The refuge" provided by the statute for the unhappy man who had destroyed his brother, and troubled his own soul, prefigures the remedy prescribed by infinite wisdom for the recovery of a lost, perishing world-that dispensation of Divine Providence in which life. And confinement is still confinement, | eth him will slay him: his multiplied crimes though in a place of safety, a city of refuge: cry out of the ground for vengeance upon his and ignorance and uncertainty respecting head--while eternal, inflexible justice, like the termination of our misery, are bitter in- the avenger of blood," pursues him to the gredients in the cup of affliction. "It may death. To flee from, or endure the wrath of outlast life," sad thought! "or consume the an offended God, is equally impossible. All best and most valuable portion of my days. nature is up in arms against him; he is beUnhappy that I am, to have introduced come a terror to himself; the king of terrors mourning into my neighbour's family, and aims his fatal dart, and hell follows after. desolated my own. Though I feel not the pangs of remorse, my heart is torn with those of regret; and blood, though shed without a crime, is a burden too heavy for me to bear." The last regulation on record respecting this subject, was a permission to the hapless manslayer to "return into the land of his mercy and truth are met together, rightpossession," on the death of the high priest. eousness and peace have kissed each other." The reason of this ordinance does not appear; Fear not, guilty creature, there is hope conbut it contains a circumstance very affecting cerning thee: thou shalt not die. The God to the prisoner himself, and affecting to all whom thou hast offended, even he, "hath found Israel. His release from confinement could out a ransom;" he hath "laid help on One be purchased only by death, the death of who is mighty to save, even to the uttermost, another; and that not of an ordinary citizen, them who come unto God through him." Cease. but of the most dignified and respectable from the anxious inquiry," Who shall ascend character in the republic. The weight of into heaven, to bring Christ down from above? blood innocently shed, was at length to be Who shall descend into the deep, to bring up removed; but how? Not by the demise of Christ again from the dead?" "The word him who shed it, but of "the high priest is nigh thee," and in this word the Lord which should be in those days." And may" brings near his righteousness," and his salwe not suppose a refugee of sensibility look-vation. The name of JEHOVAH is as a strong ing forward to this event with the mixed tower, whoso runneth into it is safe. Proemotions of hope and sorrow? The very cause of his enlargement makes it to partake of the nature of a punishment. He dare hardly wish for liberty, for it involved guilt deeper than what already lay upon his head; deliberate devising the death of his neighbour, and taking pleasure in it. Now, if guiltless homicide subjected the perpetrator of it to such accumulated danger, anxiety, and distress, how atrocious in the sight of God must wilful murder be? And how sacred, in the sight of man, ought to be the life of his brother, and every thing relating to its preservation and comfort, his health, his peace, his reputation? To attack him in any of these respects, is to level a blow at his head, or, where he feels more sensibly still, at his heart. : an phets, apostles, evangelists, with one accord, point to the sanctuary, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it." "Turn ye to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope." Here is " highway"-" the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." The Saviour himself proclaims, "Look to me, and be saved." "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." The very act of flying from "the avenger of blood," argued a consciousness of criminality, and an apprehension of danger; and the course directed to a city of refuge, indicated a knowledge of its appointment, and of the privileges pertaining to it. In this we behold the character of the convinced, penitent sinner, condemned of his own conscience, stripped of every plea of self-righteousness, Let us review this last of the Mosaic in- alarmed with the terrors of the "wrath to stitutions, and mark its reference to a clearer come," encouraged by the declarations of the and more explicit dispensation for it is too mercy of God in Christ, apprehending “salvaevidently" a shadow of good things to come." tion in no other," perceiving no way to esThe flying "manslayer" is an affecting cape but this, he flees" for refuge to lay hold representation of what every man is by na- of the hope set before him," even to "Him ture and by wicked works; an unhappy crea- who is mighty to save;" to that "blood ture, who has offended against his brother, which speaketh better things than the blood violated the laws of society, broken his own of Abel" to "the Lamb of God, who taketh peace of mind, and trampled on the divine away the sin of the world:" saying, in the authority, not only accidentally and uninten-words of the psalmist, " O Lord, thou art my tionally, but deliberately, presumptuously. refuge; return unto thy rest, O my soul, for His conscience, "like the troubled sea," can- the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." not rest. What he feels is dreadful, what he " In Jehovah alone have I righteousness and fears is infinitely worse. With trembling strength;" "he also is become my salvation." Cain, he apprehends that every one who meet- The safety of the manslayer depended, not on having arrived at, but on remaining in the furnishes not a single one. But the provisions city of his refuge. To leave it prematurely of the "better covenant-established upon was as fatal as to be overtaken on the way better promises," extend to every species, that led to it. The grace of the gospel, in and to every instance of guilt and misery. like manner, is extended, not to him who, They are made not only for the heedless and convinced of sin, and trembling with appre- the unfortunate, the weak and the helpless, hension