Therefore it was, that God began
his communications by saying to Israel, through Moses, "_I have brought
you unto me_" a concise and sublime sentence, which comprehends in
itself the whole system of revealed religion, for the recognition of the
intimate relation which brings the rational creature near to its
Creator, is the true goal of man's destination. He added that, to
facilitate the attainment of that object, He had adopted the means of
electing a small portion of mankind to be His missionaries ("_although_"
said He, "_all the earth is mine_"); that He wished, therefore, to form
of them _a sacerdotal kingdom_, that is, a class of persons, who, as
priests of God, should watch over, conserve, and promote spiritual
interests upon the earth; and that in consequence of the gravity of such
a task, He required of them that they should become a _holy people_,
that is, a people peculiarly devoted to self-sanctification--which
substantially consists in imitating, in as far as human nature permits,
the Divine perfections, or virtues.

LXIV. The awfully solemn act which succeeded this preliminary
manifestation is the most portentous event to be found in the annals of
the world. Two millions of persons, ranged around the skirts of a
mountain, witness a majestic supernatural vision; and amid thunder and
lightning, dense vapour and blazing fire, the whole ground trembling and
the mountain echoing, a sonorous voice from heaven descends on the
terrified ears of the people, and carries distinctly and unmistakeably
to humanity the high message of God. By the pomp and circumstance which
attended the glorious scene of the first revelation, God was pleased to
afford an incontestable evidence of the truth and divinity, not only of
the doctrines which were then and there being revealed, but of those,
also, that were to follow; the unimpeachable testimony of the senses of
a vast multitude, brought to bear upon the first and fundamental
communication, was capable of producing so full and lasting a conviction
in the minds of the numerous hearers, as to remove for the future all
doubt as to the divine origin of revelation. Through an immediate
sensible perception--which by its nature carries the most irrefragable
certainty--Israel, then, received from God Himself the first dictates of
a religion, of which that people was to become the professor,
conservator, and propagator, in perpetuity; and equally convinced of the
true mission of its le