Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

444 ST. MATTHEW.
This is, on the part of men, a criminal preference
of a murderer before the Author of life : but, on the
part of God, it is a necessary preference in order to
our salvation. The Father delivers up his only Son
for every one of us, and prefers our salvation to his
life. It is an extreme humiliation for Christ to be
judged less worthy to live than a robber and mur-
derer. This gives us an abhorrence : and yet, what
else does a sinner do but pass the same judgment,
when, after having tasted of Christ and of the sweet-
ness of his Spirit, he forsakes him to deliver himself up
to sin ? This momentary pleasure which we prefer
to Jesus Christ, is it not a robber of our goods, and
a murderer of our life ;
the one more excellent with-
out comparison than the goods of fortune, and the
other, than the life of the body !
" 22. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do
then with Jesus which is called Christ ?"
Flow many are there, even among Christians, who
know not what use they ought to make of Christ,
either because they neglect to learn, or because due
care is not taken to instruct them ! What shall
we do with Jesus, if we make him not our Media-
tor, our Saviour, our Life, our Strength to go to
God, our Refuge in all our evils, and the object of
our adoration, acknowledgment, love, confidence, and
religion ; since in reality God has made him our
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp-
tion ?
" — They all say unto him. Let him be crucified.
23. And the governor said. Why ? what evil hath
he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let
him be crucified."