of judgment to come, has fled for re- but for the stout-hearted and presumptuous, fuge, to the great Propitiation for sin, but to for deliberate offenders and backsliding chilhim who abideth in Christ. As there is a dren, for the very chief of sinners. What"believing to the saving of the soul;" so there ever, O man, be thy peculiar "weight, and is a "drawing back unto perdition:" and the sin that doth more easily beset thee;" "no man having put his hand to the plough, whatever" the plague of thine heart," or the and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of error of thy life, behold "help laid for thee God." Hence the solemn injunction and on One mighty to save." "Behold the Lamb warning of Christ himself, "Abide in me, of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." and I in you-if a man abide not in me, he is Hear, and accept his kind invitation, “Come cast forth as a branch, and is withered: and to me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and I will give you rest." "Look to me, and and they are burned." He that endureth be saved, all the ends of the earth." "Him unto the end, the same shall be saved." The that cometh I will in no wise cast out." The great Apostle and High Priest of our profes- cities of Israel served as a temporary reprieve sion lives for ever; there is therefore "no from a sentence of death, which, though the more going out." In returning and rest hand of the "avenger" was restrained, the shall we be saved, in quietness and confidence hand of nature was speedily to execute. The shall be our strength." manslayer might be overtaken by it, in the very city of his refuge. But the believer's security under the gospel never fails, never terminates. He is passed from death unto life;" he "shall never perish." "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again." "I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand; my Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Under the law, the death of the high priest, the final era of release to the manslayer, was an event entirely casual, often distant, always uncertain. Under the gospel, that death, which is the sinner's de liverance, the soul's ransom, is an event for ever present, perpetually producing its effect. Christ," by one offering, hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." The sanctuary provided and opened, equally for the distressed Israelite and "the stranger," is a happy prefiguration of the indiscriminating mercy, the unlimited extension of the gospel salvation. "In Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." He" came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them which were nigh; and through him, we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father." The gospel of Christ is "the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." It announces "glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." "For there is no respect of persons with God." Blessed dispensation, which hath abolished all invidious distinctions! "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all!" Who art thou then, O man, who "judgest thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?" He is a man like thyself, a criminal as thou art; for him also Christ died, and for his admission, as for thine, the door of mercy stands open, the city of refuge strengthens its walls, expands its gates. I conclude with suggesting a few hints, which will serve to evince the glorious superiority of the object prefigured, over the figure; of "the very image of the things," above "the shadow of good things to come." The institution under review was a provision for one particular species of offence and distress, and for a case which could occur but in rarer instances. Indeed the whole history of Israel "We ought, therefore, to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip." For if the intentional murderer was to be dragged from God's altar, to suffer the pu nishment of his crime; and if the manslayer, who despised and neglected his refuge, fell a just sacrifice to the resentment of "the avenger of blood," and to his own presumption and neglect of the merciful ordinance of God; "how shall we escape, if we ne glect so great salvation"" "He that de spised Moses's law died without mercy, under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 66 worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son | Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unof God, and hath counted the blood of the righteous man his thoughts: and let him covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the upon him, and to our God, for he will abundSpirit of grace?" "For if we sin wilfully, antly pardon."* Behold, now is the acafter that we have received the knowledge cepted time; behold, now is the day of of the truth, there remaineth no more sacri- salvation."+ "Return, ye backsliding chilfice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for dren, and I will heal your backslidings; of judgment, and fiery indignation, which behold we come unto thee, for thou art the shall devour the adversaries. It is a fearful Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation thing to fall into the hands of the living looked for from the hills, and from the multiGod.*** "Seek ye the Lord while he may tude of mountains: truly in the Lord our be found, call ye upon him while he is near. God is the salvation of Israel."‡ And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them.