Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER XIII. 215
" 49. So shall it be at the end of the world : the
angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from
among the just,"
What comfort will it be for those, who, during
this life, have incessantly lamented the afflictions of
the church, to see it at length freed for ever from
the persecution of the wicked, either foreign or domestic
! What torment and despair will those feel,
who have, either with envy or hatred, borne the sight
and company of the righteous, to see themselves
separated from them to all eternity ! Our
faith is
very weak, if we can think of this separation without
horror. Our love of salvation very faint, if we do
not endeavour earnestly to separate ourselves in this
world from the wicked, by the hohness of our lives
and conversations.
" 50. And shall cast them into the furnace of
fire : there shall be waiUng and gnashing of teeth."
This is a short description of the pain, grief, and
rage of the damned. Happy they, who, by godly
sorrow and repentance, prevent these miseries, hav-
ing renounced all the pleasures and vain delights of
the world ! Yet
but a moment, and these shall be
no more. But this fire and these wailings, after
thousands of millions of years, will be still beginning,
in Older to an endless duration.
" 51. Jesus saith unto them. Have ye understood
all these things? They say unto him. Yea, Lord."
Let us not slightly pass over these divine truths,
if we desire to be the better for them. Let this
question of our blessed Lord convince us of their
importance. It is very proper, when we read them,
to call ourselves to an account, as to the impressions