Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER VII. 99
crime on those who endeavour to observe it. Tliat
is often represented as party management and con-
federacy, or as dangerous dissimulation, which is
really the necessary wisdom and discretion of not
dispensing the truth to those, who are fit for noth-
ing but to bark at it like dogs, to trample it under
their feet like swine, and to rend or persecute those
who deliver it to them. Sacraments are not for
such as are continually returning, like dogs, to their
former sins, particularly those which proceed from
the tongue and the mouth; nor for such as remain,
like swine, under habits of impurity, or of any other
sins.
THE MEANS TO ARRIVE AT PERFECTION.
Sect. II.— I. Mea?is: Prayer,
" 7. f Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and
ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you :"
How rich is a man when he knows how to ask,
to seek, and to knock as he ought; with his tongue,
his desires, and his works ! Let
us ask, with
confidence and humility; let us seek, with care and
application; let us knock, with earnestness and perseverance.
Grant me. Lord, a faith, which may
make me thoroughly sensible of my needs, and
humbly ask thy grace; a hope, which may excite
me to seek thy kingdom only, and the righteousness
which leads thereto; and a charity, which may urge
me to knock incessantly and respectfully at the gate
of thy mercy.
" 8. For every one that asketh, receiveth ; and
e 2