And see all sights from pole to pole, And glance, and nod, and bustle by; And never once possess our soul Before we die. Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888) You probably would have done so yourself. Who wouldn’t have? Indeed, who wouldn’t have quaked violently when streaming flashes of divine presence thundered atop that historical mountain? The records say the Israelites trembled, and begged Moses to appeal to God to withhold his awful voice or “we will die”. Then there were, before that, the plagues in Egypt – you know, hail mingled with blood, slimy hideous blotches of toads disturbing all those Egyptian tea parties and making an amphibian mess of their cupcakes with their webbed disasters called feet, and, worst, the death of all firstborns.