nd will also bring
out very clearly what separation means. Israel was meant to be a holy
nation. Its holiness was specially typified in its priests. With regard
to the individual Israelite, we nowhere read in the books of Moses of
his being holy. But there were ordinances through which the Israelite,
who would fain prove his desire to be entirely holy, could do so. He
might separate himself from the ordinary life of the nation around him,
and live the life of a Nazarite, a separated one. This separation was
accepted, in those days of shadow and type, as holiness. 'All the days
of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.'

The separation consisted specially in three things--temperance, in
abstinence from the fruit of the vine; humiliation, in not cutting or
shaving his hair ('it is a shame for a man if he have long hair');
self-sacrifice, in not defiling himself for even father or mother, on
their death. What we must specially note is that the separation was not
from things unlawful, but things lawful. There was nothing sinful in
itself in Abraham living in his father's house, or in Israel dwelling in
Egypt. It is in giving up, not only what can be proved to be sin, but
all that may hinder the full intensity of our surrender into God's hands
to make us holy, that the spirit of separation is manifested.

Let us learn the lessons this truth suggests. We must know _the need_
for separation. It is no arbitrary demand of God, but has its ground in
the very nature of things. To separate a thing is to set it free for one
special use or purpose, that it may with undivided power fulfil the will
of him who chose it, and so realize its destiny. It is the principle
that lies at the root of all division of labour; complete separation to
one branch of study or labour is the way to success and perfection. I
have before me an oak forest with the trees all shooting up straight and
close to each other. On the outskirts there is one tree separated from
his fellows; its heavy trunk and wide-spreading branches prove how its
being separated, and having a large piece of ground separated to its own
use, over which roots and branches can spread, is the secret of growth
and greatness. Our human powers are limited; if God is to take full
possession, if we are fully to enjoy Him, separation to Him is nothing
but the simple, natural, indispensable requisite. God wants us all to
Himself, that He may give Himself all to us.

We must know the _purpos