The hidden manna - It was a constant tradition of the Jews that the ark of the covenant, the tables of stone, Aaron's rod, the holy anointing oil, and the pot of manna, were hidden by King Josiah when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans; and that these shall all be restored in the days of the Messiah. This manna was hidden, but Christ promises to give it to him that is conqueror. Jesus is the ark, the oil, the rod, the testimony, and the manna. He who is partaker of his grace has all those things in their spiritual meaning and perfection.

And will give him a white stone -

I. It is supposed that by the white stone is meant pardon or acquittance, and the evidence of it; and that there is an allusion here to the custom observed by judges in ancient times, who were accustomed to give their suffrages by white and black pebbles; those who gave the former were for absolving the culprit, those who gave the latter were for his condemnation. This is mentioned by Ovid, Metam. lib. xv., ver. 41:

Mos erat antiquus, niveis atrisque lapillis,

His damnare reos, illis absolvere culpa.

Nunc quoque sic lata est sententia tristis.

"A custom was of old, and still remains,

Which life or death by suffrages ordains:

White stones and black within an urn are cast,

The first absolve, but fate is in the last."

Dryden.

II. Others suppose there is an allusion here to conquerors in the public games, who were not only conducted with great pomp into the city to which they belonged, but had a white stone given to them, with their name inscribed on it; which badge entitled them, during their whole life, to be maintained at the public expense. See Pind., Olymp. vii. 159, and the Scholia there; and see the collections in Wetstein, and Rosenmuller's note. These were called tesserae among the Romans, and of these there were several kinds.

1. Tesserae conviviales, which answered exactly to our cards of invitation, or tickets of admission to a public feast or banquet; when the person invited produced his tessera he was admitted. The mention of the hidden manna here may seem to intimate that there is a reference to these convivial tesserae, whether given to the victor in the public games, entitling him to be fed at the public expense, or to a particular friend, inviting him to a family meal or to a public banquet.

2. There were tesserae inscribed with different kinds of things, such as provisions, garments, gold or silver vessels, horses, mares, slaves, etc. These were sometimes thrown by the Roman emperors among the crowd in the theatres, and he that could snatched one; and on producing it he received that, the name of which was inscribed on it. But from Dio Cassius it appears that those tesserae were small wooden balls, whereas the tesserae in general were square, whence they had their name, as having four sides, angles, or corners. Illi τεσσαρην , vel τεσσαραν, vocabant figuram quamvis quadratam, quae quatuor angulos haberet; and these were made of stone, marble, bone, or ivory, lead, brass, or other metal. See Pitiscus.

continued...

hath.

Revelation 2:7,11 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life...

Revelation 3:6,13,22 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches...

to eat.

Psalm 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.

Psalm 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures.

Proverbs 3:32 For the fraudulent is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

Proverbs 14:10 The heart knows his own bitterness; and a stranger does not intermeddle with his joy.

Isaiah 65:13 Therefore thus said the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink...

Matthew 13:11 He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

John 4:32 But he said to them, I have meat to eat that you know not of.

John 6:48-58 I am that bread of life...

Colossians 3:3 For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

a new.

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of my God...

Revelation 19:12,13 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself...

Isaiah 56:4 For thus said the LORD to the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;

Isaiah 65:15 And you shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay you, and call his servants by another name:

saving.

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them...

Declension from First Love
But further, Christ says, "I know thy patience." Now there be some that labour, and they do it well. But what does hinder them? They only labour for a little season, and then they cease to work and begin to faint. But this church had laboured on for many years; it had thrown out all its energies--not in some spasmodic effort, but in a continual strain and unabated zeal for the glory of God. "I know thy patience." I say again, beloved, I tremble to think how few out of this congregation could win …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Dialogue against the Luciferians.
Introduction. This Dialogue was written about 379, seven years after the death of Lucifer, and very soon after Jerome's return from his hermit life in the desert of Chalcis. Though he received ordination from Paulinus, who had been consecrated by Lucifer, he had no sympathy with Lucifer's narrower views, as he shows plainly in this Dialogue. Lucifer, who was bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, first came into prominent notice about a.d. 354, when great efforts were being made to procure a condemnation …
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

The Laodicean State of Christendom.
In Revelation two and three we have seven Epistles addressed to the seven churches in Asia. These Epistles--in keeping with the nature of the book in which they are found--are prophetic in their scope. They record the sentences of the Divine Judge who appears in the midst of these churches (see 1:13-20) inspecting and passing decisions. They contain a panorama of the Church's history. They give us a complete outline of the entire course of the Christian profession, of going from bad to worse, until …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return