Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

CHAPTER XXVir. 44.7
Let us adore Jesus Christ, given up to the rage
of the soldiers. He is the consolation of holy per-
sons in this condition, and of the church exposed to
the violence and insults of the men of the sword, and
of the wicked. By being stripped in order to sufFer,
to be mocked, and to clothe us with his righteousness,
he condemns and expiates that criminal unseemliness
in dress, which has impurity and pride for its root,
and for its fruit, sin, scandal, and a kind of idolatry.
Can those who ruin themselves, to outshine others
in the sumptuousness of their apparel, behold Jesus
Christ in this condition, and not be ashamed of their
vanity and injustice ?
'' 29. 51 And when they had platted a crown of
thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his
right hand : and they bowed the knee before him,
and mocked him, saying. Hail, king of the Jews !"
Let the crown of thorns make those Christians
blush who throw away so much time, pains, and
money, in beautifying and adorning a sinful head.
Can those who exact even a kind of adoration from
men, consider Christ in this condition, without being
humbled for their pride ? Let the world do what it
will to render thy royalty and mysteries contemptible,
O Jesus ! it is my glory to serve a King thus abased,
my salvation to adore that which the world despises,
and my religion to go to God by the merits of a God
crowned with thorns.
" 30. And they spit upon him, and took the reed,
and smote him on the head."
Let us pay our adoration, and humble ourselves in
silence, at the sight of a spectacle which faith alone
renders credible, and which our senses would hardly