examples of the eminent virtues and of the ascetic life. Wherefore, I confess, that I have ardently admired the religious orders, and the pious confraternities, and the other similar admirable institutions; for they are a sort of celestial soldiery upon earth, provided they are governed according to the institutes of the founders, and regulated by the Supreme Pontiff for the use of the universal Church. For what can be more glorious than to carry the light of truth to distant nations, through seas and fires and swords to traffic in the salvation of souls aloneto forego the allurements of pleasure, and even the enjoyment of conversation and of social intercourse, in order to pursue, undisturbed, the contemplation of abstruse truths and divine meditation to dedicate oneself to the education of youth in science and in virtue-to assist and console the wretched, the despairing, the lost, the captive, the condemned, the sick-in squalor, in chains, in distant lands—undeterred even by the fear of pestilence from the lavish exercise of these heavenly offices of charity! The man who knows not, or despises these things, has but a vulgar and plebeian conception of virtue; he foolishly measures the obligations of men toward their God by the perfunctory discharge of ordinary duties, and by that frozen habit of life, devoid of zeal, and even of soul, which prevails commonly among men. For it is not a counsel, as some persuade themselves, but a strict precept, to labor with every power of soul and body, no matter in what condition of life we may be, for the attainment of Christian perfection, with which neither wedlock, nor children, nor public office, are incompatible (although they throw difficulties in the way), but it is only a counsel to select that state of life which is more free from earthly obstacles, upon which selection our Lord congratulated Magdalen. GOTTFRIED WILHELM VON LEIBNITZ, VOWS. THE general principles and sacred obligation of Vows are plainly revealed in Holy Scripture. Not that their institution is recorded. The Law did not introduce them; but they are incidentally spoken of. Jacob's vow is recorded in the annals of the earliest ages, as a religious ordinance in ordinary use, and in the Book of Job, which is identified with the most universal traditions of primeval revelation, vows are classed among the simplest acts of personal religion: "Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows." They are to be regarded, therefore, as one of the many religious practices of patriarchal times, which being subsequently embodied in the Law, and regulated by its enactments, were thus invested with a fresh and more binding authority. Two classes of vows were recognized in the Mosaic Law,-vows of devotion and of abstinence. They were also distinguished as vows affirmative and negative-the one as implying some offering made to God, the other some restraint laid on the natural desires, or the use of certain things in themselves lawful. There was no limit to the objects which a vow might embrace. Persons, lands, cattle, houses, and property of any sort, are either expressly or by implication included in the possible category of votive offerings. The only exceptions were the first-born of man or beast, and the property of priests. But these were excepted only as being already devoted to God. They were His by a special covenant, the first-born as the representatives of the race which He had redeemed, the sacerdotal possessions as consecrated to His service. These exceptions, therefore, only the more strikingly proved, that the subjectmatter of vows was coextensive with every human personality or possession. The Nazarite vow was of all others the most important, on account both of its own special provisions and their symbolic significance. It is generally believed that the custom prevailed before the Mosaic period. Only its peculiar regulations were provided for in the Law. The external obligations incurred by this vow were, to let the hair grow, to abstain from wine, vinegar, or any produce of the grape, even from grapes themselves, and to avoid all approach to a dead body, even that of the nearest relation. It has been observed, and the point is of deep interest, as strikingly exhibiting the inner meaning of this remarkable self-consecration, that there is a close resemblance, as to their outward provisions, between the obligations of the Nazarite and those of the High-Priest. The rule of avoiding all contact with the dead, and that of abstinence from wine, applied to both. There is even ground for supposing that the Nazarite was permitted to enter the sanctuary, as bearing something of the priestly character, at least of the sanctity specially belonging to the sacred office. Moreover, Jewish writers generally were of opinion that some deep spiritual import was involved in the Nazarite rule, though they differ as to its interpretation. Philo viewed it as expressive of spotless inward purity and entire devotion of the person and his possessions. Some even regarded it as symbolizing the operation of the Divine Nature in man. That it embraced the whole life, and implied an entire consecration, was thought to be denoted by the provision, that at the completion of the vow, or renewal in case of being broken, the three chief sacrifices of the Law, the burnt-offering, the sin-offering, and the peace-offering, which together consecrated the |