Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

264 ST. MATTHEW.
great. Wo to those who know him not, who stop
their ears, and who are the occasion of his sufferings.
To suffer, is the lot and portion of Jesus Christ and
his ministers. It is good to look upon every preacher
as our Elias, as the last whom God designs to send
to proclaim to us the coming of Christ, and to excite
us to prepare his way by repentance.
Sect. ll.'-^T/ie Lunatic cured. The Po'wer of
Faith; of Prayer and Fasting.
" 14. f And when they were come to the multi-
tude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down
to him, and saying, 15. Lord, have mercy on my
son; for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for oft-times
he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water."
The rage and power of the devil against man, in
consequence of sin, is expressed by the sad usage
which this lunatic suffers. The devil, in bodily
possessions as well as spiritual possessions, knows
how to take advantage of the constitution, and of
natural causes and dispositions, in order to conceal
himself. Some of these are as contrary as fire and
water. Would to God the sinner were as tho-
roughly sensible of the misery of his soul, and the
spiritual illusions of the devil, as this father is of
those under which his son labours. See here the
first steps toward conversion ; to approach Christ, to
humble ourselves in his presence, earnestly to pray
to him, and with confidence to lay our misery before
him. %
" 16. And I brought him to thy disciples, and
they could not cure him."
God often permits his ministers to be unsuccess-