Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

148 ST, MATTHEW.
*' 14. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor
hear your words, when ye depart out of that house
or city, shake ofF the dust of your feet."
Whoever, out of contempt or neglect, neither
reads nor hears the word of God, and whoever does
it without improving thereby—ought he not to fear
a more terrible malediction ? It is necessary that
the world should know, that we do not seek it for
the sake of its riches; and that we would not have
any conversation with it, but only in order to its sal-
vation. When it will no longer hear us speak of
this, it is time for us to retire from it.
" 15. Verily I say unto you. It shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in
the day of judgment than for that city."
How great a crime is it not to receive, or to de-
spise the truth 1 If men are thus treated for not
having received the preachers of the gospel, what
will it be to despise the gospel itself; to decry it, to
preach the contrary, to hinder the preaching of it, to
abuse those who do it as they ought, and to stop the
fruit of it by calumnies, &c. ?
Sect. III.— The xmse Simplicity/. Boldness before
Magistrates. The Holy Spirit speaJcing in us.
** 16. f Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the
midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as serpents,
and harmless as doves."
It is but a small thing for a labourer in the gos-
pel to be prepared for the repulses of the world ;
ought to look upon himself as a " sheep in the
midst of wolves." Such a person must be a perfect
Iamb, that he may oppose nothing to the artifices
he