* * * * * * * So when the Tabernacle was finished, "then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle." XLVI. Breaking God's Law So God told Moses to lead the Children of Israel to a mountain called Sinai, and there He commanded all the congregation to wait while He gave them His Holy Law. Moses went up to the top of the mountain to meet God, and to hear Him speak, and the people waited in the plains below. But before God began to give His law to the people, He sent Moses down again to them to warn them once more not to come near the mountain; and even Moses, who was God's faithful servant, felt that the sight was very terrible, when he drew near to the thick darkness where God was. God had many things to say to Moses, and many instructions to give him about making the beautiful Tabernacle, where they were to worship Him; so that he was up in the mountains a very long time—forty days and forty nights—and by and by the people began to get tired of waiting. [Illustration: THE GLORY OF GOD.] They began to distrust God, and people soon get disobedient who distrust God! Then they said to Aaron, "Make us gods to carry before us, for as for this Moses, we do not know what has become of him." I think Aaron was very sorry that the people were so foolish and so wicked. But he did as the people asked him. He made them a golden calf for them to worship, and allowed them to play round it. Just as they were shouting and dancing and feasting, Moses began to come down from talking with God. He held in his hand two pieces or slabs of stone on which God Himself had written His Holy Law—those ten Commandments which we often hear read, and which begin with "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, thou shalt have no other gods before ME." Moses was carrying these two slabs of stone, and he and his servant Joshua (who I think had waited somewhere on the mountain while Moses talked with God) came down once more towards the camp. But when they had got within sight of it, they heard the sound of shouting and singing. Then Moses looked down over the edge of the mountain, and he saw the golden calf set up, and the people worshipping it; and he was so grieved and angry that he cast down the two slabs of stone, which had been made by God, and written on by God, right out of his hand down the steep mountain side, and they were broken all to pieces! Then Moses and Joshua hastened down, and Moses stopped the people in their worship of the golden calf. He cast it into the fire and burnt it, and was very angry with Aaron and the people. Then he went to the Lord, and told Him all about it, confessing the great sin of the people, and asking Him to forgive it.