Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/138

 

THE HEBREW COMMONWEALTH FOUNDED ON RELIGION.

After we had made the ascent of Mount Sinai, we settled down for a few days to a quiet life in the Convent, dividing our time between excursions without and reading and writing within. One needs a little time to set his thoughts in order after such an experience. The ascent of Mount Sinai is an event in one's life, and the reflections it suggests do not pass away with the place and the hour. Standing on that height, one is at the very beginnings of history: there a religion was promulgated; there a state was born; and there a code of laws was given which has influenced the legislation of all after times. As we linger at the foot of the Mount, our thoughts run on along the line of that history which had its beginning here. Of course one great name fills our minds, as it fills all the spaces of these mountains. Believing that the world owes more to Moses than to any other character that appeared in history before the time of Christ, it seems the part of loyalty to recognize his influence in the work of human progress and civilization, and thus to vindicate his claim to the homage and the gratitude of mankind. To this we are the more inclined, as it is a fashion of the day to sneer at Moses. Those who would destroy the authority of the Bible, make it almost a first point to direct their attacks against one whose name stands in front of the Old Testament, as the name of One greater than Moses stands in front of the New. Even writers upon Law, who concede