DISCOURSE III.

LUKE xiii. 23, 24.

Then faid one unto him, Lord, are there few that be faved? And he said unto them,

Strive to enter in at the ftrait gate; for many, I fag unto you, will feek to enter in, and fhall not be able

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T would be well for the cause of genuine Christianity, if its profeffors would contentedly fubmit to that reftraint, which its divine Author has impofed upon a prefumptuous curiofity. Such a fpirit appears to have actuated the perfon, whofe queftion is recorded in the text; and to have prompted him to feek for discoveries concerning the future condition of the human race. And the correction of fuch a spirit appears to have been the object of our Saviour's anfwer, when, instead of replying directly and explicitly to the enquiry, he diverted the attention of his difciples from an unneceffary and fruitless concern about the welfare of others, to the neceffity of ftrenuous exertions for their own falvation. "The question is,"

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fays Bishop Sherlock, "Are there few that be "faved? The answer is in effect, What is that "to you? Mind your own bufinefs, and strive "to enter in at the ftrait gate."

Man however is eager to be wife above that which is written; and is not fatisfied, unless he be permitted to know the fecret things of God. Not contented to be informed in general terms, that they, who strive to enter in at the ftrait gate, fhall be admitted, and that they, who feek, without ftriving, fhall be excluded, he would fain infer a more myfterious

e from the admonition of our Lord.

And because there are many, who fhall not be able to enter in, notwithstanding their inabi lity be specifically attributed to their own want of exertion, he concludes, that they are repelled from falvation by an abfolute decree of the Almighty.

Now the more prudent, and the more reverent courfe for a minifter of the Gofpel to adopt in general, is to conform to the restraint, virtually imposed by our Saviour's answer on this occafion; and to abftain from a difcuffion of thofe fubjects, which it has been the good pleasure of God to leave in obfcurity. "It is

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our judgment," I adopt the fentiments, and exprefs them in the language, of Epifcopius

Sherlock's Difc. vol. ii. p. 96.

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and the Remonftrants at the Synod of Dort, where their forbearance and moderation did honour to the opinions they maintained: "It "is our judgment, that thofe men think and "speak best and safest of those deep and diffi"cult points of divinity, which far exceed our "understandings, that is to fay, of the myfte"ries of religion, who treat of them cautiously " and moderately, and as much as poffible in "the very words of Scripture; being perfuad"ed, as the truth is, that men may very easily "be mistaken with refpect to fuch deep and impenetrable fecrets, and that a fmall mif"take in fuch weighty matters has often given "occafion to great and manifeft errors." Such, in earlier times, had been the practice of our own apoftolical reformers, who, both individually and collectively, avoided and difcouraged fuch doubtful difputations; agreeably to the memorable declaration of him, whom Fuller calls "the profoundeft fcholar of "that of martyrs"," "the moft learned "and judicious of all the prelates," as Heylyn ftyles him; I mean Bifhop Ridley; who re plied to one, that defired to engage him in the queftion about God's election and predeftina

army

Brandt's Hiftory of the Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. iii. p. 57.

< Fuller's Church History, book viii. fect. 25.

Heylyn's Quinquart, Hift. part ii. chap viii, fect. 8.

tion, "In these matters I am fo fearful, that "I dare not speak further, yea almost none "otherwife, than the very text doth, as it "were, lead me by the hand."

In these fentiments we concur: and to this conduct we would cheerfully conform. When however these myfterious fubjects are frequently, oftentatiously, and largely brought into difcuffion by others, who refufe to acquiefce in mutual forbearance; when, in the progrefs of the difcuffion, the nature of the Chriftian difpenfation appears to us to be grievously mifreprefented; when erroneous notions of the terms of falvation appear to be infused into the hearers; when the glory of God appears to be affailed, and his attributes to be infringed, and his revelation to be calumniated; when our doctrines withal, because we fhrink from the public investigation of these mysterious topics, are broadly ftigmatized as unevangelical, and made a foundation for the charge, that we are not preachers of the Gospel; and when we cannot but perceive, that the minds of thofe committed to our care are thereby alienated from our teaching, that their refpect is diminished for our perfons, and that an obftacle is prefented to our ministerial fuccefs: we apprehend that the

question then affumes a very different complexion; and we deem ourselves warranted by that folicitude, which, as minifters of Chrift, we ought to feel for the purity of his word and for the falvation of the fouls of his people, in attempting, however feebly, to stem the torrent of herefy and falfe doctrine ; and to illuftrate, as far as we are enabled by that light, which the holy Scriptures fupply, the myfteries of the kingdom of God.

Having made these preliminary observations, as expreffing my motives for venturing upon ground, which I approach with awe, and would otherwife leave untrodden; I fhall immediately proceed to ftate, that if, when we are accused of corrupting and perverting the Gofpel, it is intended, that the preaching of the generality of the national clergy does not agree with the doctrines of the Gofpel, as they' are interpreted by thofe Chriftians, who inherit their name and their peculiar opinions from their founder Calvin, we are contented to plead guilty to the charge.

Such was the purport of the accufation in the hands of the Calviniftic establisher of Methodism, when he charged "the generality "of the clergy with hateful hypocrify, in "speaking contrary to the Articles, and to the "form of found words delivered in the Scrip