Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matthew 7:13–14
Words: Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs 1707–09, Book 2, number 158. Few saved: or, The almost Christian, the Hypocrite, and Apostate.
Music: Windham Daniel Read, 1785 (🔊 pdf nwc).
Alternate Tune:
Broad is the road that leads to death,
And thousands walk together there;
But wisdom shows a narrower path,
With here and there a traveler.
Deny thyself, and take thy cross,
Is the Redeemer’s great command;
Nature must count her gold but dross,
If she would gain this heav’nly land.
The fearful soul that tires and faints,
And walks the ways of God no more,
Is but esteemed almost a saint,
And makes his own destruction sure.
Lord, let not all my hopes be vain
Create my heart entirely new;
Which hypocrites could ne’er attain,
Which false apostates never knew.