{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_25459/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_25459","id":"gutenberg_25459","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25459","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Old Testament -- Geography","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Cities and towns -- Palestine"],"text":"Produced by Heiko Evermann, Marcia Brooks and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from scans of public domain works at the\nUniversity of Michigan's Making of America collection.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CITIES OF REFUGE.\n\n[Illustration: The Man-Slayer]\n\n\n\n\nTHE CITIES OF REFUGE:\n\nOR,\n\nThe Name of Jesus.\n\nA SUNDAY BOOK FOR THE YOUNG.\n\nBY\n\nREV. JOHN R. MACDUFF, D.D.,\nAUTHOR OF \"MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES,\" \"MEMORIES OF\nBETHANY,\" \"MIND AND WORDS OF JESUS,\" ETC., ETC.\n\n    \"How sweet the NAME of Jesus sounds\n      in a believer's ear!\n    It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,\n      and drives away his fear.\"\n\nNEW YORK:\nROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,\nNo. 530 BROADWAY.\n\n1865.\n\n\n\n\nMY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,\n\nThis little book contains, with a few additions, the substance of what\nwas spoken one Sabbath to a number of hearers of your own age. It may\nserve to recall to those that listened to it, and to unfold to those who\ndid not, some simple and well-known, but precious gospel truths.\n\nMay He whose NAME it is designed to exalt, bless you in reading it, and\nenable you from the heart to repeat as your own happy experience, the\nwell-known verse of the beautiful hymn I have put on the title-page.\n\n     \"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the\n     children of Israel and say unto them, When ye be come over\n     Jordan into the land of Canaan; then ye shall appoint you\n     cities to be cities of refuge for you.\"--NUM. xxxv. 9-11.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\n\nWhen travelling lately through the Simplon--one of the great Alpine\npasses leading from Switzerland into Italy--I observed, close by the\nroadside, at regular distances, a number of plain, square buildings. On\nthese (sometimes over the doorway, sometimes on the side) were inscribed\nthe words--\"REFUGE No. 1,\" \"REFUGE No. 2,\" \"REFUGE No. 3,\" &c. I think\nthere were twenty altogether. I was told, on inquiry, they were intended\nas shelters for any hapless travellers who might be overtaken by the\nsudden storms which so often sweep down from the snow-white mountains\nbounding the prospect. These \"_Refuges_,\" at the time I saw them, were\nempty, for it was in the beginning of summer, when everything, even in\nthat elevated region, was looking bright and green. The Alpine\nrhododendron was flushing, with its pink blossom, the mountain sides; or\ngrowing up, along with the lovely blue gentian, close by stray patches\nof winter's snow which were still filling the ridges and hollows in the\nhigher parts of the pass. Seldom at this season are travellers exposed\nto any peril from an Alpine storm. It is different, however, in winter\nor spring, when the avalanches come tumbling from the heights, or the\nsnow is drifting in huge masses over that wonderful Road. Many\nshivering wayfarers have fled with thankful hearts into these shelters.\nSome have been carried thither, in a state of insensibility, by unknown\nbenefactors, and on gradually awaking to consciousness, have blessed the\nkind hearts and hands which have saved them from certain death, and are\nnow ministering to their necessities. By others, alas! they have been\nreached too late. Rescued from the snows of the mountain, they have been\nconveyed to them only to die.\n\nAs I passed those Alpine \"Retreats,\" I could not help being reminded of\nthe wonderful _Cities of Refuge_ which God graciously provided of old in\nPalestine for the unfortunate manslayer.\n\nIt sometimes happened, in the land of Canaan, as in our own country,\nthat a Hebrew, without any evil purpose, would cause the death of a\nbrother Hebrew. He did not intend to inflict any injury; it was the\nresult only of unhappy accident. But, nevertheless, to show God's\ndetestation of the shedding of blood, he was liable, by the Levitical\nlaw, to be killed by the Avenger, or \"Goel,\"--the person nearest related\nto the murdered man. If he wished to escape with his life, his only\nchance of safety was to flee to one of these Refuge-cities. It mattered\nnot what his age, or name, or station in life was. He might be young or\nold, prince or noble, priest or prophet, he was exposed every moment to\ndeath, unless he availed himself of the offered shelter. There was no\ntime for delay, he must betake himself to instant flight. To linger\nmight be to perish.\n\nDo you not think with pity of the unhappy fugitive, obliged thus\nsuddenly to leave his home and all he most loved on earth? If at the\ntime he caused the death, he was working in his vineyard, the\npruning-hook must be left to rust on the branch. If he was ploughing\nwith his yoke of oxen, they must be left lowing in the furrow. If he was\nbusied in his harvest-field, the sheaves must be left unbound, and the\nreapers receive their wages from another's hands. If he was returning\nhome fatigued at evening after the toils of the day, and longing for\ngrateful repose, he dare give no \"sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his\neye-lids.\" His child may be lying pining in sickness at his cottage, but\nit may endanger him to return to clasp that and his other little ones in\nhis embrace, and bid them a fond farewell. He may have no time to alter\nhis raiment or take even his scrip or pilgrim-staff. The Avenger of\nblood may be in the adjoining street, or in the dwelling hard by.\nAnother hour may be fatal;--\"Skin for skin, all that a man hath will he\ngive for his life.\"[1] Off he speeds in breathless haste--now along the\nlevel road--now up the steep ascent--with his breast heaving, and drops\nof perspiration standing on his brow. Friends may meet him, but with a\nwave of the hand, and shouting \"Goel! Goel!\" he rushes on with fleet\nfootstep. Parched with thirst in the hot noonday, he turns a longing eye\non the ripe grapes that are hanging in purple clusters on the wayside,\nor on the water trickling down the narrow ravine. But he dare not pause.\nKnowing full well that the Avenger is in close pursuit, he hurries on\nwith unabated ardor. Happy sight, when he sees at last, on some mountain\nslope, the longed-for shelter! Happy, when, weary and footsore, covered\nwith dust, the portals of the city close him in. A few moments before,\nhad he been overtaken on the mountain-top by his pursuer, he might have\nbeen heard to cry out, in the bitterness of despair, \"Hast thou found\nme, O mine enemy?\" Now, safe within the secure shelter, he can\nrejoicingly exclaim, even with the Avenger standing close by, \"O thou\nenemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end.\"[2]\n\nThese _Cities of Refuge_ form one of the Old Testament PICTURES of the\nsinner, and of the coming gospel salvation. This was the way God took to\nteach the Jewish people great gospel truths. Just as we know that\nyouthful readers like a story-book all the better when it has got\npictures in it; so God taught the early church, when it was in a state\nof \"_childhood_,\" by means of similar _pictures_ or _types_; and the\npresent was one of them. It represented, and still represents, the\nsinner who has broken the Divine law as pursued by an avenger: JUSTICE\nfollowing with drawn sword, exclaiming, \"_The soul that sinneth it must\ndie._\"[3] \"_Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not escape\nunpunished._\"[4]\n\nThis is a picture, too, which applies to every one without exception,\nrich and poor, parent and child, master and servant; \"for all have\nsinned, and come short of the glory of God.\"[5] But a glorious CITY,\n\"_salvation_ its walls and bulwarks,\" opens its gates. The sinner is\nexhorted to \"escape thither;\" to \"linger not in all the plain;\" to\n\"flee for his life, lest he be consumed.\"[6] That city is _Jesus_, the\nsinner's Refuge and the sinner's Friend. Once within its walls, no enemy\ncan touch him,--no sword can terrify him. He can triumphantly exclaim,\n\"Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?\"[7]\n\nDear young friends, it is because I know this City of Refuge is open for\nthe youngest of _you_, that I now write these pages. I love to read\nabout a group of little ones who, eighteen hundred years ago, were\ngathered round its gates, asking admission; and when others, with unkind\nwords, were sending them away, He who held the gates in His hand, \"_who\nopeneth and no man shutteth_,\"[8] said, \"_Suffer the little children to\ncome unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of\nheaven._\"[9] It is because I believe and know that many as young as\n_you_ have obeyed the Saviour's invitation, and have already entered\nthis happy City, that I ask you to come and hear while I speak to you\nabout it. I believe and know that many such have learned to feel that\nthey are sinners, and that they need a Saviour. They have been taught by\nGod's own Word and Spirit that they have broken His holy law, and have\nthereby exposed themselves to eternal death. But they are now safe\nwithin the Gospel Shelter. The \"enemy\" is \"stilled.\" The \"avenger\" has\nsheathed his sword. I think I can hear their youthful voices, as they\nmarch through the streets of the City, singing, \"_Out of the mouth of\nbabes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine\nenemies, that thou mightest_ STILL _the enemy and the_ AVENGER.\"[10]\n\"_Blessed be the Lord; for He hath showed me His marvellous kindness in_\nA STRONG CITY.\"[11]\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n\nTHE SIX CITIES.