Mofes was in a Tent at Sion, when the following Speech was made, by it there seems to have been another Ark in the Army, 2 Sam. xi. 11. And Uriah faid unto David, the Ark, and Ifrael, and Judah abide in Tents. It appears that while the Ark and Cherubim made by Mofes was at Kirjath-Jearim in the House of Aminadab, I Sam. xiv. that the Levitical Pricfts went on with the Adminiftration of their Office at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. Ibid. xxi. 6. Before the Faces of Jehovah, an Appellation of the Cherubim; fo there were other Cherubim there, Ibid. xxii. In Nob, which they could not do without an Ark, &c. and they had another Ark doubtlefs with Cherubim ; and, though perhaps fmall, no doubt much elder than that made by Mofes in the Wilderness, and to which Mofes, Exod. xv, 2. promised a Tabernacle, and before whofe Faces he, as above, Ibid. xvi. 9. called a Convocation; and, without one, their Priests had been of no Ufe, no Atonement could ever have been made. I Sam. xiv. the Levitical Priefts who were in Shiloh carried this to the Army, and confulted, v. 18, and 36. and Saul called this the Ark of the Aleim, in Oppofition to the Ark made by the Children of Ifrael, which

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which was then at Kirjath-jearim, Ibid. V. 18. " And Saul faid to Ahijah, bring hither the Ark of the Aleim, for there was an Ark of the Aleim, and one of the Children of Ifrael" The Jews, who would have us believe that thefe Inftitutions begun with Mofes, tell us a Parcel of Stories, that this was the Ark in which the broken Tables were; we have no Account of any fuch, or that it was the Ark in which they put the Ephod; we have no Account of any fuch Ark; the Prieft was there, who wore the Ephod. Nay it appears there was then more Urim, and fo more Thummim, and Ephods than one. Ib. xxii. 20. Abiathar a Prieft then Chief efcaped, and fled to David; Ibid. xxiii. 2. David enquired by Abiathar. v. 6. Abiathar brought the Ephod. v. 9. confulted with the Ephod. Ibid. xxviii. 6. Saul enquired, and was not answered neither by Dreams, nor by Urim, nor by Prophets, v. 15. neither by Prophets nor Dreams, Ibid. xxx. 7. David confulted with the Ephod. 1 Chron. xiii. 3. For we enquired not at it (the Ark which was at Āminadab's Houfe) in the Days of Saul. Whereby it appears there was another Ark, other

*That made by Mofes by divine immediate Appointment, is called God's Ark, that which the Children of Ifrael had before, theirs.

Faces,

Faces, fo other Cherubim before which they worshipped, and which they confulted; and two Urim, fo two Ephods which were each confulted, though one did not anfwer Saul. Nay it does not appear, that the Urim and Thummim put into the Ephod made by Mofes, were made then. And perhaps it was not for the Benefit of fucceeding Generations that the old ones fhould be more particularly defcribed, or even that they fhould be preserved, left they should have divided into Sects, about whether the old ones or the new ones fhould be observed; as they did about the Place of Worship, whether it fhould be where the Ark and Cherubim firft ftood, in Shiloh, or at the Temple. Nay, perhaps the ten Tribes upon their Defection might detain or carry them off.

Our Tranflators would have us to fuppofe Uzzah a private Man, a Driver of the Cart with the Ark, and his Crime attempting to support the Ark and Cherubim when they were in Danger of falling and being broken; whereby they have endeavoured to charge God with an Action of Cruelty, and to deter Laymen, even when the Priests neglect their Duty, from aflifting to prevent the Deftruction or Lofs of the most facred things. As I may be charged

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charged with what they make a Crime in Uzzah, it behoves me to ftate the Cafe, and fhew who he was, and what his Crime was, and thereby clear God of Cruelty, and myself of being guilty of any Crime in putting my Hand to rescue the most facred Emblems from being falfly reprefented, fo defaced or loft. 'Tis not only lawful, but predicted, that this fhould be fhewed, Apoc. xi. 19. " The Temple of God in Heaven was opened, and there was feen in his Temple the Ark of the Teftament of the Lord. This Expreffion is not that these things were feen in Heaven, but that the Dwelling of the Aleim, and what they had done, do, and will do there, was to be fhewed upon Earth, as Gen. iii. 34. cited, fo Ezek. i. 1, The Heavens were opened, and I faw Vifions of the Aleim, This Prophecy has been fuppofed to refer to the Incarnation of Chrift; it might have referred more plainly to the rending of the Veil, if these Figures had been there. Buxt. Arca Fœderis, p. 194. They tell us, they had a Propitiatorium where the Prieft fprinkled the Blood, but not this Exhibition in the fecond Temple. It appears 1 Sam. i. 3. That the Ark which Mofes made with the Cherubim, &c. were in Shiloh, ch. ii. That the Chief of

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the Priefts of the Tribe of Levi were fo exceedingly wicked, that Men abhorred the Offering of Jehovah; and ch. iv. that they without confulting God carried the Ark, &c. to the Camp; and it was taken, ch. iv. and v. that there was Destruction wherever it came, till it was returned; ch. vi. that the Levites took down the Ark and the Coffer with the Jewels of Gold, &c, and, I fuppofe, took away the Jewels. But they left the Ark upon a great Stone, and the People uncovered the Cherubim, and the Ark, and looked at the Cherubim, or into the Ark, fo many were deftroyed there alfo. ch. vii. that the Men of Baalah, that is, Kirjath-jearim fetched the Ark from the great Stone, and carried it to the House of Aminadab on the Hill, and fanctified Eleazar his Son to keep, and do what was done about the Ark, and they were neither punished nor reproached for it. And doubtlefs this Eleazar, the Son of Aminadab, and those who fucceeded him, and lastly Uzzah and Ahio acted as Pricfts, to thofe who worshipped before that Ark, for many Years; and that I Sam. vii. 2. This Ark was then at Kirjath-jearim, and the People lamented; but Samuel let them not fetch it, till they had put away the falle Aleim, &c. That 2 Sam. vi. 2.