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"hidden manna," thus promised by our Lord, as the bread of life, for the support and nourishment of his conflicting and overcoming people, we discern simply the promise of himself, even that crucified Redeemer who said, "Whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." This is the food, brethren, without which, in the very midst of earthly abundance, your souls languish and die. If God's Word be true, there is none other from whom you can draw nourishment and life; because "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you," are his own words. Upon him, then, you must learn to feed daily and hourly. Upon the blood of the Lamb which is carried up to the mercy-seat, you must plead for pardon and peace. Upon the righteousness of the Lord you must plead your everlasting acceptance before the throne. Upon his grace and strength you must live all the day long: while amidst dangerous temptations, difficult duties, and painful dispensations, your language must be, like his of old, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In Him, and in Him alone, whom the world neither sees nor knows, have I the hidden manna-have I bread and wine."

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Again the second promise of the text requires our attention: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone." Allusion is here obviously made to the ancient custom of judges in passing sentence. If it was intended to condemn the prisoner, the judge put a black stone into the urn; while they made use of a white stone when the prisoner was acquitted. The promise therefore, "I will give him a white stone," signifies, "I will give him a full and free forgiveness of all his sins."

How beautifully does each of these gracious promises grow, as it were, out of that which preceded it! First, Christ leads his people, by his Holy Spirit, to desire the hidden manna―to rely by faith upon himself. Then does he, through the efficacy of his cleansing blood, present them with the white stone of acquittal ; blotting out as a thick cloud their transgressions, and as a cloud their sins.

Then are they prepared for the third, and the last, of the promises: "And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." "A new name," marking his admittance into a new state of dignity and honour: just as Abram's name became Abraham, and Jacob's was changed to Israel, when the Lord entered into special covenant with them. So is it with the Christian. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." This is "the new name" which, in the case of every believer, marks his adoption into the family of God. And it is "known only to him that receiveth it;" which is obvious from this declaration of the Apostle-" Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not."

You will have observed, brethren, a peculiarity which runs through each of these great and blessed promises—namely, its secrecy. The "new name" is declared to be known only to him who has it. "The white stone" is silently dropped into the urn, and is appreciated only by him whose fate is decided by it."The hidden manna" is concealed from all but those who feed upon it. Surely then some lesson may be taught us by so marked a peculiarity. We believe it to be this-that the life of the true Christian is in all ages to be a hidden life. Its fruits, indeed, visible to all, by holiness, and long-suffering,

and love, and every Christian grace; but the life itself veiled in the transactions between God and the soul. As the Apostle to the Colossians expresses when "Your life is hid with Christ in God."

he says,

Would you, then, know whether your life is the spiritual life of God's dear children? Mark, then, whether it possesses this essential qualification. Every other symptom of religion may be counterfeited by the mere moralist, or the hypocrite, or the formalist; the hidden life of the Christian never can, for it is known only to Him who possesses it. Would you know whether this is yours? Take this simple mode of determining it: subtract from life all the hours spent in necessary occupation, in outward religious observances, and in unnecessary idleness; and then observe what remains; see how much has been secretly dedicated to God: just by so much is yours the hidden life of the Christian.

