The Cities of Refuge: or, The Name of Jesus, John R. Macduff [best short novels txt] 📗

"humbled Himself," to take upon Him our nature; so that "although he be HIGH, He might have respect unto the lowly !"

Third , The Rock of Castello was quite close at hand ; though lofty, it was always near for fleeing to: so is Jesus, the "Rock of Ages." We have not to say, "Who shall ascend into Heaven to bring Christ down?" "He is not far from any one of us." Indeed, He is so very near, and so very accessible, that the only wonder is that there should be any found who do not "flee to Him for refuge!"

Fourth , The Rock of Castello was wont to shelter many children and helpless infants ; many poor mothers, driven from their homes, carried their babes thither in their arms. Jesus, the living Rock, does the same. He delighted, when on earth, to fold children to his bosom, and say, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not!" It was neither His nor His "Father's will" that so much as "one of these little ones should perish." He was so HIGH that angels adored Him; so meek and lowly, that infants smiled in his arms!

Fifth , The Rock of Castello has a large cleft or opening in it, which admits into the cavern . Jesus is a rent and smitten Rock! You can enter by faith into Him only through His opened side. Oh! what a smiting that was, by the rod of God's justice! and yet, had there been no such smiting, you and I, Dear Children, must have perished !

Sixth , The Rock of Castello was a Secure Hiding Place . No other spot in all the valley could have afforded shelter but this. On any of the surrounding mountains there would have been certain destruction to the exiles, from the Alpine snows, and fierce hurricanes and storms. But here, in their cavern, nothing could touch them, and if the storm raged, it spent its fury on the Rock!

Jesus is, indeed, a safe Shelter , while every other refuge will prove "a refuge of lies!" The tempest of God's wrath, and the curses of God's law, are still raging fiercely all around. But what matters it? They can not touch You , my Young Friends, if sheltered in the Rock ! Upon that ROCK, eighteen hundred years ago, they exhausted all their fury. Jesus shelters and delivers you from that fearful storm of Law-curses, by himself being "made a curse for you!" The tempest may smite Jesus the Rock , but it can not touch those who have "won Him, and are FOUND IN HIM."

Seventh , The Rock of Castello has a Fountain in it . Jesus, the Living Rock, has opened a Fountain not only "for Sin," but "for Uncleanness." He does not wish only to justify you, by sheltering you from the Storms of the Law,-but He wishes also to sanctify you, and fit you for glory. He does not only wish to make you Safe , but to make you Holy . The HOLY SPIRIT is this Fountain in the Rock. Oh! Dear Children, bless God for this "Well of Water, springing up unto everlasting life." It washes, and cleanses, and refreshes you. Without it, your naturally unholy hearts could never be fitted for the holy, happy heaven, of a Holy, Happy God.

Eighth , The Rock of Castello remains as it was to this hour , while all its brave inmates of past generations are no more. Jesus is an
Everlasting Rock, unchanged and unchangeable. This is still "His name, and still His memorial," "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever!" For six thousand years, sinners have been crowding in, and "still there is room!"

Ninth , The Rock of Castello was only a safe retreat so long as those who fled for refuge remained within its cave . The enemy were continually on the watch, and to venture out, would be to perish ! Jesus, the "Rock of Ages," thus speaks to you, "Abide in me!" "Out of me, ye can do nothing." It is only "the Righteous who runneth into Him that is safe ! To abide in Jesus is to be secure from every danger, to leave Him is destruction !"

Tenth , The Rock of Castello had to be fled to in the first moment of danger . The only safety of the persecuted was in instant flight . On the first tidings of the enemy, houses, and lands, and vineyards, and all they possessed, had to be left, and, "forgetting the things that were behind, they pressed forward" to their Rock! Jesus tells you , dear children, your only safety consists in immediate flight to Himself, the Rock of Ages! Delay may be fatal! The storm-blast is gathering, the sky is darkening, there is the distant muttering of the thunder. The enemy is on the march-Satan is watching-Death is approaching. Already he may have strung his arrow. "Flee to the stronghold, ye prisoners of Hope,-

TO-DAY."

Oh! forbid that this should be your history now, and your history through eternity (How awful are the words!)-

"They lightly esteemed the Rock of their Salvation !"

* * * * *

Reader!-Have you fled to this Living "Rock of Ages?"-Have you made it your prayer,

"Jesus! Refuge of my Soul!
Let me to Thy bosom fly?"

