with frequent headaches, also with fever, asthma, and gravel. Yet amid all these he pushed on, studying and writing with a dim lamp suspended over his bed. Another notable instance occurs in modern times. The celebrated Dr. George Wilson, Professor of Technology in the University of Edinburgh, was a poor weakly creature physically. Admirably he did his work, though in a condition of almost ceaseless bodily weakness and suffering. He often lectured with a large blister on his chest. His lungs and his entire system were the very poorest that could just retain his soul. Says the author of the "Recreations of a Country Clergyman," in an admirable paper, entitled, "Screws, or the difficulties amid which men do work," "I know hardly any person who ever published anything; but I have sometimes thought, that I should like to see assembled in one chamber on the first of any month, all the men and women, who wrote all the articles in all the magazines for that month. Some of them, doubtless, would be very like other people; but many would certainly be very odd-looking and odd-tempered samples of human kind.”

If space permitted, it would be interesting to run through the long list of noble men who have been blind. Homer and Milton are at once suggested. Of this class was the biblical scholar Kitto. We say the list is a long one, for we find the blind in every age. More eminent men have been defective in the eyes, than in any other of the senses. Eusebius became blind at the age of five years. So did Didymus of Alexandria. Nicaise of Malignes, in the fifteenth century, made great advances in science, and taught publicly at the University of Cologne, both civil and canon law. M. Huber of Geneva, author of the best treatise extant on bees and ants, was blind from earliest infancy. In executing his great work, he had no other help than his domestic, who mentioned to him the colour of the insects, and then he ascertained the form and size by touch. In reading his descriptions we can scarcely persuade ourselves that they are not the productions of a man blessed with remarkable eyesight.-Princetown Review.

ART. V. SINAI AND ITS ASSOCIATIONS.

MOUN

AN ADDRESS.

OUNTAINS occupy a prominent place in physical geography. They are standing monuments of terrestrial revolutions. They constitute the boundaries of climate. By them waters are divided, and upon their slopes flourish different species of vegetative life. Mountains likewise claim a distinguished place in sacred topography. Notices of them are interwoven largely with the biography and history of the Bible. Such is the case with Sinai.

In another

One writer says that Sinai means "cleft or broken.”* author it is said to mean "hatred." The mountain range in which Sinai is included, is situate at the head of the Red Sea, between the gulf of Suez and the gulf of Akabar. To fix the exact spot which formed the theatre of the sublimest manifestations of Deity, is almost impossible. The testimony of the rocks affords but presumptive proof. Demonstration is beyond our reach. Mount Moses and Mount Catharine are rivals. Each claims to be the original Sinai. From one base those sister peaks raise their everlasting butments, and stand forth the most conspicuous of the Sinaitic group. Amid those beetling cliffs and rocky passes the most solemn and significant occurrences transpired.

1. THE CALL OF MOSES.

The sacred narrative reads, "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb." Horeb here undoubtedly applies to the whole mountainous district, whilst the "mountain of God" refers to some particular eminence in that locality. We instinctively turn to Sinai. It claims precedence. Its elevation entitles it to such a

Its sublime associations assert for itself the distinguished appellation," the mountain of God." Its frowning and majestic heights fit it to be the platform of the Divine operations, whilst its surroundings favour an observation imposing and magnificent. As Moses attends his pastoral duties, a strange prodigy attracts his gaze. His attention is arrested. He stands wrapt in silence, and awed by fear. From that mount ascends a flame. In the midst of pasturage lands an unwonted fire appears. "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." Such an appearance is contrary to all known law. A bush is on fire. The foliage continues beautiful. The fruit it may be remains unharmed. The fire rages fierce and strong, but no charred embers bestrew the ground; no blackened ashes drift in the atmosphere. Moses resolves, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." He ventures to the sacred spot. He draws nigh unto God. From that circumambient flame proceeds a voice, "Moses, Moses." He prepares himself to talk with God. His shoes are cast aside. With downcast eye and tremulous step he enters the mystic circle; and from that burning bush he receives his call, "Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh." To Moses that phenomenon is pregnant with importance. It deepens his reverence. It kindles his patriotism. It awakens his hope. Like the star that appeared to the eastern Magi, it was the attestation of God's promise-the • See Bastow's Bible Dictionary. † Jahn's Hebrew Commonwealth.

harbinger of liberty. In that mean and lowly shrub Moses discovers the oppressed condition of his people. In those lurid flames he perceives the emblem of their persecution. Its bending luxuriance typifies the indestructibility of God's church. And the angel of the Lord in the midst indicates the source of life, of comfort, and support. Upon those craggy heights Moses is installed in office. Amid solemn and impressive scenes he is invested with a divine commission. Henceforth he appears as the Hebrew legislator: he stands forth as the legate of the skies. His credentials are divine. His embassage is to Pharaoh. Sinai witnesses his consecration. The shepherd is exalted to a plenipotentiary. The rural staff is transformed into an instrument of life and death. He bears Jehovah's mandate to the Egyptian court, " And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born." To his own people the averment shall be the warrant of his authority, "I AM hath sent me unto you."

2. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HEBREW THEOCRACY.

