when saw we Thee athirst
and gave Thee drink?" "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of
these My brethren, ye did it unto Me." Wherever the brothers and
sisters of Jesus are suffering, sitting in lonely rooms and wishing
that somebody would come and visit them, or lying on beds of pain and
needing somebody to come and ease the pillow or to reach the cup to the
dry lips, there Christ is saying, "I thirst."

Perhaps He is saying it in vain. There are multitudes of professing
Christians who never from end to end of the year visit any poor person.
They never thread the obscure streets or ascend the grimy stairs in
search of God's hidden ones. They have never acquired the art of
cheering a dark home with a flower, or a hymn, or a diet, or the touch
of a sympathetic hand and the smile of a healthy face. It would
completely alter the Christianity of many if they could begin to do
these lowly services; it would put reality into it, and it would bring
into the heart a joy and exhilaration hitherto unknown. For Christ
sees to it that none who thus serve Him lose their reward. An American
friend told me that once, when travelling on the continent of Europe,
he fell in with a fellow-countryman on board a Rhine steamer. They
talked about America and soon confided to each other from which parts
of the country they came, with other fragments of personal detail.
They continued to travel for some days together, and my informant was
so overwhelmed with kindness by his companion that at last he ventured
to ask the reason. "Well," rejoined the other, "when the War was going
on, I was serving in your native state; and one day our march lay
through the town in which you have told me you were born. The march
had been very prolonged; it was a day of intense heat; I was utterly
fatigued and felt on the point of dying for thirst, when a kind woman
came out of one of the houses and gave me a glass of cold water. And I
have been trying to repay through you, her fellow-townsman, the
kindness she showed to me." Does it not remind us of the great word of
the Son of God, "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little
ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say
unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward"?

But is this not enough? Does anyone wish to get still nearer to Christ
and hold the cup not only to Him in the person of His members but to
His own very lips? Well, this is possible too. Je