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E come now to a further beautiful and grand commandment, which makes us understand how God loves peace, when He orders us, as He does, to be reconciled with our brother before we approach the altar. He will not receive any offering that is made by a heart full of resentment or by hands inclined to vengeance.

We ought very specially to notice this saying: 'If thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee.’ It is not only when you have given him cause for displeasure, but if he has merely taken ill something you have done, that you must try to come to friendly terms with him; and this, lest you should perhaps come to hate him if you found that he hated you. The first gift that we must offer to God is a heart free from all coldness and all unkindness towards our fellow-men. And we should