Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

96 ST. MATTHEW.
" 34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow:
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
The eighth and last reason is, that a solicitous
carefulness renders us unhappy before-hand. The
future falls under the cognizance of God alone: we
encroach therefore upon his rights, when we would
fain foresee all which may happen to us, .and secure
ourselves from it by our cares. How much good is
omitted, how many evils caused, how many duties
neglected, how many innocent persons deserted, how
many good works destroyed, how many truths sup-
pressed, and how many acts of injustice authorised,
by these timorous forecasts of what may happen,
and these faithless apprehensions concerning the
time to come !
Let
us do in season what God then
requires of us ; and let us trust to him for the
consequences. The future time, which God would
have us foresee and provide for, is that of judgment
and eternity; and it is this alone which we will not
foresee.
CHAPTER Vn.
Sect. I. Not to judge. Not to cast liolij things
to dogs.
" 1. Judge not, that ye be not judged."
God reserves to himself the judgment of the
heart of man. Nothing so much incenses a judge
against a criminal, as to see him set up himself for
a judge. We search into the heart of our neigh-
bour to discover something for which we may con-