The Conqueror, the Hidden Manna, and the White Stone. 2 CHRON. XV. 7. "Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: work shall be rewarded." for your Ps. xxv. 14. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant." ROM. viii. 33, 34. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?" EPH. vi. 10-13. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." REV. xxi. 7 "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." "Hark, 'tis a martial sound! And peace has lost its charms: "No common foes appear To dare you to the fight, But such as own no fear And glory in their might: The Powers of Darkness are at hand; "An arm of flesh must fail In such a strife as this; He only can prevail Whose arm immortal is. 'Tis Heaven itself the strength must yield, And weapons fit for such a field. "And Heaven supplies them too: The Lord, who never faints, Is greater than the foe, And He is with His saints; Thus arm'd, they venture to the fight; "And when the conflict's past, On yonder peaceful shore They shall repose at last, And see their foes no more; The fruits of victory enjoy, And never more their arms employ." -THOMAS KELLY. THE CONQUEROR, THE HIDDEN MANNA, AND THE WHITE STONE. REV. ii. 17. "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." F all the similitudes employed in Scripture to illustrate the spiritual life, none is more frequent and ex pressive than that of a warfare. The believer is represented as a soldier, furnished with weapons of warfare, which are not carnal, but spiritual, and mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. He is called to fight the good fight of faith, not entangling himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And consonant to these representations he is described, in the beautiful promise placed at the head of this chapter, as a conqueror, upon whom, at the close of his contest, shall be conferred a gracious and rich reward. G He is spoken of as one that overcometh, an expression which manifestly implies that, in the prosecution of his course, he has enemies assailing him. These are numerous and powerful. He "wrestles not against flesh and blood" only, but "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." True it is, that the influence of these foes is unseen, unfelt, unheard, but this only renders it the more dangerous, and calls for the greater vigilance and circumspection. The worid, too, both by its frowns and by its smiles, is continually' opposing him. It presents to him innumerable inducements to acts of positive and obvious sin, while its general tendency is to infuse into his mind an undue love of the things which are seen and temporal—a secularised and worldly spirit, which cannot be indulged in without guilt, and must necessarily retard his spiritual advancement. And what renders these external foes still more formidable is, that they are aided by his own inward depravity,—the "law in his members which wars against the law of his mind, and brings him into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members." It is this, that gives strength to every temptation, and renders him an easy prey to the spiritual adversaries who surround him on every hand. This figurative representation of the Christian also intimates, that he resists and conquers his enemies. It describes him, not as fleeing from them, or yielding himself up into their hands, but as setting himself resolutely against them. And unless this be the habit of our lives, we have too much reason to fear, that our profession of the gospel is a mere name, and that vain are all our hopes of the victor's reward. The very life of the Christian is that of exertion; and, if he gain heaven at all, he must from the moment he enlists under Christ's banner, be prepared to make the remainder of his existence on earth one continued scene of watchfulness and conflict. When, therefore, Satan, the world, or the flesh, would entice him to depart from the living God, instead of complying with their solicitations, he manfully resists them, being steadfast in the faith. And not only SO. In the strength of the Lord, he gains the mastery over them. Not that his course is one of unvaried and uninterrupted con |