Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

350 ST. MATTHEW.
till all his enemies are destroyed, and especially sin
and death.
" 46. And no man was able to answer him a
word; neither durst any man, from that day forth, ask
him any more questions."
Truth at length triumphs through the wisdom
and word of Christ : but the defender of it will, notwithstanding,
be oppressed in the sight of men. An
important instruction this, to teach us, not to judge
of truth by what those who defend it suffer. The
more triumphant it is by their ministry, the more
they must expect to suffer and to be humbled, in
order to counterbalance their vanity, to render them
conformable to Christ, to purify them from human
infirmities, to make them capable of a greater reward,
and to show, that it is not by the endeavours of men
that truth gains a triumph, but by the God of truth
itself.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Sect. I. The Chair of Moses. Proud Rahbies.
" 1. Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to
his disciples, 2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat ;"
Let us learn to look always with respect on Christ
and his authority, even in the most imperfect of his
ministers. Whatever their manners are, their au-
thority suffers no damage thereby. The doctrine of
truth which God has placed in the church, loses
nothing of its value by the ill lives of its ministers.
How contrary is the conduct of the Son of God to