[Illustration: The Ten Commandments.] Thou shalt have no more Gods but me. Before no idol bend the knee. Take not the name of God in vain, Nor dare the sabbath day profane. Give both thy parents honor due, Take heed that thou no murder do. Abstain from words and deeds unclean, Nor steal, though thou art poor and mean. Nor make a wilful lie, nor love it. What is thy neighbor's dare not covet. God had come in this terrible and awful manner to speak to them, that all Israel might hear and fear, and take care not to break them. Afterwards God gave these Ten Commandments to Moses, written upon two tables--or pieces of stone--written by God Himself. That was the way the Ten Commandments were given--by God's own voice speaking to men, out of the cloud, amid thunders and lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet, dreadful to hear. [Illustration: MOSES RECEIVING THE TABLES OF THE LAW.--Ex. 31:18.] And God means us all to obey the Commandments, just as much as He meant the Israelites to obey them. They are His words, and must be kept; and if we ask Him in our prayers He will give us help and strength to obey them, so that we may fulfil the promise that was made at our baptism, that we should keep God's Holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the same unto our lives' end. QUESTIONS. 1. Where had the children of Israel come from? 2. Who was leading them? 3. Where did God tell Moses to take them? 4. What wonderful sight did they see on Mount Sinai? 5. What did they hear? 6. Who spoke out of the cloud? 7. What did God speak? 8. How many Commandments? 9. Tell me the first of them. 10. On what did God write them? 11. To whom did He give them? 12. When do you say them? 13. When did you promise to keep them? 14. What is keeping the Commandments? 15. How can you be helped to do as they tell you? 16. How must you ask for God's help? SECOND READING. "The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire."--_Deuteronomy 5:4._ WHEN the lightning and thunder and the loud voice of the trumpet came forth from the cloud on Mount Sinai, and God had spoken the Ten Commandments, He called to Moses to come up and speak with Him in the cloud. How wonderful it must have been! Moses was the only man that ever spoke so near to God. God gave him two blocks of stone written with the Ten Commandments, written with God's own Finger. Then God told him to make a chest to keep them in. It was to be made of wood, with gold all over it; and two figures of cherubims were to be one on each side. This chest was to be called the Ark of the Covenant. And it was to be put into a square room, inside a tent, that was to be made with curtains, and carried about with the Israelites. It was to be called the Tabernacle. And this was to be a very holy place.