334 ASCENT OF SINAI. out apprehension that, to reach Sinai, I had yet to climb steep rocks, without the slightest trace of a road. However, I mustered courage, and determined to conquer all obstacles, even though I were obliged to climb by the aid of my hands. On the 1st of March, at daybreak, I set out for the holy mountain, accompanied by a monk, an Arab, and my janissary. The ascent commences about four hundred paces from the monastery. It is extremely rough, steep, and the more fatiguing, inasmuch as it is composed, in a manner, of nothing but slabs of foliated porphyry and sharp fragments of rocks. We had, moreover, to encounter heaps of ice; and the snow, in some places, was so deep that it was a real labour for us to clear a passage through it. After ascending for an hour, I could go no farther. Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, and a very cold wind which was blowing, I was bathed in perspiration, so that I was glad to have recourse to the snow to cool and refresh me. Never do I recollect to have felt such lassitude. However, the recollections, the thoughts, of my faith came to my succour; they prevented me from yielding to the feeling of my weakness, and my efforts increased in proportion to the obstacles. All around us looked dull and dreary; all was solitude and silence; not a trace of verdure upon the blocks of granite that rose above the ice and snow by which we were surrounded. Midway we came to a chapel dedicated to the prophet Elijah, and in which is the cave where he lodged, after journeying forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. ELIJAH'S CHAPEL. 335 "And he came thither," says the Scripture, "unto a cave, and lodged there; and behold the word of the Lord came unto him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? "And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. "And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. "And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. "And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering of the cave; and behold there came a voice unto him and said, What doest thou here, Elijah ? "And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away." (I Kings, xix.) I know not, my dear friend, whether it has ever been the lot of any of those scholars and men of science, who have the misfortune to neglect, to despise, the important science of salvation, and to prefer to it the vain knowledge upon which pride feasts itself, that knowledge which can 336 IMPRESSIVE SCENE. be of service for a few moments only in the rapid course of life I know not, I say, if it has ever been their lot to climb Mount Horeb, to visit the cave of Elijah, with Bible in hand, to read there the words which I have just placed before you, and to confront them with the present state of the surrounding scene, with the rent mountains, with the rocks cloven, broken in pieces, thrown down; but if such has been their lot, if indifference or incredulity has left ever so little honesty and sincerity at the bottom of their soul, I doubt if, after reading this pasage - if, after such confrontation, they can help paying homage to the truth, by exclaiming : : Yes, the Lord hath passed by ; And a great and strong wind hath rent the mountains, and broken in pieces the rocks before the Lord; And after the wind an earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire. The astonishment, the awe, which seized me at so grand a sight, was succeeded by an agreeable surprise. Before the chapel of the prophet, amidst bare and sterile rocks, we saw a magnificent cypress majestically lifting its head to the height of forty feet at least. As I was very weary, I rested myself for a moment at its foot. From the cave of Elijah we continued our arduous ascent over the snow, against a north wind, which blew with violence. At length, the sight of the venerable summit revived my courage, and seemed to impart new strength. In another hour, all my wishes were gratified. My soul, in the transports of a joy which effaced all impression of the long fatigues of the journey, forgot the entire world, to dwell deliciously upon these thoughts: SUMMIT OF SINAI. 337 "I am on that sacred mount, where the Lord came to Moses in a thick cloud, that the people might hear when the Lord spoke with him, and believe him for ever;' on those very rocks where, in the morning there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud;' on that Sinai, which was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly;' on that Sinai, where, 'when the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder, Moses spake and God answered him by a voice."" (Exod. xix.) 6 And, overcome with religious awe, I knelt down: my lips were pressed to the holy rock, and long did I remain prostrate, adoring in silence the infinitely merciful God, who, out of love to Israel, had deigned to come down from the heavens to Sinai, to give his law: and, after humbly thanking Him for the continual blessings with which his bounty had accompanied my pilgrimage, with uncovered head, my hand upon my heart, and my eyes uplifted to heaven, I pronounced aloud those words which he spake: "I am the Lord thy God," &c. Not a sound interrupted my voice, which was wafted over the rocks of that profound solitude: all nature seemed to listen in silence to the oracles of its divine Author! On the summit of Sinai are seen the ruins of two Christian churches, one of which was called the church of the Transfiguration. There is also a mosque erected by the Turks in honour of the lawgiver of the Hebrews, for whom they entertain such veneration that they never call the mountain by any other name than Gibel Mousa, which signifies the mountain of Moses. VOL. II. 338 SUMMIT OF SINAI. But of all the objects which the aspect of Sinai presents to the astonished eye, none strikes it more forcibly than that which reminds the spectator of the following passage in Exodus : "And Moses said unto the Lord.... Wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? .So shall we be separated, I and thy people from all the people that are on the face of the earth. "And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. "And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. "And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. "And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live. "And the Lord said, Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. "And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock; and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by." (Exod. xxxiii. 16-22.) Now, my dear friend, this clift in the rock in which Moses was put, where the hand of the Lord covered him till his glory passed by, subsists to this day; it is still easy to be recognized four thousand years after the circumstance recorded by the inspired historian. There is not a traveller but may see it: my eyes have seen, have |