Page:God Manifest.djvu/162

very persons to whom it was communicated, still living among us; and, though scattered through the world, and found in all nations, yet, by a wonderful providence, they have been kept a distinct and isolated race,—as if to the end that they may continue to stand before the eyes of men, personal, living witnesses, or the direct representatives of those who were living witnesses, to the great fact. This people,—as declared by their family traditions, handed down from father to son, in uninterrupted succession, and as strikingly confirmed furthermore by the customs, rites, and ceremonies still actually in use among them,—were selected by the Divine being, to be the depositaries of that Sacred Writing. Descended originally from a single individual,—in order, as it would seem, that they might ever feel themselves bound together as one family,—they grew in the course of time into a numerous people. Separating themselves, at length, by Divine command, from a nation with whom they had long sojourned but had never united, and who had for many years oppressed them,—they were led, by a series of the most striking and miraculous interpositions, out of that land, through a sea and a wilderness, to the foot of a lofty mountain. And here, amid the solemn solitudes of the desert, the very voice of the Divine Himself was heard, in awful tones that went to their hearts,—addressing them, and giving them His commands,—intended not only for them, but through them for all mankind,—prescribing what they were to do, in order that they might live and be happy for ever. How sublimely is this great event related in the Writing itself! "And it came to pass, on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the