\n\n     \"And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali,\n     and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is\n     Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side\n     Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the\n     wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and\n     Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in\n     Bashan out of the Tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities\n     appointed for all the Children of Israel, and for the\n     stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever Killeth\n     any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by\n     the hand of the Avenger of Blood, until he stood before the\n     Congregation.\"-JOSH. xx. 7-9.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\n\nIt is of these _six cities_ here mentioned, I am now going to speak. The\nname of each of the six has something significantly to tell about THE\nNAME OF JESUS. They are six pictures of the Saviour, hung up in the Old\nTestament picture-gallery. I am going to ask you to take a journey with\nme to these towns of old Palestine. Before we enter their gates, I\nshould like again to repeat the verse of the precious hymn placed at\nthe beginning of this book:--\n\n    \"How sweet the NAME of _Jesus_ sounds\n      In a believer's ear!\n    It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,\n      And drives away his fear.\"\n\n[Illustration: Kedesh]\n\n\nFirst City--Kedesh.\n\nIf you look far north in the map of Palestine above the lake of Merom,\nnear the snowy peaks of mount Hermon and Lebanon, you will see where\nthis Refuge-city lies. Recent travellers describe its ruins as still\nstanding on a rocky ridge in the midst of green hills, surrounded with\nthe remains of forts and castles built by the Crusaders in the middle\nages. It was situated within the tribe of Naphtali, and must have been\nit great town at the time when the old warrior Barak, who was born\nwithin its walls, marched from its gates to meet Sisera in the plain\nbelow with his nine hundred chariots of iron.\n\nWhat does its name tell of Christ?\n\nThe Hebrew word KEDESH signifies \"_Holy_.\" Jesus was \"_The Holy One_.\"\nNot one stain of sin polluted His holy human nature. Angels in heaven,\nas they cast their crowns at His feet, cry, \"_Holy! holy! holy_!\"[12]\nDevils on earth were compelled to exclaim, \"_We know thee who thou art,\nthe_ HOLY ONE _of God_.\"[13] Jewish priests, as they spake of Him of old\nby types, took \"_a lamb without blemish_.\"[14] Jewish prophets, as they\nspake of Him in their predictions, called Him \"_The Righteous_ (_or_\nHOLY) _Branch_.\"[15] Apostles, as they wrote about Him, said \"_He was_\nHOLY, _harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners_.\"[16] When He was\nHimself on earth, He could challenge His bitterest foes, \"_Which of you\nconvinceth me of sin?_\"[17] And when He came down, soon after His\nascension, from His throne in the skies, we find Him proclaiming as His\nname, \"_He that is_ HOLY, _He that is True_!\"[18]\n\nReader, remember this. Jesus never could have saved you unless He had\nbeen \"glorious in holiness.\" If He had had one sin in Him, you and I\nmust have been lost for ever. Just as one leak in Noah's ark of old\nwould have sunk it, so one leak of sin in Jesus, the true Ark, would\nhave plunged us all in the depths of eternal despair. Let us, then, love\noften to walk round the walls of KEDESH, and think of _our_ \"City of\nRefuge\" as \"_The_ HOLY _Child Jesus_.\"[19]\n\nAnd when you ponder _His_ holiness, seek to be holy, as _He_ was. How He\nhated sin! How He loved to do His heavenly Father's will! How gentle,\nand good, and kind He was to all! He never was angry, or passionate, or\nrevengeful. When a youth, at His early home in Nazareth, \"He increased\nin favour with God and man.\"[20] Be _like_ Jesus in His _holiness_! Let\n_KEDESH_ be a word written on your young hearts! Whenever you are in\ntrouble or difficulty, or temptation, always ask, \"How would the HOLY\nJESUS have acted here?\" Turn the words of your well-known hymn into a\nprayer. While you say--\n\n    \"I love the NAME of Jesus,\n      Immanuel, Christ the Lord;\n    Like fragrance on the breezes,\n      His _name_ abroad is pour'd;\"--\n\nseek also to add--\n\n    \"I long to be _like_ Jesus,\n      Meek, lowly, loving, mild;\n    I long to be _like_ Jesus,\n      The Father's HOLY Child!\"\n\n\n[Illustration: Shechem]\n\n\nSecond City--Shechem.\n\nShechem was situated at the extremity of a valley among the hills of\nEphraim. The famous mountains of Ebal and Gerizim rose on either side,\nfrom the slopes of which the blessings and the curses of the law were\nproclaimed in the ears of assembled Israel. If Jerusalem was the\ngreatest and the grandest of the cities of Palestine, Shechem was\nperhaps the most beautiful. It is still spoken of by travellers as one\nof the loveliest spots in the Holy Land, with its orchards of olive,\nfig, and pomegranate, and its flocks of singing-birds, which have made\nthe inhabitants give to the graceful slope on which it looks down, the\nname of the \"Musical Valley.\" I don't know if the streets in the olden\ntime resembled what they are now. The following is the recent\ndescription of a traveller familiar with them:--\"The streets are narrow\nand vaulted over, and in the winter time it is difficult to pass along\nmany of them on account of brooks, which rush over the pavement with\ndeafening roar.... It has mulberry, orange, pomegranate, and other trees\nmingled in with the houses, whose odoriferous flowers load the air with\ndelicious perfume during the months of April and May.\"[21] You do not\nrequire to be told that _Shechem_ is a very ancient city, and that many\ninteresting events in sacred story took place in connexion with it. The\nearliest mention made of it is when the patriarch Abraham slept under\nits oaks, (the Terebinths of Moreh,) when he came to Canaan from distant\nChaldea, and erected his first altar under their shade;[22] and one of\nthe last Bible notices regarding it, is in connexion with the woman of\nSamaria, when Jesus sat with her at \"the well of Sychar,\" and spoke to\nher of the better fountain, \"springing up to everlasting life.\"[23]\n\nWhat does the name SHECHEM tell of Christ?\n\nIt is a word which means \"SHOULDER.\"\n\nJesus, our Refuge, bore a guilty world upon His shoulder. The ancients\nhad a fabled Atlas, who was supposed to carry the earth on his\nshoulders. Jesus Christ is the true ATLAS. \"_Surely He hath borne our\ngriefs and carried our sorrows!_\"[24] All the sins of all His people\nJesus bore for ever away. Think of that heavy load which bowed Him down\nto the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, and caused drops of blood to\nfall from His brow! No other one _but_ Jesus could have carried such an\nawful load and burden as this. No angel or archangel could have done so.\nJesus, being God, was alone \"able to save unto the uttermost.\"[25] He is\nthe only \"sure foundation\" that could sustain all the building.[26]\nWith any other, it would have fallen into a mass of ruins.\n\nBut I love not only to visit the old city of _Shechem_, and to think of\nJesus bearing the guilt of His people on His _shoulders_, but I like to\nthink of Him as the true SHECHEM _now_. He is our _Shechem_ at God's\nright hand. \"The government is upon His SHOULDER.\"[27] The Church and\nthe world are upheld by Him. Believers--the poorest, the weakest, the\nhumblest--are on the _shoulders_ of Jesus. He is bearing the weight of\nthem all; loving them all, attending to them all, interceding for them\nall. All that befalls me, Jesus orders. Food and raiment, health and\nstrength, friends and home, are gifts from Him. Every tear I shed, He\nknows it, He appoints it. If he sends me sorrow and trial, I will go and\nenter the gates of this city SHECHEM, and remember, \"_Jesus_ (Jesus, who\ndied for me) bears me on his _shoulder_!\"\n\nMoses speaks of God conducting the children of Israel through the\nwilderness of old as a kind father carries on his shoulder his weak and\nweary child. \"_Thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a\nman doth bear his son._\"[28] And David says in an hour of trouble, \"_I\nam poor and needy, yet the Lord_ (lit) _carries_ me on his heart.\"[29]\n\nI like to look at that New Testament picture--Jesus, the good Shepherd,\ncarrying a bleating sheep or lamb back on His shoulder to the fold. That\npoor wanderer had gone astray on the dark mountains; but the great and\ngracious Shepherd had gone after it \"until He found it; and when He\n_had_ found it, _He laid it on His SHOULDERS, rejoicing_.\"[30]\n\nYoung reader, what _perfect_ security and safety you have in Jesus, and\nin His Gospel City! Far, far more so than the manslayer had of old in\nhis. I daresay, even although he was delivered from the Avenger, the\nHebrew refugee could not help at times dreading lest the other might\ncome upon him secretly. I daresay, at night, on his lonely couch, he\nwould sometimes dream of the Goel stealing beside his pillow, and he\nwould start from his unquiet sleep at the scaring vision. Not so in the\ncase of those who have fled to the \"Gospel Refuge.\" They can say in\nsweet confidence, \"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; because\nthou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety.\"[31] He who is their\n\"_Keeper_\" says of them, \"_They shall never perish; neither shall any\npluck them out of my hand._\"[32]\n\n[Illustration: Hebron]\n\n\nThird City--Hebron.\n\nHebron is the most ancient of all the cities of Canaan. It was as old,\nif not older, than Damascus, and was built seven years before Zoar in\nEgypt. After wandering about from place to place in the land of promise,\npitching their tents and altars, it was here the patriarchs had, for the\nfirst time, a settled home. We need not wonder at their selection of the\nold Canaanite city, on the peaceful slope of the southern hills,\nnestling amid olive-groves and terebinths, and looking down on one of\nthe most fertile valleys in Palestine, with its orchards and\ncorn-fields. On its eastern height is the spot which gives it to this\nday perhaps its most sacred interest--the cave of Machpelah, where the\ndust of the patriarchs has reposed for four thousand years. It must have\nbeen outside its walls that the angels appeared to Abraham, when he was\nseated at his tent door. The adjoining height is pointed out as the\nplace from which the patriarch saw the smoke of burning Sodom rising\nfrom its own deep valley. It was in Hebron David was anointed king over\nIsrael. It was amid its vineyards and mountain-slopes that John the\nBaptist grew up as a little boy, before he appeared in the wilderness of\nJudea, to tell of One mightier than he, \"whose shoe-latchet\" he was\n\"not worthy to unloose.