conducted safely back to the city of refuge, and abode there until the death of the high-priest. Now let us picture to ourselves a man accidentally killing another. He stops for nothing; he drops everything; he casts aside every weight that would hinder him in his progress. "How swiftly he flies." Look, now he is climbing that high mountain. There he goes down yonder hill. Now he has dashed into that river. Yes! he has swum through it, and landed safely on the other side of the stream. On he runs over that immense plain, keeping a sharp look-out for the directing-posts. On! on! on! he goes. "He's running for his life." Nothing will tempt him to stop. "Offer him riches." Will he stop? No. Honour? No. "Here is a crown," will you stay only a moment and take it? No, no! it's for life; it's for life. Look! who is this man coming on behind? Oh! how fierce he looks-how eager he seems-how hard he follows the other. Yes; there he goes-he is gaining upon the first man. Who is he? "The avenger of blood!" The first man hears the sound of the other coming. See! he nerves himself afresh, and darts off like lightning. On comes the other, swift as an arrow. Now they are both lost to sight behind yonder mountain. There they are again, running across that large plain towards that city in the distance. Every step seems to increase their speed. The avenger is nearing the other; he certainly will catch him. No; he is off again. Now they are getting to the city. A few more yards." The avenger is close on the other. Make haste! or you will be lost. Look! the avenger is about to make one desperate, fatal stroke. His arm is uplifted, just about to fall. But it is too late-the poor man-slayer is just inside the city gates. He's safe! he's safe -the avenger can go no farther. And 66 within that city thou shalt live happy, and have plenty, as long as the high-priest lives. Now, dear young friends, is not this city of refuge a beautiful representation of Jesus Christ, the Refuge of every poor sinner who feels he has killed his own soul? "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thy self." Let us look at it in three or four particulars : 1st. The man seeking refuge feels and sees he is a transgressor; and being made alive to this fact, he fears eternal punishment and death will overtake him. He takes to flight, perhaps going to the mount of Sinai, and asking the law; that if he becomes as good as he can, and does not disobey any more, and does truly repent for the evil he has done, whether it will protect him. But all he can get from it is, "Pay me that thou owest!" Finding that there is no hope here, the poor soul is ready to despair, when a friend whispers into his heart, "There is the City of Refuge," even Jesus. He no sooner hears of it, than he takes (like Christian) to the journey, inquiring the way. At last he sees a directing-post, eagerly reads the word Refuge, observes which way the fingers point, and hastens on to the only hope set before us in the Gospel, "Jesus Christ." These directing-posts are through the Spirit of God, the ministers of God, Christian friends, the word of God, and teachers. Fellow-teachers! are we only directing-posts, pointing the way of salvation, and knowing nothing of its power and influence upon our own hearts? Are we dead posts-dead in trespasses and sins— showing and telling the way to holiness, happiness, and heaven? Solemn thought! God in mercy forbid it should be the case with any of us. The quickened soul, finding the path, onward he hastens by faith to Jesus, knowing he has broken the law, and fearing that divine justice will overtake him. The devil is at his heels, mad with rage; a guilty conscience accusing him; and the world tempting him not to be in such a hurry, but to stop awhile, for there is plenty of time yet. Grim death has already started for him; but on he goes. He may think that he never shall reach the Saviour; he may feel faint, but he shall recover; he may fall, but he shall rise. Yea! he shall at last gain the Refuge, though sin, death, hell, the world, and Satan oppose and pursue him. And the first object he shall see, after finding himself secure in the Refuge (Jesus Christ), shall be that divine justice, whom he dreaded, and thought was pursuing him to destroy him, already there to welcome and protect him, and close the gates against all those who would devour him. Once in Christ, for ever safe: no going out, no want, no dying; no, not until the High Priest Himself is dead. When Jesus dies, His people-those who have fled to Him for refuge-will be turned out of the city of safety, and given up to the malice of their enemies, and avenger of sin, "and not until then." And, blessed be His name, "He ever liveth." 1. Recollect, these cities were for the slave as well as the free-born; so is Jesus Christ for all tribes, conditions, and kinds of sinners-black and white, rich and poor, old and young, bond and free. 2. Only those that feel their transgression and danger flee unto Jesus Christ, the Refuge. 3. Nothing can tempt a guilty soul, made alive, from pursuing his journey until he reaches the city -Jesus. 4. The continuance of the safety as long as Jesus lives. 5. No weapons of war are there. No; in Jesus there is nothing cutting, cruel, or destructive to His people. My dear friends, Have we fled for refuge? Do we know our sinful state? Are we sure that we are undone and lost out of Him? If so, He bids us welcome to His arms, His house, and His heart. All the safety our souls require, all the comforts and provisions we can desire, in all their eternal duration, He has in His blessed self in store for us, "as long as He lives." In Christ saved; out of Christ lost. T. S. DR. JOHNSON. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON said to a young gentleman who visited him on his death-bed, "Young man, attend to the voice of one who has possessed a certain degree of fame in this world, and who will shortly appear before his Maker: Read the Bible every day of your life." THE CHRISTIAN'S TRUST. RIGHTLY is it decreed that "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow!" The Jew may trust in his sacrifices, the Papist in his penances, the Socinian in a life conformed to the morality of the New Testament, the infidel in one framed after a plan of his own, the nominal Christian in his punctual worship, added to his respectable character; but, alas! they need a better confidence, and they need a surer foundation for their hopes of safety, since there is "none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," except the name of Jesus. |