Dear young friends, it is because I know this City of Refuge is open for the youngest of _you_, that I now write these pages. I love to read about a group of little ones who, eighteen hundred years ago, were gathered round its gates, asking admission; and when others, with unkind words, were sending them away, He who held the gates in His hand, "_who openeth and no man shutteth_,"[8] said, "_Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven._"[9] It is because I believe and know that many as young as _you_ have obeyed the Saviour's invitation, and have already entered this happy City, that I ask you to come and hear while I speak to you about it. I believe and know that many such have learned to feel that they are sinners, and that they need a Saviour. They have been taught by God's own Word and Spirit that they have broken His holy law, and have thereby exposed themselves to eternal death. But they are now safe within the Gospel Shelter. The "enemy" is "stilled." The "avenger" has sheathed his sword. I think I can hear their youthful voices, as they march through the streets of the City, singing, "_Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest_ STILL _the enemy and the_ AVENGER."[10] "_Blessed be the Lord; for He hath showed me His marvellous kindness in_ A STRONG CITY."[11] II. THE SIX CITIES. "And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the Tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the Children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever Killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the Avenger of Blood, until he stood before the Congregation."-JOSH. xx. 7-9. II. It is of these _six cities_ here mentioned, I am now going to speak. The name of each of the six has something significantly to tell about THE NAME OF JESUS. They are six pictures of the Saviour, hung up in the Old Testament picture-gallery. I am going to ask you to take a journey with me to these towns of old Palestine. Before we enter their gates, I should like again to repeat the verse of the precious hymn placed at the beginning of this book:-- "How sweet the NAME of _Jesus_ sounds In a believer's ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear." [Illustration: Kedesh] First City--Kedesh.