Part 4

_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.