How many in this assemblage, at this moment, are there, whose consciences have already whispered to them-" If this be, indeed, the stamp of vital religion, then does my religion forfeit all claim to it. When I have made these great deductions there is absolutely nothing: all is swallowed up in the engagements of time-nothing reserved for eternity. All, even of my Christian duties, are spread before the world—nothing " hid with Christ in God." Do you, then, never, in the privacy of your chamber, pour out your heart before the throne of grace -never feed upon "the hidden manna," as conveyed to you in God's own Word? Never dwell with delight, and thanksgiving, and praise, upon that "new name" which can alone enable you to cry, 66 Abba, father?" Then, indeed, you have most fearful cause to question whether yours is the religion of the heart-the Christianity of the Bible-the offering that God will not despise. Now, brethren, one word of encouragement to you, who find, upon self-examination, that these features of the true life of the Christian, are, at least in some degree, visible in your life. Yours is now a hidden life, possessing temptations and sorrows of which none partake, as well as joys with which a stranger intermeddleth not. The happiest portion of your day, though it may be a small portion, is spent in secret communion with Him whom, not having seen, you love. Known only to Him are those blessed sources from which you draw your happiness and your joy. It is intended that it should be so now: take comfort from this reflection-that this will not be always the case. The true Christian is, at present, like the diamond hidden in the bowels of the earth, known only to the Omniscient Being who placed it there. But in the day when the Lord shall make up his jewels, the true child of God, however low and humble, shall be, like that same diamond, cut and polished, and set in some fair coronet. Then will assembled worlds behold the men who meditated and prayed in secret, who were content to be as the dust of the earth: but then will they no longer be the Lord's hidden ones, but shine like the stars in the kingdom of their Father, and swell the ranks of those glorified spirits who for ever shall attest the triumphs of the Lamb. Then will you, who are now feeding upon "the hidden manna," feast upon the tree of life. Then will the "new name," now known only to yourself, be declared by Him who gave it, when he confesses you, as he has promised, before the angels of God. Then will "the white stone" of acquittal be acknowledged by the Great Judge of all the earth, who has now bestowed it; and who will then, in full accordance with his promise, pronounce his sentence, and his blessing: "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

THE CURE OF NAAMAN.

REV. J. STRATTEN.

PADDINGTON CHAPEL, MARCH 15, 1835.

"Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."-2 KINGS, v. 14.

IN the Scriptures there are heights of divine light: God is light: and in those heights I hope ever to be permitted to expatiate: of that privilege no man shall debar me. In the Scriptures there are depths of divine darkness: and I hope often to dive into them; and according to my opportunities and abilities, I will go down into those deep and transparent waters. In the Scriptures there are lengths and breadths of knowledge and information: and I hope to prosecute inquiries to go up and down in the length and breadth of the land, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made me free: as long as I live I hope to know the delight and joy which are awakened in the mind by the acquisition of fresh knowledge and information.

You may sometimes think that the topics discoursed of are abstract, abstruse, and difficult and if it were so, I would screen myself under the example of the apostle Paul, of whom the apostle Peter testifies that he did write some things which were hard to be understood. May it not, however be said of some in the way of reproof, "When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God?" And are we not required to " go on unto perfection?" Would you wish a public teacher of Christianity to confine himself for ever to fundamental verities? Would you, in your theology, never proceed beyond the A B C? I have no objection whatever at times to teach the A B C; I will come down to the lowest capacity, and do my best for the least child in the assembly, for the weakest and slenderest lambs of the flock. But I must have my permission to do, at other times, as I have said. All that I have to offer you this morning, upon the instructive and interesting narrative which is before us, will be simple to every capacity; and there is not a child now present, who will give me his attention, but may clearly comprehend what I purpose to advance.

In this narrative there are four parties concerned: first, the servants; secondly, the Syrian soldier; thirdly, the Lord's prophet; last of all, and greatest of all, the LORD himself.

Give me your attention first of all, to THE SERVANTS. The Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. The persons here referred to were freebooters, banditti; persons who linked themselves together, and went

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out upon marauding parties. Such things were very common in those countries, and in those times they plundered and carried off, or destroyed, whatever they could lay their hands upon. It is this fact to which Solomon alludes when he gives admonition to Rehoboam his son: My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent, without cause;" (which was just the case with these marauders) "let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: we shall find all precious substance; we shall fill our houses with spoil: cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse" -and afterwards divide the spoil: my son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path."

