The Sinner's Refuge
■’Tiica j-o shull appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may fiee thither. ;hich killeth any person at unawares.” — NJM-BERs, XXXV. 11.
/ou are aware that t le principle of blood revenge is a deep-seated one in the eastern mind. From the oldest acces it was always the custom with the Orientals, when a man was murdered or slain by chance-medley, for the nearest relative, his heir or any person related to him, to take revenge for him upon the person who, either intentionally or unintentionally, was the means of his death. This revenge was a very choice and special thing to the Oriental mind. The revenger of blood would hunt his victim for forty years — ay, until he died, if he was not able to reach him before — and would be at his heels all his life, that he might slay him. It was not necessary that the man-slayer should have any trial before a judge; the man was dead, and if he who killed him was not put to death, it was reckoned among sotne tribes to be legitimate to kill his father, or indeed any relative of his tribe; and until some relative of that ti’ibe was put to death, as a revenge for the man who was slain, by accident or otherwise, a deadly feud existed between the two clans, which never could be quenched except by blood. Now, when God gave this law unto the JewPj he found all this deep-rooted love toward the system of the vengeance of blood by the nearest relative; and God acted wisely in this, as he has done in all things. There are two things mentioned in Scripture which I do not believe God ever approved, but which, finding they were deep-seated, he did not forbid to the Jews. One was polygamy: the practice of marry’ng many wives had become so established that niE sinner’s refuge. 101
though God abhorred the thing himself yet he alloned and liertiiitted it to his people, the Jews; because he foresaw they would inevitably have broken the commandment, even if he had made a command that they should have but one wife. It was even so with this matter of blood vengeance. It was sc deeply seated in the mind, that God, instead of refusing to the. Tews what they regarded as the privilege of taking ven-ECeance, passed a commandment which rendered it impossible almost that a man should be killed, unless he were really a murderer; for he appointed six cities, at convenient distances, so that when one man killed another by chance-medley and committed homicide, he might at once tlee to one ci these cities; and though he must live there all his life, yet the avenger of blood could never touch him, if he were innocent. He must have a fair trial; but even if he were found innocent he must stay within the city, into which the avenger of blood could not by any possibility come. If he went out of the city the av.enger might kill him; he was therefore to sutler perpetual banishment, even for causing death accidentally, in oi’der that it might be seen how much God regarded the rights of blood, and how fearful a thing it is to put a man to death in any way. And we see that this prevented the likelihood of any one being killed who was not guilty; for as soon ai one man struck another to the ground by accident, by a stone, or any other means, he fled to the city of refuge. He had a stait of the pursuer; and if he arrived there, he was secure and safe.
Now, I wish to use this custom of the Jews as a metaphor and type, to set forth the salvation of men through Jesus Christ our Lord. I shall give you first an explanation, and then an exhortation.
I. We shall attempt an explanation of this type.
1. Note, The person for whom, the city of refuge loas provided. It was not provided for the willful murderer; if he fled there, he must be dragged out of it, and given up to the avenger after a fair trial, and the avenger of death was to kill him, and so have blood for blood, and life for life. But in case of accident, when one man had slain another, without malice or forethought, and had only committed homicide, tlieii the man fleeing there was perfectly safe. Ilei e, he ivever, the type of Christ is not in keeping; Christ is not a city of refuge provided for men that are innocent, but a city provided for men that are guilty — not for men who have accidentally transgressed, but for men who have willfully gone a.stray. Our Saviour has come into the world to save, :iot ttiose who have by mistake and error committed sin, but those who have fearfully transgressed against his known commandments, and have gone astray of their own free-will, their own perversity leading them to rebel against God.
