XXIV.

THE HIDDEN MANNA, THE WHITE

STONE, AND THE NEW NAME.

To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it. Rev. ii. 17 (Revised Version).

THIS Scripture is rich in beautiful promises that ought to charm and delight every soul. In Sabatier's "Life of St. Francis of Assisi" there is this sentence, "It is not easy to realize how many waiting souls there are in this world." When Jesus was here among men, everywhere he went he seemed to find somebody who was just waiting to receive the good he could do for him. He found many men and women with a bitter cry on their lips and a cruel agony in their hearts, who were waiting for some one to come and heal them or touch their souls with hope. It is that way yet; and happy the man or the woman who is given spiritual insight to behold the needs of those who are waiting for the Christ.

In the same book to which I have referred, there is also the statement that the human heart so nat

urally yearns to offer itself up that we have only to meet along our path some one who, doubting neither himself nor us, demands it without reserve, and we yield it to him at once. Natural religions fail because their founders have not had the courage to lay hold upon the hearts of men, consenting to no partition. Carlyle says, "Hero worship never dies, and can never die." Both of these great men are right. The human heart longs to surrender itself in love and worship to a worthy leader. Jesus Christ meets all these conditions. We do not need to exaggerate his personality by means of the imagination, for he is more perfect and splendid than the most brilliant imagination could conceive. He comes to us also in the consciousness of perfect power and wisdom and love, to lead us onward to triumph. Let us study for a few moments these three pictures which represent what Christ is waiting to do for us.

First, he wants to feed us on the only food that can give us perfect satisfaction and peace. How many there are who go hungry and starved, when they might feed at Christ's abundant table!

Rev. William Arnot says he was once the guest of a friend who had a favorite dog. The animal would come into the room where the family were sitting at the dinner table, and would stand looking at his master. If the master threw him a crumb, the dog would seize it before it got to the floor. But if he put a joint of meat down on the

floor, the dog would look at it and leave it alone, as if it were too good for him. There are many people who go half-starved on crumbs which they pick up from the world's table, when God is offering them the whole joint.

A friend of mine was traveling in a train with a Christian business man, when the conversation turned on their personal experiences. The business man had been speaking about the troubles that had assailed him during the year, when suddenly he said: "Nevertheless, I have not had an anxious moment for ten years. I have had burdens grievous to bear, sorrows heavy and sore, difficulties numberless and vexatious, disappointments and embarrassments of various sorts; but none of these things have corroded my heart, nor have they distressed me with anxiety." Now here was a man who had not the first tinge of fanaticism about him, but is known as a level-headed business man, who lives in an atmosphere of spiritual peace because Christ his Savior feeds him on the hidden manna.

To you who are restless and uneasy, and are getting no sweet satisfaction out of life, I offer this hidden manna in Jesus Christ. The Christ who said to his disciples, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid," can realize all that to-night for

you.

But Christ offers to give you something else

the White Stone. This was doubtless an allusion to an ancient mode of indicating approbation and acquittal. In Ovid you may find these lines

"A custom of old, and still ordains,

Which life or death by suffrage obtains;

White stones and black within an urn are cast,-
The first absolve, but death is in the last. "

This ancient custom was something like our modern balloting, as is done in some secret orders by white and black balls. The white stone promised by our Lord is a full and complete justification in the Day of Judgment, through his righteousness. The Christian at the last great assize shall receive not the black stone of condemnation, but the white stone of salvation, through the merits of Him who died for sinners. But, thank God, we do not have to wait until the Judgment to have a glimpse of the white stone. God gives it to us here, in this world, when we, by his grace, overcome our sin.

Very beautiful and touching is the story of the conversion of Harriet Beecher Stowe, at the age of fourteen, as told in her "Life and Letters," recently published. Her father, Dr. Lyman Beecher, preached one morning on "Jesus as the Soul's Friend." After returning from the service, Harriet went to his study and threw herself into his arms, saying, "Father, I have given myself to Jesus." Looking down tenderly into his beloved child's face, the good man said, while he pressed her to his heart and his warm tears fell on her head:

"Is it so? Then has a new flower blossomed in the kingdom of heaven this day." And how that flower did blossom as the years passed on!

"I have given myself to Jesus," was the girl's shy way of describing the method by which she became a friend of the Savior, and received the white stone of love and forgiveness.

were.

The white stone may also indicate our purity when we have yielded our hearts to the tender, loving touch of Christ. There is a story of a nun in an Italian convent, who once dreamed that an angel opened her spiritual eyes to see all men as they She looked upon so much wickedness that she shrank back in horror. But just then Christ appeared among them, with bleeding wounds, and the nun saw that whosoever pressed forward and touched the blood of Jesus at once became as white as snow. It is so in every-day life. Every day that men come to Christ in repentance and faith he cleanses them. Tho it be a poor drunkard, outcast from the plague of drink, the touch of Christ can purify his heart and hang about his neck the white stone of sobriety and honor.

Upon the white When Jacob was

This is a personal salvation. stone is written our new name. returning from his long stay with Laban, and the rumor came that his wronged brother Esau was coming to get vengeance on him for the sin of his youth, Jacob in terror went out to spend the night in prayer. In that night of agony an angel came