Joshua 20:2

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Appoint out for you cities of refuge." Jos 20:2

The law in Numbers xxxv. appointed that the Levites should have six cities of refuge and forty-two others. The law of the cities of refuge is given in full in Numbers 35:0 and Deuteronomy 19:0 All cities should be cities of refuge. How great the number of the inhabitants, and how well-organised the institutions; how fitting, then, that the young and the inexperienced should find refuge in such highly-civilised asylums. The city is an aggregation of homes, and should surely bring the home feeling into wandering and aching hearts. Is not the city crowded with churches? And are there not in them men of God appointed to preach the great Gospel which was meant to heal the dying life of man? All these reflections suggest the gracious thought of refuge. Where men are few it would appear as if the soul were more exposed to assault. Solitude has dangers peculiar to itself. When the young life is hidden amongst ten thousand times ten thousand others, surely it ought to feel a sense of security, because in such a number the spirit and genius of brotherhood should be developed and crowned. Consider what libraries there are in the city; how rich in literary treasure; how impossible is solitude in the midst of such eloquent silence. Is not a library itself a city of refuge? May not wandering thoughts be stayed amid all its treasures of learning and language? Who can be lonely in any sense of desolateness who has access to a library? Whilst all this is pictorially true, consider how different is the melancholy fact. The city is full of trapdoors opening upon perdition. Count the number of its inns, places of harmful amusement, people devoted to what has now become the fine art of knavery, sharp practice, and all manner of delusion. Consider how the net is spread even in the sight of the bird, and the snare is laid on the open ground. Compare a city as it might be with a city as it is, and see how steady and tremendous has been the process of degradation and corruption. It has pleased God to represent his Church and kingdom under the image of a city. We read in the Psalms of "the city of God." Heaven is represented as a city whose walls are jasper and whose streets are gold. This would seem to be a restoration of the ideal city. It is a mistake to suppose that a city is bad simply because it is a city. Association, companionship, interchange of opinion, the commingling of trusts and stewardships, ought all to combine to constitute an idea of commonwealth, brotherhood, and home. In proportion as the city is really bad, the Church should take care to provide refuges from all its malicious pursuers and an answer to all its seductive appeals. Let there be a city within a city, the city of God within the city of destruction.