2. The avenger of blood. In explaining this, I must, of course, take every part of the figure. The avenger of blood, I have said, was usually next of kin, bul I believe any one of the ihmily was held to be conpetent. If, for instance, my brother had been Idlled, it would have been my duty, as the first of the family, to avenge his blood, if possible, there and then; to go after the murderer, or the man who had caused death accidentally, and put him to death at once; and if I could not do that, it would be my business, and that of my fiither, and, indeed, of every male of the family, to hunt and T)ursue that man, until God should deliver him into our hand, so that we might put him to death. I mean not that it is our duty now, but it would have been under the old Jewish dispensation. It was allowed by the Jewish law, that those who M’ere of the kith and kin of the man killed, should be the avengers of his blood. We find the type of this, then, for the sinner, in the law of God. Sinner, the law of God is the blood avenger against you; you have willfully transgressed, you have killed God’s commandments, you have tramjjled th.em under foot; the law is the avenger of blood; that is after you, and it will have you; condenmotion is hanging over your head now, and ere long it shall overtake you; though it reach you not in this life, yet, in the world to come, the avenger of blood, the Moses, the law shall have its vengeance upon you and you shall be utterly destroyed.
3. But there loas a city of refuge provided under the law; and let me tell you a few things concerning this city. You will remember there were six cities of refuge, in order that one of them migh+ be at a convenient distance from any part
TUE Si:i«fNEll5 REFUOiE. lOf
of iho c’onnUy. Now, there are not six Clirists; there is but one; but then there is a Christ everywhere. “The wvrd is nigh thee, in thy mouth, in thy heai’t; if thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and beUeve in thine licirt, thou shalt be saved.” The city of refuge was a priestly city — a city of the Levites, and it afforded protection to the man-slayer for life. He might never go out of it, till the death of the then reigning high priest; alter which he might go fi’ee, without being touched by the avenger of blood at all. But during the time of his sojourn there, he was housed and fed gratuitously; every thing was provided for him, and he was kept entirely safe. And I would have you mark that he was safe in this city, not because of the bolts or bars of the city, but simply because it was of divine appointment. Do you see the man running fi-om the avenger? The avenger is after him, fast and furious; the man has just reached the borders of the city; in a moment the avenger halts; he knows it is of no use going any further after him, not because the.city walls are strong, nor because the gates are barred, nor because an army standeth without to resist, but because God hath said the man shall be safe as soon as he has crossed the border, and has come into the suburbs of the city. Divine appointment was the only thing which made the city of refuge secure. Now, beloved, Jesus Christ is the divinely ap])ointed way of salvation; whosoever amongst us shall make haste from our sins, and fly to Christ, being convinced of our guilt, and helped by Gcnl’s Spirit to pursue the road, we shall, without doubt, find security; the course of tho law shall not touch us, Satan shall not harm us, vengeance shall not reach us, for the divine appointment, stronger than gates of iron or brass, shieldeth every one of us who has “tied for refuge to the hope set before us in the gospel.”
This city of refuge, I must have you note, too, had round it suburbs of a very great extent. Two thousand cubits were allowed lor grazing land for the cattle of the’’priests, and a thousand cubits within those for fields and vineyards. Now, no sooner did the man reach the outside of the city, the suburbs, than he was safe; it was not necessary for him to gei within the walls but the suburbs themselves were sufficient no THE SINNER’S REFUGE.
pvotection. Lean:, hence, that if ye do but touch the hem of Christ’s garment, ye shall be made whole; if ye do but lay hold of him with “faith as a grain of mustard seed,” with faith which is scarcely a believing, but is truly a believbig,
you are safe.
“A little genuine grace ensures
The death of all our sins.”
Get within the borders; lay hold of the hem of Chi-ist’ garments, and thou art secure.