\"[33]\n\nWhat does the name HEBRON tell of Christ?\n\nIn Hebrew it means \"_fellowship_,\" \"_society_,\" \"_friendship_.\" JESUS\nhas brought guilty man into fellowship with God. On account of sin we\nhad forfeited this fellowship. We had made God not our friend, but our\nenemy. We were cut off from communion with all that is holy and happy.\nAngels, in their errands of mercy through the universe, passed by our\nworld; they could hold no intercourse with those who had rebelled\nagainst their Creator. Can none bridge this wide gulf which separates\nbetween earth and heaven? Can no ladder be let down by which happy\nangels can descend once more on their visits of love, and fallen man\nonce more be raised up to hold \"fellowship\" with God and holy creatures?\n\nJESUS is the true HEBRON--the true ladder of Jacob let down from heaven\nand reaching to earth. Jesus has \"reconciled things on earth and things\nin heaven,\"[34] He hath \"raised us up together, and made us sit together\nin heavenly places.\"[35] We who were once \"afar off\" have been \"brought\nnigh by the blood of Christ.\"[36]\n\nI trust many who read this will love often to visit in thought the old\ncity of the patriarchs, and to dwell on its name and meaning,\n\"_fellowship_.\" Think of what _you_ would have been without Jesus, your\nHebron-City of Refuge,--a poor outcast in creation, an alien from all\nthat is holy and happy. But by Jesus all is changed. God is your\nFather--Christ is your elder Brother. In Him, God loves you,--angels\nvisit you,--the Holy Spirit teaches you,--heaven is open for you. You\nare enrolled as a citizen of the great _Hebron_ above--\"the city which\nhath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.\" Christ has made you\nto be members of the great heavenly family; so that the little child who\nloves Jesus, is brother or sister to the archangel before the throne!\nYou may be deprived of human friendship and fellowship. The brother or\nsister, the father or mother, or friend you once dearly loved, may be\nlaid in some earthly Machpelah--some silent grave. But rejoice! nothing\ncan separate you from a better friend and more lasting fellowship.\nThough all earthly joys were to perish, you can always rush within the\ngates of that mighty Hebron of refuge, and say, \"_Truly our_\n'FELLOWSHIP' _is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ_.\"\n\n    \"Earthly friends may pain and grieve me,\n    One day kind, the next they leave me;\n    But this Friend can ne'er deceive me--\n                          Oh, how He loves!\"\n\n[Illustration: Bezer]\n\n\nFourth City--Bezer.\n\nBEZER was situated beyond the Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben. Although\nits precise site has not been discovered, we may infer that it was\nperched on one of the many rocky heights among the mountains of\n_Abarim_,--perhaps a spur of the great mount Nebo, from whose summit\nMoses was permitted, before death, to get a view of the Land of Promise.\nThe northern portion of the waters of the Dead Sea would be seen from\nit, and the pastoral mountains of Judah in the distance. From its name,\nas well as from its being a border town, and subject to attack from the\nwarlike tribe of Moab, Bezer would probably be strongly\nfortified,--similar, perhaps, in this respect to the towns in the\nneighbourhood, with which the Israelites were so struck on their first\napproach to Canaan, with \"their walls great and high, reaching to\nheaven.\"\n\nWhat does the name BEZER tell of Christ?\n\nIt literally means \"_stronghold_,\" or Rock. Jesus is the believer's\nBEZER. The sinner is in danger everywhere else, but in Jesus he is safe.\nHe is invited to \"turn to the STRONGHOLD\" as a \"prisoner of hope,\" and\nonce within its gates, \"though an host encamp against him,\" he need\n\"fear no evil.\"\n\nWhat a mighty force _does_ encamp against him! There is _God's Holy\nLaw_, with all its terrible threatenings and curses. But sheltered in\nthe true BEZER he can triumphantly say, \"It is God that justifieth: who\nis he that condemneth?\"[37]\n\nThere is _Satan_, with his artful wiles and countless temptations. He\nwas once a bright angel himself. He knows what holiness and happiness\nare. But being now a wicked spirit, he would make others as wicked and\nunhappy as himself. He is spoken of in the Bible as \"a strong man\narmed.\"[38] But Jesus is \"stronger\" than this strong man. If you have\nfled for refuge to this great gospel _Bezer_, seated within its secure\nbulwarks you can joyfully exclaim, \"_I will say of the Lord, He is my\nrock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whose\nI will put my trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my\nhigh tower._\"[39]\n\nThere is your own _Wicked Heart_, with its sinful thoughts, and vain\nimaginations, and deep corruptions--for a man's worst foes are often\nthose of his own household. One of these heart-foes will tempt you to\ntell a lie; another to swear; another to be dishonest; another to be\nselfish; another to be passionate; another to be unkind. But He that is\n_for_ you, is greater than they that are _against_ you. Safer than in\nany earthly castle, you can take up your warrior-song, \"_The name of the\nLord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is\nsafe._\"[40]\n\nThere are the _Trials and Sorrows and Distresses of this world_,--those\nthings that cause sad hearts and tearful eyes. But that blessed\nSaviour--your Rock and Stronghold--\"knows your sorrows,\" for He felt\nthem. He marks your tears, for He shed the same himself. Fleeing to this\ntrue BEZER in the time of affliction, you can dry your tears and sing,\n\"_God also will be a refuge for the distressed, a refuge in the time of\ntrouble; and they that know thy name shall put their trust in\nthee._\"[41]\n\nAnd there is _Death_, the last enemy of all. But even over this King of\nterrors and Terror of kings, you can shout in triumph from your Divine\nshelter, \"_O death, where is thy sting?... Thanks be to God, who giveth\nme the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ._\"[42]\n\nAnd Jesus is a Stronghold for _all_. I have already spoken of the little\nchildren of old rushing to its gates,--infants smiling fearless in the\nSaviour's arms. He combines the majesty of Deity with the tenderness of\nman. If He had been the great God alone, you might have been awed at the\nthought of going to Him. But what says the prophet Isaiah of this true\nBEZER?--\"_A MAN shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert\nfrom the tempest._\"[43] He Himself says in another scripture, \"_I will\nturn mine hand upon the little ones._\"[44]\n\nIn one of the great strongholds that were besieged in our last Indian\nrebellion, the Christian mothers were wont to hush their infants asleep\nby singing, \"_God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in\ntrouble._\" My young friends, \"_as one whom his mother comforteth_,\" so\nis God willing to \"_comfort you_;\" and here is His word of comfort:\n\"_The Lord is good, a STRONGHOLD in the day of trouble; and he knoweth\nthem that trust in him._\"[45] In the old Cities of Refuge no weapons of\nany kind were allowed to be made. Those who possessed them had to\nsurrender them. This is true in a nobler and better sense regarding the\nGospel Stronghold. There can be no deadly weapons forged there. Their\nedge is blunted: \"_There is now no condemnation to them that are in\nChrist Jesus._\"[46] Satan's armoury has been plundered; the \"Stronger\nthan he\" has \"_taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and\ndivided the spoil_.\"[47]\n\nI have said that the word BEZER means \"_Rock_\" as well as \"stronghold.\"\n\"_Trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting\nstrength_,\" or, (marginal reading,) \"THE ROCK OF AGES.\"[48] May you not\nwell say, with your eye on this glorious \"Refuge\"--\n\n    \"Dear NAME, the ROCK on which I build,\n      My shield and _hiding-place_;\n    My never-failing treasury, fill'd\n      With boundless stores of grace!\"\n\n    \"ROCK of Ages, cleft for me,\n      Let me hide myself in Thee!\"\n\n[Illustration: Ramoth]\n\n\nFifth City--Ramoth.\n\nRAMOTH was situated in Gilead, within the tribe of Gad, and somewhere\nnear the banks of the brook Jabbok, where, you know, Jacob wrestled in\nprayer with the angel. It must have occupied a commanding position among\nthe beautifully-wooded glens of Gilead, and, like Bezer, been strongly\nfortified. We infer this latter from the many sieges it had undergone.\nBeing not only, like the other, a border town of Palestine, but situated\nin the direct route taken by the invading Syrian armies, it must have\nbeen constantly exposed to hostile attacks.\n\nYou can think of Ramoth, then, among the hills and slopes on the other\nside of the Jordan, with their forests of native oak, which the famous\n\"_bulls_ of Bashan\" (herds of wild cattle) roamed at large; while more\npeaceful flocks browsed on the meadows which fringed the\nmountain-streams.\n\nWhat does the name RAMOTH tell us regarding Christ?\n\n_Ramoth_ literally means EXALTATION. Jesus is the true _Ramoth_; He is\n\"_exalted_ to be a Prince and a Saviour!\" He was once lowly, despised,\nrejected, crucified, slain. He compares Himself to a poor outcast and\nexile amid these forests of Gilead: \"_Many bulls have compassed me:\nstrong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with\ntheir mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion._\"[49] But having been\nexalted on the cross as a _suffering_ Saviour, He is now exalted on the\nthrone as a _glorious_ King. \"_God hath highly_ EXALTED\n_Him_;\"[50]--angels exalt Him--seraphs adore Him--saints praise Him--the\nChurch on earth magnifies Him--the Church redeemed in heaven will\nmagnify and exalt Him for ever and ever!