Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

120 ST. MATTHEW.
ciple. The mean between both, is to wait until he
speaks ; and not to defer following him one moment
when he has spoken. Men never want pious pre-
tences, when they have neither resolution enough to
enter into the way which God points out, nor hu-
mility enough to acknowledge their own weakness.
*' 22. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and
let the dead bury their dead."
How difficult is it to forsake the world ! Always
some secular tie retains those whom God calls to
retirement. All human respects, all regard to the
duties of civil life, must be laid aside, when our
salvation is in question. All other care may be
supplied by some other person ; the care of saving
our soul, is our own personal affair. A man is dead
when he lives not according to faith, which is the
life of the soul. He who is called to follow Christ
in the way of perfection, ought to fear the world and
the conversation of worldly people, as much as we
generally fear the apparition of a dead man, or the
infection of a burying-place.
Sect. V.— The tempest appeased.
" 23. ^ And when he was entered into a ship,
his disciples followed him."
This ship in the midst of the sea, is an emblem of
the church in the midst of the world. Jesus is
there with his disciples; this is our comfort. Whoever
has this truth present to his mind, looks upon
every thing which happens in the church with other
eyes than those of the world.
" 24. And, behold, there arose a great tempest
in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with
the waves : but he was asleep."