We have some interesting particulars, also, with regard to the distance of these cities from the habitations of men in Judea. It is said, that wherever a homicide might occur, any man might get to a city of refuge within half a day. And verily, beloved, it is no gi’eat distance to the breavSt of Christ; it is but a simple renunciation of our own pov/erp, and a laying hold of Christ, to be our all in all, that is i-equired, in order to our being found in the city of refuge. And with regard to the roads to the city, we are told that they were strictly preserved. Every liver was bridged; as far as possible, the road was made level, and every obsti’uction removed, so that the man who fled might find an easy passpge to the city. Once a year the elders of the city went along the roads to keep them in order, so that nothing might occur, through the breaking down of bridges, or the stopping up of the highway, to impede the flight of any one, and cause him to be overtaken and killed. And wherever there were by-roads and turnings, thera were fixed up hand-posts, and with this word upon them “M’lklat “—” refuge “— pointing out the way in which the man should fly, if he wished to reach the city. And there were two people always kept on the road: so that in case the avenger of blood should overtake a man, they might come in the way and entreat the avenger to stay his hand, until the man had reached the city, lest haply innocent blood should be ihed without a fair trial, and so the avenger should be proved guilty of murder; for the risk, of course, was upon the head of the avenger, if he put one to death that did not deserve to die. Now, beloved, I think this is a picture of the road to Christ Jesus. It is no round-about road of the law; it is no oheyhig this, that, and the ither; it is a straight road:” B^
THE KINNiiil’S RETOGK. Hi
I’ieve and live.” It is a road so hard, that no self-righteous man can ever tread it; but it is a road so easy, that every sinne“j who knows liimsoli:’ to be a sinner, might by it find his way to Christ, and his way to heaven. And lest they should be mistaken, God has set me and my bi-ethren in the ministry, to be like hand-posts in the way, to point poor sinners to Jesus and we desire ever to have on our lips, the cry “Refuge, refuge, refuge!” Sinner, that is the way; walk thou therein arjd be thou saved.
I think I have thus given the explanation. Christ is the city of refuge, who {^reserves all those that flee to him for mercy; he does that because lie is the divinely ajvpointed Saviour, able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him.
II. Wf, have an exhortation to give.
You must allow me to picture a scene. You see that man m the field. He has been at work; he has taken an ox-goad m his hand, to xiso it in some part of his husbandry. Unfortunately, instead of doing what he desires to do, he strikes a companion of his to the heart, and he falls down dead! You see the poor man with horror in his face; he is a guiltless man; but, O! what misery he feels when he sees the corpse lying at his feet! A pang shoots through his heart, such as you and I have never felt — horror, dread, desolation! Yes, some of us have felt something akin to it; Ave will not allude to the when and the wherefore; but who can describe the horror of a man at seeing his companion fall at his feet? Words are incapable of expressing the anguish of his spirit; he looks upon him, he takes him up — he ascertains that he is really dead. What next! Do you not see him? In a moment he flies out of the field where he was at labor, and runs along the road with all his might; he has many miles before him, six long hours of hard running, and just as he passes the gate, he turns his head, and there is the man’s brother! He has just come into the field, and seen his brother lying dead. O! can you conceive how the man’s heart palpitates with fear? He has a little start upon the road. He just sees the other, with red fixce, hot and fiery, rushing out of the field, with the ox-goad in his hand, and running after Llm. The n2 THE SINNEll’S KEFLrGK.
way lies thiougli the village where the man’s latl)cr lives how he rushes through the sti-eets! He does not even stoj to bid good-by to his wife, noi- kiss his children! Rut on, on lie flies for his very life. The relative calls his father, and his other friends, and they all rush after him. Now, there is a troop on the road; the man is still flying a-head — no rest foi him. Tlioiigli one of his jjursuers rests, the others still track jiini. There is a hoi’se in the village; they take it, and pursue him. If they can find any animal that can assist their swiftness, they will take it. Can you not conceive him crying, “O, that I had wings that I might fly?” See how he spurns the earth beneath his feet! What to him the green fields on either hand; what the bi-ooks; he stops not even so much as to wet his mouth. The sun is scorching him; but it is still on, on, on! He casts aside one garment after another; still he rushes on, and the pursuers are behind him. He feels like the poor stag pursued by the hounds; he knows they are eager for his blood, and that if they do but once oveitake him it will be a word, a blow — dead! See how he speeds his way I Now, do you see himi’ A city is rising into sight; he car %eo the towers of the city of refuge; his weary feet almost refuse to cari-y him further; the veins are standing out on his brow, like Avhipcords; the blood spirts from his nostrils; he is straining to the utmost, as he rushes on, and faster he vi’ould go if he were master of more strength. The pursuers are after him — they have almost reached him; but see, and i-ejoice! He has just got to the outskirts of the city; there is che line of demarcation; he leaps it, and tails senseless to the ground; and there is joy in his heart. The pursuers come and look at him; but they dare not slay him. The knife is in their hand, and the stones too, to stone him oi” draw his blood; but they dare not touch him. He is safe, he is secure; his running lias been iust fast enouoh: he lias iust manao-ed to leap into the kingdom of life, and avoid death.
