On the way

Are there few that be saved?

(The Gospel History, Section 104)

And he went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and journeying on unto Jerusalem.

On the way

(The Saviour of the World, Vol VI Book IV Poem LIX)

Steadfast, the Lord with the Twelve pursued His way;
Towards Jerusalem he journeyed, pausing not
Nor hasting; as one due at given hour
To meet his friends at genial festival
And slacking pace lest he arrive too soon,—
So went the Lord, due at that Festival—
The Marriage of the Lamb; by slow degrees
Through cities, villages, Peræan wilds,
The sad procession journeyed.

As they went,

Tremendous issues pressed on Him who knew;
A Man of sorrowful aspect trod the ways
And the people wondered at Him: when He came
To village, city, on His dolorous way,
And the folk gathered eager—for His fame
Was in men’s mouths—there spread He feast and bade
Them eat of that new bread, the words He spake:
Then, sorrowful and very heavy, passed.

At intervals, one of the Twelve raised voice
And put a case, in part to divert the Lord,
In part to clear his mind, just concepts shape.
Men know, and will not know, when the hour draws nigh
For the departure of a dying friend;
So these—long time prepared with chosen words
Tender, solicitous lest sudden shock
Of sorrow break on them whom Jesus loved—
At last, were full aware; calamity,
Immeasurable, awful, imminent,
A precipice with never ledge to scale,
Fronted the fearful men: this thing they knew,—
Bereft of Teacher, Guide, compassionate Friend,
Master and Lord in one, soon should they go,
Foolish and ignorant as they knew themselves,
To teach words held in trust—with none to ask!

So, laboured they to marshal heavy thoughts,
And, as one snatches up a trinket here,
A bauble there, to save from general wreck,
So fetched they up some question from the vast
Confusion of their ignorant forecast.

“Lord, are there few be saved?” one asks, assured
That in the kingdom he has ta’en his place,
As one full early come to see a play:
Situation hazardous the Lord displays
Of him that would be saved;—no certain place,
Continual urging through a narrow way,
And, would one sit at ease, relax himself,
He is of those who seek to enter in
And are not able—frustrate souls and shamed!

St. Luke xiii. 22.

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