Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER XIX, 29T
rich man cannot be saved with an ordinary grace.
A man is not rich, in the sense here intended, unless
he love riches ; and he is properly enough poor in
the midst of his treasures, when he uses them, not
as a proprietor, but as the steward of God. Wealth
is the gate of hell to the greatest number ; and to
some few the key of heaven. If he who only pos-
sesses his own proper estate, can so hardly be saved,
what will become of those who unjustly take away or
detain that of another?
" 25. When his disciples heard it, they were ex-
ceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?"
The natural love whicii men have for wealth,
makes it seem very strange, even to the poor, that it
should be so great an obstacle to salvation : how
much stranger must it seem to the rich ? One can-
not easily conceive, how that which contributes so
much to the happiness of this life, should be one of
the greatest impediments to the felicity of the other:
and yet this is the very reason why it is so; for it is
impossible for us to be happy both here and here-
after.
" 26. But Jesus beheld them, and said unto
them. With men this is impossible ; but with God
all things are possible."
The inability of nature to attain to salvation, is
not the despair of a Christian, but the triumph of
the grace of Christ. Happy inability this, which
obliges us to expect all from Him, without whom we
can do nothing ! It is as impossible to God as it is
to men, to save a rich man possessed with the love
of riches; but God can root up this love out of his
heart, a thing which man is not able to do. Nothing
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