Sinner, that picture I have given thee is a picture of thyself, in all but the man’s guiltlessness, for thou art a guilty man. O! if thou didst but know that the avenger of blood iR afler thee! O! that God would o-ive thee ijrace that’ thou
&’
touldst have a sense of thy danger to-night! thou wouhlsi not then stop a solitary instant without flying to Christ. Thou wouldst say, even while sittijig in thy pew, “Let me away, away, away, where mercy is to be found,” and thou wouldst give neither sloop to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids, till thou hadst in Christ found a i-efuge for thy spirit. I am come, then, to exhort thee to-night. Let me pick out one oi you to be a case for all the rest; there is a young man her who is guilty; the proofs of his guilt lie at his feet to-night He knows himself to be a great transgressor; he has foully offended against God’s law. Young man, young man, certainly, as you are guilty, the avenger of blood is after you! O! he is a horrid thing, that avenger — God’s tiery law; did you ever see it? It speaketh words of flame; it hath eyes like lamps of fire. If you could once see the law of God, and mark the dread keenness of its horrible swoi’d, you might, as you sat in your pew, quiver to death itself in horror at your doom Sinner, bethink thee, if this avenger get hold of thee, it will not be temporal death merely; it will be death eternally. Sinner, remember, if the law doth get its hand on thee, thou arJdamned; and dost thou know what damnation means? Say, canst thou tell what are the billows of eternal wrath, and what the worm that never dies; what the lake of fire, what the pit that is bottomless? No, thou canst not know how dreadful these tlungs are. Surely, if thou couldst, man, thou wouldst be up on thy feet, and off for life, eternal life. Thou wouldst be like that man in Btmyan’s “Progress,” who put his fingers in his ears, and ran away; and when his neighboi’s ran after him, he cried, “Eternal life, eternal life!” O, stolid stupidity — O, sottish ignorance — O, worse than brutal ignorance, that makes men sit down in their sins, and rest content. The drunkard quaffeth still his bowl; he knoweth not that in its dregs there lieth wi-ath. The swearer still indulgetli in his blasphemy; he knoweth not that one day his oaths shall return upon his own head. You will go your way, and eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and live merrily and happily; but, ah! poor souls, if ye knew that the avengei “)f blood was after you, you would not act so foolishly! Would you suppose that tb3 man, after he had killed his neighbor, and when he saw the avenger aiming, would coolly take his seat, and wait, when there was a city of refuge provided? No; snob folly was reserved for such as you are; God has Itft that folly to be the topstone of the folly of the human race, to be the tnost glittering jewel in the crown of free will, to be consummate folly — the dress wherein free will doth robe itself. O! you will not fly to Christ, you will stop where you are, you will rest contented, and one day the law will seize you, and then wrath, eternal wi-uth, will lay hold upon you! How foolish is the man who wastes his time, and carelessly loitei’s, when the city of refuge is before him, and when the avenger of blood is after him!
Suppose, now, I take another case. I have a young mar here who says, “Why, sir, it is no use in trying to be saved; I shall not think of prayer, or faith, or any thing of that sort because there is no city of refuge for me,” Why, suppose that poor man who had killed his neighbor had said that; suppose he had sat still, and folded his arms, and said, “There ia no city of refuge for me.” You do not mean what you say. If you thought there was no city of refuge for you, I know what you would do; you would sliriek, and cry, and groan. There is a kind of despair that some people have, which is a sham despair. I have met with many who say, “I do not believe I ever could be saved,” and they seem not to care whether they are saved or not. Why, man, how foolish would he be, who would sit still, because he fancied there was no entrance for him into the city, and let the avenger slay him! But your folly is just as great and worse, if you sit still, and say, “He will never have mercy on me.” He is as much a suicide who refuses the medicine, because he thinks it will not cure him, as the man who takes the dirk, and stabs himself to the heart. You have no right, sir, to let your despair triumph over the promise of God. He hath said it, and he means it: “Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” If he has shown you your guilt, depend upon it, there is a city of refuge for you; haste thee to it; haste thee to it; may God help you to betake yourselves to it now! Ay, if men knew how dreadful is the wrath to come, and how terrible is judgment, how swiftly wo ild they fly! There is not a hearer of mine here that loula delay an hour to Hy to Christ, ff he dipi
THE sinner’s refuge. llf.
