were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people trembled."

Then Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And the people stood at the foot of the mount; and the Lord came down upon the mountain in fire, and the whole mountain shook.

"And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and grew louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." And the people heard the voice of God.

And God said, "I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." And then He spake to them the ten commandments.

"And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die."

Then Moses said, that God had made them

to hear His voice, that they might fear the Lord their God, and keep from sin.

Exodus xix. xx. & Deut. iv.

Chapter LEEE.

GOD'S COVENANT WITH HIS PEOPLE.

AND Moses went up a second time to mount Sinai to speak with God. The people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. Then God told Moses many other things, which the children of Israel were to observe and do; and He again commanded that they should keep the feast of the Passover every year, that they might remember the great things He had done for them, and how He had brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.

Then God gave a promise to His people, and made a covenant with them. God said, that if they would obey Him, He would give them many blessings; that He would be with them, and bring them to the land of Canaan, and give them that land, and drive out from before them the nations that lived in it.

The nations who now dwelt in the land of Canaan served false gods, and were very wicked: their wickedness was so great, that God willed that they should be driven out and destroyed.

Then Moses came down from the mountain; and he told the people all the words of the Lord, and the covenant that God had said He would make with them. And the people said again, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do, and be obedient."

And Moses wrote all the words of the covenant which God had made with His people in a book. The covenant was this. The people were to hearken to the voice of the Lord their God, and keep His commandments, and do that which was right in His sight. If they would do this, God said that He would greatly bless them, and would send His angel before them to keep them in the way, and would surely bring them to the good land which He had promised to them.

So Moses wrote in the book all that God had commanded His people to do, and all that God had promised to do for them, if they would obey Him. And Moses built an altar, and offered

burnt-offerings, and he sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. Then he took the book of the covenant which God had made with them, and read it to the people. And he took the blood of the oxen, and sprinkled it on the book, and on the people, and said, " Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you."

Exodus xx. to xxiv. & Hebrews ix. 19-22.

A covenant is an agreement, or promise.

Chapter LEV.

GOD'S PEOPLE TAUGHT TO MAKE A TABERNACLE, OR HOUSE OF GOD.

AFTER the covenant had been made between God and His people, and had been sealed with blood, the Lord spake again unto Moses, and commanded him to come up to Him in the mount. And He said that He would give him a law and commandments, that he might teach them to His people.

Then Moses went up into the mount to speak with God: and he took Joshua with him.

And the glory of the Lord was upon mount Sinai, and a cloud covered it six days. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like fire in the eyes of the children of Israel.

Moses and Joshua waited on the mount six days; and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Then Moses went up into the midst of the cloud; and God spake with Moses.

God said, that he should command the children of Israel to make for Him a sanctuary, or holy house. For God had said, that He would dwell among the children of Israel, and that they should be His people.

This holy house or tabernacle was to be a sign of the presence of the Lord among the children of Israel; and there they were to come to worship Him. And the Lord caused Moses to see a pattern of this house or tabernacle, and of all the things that were to belong to it, that he might know the way in which they were to be made.

The tabernacle was to be made of wood, but the wood was to be covered with gold: and cur

d.