unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now
therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me from among all peoples: for all
the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an
holy nation.' The people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord
hath spoken we will do.' And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Lo, I come unto
thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee,
and may also believe thee for ever.'" "On the third day, when it was
morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the
mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud; and all the people
that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people
out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the
mountain. And Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord
descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke
of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of
the trumpet waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him
by a voice."*

* _Exod._ xix. 3-6, 9, 16-19.

Then followed the giving of the supreme law, the conditions of the
covenant which the Lord Himself deigned to promulgate directly to His
people. It was engraved on two tables of stone, and contained, in ten
concise statements, the commandments which the Creator of the Universe
imposed upon the people of His choice.

"I. I am Jahveh, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt
have none other gods before Me.

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, etc.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of Jahveh thy God in vain.

IV. Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.

V. Honour thy father and thy mother.

VI. Thou shalt do no murder.

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

X. Thou shalt not covet."*

* We have two forms of the Decalogue--one in _Exod._ xx. 2-
17, and the other in _Deut._ v. 6-18.

"And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the
voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw
it, they trembled, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, 'Speak
thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest
we die.'"* God gave His commandments to