nds, we shall see the
marks in His hands, and in His feet, and in His side. Do we wish to be
of those, then, who wail and lament, or of those who rejoice? If we
would not lament at the sight of Him then, we must lament at the
thought of Him now. Let us prepare to meet our God; let us come into
His Presence whenever we can; let us try to fancy as if we saw the
Cross and Him upon it; let us draw near to it; let us beg Him to look
on us as He did on the penitent thief, and let us say to Him, "Lord
remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom[12]."

Let this be added to the prayer, my brethren, with which you are about
to leave this church. After I have given the blessing, you will say to
yourselves a short prayer. Well; fancy you see Jesus Christ on the
cross, and say to Him with the penitent thief, "Lord, remember me when
Thou comest in Thy kingdom;" that is, "Remember me, Lord, in mercy,
remember not my sins, but Thine own cross; remember Thine own
sufferings, remember that Thou sufferedst for me, a sinner; remember in
the last day that I, during my lifetime, felt Thy sufferings, that I
suffered on my cross by Thy side. Remember me then, and make me
remember Thee now."

[1] 1 Pet. i. 8; ii. 3.

[2] Passion-tide.

[3] 1 Pet. ii. 22, 23.

[4] Ps. xxii. 6.

[5] Gen. xxxvii. 19, 20.

[6] Matt. xxi. 37-39.

[7] Luke xxiii. 48.

[8] Matt. xii. 46, &c.

[9] Luke ii. 85.

[10] Zech. xii. 10.

[11] Rev. i. 7.

[12] Luke xxiii. 42.

SERMON XI.

Attendance on Holy Communion.

"_Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life._"--John v. 40.

St. John tells us in to-day's Epistle[1] that "God hath given unto us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." Yet in the text the
Son Himself, our Saviour, sorrowfully and solemnly expostulates with
His own brethren, "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life."
"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." We know from
history, as a matter of fact, that they did not receive Him, that they
did not come to Him when He came to them; but He says in the text that
they would not come, that they did not wish to come, implying that
they, and none else but they, were the cause of their not coming.

Does it not seem a plain natural instinct that every one should seek
his own good? What then is meant by this unwillingness to come for the
greatest of goods, life, an