Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER XIII. 197
" 7. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns
sprung up, and choked them :"
The terrestrial world is full of good desires, pro-
jects of conversion, and schemes of retreat ; but the
thorns of secular lusts make them miscarry. If we
do not labour to pluck up these thorns, they will cer-
tainly grow up and choke all the divine seed in us.
" 8. But other fell into good ground, and brought
forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold,
some thirty-fold."
The good ground is the good heart : none is
such, but through the mercy of God and the grace
of Jesus Christ. It was a mercy peculiar to thee,
O Lord, to purchase at so dear a rate such barren
and accursed ground, full of thorns and briers, and
lit only to be burned, that thou mightest make it a
rich and blessed soil, fertile in every kind of good
fruit. Blind and miserable is that man who attri-
butes this work to himself, and gives not thee the
glory of it, O my Saviour
" 9. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Wlio, Lord, has ears to hear thee, except he to
whom thou givest, continuest, and openest them;
and by whom thou causest thy voice to be heard in
a way peculiar to thyself?
" 10. % And the disciples came, and said unto
him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?"
Man would always fain know the reason and me-
thod of the divine conduct. Let him but thoroughly
conceive what it is to be a sinner, and he will then
soon understand what he deserves. The very least
degree of knowledge is yet more than is due to him
who deserves nothing but eternal darkness.