According to the best measures we can take by the rules of the Gospel, none are effectually excluded from the hopes of salvation, but such as exclude themselves by their own impenitency."-Stillingfleet's Sermons. 66 A STORY WHICH I FIND IN THE JEWS' BOOKS. "When Abraham sat at his tent door, according to his custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age and travail, coming towards him, who was a hundred years of age; he received him kindly, washed his feet, provided supper, caused him to sit down; but observing that the old man ate and prayed not, nor begged for a blessing on his meat, he asked him why he did not worship the God of heaven. The old man told him that he worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other God. At which answer Abraham grew so zealously angry, that he thrust the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of the night, and an unguarded position. When the old man was gone, God called to Abraham, and asked him, where the stranger was: he replied, 'I thrust him away because he did not worship thee.' God answered him, 'I have suffered him these hundred years, although he dishonoured me; and couldst not thou endure him one night, when he gave thee no trouble?' Upon this, saith the story, 'Abraham fetched him back again, and gave him hospitable entertainment and wise instruction.' Go thou, and do likewise, and thy charity shall be rewarded by the God of Abraham.”—Jer. Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying, vol. viii. p. 232. Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori! LUKE Xiii. 23, 24. "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." We shall have read the Scriptures to little purpose, Christian brethren, and but with a drowsy attention, if we have not observed how little there is in them to satisfy the vain curiosity of the human mind, and that empty thirst after needless knowledge, which not only puffs up, but tends to lead astray, and is unprofitable. Open the sacred volume where you will, —read, mark, learn, digest it, and you will find its doctrines are neither intended to please the fancy, nor to humour the understanding, but to better the heart. Other writings may tend to engender vanity, may lead us on to view with complaisance the grasp of the intellect-may call our attention to the splendour of what is great, and the conceit of what is good in us. And such, oftentimes, were the writings even - of good men of old, and of philosophers whose wisdom was transcendant-so to say, of "princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown'." But such is not the teaching of the Bible. Its precepts have a higher view, and its foundations are dug deep and laid low on the basis of humility. It withdraws our eyes from the prouder contemplation of self, bidding us reckon our best estate but as sinful dust and ashes. By it boasting is excluded, and that which is "for our good alway," is constantly maintained. It is the improvement of practice that we are exhorted to. In a word, the Bible says to every man among us, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith 2. 66 Now, was it in a humble and a lowly way, think ye, that as our Redeemer "went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem," one said unto Him, "Lord, are there few that be saved?" Such is the question propounded in the text. And it is to this question, and to what appertains to it, and to our blessed Lord's answer, that I would now call your attention. May He renew a right spirit within us,—may He give us understanding and lowly hearts! Who the person was that put this question, whether one of our Lord's disciples, or a Jew that was 1 Numb. xvi. 2. 2 Rom. xii. 3. not one of his disciples, we know not for certain, neither does it matter. But in all probability it was an unbelieving Jew, and the inquiry was made with the prejudices of a Jew, among whom it was a received opinion, that whatever might become of the rest of mankind, "all Israel should have their part in the world to come." And if so, what must have been the surprise of the Jew when he heard our Saviour say, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last ." Doubtless, were he a Jew that put the question, at these words, his cogitations, like Daniel's of old, must have much troubled him, his countenance would have been changed in him, and he would have "kept the matter in his heart 5." Further than this it is not necessary for us to institute an inquiry. It was sufficient to state the ancient prejudice of the Jew, that under any circumstances "all Israel should have their part in the world 3 See Lightfoot's Hebr. and Talmud. Exer. Works, vol. ii. p. 442, ed. folio, and Schoettgenius on 1 Cor. xiii. § 4, vol. i. p. 652, 4to. On the various senses of oweσ0aι, see Hammond on Luke xiii. 23. • Luke xiii. 28-30. 7 5 Dan. vii. 28. |