The Old Testament is a continuous record of God's dealings with individuals or races and of their response to divine grace. Of the many compacts recorded, the Sinaitic covenant will be considered at this point, and its connection with the new covenant, or gospel of Christ, together with the relation of both to Christian Science. This relation is made very clear by Mrs. Eddy on page 65 of "Miscellaneous Writings," where she says: "Christian Science demands both law and gospel, in order to demonstrate healing, and I have taught them both in its demonstration, and with signs following. They are a unit in restoring the equipoise of mind and body, and balancing man's account with his Maker. The sequence proves that strict adherence to one is inadequate to compensate for the absence of the other, since both constitute the divine law of healing." This is also supported by these words of Christ Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
When Moses, directed by God, undertook to lead the children of Israel from Egypt into the land of Canaan, each obstruction to their advancement was met by a marvelous exhibition of spiritual power over material conditions. The deliverance from Pharaoh's armies at the Red Sea, where the waters divided for the children of Israel but engulfed their pursuers; the relief from thirst in the wilderness of Shur, where the bitter waters were made sweet; the supply of manna in the wilderness of Sin,— all of these were proofs of God's protecting care; but still the travelers murmured and many looked longingly back as they censured Moses and Aaron for leading them from the "flesh pots" of Egypt. At this juncture Moses was given the Decalogue, the immediate purpose of which was to guide these wandering thoughts into the promised land of moral and spiritual freedom.
More precious than the marvels wrought by Moses in satisfying the temporal wants of the Israelitish wanderers was this enunciation of the Ten Commandments, for the latter were to form the basis of moral and religious law for all people under all conditions in all time. The magnitude of this Sinaitic covenant none but Moses appreciated, although the elders of Israel and the people generally accepted it, saying, "All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." Egyptian influence was not, however, so easily thrown off, for the people soon set up the golden calf and chose to spend their time in dancing and singing before it rather than in contemplation of the full significance of the Sinaitic commands. The fidelity of Moses and the long continued deflections of the people were prototypes of the reception to be accorded the new covenant as the ages advanced to the period when it was to be divinely delivered to men.
