XX. THE ARK OF GOD ON A NEW CART.

"Should all the forms that men devise

Assault my faith with treacherous art,

I'd call them vanity and lies,

And bind the Gospel to my heart."

DAVID was king in Zion. The ark of God was in a distant part of the kingdom. It was the symbol of the Divine presence. It held the tables of the law, Aaron's rod, and the manna. It held the affections of the people. It was needed by David to make his throne stable. It could do more for one, whom many still regarded as a usurper, than armed men. Its presence in Zion would produce loyalty in the capital and the land, and stamp out the remaining seeds of rebellion. It would be to the king what the pillars of cloud and fire were to his ancestors. Long absent, conquered, and dishonored, the people panted to see it the center of sacred worship in the tabernacle.

Special messengers were appointed to carry the ark from Kirjath Jearim to Zion. It was a solemn trust, and the messengers felt their responsibility. They resolved to do honor to the symbol of the Divine presence. They made a new cart and set the ark thereon, and, with oxen, they started for the sacred city. The paths in Palestine were not made for carts. They were rough, uneven, and dangerous. The ark jostled, "for the oxen shook it." One of the messengers, named Uzzah, put out his hand to steady the

ark; he touched it, and fell dead beside the cart. Consternation seized the people. General alarm prevailed. Even the king was afraid to remove the ark to his own house, and "carried it aside to the house of Obed-Edom, where it abode for three months."

Uzzah's crime was this: he disobeyed positive law. In his great zeal to honor the ark, he forgot to ask the direction of God. He did not inquire whether God had said any thing on its removal. The ark was his. The removal was a religious work. If moved at all, it must be in the manner God prescribed. But Uzzah forgot to consult the law. He put sacrifice before obedience. He took a grand and expensive course to magnify his office. God had asked no such sacrifice or service. His command was plain on the removal of the ark, and it was imperative. No common man must touch it. It must be borne on the shoulders of the priests, and those beside, that touched it, should die. Passing by this law, the messengers chose an imposing way, more worthy of God, they thought. But to Uzzah it proved the way of death. His intentions and motives were good. But right things can not be done in a wrong way. He knew the law well, and should have obeyed it. If he had been ignorant, he could have gained knowledge at the hands of men learned in the law.

The business of life is conducted on this rule. Men who run railway trains must obey positive law. It is the only rule of safety. A large part of the collisions come from good intentions, which lead to violation of rule. One thing that makes military law so effi

cient is, that it is imperative. In time of war, men must obey or be shot. Good intentions don't save men when they violate natural law. A man who walks off a precipice, thinking he is in the plain, safe road, meets with all the consequences that he would meet were his precipitation intentional. The natural law is, that a man must know where he is treading. A mother, who arises at night and seizes a bottle of poison, supposing it to be medicine, kills, as really, her only child, to whom she gives the dose, as if she intended its death. The natural law is, people must keep their poisons and medicines separate. A man went out with his brother to hunt a bear that was doing mischief to their fold. They separated to make the search better. One of them saw what he thought was a bear among the limbs of a tree. He fired, and brought, not the bear, but his brother's mangled corpse to his feet. The law is, that men must know what they are shooting at, whether it be a bear or a man, and good intentions can not save the victim.

It was so in the case of Uzzah. God had appointed men to move the ark. He had forbidden all others to touch it. The law was imperative, and the penalty well known. But the ark shook, and if Uzzah had not steadied it, it would have fallen and broken, perhaps, the tables of stone. But had Uzzah obeyed God, the ark would have needed no steadying, nor would the precious contents been exposed to damage. His disobedience created the peril that called forth his sacrilegious touch, for which he died. On the shoulders of the priests it could have been

borne safely, and no hands been laid on it but those whom God commanded to touch it.

Had it been otherwise, it was Uzzah's duty to obey, and leave the results with God. God had made ample provision for the removal of this ark. A new cart, with oxen attached, was not among them. Uzzah's care was self-created; his labor was for selfglorification. In defiance of God's command, he put the ark on a new cart. He drove over a rough road. He put his hand out to steady the ark. God struck him down. He lay a corpse beside his own new invention.

Men complain of religion, that it is severe and bigoted, in that it will not accept of good intent and sincerity, instead of true faith and certain acts done. We are often told that it matters not what men believe, if they are only sincere; that one way to God is as good as another way, if men only believe it. It was not so with Uzzah. You can not persuade a farmer that cockles are as good as wheat, if he is only sincere. The man who shot his brother and thought him a bear, was sincere; but it made some difference with the mangled brother whether he or the bear was shot. The mother who gave her babe poison, and thought it was medicine, was sincere; but sincerity did not save the life of the child. You could not persuade a pilot off Cape Hatteras, in a gale, with a thousand souls aboard his bark, that a chart of the Bay of Fundy was as good to sail by in those stormy waters, if he was only sincere, as any other. In all these cases, we know the value of being right as well as honest.

This history disposes of the objection made to the justice of that rule which rejects the sacrifices of the wicked, and makes the prayers of the insincere an abomination. Right things must not only be done in the right way, but with the right spirit and right intent. Outwardly Cain's sacrifice was as good, as costly, and as appropriate as Abel's. "Abel was a

keeper of sheep. He brought unto the Lord of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof." "Cain was a tiller of the ground, and he brought of the fruit of the ground." "The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect." Cain's heart was not right in the sight of God. "His works were evil, and his brother's were righteous," said the disciple whom Jesus loved. A kiss is a token of affection, of true devotion, of sincere love. But what was the worth of the kiss of Joab, or of Judas? As valuable as the dagger of the one, and the foul bargain of the other. Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. But of what avail are those long, hypocritical prayers, denounced by the Son of God, from which those who offered them turned away to devour widows' houses and bind heavy burdens on men?

Neither in religion nor in daily life can men do right things, save in the right way, and with the right spirit. A man can not hold his own unless he does so lawfully. The absence of the legal number of witnesses, or some informality, may defeat the intent of one who makes his will, and frustrate the lifelong purpose of his heart. Personal safety and freedom can be enjoyed only by following the rule pre