shave his head in the day of his
cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. And on the eighth
day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the
priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the
priest shall offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a
burnt-offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned
by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. And he shall
consecrate unto the LORD the days of his separation, and shall
bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass-offering: but the
days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was
defiled."_

A most important truth is here taught--that even unwitting contact with
death might bring sin upon the Nazarite. Sometimes we are tempted to
excuse ourselves, and to forget the absolute sinfulness of sin, apart
altogether from the question of premeditation, or even of consciousness,
_at the time_, on our part. The one who became defiled, _was defiled_,
whether intentionally or not; GOD'S requirement was absolute, and where
not fulfilled the vow was broken; the sin-offering had to be offered,
and the service recommenced.

THE HEINOUSNESS OF SIN.

The teaching here, and that of offerings for sins of ignorance, is much
needed in this day, when there is a dangerous tendency in some quarters
to regard sin as misfortune, and not as guilt. The awful _character_ of
sin is shown to mankind by its _consequences_. Man's heart is so
darkened by the Fall, and by personal sinfulness, that otherwise he
would regard sin as a very small matter. But when we think of all the
pain that men and women have endured since the Creation, of all the
miseries of which this world has been witness, of all the sufferings of
the animal creation, and of the eternal as well as temporal consequences
of sin, we must see that that which has brought such a harvest of misery
into the world is far more awful than sin-blinded men have thought it to
be.

The highest evidence, however, of the terrible character of sin is to be
found at the Cross; that it needed such a sacrifice--the sacrifice of
the SON of GOD--to bring in atonement and everlasting salvation, is
surely the most convincing proof of its heinous character.

Death was brought into the world by sin; and, like all the other
consequences of sin, it is loathsome and defiling. Man seeks to adorn
death; the pageantry of the funeral, the at