y what it will give. The needs of other people are therefore
divine commands to us, which we dare not disregard or disobey. To
refuse to bless a brother who stands before us in any kind of want is
as great a sin as to break one of the positive commandments of the
Decalogue. Indeed, in a sense, it is the breaking of the whole second
table of the commandments--the sense of which is, "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself."

We like to think there is no sin in mere not doing. But Jesus, in his
wonderful picture of the Last Judgment, makes men's condemnation turn
on not doing the things they ought to have done. They have simply not
fed the hungry, not clothed the naked, not visited the sick, not
blessed the prisoner. To make these sins of neglect appear still more
grievous, our Lord makes a personal matter of each case, puts himself
in the place of the sufferer who needs it and is not cared for, and
tells us that all neglects to give needed kindness to any are shown to
him. This divine word gives a tremendous interest to other people, who
are brought providentially into the sphere of our life, so that their
wants of whatever kind may make appeal to our sympathy and kindness.
To neglect them is to neglect Christ. He sends them to us. They
represent him. To turn them away is to turn him away.

This matter of serving has multitudinous forms. Sometimes it is
poverty that stands at our gate, and money help is wanted. A thousand
times more frequently, however, it is not money, but something else
more precious, that we must give. It may be loving sympathy. Sorrow
is before us. Another's heart is breaking. Money would be of no use;
it would be only bitter mockery to offer it. But we can hold to the
neighbor's lips a cup of the wine of love, filled out of our own heart,
which will give new strength to the sufferer. Or it is the anguish of
a life struggle, a human Gethsemane, beside which we are called to
watch. We can give no actual aid--the soul must fight its battles
alone; but we can be as the angel that ministered in our Lord's
Gethsemane, imparting strength, and helping the weary struggler to win
the victory.

The world is very full of sorrow and trial, and we cannot live among
our fellow-men and be true without sharing their loads. If we are
happy we must hold the lamp of our happiness so that its beams will
fall upon the shadowed heart. If we have no burden it is our duty to
put our shoulders under t