SUNDAY HEADING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13134, 24 March 1906, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY HEADING.

HIDDEN MANNA AND A WHITE STONE. BY THE REV. WILLIAM CUFF. " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."—Revelation ii. 17. There, then, are the secrets which you cannot tell, the hidden manna, the white stone, and the new name which no man knoweth. saving he that receiveth it. We may well ask at once who is he 10 lie thus highly and exceptionally favoured from amongst all men? What manner of man can this be who shall receive, at the wounded hand of his wounded Lord, the hidden manna, and the white stone, and the new name? What shall he do to win this? From His throne in glory our Lord Jesus tells lis who is the man. who is the woman—to him that overcometh will I give these; that man, that woman, shall know these secret things, which only he that overcometh can know in this world or in the world to come. HEIGHTS TO BE SCALED. But what is the man to overcome if he is to have such a reward as this? He must overcome everything that is opposed to his becoming a believer, and a lover, and a follower of Jesus of Nazareth. Is there any need for me to tell you that a thousand things oppose? It is not a walk over, it is an infinite struggle to every one of us, and the reward held out to us is simply beyond the imagination of the human mind. There are heights to be scaled more dillicult than any soldiers have ever yet scaled. It often demands more moral courage to fight this battle than it does to face thunder and artillery. Many a man will face the cannon and the mus'ket who will shrink from following Christ Jesus whithersoever He leadeth. There are thousands of voting men at this moment in Great Britain who would be proud to don His Majesty's regimentals, and who would not hesitate to rido into the valley of death, or fight any battle, however terrible, who blush for very shame and become weak when the honour of Christ is at stake. How it can be that men should be ashamed of Jesus I cannot think. "To him that overcometh will I give of the hidden manna, and a white stone with a new name written on it. To hint shall be the secret of all mystery and the triumph of all faith; for he shall carry in his bosom the treasure of the Master, the secret of God." For the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. The man that overcometh shall know the secrets of life, and he I shall have eternal honours after death. Who will be the next to follow Jesus through evil and good report? You talk about valour. Here is an opportunity for •valour and for victory. " Put my name down, sir," said Mr. Greatheart, in John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," just at the moment when there was some fighting to do. The pilgrims had got into a muddle, lions were in the way, and others were opposing them, and Greatheart gripped his sword with his right hand. Will you say to-night, "Put my name down?" Will you allow God to write your name in a book, where it can never be erased—the Lamb's Book of Life? If you shall so resolve then this is the message: To him that overcometh will I give the. hidden manna, and the white stone, and the new name written upon it. FOUGHT IN THE FIELD. Well, now, if that is the man who is to know- these secrets, what are the secrets? Are they worth fighting for? You know that a silver medal with five or six bars above it, fastened on to a man's breast by a bit of silk ribbon, is worth fighting for. Behind the medal there is a very profound secret, and the curious thing is you can hardly ever get that secret from the soldier. He has fought in the battle, he has seen the carnage of the fields, he has heard the cry of the wounded, he has marked the death of his friend, who has wafked with him shoulder to shoulder, but voti seldom hear him talk about it. I met Lord Wolseley on board ship, coming home; he was the most chatty and pleasant of men, for he was too great a man to be proud. I tried to get him to talk to me about fighting and what it was like, but the moment I got to the point he got away from it. and I could not get him to talk about- the secret of the battle.

