Jesus? "My meat and drink," saith He, "is that men should do My
Father's will. Now this is the will of My Father, even your
sanctification and salvation, that you may sanctify your souls by
walking in My precepts, by doing works of repentance, by adorning
yourselves with all virtues, in order that, like a bride adorned for
her husband, you may be worthy to be present at My supper in My
Father's kingdom, and to sleep with Me as My elect bride, in the
chamber of My Father's heart." O how Christ longs to bring all men
thither! This is the meaning of His words: "Where I am there shall
also My servant be"; and again: "Father, I will that they may be one
even as We are one." O, how incomprehensible is this thirst of
Christ! What toil and labour He endured for thirty and three years,
for the sake of it! For this His very heart's blood was poured out.
See what our tender Lord says to His Father: "The zeal of Thine
house hath even eaten Me." Truly, He would have submitted to be
crucified a thousand times, rather than allow one soul to perish
through any fault of His. O how this inward thirst tormented Him,
when He thought that He had done all that He could, and even a
hundredfold more than He need have done, and yet that so few had
turned to Him, and been won by Him. His whole body was now worn out;
all His blood was shed; nothing remained for Him to do; and
therefore He was constrained to confess, "It is finished"; and yet
by all His labours, afflictions, and sufferings, He had brought no
richer harvest to the Father than this. Truly, this was the most
bitter of all His sorrows, that after so hard a battle His victory
had not been more glorious, and that He returned a conqueror to His
Father with so few spoils. Therefore, all those who do not refresh
Him by performing His will, and doing all that is pleasing and
honourable to Him, and withstanding all that reason tells them to be
displeasing to Him, will one day hear Him say, "I was thirsty, and