To ensure the victory to the Israelites, Aaron and Hur placed a stone under Moses, and supported his hands till the going down of the sun; by which time the Amalekites were totally routed.

At length, on the first day of the third month, after the institution of the passover, the Israelites encamp at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses is commanded to make the people sanctify and purify themselves for two days, and on the third day to bring them forth from their camp, to witness the glorious descent of Jehovah upon the sacred mount. The mount was, in the mean time, to be fenced round, at the place where the people were to assemble, that they might not draw near or touch it. "There shall not a hand touch it," was the solemn warning, "but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live." The third day at length arrives, and is ushered in by thunders and lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet exceeding loud. Sinai quakes, and is covered with thick smoke. The Lord descends upon it in fire, and calls upon Moses to come up. On his return Moses repeats the charge to the people, on no account to break through the enclosures. A solemn voice is then heard to proclaim, "I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage;" and to rehearse the ten commandments of the moral law. When the voice ceased, the people entreat Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." They accordingly remain afar off, while their leader again ascends into the thick darkness to receive God's further

commandments. He returns with an additional portion of the law, to which the people give their assent, declaring with one voice, "All the words which the Lord hath said, will we do." Next morning Moses erects an altar at the foot of the hill, on which he offers burnt-offerings and peaceofferings unto the Lord. With half of the blood of the sacrifices he sprinkles the altar, and with the other half he sprinkles the people, exclaiming at the same time, "Behold the blood of the covenant." The words of the covenant are also read aloud in the audience of the people, who again solemnly promise obedience; and twelve pillars, corresponding in number to the twelve tribes of Israel, are erected as a memorial of this solemn profession.

After this, Moses again ascends to the top of the mountain, where he remains forty days, receiving the details of that code of laws, which is commonly divided into three parts, the Moral Law, the Ceremonial Law, and the Civil Law. The Moral Law was given to teach, not only the Israelites, but all mankind, the duties which they owe to God and to one another. The Ceremonial Law was instituted for the double purpose of regulating the form of religious worship among the children of Israel, and of prefiguring the Lamb of God, who was to take away the sin of the world by the sacrifice of himself. And the Civil Law was given to regulate the affairs of the Israelites, as a political community. Having been established for a particular object, the Ceremonial Law lost its significance when that object was accomplished by the death of Christ. The Civil Law also ceased to be

binding, when the Jews ceased to be a separate and independent nation. But the Moral Law continues to be of universal and everlasting obligation, because the duties which the creatures of God owe to him and to one another, can never have an end. This seems to have been indicated by their being written by the finger of God himself on the two tables of stone, whereas the Civil and Ceremonial laws were only communicated to Moses, to be delivered by him to the children of Israel. Besides, the brevity, simplicity, and comprehensiveness, of the commands of the Moral Law, fit them, in a peculiar manner, for being a code which all men are bound to obey. On account of their shortness, they are easily remembered; on account of their simplicity, even a child can understand them; and they are so comprehensive as to include every duty which every human being owes, in every condition and relation of life. The grounds on which men are called upon to obey them, are not less simple and intelligible. “I am the Lord thy God," said the solemn voice heard by the Israelites, thereby enforcing the duty of obedience to God as our Creator, "who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage,” thereby enforcing the same duty of obedience to Him as our Redeemer. Equally explicit, and equally applicable to every intelligent creature, is the sanction which he added to the Moral Law: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."

LESSON XXXII.

A HEBREW MELODY.

Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea;
Jehovah hath triumph'd—his people are free.
Sing for the pride of the tyrant is broken,

His chariots and horsemen, all splendid and brave,

How vain was their boasting!-The Lord hath but spoken,

And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the

wave.

Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!
Jehovah has triumph'd-his people are free.

Praise to the conqueror, praise to the Lord,
His word was our arrow, his breath was our sword!
Who shall return to tell Egypt the story

Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride? For the Lord hath look'd out from his pillar of glory,

And all her brave thousands are dash'd in the
tide.

Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!
Jehovah has triumph'd-his people are free.

LESSON XXXIII.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE,

Eu-ro-pe-an ex-haust-ed

-im-pos-si-ble

In reading lessons from Scripture, you may some

times have found things which you could not under

stand, for want of knowing something concerning the habits and customs of the people and countries about which you were reading. A few of these I will try to explain: In the first place, you must always bear in mind, that the Israelites and Egyptians, and other nations mentioned in Scripture, lived in a much warmer climate than we do; now, that circumstance alone would make a great difference in their way of living.

The houses in Judea were built with flat roofs, upon which the people used to sit or walk, as we should in a room; they had stairs or fixed ladders outside, for going up and down, and within-side of the house they had often what we call a trap-door, which opened in the roof itself. In the time of our Lord, when the friends of the poor man who was sick of the palsy, found that the house in which Jesus was teaching was so crowded that they could not get in at the door, they uncovered the roof, we are told, and let the sick man down in his bed. Now, with a roof like ours, this would be impossible; but with such a roof as I have been describing, they might either let him down. by means of a trap-door, or if the house were of wood, they might lift up some of the beams which formed the roof.

Houses, in that part of the world, are built very much in the same manner now that they were hundreds of years ago; they are sometimes made of stone or brick, but often of wood, and among the poorer people, of mud, dried in the sun. Inside the houses, instead of having chairs, a part of the floor is raised like a step, and covered with a mat or carpet, upon which they sit. They