Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

318 ST. MATTHEW,
this is for them a very bad presage: knowledge,
which puffs up, being not apt to incline men to the
obedience of faith, nor riches to the love of poverty,
nor greatness to the humility of Christ.
** 9. And the multitudes that went before, and
that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of
David : Blessed is he that cometh in the name of
the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest."
Some praise Jesus Christ to-day, who will crucify
him to-morrow by their sins. See the vanity of the
world's applause ! To-day
men acknowledge Christ
to be the Son of David and the Messias ; and we
shall presently hear them renounce him, require his
blood, and place him below thieves and murderers.
There are abundance of these well-meaning but weak
souls, who would die for the truth when there is
nothing to fear; but who, as soon as it is attacked,
are the first who turn their backs upon it, and de-
clare against it. All the Scriptures give witness to
Jesus Christ, the Old which preceded, as well as the
New which followed him. Let us read and medi-
tate on them all with reverence and faith.
" 10. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all
the city was moved, saying. Who is this?"
That saving trouble with which the elect are af-
fected at the belief of Christ's coming, is very differ-
ent from that trouble of envy and infidelity, which
the establishment of his kingdom causes in the
wicked. Had he come to flatter the passions of
men, he would then have been welcome to the world ;
but the world would not have been converted. Had
he adapted himself to the desires of sinful men, they
would not indeed have been moved or troubled at his