that wns common to him with nll ministers of the gospel ; nor does it refer simply to hie npoetolate. It refers but to his specinl work ae the great missionary apostle, There is room and need in the Christian Church not only for men separated by the authority and call of the Church to official service, but for men olso who are moved to separate themselves to free ond unofficial service. Robert Haldane of Airthrey was not an ordained minister, never held a pastoral charge, never administered the sacraments, yet he devoted his whole time and wealth to the cause of Christ. Sel'.- ing Airthrey Cnstle, he purchased a mansion-house where he could live at less expense, and he thenceforward lived for the diffusion of true religion at home and abroad. Blessed be God, Mr. Haldane was not singular in this sort of separation. It nnswers .ixactly, under the Christian nnd spirit uni dispensation, to the separation of the Nazarite under the law. Without doubt men and women separated thus to God will have a grent part to play in the victorious progress of the kingdom of Christ. It should be the constant prayer of the Church that Christ would, of her young men, raise up not only prophets (he is doing that), but Nazarites also.-B. Vere. 1-8.-The temporary 'IJOtlJ of the N azarite symbolical of the lifelong vow of the Christian. Though the Israelites had a priesthood, they were themselves" a king- dom of priests." Individual responsibility toward God wns pressed upon their con- sciences in many ways; e. g. Deut. xxvi. 1-14, &c. And private persons might aspire to the honour of on especial priestly consecration. Since temporary vows were acceptable to God under the old covenant, they may be under the new cove- nant, if taken for a limited time and for Christian ends ; t. g. celibacy or abstinence (cf. Acts xviii. 18; :ui. 6). But a higher form of vow is that of entire consecration /<Yr life, that we may be daily led by the Spirit of God, and live the life of faith on the Son of God. Our Nazarite state is to be lifelong. None can disollow the Chris- tian's vow to Christ (cf. eh. xxx. 1-5 with Matt. x. 37). The consecration which we avow must be marked by three facts, of which we see symbols in this chapter- I. SELF-DENIAL (vers. 3, 4); II. VISIBLE PROFESSION (ver. 5); III. PERSONAL PUr.ITY (vers. 6--8). I. The priests had, when "on duty," to exercise the self-denial required of the Nazarite (Levit. x. 9). The kind of self-denial demanded is o significant testimony in favour of total abstinence (see Milton's words in' Samson Agorristes :' "Oh, mad- 1:1ess, to think use of strongest wines," &c.). Self-denial, in o wider sense, nt any rate, always required of us, becnuse we are olwaye O on duty" (Matt. x. 38; Luke ix. 23: John xii. 25). II. The Nazarites' locks marked their separation. Our co11eecmtion must be marked not by tonsures or cowls, but by verbal avowals (Rom. x. 9, 10) and good works (Mott. v. 16; Phil. ii. 14-16), which shnll excel those of men who make no profession to the supernatural life of the disciples of Christ (cf. Mntt. v. 47, 48). III. We are" coiled to be saints," personnlly pure and sepamted from the world and its dend works (John xvii, 11-19; 2 Cor. vi. 17). Christ's clnims on Ub nre paramount (Luke ix. 59, 60) and perpetual (Rev. ii. 10). We cannot violate our pledges and go on os though our relations to Christ were unchanged, but must renew our vows (ver. 12; Ezek. xxxiii. 12, 13). When the period of the vow ended, the restrnints were removed, but the honour remnined. So will it ho with us at death (John xii. 26, &c.).-P.
Ver. 2.-TnE NAZARITE'e Vow. "When either man or womnn shall separate themselves to vow o vow of a Noznrite," &c. Here we meet with the Nazarite'11 vow as something already in existence, nnd needing to be regulnted. The fact thnt such regulations were nece~snry points to a clnss of persons, not perhaps very large, but likely to be permnnent in Israel, who felt it laid upon them to be separate for o while from the common track of their neighbours. There are several instances of vows recorded in Scripture. A person might vow that if o certnin wish were granted, a certnin thing would be done in return; e. g. Hannah, Jephthnh. Here we are on different ground. There is nothing like o bargaining with the Almighty. The Nnzarite's vow iii of II higher kind, and demands Spllciul considoration. It does 11ot rise among such natural feelings as are common to all human breasts Tiu, NlTllBEIIS. & 50 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [en. ''[, 1-21.