It is a proud thing to have -medal because of the secret it bears. There was a medal sold at auction the other day for £405, which was presented by Charles' I. to Captain Williams, who fought a naval battle on July 31, 1653._ At this time well-nigh all th© world was up in arms. John Bun van was then rotting in Bedford gaol for ccV.scieno? sake. The Fleet prison was full of political and religious prisoners, the whole of this country was seething with agitation and passions, and strong men were ready for great conflicts. The secret of the battle is behind that medal. But one of the secrets that Jesus has promised is far more than all the medals and all the monarchs who ever swayed an emnire or over commanded an at my. HEAVENLY FOOD. . Let us look at one or two of them. Here is the first: "Ye shall eat of the hidden manna." This is a divine thing: it was at the first divinely supplied and humanlv gathered, personally eaten and personally enjoyed. It was heavenly food, it was angel's food; it was given by miracle, and it lasted as long as the people needed it. It came as straight from heaven as the raindrops or the sunbeams, or the light of that body that dazzles our vision. The manna was public enough in the wilderness and there was no secret. It came every morning with the rising of the sun and lay like hoarfrost upon the around. That is the description in the Now Testament. When Jesus came to handle the history of the past He took the manna, and H»> turned it. into a divine thing, a heavenly tiling, and called it secret bread for the secret taste of the soul. Then He called it the bread of God. then He called it the bread of heaven. When He was talking to the Jews about it, who were cavilling at Him and badgering Him because of His teaching, He said. 4 I have a food to eat that you know not of." And so, my brethren, has every Christian man; he has secret bread i to eat that 110 other man can know of. How can the world understand that? How can the world come to know of our sacred, secret enjoyments? The world cannot understand it because it is bevond words, and beyond words because it is spiritual. Brethren, the Word of God is the hidden manna. That is the bread that Jesus Christ promises to give him that overcometh. For He says of it Himself. "My Father fiveth you the true lire.id from heaven. For the bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world." Do you expect the world to understand that? If you wont to talk to the world like that, and it bo.it that, it would be sheer nonsense to the world; and they would spurn you, and past you out as a lunatic and a fool, because you talked about eating bread from heaven. Dear friends, have, you tasted this bread from heaven? If you have not tasted that manna you are not in the secret at all. Only get a taste of it, and you shall possess in your breasts a secret that the world never I knew and never can know. " For no man knoweth it save he that receiveth it." A WHITE STONE. Then comes the next. "I will give you a white stone and a new name written thereon." There are maiiv iutermetations

about this white stone, but they nil agre< that it refer", to a small stone, a policed stone, such as you might use as iran for'a ring on your finger, or in a pin, or on vour watch-chain. It was worn either to adorn the person or as a secret between one man and another. You can trace ttie custom te, the very beginning and dawn of human history, ho Jesus say-, "To him tint o\crcomcth I Will give a white stone a, * p.edge between us two, that h» who receive* the white stone at My hand shall aiwav, !( * on My side m this life, and I will be on hn -side at the last great day when he will supremely need a friend, i will give him a. white stone with a new name written on it He shall produce that as a pa.-i.port into the Kingdom of Heaven, which waiteth to receive him. Then the white stone was used for another purpose It was given to a man who had been tried in a public court of justice and when the jury had given the verdict ''Not guilty the white stone was handed to th,> acquitted prisoner that he might take it with him with the insignia of the Emperor, and show it wherever he went, long as he lived lie would have the wh'N> Stone to show to everybody that he was acquitted from the chnrsje. It wa» the stone of justification, the stone of acquittal that made the man's character ah that it was Ix'fore the t r = .il took place. It was used, too. for another purpose. It, was given to the victorious soldier as a reward for his valour in the field and the victory he had won. licit to nie tin- is the best of all purposes for which the stone was given, and I think Ira this is th? Point of the text. When two dear friend* were about to part thev got a white stone, cut it in two, and each of the two had a part. On the one half was one man's name and on the other was the other man's nam - That was the pledge, each to the other of a friendship that was not to be broken b» anything less than death. These two parts of the stone were always bequeathed to the sons of the two men. and tnev kept them > rough long generation*. It is known to be a fact that sometimes two or three generations had cipme and gone when two men would accidentally meet. And, in talking over the things of the past. on,, would pro (luce a white stone and the other would produce his. and they found out bv this chance meeting that they were the followers ot their ancestors, who had originally divided that white stone. I need not toll vou that when two men like that met. after two or three generations had died, thev would over those two hits of white stone, -wear eternal friendship that nothing could destroy. They pledged themselves to one another, even as their forefathers had done. A NAME OX THE STONE. That is what the white stone and the new name may be to you, may be to me. Dear friends, I have got one part of th« stone carefully treasured, and the name that IS written on it is "Jesus." I luimbiv benovo that He has got the other part of the stone, and on it is written mv name. And when He shall come to number up Hi* people I humbly believe there will bo eternal friendship between Jesus Christ and me. It. began forty years ago, and I know t 10 spot where He gave mo one portion of the white stone and bade me keep it I know the spot where I Him the other halt, and , vowed that I would be true to linn till denth.

Have you got that one half of the white stone with the name of ".Jesus" written on it, pledging His friendship to von? Has He got the other half with your 'name written oil It, pledging your friendship to Him! It you have not you are without these secrets. I beseech of you to-night not to sleep without your name being on that white stone, the half of which you will give to Jesus a "el .Testis will give you the other half with His name written on it. May the Lord grant you to know the secret of the manna and the white stone and the new name.