Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/129

 Arabs, and here looked down on a spot which had witnessed the most august event in human history, except that which took place on Calvary. I now sent the guides away to a little distance, though not beyond call, for there are moments when one must be alone to get the full force of sacred associations, and here where Moses talked with God, one feels that he is face to face with his Maker. When left quite alone in the awful solitude of the mountain, one feels that he is on holy ground. I did not, after the Oriental custom, take off my shoes from my feet, but after the Western sign of reverence, uncovered my head, as when one enters a cathedral where he must speak in a whispered voice, and move about with noiseless steps.

Coming to such a height of vision, one feels as if he had come to a point in his own life, and a personal feeling mingles with that inspired by the scene, so that one flows into the other. As I looked down from the top of Sinai, I saw not only the deep passes winding away into the mountains, I saw the winding course of a lifetime that had at last brought me to this spot; and how could one who felt that he was but a pilgrim, tarrying not even for a night, but only for an hour, help breathing a prayer to Him who of old led His people across these deserts and through these mountains, that He would guide his wandering steps aright! And then somehow there came into my heart and to my lips the words of the Twenty-third Psalm, and standing there alone with uncovered head, I found myself repeating the blessed assurance, in the strength of which I shall go all my days: "The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He maketh me to he down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."