Windham County Democrat. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1836-1853, 1837-07-21
MOUNT SINAI.


From "IacidentS Of trdUeI in Egypt, .4rabia, &c. by
an. .4mericdn."
At eight o'clock was brealiasting
the superior was again at my side, offering all
that the convent could give, and urging me to
stay a month, fortnight week, at least, to
spend TINT day with him, and repose myself, after
the fatgues of my journey; but from the door of
The little room in which ] sat | saw the holy
mountain, and | longed to stand on its lofty sum
init. Though feeble aud far from well, felt the
blood of health again coursing in my veins, and
congratulated myself that was not so harkneyed
in feeling ms | had once supposed. | found, and
was happy to find, for the prospective enjoyment
ofmy farther journey, that the first tangible mon
ument in the history of the bible, the first spot
that could be called holy ground, raised in my
feelings that which had not been awakened by
the most classic ground of Italy and Greece, or
the proudest monuments of the arts in Egypt.
Continuing ascent the old monk still lead
ing the way, i'll about quarter of an hour we
came to the table of rock standing boldly out
and running down, almost pcrpendicularly, an
immense distance to the valley was expecting
another monkish legend, and my heart thrilled
when the monk told me that this was the top Of
the hill on which Moses had sat during the battle
of the lsraelites and the Amalskites while Aaron
and lIur supported his upli(ted hands, until the
sun went down upon the victorious arms of his
people From the height l could see clearly and
distinctly every part of the battle ground, and the
whole vale of Rephdim and the mountains be-
yond and Moses, while on this spot, must have
been visible to the contending armies from every
part of the field on which they were engaged.
stand on the very peak of Snai-where Mo-
stood when he talked with the Aln,iUhtv
Can it be, or is it mere dream? Can this naked
rock have been the witness of that great interview
between man and his Maker? where amid thun-
der and lightning, and fearful quaking of the
mountains, the Almighty gave TO his chosen peo-
pie the precious tables of his law, those rules Of
infinite wisdom and goodness which, q .tIi--yf-y
best teach man his duty towards his God, his
ncighbor and himself?
The scenes of many of the instances recorded
in the Bible are extremely uncertain. Historians
and geOgraphers place the garden of Eden the
paradise of our first parents, in different parts OF
Asia and they do not agree upon the site of the
tower of Babel, the mountains of Ararat, and ma
ny of the most interesting places in the Holy
Land but of Sinai there is no doubt. This is
the holy mountain, and among all the stupendous
works of Nature, not place can be selected more
fitted for the exhibition of Almighty power.
have stood upon the summit of the giant Ema
n0id looked over the clouds floating beneath it
upon the bold scenery of Sicily, and the dstan
mountains of Cabria; upon the top Of Vesuvius
and looked down upon the waves of lava and til,
ruined aud half recovered cities at its foot bu
they are nothing compared with the terrific soil
tude and bleak majesty of Sinai An observin!
traveller has well called it ga perfect sea of desc
lation." Not n tree, shrub, or blade Of grass
is to be seen upon the bare and rugged sides o
innumerable mountains, hcavng their naked sum
mits to the skies while the crumbng masses O
granite all around, and the distant view of til
Syrian desert, with its boundless waste of sand
form the widest aud most dreary, the most terri
tc and desolate picture that Imagination can con
ccive.
The level surface of the very top or pinnacle
about sixteen feet square. AT end is u sill
gle rock about twenty feet high, on which,
said the monk, the spirit Of God descended, Will
in the crevce beneath his favored servant receive
the tables of the law. There, on the same spt
where they were given, opened the sacred boo
in which those laws are recorded, and read the
with deeper feeling of DEVOTION as if | wei
standing no"ror and receiving them more direct
frUtn Tho Deity himselc