earts and
gifts in our hand, but God will spurn our worship and despise our
gifts. It is not a small matter, this renewing of friendship, but is
the root of religion itself, and is well made the very test of
spiritual-mindedness. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest 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." Misunderstandings and
estrangements will arise, occasions will come when it seems as if not
even love and forbearance can avoid a quarrel, but surely Christ has
died in vain if His grace cannot save us from the continuance of strife.

Such renewing of love, done with this high motive, will indeed bring an
added joy, as the poets have declared. The very pain will give zest to
the pleasure. We will take the great gift of friendship with a new
sense of its beauty and sacredness. We will walk more softly because
of the experience, and more than ever will tremble lest we lose it.
For days after the reconciliation, we will go about with the feeling
that the benediction of the peace-makers rests on our head and clings
round our feet.

But more than any personal joy from the renewed friendship, we will
have the smile of God on our life. We will know that we have done what
is well pleasing in His sight. Sweeter than the peace which comes from
being at one with men, is the peace which comes from being at one with
God. It settles on the soul like the mist on the mountains, enveloping
and enswathing it. It comes to our fevered life as a great calm. Over
the broken waters there hovers the golden glory of God's eternal peace.

And more even than all that, we will have gained a new insight into the
love of the Father, and into the sacrifice of the Son. We will
understand a little more of the mystery of the Love which became poor,
which gladly went into the wilderness to seek and to save the lost.
The cross will gain new and rich significance to us, and all the world
will be an arena in which is enacted the spectacle of God's great love.
The world is bathed in the love of God, as it is flooded by the blessed
sun. If we are in the light and walk in love, our walk will be with
God, and His gentleness will make us great. There is intended an ever
fuller education in the meaning, and in the life of love, until the
assurance reaches us that nothing can separate us from love.