Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/18

 most holy, is evident from the following considerations: That the Lord Jehovah himself descended upon Mount Sinai in fire, and with angels, and thence promulgated them with a living voice, and that the mountain was hedged around, lest any should draw near and die: that those commandments were written upon two tables of stone by the finger of God: that when Moses brought down those tables the second time, his face shone: that the tables were afterwards laid up in the ark, and this in the inmost part of the tabernacle, and over it was set the propitiatory, and upon this were placed cherubs of gold; and that this inmost sanctuary of the tabernacle was called the holy of holies.—On account of the holiness of the tabernacle (which holiness was all derived from the law in the ark), all the Israelitish people by command encamped around it in order, according to their tribes, and marched in order after it; and then a cloud was over it by day, and a fire by night. On account of the holiness of that law, and the presence of Jehovah in it, Jehovah spoke with Moses over the propitiatory between the cherubs, and the ark was called Jehovah there. On 'account of the presence of Jehovah in that law and around it, miracles, also, were done by the ark in which the law was; as that the waters of the Jordan were divided; and while it rested in the midst, the people passed over on dry ground; that by its being carried round Jericho, the walls of that city fell down; that Dagon, the god of the Philistines, fell on his face before it; that, on account of its presence, the Bethshemites were smitten, to the number of several thousands; that Uzzah died