Commentary on the Gospels and Acts, Commentary 1 · Chapter 7 · Verse 13
Verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate]
Our Saviour havingTruth may … by the … hitherto pointed out the right way of well-doing, and shew'd how to steere a straight course to the haven of happinesse; now gives warning of certain dangerous rocks (against the which divers have dashed, to their utter destruction, and are therefore) carefully to… be declined. Of these, the first he nameth is, the following of a multitude to do evil, the joyning hand in hand with the rude rable that are running apace toward the pit of perdition, which is but a little before them; the doing as most men do, which is to be … undone for ever. The wicked (though never so many of…. 9. 17. …) goe … to hell, and whole nations that forget God: HencePer … ne …. …. the gate thereto is grown so wide, and the way so well-beaten. But none that goe that way returne again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. Enter therefore in at the streight gate, saith our Saviour. Vive ut pauci, &c. Live as those few live that enterIn epist. into life eternall, saith Cassianus: for if you will needs imitate theSi … imitari …, inter … angustam viam …. multitude, saith Austin, ye shall not be numbred among the living in Jerusalem, Isa. 4 3, 4. Save your selves from this untoward generation, saith St Peter, shine amidst them, as lamps, saith St Paul, as Abrahams lamp that shone out in the smoaky furnace, as the wise-mens star, that shewed it self in the midst ofAug. darknesse, like the moon that holds on her course, though the dogs bark at her never so long, never so loud; like the Sun that rejoycethPlin. as a bride-groom to run his race, though the Alantes (a certain people) curse him at his rising, because scorched with his heat:1 Pet. 1. 5. with …. 3. 3. & 2 Tim. 3. 1, …. Hos. …. 13. Argumentum … est turba. Sen. Esa. 6. …. foreign, Cosos. 2. …. Or rather like God himself, who then doth his best works, when men are at worst, overcoming our evill with his good, and not suffering mens perversnes to interrupt the course of his …. Swim not down the stream of the times as dead fishes doe; neither be carried along by the swinge and sway of the place you dwell in. Let not your lips be polluted by living among a people of polluted lips, with Esay, swear not with Ioseph, curse not with Peter, comply not with the common sort, learn not the manners of the mad multitude. The worse they are, the better be you; the more outragious they, the more couragious you, violent for heaven, and valiant for the truth; therefore walking exactly, and therefore … the time because the daies are evil, and most men walk at all adventures. To walk with God (saith Bishop Babington) isLevit. 26 In Gen. 6. 8. a pretious praise, though none do it but my selfe: and to walk with man, with the world, with a town or parish in wicked wayes, is a deadly sin, though millions do it besides. And, it matters not (saidNumerus … non …, ubi … pietas, nec …, … impiet as, … epist. ad … Imp. …. … 2. … Nicolas Bishop of Rome) how small the number be, if godly, nor how great, if ungodly. Noah condemned a world of wicked people, by his contrary courses, and became heir of the … which is by faith, Heb. 1 1 7. whilest he continued righteous, even in his generation, and kept himself unspotted in so foul a season. The Apostle telleth us, that to live according to the common course of the world, is no better then to be acted and agitated by the devill. But God hath promised to take this unclean spirit out of the land, Zech. 13. 2. Fiat, Fiat. And when Christ bids us Enter in at the straight gate, we must know that his words are operative, to cause us to enter, as when he said, Lazarus come forth, and in the creation, Let there be …. His word and Spirit go together. He works all our works for us, Isaiah 26.