The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-03
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON
Copyright, Davis W. Clark,

.
 Save for my daily range
 Among the pleasant fields of Holy Writ I might despair. -Tennyson. Fourth Quarter. Lesson I. octo-
 Der 4 1908.
 2 Samuel v, 1-12.
 David Brings Up the Ark.
 In that restoration of the Hebrew mon- archy which David effected with con- summate skill, the re-enthronement of Je- hovah was the last step. The theocrati- cal character of the government was to be acknowledged in the most conspicuous manner and by a. most significant act. The golden ark, which was recognized as Jehovah's throne. was to be set up in state in the new capital of the re- united kingdom.
 The matter was submitted to a general convocation of the people, gathered from the whole territory, from the sands of the desert to the snows of Lebanon. Thirty thousand attended-some coming a distance of 250 miles. It was a people s parliament, like those which used to gath CT on the banks of the Rhine. The king s motion was carried with enthusiastic unanimity. It was a splendid religious awakening, revival far-reaching in its effects.
 But the irreligion of seventy years bore It's deadly fruit in the very midst of this national reformation. This neglect and consequent ignorance of the law led to a fatal error. A right thing was done in wrong manner. There was only way to carry the ark. The Levites, with avert ed faces, were to thrust the gold-covered rods through the golden rings on the sides of the ark, and having enveloped 1t in its curtains to lift 1t to their shoul- ders. But both the ark and the law had been so long neglected that this minutely- prescribed method was entirely forgot. ten.
 The cart and the oxen were the adop- ton of a heather expedient It led tc a familiarity with the sacred palladium wholly out of keeping with the very ob- ject which 1t was designed to conserve That object was the deep impression upon the national mind of the absolute holi. ness of Jehovah. The method of convey. ance discounted the sanctity of the ark It made 1t scarcely more than military trophy gracing a triumphal procession or national gala-day.
 This error must be corrected, the sane. tity of the ark restored, and this con- tempt breeding familiarity rebuked Some never-to- -be-forgotten lesson mus be given in the sight of all the people The stumbling oxen gave the opportunity The costly, lovely, significant shrine top. pies and is on the point of falling in dis honor and ruin upon the earth In direct obedience to the explicit command oi God. with which he and all the others ought to have been familiar Uzzah puts out his hand catches the ark. and sets il upright upon the cart. That is merely the continuation of a process which has been wrong from the start, and the whole of 1t is the inevitable outcome of hall century of irreligion.
 It is not that one act-which any per. son nearest at hand would have done not that which is punishable. The ire. ligious familiarity of the whole people is suddenly and permanently checked by ar awful judgment. UZZar Is substitute in suffering. His offense Is no greater than that of king, priests. and people. His death is designed to be exemplary.
 The triumphal procession is changed in- to a dead march. No one is in doubt as to the cause. The spot became sadly historic ground, and bore its significant name for generations. David cried in grief: How shall the ark come to meT That was the question he ought to have asked in the beginning. Had he done so death and delay would have been avoid ed. It is distinctively said that an awe of Jehovah filled the king from that hour It filled the nations heart as well.
 Israel was put on probation three months. Scriptures relating to the arb were searched. There was no further question as to how the ark was to be carried. In the ninety days it rested 1T the home of Obed-Edom his phenomena prosperity was a standing evidence of th' blessing the ark could be to the entire nation if properly shrined in their rever ential care.
 A new home bringing of the ark is nov attempted. It is done exactly accordinl to the pattern which the Lord showe' Moses in the Mount. The priests ant the Levites sanctified themselves for thi service, And the Levites bare the ark o God upon their shoulders, with the slave thereon, as Moses commanded. according to the Word of the Lord.
 Trained choirs chanted antiphonaly the noble hymns which David had composed for this occasion There were supert orchestral interludes. At stated inter yals the procession halted to offer sacri- fees to Jehovah, and the king, in the ecstasy of religious joy, executed a rhythmic dance, playing his own accom- paniment, and chanting one of his own hymns.
 So this noble shrine-not entirely unlike the shrines of other nations, perhaps, but certainly and infinitely surpassing them | in significance-came, at length, to appro- priate resting place. Behind the mystic veil it stood, reverenced and unharmed | four hundred years. It enshrined trini- ty truth-the Divine Presence, the Divine | Law. the Divine Mercy. What heather shrine, however like it in workmanship will for one moment compare with it ir |