Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER VIII. 123
exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that
way."
That which passes in these two possessed persons,
is a lively representation of the fury of the devil pos-
sessing a sinner's soul, of the misery of the sinner
whom he possesses, and of the evils which sin causes
in the world. A guilty conscience is a real tomb,
wherein a possessed person lodges, and where stench
and darkness reign. Happy that person, whom the
approach of Jesus Christ causes to come out and
meet him.
" 29. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What
have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?
art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"
The first motions of conversion do but trouble and
torment the sinner. Men shut their eyes against
the light, they thrust back the hand of Christ, they
say it is not yet time, they are incensed against the
truths of faith, and against those who set them be-
fore their eyes, and show Jesus Christ unto them.
There is no communication betwixt the Spirit of
God and the spirit of the world: we must renounce
either the one or the other.
" 30. And there was a good way off from them
an herd of many swine feeding."
See here another representation of sinners, of
those chiefly who are subject to impurity by habit,
or by frequent relapses. They are still farther off
from salvation than other sinners, are to be found in
greater numbers, and are more addicted to please
their appetite. Make them know, O Lord, the
shamefulness of their condition, and what it is to
have changed thy image into that of a swine.
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