THE KING’S BUSINESS
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ing and forget the Lord’s Lot. Not so God: He puts first things first. The live goat is now brought forward, and in sight of all the people, Aaron places his hands upon the head of the live goat, confessing all the transgressions in all the sins of the entire congregation, thus figuratively lay ing all the sins of the people upon thç head of the Scapegoat, who is then by à man of opportunity led so far into the wilderness that he never finds bis way back again to the camp. The laying on of hands is expressive of identification, and as Aaron identified himself with the sins of Israel, so our High Priest voluntarily assumes the burden of the sins of His people. The three alls” of the 21st verse very emphat ically set forth the completeness of our - Alexandria, fascinating for this or that thing, according to the taste of the visitor, was to me most entertaining, because it had been the site' of the greatest library that the world ever saw, considering the fact that the art of printing had not been invented. Seven hundred thousand vol umes, and all the work of a slow pen. But down it all went under the torch of besiegers. Built again, . and destroyed again. Built again; but the Arabs came along for its final demolition, and the four thousand baths of the city were heated .with those volumes, the -fuel lasting six months, and were ever fires kindled at such fearful cost? What holocausts of the world’s literature! What martyrdom of' books! How many of them have gone down under the rage of nations ! The voice of those ancient cities is hoarse from the exposure of forty cen turies, and they accentuate slowly with lips that were palsied for ages; but all together those cities along the Nile intone these words: “Hear us, for we are very old, and it is hard for us to speak. We were wise long before Athens learned her first les sons. We sailed our ships while yet navi
separation from our sins as does the 22nd verse the perpetualness of that separation. Our sins are blotted out entirely and for ever. It is as if our sins one and all had been written down on a blackboard and someone had completely erased them. So thoroughly and so permanently is the work done that hot one shall ever appear again. Behold the Lamb of God that beareth away the sin of the world.” The work of the Divine Scapegoat is perfectly accomp lished. and how may a seeking' soul enter into the full benefit of this work? “To Him give all the prophets witness that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins (Acts 10:43). wrecked temples, these | colossi of black granite, these wrecked sarcophagi under the brow, of the hills, tell you of what I w-as in grandeur and of what I am coming down to be. We sinned and we fell. Our learning could not save us. See those half obliterated1hieroglyphics on yonder wall. Our architecture could not save us. See the painted colums of Phils, and the shat tered temple of Ecneh. Our heroes could not save us. Witness Menes, Diodorus,. Rameses, and Ptolemy. Our gods Ammon and Osiris could hot save us. See their fallen temples all along the four thousand miles of Nile. Oh, ye modern cities! get some other God; a , God who can help, a God -who can pardon, a God who can save. Called up as we are for a little While to give testimony, again the sands of the des-; ert will bury us. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust! And as these voices of porphyry and granite ceased, all the sarcophagi under the hills responded, “Ashes to ashes!” and the capital of a lofty column fell grinding itself to powder among the rocks, and responded, “Dust to dust.” • I gation was unborn. These obelisks, these pyramids, these fallen pillars, these
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