Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER xvn. 261
our duties, and with the will and designs of God
concerning us. If this small drop of vision put
St. Peter into an ecstacy; my God, what effect will
that torrent of delights have with which thou wilt
fill, and, as it were, inebriate thy elect !
" 5. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them : and behold a voice out of the
cloud, which said. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased ; hear ye him."
Let us receive, with a particular respect, that
which the Father himself declares to us concerning
his Son. According to this gospel of the eternal
Father, we must believe in Jesus Christ as Son of
God, and be persuaded that the Father loves no
person, nor is pleased with any thing, but in his Son;
and we must attentively hear him as our Master and
our law. See here that which God does continually
in the hearts of men. To enlighten them, to make
them fruitful in good works, to extinguish or allay
the heat of concupiscence; these are so many effects
of the grace of Christ, denoted by the bright cloud
and which neither the letter of the law, nor the
shadows of sacrifices, nor the preaching of the pro-
phets, were able to produce. Jesus Christ alone
does it, by speaking to the heart; of which he only
is the Master and Instructor. He alone, therefore,
can make it hear effectually, so as to obey, love, fol-
low, and imitate him. Speak, Lord, to my heart
but speak with authority, as the only Son of God,
as the personal truth, and the principle of that love
which existed from all eternity.
" 6. And when the disciples heard it, they fell
on their face, and were sore afraid. 7. And Jesus