And in that bosom, and that refuge, are you hiding yourself until all Earth's "calamities be overpast?" The deeper you hide yourself in the clefts of the smitten Rock, the safer you are. Oh! do you ever pause and think that there is a day coming, when this Valley of Tears "and all the works that are therein, shall be burned up?" When "God shall arise in the glory of His Majesty, to shake terribly the Earth." When every mountain peak shall be black with tempest-and the whole valley shall be a sheet of living fire! Then (as I saw on the evening I entered this Alpine valley), there shall be but ONE ROCK seen rising far above the mist, and thunderings, and lightnings, and tempest! JESUS CHRIST, the Rock of Ages! the Sinner's Refuge! and the Sinner's Friend! Many voices shall be heard beneath in the valley, calling upon other Rocks , but it will be to hide them from the " wrath of the Lamb !" The loose fragments of stone thrown down from the Rock of Castello crushed hundreds: "On whomsoever THIS STONE shall fall, it will grind them to powder !"

Oh, when the voice of the Great Judge shall resound through the dens and caves of the Earth with the Question,-" Sinner, where are thou? "-How blessed if you shall be able, from your safe shelter, to reply, "Here am I, Lord! I heard Thy voice, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself!" Hid yourself! where? Hid myself in

"THE ROCK OF AGES."


JESUS, MY ROCK.


When the storm and the tempest are raging around me,
Oh! where shall I flee to be safe from their shock?
There are walls which no mortal hands built to surround me,
A Refuge Eternal,-'Tis JESUS MY ROCK!

When my heart is all sorrow, and trials aggrieve me,
To whom can I safely my secrets unlock?
No bosom (save one) has the power to relieve me,
The bosom which bled for me, JESUS MY ROCK!

When Life's gloomy curtain, at last, shall close o'er me,
And the chill hand of death unexpectedly knock,
I will look up to HIM who hath felt it before me,
And cleave all the closer to JESUS MY ROCK!

Companions may smile, and the world may deride me,
And with the cold finger of ridicule mock;
But no trial, nor coldness, nor death shall divide me,
From the Shelter of Ages!-from JESUS MY ROCK!

O Thou! who on earth, in the days of thy sorrow,
Didst fold to thy bosom the Lambs of thy Flock,
Prevent me (though young) putting off till to-morrow,
In fleeing for refuge to-JESUS MY ROCK!


FOOTNOTES:

[1] Job. ii. 4.

[2] Psalm ix. 6.

[3] Ezek. xviii. 4.

[4] Prov. xi. 21.

[5] Rom. iii. 23.

[6] Gen xix. 17.

[7] Rom. viii. 35.

[8] Rev. iii. 7.

[9] Matt. xix. 14.

[10] Psalm viii. 2.

[11] Psalm xxxi. 21.

[12] Isa. vi. 3.

[13] Mark i. 24.

[14] Ex. xii. 5.

[15] Jer. xxiii. 5.

[16] Heb. vii. 26.

[17] John viii. 46.

[18] Rev. iii. 7.

[19] Acts iv. 27.

[20] Luke ii. 52.

[21] "The Land and the Book."

[22] Gen. xii. 8.

[23] John iv. 14.

[24] Isa. liii. 4.

[25] Heb. vii. 25.

[26] Isa. xxviii. 16.

[27] Isa. ix. 6.

[28] Deut. i. 31.

[29] Psalm xl. 17.

[30] Luke xv. 5.

[31] Psalm iv. 8.

[32] John x. 28.

[33] Mark i. 7.

[34] Col. i. 20.

[35] Eph. ii. 6.

[36] Eph. ii. 13.

[37] Rom. viii. 83.

[38] Luke xi. 21.

[39] Psalm xviii. 2.

[40] Prov. xviii. 10.

[41] Psalm ix. 9, 10.

[42] 1 Cor. xv. 55.

[43] Isa. xxxii. 2.

[44] Zech. xiii. 7.

[45] Nahum i. 7.

[46] Rom. viii. 1.

[47] Luke xi. 22.

[48] Isa. xxvi. 4.

[49] Psalm xxii. 12, 13.

[50] Phil. ii. 9.

[51] 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13.

[52] 1 Pet. i. 8.

[53] Matt. xxv. 21.

[54] Acts viii. 8.

[55] John xv. 11.

[56] Heb. xiii. 8.

[57] Num. xxxv. 25.

[58] Rom. viii. 34.

[59] John vi. 35.

[60] John vii. 37.

[61] Heb. i. 14.

[62] Isaiah xxvi. 2.

[63] Psalm cxviii. 19.

[64] Psalm cvii. 4.

[65] 1 John i. 7.

[66] Rom. xiii. 14.

[67] Ezek. xxxiv. 25.

[68] Rom. xii. 19.

[69] Sol. Song i. 3.

[70] Isaiah xxvi. 1.

[71] Exod. xxxiv. 7.