Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/91

 his prayer is either hypocritical or unmeaning; and such a prayer finds no response. "If I regard iniquity in my heart," says the Psalmist, "the Lord will not hear." No! the prayer cannot be heard, because it is not a true prayer: the iniquity cherished in the heart chokes the words as they issue from the mouth, draws down the thought as it aspires to heaven, and extinguishes the prayer's very life.

Says the Lord, "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Whether we approach the altar in prayer or in worship, it is all in vain, whilst we are conscious of having done an unatoned wrong to others, or whilst we are cherishing feelings of hostility for supposed wrongs done to us. Both states are evil, and unrepenting evil cannot pray, nor is its worship accepted. We must "first go and be reconciled to our brother, and then come and offer our gift:" we must first make amends for the wrong we have done,—if we have done wrong to others,—or we must put away from our hearts any feelings of enmity towards others on account of the wrongs, real or supposed, which they may have done to us. We must remove from our hearts feelings of anger and ill-will, before we presume to come into the presence of our Maker. How can hell mix with heaven? But anger is hell, and the Lord is heaven—and they cannot approach each other.