Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

me."make."over."good."place."Last summer while on a tour of the CityThe Great BridgeRev. John O. Edgarof Quebec our guide said, "You must be sure to see ourbridge while you are here. It is the Eighth Wonderof the World." The guide was speaking with perhapsjustifiable native pride, but certainly the bridgewhich crosses the St. Lawrence river seven milesabove the city is remarkable from the standpoint ofengineering and beauty.The Quebec BridgeOne evening we ate our supper in a Provincialpark near the north end of the bridge. It was a happyexperience to view the massive structure with therays of the setting sun shining through the lacework of girders and beams. Below were the deepblue waters of the St. Lawrence, on either side werethe precipitous gray banks of the river, and abovea broken skywith patches of blue which the sun wasstruggling to find.The St. Lawrence is comparatively narrow atthe point where the bridge crosses, so the waters areswift and deep. It was a great feat of engineering andconstruction to erect the massive stone piers whichsupport the tremendous weight of the 1800 footsteel span which is between them. This is the longestcantilever type bridge in the world. (There arebridges with longer spans but they are not of thecantilever type). Certainly, this is one of the mostbeautiful bridges, in one of the most beautiful settings in the world.When we had returned home we looked upsome information about this famous bridge. Thefirst attempt to bridge this point was in 1907, andit ended in disaster when a girder buckled duringconstruction, plunging the bridge into the river, andcarrying 82 men to their deaths. A new design wasprepared, heavier and more rigid, using two and onehalf times as much steel as in the former structure.While it was being raised into place in 1916, something slipped and 5,200 tons of steel crashed into thewaters below, carrying 12 more men to their deaths.The following year a third span was constructed, andraised into place, 150 feet above the river.It cost the lives of 94 men to build the Quebecbridge, to say nothing of the great financial cost. Ithas been in use for 37 years and thousands of vehicles have passed safely over it ; millions of peoplehave passed over this bridge without fear. Thereare many wonderful bridges in the world and mencome and go upon them without giving a thoughtor theto the vision which led to their being built,sweat, toil, cost and difficulties of construction.Ancient CrossingsIn Bible times it was often a problem to crossthe Jordan river. When the Israelites were aboutto go into the Promised Land they were faced withthe problem of crossing the Jordan. But Joshua, uncommandeddismayed, the procession to move forward and as soon as the feet of the priests who werebearing the ark, touched the water, the waters partedand the company went over on dryground. (Josh.3:15-16) Later when Ehud was judge, a call wasissued for the men of Israel to follow him, and weare told that "they went down after him, and took244the fords of Jordan toward Moab,and suffered not aman to pass (Jud. 3:28) Another time, duringthe reign of David we learn that, "There went aferry 'boat to carry over the king's household, and todo what he thought (II Sam. 19:18)It thus appears that when people wanted tocross the Jordan they had to cross it in a boat, orfind a place that was shallow enough to wade across.The case of the rolling back of the water was ofcourse exceptional. There is no record of a bridgebeing built across the river during Bible times. TheHebrews are not noted for their architecture. Nevertheless, it would seem that the construction of abridge might have been within their range of skills.They might also have hired the workmen of Hiram,king of Tyre, to construct a bridge for them.lt wouldseem that the cedars of Lebanon might have providedwonderful bridge timbers, or lacking wood, masonsmight have constructed a stone arch type of bridge.The Unavoidable RiverBunyan in "Pilgrim's Progress" tells of a riverthat all must cross. It is the river of death. He describes it in these words, "Now I saw betwixt themand the gate was a river, but there was no bridge togo over, and the river was very deep. At the sightthereof of this river, the Pilgrims were much stunned; but the men who went with them said, "Youmust go through, or you cannot come at the gate ....The Pilgrims then (especially Christian) ; 'beganto despond in their minds, and looked this way andthat, but no way could be found by them by whichthey might escape the river. Then they asked themen if they were all of one depth. They said, No:yet they could not help them in the case; forsaid they, you shall find it deeper or shallower asyou believe in the king of theBunyan is right when he pictures the river ofdeath as one over which there is no bridge, for noone is able to escape physical death. There is anothersense in which sin might be considered as the riverwhich separates between God and man. If thatanalogy is valid we do have a bridge in the Personof the Lord Jesus Christ. "I am the way, the truthand the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by(John 14:6)Bridges, False or TrueThe pope is often referred to as the Pontif ofRome and the head of the Pontifical college is calledthe Pontifex Maximus. In Latin the word "pontis"means "bridge," and the word "facere" means "toHence, the word pontif signifies one whomakes a bridge, and the term "Pontifex Maximus"literally means, "The Great Bridge." We do not accept the extravagent claims of the Roman hierarchyfor we know there is no human who can serve asthe bridge between God and man ; that honor belongsto the Lord Jesus Christ and to Him alone.It cost the lives of 94 men to build the Quebecbridge, and considering the two attempts which resulted in failure, it must be a very costly bridge.We might also point out that it cost the life of theSon of God to complete the bridge of man's salvation.I dare say that not one of the 94 men who lost theirCOVENANTER WITNESS