STRAIT GATE by JOHN BUNYAN
1. In the old world, when it was most
populous, even in the days of Noah, we read
but of eight persons that were saved out of it;
well, therefore, might Peter call them but few;
but how few? why, but eight souls; “wherein
few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.”
(1 Peter 3:20) He touches a second time upon
this truth, saying, He “spared not the old
world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a
preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood
upon the world of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:5)
Mark, all the rest are called the ungodly, and
there were also a world of them. These are also
taken notice of in Job, and go there also by the
name of wicked men: “Hast thou marked the
old way which wicked men have trodden?
which were cut down out of time, whose
foundation was overflown with a flood, which
said unto God, Depart from us, and what can
the Almighty do for them?” (Job 22:15-17)
There were therefore but eight persons that
escaped the wrath of God, in the day that the
flood came upon the earth; the rest were
ungodly; there was also a world of them, and
they are to this day in the prison of hell. (Heb
11:7, 1 Peter 3:19,20) Nay, I must correct my
pen, there were but seven of the eight that were
good; for Ham, though he escaped the
judgment of the water, yet the curse of God
overtook him to his damnation. 2. When the
world began again to be replenished, and
people began to multiply therein: how few, even
in all ages, do we read of that were saved from
the damnation of the world!
(1.) One Abraham and his wife, God called
out of the land of the Chaldeans; “I called,”
said God, “Abraham alone.” (Isa 51:2)
(2.) One Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah,
out of Admah and Zeboim; one Lot out of four
cities! Indeed his wife and two daughters went
out of Sodom with him; but they all three
proved naught, as you may see in the 19th of
Genesis. Wherefore Peter observes, that Lot
only was saved: “He turned the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes, condemning them
with an overthrow, making them an example
unto those that after should live ungodly, and
delivered just Lot, that righteous man.” (Read 2
Peter 2:6-8) Jude says, that in this
condemnation God overthrew not only Sodom
and Gomorrah, but the cities about them also;
and yet you find none but Lot could be found
that was righteous, either in Sodom or
Gomorrah, or the cities about them; wherefore
they, all of them, suffer the vengeance of eternal
fire. (verse 7)
(3.) Come we now to the time of the Judges,
how few then were godly, even then when the
inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in
Israel! “the highways” of God “were” then
“unoccupied.” (Judg 5:6,7)
(4.) There were but few in the days of David:
“Help, Lord,” says he, “for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the
children of men.” (Psa 12:1)
(5.) In Isaiah’s time the saved were come to
such a few, that he positively says that there
were a very small number left: “God had made
them like Sodom, andthey had been like unto
Gomorrah.” (Isa 1:8,9)
(6.) It was cried unto them in the time of
Jeremiah, that they should “run to and fro
through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now,
and know, and seek in the broad places thereof,
if ye can find a man, if there be any that
executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and
I will pardon it.” (Jer 5:1)
(7.) God showed his servant Ezekiel how few
there would be saved in his day, by the vision of
a few hairs saved out of the midst of a few
hairs; for the saved were a few saved out of a
few. (Eze 5:5)
(8.) You find in the time of the prophet
Micah, how the godly complain, that as to
number they then were so few, that he
compares them to those that are left behind
when they had gathered the summer- fruit.
(Micah 7:1)
(9.) When Christ was come, how did he
confirm this truth, that but few of them that
put in claim for heaven will have it for their
inheritance! But the common people could not
hear it, and therefore, upon a time when he did
but a little hint at this truth, the people, even all
in the synagogue where he preached it, “were
filled with wrath, rose up, thrust him out of the
city, and led him unto the brow of the hill,”
whereon their city was built, “that they might
cast him down headlong.” (Luke 4:24-29)
(10.) John, who was after Christ, saith, “The
whole world lieth in wickedness; that all the
world wondered after the beast; and that power
was given to the beast over all kindreds,
tongues, and nations.” Power to do what?
Why, to cause all, both great and small, rich
and poor, bond and free, to receive his mark,
and to be branded for him. (1 John 5:10, Rev
13:3,7,16)
(11.) Should we come to observation and
experience, the show of the countenance of the
bulk of men doth witness against them; “they
declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not.”
(Isa 3:9) Where is the man that maketh the
Almighty God his delight, and that designeth
his glory in the world? Do not even almost all
pursue this world, their lusts and pleasures? and
so, consequently, say unto God, “Depart from
us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy
ways; or, What is the Almighty that we should
serve him? It is in vain to serve God,” &c.
So that without doubt it will appear a truth
in the day of God, that but few of them that
shall put in their claim to heaven will have it for
their inheritance.
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