\n\nYoung reader, delight often to walk around the walls of _Ramoth_, and\nthink of Jesus \"exalted at God's right hand.\" He is there pleading your\ncause. Though exalted, He has not forgotten the lowliest or humblest of\nHis people. He is the Greatest of all Beings, but He is the Kindest of\nall too. The first time after His exaltation when He came down to earth\nto speak to the aged apostle John, John wondered if the glories of\nheaven had altered His love and tenderness. He remembered how often\nbefore he used to lean on His bosom. When he looked, however, _now_,\nupon the glorious Being that stood before him in His lustrous garment,\nwith \"His eyes like a flame of fire,\" \"he fell down at His feet like one\ndead.\" But the same gentle hand touched him, the same gentle voice he\nwas wont to hear so often in past years, said to him, \"Fear not!\" How\nsweet for us to think that we have _exalted_ on the highest throne of\nthe universe an unchanged and unchanging Saviour, an ever-living,\nnever-dying Friend.\n\n    \"Though now ascended up on high,\n    He bends on earth a brother's eye.\"\n\nJESUS is exalted in heaven, and exalted by all the glorious family of\nheaven. But, alas! there is one place where He is often _not_ exalted,\nbut rather cast down, and that is the human heart. That heart has been\ntoo truly compared to the inn of Bethlehem, where there was room for\nevery guest but the Lord of glory! Ye of tender years, whom Christ loved\nso much on earth--whom He fondled in His arms of mercy; see that it is\nnot so with you. \"My son,\" He says, \"give me thine heart.\" See that He\nis enthroned there as Lord of all. Exalt Him in everything: in your\nthoughts, in your words, in your deeds. Welcome Him, as the children of\nthe temple welcomed Him to Jerusalem of old. Take up their song, and\nsing, \"_Hosannah to the Son of David! hosannah in the highest!_\"\n\n    \"When, His salvation bringing,\n      To Zion Jesus came,\n    The children follow'd singing\n      Hosanna to His name.\n    Nor was the Lord offended\n      That children joined the throng;\n    But smiled that they attended,\n      And loved to hear their song.\n\n    \"And since the Lord retaineth\n      His love for children still,\n    Though now as King He reigneth\n      On Zion's heavenly hill;\n    We'll humbly come before Him\n      To celebrate His praise,\n    And while His saints adore Him,\n      Our youthful voices raise.\"\n\n[Illustration: Golan]\n\n\nSixth City--Golan.\n\nGOLAN was situated in Bashan, in the tribe of Manasseh, among the\npastoral hills north of the lake of Gennesaret. It formed the most\nnortherly Refuge-Sanctuary on the east side of Jordan, as Kedesh did on\nthe west; but there are no particular events connected with it in Bible\nstory.\n\nWhat does the name of this last City of Refuge tell us regarding\n_Jesus_?\n\n_Golan_ literally signifies _Joy_. Jesus is truly the _Golan_ of His\npeople; they may have many others, but He is their \"chief joy!\" Well may\nthey call Him GOLAN; for not one joy could have ever visited them had\nit not been for _Him_. The world would have been to them, from first to\nlast, a \"valley of Baca,\" (weeping,) had not Jesus died for their sins,\nand saved their souls. Well might the angel say, when he came to the\nplains of Bethlehem to announce the Saviour's birth, \"_Behold, I bring\nyou good tidings of_ GREAT JOY!\"\n\nThere is not one step the Christian takes but Jesus is GOLAN to\nhim--\"joy.\" He is straying, a lost sheep on the dark mountains, in\nsearch of peace: Jesus meets him, and says, \"_Your sins are all forgiven\nyou_;\"--he is joyful at _that_. He is wandering a prodigal from his\nFather's house: Jesus brings him to his lost home, and calls him His\nown child; and he is joyful at _that_. He has to travel a long and\ndreary journey ere he reaches his true home in heaven: Jesus gives him\nHis arm to lean upon; and he \"goes on his way _rejoicing_.\" He has many\nfiery trials to try him: Jesus tells him not to think these \"strange,\"\nbut rather to \"_rejoice_,\" inasmuch as He is \"partaker with him in his\nsufferings.\"[51] He has, at last, to walk through the dark Valley: Jesus\nmeets him there, and supports him there. He sees \"the King in His\nbeauty,\" and the land that is yet \"afar off;\" and, believing, \"_he\nrejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory_.\"[52] When Jesus\nbeholds him from His throne in judgment, what are to be His blessed\nwords of welcome? \"_Enter ye into the_ JOY _of your Lord_.\"[53] And\nwhen, as a ransomed one, he enters the streets of the New Jerusalem, at\nwhose feet is it that he is to cast, through all eternity, his crown?\n\"In thy presence,\" O Saviour God, is \"fullness of JOY!\"\n\nYoung reader, love often to gaze on the walls of this City of Refuge.\nThe sacred writer, in giving the list of these six cities, seems to have\nkept it to the last because it is a happy word, and speaks of the happy\nprospects of all those that love the Lord Jesus. Believe me, there is no\ntrue _joy_ but in God. The joy of the wicked is like that of a noisy\nstream--noisy because it is shallow. The joy, on the other hand, which\nJesus gives, is like a great river,--deep, calm, ever-flowing,\noverflowing;--not full in winter and dry in summer, but full, and clear,\nand refreshing all the year long. It may be always truly said of Jesus,\nthe great Gospel Refuge, and of those who have fled to Him, what was\nsaid of old about Samaria, \"There was great JOY in that CITY.\"[54] It\nwas the object of all that Christ did and said on earth to give you this\njoy. \"_These things have I spoken unto you_,\" says He, \"_that my_ JOY\n_might remain in you, and that your_ JOY _might be full_.\"[55] Love Him\nnow, and serve Him now and follow Him now, that you may come at last to\nthe true Golan, in His glorious presence above, and \"REJOICE\n_evermore_!\"\n\n    \"Then in a nobler, sweeter song,\n      I'll sing Thy power to save,\n    When this poor lisping, stammering tongue\n      Lies silent in the grave.\n\n    \"Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared,\n      Unworthy though I be,\n    For me a blood-bought, free reward,\n      A golden harp for me!\n\n    \"'Tis strung, and tuned, for endless years,\n      And form'd, by power divine,\n    To sound in God the Father's ears\n      No other NAME but Thine!\"\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nTHE GOSPEL REFUGE.\n\n\"We have a strong consolation who have fled for Refuge.\"--HEB. vi. 18.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\n\nAnd now, my young friends, we have finished the survey of our\npicture-gallery. We have wandered among these six cities in the old land\nof promise. I shall repeat their names once more, that you may remember\nthem.\n\n     KEDESH,       _Holiness._\n     SHECHEM,      _Shoulder._\n     HEBRON,       _Fellowship._\n     BEZER,        _Stronghold._\n     RAMOTH,       _Exaltation._\n     GOLAN,        _Joy._\n\nWhat a complete Saviour! In Him \"all fullness dwells.\" In the case of\nsome of these Hebrew cities, \"not one stone has been left upon another\nthat has not been thrown down.\" Owls are screaming amid their ruins, and\njackals prowling for their prey. But not so with HIM of whom they were\ntypes. _Jesus_ ever lives! He never changes. Time and decay cannot\ncrumble the walls of the Gospel Refuge. He is \"the same yesterday, and\nto-day, and for ever.\"[56]\n\nI want, in this last chapter, to say one or two additional things to you\nabout the Cities of Refuge. Let me ask you to give me your earnest\nattention.\n\nThe _first_ thing I wish you to remember is, _that all the preciousness\nof that_ NAME _of Jesus, and all the security of the Gospel_ REFUGE,\n_is derived from the merits of His death for you upon the cross_.\n\nThis is the truth of all truths, and one, too, strikingly taught in\nthese olden types. If you read the Bible account, you will find that the\nmanslayer had his liberty restored to him _upon the death of the High\nPriest_.[57] When the tidings of the decease of this great Head of the\nJewish nation reached these refuge towns, I daresay many of their\ncitizens would be heard, with wailing cry, mourning the loss of God's\nfaithful servant. But the intelligence was very different to the captive\nHebrew. It brought him joyful news! For that event enabled him to go\nforth from his banishment, and to terminate years of painful separation\nfrom all he loved on earth. The avenger could no longer injure him. He\ncould return, happy and secure, to the comforts of his long-lost home.\n\nSo, dear reader, it is the _death_ of _your_ great High Priest that has\npurchased your release from spiritual captivity. The law can no longer\nhold you. Justice can no longer threaten you. You can go forth with the\nglorious liberty of a child of God, saying, \"_Who_ is he that\ncondemneth?--_It is Christ that died._\"[58]\n\nYou can picture to yourselves, on the death of the Jewish High Priest,\nthe Hebrew captive going forth from the city, within whose gloomy walls\nhe had long been enclosed. You can picture him, with merry heart,\nmaking the valleys through which he hurried to his native dwelling, echo\nwith songs of joy! And shall not _you_, with happier heart and voice,\nsing this song as you journey on to your heavenly home, and see it\ngleaming in the distance, on the other side of Jordan--\n\n    \"When from the dust of death I rise,\n    To take my mansion in the skies,\n    This all my hope--this all my plea,\n    That _Jesus lived and died for me_!\"\n\nThe _second_ thing I want to say to you is, that _God has made the\ngospel City of Refuge easy of access, and has filled it with rich\nprovision._\n\nHe made the way as plain as possible to the manslayer of old. The\ncities themselves were generally on a height, so as to be seen at a far\ndistance. The roads leading to them were carefully kept. They were\nbroader than others in Palestine, (sixteen yards wide.) The Jewish\nmagistrates and judges went once every year to inspect them, and to\norder repairs. Where streams occurred, there were bridges thrown across.