Me : for who hath required these things at your
hands? Tread no more My courts, not though
ye bring with you fine flour. Incense is a vain
abomination unto Me, and your new moons and
sabbaths I cannot endure." ' He has therefore
aboHshed these things, that the new law of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which is without the yoke of
necessity, might have a human oblation.^ And
again He says to them, " Did I command your
fathers, when they went out from the land of
Egypt, to offer unto Me burnt-offerings and sac-
rifices? But this rather I commanded them, Let
no one of you cherish any evil in his heart against
his neighbour, and love not an oath of falsehood. "^
We ought therefore, being possessed of under-
standing, to perceive the gracious intention of our
Father ; for He speaks to us, desirous that we,
not 4 going astray like them, should ask how we
may approach Him. To us, then, He declares,
" A sacrifice [pleasing] to God is a broken spirit ;
a smell of sweet savour to the Lord is a heart
that glorifieth Him that made it." s We ought
therefore, brethren, carefully to inquire concern-
ing our salvation, lest the wicked one, having
made his entrance by deceit, should hurl ^ us
forth from our [true] life.