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families of Israel stood at the doors of their tents, and the line was drawn round the mountain, which no one might break through on pain of death.

But it is not thus: save the valley by which we approached Sinai, about half a mile wide, and a few miles in length, and a small plain we afterwards passed through, with a rocky hill in the middle, there appear to be few open places around the mount. We did not, however, examine it on all sides. On putting the question to the superior of the convent, where he imagined the Israelites stood; "Every where," he replied, waving his hands about "in the ravines, the valleys, as well as the plains."

Having spent an hour here, we descended to the place of verdure, and, after resting awhile, took our road, with one of the guides, towards the mountain of St. Catharine. The rapture of Mr. Wolf's feelings on the top of Sinai was indescribable; I expected to see him take flight for a better region. Being the son of a rabbi at Munich, the conviction of being on the scene where God visited his people, and conferred such glory on them, was almost too much for him.

After ascending again, in another direction, we came to a long and steep descent, that commanded a very noble scene, and reached, at last, a little valley at the bottom, that was to be our resting-place for the night. The mountains rose around this valley in vast precipices: a line of beautiful verdure ran along its whole extent, in the midst of which stood a deserted mon'astery. The fathers had long been driven from it by the Arabs, but its various apartments were still entire, and afforded an excellent asylum for a traveller.

This deep solitude had an exceeding and awful beauty: the palms, the loftiest I ever saw, rose moveless, and the garden and grove were desolate and neglected; the fountain in the latter was now useless, and the channel of the rivulet that ran through the valley was quite dry; the walls were in ruins, and the olive, the poplar, and other trees, grew in wild luxuriance.

Within, some old books of devotion were yet left behind. Having chosen an apartment in the upper story, which opened into the corridor, and had been one of the cells of the exiled fathers, we took possession of it at night, kindled a fire on a large stone in a corner, and made a good supper of the rude provisions we had. There needed no spirit of romance in order to enjoy the situation exquisitely: few ideal

pictures ever equalled the strangeness and savageness of this forsaken sanctuary in the retreats of Sinai.

LESSON XCIX.

The Summit of Mount Sinai.-MONTGOMERY.

I SEEK the mountain cleft: alone
I seem in this sequestered place :—
Not so I meet, unseen, yet known,
My Maker, face to face.

My heart perceives his presence nigh,
And hears his voice proclaim,
While bright his glory passes by,
His noblest name.

LOVE is that name-for "God is Love."
Here, where, unbuilt by mortal hands-
Mountains below, and heaven above-
His awful temple stands,

I worship.-Lord, though I am dust
And ashes in thy sight,

Be thou my strength;-in thee I trust ;-
Be thou my light.

Hither, of old, the Almighty came :

Clouds were his car, his steeds the wind:

Before him went devouring flame,

And thunder rolled behind.

At his approach the mountains reeled,
Like vessels, to and fro;
Earth, heaving like a sea, revealed
The gulfs below.

Borne through the wilderness in wrath,
He seemed, in power alone, a God:
But blessings followed in his path,
For Mercy seized his rod.

He smote the rock, and, as he passed,
Forth gushed a living stream;

The fire, the earthquake, and the blast,
Fled as a dream.

LESSON C.

Religious Education indispensable to individual Happiness, and to national Prosperity.—Greenwood.

RELIGION IS the only sure foundation of virtue; and what is any human being, young or old, rich or poor, without virtue? He cannot be trusted, he cannot be respected, confided in, or loved. Religion is the only sure index of duty; and how can any one pursue an even, or a reputable course, without rules and without principles? Religion is the only guide to true happiness; and who is there so hardy as to assume the tremendous responsibility of withholding those instructions and consolations, which dispel doubt, soothe affliction, make the bed of sickness, spread the dying pillow, and open the gates of an effulgent futurity?

Let, then, religion be the primary object in the education of the young. Let it mingle, naturally, easily, and gracefully, in all their pursuits and acquirements. Let it be rendered intelligible, attractive, and practical. Let it win their affections, command their reverence, and ensure their obedience. Children, of any class whatever, may be taught in a great compass and liberality of knowledge, not only without apprehension, but with assiduity and encouragement; but let them above all things, be "taught of the Lord."

