ever and for ever, the Blessed Sacrament of His Love. It was the Jewish Feast of the Passover, and the Lord sent two of His disciples into the holy city to find a room in which He could keep the Feast with His twelve Apostles. You will find the whole account of it in the 14th chapter of S. Mark's Gospel, and in the 13th chapter of S. John. I want first to tell you why it is that this day is called Maundy Thursday. You will read for yourselves, or some one will read to you, how after supper on that night Jesus washed His disciples' feet, to show all His great love and humility; to show us that we ought not to think anything too mean, anything too humble to do for others; for, my children, remember Who it was Who performed this act of love. It was Jesus, the Incarnate God. And it was Jesus Who gave to His disciples a new commandment, and the words of this new commandment were these: "That ye love one another." The Latin for these words begins Mandate, and Mandate has been changed into Maundy, and so the lesson of Maundy Thursday is a lesson of love; and after the lesson of love we are told of the great Sacrament of Love. Jesus was going away, and yet before He went He gave Himself to His Church, to be with the faithful for evermore. He took bread and wine, and He blessed them; and He said, "This is My Body, this is My Blood." He had often told them before that those who ate His Flesh and drank His Blood should live for ever; and perhaps they had not quite understood His meaning; perhaps they did not quite understand Him even now; but afterwards, when He had suffered, and had risen again from the dead, they knew what that great, great Blessing was which He had left behind Him; for it was the Blessing of His own Presence in His Church for ever. And then on that evening of the first Maundy Thursday, after Jesus had instituted that most Blessed Sacrament, He went with His disciples to the garden of Gethsemane; and then there came upon Him the fear of that dreadful death that He knew was coming to Him. As Man He was obliged to suffer for our sakes; and so He passed through that terrible agony, and great drops of Blood-the Saviour's own Precious Blood-fell from His Forehead upon the ground. And then an Angel came and comforted Him; and after that Judas came up with his soldiers, and betrayed his Lord and Master, and all the disciples left Him, and ran away, and He was led away, a prisoner, to the Judgment Hall. CHAPTER XLIII. GOOD FRIDAY. "O come and mourn with me awhile, THIS week has been very full of suffering, dear children. To-day the greatest suffering of all has to be told you; for to-day is the day on which Jesus died. Everything in the services of the Church speaks of sorrow. There are Psalms appointed for the day, which are what are called prophetic Psalms; hundreds of years before Christ came, as I told you before, these Psalms were written, and yet they tell of His sufferings, they use some of the very words which He used as He hung upon the Cross. The lessons too are all about the Great Sacrifice; and in the Collects (there are three for Good Friday) we first pray for ourselves, for all His people who are kneeling before Him with us, to gaze upon His lifted Cross. And then we pray for the whole Church, for every one who serves the crucified Lord; and at the last we pray for those who do not serve Him or believe in Him, that the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for the sheep may at last by His most precious death bring them back into the fold. My dear children, there is but one thing for us all to do today it is to try and think of Jesus upon the Cross. In the early morning He stood alone in Pilate's judgment hall; His disciples, you know, had all left Him in His sorrow: S. Peter had denied Him; the cruel soldiers mocked Him and scourged Him— that is, beat Him with cords till the blood flowed from every part of His sacred Body—and they put an old robe on Him, and round His Holy Head they placed a crown of thorns, and a reed in His |