Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

286 ST. MATTHEW.
from the bottom of our hearts : and this is not barely
a counsel, but a commandment. We may deceive
men by a feigned reconciliation, and a pretended
mercy ; but how can we hide our hearts from him
who is their Creator and Judge ? The term every
one which is here used, shows, that no person what-
ever is exempt from this obligation of forgiving;
neither emperors nor kings, neither great nor small,
neither rich nor poor. Give us. Lord, this Chris-
tian heart, whose bottom is all charity and mercy,
and whose works are all mildness and indulgence.
CHAPTER XIX.
Sect. I. Marriage Indissoluble.
" 1. And it came to pass, that, when Jesus had
finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and
came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan ;"
Jesus goes about every where to seek the sinner.
A good pastor's thirst after the salvation of souls is
never satisfied in this life. He always finds sufficient
exercise for his zeal. The end of one instruction in
a pastor, of one mission in an evangelical labourer,
and of one visitation in a bishop, is but the begin-
ning of another.
" 2. And great multitudes followed him ; and he
healed them there."
Men never follow Christ in vain. Here they
run after him in hopes of some temporal advantages :
how much more should the pleasant odour of his
virtues, the holiness of his mysteries, the sweetness
of his truth, the hope of his grace, and the expecta-