Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them.^[1] Strictly speaking, the word symphony is used by musicians for the voices of harmony. For among musical tones, some harmonize with each other and others do not. But the Gospel is also familiar with this term as applied to music where it says, He heard music [symphōnias] and dancing.^[2] For it was fitting that, at the harmony that resulted between the father and his son who had been lost but was now found through his repentance, a symphony should be heard on the occasion of the rejoicing of the house. . . . Akin to this kind of symphony is what is written in the second book of Kings [Samuel] when the brothers of Aminadab went before the ark, and David and the sons of Israel were playing before the face of the Lord on well-tuned instruments and in power and in songs.^[3] For the well-tuned instruments in power and in song have in them that harmony of tones which is of such power that if only two people bring before the Father in heaven any request with that symphony which is found in divine and spiritual music, the Father grants it to them—which is most remarkable.

We read in the law that even those who seem to have acted lightly against the sacred commandments have, nevertheless, been punished most severely.^[1] This is that we might understand that nothing which pertains to God must be considered lightly, because even what seems to be very little in fault is made great by the injury to God. What did Uzzah, the Levite of God, do against the heavenly command when he tried to steady the tottering ark of the Lord? There was nothing on this point prescribed by the law. Yet, immediately when he steadied the ark, he was struck down. Not that he was insolent in manner or undutiful in mind. Yet he was undutiful in his very act, because he went beyond his orders.

When the ark of the Lord was being transferred to Jerusalem, and the oxen kicked and made the wagon lean to one side, Uzzah, the Levite, reached out his hand to support the ark that had been tipped, and there follow immediately these words: And the indignation of the Lord was enkindled against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his ignorance, and he died before the ark of God. And David was grieved because the Lord had struck Uzzah, and he was afraid of the Lord that day and said, ‘How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?’ When David, who was a just man and a prophet and had been anointed as king, whom the Lord chose according to his own heart that he might do his will in all things, saw ignorance punished by the wrath of the Lord, he was afraid and was grieved; nor did he ask the Lord his reason for striking a man who was ignorant, but he feared a similar judgment happening to him.

For our vows are celebrated when the church is united to Christ, as John says: The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.^[1] Because of this marriage, therefore, it behooves us to dance, for David, at once king and prophet, is also said to have danced before the ark of the covenant with much singing. In high rejoicing he broke into dancing, for in the Spirit he foresaw Mary, born of his own line, brought into Christ’s chamber, and so he says, And he, like a bridegroom, will come forth from his chamber. Thus he sang more than the other prophetic authors because, gladder than the rest of them, by these joys he united those coming after him in marriage. And, by inviting us to his own vows in a more charming way than usual, having danced with such joy in front of the ark before his marriage, he taught us what we ought to do at those other vows. The prophet David danced, then. But what would we say that the ark was if not holy Mary, since the ark carried within it the tables of the covenant, while Mary bore the master of the same covenant? The one bore the law within itself and the other the gospel, but the ark gleamed within and without with the radiance of gold, while holy Mary shone within and without with the splendor of virginity; the one was adorned with earthly gold, the other with heavenly.