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saith, The kings of Sheba and Saba shall offer gifts. The country from whence, attended by a train of camels bearing spices, came the queen of Sheba, to the court of the temporary and representative prince of peace. The country particularly specified in the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah; All they from Sheba shall come, they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.' A country remarkable by the testimony of historians for plenty of gold, and of the most precious aromatics; a country, in the neighbourhood of which Balaam uttered and left behind him his famous prophecy concerning the star that should arise out of Jacob.† The country where St. Paul first opened his heavenly ministry. 'When it pleased God, saith that apostle, who called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathens; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, but I went into Arabia.' (Gal. i. 17.) Christianity flourished very extensively in Arabia during the first centuries. History informs us, that the disciples of Christ had filled its provinces with the churches of God; and frequent mention is made in the early monuments of the bishops of Arabia. This early influence

* Sabæa, extrema Arabia Felicis regio, Persico Sinui proxima. Vitringa in loc.

+ Horne's Sermon on the Epiphany.

See them enumerated in Beveridges Canones Conciliorum: the Bishop of Bussorah was present at the counsel of Antioch, in A. D. 269.

of the gospel in that region might be expected, for Arabia adjoins Palestine: and the climate of the country, and the manners and customs of the people are nearly the same.* In Arabia the faculties of the human mind attain to as high a degree of strength and vigour, even at this day,t as in any other country in the world; and the symmetry and beauty of the human person in Arabia are not surpassed by any other portion of the human race."t

* Being neighbours of the Jews, it was likely that they should first receive the gospel.-Proc. ubi supra.

+ See Letter from the Rev. Henry Martyn concerning Sabat, quoted in the "Star in the East." (p. 2—18.) “ At intervals 1 read Persian poetry with Mirza, and the Koran with Sabat. These Orientals with whom I translate the Scriptures require me to point out the connexion between every two sentences, which is often more than I can do. It is curious how accurately they observe all the rules of writing. Sabat, though a real Christian, has not lost a jot of his Arabian notions of superiority. He looks upon Europeans as mushrooms, and seems to regard any pretensions to any learning, as we should regard them in a savage or an ape.

"N.B. Mr. Martyn was senior wrangler, and first mathematician of his year at Cambridge, in 1801. He had now been two years in society with Sabat, and of course used these expressions concerning Sabat in rather a vein of pleasantry; but they will intimate that he respected the intellect and acquirements of the Arabian."

$ "An intelligent Arabian, who had seen the English in India, observed to the author, that he thought the minds of the English far superior to their persons. It seemed to him that there was nothing striking or noble in the English countenance, compared with the dignity and beauty of the Arabians,—that the faces were in general flat and torpid, and the eyes without fire. This author informed him, that the English were com

A tradition prevailed in this country, that mount Sinai was inhabited by God.

Josephus tells us, "that Moses having obtained the good fortune of attending Jethro's flock, (for such was Raguel's sirname,) he abode with him, and not long after he led his cattle to graze near the mountain Sinai, which is the highest of all those that are in that quarter, and good for pasturage, by reason of the wholesome herbs that grow thereabouts, which, notwithstanding, was not fed upon before that time, because the shepherds durst not frequent it, in regard of an opinion of those who dwelt in that country, that God inhabited that mountain." That this report did not solely originate in legendary superstition, the circumstances related in Scripture pretty clearly prove. For it is therein recorded that Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; that he led them to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb or Sinai, which is one and the same mountain, and which we here find denominated

posed of different nations, and most of these from cold and northern climates; that hence there was a great diversity in their appearance, some being of very ordinary aspect, and others of a dignity and beauty which even an Arabian would admire. He smiled at this, and observed that it was not likely that the Deity would select so remote and cold a region of his globe for the perfection of man."-Buchanan's Christian Researches.

"The mountain of mount Sinai is generally called Jebel Monsa by the Arabs, that is, the Mountain of Moses, and sometimes, by way of eminence, the Mountain only. It is in reality one hill with two summits; but the Greeks have divided it into

the mountain of God, previous to any appearance of Deity thereon, of which mention is made in the sacred volume. "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of the bush. And he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses; and he said, Here am I. And He said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.* More

four or five parts, which have obtained so many different names. However, the most common division of it is into Sinai, properly so called, and Horeb"-(Thompson's Travels)-rendering Sinai and Horeb one and the same mountain. Josephus, indeed, describes them as such, for he says, "When Moses led his cattle to graze near the mountain of Sinai, there happened to him a marvellous prodigy, which was, that a flame of fire seemed round about him in a bush, without offending either the green herbs, or the flowers, or the boughs charged with fruit." It is therefore plain that what Josephus calls mount Sinai was that summit of the mountain which is in Scripture called mount Horeb; therefore the tradition that God inhabited this mountain equally applied to both its summits, Sinai and Horeb.

* "On the round hill which the Greeks call the Mount of Moses, where they say he was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, when the Lord appeared and spake to him out of the bush which burnt and was not consumed, is the chapel of the holy bush, on the very spot, as they pretend, where this burning bush grew. There now lies a white marble stone under the altar, which they kiss with great devotion, and, in imitation of Moses, they put off their shoes whenever they enter or approach this chapel."-Thompson's Travels.

over He said, I am the God of thy father Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." In another instance, likewise, during the abode of the Israelites in Rephidim, previous to their arrival in the wilderness of Sinai, and the ascent of Moses into its holy mount, the Lord said unto him, Behold I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb. These relations do, we think, justify the suspicion stated, namely, that the tradition of God's inhabiting the mountain of Sinai was not altogether unfounded; and it is also highly improbable that Almighty God would himself have set such a confirmation to a mere superstitious legend, as He unquestionably did, by selecting the very mountain unto which this opinion had been attached for the place of his primary and actual appearance unto Moses, and for the wonders which He subsequently demonstrated thereon; and that the service ordained to be thereon performed should have been the promised token held out by God as an encouragement to Moses. For "Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh? and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee; when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." (Exod. iii. 11, 12.) At what preceding period any extraordinary appearance of Deity upon mount Sinai might have taken place, as the history is silent, is an inquiry that can

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