Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER XXIV. 377
" 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the
winter, neither on the sabbath-day:"
We must fly from sin and the wrath of God while
we can. It is a fatal imprudence to wait till some
great occasion present itself, ere we think of mak-
ing any provision of virtue; and to delay the work
of our salvation, till we are unable to perform any
thing; and our flight from the obstacles of it, till the
winter of a languishing, inactive, and infirm old age.
It is chiefly by means of prayer, that the Christian
furnishes himself with provisions, that he proposes
himself to depart, and that he converts the barren-
ness and coldness of his heart into an abundance of
charity, and his inability to work into the strength
and vigour of grace.
" 21. For then shall be great tribulation, such as
was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be. 22. And except those days
should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."
Every thing is disposed and ordered in favour of
the elect. The destruction of Jerusalem was hast-
ened, to prevent those among the Jews from falling
under such temptations as were above their strength ;
and the reign of Antichrist will be shortened, for the
sake of those who shall live in the last times. How
suitable to the goodness of God is this care of his
elect ! How
and love him ;
happy is it to be his ! Let us adore
and let us, by our prayers and fidelity,
draw down upon ourselves this love, vigilance, and
care of God, so conspicuous in proportioning the
temptation to the strength of the elect, or in taking
them away even from the temptation itself.