-DEUTERONOMY i. 3. "Where is that thrift, that avarice of time, BEHOLD this honourable thrift, this glorious avarice, exemplified in that most amiable and excellent of mankind, Moses, the man of God, who has condescended to be so long our instructor and our guide. He is now in the last month of his earthly existence; he is "ready to be offered up; the time of his departure is at hand," and an illustrious instance his last days exhibits of how much may be done in a little time. Within the compass of that month, that little month, all the words of this book were spoken in the ears of all Israel, and were committed to writing. The decree, the irreversible decree had gone forth, he knew that he must die; he therefore sets himself to redeem the time, seeing his days are now few, not one of them shall be spent in vain. indeed opposite feelings are apt to betray men into the same practical error, that of mispending their time, and neglecting their opportunities--the confidence of living long on the one hand-the near prospect of death on the other. What we imagine it is in our power to do when we please, we are in great danger of never doing at all; and we feel the remorse of occasion for ever lost, ere we are well awake from the dream of a season continually at our disposal; and it is but too common, when thus overtaken, disconcerted, and confused, to give up our work in despair. Having much to do, and the time being short, we sit down and lament our folly, and do nothing. Presumption betrays us today, diffidence and despondency destroy us to-morrow. The tide which carried him along to the But in the last weeks of Moses's life we world of spirits, is hastening to finish our discover nothing of the indecent hurry of a course, to add us to the number of those who man conscious of neglect, and eager to repair were, but are no more. Another month, ait. He neither runs nor loiters; but walks little month, must close our review of the life and writings of Moses. A still shorter period may close our worldly career; and when we part, it is to meet no more, till "the dead, small and great, stand before God." Let us then seize the moments as they fly, and redeem our time. Let us drink into the spirit of Moses, and learn of him how to live, and how to die. with the steadiness and dignity of one whose strength is as his day; who has a labour prescribed, and ability to perform it. In his youth we have a pattern of generosity, and public spirit, and courage, and greatness of mind; in his manhood, of wisdom, of diligence, of perseverance, of fidelity; and now in his old age, of calmness, of devotion, of superiority to the world, of heavenly minded We see here a man living cheerfully, liv-ness. ing usefully to the last. Two different and Observe the excellency of his spirit, at this period, a little more particularly. He set a proper value upon life. He desired its continuance, with the feelings natural to a man, he prized it as the gift of God, as the precious season of acting for God, of observing and improving the ways of his providence, of doing good to men, of preparation for eternity. He prayed for its prolongation, without fearing its end; and he thereby reproves that rashness which exposes life to unnecessary danger, that intemperance which wastes and shortens, that indolence and listlessness which dissipate it; and that vice and impiety which clothe death with terror. In Moses we have a bright example of genuine patriotism. That most respectable quality appeared in him early, and shone most conspicuously at the last. "When he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter: choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. "* For Israel's sake he was willing to encounter a thousand dangers, to endure a thousand hardships. For them he braved the wrath of a king, sacrificed his ease, consented to be blotted out of God's book. For them he laboured, fasted, prayed; in their service was his life spent, and his dying breath was poured out in pronouncing blessings upon them. If it went well with Israel, no matter what became of himself. Their unkindness and ingratitude excited no resentment in his breast. When they rebelled he was grieved, when they were threatened he trembled, when they suffered he bled, when they were healed he rejoiced. O how his temper and conduct reprove that pride, which perpetually aims at aggrandizing itself, which must have every thing bend and yield to it, which is ready to sacrifice thousands to its own humour or advantage; that selfishness which grasps all, sets every thing to sale, and refuses to be ashamed. The generosity and disinterestedness of Moses eminently adorned the close of his life. He was a father, and had all the feelings of that tender relation. It was natural for him to wish and expect that his sons should be distinguished after his death, should be the heirs of his honour, should succeed to his authority. An ordinary man would have been disposed to employ the power which he possessed to build up, to enrich, to ennoble his own family: but the will of God was declared. Joshua was the choice of Heaven; Joshua, his servant, one of another family, another tribe. In the appointment Moses rejoices, he adopts Joshua as his son, as his associate; sees him rise with complacency, puts his honour upon him: and thereby exposes to shame that littleness of soul which enviously represses rising merit, that vice of age which can discern nothing *Heb. xi. 24, 25. wise and good in the young; that tenaciousness of power which would communicate no advantage with another. What anxiety does the good man discover that Israel should act wisely, and go on prosperously after his death! There is no end to his admonitions and instructions. By word, by writing, by insinuation, by authority, in the spirit of meekness, of love, of parental care, he cautions, he warns, he remonstrates. Men naturally love to be missed, to be inquired after, to be longed for; but it was the delight of Moses in his departing moments, that his place was already supplied, that the congregation would not miss their leader, that Joshua should happily accomplish what he had happily begun. Selfish men enjoy the prospect of the disorder and mischief which their departure may occasion. Moses foresaw the revolt of Israel after his decease, and it was the grief and bitterness of his heart. In Moses we have an instructive instance of that continuance in well-doing, that perseverance unto the end, which finds a duty for every day, for every hour; which accounts nothing done so long as any thing remains to be done, which cheerfully spends and is spent for the service of God, and the good of mankind. Age is ready to put in its claim, when honour is expected, and advantage to be reaped; and is as ready to plead its