\nWhere there were angles or by-roads, posts with \"_Refuge_\" on them were\nset up; and as there were no bridges across Jordan, three of the cities\nwere placed, as I have already mentioned, on one side of the river, and\nthree on the other; so that all might easily get at them, and none might\nhave any excuse for not fleeing. The nearest city could always be\nreached by the manslayer in half a day. Moreover, we are informed there\nwere ample stores of provisions laid up in them. They were supplied with\nwells of water, and Levites were placed in turn as porters or\ngatekeepers, to be ready to welcome every fugitive into these homes of\nsafety.\n\nSo God has done everything for _you_, to make the Gospel Refuge\naccessible. Your parents and ministers--your Bibles and churches\nand good books--are all, just like these refuge signals, pointing\naway from the cross-roads and by-roads of human reason, and human\nerror, and self-righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and\nsaying, \"Flee! flee! flee for refuge to lay _hold_ on the hope\nset before you!\" _Jesus_, too, the true Gospel Refuge, is full of\nrich provision. \"Ye are complete in Him.\" He, as the true Joseph,\ngives forth out of the storehouses in His \"treasure-cities,\" to\nall His needy people. What are some of these provisions? There is\npardon--peace--justification--adoption--sanctification,--strength for\nthe hour of weakness,--grace for the hour of temptation,--and the good\nhope of everlasting life for the hour of death. No wonder that he says\nto every poor sinner seeking admission within these gates, \"_I am the\nbread of life: he that cometh unto me shall never hunger._\"[59]\n\nAs in the cities of Canaan, so in this glorious Gospel-City of which\nthey were types, there is a Well of living water. What is this? It is\nthe Holy Spirit. He is often in Scripture compared to water. \"_If any\nman thirst_,\" said Jesus, \"_let him come unto me, and drink. This spake\nhe of the Spirit_.\"[60] This all-glorious well-spring, moreover, is not\nlike those of the Palestine cities, which were sometimes dried up in\nseasons of drought, but \"springing up unto everlasting life.\" Angels,\ntoo, are the porters,--the blessed warders that keep the gates of this\nGospel-City. \"_Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to\nminister to them who are heirs of salvation?_\"[61] They love to watch\nby these gates, and to welcome every wanderer. How gladly they give the\nword, \"_Open ye the gates, that the righteous_ (those made righteous\nthrough the righteousness of Jesus) _may enter in_!\"[62]\n\nIt is delightful, moreover, to think, that just as the Jewish cities\nwere easily got at from all parts of Palestine, so from all parts of the\nworld, may people go to the Greater and more Glorious Gospel Refuge.\nPoor Pagan of the far East! cast away your idols; the gates of the\nGospel-City stand ready to welcome _you_. Indian of the far West! cast\naside your warrior spear and your offerings of blood, and flee to the\nportals of mercy and to the blood which cleanseth from all sin.\nLaplander of the far North, amid your polar snows! Negro of Africa, amid\nyour burning sands! rush to the provided shelter. There is salvation\nthere for _you_. \"The same Lord is rich to ALL that call upon Him.\"\nHappy prospect!--the time will come when the whole world will be found\nsinging together the same song and uttering the same prayer, \"_Open unto\nus the gates of righteousness, that we may enter into them, and praise\nthe Lord!_\"[63]\n\nWill none of my young friends rejoice if they are able, by aiding the\ncause of missions abroad, to help putting this \"new song\" into the lips\nof those who are still \"wandering in the wilderness in a solitary way,\nand have NO CITY to dwell in?\"[64]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe _third_ thing I want to say to you is, that _no_ OTHER _Refuge will\ndo but_ JESUS.\n\nI would like you to take as your motto the simple and beautiful words\nwhich a Sabbath scholar, I knew well about, lately gone to glory, wrote\nto his minister. \"I am sure I may be very thankful to God for His great\nmercy toward me.... _I must just keep in mind that there is one Refuge\nto flee to, and that is Jesus._\"\n\nThere are many other refuges people try to take shelter in. They think\nthey will be as safe in them as in the ONE of God's providing; but\nthese will never stand in that day which will try every refuge of what\nsort it is.\n\nI have seen some making their _own goodness_ their refuge-city. They\nimagined they were not so bad as others. They trusted in the falling\nSiloam-tower of their own righteousness!\n\nI have seen some making _God's goodness_ their refuge-city. They said to\nthemselves, \"God is kind. He surely will not deal hardly with sinners at\nlast. Justice, the avenger, will not surely always pursue with her\nflaming sword. The love of God will surely get the better of his\njustice.\"\n\nDon't let Satan deceive you. There are many of _his_ refuges which\n_appear_ to be safe enough, but on which God has written \"_Refuges of\nlies_.\"\n\nThere were many other towns in Canaan of old which _appeared_ to be as\ngood and as safe as those I have been speaking of. But no city could\nafford shelter to the manslayer, excepting one of the six God had\nspecially appointed.\n\nWhat would have happened if the fugitive of old, in fleeing from the\navenger, had said to himself, \"What is the use of my going so far away\nas to Hebron or Golan? I would rather flee to a nearer place. I will go\nto Jericho, the old city of palm-trees; or to Bethlehem, in the hills of\nJudah; or, better still, I will go to Jerusalem, the capital of the\nnation, where the temple of Zion is, and the palace of the King. Surely\nI shall be safer far within its lofty walls and bulwarks than in one of\nthese little cities of the Levites. Is it not said that '_God is known\nin all her Palaces for a Refuge?_'\"\n\nIf he had done so, he would undoubtedly have perished. Neither King nor\nPriest, nor Golden gate nor Beautiful gate, nor wall nor bulwark, could\nhave saved him from the avenger's sword. The refuge-towns appointed in\nthe olden time may have been \"the least amid the cities of Judah.\" But\nthey were God's selection, God's ordering, and that was enough. In them,\nand in them only, was the manslayer safe from the avenger of blood.\n\nAnd so it is with our Gospel Refuge. \"_Neither is there salvation in any\nother._\" Rejecting Jesus, we are lost for ever. All other refuges,\nhowever good or great or strong they may _appear_ to be, will prove only\nBabel-towers, that will fall on the poor builders, and crush them in\ntheir ruins.\n\nWhen God told the children of Israel to sprinkle their lintels and\ndoor-posts with blood, they might have been foolish enough to say, \"No;\nwe shall do better. We shall not be content with doing so trifling a\nthing; we shall rather build up great walls around our houses, so that\nthe destroying angel may not get in.\" Do you think, if they had done\nso, their first-born would have been saved? No; there would have been\ndeath in every such household; these high walls would have proved\nuseless. Nothing but the red mark on the doorway of the dwelling would\nbe of any avail in warding off the fell stroke.\n\nSo it is with the sinner. All the walls which pride, and\nself-righteousness, and good works can rear, will do nothing to keep out\nthe sword of avenging Justice. But _the sprinkled blood of covenant\nmercy will_; for \"_the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth_ (and\nalone cleanseth) _from_ ALL SIN!\"[65]\n\nI remember, many years ago, attending the deathbed of a young man in\nE----. He told me, one day, he had dreamt of being in a shop in ----\nStreet, which seemed to be hung round with armour and coats of mail. A\nnumber of people in the shop were girding these on; while a man was\nstanding with a drawn sword in his hand outside the door, ready to slay\nthem as they passed into the open street. One after another he cut\ndown;--the armour was no protection to them--their bodies were lying\ndead and wounded on the pavement. In great fear and terror, the young\nman said, his turn seemed at last to come, when he, too, must try to\ncover himself with the same armour, and rush out by the fatal door. He\nknew not what to do. In looking around him, he observed, in the\nuppermost shelf, something resembling a web of coarse linen, lying\napparently neglected. He resolved to take it down, and wrap himself in a\nportion of it, instead of the unavailing sheaths of iron and steal.\nCovering his head and body, he darted out, following the footsteps of\nthe others. The sword descended; but it bounded back again. It was\nunable to pierce the linen covering. He alone was safe in that crowd of\ndead and dying.\n\nBeautifully did this youthful dreamer apply his own \"vision of the\nnight.\" It was:--How vain are all the boasted sheathings of the armour\nof self-righteousness; and how safe and glorious is that \"white linen\"\ncovering of the righteousness of Jesus! To the eye of reason, the\npanoply of iron and steel seems the best, and strongest, and securest.\nMany will not \"submit themselves to the righteousness of God,\" and\npersist in using the others. But they will be a poor protection against\nthe sword of God's avenging justice. Happy are those who have been led\nto look _above_ for another righteousness, and who have listened to the\nDivine injunction, \"_Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!_\"[66]\n\nReader, let me ask, is this your case? Don't think, because you are\nyoung, and have committed few sins, that you are safer than those who\nhave committed many, and that you have not the same urgent need to flee\nto Jesus for refuge. In Canaan of old, the manslayer was in danger of\nhis life, whether he had killed one or several. One single life, like\none single sin, exposed him to the fury of the avenger.\n\nNay, more. The Hebrew fugitive _might elude_ his avenger! He might\nmanage, for days, or weeks, or years, to screen himself from his wrath.