Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

20 PREFACE,
one single sentence of St. Paul. We must, there-
fore, if possible, prevail with them to read the Gospel
: but, at the same time, " we must," as St. Au-
gustine says, " take from them, as from children,
those childish amusements with which their minds
are so foolishly employed, that we may substitute in
their stead things more useful, as being for persons
grown up to full age." And that they may raise
themselves from the earth on which we see them
grovelling, we must speak to them in the words of
the same saint,— " Rise, seek ;
pour forth sighs and
ardent desires, and knock at the gate which you find
shut against you."
Let us then purify our hearts by the reading of
the Gospel, and this reading will still purify them
to a greater degree. Let us sanctify our manners
by our respect and reverence towards this holy book,
and this book will still sanctify us more and more.
Let us kindle within us a warm and ardent affection for
this word of fire, and this fire will inflame our hearts
to such a degree, as to make us cry out with admira-
tion, as did the two disciples, " Did not our heart
burn within us, while he talked with us by the way,
and while he opened to us the Scriptures !" Let us
make those sweets which God has preserved for us
in the word of his Son, our chief delight ; and we
shall quickly find, that this delicious word will daily
turn all that the world calls delight and diversion
into bitterness. In short, we shall find our instruc-
tion, our strength, our consolation, our counsel, our
security and protection, in this treasure which God
has deposited in the hands of the church, to be dis-
tributed by her to her children. In the word of