exemption when service is required, danger is to be encountered, and hardship undergone. But while Moses discovers the utmost readiness to share with another the emolument and the respect of his office, the trouble and fatigue of it he with equal cheerfulness andertakes and supports to the very last. In the whole of his temper and conduct, we have an ensample which at once admonishes, reproves, and encourages us. May we not, after considering the noble and excellent spirit he discovered through the course and at the close of life, contemplate the probable state of his mind in reviewing the past, and surveying the prospect before him: both affording unspeakable comfort, but neither wholly exempted from pain. Pleasant it must have been to reflect, I. On his miraculous preservation in infancy. "To what dangers was I then exposed! Doomed to perish by the sword from my mo ther's womb. Concealed by fond parents for three months at the peril of their life, as well as my own. Committed at length to the merciless stream, a prey to manifold deaththe roaring tide, hunger, the monsters of the river, contending which should destroy me. But I was precious in the sight of God. No plague came nigh me; no evil befel me. The daughter of the tyrant saved me from the rage of the tyrant. The house of Pharaoh became my sanctuary. The munifi cence of a princess recompensed the offices of maternal tenderness. I knew not then to whom I was indebted for protection, from what source my comforts flowed: let age and consciousness acknowledge with wonder and gratitude the benefits conferred on infant helplessness and infirmity; let my dying breath utter his praise, who preserved me from perishing as soon as I began to breathe." to its source; to ascend from son to father, up to the general parent of the human race; to rescue from oblivion the ages beyond the flood, and to rescue departed worth from the darkness of the grave. By me these venerable men, though dead, speak and instruct the world. By me the being and perfections, the works and ways, the laws and designs of the great Supreme stand unfolded; the plan and progress of his providence, the sys 2. May we not suppose the holy man of God, by an easy transition, passing on to meditate on deliverance from still greater dan-tem of nature, the dispensation of grace. To ger, danger that threatened his moral lifethe snares of a court? "Flattered and caressed as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, brought up in all the learning of the Egyptians, having all the treasures in Egypt, at my command, at an age when the passions, which war against the soul, are all afloatwhat risk did I run of forgetting myself, of forgetting my people, of forgetting my God? But the grace of the Most High prevented me. I endured as seeing him who is invisible. I refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I was not ashamed to be known for a son of Israel. I went out to see the burdens of my brethren, I had compassion on them, and comforted them; not fearing the wrath of a king, I smote him that did the wrong, and saved the oppressed. I chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. To God I committed myself; and my virtue, my religion, my honour, my inward peace were preserved." my writings shall ages and generations resort for the knowledge of events past, and for the promises and predictions of greater events yet to come. The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue, and the word of the LORD endureth for ever. 5. What delight must it have afforded, in reviewing the past, to revive the memory of communion with God, of exalted intercourse with the Father of spirits! "Blessed retirement from the noise of the world and the strife of tongues; solitude infinitely more delicious than all society! Wilderness of Horeb, school of wisdom, scene of calm and unmixed joy, in thee I learned to commune with my own heart, forgot the sensual, unsatisfying delights of Egypt, observed the glories of nature, contemplated the wonders of Providence, enjoyed the visions of the Almighty! Happy days, when I tended the flocks of Jethro, obeyed the dictates of inspiration, and conversed with my heavenly Father, as a man with his friend! I saw him in flaming yet unconsuming fire, I heard his voice from the midst of the burning bush, my 3. What satisfaction must it have yielded feet stood upon holy ground. And thou, Moses in reviewing his life, to reflect on his sacred summit of Sinai, where the Most having been made the honoured instrument, High imparted to me the counsels of his in the hand of Providence, for effecting the will; supernaturally sustained the feeble, deliverance of an oppressed people? "Imortal frame; irradiated my soul with the found Israel labouring, groaning, expiring in the furnace. I beheld the tears of them that were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter. Their cry reached heaven. He who made them had mercy upon them. He was pleased to choose me out of all the myriads of Israel, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. He taught my stammering tongue to speak plainly. He said to my fearful heart, Be strong. He armed me with his potent rod; and subjected the powers of nature to my command. The oppressor But a retrospective view of life must have was crushed in his turn, and the oppressed presented to Moses many objects painful went out free, full, and triumphant. And to and humiliating; and bitter recollections me, even unto me, it was given to conduct must have mingled themselves with the this great, difficult, dangerous, glorious en- sweet. The repeated defections of a stiffterprise; and Heaven crowned it with suc-necked and gainsaying people, whom no cess." 4. How pleasing to reflect that the Spirit of God had employed him to communicate so much valuable knowledge to mankind! "To me was this grace given, to trace nature up communications of his love, and my coun- kindness could melt, no threatenings deter, no promise animate, no calamity subdue: a people who had requited the care of Heaven with reiterated, unprovoked rebellions; and his own labours of love, with hatred, insult, |