The patriarchal form of government was the simplest and most natural expression of social order. Although aristocracies and democracies existed in the postdiluvian age, the patriarchs owed allegiance to no sovereign. Religious and political power was vested in the paternal heads, and their jurisdiction was absolute. When the sons of Jacob migrated to Mizraim they were one family, and subordinate to one power. As Israel increased so as to form distinct tribes, each tribe acknowledged a prince or ruler. These heads of families were the recognised representatives of the people. Under this primitive form of government the Jews continued during their nomadic life. But the day of redemption drew near. With a high hand and an outstretched arm Jehovah delivers them from bondage to instate them in a "land flowing with milk and honey." In these altered circumstances the constitution of Hebrew society needs modifying. Its loose and disordered elements require organizing. The tribes require political unity and national identity. In that promise they realise it, "I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God." In the Hebrew theocracy divine worship was the fundamental principle. This was its distinctive feature, its peculiar law. Political obligation was interwoven with religious duty. God and king were synonyms. Both creature and subject applied to Israel alike. Worship and allegiance were equally demanded. To forsake God was a defection from their rightful sovereign. To practise idolatry was to commit high treason, and to entail capital punishment. Never could the nation absolve themselves from their oath of fealty to Heaven. During the judgeship they were still a theocracy. The monarchical form of government introduced by Saul could not disannul the divine right.

Though the people were permitted to select their sovereign, the appointment and ratification rested with Jehovah. He was not to rule as an arbitrary despot, but in subordination to the Almighty. He was not to be an absolute monarch, but Jehovah's vassal. By him he reigned; to him he offered tithes. In Zion he had to appear to "give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name." The high priest was to be the chief officer of state. Jerusalem was to be the royal residence. The Urim and Thummim constituted the holy oracle. The Most Holy place formed the pavilion of the "King of kings," and the mercy-seat was constituted his regal throne. Such a form of government was promised to the Abrahamic race, which should distinguish them as a "peculiar people." Having "discomfited Amalek," the chosen seed"encamp before the mount." Sinai's granite peaks glitter in the morning light. "Thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud," summon the people from the camp. The awe-struck throngs are big with expectation. Their Sovereign descends in a chariot of fire; the thunders herald his approach; the lightnings gleam around those awful cliffs, and illumine the tents of Israel. The "man of God" climbs those bleak and blackened turrets. To Moses, his internuncio, the Lord delivers their Magna Charta. "And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." 3. THE PROMULGATION OF THE MORAL LAW.

In Adam this primal law had scope and illustration. The law was written in his heart. His bliss consisted in following the dicta of an enlightened conscience, regulated and governed by the law of love. Man, however, fell from his "first estate." The harmony of his spiritual being was disturbed. The equilibrium of his moral nature was lost. The voice of the law was drowned by the clamours of passion. The sceptre of authority grew feeble; "it was weak through the flesh." In the unfoldment of God's redeeming purposes there was an attendant danger. As the mediatory scheme developed itself with greater distinctness, the law was liable to be ignored. In proportion as the parental aspect of the Divine character appeared, the rectoral aspect receded from view. As mercy embodied itself in the Angel-Jehovah, and revealed its provisions in prophecy and in promise, justice was in danger of falling into contempt. The Adamic law had grown too feeble to stem the torrent of ungodliness. The clear and forcible intimations of divine rectitude which had been given to the world failed to check unbridled lust. The expulsion from the garden, the deluge, the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues of Egypt, were signal instances of divine wrath. But they were calculated to overawe rather than subdue, to kindle horror rather than awaken love, to produce incorrigibleness and despair rather than elicit obedience and

trust. Man needed a revelation to harmonize these administrative principles. Mercy and justice must be made to coalesce in the evolutions of providence. The world required a fuller manifestation of God, a clearer exposition of his government, a more perfect enunciation of relative duties. Man had multiplied from an individual to a family, from a family to a society, from a society to a nation. New ties are created; fresh associations are formed. Social and political bonds are now established. These relationships are to be dogmatically stated, and clearly defined. A basis must be laid, whose principles shall constitute the foundation of all order, and the law of all mind. The grandeur of the ceremony comports with the event. The assembled hosts, "the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking," befit the august occasion. A voice is heard out of the "thick darkness where God was," saying unto Moses, "Come up to me into the mount, and be there and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law and commandments which I have written." In obedience to the summons the man of God ascends the consecrated heights. His majestic form grows dim. Gradually he recedes from view, until he is totally lost amid the outspread folds of the glory cloud. For "forty days and forty nights" he tabernacles with Jehovah. "Two tables of testimony" are prepared. On those rocky slabs Deity manipulates, and the Decalogue is written in divine chirography.

4. THE GIVING OF THE JEWISH RITUAL.

From our present stand-point we regard the "first testament" as a costly and an eclectic system of religion. The law was only the "shadow of good things to come." It was limited, and not universal; material, and not spiritual; militant, and not triumphant. In relation to the "better covenant," it was as the seed is to the fruit; as the foundation is to the edifice; as the boy is to the full grown man. Till the exode of Israel the world was destitute of a distinct and an embodied form of true religion. The outlines of patriarchal theology were too narrow and indistinct. An ethical code had just been propounded, but its spirituality placed it above human reach. A part from the elevating processes of redemption, its principles could never be practised by Adam's fallen race. yearnings of man's heart demanded a doctrinal formula which should appeal to both sense and spirit. Humanity has just cast off its swathing bands. Before the wondrous exhibitions of Sinai it has arrived at the conditions of a higher life. It becomes susceptible of nobler aspirations after the Infinite. It pants for closer fellowship with the Invisible. The light of revealed truth must be adapted to man's intellectual wakenings. The childhood of the world must be reached by the concrete. It must be educated in the divine life by the "things which are seen." The rudiments

The