\nHe might go, as David did to avoid Saul, to some cave of Adullam; he\nmight hide in the gloomy recesses of some forest;--amid the oaks of\nBashan, or the rocky gorges of the Jordan, or amid the cedar-heights of\nLebanon;--in the words of Ezekiel, \"dwelling safely in the wilderness,\nand sleeping in the woods.\"[67] But it is different with the sinner and\n_his_ Avenger:--\"_Vengeance is mine; and I_ WILL _repay, saith the\nLord_.\"[68] Who can escape _His_ glance? Who can hide from _His_\nall-seeing eye?\n\n    \"If I should find some cave unknown,\n      Where human foot had never trod,\n    Even there I could not be alone--\n      On every side there would be GOD.\n\n    \"He smiles in heaven, He frowns in hell,\n      He fills the air, the earth, the sea;\n    I _must_ within His presence dwell,\n      I cannot from His anger flee.\"\n\nThe _fourth_ thing I want to say to you is:--That _many young and old_\nHAVE _fled to Jesus, the Gospel City of Refuge, and have found\nthemselves safe and happy there_.\n\nHow delightful it is, year by year, to trace the footsteps of those,\nwhether young or old, rich or poor, who have repaired to that blessed\nshelter! I shall close this little volume by telling you of _two_ such,\nnow inhabitants of the better _celestial City_. Very different they were\nin years, in country, in outward position. But they were alike in\nthis,--that they fled in life to the gates of the Gospel Refuge; and to\nboth _the_ NAME _of_ JESUS was specially precious.\n\nThe one was C---- T----, a little girl thirteen years old--the age, I\ndaresay, of some whose eyes are falling on these pages. I saw her when\nshe was bright and happy in her adopted home in England--a sweet spot in\nthe county of Kent, on one of those wooded heights or uplands which\ncommand an extensive prospect of the Thames, as he winds along, hearing\non his lordly bosom the commerce of the world. Little did any then\ndream, that that little life, so full of promise, was to be early\ntaken--her sun going down before it was \"yet day!\" So, however, the will\nof God was; her summons came suddenly, unexpectedly. Her disconsolate\nparents saw \"the desire of their eyes taken away by a stroke.\" The dear\nchild herself was naturally of a timid, reserved disposition; she felt\nmore than she said. Her kind, unselfish heart delighted in devising\nplans of usefulness and carrying them out. The entire of her\npocket-money was latterly spent in the purchase of little books for the\ninfant-school children--all of whom loved her much--or in publications\nfor loan among the elder Sunday class. She won the affections of old as\nwell as young. \"The little lady who used to speak so prettily to us,\"\nwas the description given, with full eyes, by more than one of the\nvillagers who had known her loving ways, and heard her loving voice. In\nanother neighbourhood still more familiar to her, she used to go to the\ncottages with her Bible, and offer to read to the inmates who most\nneeded it; always putting her little hands together first, to ask for\nGod's blessing, and then making some simple remarks she thought might be\nof use. Those whose hearts most sorely mourned her, had the fullest\nassurance that the grace of God had been early poured into their dear\nchild's heart. But on thinking, too, on the past, they began at times to\nwonder whether these pleasing traits of character and efforts to do\ngood, were really prompted by love to Jesus, or whether they might be\nrather the effect of habit and the imitation of others. They anxiously\nsearched among her little books and desk-treasures to see if they could\nfind anything to confirm their fondest thoughts regarding this. I\nbelieve it was even made the subject of earnest prayer to God, that some\nsuch precious testimony might be found. After all her other books had\nbeen examined in vain, imagine what were the feelings of delight and\nthankfulness, when, as one day she who loved her best was taking the\ncover off her Bible, the two following letters dropped from it on the\nground:--\n\n     \"B. PARSONAGE, _August._\n\n     \"MY DEAREST PAPA AND MAMMA,--I am going to write this in\n     case I should go to that _happy_ land where sorrow is not\n     known, suddenly; and that you may have _no_ fears about my\n     soul. I know my state, and that my _precious_ Saviour has\n     called me, and I humbly accept this _glorious_ invitation\n     as a poor WRETCHED sinner. I _strive_ not to expect\n     redemption by my own poor merits. I have no comparative\n     fear of death, but as a passage from a wicked world to a\n     happy, happy home. Though I am by nature very wicked, it\n     is all washed away by my Saviour's blood. The Holy Spirit\n     has taught me what to pray for, and how to pray. I hope all\n     my dear friends will forgive me if I have been angry when\n     they have spoken to me about my faults. I should like,\n     dearest parents, whatever little money and things I have,\n     to be given to the Church Missionary Society and the Bible\n     Society. My dear Saviour has forgiven me all my INNUMERABLE\n     sins, and so, dear parents, you need not fear about my\n     soul. I believe my Saviour will _not_ forsake me if I trust\n     in Him, and I know that all my righteousness is as filthy\n     rags.--I remain, dearest parents,\" &c., &c., &c.,\n\n     \"C. M. T.\"\n\nThe other paper that was found, was probably intended for her brothers\nand sisters. It is as follows:--\n\n\"When you are in trouble, go to God and tell Him all about it. The\nSaviour who called little children to come to Him will listen to you, no\nmatter what the subjects be, if you be but in earnest and need His help.\nIf you have a difficult lesson to learn, a hasty spirit to subdue, an\nunkind word to bear, a proud spirit to humble--whatever your difficulty,\ntake it to God in the name of Jesus, and He _will_ help you. If even we,\nwho see so little beneath the surface, are not pleased with outward\nappearances without good qualities within, how much less is the great\nGod who searches the inmost recesses of the heart? 'The Lord seeth not\nas man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord\nlooketh on the heart.' What we require is a new heart cleansed by the\nHoly Spirit, full of all the graces mentioned in St. Paul's Epistle to\nthe Galatians, (chap. v. 22.) Oh! go then to JESUS and ask of Him in\nearnest prayer to pardon your sins, and to confer upon you the blessed\ngift of a new heart.\"\n\nMy young friends, have _you_ fled like C---- T---- to an all-gracious\nSaviour? Is the \"_name_ of Jesus,\" so sweet to _her_, equally precious\nto you? Does it \"soothe your sorrows,\" \"heal your wounds,\" and drive\nyour tears and fears all away? Can you say, in the spirit of her\nbeautiful and comforting letter,--\n\n    \"Till then I shall His love proclaim\n      With every fleeting breath;\n    And may the music of His _NAME_\n      Refresh my soul in death.\"\n\nHaving told you of one recently \"fallen asleep in Jesus,\" who had early\nrepaired to the shelter of the Gospel Refuge, I shall now tell you of an\naged servant of Jesus who has, more recently still, entered on her\nglorious rest.\n\nShe was a former parishioner of mine. Her home was a lowly cottage in\none of the loveliest villages of Scotland. Poor in this world, and an\nalmost constant sufferer, she was rich in faith,--one of \"Christ's\njewels;\"--her life was \"hid with Christ in God.\" If I could venture to\nname two peculiarities in her spiritual being which distinguished her\nmore than others, it would be these: Love for _the_ NAME _of_ JESUS,\nand a _Life of_ PRAYER. \"His _name_,\" to her, was \"like ointment poured\nforth.\"[69] Often have I delighted to sit with her in her cottage, with\nher Bible on her knee, and hear her speak of \"the _name_ which is above\nevery name;\" walking about these six Refuge-Cities, \"telling all the\ntowers, marking the bulwarks, and considering the palaces.\" She had\nherself long before, in early life, fled to the Gospel stronghold. I\nthink her favourite city would have been GOLAN, \"Joy.\" Her heart seemed\never to be filled with \"peace and _joy_ in believing.\"\n\nDoubtless much of this calm serenity and joy she derived from her life\nof _prayer_. It is no small matter for the writer of these pages to\nknow, that there was not a day for upwards of sixteen years in which he\nwas not personally and specially remembered by this lowly saint at a\nthrone of grace.\n\nOne forenoon during this past year, she had entered her cottage,\ncarrying a pitcher of water down from the well in her garden. It was the\nlast time she crossed her threshold. When her door was opened, she was\n_found alone on her knees_; BUT _her spirit had fled_! PRAYER, as it had\nbeen her ever fond delight in life, had been her solace and comfort in\ndeath. Her last act was drawing water out of the better \"_wells of\nsalvation_.\" She began with _prayer_, but ended in _praise_! She began\nher prayer on earth, and \"finished it with the angels!\"\n\nReader! when you come to die, could _you_ be equally happy, equally\nsafe? Would you be able thus to rejoice and triumph in the _name of\nJesus_? Could you declare, with either of these two glorified spirits,\nbefore God \"took\" them, \"_We_ HAVE _a strong city; salvation hath God\nappointed for walls and for bulwarks_?\"[70] Has the Holy Spirit taught\nyou, as it taught them, that you are sinners by nature, and in a state\nof condemnation? Have you heard God's voice behind you, declaring that\n\"He can by no means clear the guilty?\"[71] And are you able now\njoyfully to say, \"I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid, because I was\nnaked, and _I hid myself_?\"\n\nAre you, like them, really \"hid\" _within_ the gates? The manslayer of\nold required to be _within_ the refuge-city. Even if he were but one\nfootstep without, the avenger of blood could cut him down. It did not\nmatter _how_ near he was, if he was not _inside_ the portals!\n\nAnd so it will avail you nothing to know about Christ, and hear about\nChrist;--to survey the strength of the city's walls, the glory of its\nbattlements, and the beauty of its palaces. It is \"_the righteous who_\nRUNNETH _into it_,\" who alone is \"_safe_.