but know’ how fearful is his condition out of Christ. Wlion God the Spii’it once convinces us of our sni, there is no haltiug Jien; the Si)iiit says, “To-tl.ay, if you will hear his voiL.e,” a,iid we say, “To-day, Lord, to-day, hear our voice!” There is no halting then; there is no pausing then; it is on, on, on, for our very life; and I beseech you, men, brethren, you, who have fiinned against God, and know it; you that want to be delivered from the wrath to come, I beseech you, by him that liveth and was dead, flee to Christ; but take this exhortation, take heed it is Christ you flee to; for if the man who had slain his neighbor, had fled to another city, it would have been of no avail; had he fled to a city that was not an ordained city of refuge, he might have sped on with all the hnpetuosity of desire, and yet have been slain within the city gates. So, ye Belf-righteous ones, ye may fly on to your good works, ye may practice your baptism, and your confirmation, and your church going, and your chapel going; ye may be all that is good and excellent, but ye are flying to the wrong city, and the avenger of blood will find you, after all. Poor soul! remember Christ Jesus is the only refuge for a guilty sinner: his blood, hia wounds, his agdnies, his sufl”erings, his death, these, then, are the gates and walls of the city of salvation. But if we trust not in these, without a doubt, trust where we may, our hope shall be as a broken reed, and we shall pei-ish after all.
I may have one here who is just awakened, just led to see hU sin, as if it were a murdered corpse beneath his feet; it seems to me that God has sent me to that one man in particular. Man, God has shown you your guilt; he sent me to-night to tell you that thei-e is a refuge for you; though you are guilty he is good; though you have revolted and rebelled, he will have mercy on those that repent, and trust in the meiits of his Son. And now he has bidden me say to you, “Fly, fly, fly!” In God’s name, I say to you, fly to Christ. He has bidden me warn you to-night against delays; he has bidden me remind you that death surprises men when least they expect it; he has bidden me to warn you that the avenger will not spare, neither will his eye pity. Hiii sword was forged for vengeance, and vengeance it will have. And he has bidden me exhort you by the terrors of the law, by the day of judgment, by iht* wrath to come, Ly the uncertainty of life, and by the utarnet* of death, this night to tly to Christ.
•’ Haste, traveler, haste, the night comes on;
And thou far off from rest and home:
Haste, traveler, haste 1”
But, O how much more earnest is our cry, when we say, “Haste, sinner, haste.” Not only doth the night come on; but, lo! the blood avenger is behind. Already he has slain his thousands. Let the shrieks of souls, already damned, come up in your ears. Already the avenger has done wonders of wrath; let the bowlings of Gehenna startle you; let the torments of hell amaze you. What! will you stop with such a sword behind you? will you pause with such an avenger in swift pursuit? What! young man, will you stop this night? tiod has convinced you of your sin; will you go to your rest this night without a prayer? Will you live another day withcut fleeing to Christ? No; I think I see the Spirit of God in you to-night, and I think I hear what he makes you say. He makes you say, “No, God helping me, I give myself to Christ now; and if he will not now shed abroad his lT)ve in my heart, yet this is my one resolve; no slumber to my eyes will I aftbrd till Christ shall look on me, and seal my pardon with his Spirit — the pardon bought with blood.” But if thou sittest still, voung man, and thou wilt do so, left to thy own free will, 1 can do no more for thee than this, I must weep for thee in secret. Alas! for thee, my hearer; alas! for thee; the ox led to the slaughter is more wise than thou; the sheep that goeth to its death is not so foolish as thou art. Alas! for thee, my hearei’, that thy pulse should beat a march to hell. Alas! that yonder clock, like the muffled drum, should be the music of the funeral march of thy soul. Alas! alas! that thou shouldst fold thine arms in pleasure, when the knife is at thy heart. Alas! alas! for thee, that thou shouldst sing, and make meri-nnent, when the rope is about thy neck, and the drop is tottering under thee. Alas! for thee, that thou shouldst go thy way, and live merrily and hay)pily, and yet be lost. Thou re mindest me of the silly moth that dances round about the flame, singeing itself for a while, and then at last i)lungiiig to
