and in trusting faith to commit all my burden into Thy Hands ; to store up in the deepest recesses of my heart the thought of that time of desolation through which Thy Beloved Son, in Whom Thou art well pleased, had to pass ; and to remember that in His extremity, when bereft of the help of all his friends, He was mindful of Thee, and of Thee alone.
CHAPTER XXVIII
☙ Of the thirst of the Lord Jesus as He hung upon the Cross
I BLESS Thee, and give thanks to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, Fountain of living water, and Source of that wisdom that maketh wise unto salvation, for the exceeding great thirst which Thou didst suffer upon the Cross, when, by reason of Thy sacred and precious Blood having been poured forth, and all the natural fluids of Thy Body having been exhausted by Thy grievous tortures, Thou didst — besides Thy burning thirst for our salvation — endure an agony of bodily thirst ; and as one utterly poor and needy, didst ask for drink, saying, "I thirst." But even this small request there was none who would heed ; none was there who would even offer a cup of cold water to Him Who made all water to flow. Nay more, some of the bystanders, on hearing what Thou hadst said, were not only not moved to pity, but became yet more unmerciful ; and that they might gratify the venomous hatred of their wicked hearts, filled a sponge with vinegar mingled with gall, and put to Thy sweet Mouth