\"\n\nWhat more, in closing, have I to say, but to repeat the solemn word,\n\"_Haste thee, flee for thy life_!\" Every hour you put off, the time is\nshorter; the avenger is nearer; the chances of escape are fewer. There\nis no time for delay. I say this to the very youngest. I say more. As\nyoung feet can run fastest, so it is with young souls. You will never go\nto Jesus so easily as now. Let nothing keep you back. It is said that on\ndigging up the ruins of Herculaneum, (the city that was buried under the\nlava of Mount Vesuvius,) the body of a man was found in an upright\nposture, in the act of running out of the door of his house to escape\ndestruction. He had a bag of gold in his hand. Others had escaped in\nsafety. But this miser loved his gold more than his life. He had\nreturned to fetch it, thinking he would have time enough to escape the\nterrible doom; but the burning stream overtook him. He was encased in a\nliving sepulchre.\n\nIt was one, too, of the saddest incidents connected with these Cities of\nRefuge of old, when some poor, breathless, panting fugitive--just when\nhe was in sight of the city--when he had almost reached the gate, sank\nexhausted. Or perhaps the case of some other who had lain down weary to\nsleep, but who had been startled by the avenger at his side, and the\ndrawn sword gleaming before his eyes;--years after, the pile of stones\nmarking the spot where his blood had been shed.\n\nBut, oh, sadder, sadder far, for any, young or old, to perish within\nsight of Christ! To suffer the love of sin, or the love of pleasure, or\nthe love of the world, to make them \"too late!\" To be _almost_, but not\n_altogether_ saved! To be cut down by the sword of wrath, or overtaken\nby the fiery stream, with heaven in view!\n\nGod grant that this may not be the case with any one of _you_!\n\nI shall conclude with a happier picture:--The citizens in these\nRefuge-cities of old, were sometimes seen clustered on the top of the\nwalls, watching the approach of the manslayer, and cheering him on when\nfaint and exhausted. So, think of the happy citizens of the New\nJerusalem: Patriarchs, prophets, saints, departed friends, who are now\nsafe within its gates, watching you from these glorious heights,\nbeckoning to you not to tarry, but to be \"followers of them who, through\nfaith and patience, are inheriting the promises.\" \"Verily I say unto\nyou, There is joy in heaven among the angels of God over every sinner\nthat repenteth.\"\n\nWe have been speaking of the \"_name_ of JESUS.\"\n\nRead the motto over the gateway of all these six cities. Read the motto\nover the door of the Gospel Refuge:--\"_Neither is there salvation in\nany other: for there is none other_ NAME given under heaven among men\nby which the sinner can be saved, but _the_ NAME of JESUS.\"\n\n    _Jesus, my Refuge_! look on me:\n    When weak and weary, worn, opprest:\n    I cast my every care on Thee--\n            Thou art my _Rest_.\n\n    _Jesus my Refuge_! guide my way,\n    Dispel the gloomy shades of night,\n    Oh, shine Thou forth with cheering ray!--\n            Thou art my _Light_.\n\n    _Jesus, my Refuge_! storms may rise,\n    Affliction sweep with tempest-shock,\n    My spirit to Thy shelter flies,\n            Thou art my _Rock_.\n\n    _Jesus my Refuge_! legion-foes\n    May seek to drive me from the field,\n    But in Thy strength I shell repose--\n            Thou art my _Shield_.\n\n    _Jesus, my Refuge_! Thou in store\n    Hast happiness without alloy,\n    Pleasures unmingled, evermore--\n            Thou art my _Joy_.\n\n    _Jesus, my Refuge_! on the brink\n    Of Jordan, in my latest strife,\n    Thou wilt not suffer me to sink--\n            Thou art my _Life_.\n\n    _Jesus, my Refuge_! oh, supply\n    My every want, whate'er befall;\n    Through life, in death, eternally,\n            Thou art my _ALL_!\n\n    ANON.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ROCK OF CASTELLO.\n\n\n\n\nThe Rock of Castello.\n\n\nAs I was walking on a bright summer evening, among the Italian Alps, I\ncame to one of the lovely valleys of the Waldenses. These, perhaps I\nshould tell my young readers, are a pious race of Christians, who have,\nage after age, boldly \"contended for the faith once delivered to the\nsaints,\" and kept the lamp of truth brightly burning, when all around\nwas darkness.\n\nThis beautiful spot is surrounded by very lofty mountains, whose tops\nare almost lost in the clouds, while the little stream that murmurs\nbelow has its banks covered with vines and mulberry trees, rich corn\nfields, and happy villages. When I first entered it by the Alpine pass\nof La Croix, the whole valley was shrouded in a dense fog, with the\nexception of one bold and very remarkable Rock, which towered in\nsolitary grandeur above the sea of mist, and seemed from its height like\nan island suspended in mid-air!\n\nUpon inquiring what this Rock was, I was informed it is a place famous\nin the history of the Valley. When the poor peasants were persecuted by\ntheir foes, their cottages and hamlets plundered, their loved\nsanctuaries burnt with fire, and \"all their pleasant things laid\nwaste,\" they would retire with their wives and little ones up to this\nrocky citadel, which the God of nature seemed to have reared as a\nshelter for His defenceless people.\n\nWithin this Rock that same God had wonderfully provided for their safety\nand comfort. It contains a large cavern, capable of holding many at a\ntime; and in the very centre of this cave is a fountain of water, which\nyields a never-failing supply. When driven thither by the storms of\npersecution, the exiles provided themselves with food, from the\nplentiful wild fruits of the adjoining mountain, so that the Bible\npromise was made good to them, \"Their bread shall be given them, and\ntheir water shall be sure!\" Swords and cannon and other means of\ndefense they had none, but a single man, stationed at the mouth of the\ncave, was enough to defy hundreds of armed soldiers. He had only to hurl\nfragments of loose stones (which were supplied from the sides of the\ncavern) down upon the foe, and they were instantly beaten back, thus\nfulfilling God's words to Israel, \"Five of you shall chase an hundred,\nand an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.\"\n\nOften, often, then, when the wintry tempests and Alpine storms, and\ndrifting snows, were raging fiercely around, adding to the terrors of\nthe enemy, did these peasant warriors find in the Rock of Castello a\nsecure shelter and retreat. With their fountain and blazing fire, their\nBibles and their God, they would make the rocky cavern ring with praise.\nThey \"feared the Lord,\" and had no other fear. He had \"given his angels\ncharge over them;\" and they could boldly make the challenge, \"God is for\nus, who can be against us?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen I heard about this Rock, which the \"God of _Nature_\" had upreared\nas a citadel for his oppressed people, it reminded me of a better ROCK,\nwhich \"the God of _Grace_\" has provided for perishing sinners!\n\nDear Children!--You are all, by nature, like these poor Christians of\nthe Alps, the inhabitants of a Valley. It is called \"_The Valley of\nTears!_\" Like theirs, too, it is a lovely valley, far too lovely for\nsinful man; but though lovely, its name tells you it is a _Valley of\nWeeping_. Sin has made it so. And more than this, it is a _Valley of\nDanger_, a _Valley of Death_!\n\nIt is full of _Enemies_. I can not tell you them all, \"their name is\nLegion, for they are many.\" There are:\n\nTHE WORLD.    Ungodly men, bad companions,\n              tempting you to sin,\n              and trying to keep you\n              back from fleeing to Jesus!\n\nYOUR OWN      The enemy within, the worst\nHEARTS.       of all, because the most\n              deceitful of all!\n\nSATAN.        The great enemy, who goeth\n              about seeking whom he\n              may devour.\n\nDEATH.        The last enemy, a sudden\n              enemy, but oh! remember,\n              a _sure_ enemy; other enemies\n              _may_ come, He _must_\n              come, and the time of his\n              coming is generally \"at\n              _midnight_,\" when you least\n              look for him!\n\nMethinks I hear my young readers exclaiming, If my enemies are so many,\nif my danger is so great, is there no place I can flee to? \"What must I\ndo to be saved\" from those enemies in this _Valley of Tears_? Oh!\nwhither shall I flee from the \"wrath to come?\"\n\nHear the voice of God:--He is pointing to a Rock rising from the midst\nof the Valley, and is calling aloud to you, \"Flee to this Stronghold, ye\nprisoners of Hope!\"\n\nDo you ask--When shall I flee? He answers, \"_Now_ is the day of\nsalvation!\"\n\nDo you ask--May I not _wait_ a few years? I am yet a young inhabitant of\nthe Valley. Death, if he be the _surest_ enemy, is the _last_ enemy;\nhave I not yet time enough? God answers--TO-DAY! while it is called\nto-day! \"Verily, there may be but a step between thee and Death!\" \"Haste\nthee; flee for thy life.\"\n\nDo you ask--But must I leave all the pleasures of sin, and so much that\nI love in this valley of tears? God answers, \"What is a man profited, if\nhe should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?\"\n\nDo you ask--But is there no _other_ refuge than this, no other means of\nsafety but, amid storm and tempest, to climb to this Rock? God answers,\n\"Neither is there salvation in any other! For there is none other name\ngiven under heaven, by which a sinner can be saved, but the name of\nJesus.\"\n\nDear children, let this be _your_ prayer: \"Lord, lead me unto this ROCK,\nthat is higher than I!\"\n\nOh! with what delight does that Great God look upon children, such as\nyou, when they \"flee for refuge to lay hold on this hope set before\nthem;\" and when they join their hearts and their voices together,\nsaying, \"Oh! come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise\nunto the ROCK OF OUR SALVATION!