The way to this refuge is plain and safe. Nothing is more intelligible than to "BELIEVE IN THE SON OF GOD." He that believeth shall be safe, shall be saved. He that rests upon him shall be sustained; he that receives him shall possess him; he that confides in him shall not be ashamed; whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. None have failed to reach the refuge by reason of the intricacy, or the obscurity of the way; it is indicated in characters so plain, that he that runs reads correctly.

This refuge is strong under all circumstances, it has never failed to protect the soul that sought it. It is no other than GOD! "Our GOD is a consuming fire;" and we dwell in God! The enemy dare not approach our dwelling-place. The fiery furnace was to the young men a place of singular safety; but to all besides it was most awful. God is a wall of fire round about his people; sparks from the wall of fire have destroyed many. The hosts of Benhadad were blinded in their near approach to it and those of Senacherib

were slain by thousands. You must not venture to come nigh the fiery wall, otherwise than with humility and reverence, to seek its protection. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge, aud my fortress; my God; in him will I trust."

This refuge is near. "Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort. Thou hast given commandment to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress." It is always nigh, and it always suits the condition, and saves from every danger. Jacob, and David, and Moses, found it in their various difficulties and dangers. There is no place where thou, believer, canst be found, where thy refuge will not be nigh unto thee. To thy "strong habitation" thou mayest continually resort. "He shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

There are none under the shadow of this

rock but such as have fled hither.

If

you are safe, you know of having fled for refuge-you have not fled without being sufficiently aware of the fact. You know when you said, "Deliver me, LORD, from mine enemies. I flee unto thee to hide me."

There are "refuges of lies." There are none in the true refuge, but such as have been brought out of the false ones, none but those who know of the "hail sweeping away the refuge of lies, and the waters overflowing their hiding-place."

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They had made a covenant with death, and with hell were they at agreement," before they found it necessary to seek God for a refuge. The name of the Lord was not sought as a strong tower always, but lies were made a refuge, and falsehood was made a hidingplace. There is no man who has not his refuge; but few go so far as God for protection. Their own righteousness serves for many that they are better than others satisfies some that they are of the true religion in name, does for multitudes. "We have Abraham for our father," satisfied the

Pharisees; and something similar is the refuge of thousands still. Some have a profession of religion, and others have tears, and some have feelings they consider sufficient. Few are brought to have "the sentence of death in themselves, that they should not trust in themselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead." Trusting in themselves is the occasion of the death of myriads. SELF, in some form, is the destruction of all but such as seek the true refuge. Some appear to have been led to the true object, but are destroyed by a false confidence; and others have real confidence where they have missed the true object.

Some hope in the Divine mercy, that it will forgive without an ATONEMENTsuch is a trust in a God of mercy of whom the Bible knows nothing. He that denies the Son, has not the Father. He confesses the Father, but he has him not. To suppose that God passes by his justice, where he exercises mercy, is to do him the utmost dishonour; or, rather, it is to deny the character, and the being of the

true God. A God of mercy, without holiness and justice, is not the God of heaven, nor a God that has existence beyond the bounds of corrupt imagination.

Some seek to make God a refuge for sin, as well as for the sinner. If you intend to live in sin, while you seek a refuge in God, you seek to make God the refuge of sin. If there were a place where sin is left in its dominion and its being, and where punishment did not follow, that place would be the only refuge of sin. “If, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners," then Christ is the minister of sin. (Gal. ii. 17.) Where the man is in God for protection, God is in the man for dominion. Those pro

tected with Noah in the ark, were all governed by the rules of the ark. The lion hunted no prey there. Every one in Christ is a new creature-old things are passed away. If the sinner could be justified and defended without an atonement, Christ died for no purpose. If one object of his death-the life of the sinner-could have been secured without his