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So far therefore is our Lord anxious that we should not disregard the
vexation of another that He does not accept our offerings if our brother
has anything against us, i.e., He does not allow prayers to be offered by
us to Him until by speedy amends we remove from his (our brother's) mind
the vexation which he whether rightly or wrongly feels. For He does not
say: "if thy brother hath a true ground for complaint against thee leave
thy gift at the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to him;" but He
says: "if thou remember that thy brother hath aught against thee," i.e., if
there be anything however trivial or small, owing to which your brother's
anger is roused against you, and this comes back to your recollection by a
sudden remembrance, you must know that you ought not to offer the spiritual
gift of your prayers until by kindly amends you have removed from your
brother's heart the vexation arising from whatever cause. If then the words
of the Gospel bid us make satisfaction to those who are angry for past and
utterly trivial grounds of quarrel, and those which have arisen from the
slightest causes, what will become of us wretches who with obstinate
hypocrisy disregard more recent grounds of offence, and those of the utmost
importance, and due to our own faults; and being puffed up with the devil's
own pride, as we are ashamed to humble ourselves, deny that we are the
cause of our brother's vexation and in a spirit of rebellion disdaining to
be subject to the Lord's commands, contend that they never ought to be
observed and never can be fulfilled? And so it comes to pass that as we
make up our minds that He has commanded things which are impossible and
unsuitable, we become, to use the Apostle's expression, "not doers but
judges of the law."
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