\"\n\nBut I would like to tell my Young Readers something more about this\nGreat \"Refuge from the storm\"--this Great \"Covert from the tempest.\" Let\nus seat ourselves for a little in the Alpine valley, under the brow of\nthe Rock of Castello; it may help us to some thoughts of the better\n\"Rock of Ages!\" I dare say many a poor Waldensian, when taking shelter\nin this earthly refuge, would be often reminded by it of the ROCK that\ncan never be shaken!\n\n_First_, The Rock of Castello _is very High_. So is _Jesus_; so High,\nthat He is called _the Son of the Highest_--\"The Ancient of Days!\"--\"God\nover all.\" \"The heaven of heavens can not contain Him!\"\n\n_Second_, The Rock of Castello _rises from the Valley_: so Jesus rose\nfrom poor parents in this valley of tears. He \"humbled Himself,\" to take\nupon Him our nature; so that \"although he be HIGH, He might have respect\nunto the _lowly_!\"\n\n_Third_, The Rock of Castello _was quite close at hand_; though lofty,\nit was always near for fleeing to: so is Jesus, the \"Rock of Ages.\" We\nhave not to say, \"Who shall ascend into Heaven to bring Christ down?\"\n\"He is not far from any one of us.\" Indeed, He is so very near, and so\nvery accessible, that the only wonder is that there should be any found\nwho do not \"flee to Him for refuge!\"\n\n_Fourth_, The Rock of Castello _was wont to shelter many children and\nhelpless infants_; many poor mothers, driven from their homes, carried\ntheir babes thither in their arms. Jesus, the living Rock, does the\nsame. He delighted, when on earth, to fold children to his bosom, and\nsay, \"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not!\" It\nwas neither His nor His \"Father's will\" that so much as \"one of these\nlittle ones should perish.\" He was so HIGH that angels adored Him; so\nmeek and lowly, that infants smiled in his arms!\n\n_Fifth_, The Rock of Castello _has a large cleft or opening in it, which\nadmits into the cavern_. Jesus is a _rent_ and _smitten_ Rock! You can\nenter by faith _into_ Him only through His opened side. Oh! what a\nsmiting that was, by the rod of God's justice! and yet, had there been\nno such smiting, you and I, Dear Children, must have _perished_!\n\n_Sixth_, The Rock of Castello _was a Secure Hiding Place_. No other spot\nin all the valley could have afforded shelter but this. On any of the\nsurrounding mountains there would have been certain destruction to the\nexiles, from the Alpine snows, and fierce hurricanes and storms. But\nhere, in their cavern, nothing could touch them, and if the storm raged,\nit spent its fury on the Rock!\n\nJesus is, indeed, a _safe Shelter_, while every other refuge will prove\n\"a refuge of lies!\" The tempest of God's wrath, and the curses of God's\nlaw, are still raging fiercely all around. But what matters it? They can\nnot touch _You_, my Young Friends, _if sheltered in the Rock_! Upon that\nROCK, eighteen hundred years ago, they exhausted all their fury. Jesus\nshelters and delivers you from that fearful storm of Law-curses, by\nhimself being \"made a curse for you!\" The tempest may smite _Jesus the\nRock_, but it can not touch those who have \"won Him, and are FOUND IN\nHIM.\"\n\n_Seventh_, The Rock of Castello _has a Fountain in it_. Jesus, the\nLiving Rock, has opened a Fountain not only \"for Sin,\" but \"for\nUncleanness.\" He does not wish only to _justify_ you, by sheltering you\nfrom the Storms of the Law,--but He wishes also to _sanctify_ you, and\nfit you for glory. He does not only wish to make you _Safe_, but to make\nyou _Holy_. The HOLY SPIRIT is this _Fountain_ in the Rock. Oh! Dear\nChildren, bless God for this \"Well of Water, springing up unto\neverlasting life.\" It washes, and cleanses, and refreshes you. Without\nit, your naturally _unholy_ hearts could never be fitted for the holy,\nhappy heaven, of a Holy, Happy God.\n\n_Eighth_, The Rock of Castello _remains as it was to this hour_, while\nall its brave inmates of past generations are no more. Jesus is an\n_Everlasting_ Rock, unchanged and unchangeable. This is still \"His name,\nand still His memorial,\" \"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and\nfor ever!\" For six thousand years, sinners have been crowding in, and\n\"still there is room!\"\n\n_Ninth_, The Rock of Castello _was only a safe retreat so long as those\nwho fled for refuge remained within its cave_. The enemy were\ncontinually on the watch, and to venture out, would be to _perish_!\nJesus, the \"Rock of Ages,\" thus speaks to you, \"Abide in me!\" \"Out of\nme, ye can do nothing.\" It is only \"the Righteous who runneth _into_ Him\nthat is _safe_! To _abide_ in Jesus is to be secure from every danger,\nto _leave_ Him is _destruction_!\"\n\n_Tenth_, The Rock of Castello _had to be fled to in the first moment of\ndanger_. The only safety of the persecuted was in _instant flight_. On\nthe first tidings of the enemy, houses, and lands, and vineyards, and\nall they possessed, had to be left, and, \"forgetting the things that\nwere behind, they pressed forward\" to their Rock! Jesus tells _you_,\ndear children, your only safety consists in _immediate_ flight to\nHimself, the Rock of Ages! Delay may be fatal! The storm-blast is\ngathering, the sky is darkening, there is the distant muttering of the\nthunder. The enemy is on the march--Satan is watching--Death is\napproaching. Already he may have strung his arrow. \"Flee to the\nstronghold, ye prisoners of Hope,--\n\nTO-DAY.\"\n\nOh! forbid that this should be _your_ history now, and your history\nthrough eternity (How awful are the words!)--\n\n\"They lightly esteemed the _Rock of their Salvation_!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nReader!--Have _you_ fled to this Living \"Rock of Ages?\"--Have you made\nit your prayer,\n\n    \"Jesus! Refuge of my Soul!\n    Let me to Thy bosom fly?\"\n\nAnd in _that_ bosom, and _that_ refuge, are you hiding yourself until\nall Earth's \"calamities be overpast?\" The deeper you hide yourself in\nthe clefts of the smitten Rock, the safer you are. Oh! do you ever pause\nand think that there is a day coming, when this Valley of Tears \"and all\nthe works that are therein, shall be burned up?\" When \"God shall arise\nin the glory of His Majesty, to shake terribly the Earth.\" When every\nmountain peak shall be black with tempest--and the whole valley shall be\na sheet of living fire! Then (as I saw on the evening I entered this\nAlpine valley), there shall be but ONE ROCK seen rising far above the\nmist, and thunderings, and lightnings, and tempest! JESUS CHRIST, the\nRock of Ages! the Sinner's Refuge! and the Sinner's Friend! Many voices\nshall be heard beneath in the valley, calling upon _other Rocks_, but it\nwill be to hide them from the \"_wrath of the Lamb_!\" The loose fragments\nof stone thrown down from the Rock of Castello crushed hundreds: \"On\nwhomsoever THIS STONE shall fall, it will _grind them to powder_!\"\n\nOh, when the voice of the Great Judge shall resound through the dens and\ncaves of the Earth with the Question,--\"_Sinner, where are thou?_\"--How\nblessed if you shall be able, from your safe shelter, to reply, \"Here\nam I, Lord! I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid, because I was naked,\nand I hid myself!\" Hid yourself! where? Hid myself in\n\n\"THE ROCK OF AGES.\"\n\n\n\n\nJESUS, MY ROCK.\n\n\n    When the storm and the tempest are raging around me,\n      Oh! where shall I flee to be safe from their shock?\n    There are walls which no mortal hands built to surround me,\n      A Refuge Eternal,--'Tis JESUS MY ROCK!\n\n    When my heart is all sorrow, and trials aggrieve me,\n      To whom can I safely my secrets unlock?\n    No bosom (save one) has the power to relieve me,\n      The bosom which bled for me, JESUS MY ROCK!\n\n    When Life's gloomy curtain, at last, shall close o'er me,\n      And the chill hand of death unexpectedly knock,\n    I will look up to HIM who hath felt it before me,\n      And cleave all the closer to JESUS MY ROCK!\n\n    Companions may smile, and the world may deride me,\n      And with the cold finger of ridicule mock;\n    But no trial, nor coldness, nor death shall divide me,\n      From the Shelter of Ages!--from JESUS MY ROCK!\n\n    O Thou! who on earth, in the days of thy sorrow,\n      Didst fold to thy bosom the Lambs of thy Flock,\n    Prevent me (though young) putting off till to-morrow,\n      In fleeing for refuge to--JESUS MY ROCK!\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] Job. ii. 4.\n\n[2] Psalm ix. 6.\n\n[3] Ezek. xviii. 4.\n\n[4] Prov. xi. 21.\n\n[5] Rom. iii. 23.\n\n[6] Gen xix. 17.\n\n[7] Rom. viii. 35.\n\n[8] Rev. iii. 7.\n\n[9] Matt. xix. 14.\n\n[10] Psalm viii. 2.\n\n[11] Psalm xxxi. 21.\n\n[12] Isa. vi. 3.\n\n[13] Mark i. 24.\n\n[14] Ex. xii. 5.\n\n[15] Jer. xxiii. 5.\n\n[16] Heb. vii. 26.\n\n[17] John viii. 46.\n\n[18] Rev. iii. 7.\n\n[19] Acts iv. 27.\n\n[20] Luke ii. 52.\n\n[21] \"The Land and the Book.\"\n\n[22] Gen. xii. 8.\n\n[23] John iv. 14.\n\n[24] Isa. liii. 4.\n\n[25] Heb. vii. 25.\n\n[26] Isa. xxviii. 16.\n\n[27] Isa. ix. 6.\n\n[28] Deut. i. 31.\n\n[29] Psalm xl. 17.\n\n[30] Luke xv. 5.\n\n[31] Psalm iv. 8.\n\n[32] John x. 28.\n\n[33] Mark i. 7.\n\n[34] Col. i. 20.\n\n[35] Eph. ii. 6.\n\n[36] Eph. ii. 13.\n\n[37] Rom. viii. 83.\n\n[38] Luke xi. 21.\n\n[39] Psalm xviii. 2.\n\n[40] Prov. xviii. 10.\n\n[41] Psalm ix. 9, 10.\n\n[42] 1 Cor. xv. 55.\n\n[43] Isa. xxxii. 2.\n\n[44] Zech. xiii. 7.\n\n[45] Nahum i. 7.\n\n[46] Rom. viii. 1.\n\n[47] Luke xi. 22.\n\n[48] Isa. xxvi. 4.\n\n[49] Psalm xxii. 12, 13.\n\n[50] Phil. ii. 9.\n\n[51] 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13.\n\n[52] 1 Pet. i. 8.\n\n[53] Matt. xxv. 21.\n\n[54] Acts viii. 8.\n\n[55] John xv. 11.\n\n[56] Heb. xiii. 8.\n\n[57] Num. xxxv. 25.\n\n[58] Rom. viii. 34.\n\n[59] John vi. 35.\n\n[60] John vii. 37.\n\n[61] Heb. i. 14.\n\n[62] Isaiah xxvi. 2.\n\n[63] Psalm cxviii. 19.\n\n[64] Psalm cvii. 4.\n\n[65] 1 John i. 7.\n\n[66] Rom. xiii. 14.\n\n[67] Ezek. xxxiv. 25.\n\n[68] Rom. xii. 19.\n\n[69] Sol. Song i. 3.\n\n[70] Isaiah xxvi. 1.\n\n[71] Exod. xxxiv. 7.","title":"The Cities of Refuge: or, The Name of Jesus: A Sunday book for the young","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":13908}