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These marauders had carried off, among other things, a little Israelitish maid. Had they killed the father and the mother? Had they exterminated the whole family? or did the father, and the mother, and the rest of the family escape? If they escaped and were alive, what agony, what inexpressible distress, when they thought of the condition of their daughter, of their little maid! There is no comparison between a child dead and a child lost. A son lost-a daughter lost, carried off by Syrian robbers, a captive, a slave, exposed to infamy, abuse, insult, vice, idolatry in its worst forms! But those who are absent from us, and of whose condition we have no knowledge, having received no intelligence, may be in a far better state than we believe. This little maid was secure and happy in the palace of Naaman. She sung sweetly there in the ineffable simplicity of nature; which is far better than the artificial wisdom and lessons of philosophy. She conformed herself to the necessities of her lot: there was no loud lament, no sobbing and crying about her kindred and her country; but she acquiesced in what the event incontestibly proved to be, the will and the providence of God. And respecting her I wish to observe, that she had been religiously educated. She had heard of the prophet, and the perfections of the prophet's God. She knew that the religion of her country originated in the midst of miracles, and signs, and wonders, and was truly divine. She was well aware that there was light, and power, and efficiency in Hebrew principles; and that there was no good to be got in the dead and dumb idolatries of Rimmon. And, parents, here is a word to you. Teach your children the Scriptures. Let them learn the praises, and not the censures, of the prophets. Bring them up as Timothy was brought up, who from a child knew the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make any, both young and old, wise unto salvation. Let them be like this Israelitish girl, upon whom one delights to think; and their knowledge they may carry-nobody knows where. It will abide with them till their dying day; it may be transmitted to the ends of the earth; it may be made to touch the highest points of society; it may go down to the latest generations of the world. I wish to observe respecting her also, the prudence of her demeanour; her good and excellent conduct. There was something remarkable about her, or she would not have filled this situation. She was lady`s-maid to the wife of the highest military officer of the realm. And if she had talked to her mistress about her privileges, and filled the house with the noise and clamour of her religion, she had neither been respected nor regarded. Her light shone silently, and without a voice, and was its own recommendation. Her principles were to be seen in her amiableness, her submission, her dutifulness, her good disposition, her excellent behaviour. Had she been a talker, and not a doer, of the word,

the other servants had said, "Her noise, her nonsense, her folly! Cannot she hold her peace?" But there was that in her demeanour which softened prejudice, which overcame opposition, which secured her respect in the palace of the Syrian. And, be assured, there is ineffable enchantment in sprightliness, in activity, in willing duty, where these qualities open and beam in the young. And I look upon this Israelitish girl to have been a model in her station and in her sphere. Who can look on her without being prepared to pour out the benediction, and to say that she might have been the grace and the ornament of a loftier and a nobler rank? But she was where God had put her, and she was there a pattern.

I wish to notice also, the tender interest which she felt in her master's welfare. His health and happiness were what she felt concerned in; and so she said, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy." Have you never met with people (I have with many) who did not care if the world were in a conflagration, provided their own nest was not in a blaze. Let us learn to seek each other's good; and especially in homes and houses look after the common interest and general welfare; and in the general joy and peace, you shall find your personal satisfaction. And be assured of this-that dignity and honour depend, not upon the place, but upon the person. It is not where you are, but what you are—as this Israelitish maid demonstrates.

Here is another set of servants: I wish to call your attention for a moment to those who accompanied Naaman. Here were servants, and horses, and chariots-perhaps camels and asses. It was what we call a cavalcade, a caravansera. We have the expression "the company" which attended Naaman. And when I mention to you that the silver which was brought as a present amounted, in our money, to three thousand, three hundred and thirty-five pounds, eighteen shillings, and ninepence; and that the gold which he brought amounted to ten thousand, nine hundred and twenty-five pounds; making fourteen thousand, four hundred and sixty pounds in solid money, besides the ten changes of raiment; you will see, in a moment, that there must have been servants to have attended to all this, and to preserve order. There is no censure pronounced upon them, no particular condemnation; and so I infer that, though, like their master, without religion, and idolaters, they were persons of fair character, and respectable habits; and I will dismiss them without saying any more about them, and call your attention,

Lastly, to the servant of the prophet, Gehazi. "Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him." Here is activity, cunning, wit, impiety; with an oath he sware all this. "So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him." He showed respect to the man for his master's sake. "And he said, Is all well? And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.' Here is invention-here is genius-here is a ready story! He is furnished with every thing he wants in a moment. The devil comes to help liars: the children of this world are often wiser in their genera

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