Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

402 ST. MATTHEW.
and separation, that we shall find thee with and in
God, living to him and by hira to all eternity.
" 34. Then shall the King say unto them on his
right hand. Come, ye blessed of my Father, in-
herit * the kingdom prepared for you from the foun-
dation of the world :" [* Fr. possess.]
If there have been kings who have given away
kingdoms, they were only foreign kingdoms which
they could not keep: none but God gives his own
out of pure bounty; and this kingdom is himself.
God blesses none in Jesus Christ, but those whom
he has chosen in him ; and he chooses only those
whom he freely loves in him. ** Come, inherit :"
amiable, powerful, and efficacious words 1 which draw
the elect near to God, and put them in possession of
him. He who during his life has said, *^ Come,
Lord Jesus," through a sincere desire of his coming;
and through his fidelity and love, " Lord, possess my
heart;" shall, in his turn, hear these two words,
" Come, inherit," which will actually confer on him
eternal happiness.
** 35. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me
meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a
stranger, and ye took me in :"
Good works done for God's sake, through Jesus
Christ, in the Spirit of the Father and the Son, are
the price of the glory prepared for the elect ; pre-
pared without merits, by a bounty altogether free,
but merited by Christ; bestowed on works as their
reward, but on such works as are sanctified by the
Spirit of Christ, and are the gifts of God. Who
would not be forward to give to God, so good, so
liberal, so rich in mercies? If it be too little for