ye gave Me no drink. Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."

Fourthly, there is yet another inward meaning of this word--namely,
that Christ spoke it out of the love which inwardly draws Him
towards all men, thus making known to us His ardent love, and
opening His own heart, as a delightful couch, on which we may feed
pleasantly, and inviting us to it, saying, "I thirst for you." For
as the liquid which we drink is sent down pleasantly through the
throat into the body, and so passes into the substance and nature of
our body, so Christ out of the ardent thirst of His love, takes
spiritual pleasure in drinking in all men into Himself, swallowing
them, as it were, and incorporating them into Himself, and bringing
them into the secret chamber of His loving heart. Therefore He says:
"I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
Me"--all men, that is, who allow themselves to be drawn by Me, and
submit to Me as obedient instruments, suffering Me to do with them
according to My gracious will. But those who resist Him quench not
His thirst, but give Him a bitter draught instead, even the deeds of
their own self-will. These, when our Lord tasteth them, He
straightway rejects.

THE SIXTH WORD

WHEN Christ had tasted the draught of vinegar and gall, He spoke the
sixth word: "It is finished." Thereby He signified that by His
Passion had been fulfilled all the prophecies, types, mysteries,
scriptures, sacrifices, and promises, which had been predicted and
written about Him. This is that true Son of God, for whom the Father
of heaven made ready a supper in the kingdom of His eternal
blessedness; and He sent His servant--that is the human nature of