Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

34 ST. MATTHEW,
Comfort taken away, and restored to the righ-
teous, becomes more dear unto them, and augments
their joy. In following the word of God, one may
infallibly find out Jesus Christ. It is not upon the
account of light in itself that we should so much re-
joice; but because it makes us know Christ, and
leads us unto him.
" 11. And when they were come into the house,
they saw the young child with Mary his mother,
and fell down and worshipped him : and when they
had opened their treasures, they presented unto him
gifts ;
gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
Let us learn of these first Christians, to humble
ourselves, to adore Jesus Christ, and to give up our-
selves entirely to him, as soon as we have found him.
What faith was here, to worship a poor neglected
infant as a God ! And what power in this Infant,
to bestow such a faith as this, so pure, so humble,
so courageous, and so destitute of all human sup-
port ! To
open one's heart, is to open one's trea-
sure : it is Christ who fills it ; it is to Him that it
must be opened. Happy the man, who always finds
therein the gold of charity, the incense of prayer,
and the myrrh of mortification ! The more careful
a man is to present and offer these to God, th6 more
of these does he continually receive again from him.
" 12. And being warned of God in a dream that
they should not return to Herod, they departed into
their own country another way."
Let us, like these wise men, be obedient to in-
spirations ; and like them, take the contrary course
from the world. Fleshly wisdom and ambition find
themselves at length confounded. It is one of the