The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1843-09-13
LETTER PROM PRESIDENT DURBIN TO
BISHOP WAUGH

LETTER FROM PRESIDENT DukBlN 10
BISHOP WAUGH
We find tho following interesting letter from Mr..
Durbm IA the New York Christian Advocate
summit Q(.iIonRi Sind, O'Clock,
Sabbaih afternoon, FEB. >, lo43.
My Dean BlsnoP WAuGH-Ilow shall put on pa
per what | feel this moment, sit apart from my
companions on the very summit OF Mount SINAI, WIN
the expanded plains before IN which Israel eDcanp-
ed at The giving Of the law IL is impossible To doubt
feel the truth and by faith see the lightnngs, hear
the thunders, and the trumpet waxing louder and
louder and feel this vast world Of dark dreary desc
laton, within which foreb is nclosed as a sanctuary,
quake under the tread of the Almighty.
II had been an inhdel, had come hlthfr, as have,
from Cairo (near the ancient Memphis by the W ads
ell Teh or Valley Of the Nanderings,' which CON
meets with the Red Sea, about fifteen miles south OF
Sue1, through Wady Tamarik, by Of the most
fearful and peculiar mountain passes 10 be found on
earth and had there seen the physical truth of the
Scriptures, where the people were entangcd IN the
land :" and the wilderness of the Red Sea had shut
them M the only place between the Nile and the sea
of which the Scripture history can be affirmed then,
If had stood on the opposite shore, and looked down
upon the waters in which Pharaohs host had sunk as
lead aud there read the trumpha song of Moses (Ex-
odus, chap. XVI | should have felt that now here
else, under and other circumstances, could that
Incompatible composition, have been produced then
If followed them " three days ia the wilderness OF
Slur,n 10 the present bitter fountain Of Ilamarah,
Che Scripture Naah,) and next day 10 the Wadys
Garundel aud Dsait, where yet are water and many
palm trees amidst the surrounding desolation, should
have said iiere Is ELM" with ITS 'twelye wells Of
water and threescore and ten palm trees" EXODUS
Ny) and from thence following their track through
W ady Fieran, | had suddenly issued through the
Pass Nukb llawy out into the plain Of Rehah, which
now lies before at the base Of the perpendicular
walls Of Iloreb, rising like terrible tattlement
twelve hundred or fifteen hundred feet high with the
valley Of Wady Sheik TO the right aud the WIDE
mouth OF NadN lt the left all in full q
the gloomy, stern desoate, thur splintered pin.
nacles,' where now sit would have bowed TO
the authority of the holy history OF Moses simply
| upon the grounds of It's geographical accuracy
which no writer, ancient modern, has equalled
though he wrote three thousand five hundred years
ago, and IN the midst Of an cncampment Of two mil
lions Of people, who depended upon him for guidance
and salvation. Yet this accuracy not the result Of
reriSon through successive ages, for Jew has
made pilgrimage to Horeb (Which is itself mira.
cie) except the prophet Elijah, who fled from Jez-
ebel, and whose pretended resting place IN the rock
was shown us to-day.
| But the shades OF evening drawing on, and the
dark shadows OF the lofty mountains already pro-
jected far into the sandy plain. o If yon glorious
sun, fast descending westward behind the distant
gloomy mountains, aud just now with hs ori al beams
tntlng the dawn in your heavens, under which dwell
all that | hold most dear earth if his mill beams
which now fall almost level on me, could out convey
TO you what feel this moment, it would be an epstle
indeed But must hasten down from The Mount Of
God and rest me in the monastery, built as tradition
says, where Moses beheld The burning bush. There
hope to finish this letter, and say how have spent
the day of the Lord in his holy mountain in cleft OF
which was fortunate 10 find young, vigorous
shrub, planted by the hand OF the mighty IN his
holy h which have cut, and purpose If God spare
us TO meet again. and spend an hour Of leisure toge
Their, TO present TO YOU and 10 explain at length why
have adopted the new route the southern for Israel
from Egypt TO the Red Sea- route which no one
| believe, has passed heretofore who has written
pressy the subject, but witch has often been sug
gested by eminent Travellers who have felt pressed
with The difficulties Of the northern route by Suez
! mong whom are Buckharlt and I.lborde
! wish could SIT here IN this deep solitude for
hour longer, bu, my companions aud one guide
gone, and the other young active Arab, is crouchcd
at my feet IN aslonshmcnt at my writing and aPpa-
rent earnestness; and seems To say, he casts
glance at the setting sun, The trdu dorm is i0ng and
dangerous So must say, FGreiceH 10 thee Sinai
have stood upon the Alps, in the middle Of July,
and looked around upon the snowy empire have
stood upon the Apprentices ard 10 ked abroad upon
the plains of beautiful, eyentfu tay-I have stood
/ upon the Albanian mount, and beheld the scene
/ of :he Enfiad from the Crcean promontory, over
| the Campasna, TO the eternal city and the noun
i tain, Of TWOl-l have sat down upon the pyramids
/ of Egg pit, and cast my eyes the sacred city
\ Of lehopos, the land of Goshen, the fields OF
/ Jewish bondage, and the ancient Memphis where
Moses and Aaron, on the part Of God and his peo-
pie, cOntended with Pharoah and his servants the
death of whose " first born Of man and beast IN one
night filled the land 18th wailng but have never
set my foot any spot from whence was visible
much stern, gloomy grandeur, heightened b, the ST.
lence aud solitude that reigns around but infinitely
more heightened by the awful and sacred a>socla-
tons of the first great revolution m form from G cd
10 feel oppressed with the spirit that breathos
around me, and seems 10 inhabt this holy place.
shall never SIT down upon the summit of Sinai again,
aud look upon the silent and empty plains at It's feet
but shall 20 down a better man. and aim so to live
as to escape the terrible thunders at the last day,
which once reverbcraed through these mountains,
but have long given way TO the Gospel of peace
can scarcely tear myself away from the haowed
summit and | wish loo could lnger here forty days
in converse with the Lord
Monastery Of ST. CailGrine
promised TO finish this letter here, and minated
that would say how had spent the morning. But
| must forego this pleasure t | see you, as | have
already filled my sheet | may add however, that