MASSILLON

1662-1742

THE SMALL NUMBER OF THE ELECT

_And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet;
and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian_.--Luke iv.,
27.


Every day, my brethren, you continue to ask of us, whether the road to
heaven is really so difficult, and the number of the saved really so
small as we represent? To a question so often proposed, and still
oftener resolved, our Savior answers you here, that there were many
widows in Israel afflicted with famine; but the widow of Sarepta was
alone found worthy the succor of the prophet Elias; that the number
of lepers was great in Israel in the time of the prophet Eliseus; and
that Naaman was only cured by the man of God.

Were I here, my brethren, for the purpose of alarming, rather than
instructing you, I had only to recapitulate what in the holy writings
we find dreadful with regard to this great truth; and, running over
the history of the just, from age to age, show you that, in all times,
the number of the saved has been very small. The family of Noah alone
saved from the general flood; Abraham chosen from among men to be the
sole depositary of the covenant with God; Joshua and Caleb the only
two of six hundred thousand Hebrews who saw the Land of Promise;
Job the only upright man in the land of Uz; Lot, in Sodom. To