Cylchgronau Cymru

THE WELSH CALVMSTIC METHODIST KECORD. JUNE, 1853. THE DIFFICULTY OF BEING SAVED. BY THE REV. C. SHORT, M.A., SWANSEA.* " Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many I say unto you shall seek to enter in and shall not be able." Luke xiii: 24. " The strait gate" is a phrase describing the difficult nature of the entrance into the kingdom of heaven. It is so narrow that men must press through it with violent effort. Hence the kingdom of heaven is said to suffer violence. Another representation embodying the same idea describes the way into the kingdom of God as a narrow road, along which men must travel with the greatest circumspection to prevent their plunging headlong into that abyss that yawns on either side of the road. Hence the righteous are said to be scarcely saved, or saved with difficulty, so as by fire. The difficulty and danger do not belong to that part of the work which is divine but to the human part. It is the human aspect of our salvation which is before us. I. The first point suggested by the text is—Tlie difficulty of being saved. —" Strive to enter in." We have not passed completely through that gate so long as we are here; so that the reference is to salvation as a completed fact, not as a present hope or transient experience, but as a complete enfranchisement of the man from the slavery of sin. What does this include? 1. A complete change in the objects of our affections. The opposition between the things we actually do most violently love, and those things we * Brief notes of a sermon delivered by him, at the meeting of the United English Association held at Carmarthen, January 12th, 1853.