Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons.  And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.  He gave them of the corn of heaven to eat, and man did eat in the wilderness angels’ food.  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead; but this is the bread of which if any man eat he shall not die.  And the bread that I will give is My Flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.  And so outlandish, so supernatural, and so full of heavenly wonder and heavenly mystery was that bread, that the Jews strove among themselves over it, and could not understand it.  But, by His goodness and His truth to us this day, we have again, to our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace, eaten the Flesh and drunk the Blood of the Son of God; a meat that, as He who Himself is that meat has said of it, is meat indeed and drink indeed—­as, indeed, we have the witness in ourselves this day that it is.  They drank also of the water that was made wine, and were very merry with Him all that day at His table.  And all their mirth was the high mirth of heaven; it was a mirth and a gladness without sin, without satiety, and without remorse.

4.  There was music also all the while at the table, and the musicians were not those of the country of Mansoul, but they were the masters of song come down from the court of the King.  ‘I love the Lord,’ they sang in the supper room over the paschal lamb—­’I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice and my supplication.  Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.  What shall I render to the Lord,’ they challenged one another, ’for all His benefits towards me?  I will take the cup of salvation, and will call upon the name of the Lord.’  ‘Sometimes imagine,’ says a great devotional writer with a great imagination—­’Sometimes imagine that you had been one of those that joined with our blessed Saviour as He sang an hymn.  Strive to imagine to yourself with what majesty He looked.  Fancy that you had stood by Him surrounded with His glory.  Think how your heart would have been inflamed, and what ecstasies of joy you would have then felt when singing with the Son of God!  Think again and again with what joy and devotion you would have then sung had this really been your happy state; and what a punishment you would have thought it to have then been silent.  And let that teach you how to be affected with psalms and hymns of thanksgiving.’  Yes; and it is no imagination; it was our own experience only this morning and afternoon to join in a music that was never made in this world, but which was as outlandish as was the meat which we ate while the music was being made.

   ’Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God,
      And not forgetful be
   Of all His gracious benefits
      He hath bestow’d on thee.