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When the Israelites saw the
lightning, and the blackness of the mountain, and heard the thunders, and
the loud trumpet, they were very much afraid, and moved away from the
mountain, and stood afar off. They said to Moses, "Speak thou
to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we
die." But Moses said, "Fear not; God is come to prove you,
and to tell you what you ought to do, that you may learn to know and serve
Him aright, that His blessing may be upon you." We are all poor
helpless sinners before God; our own obedience cannot take us to Heaven,
for we have disobeyed God many times. How then can we go to
Heaven? Jesus Christ alone can take us tere. He bore the
punishment of our sins upon the cross, and His blood can cleanse us; He
was perfectly holy, He kept all the commandments; and, if we believe in
Him, God will accept us for His righteousness' sake. But we must try
to be like Jesus: we must wish and strive to be holy. We must
ask Him for all these things, that we may be made his own dear children by
faith in Christ Jesus. And then we need not fear; because God has
promised to save all who believe; and we shall not tremble at the day of
judment, when we stand before His throne, because, if our sins have all
been washed away in Jesus' blood, and our hearts made new and clean by the
Holy Spirit, we shall hear our Savior say, "Come, ye blessed;"
and we shall be taken up to heaven, away from sin and sorrow for ever. When
God had finished speaking, Moses came and told the people all He had said,
and they answered, "We will obey the Lord; we will do what He
commands us." Then Moses wrote all the words of God: and
the Israelites offered sacrifices unto the Lord. Moses read the book
of the law to the people, and they said again, "All that the Lord
hath said, we will do, and be obedient." Then Moses and Aaron,
and some of the elders of Israel, went up towards the mountain, and there
they saw an appearance of the bright glory of God; but this could not hurt
them, because God kept them safely; and they stayed there before Him, and
did eat and drink. Then God told Moses alone to come up to Him, to
receive the tables of stone upon which God had written the Ten
Commandments.
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