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From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer, And God's grace fructify through thee to all. The least flower, with a brimming cup, may stand, And share its dewdrop with another near.1
3. The greatest things are poor, if the little things are not done — those minor courtesies which do so much to oil the wheels, to soften the jars, and to heal the heartaches of the world.
Tf The most miserable homes I have ever known have often been those that ought to have been the happiest ; I envied them before I got to know the whole story. The house was a palace ; the head of the household had worked hard, had made money ; he could command every luxury, and it was his one pride that every- thing that money could command was at the disposal of every member of his home-circle; art had done its best, culture had added its sweetest ministries; everything there — everything but the delicate courtesies, the ingenious devices of love, which are life's most perfect graces.2
Tj In Oscar Wilde's tragic book, De Profundis, the author tells us how unspeakably he was helped in his shame, when a friend paid him the common courtesy of lifting his hat in his presence ! But when these simplicities of life are consecrated they become sublimities, and they work the Lord's will with amazing fruitful- ness. I think what is needed, above many things in our time, is the sanctification of conventionalities. Some men's " Good morn- ing " falls upon your spirits like morning dew. There is one man in this city whom I sometimes meet upon a Sunday morning, and his "The Lord be with you" revives my spirit with the very ministry of grace. All these are cups of cold water.8
III.
The Motive.
The true value of an action is to be measured by its motive. The cup of cold water must be given " in the name of a disciple," or, as St. Mark puts it, " because ye are Christ's." There is nothing uncommon in the act of giving a cup of cold water to the thirsty one. But when we give the cup of cold water to the little ones
1 E. B. Browning.
8 J. M. Jones, The Cup of Cold Water, 11.
• J. H. Jowett, in The Examiner, April 27, 1905.
246 THE MINISTRY OF SMALL THINGS
upon whose brow we read the name of Christ, who died for them, then the action is raised to the moral sphere and wins the com- mendation of the Lord of the little ones. A common deed becomes uncommon when done in the name and for the sake of Christ. Eight motives transform men and their actions.
1. The expression, " these little ones," refers to His disciple- band, whom He regards as little children in their want of experience and advantage. They had the undeveloped perceptions of a little child ; their spiritual senses were not sure and certain. They had a child's immaturity of mind, and a great thought overpowered them. They had a child's uncertainty of limb, and were easily made to stumble. They were " little ones " in the sphere of advantage. None of the " great ones " of the earth were among them. None of them occupied rank, or possessed wealth, or were adorned with culture. We find among them children of dis- advantage with their powers undisciplined and unknown. Mr. Feeble-mind was there. Mr. Little-faith was among them. Mr. Limp-will was of their number. And these " little ones " are among us in all times. The roads are full of them. We may find them by every wayside. And the Lord looks upon them with tender pity and solicitous love.
TJ There is an Eastern story of a king who built a great temple at his own cost, no other one being allowed to do even the smallest part of the work. The king's name was put upon the temple as the builder of it. But, strange to say, when the dedication day came it was seen that a poor widow's name was there in place of the king's. The king was angry and gave command that the woman bearing the name on the scroll should be found. They discovered her at last among the very poor and brought her before the king. He demanded of her what she had done toward the building of the temple. She said, " Nothing." When pressed to remember anything she had done, she said that one day when she saw the oxen drawing the great stones past her cottage, exhausted in the heat and very weary, she had in pity given them some wisps of hay. And this simple kindness to dumb animals, prompted by a heart's compassion, weighed more in God's sight than all the king's vast outlay of money. What we truly do for Christ and in love is glorious in His sight.1
Tj The Vision of Sir Launfal, by James Kussell Lowell, glows
1 J. R. Miller, Our New Edens, 132.
ST. MATTHEW x. 42 247
with the glory of the right motive. Sir Launfal was a knight of the North Countree, who made a vow to travel over sea and land in search of the Holy Grail. Before his departure, he sleeps, and in the dreams of the night he sees a vision of what is and what will be. From the proudest hall in the North Countree, Sir Launfal flashed forth in his unscarred mail, and saw a leper crouching by his gate, who begged with his hand and moaned as he sat. A loathing came over the knight, for this man, foul and bent, seemed a blot on the summer morn. In scorn he tossed him a bit of gold. Years seemed to pass, for in our dreams we live an age in a moment. Sir Launfal, old and grey, returns from his weary quest to find his heir installed in his place. Unknown, he is turned away from his own door.