THE SINNEU’S REFUGE. 1 ] )
Its death. Such art thou! Young woman, with thy butterfly clothing, thou art leaping round the flame that shall destroy thee. Young man, light and frothy in thy conversation, gay in thy life, thou art dancing to hell; thou art singing thy way to damnation, and promenading the road to destruction. Alas! alas! that ye should be spinning your own winding sheets; that ye should every day by your sins be building your own gallows; that by your transgressions ye should be digging your own graves, and working hard to pile the faggots for your own eternal burning. O! that ye were wise, that ye understood this, that ye would consider your latter end. O! that ye would flee fiom the wrath to come. O! my hearers, the wrath to come, the wrath to come! O, God! how terrible! these lips dare not venture to describe, this heart filleth in agony; and, my hearers, are there not some of you that will soon be in the wrath to come? Yes, yes! there are some of you, who, if you were now to drop dead in your pews, must be damned. Ali! ye know it; ye know it; ye dare not deny it; I see you know; as you hang down your heads, you seem to say it is true; I have no Christ to trust to, no robe of righteousness to wear, no heaven to hope for. My hearer, give me thine hand; never did father plead with son with more impassioned earnestness than I would with thee. Why wouldst thou sit still, when hell is burning in thy face. “Why will ye die, O house of Israel!” O, God! must I preach to these people in their place in hell; and must I continue to preach to them, and be “a savor of death unto death to them,” and not “a savor of life unto life?” And must I, must I, help to make their hell more intolerable? Must it be so? Must the people who now listen to us, like the people of Choraziii and Bethsaida, have a more teri-ible doom than the people of Sodom? Ah! yes, the Lord hath said it, and we believe it. O! ye that are left to your own free will, to choose the way to hell, as all men do when left alone — let these eyes run down with tears for ye, because ye will not weep for yourselves, Sti-ange! strange! that 1 should feel more for some of your souls than you do for yourselves! My God knoweth, there is not a stone that I would leave unturned to save each one of you “there is nought that human strength could do, or humar study would learn, which I would not seek after, if I mignt Ltit be the instrument of saving you from hell; and yet you act as though it concerned you not, whom it should concern the most; it is my business, but it is far more yours. Sirs, if ye be lost, remember, it is yourselves that will be lost; if ye perish, ye perish; I am clean of your blood. If ye flee not from the ^’lath to come, I have warned you; I could not bear to have he blood upon my head which some, even of those who like sound doctrine, I fear, will have at the last day of account. I tremble for some I know, that preach God’s gospel, in some sense fully, but who never warn sinners. A member of my church said to me lately, “I heard such a one preach; a sound doctrine man he is called. I heard him prfeach for nine years, attending the theater all the time. I could curse, I could swear, I could sin, and I never heard a warning from that man’s lips the whole nine years.” Ah! my God, my God, let this world hiss me; let me wear the coat that sparkleth, and the cap that garnisheth a fool. Let earth condemn me, and let the fools of the universe spui-n me; but fi’ee me from the blood of my hearers. By God’s grace, again I i-egister the vow, God he]y)ing me; the only thing I seek in this world is to be faithful to my hearers’ souls. If you are damned, it is not for want of preaching to, nor for want of earnest warning. Young men and maidens, old men with
gray hairs, meichants jind tradesmen, servants, fathers, mothers, children, I have warned you this night, you are in danger of hell, and as God liveth, before whom I stand, you will be there soon, unless you flee from the wi’ath to come. Remember, none but Jesus can save you. But if God shall enable you to see your danger, and fly to Christ, he will have mercy upon you for ever, and the avenger of blood will never find you out. No, not even when the red lightnings shall be flashing from the hand of God in the day of judgment. That city of refuge shall shelter you, and in the heart of Jesus, triumphant, blessed, secure, yoo shall sins: the righteousness and the bio pd of Christ who 3h<-i ters sinners from the wrath to come.