and where its scene? and what its power in our words, and affections, and life? Communion with the Lord! 'Tis not on earth the scene, 'Tis on the throne th' Incarnate One In perfectness is seen. The place is in the light, Yea, light ineffable! Where Jesus, precious in His sight, Doth with the Father dwell. 'Tis there unveiled we gaze, On love before unknown; There, glorious place within, For there before the throne, The vast, unfathomed love; Oh what a height is this, For soul once dead as mine, Oh for the sweetest lays That e'er Thine ear hath heard! Oh for the long eternal days To adore and praise the Lord! LIVING MANNA. "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."-DEUT. viii. 3. THERE HERE were no cities, no places of abode, for Israel in the desert. They had no possessions. There were no fields, no corn or wine. All was one long-continued desert; and at times there was no water even that could be taken. Never were multitudes more helpless or dependent. A wanderer, looking on upon their condition, and seeing them, that their wants, without any human intervention, were supplied; that their raiment waxed not old upon them, neither did their foot swell through forty years, might well ask how was it, or what had they? Ah, what indeed! They had God-a God who had taken them up for Himself, for His own chosen heritage. He had opened seas and discomfited armies for them. He had made the bitter sweet; palm trees and wells, rivers of water, and bread had He provided; He gave them angels' food. G Nothing more revealed what Israel was than the desert. And nothing revealed them-their sin, their need, their weakness-but manifested also some fresh grace and power in God. He suffered them to hunger, else had they not looked to Him for food; and else had He not fed them. He suffered them to fail and faint, else had He not shown His patience, and power, and grace. He suffered them to hunger, that He may meet that hunger, giving them the mighty's meat. He permitted it. Blessed permission! For hunger is sweet. Famine is dreadful; but, when food is at hand, how precious is hunger! And when He permitted them to hunger, it was that they may see and know more of Himself. He loved to be known and to be enjoyed. What ways of His did He teach unto Israel? His secret ways— the ways of His love, and patience, and grace. And now that it has been revealed, we have seen the end of the Lord in it-how merciful, and long-suffering, and gracious! And "He humbled them." The effect of His grace was to humble them. As when Noah was in the ark, and saw all else in destruction, he was humbled at the thought of the grace that had spared him. So Israel, after Egypt, or after the Red Sea, or when they saw that, on murmuring, instead of destruction there was manna; or there was water, or there was always a present help; they were ashamed that ever they had distrusted such a God, or ever provoked such a friend. Thus do we say "The more Thy glories strike mine eye, The humbler I shall lie." And is there nothing analogous to our condition in this, that He suffered them to hunger? Was not this the beginning of things in us? We felt as those who had no city, no home, no abiding-place of rest or peace; nay, we had no rest, no peace. He suffered us to hunger. What used to please, ceased to do so any longer. The things that used to charm us most, ceased to charm us any more. The so-called pleasures of sin and of the world could not satisfy us; we tried and tried to be satisfied, but we failed. Ah! it was He who suffered us to hunger. He did so; nay, He does so, in love. And why? Because He wants us to feed only on Him; only from Him; to eat of His manna; to live on His love; yea, on the Son of His love, the true bread, the living manna, that came down from heaven. Beloved, many of you understand how, besides the hunger He created, He presented Himself. And this He does still. Nothing else can satisfy us. Our affections want a Person. They cannot rest in a mere doctrine, not even in the Bible, unless it disclose Him, and we can say, “My Beloved is mine, and I am His." Oh, then, dear friends, how blessed! And it was when in want that He taught us this, and is still teaching us, in unnumbered ways of Himself, as we often sing "In the desert God shall teach thee But if He suffered them to hunger, it was, as we have said, that He Himself may feed them. He could not give that joy to another. Sweet the pain of hunger when He can come in and surprise us with His bread. Sweet the wound, for which the balm is His own grace and love. He feeds still His beloved with the finest of the wheat, and rains down manna from heaven: we eat angels' food. The angels find their highest delight in God; they live on Him; but to angels, where is there another such a feast for their joy as they find in the Son of His love. It is He who has revealed God; all whose fulness dwells in Him. It is He who has unveiled the loved secrets of His mind. He has given to principalities and powers an unveiled God. Hence they delight in Him; they find their eternal food in Him. It is surely in some such view of Him as this that we sing "With ashes who would grudge to part, When called on angels' food to feast?" And now, what was the manna with which He fed them when He humbled them and suffered them to hunger? and how does it bear on us? This is what is more especially before us. There is a striking reference to the glorious substance in this shadow of the past. 1. You will observe the nature of the manna. "Fed thee with manna which thou knewest not." It was of deep meaning; like Him whose height and depth of love who can tell? When the children of |