express their new proposed relation to God――“A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This strong language――“a kingdom of priests”――gives us the thought of a _whole people_――every man in all the nation, personally consecrated to God, as if the nation were made up of priests and of such only. God would have them understand that the holiness he required of them was not the professional service of a chosen few, but the free-will offering of every man’s own heart and life. The whole people――every individual man――was summoned to come into this national covenant. Would they come? Moses called for the elders――who acted as the representatives of the whole people and “laid before their faces all these words from the Lord.” At once all the people answered together and said――“All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.”――――Let us hope that a fair proportion, including at least many of the representative men of the nation, were thoroughly sincere in this profession. It would be grateful to our feelings to believe that they all both understood and meant what they said. But, alas! subsequent developments forbid this belief. It was however the formal consent of the nation. As a whole people they gave their voice to this definite proposal from the Lord their God――that he would be their God and that they would be his people. * * * * * The next thing in order, is the _giving of the law_. A people who propose to be the Lord’s and to obey his voice, should be made acquainted with his will in the form of _law_. They must be informed what he would have them _do_. Rules of heart and life, precepts defining the reverent homage and worship due to God, and the acts required or forbidden as toward their fellow-men should be made unmistakably plain. Preparations are accordingly made for the formal and solemn promulgation of this great moral law. It is noticeable that in these preparations nothing seems to be omitted that might conduce to a deep and solemn impression. The people are specially enjoined to sanctify themselves, and two full days are set apart for this purpose. They were commanded to “wash their clothes”――significant of the personal purity of heart which God required.――――Then the surroundings were of the most imposing and impressive character. The whole people were gathered in an open plain which lay at the foot of Sinai. The most stringent precautions forbade all curious, irreverent approach. Not a man or beast might touch the mountain on pain of death. Definite bounds were set for the people over which no one might pass. There before them full in view stood the awful mount――rugged, grand, cleft with fissures, broken with deep ravines, towering in sublime height and all enwrapped in thick clouds out of which lightnings flashed――the whole mountain rocking under the footsteps of the Almighty and reverberating with his awful thunder, and the voice of trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people in the camp trembled.