nature was in uproar, and the world's end seemed to be at hand. With trembling and shaking, the old and the young beheld this terrifying spectacle. But its terror did not surpass the awfulness of the words heard by the affrighted people. The clouds of smoke, the lightning, the flames and the peals of thunder had only served as a prelude to these portentous words. Mightily impressed by the sight of the flaming mountain, the people clearly heard the commandments which, simple in their import, and intelligible to every human being, form the elements of all culture. Ten words rang forth from the mountain top. The people became firmly convinced that the words were revealed by God. Theft and bearing false witness were stigmatised as crimes. The voice of Sinai condemned evil thoughts no less than evil acts; hence the prohibition, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife ... nor any possession of thy neighbour." The Indians, the Egyptians, and other nations famous for their colossal structures, had, during more than two thousand years, gone through many historical experiences, which shrink into utter insignificance, when compared with this one momentous event. The work accomplished at Sinai by an instantaneous act remained applicable to all times by asserting the supremacy of ethical life and the dignity of man. This promulgation of the Law marked the natal hour of the "distinct people," like unto which none had ever existed. The sublime and eternal laws of Sinai--coming from a Deity whom the senses cannot perceive, from a Redeemer who releases the enthralled and the oppressed--were revealed truths treating of filial duty, of spotless chastity, of the inviolable safety of human life and property, of social integrity, and of the purity of sentiment. The Israelites had been led to Mount Sinai as trembling bondmen; now they came back to their tents as God's people of priests, as a righteous nation (_Jeshurun_). By practically showing that the Ten Commandments are applicable to all the concerns of life, the Israelites were constituted the teachers of the human race, and through them all the families of the earth were to be blessed. None of the others could then have surmised that even for its own well-being an isolated and insignificantly small nation had been charged with the arduous task of the preceptive office.