“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” 1 Cor. ix. 24.
1 Nothing is more clearly brought out in Scripture, or more remarkable in itself than this, that in every age, out of the whole number of persons blessed with the means of grace, few only have duly availed them of this great benefit. So certain, so uniform is the fact, that it is almost stated as a doctrine. “Many are called, few are chosen.” Again, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” And again, “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat … Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” And St. Paul seems expressly to turn the historical fact into a doctrine, when he says, by way of remark upon his own day as compared with former ages of the Church, “Even so then, at this present time also,” that is, as formerly, “there is a remnant, according to the election of grace.” [Matt. xx. 16. Luke xiii. 24. Matt. vii. 13, 14. Rom. xi. 5.]
The word “remnant” is frequent with the prophets, from whom St. Paul takes it. Isaiah, for instance, says, “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” Jeremiah speaks of “the remnant of Judah,” and the “small number,” to which a return was promised. Ezekiel, too, declares that God “will leave a remnant,” “that ye may have some,” continues the divine oracle, “that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. And they that escape of you shall remember Me among the nations, whither they shall be carried captives.” And so well understood was this, that the hope of good men never reached beyond it. Neither the promise, on the one hand, nor the hope, on the other, ever goes beyond the prospect of a remnant being saved. Thus the consolation given to the Church in the Book of Jeremiah is, that God “will not make a full end;” and Ezra, confessing the sins of his people, expresses his dread lest there should be “no remnant.” [Rom. ix. 27. Jer. xliv. 28. Ezek. vi. 8, 9. Jer. xlvi. 28. Ezra ix. 14.] Thus Christ, His Apostles, and His Prophets, all teach the same doctrine, that the chosen are few, though many are called: that one gains the prize, though many run the race.
This rule in God’s dispensations is most abundantly and awfully illustrated in their history. At the time of the Flood, out of a whole world, in spite of Adam’s punishment, in spite of Enoch’s preaching, in spite of Noah’s setting about the ark, eight only found acceptance with God, and even one of these afterwards incurred a curse. When the Israelites were brought out of Egypt by miracle, two only of the whole generation entered the land of promise. Two tribes alone out of twelve remained faithful at the time of the great schism, and continued in possession of God’s covenanted mercies. And when Christ came, the bulk of His own people rejected Him, and His Church came but of the scanty remnant, “as a root out of a dry ground.”
Moreover, it is observable that Almighty God seems as if to rejoice, and deigns to delight Himself in this small company who adhere to Him, as if their fewness had in it something of excellence and preciousness. “Fear not,” he says, “little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” “I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given Me.” In a like spirit, St. Paul says, “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate.” And in the time of Elijah, “I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.” And in the time of Moses, “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people.” [Luke xii. 32. Matt. x. 16. John xvii. 9. Rom. viii. 29; xi. 4. Deut. vii. 7.]
And it need scarcely be added, that the same bountifulness on God’s part, the same ingratitude on the part of man, the same scarcity of faith, sanctity, truth, and conscientiousness, have marked the course of the Christian Dispensation, as well as of those former ones of which the inspired volume is the record.
So clear is this, that persons who, from unwillingness to take the narrow way, or from other like cause, have disputed it, have scarcely anything left them to urge but certain false views or consequences, which have been, or may be, entertained concerning the doctrine. And as these misconceptions tend at once to prejudice the mind against it, and to pervert its reception of it, I shall now examine one or two of the objections to which it is exposed.