Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

XXXIX
to them, as they do to the plainest parts of the
Bible. Men know how to interpret an act of parliament,
when that is before them ; as they know how
to interpret an heroic poem or an ode. If there be
true faith in the heart, which seeks honestly to learn
and to do the will of God, this faith will set to work
all that common sense, all that integrity, all that
spirit of prayer, all that application of the powers of
the mind to the language of the Scriptures, all that
entire submission of the understanding to the mat-
ter of revelation, on which a true interpretation de-
pends.
What we object to in <strong>Quesnel</strong>, is the dangerous
system, the defective and erroneous principles, or
rather want of principles, in his interpretation,
whereby his mind, at sea without a rudder or pilot,
is tossed hither and thither. Fancy is the staple
commodity, not the ornament and appendage. He
proceeds continually as the church directs, as the
fathers happen to dictate, as his imagination sug-
gests; and not as the real import of the passage be-
fore him requires.
The consequence is, the errors in doctrine which
we have been pointing out. Against this whole
system we enter our solemn protest. In the case of
<strong>Quesnel</strong>, the evils were neutralized by the high
guidance of spiritual affections, and the blessed in-
fluences of the Holy Spirit. But the evils are not
the less real in themselves. If a sound system of
interpretation be once relinquished, all is thrown into
uncertainty, the Scriptures may be made to prove
any thing; and the very first end of a Divine Reve-