 .

e Βδελυγμα quod, propter foeditatem, nemo non aversatur. Βδεω, pedo.

f Ingemuit orbis, et miratus est se subito factum esse Arianum. Jerome.