And what follows? When all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, what is the promise, the reward, and the consummation? "Great shall be the peace of thy children." All the blessings, signified by that word peace, shall be the lot of those who are thus wisely instructed, and shall descend on the community, in proportion as it has exerted itself to diffuse light and religion throughout its whole mass.

Knowledge of itself is power; and when the knowledge of the Lord is united with it, it is happiness and real prosperity. Order reigns-the best order-that which is produced, not so much by the coercive operations of authority and law, as by the independent righteousness of each individual, who bears about with him his own law: freedom finds its congenial habitation and home; for general intelligence inspires mutual respect, and self-respect; and, "where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.'

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Benevolence is ever active and zealous; for knowledge is the enemy of selfishness. Religion warms and expands the

heart, and the disciple of Christ is assured, that the best service of God is the service of mankind. In short, there can· not be other than a sense of security, and a composed countenance of peace, felt and experienced throughout society, when those principles of religious knowledge are generally and practically received, which hold up plainly before the face of every man, his duty to his Maker, to his neighbour, and to his own self.

Then there is that separate, individual peace, which takes up its dwelling in the hearts of all those who have been taught of the Lord; a peace, holy, heavenly, profound, which the world cannot give, because it is above the world, and independent of it; the peace of a quiet conscience, of a regulated mind, of innocent hopes, of calm desires, of the love which embraces humanity, and the trust which reposes on Heaven; a gentle river, running through the life, imparting beauty, pouring out refreshment, and lending its grateful moisture to the most hidden and attenuated roots and threads of sentiment and feeling, clothing the sands with verdure, and sprinkling the lonely places with sweet flowers. Add this peace of each single bosom to that general peace which pervades the community, and how truly may it be called great!

I deny not that a nation may become powerful, victorious, renowned, wealthy, and full of great men, even though it should neglect the education of the humbler classes of its population; but I do deny, that it can ever become a happy or a truly prosperous nation, till all its children are taught of the Lord.

To say nothing of the despotisms of the east, look at the kingdoms of Europe, with their battles, and their alliances, and their pompous and gaudy ceremonies, and their imposing clusters of high titles and celebrated names; and, after this showy phantasmagoria has passed away, mark the condition of the majority, observe their superstition, their slavishness, their sensual enjoyments, their limited range of thought, their almost brutalized existence; mark this, and say whether a heavenly peace is among them. Alas! they know not the things which belong to their peace, nor are their rulers desirous that they should know, but rather prefer that they should live on in submissive ignorance, that they may be at all times ready to swell the trains of their masters' pride, and be sacrificed by hecatombs to their masters' ambition.

Far different were the views of those gifted patriarchs who founded a new empire here. They were determined that all their children should be taught of the Lord; and, side by side with the humble dwellings, which sheltered their heads from the storms of a strange world, arose the school-house and the house of God. And, ever after, the result has been peace,-great, unexampled peace; peace to the few, who gradually encroached on the primeval forests of the land, and peace to the millions, who have now spread themselves abroad in it from border to border. In the strength and calm resolution of that peace they stood up once, and shook themselves free from the rusted fetters of the old world; and in the beauty and dignity of that peace they stand up now, self-governed, orderly, and independent, -a wonder to the nations.

If a stranger should inquire of me the principal cause and source of this greatness of my country, would I hid him look on the ocean widely loaded with our merchandise, and proudly ranged by our navy? or on the land where it is girdled by roads, and scored by canals, and burthened with the produce of our industry and ingenuity ?-would I bid him look on these things as the springs of our prosperity?

Indeed, I would not. Nor would I show him our colleges and literary institutions; for he can see nobler ones elsewhere. I would pass all these by, and would lead him out by some winding highway among the hills and woods, and, when the cultivated spots grew small and infrequent, and the houses became few and scattered, and a state of primitive nature seemed to be immediately before us, I would stop in some sequestered spot, and, directed by a steady hum, like that of bees, I would point out to him a lowly building, hardly better than a shed, but full of blooming happy children, collected together from the remote and unseen farm-houses, conning over their various tasks, or reading with a voice of reverential monotony, a portion of the Word of God; and I would bid him note, that, even here, in the midst of poverty and sterility, was a specimen of the thousand nurseries, in which all our children are taught of the Lord, and formed, some to legislate for the land, and all to understand its constitution and laws, to maintain their unspotted birthright, and contribute to the great aggregate of the intelligence, the morality, the power and peace of this nighty commonwealth.

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