let the hair grow freely, has its basis in the idea of holiness. Among the Orientals, and especially among the Hebrews, the hair of the head is the same as the products of the earth, the grass of the field, and the growth of the trees. Especially in accordance with this is the naming of the vine in the year of jubilee, nazyr, in Lev. xxv. 5, since they prune it not this year, but allow its leaves and branches to grow freely. From this it is evident, that the growth of the hair, according to oriental view, signifies grass, shoots, blossoms of men. But in so far as the Hebrew looked upon men as distinctively moral beings, the human blossoms and shoots represent holiness.

This view is by no means new; but it is discarded by all judicious investigators, as mere mystical refinement. The following reasons are

especially decisive against it :—

*

1. The proofs which are brought for the position, that, according to oriental and especially Israelitish views, the growth of the hair is a symbol for the thriving condition of man, are very weak. The one derived from Lev. xxv. is the only one which is worth the trouble of a closer examination. It is there said of the sabbatical year, in verse 5: "The grain which groweth of its own accord thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vines (Nazarites) thou shalt not gather: a year of rest is it for the land;" after that it had been said before, in verse 4, "Thy field thou shalt not sow, and thy vineyard thou shalt not prune." Then in verse 11, concerning the year of jubilee: "You shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself, neither gather its Nazarites."+ It is not entirely certain, that there is a special reference in these passages to the leaving of the hair to grow in the case of the Nazarites.

The general idea of separation, which lies at the basis of the whole institution of the Nazarites, might here also apply. As the Nazarites were separated from the world, so was the vine from the use of man in the sabbatical year and the year of jubilee. But if we suppose a reference to the unshorn hair of the Nazarites, which the "not gathering" and "not pruning" in verses 4, 5 favour, yet at any rate the point of comparison is only with respect to the separation. That the unpruned vine is not better, but worse, is decidedly against the opinion of Bähr. It shoots out in wood, and an injury is done to its true growth. (John xv. 2.) This is decisive against the opinion that the growth of the hair among the Israelites is a symbol of prosperity, namely, that it belongs to propriety among the Israelites to go with shorn hair, whereas, according to this view, long hair must have been considered an ornament, as among most nations of antiquity.

2. The fundamental idea in the institution of the Nazarite is, that of separation from the world, with its enjoyments, which oppose holiness, and its corrupting influences. This negative point of separation involves the positive one of sanctification; the separate person is, at the same time, holy

* Compare, e. g. Carpzov. Appar. ad Antiq., p. 153: Ut eos taceam, qui mysticam commenti rationem, nutritionem capillamenti symbolum instituunt nutritionis interioris, quo Abarbanel in h. l. et Gregorius, L. II., Moral. c. 26, tendit.

Besides the establishment of the law in chap. vi., these passages also, in which, before the giving of the law concerning the Nazarites, allusion is made to them, show that the Lawgiver found it as an existing institution.

Carpzov., p. 153: Communis inter priscos Judæos mos ita tulit ut tonsis incederent capillis, secus ac Græci veteres, Romani, Galli, aut Germani, qui comati erant. Compare, in reference to the consideration in which long hair was held among these nations, the collections by Lampe in the Miscell. Gröning., t. iv., p. 209, seq.

to the Lord; since the world stands in opposition to the Lord, every renunciation of it is, at the same time, a union with the Lord, and the separation is here made directly for the sake of the Lord. That the idea of separation lies at the foundation, the name, by which the significance of the institution must be expressed, indicates.* (nazyr) means, "the separate one." Equally in favour of this idea is Num. vi. 2: "The vow of a Nazarite is for a separating to the Lord." This fundamental idea of the institution must be traceable in all of its separate points. That especially the command to leave the hair unshorn rests upon it, we have even the express explanation of the lawgiver. It is said, in verse 5, "All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head until the days be fulfilled, in which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy; he shall let the hair of his head grow." The separation is here given as a reason for allowing the hair to grow. Even the hair of the Nazarite is, in verses 9 and 18, named "separation ;" but with the accompanying idea of designation. Now, according to the view of Bähr, the idea of separation is entirely lost. The negative idea, which, as has been alleged, must form the foundation upon which the positive is supported, falls entirely away. Thereby, then, this element of the institution of the Nazarite will be entirely separated from both the others in which the negative idea, as can be demonstrated, and is allowed, prevails.

At the same time, with the view of Bähr, that which Winer (after the authority of Lampe) has proposed falls to the ground.† "The head of the Nazarite, with its natural ornament, was regarded as specially devoted; and the touching of it with a razor is, consequently, a profanation of that which belongs to Jehovah." The negative idea, according to this view, is also robbed of its just right. Long hair cannot, according to the notions of the Israelites, be considered as a natural ornament."

66

The proof for the interpretation of the rite claimed by us, is given in the confutation of other views. We believe that long hair is a symbol of separation from the world. It belongs, as we have already seen, to the Israelitish ideas of propriety, to go with shorn head; ‡ and he who left his hair to grow, furnished, by this act, a practical confession that he renounced the world, and abandoned all intercourse with men. That also, on other occasions, those who considered themselves as separated from men suffered their hair to grow, is shown by Deut. xxi. 12; where, concerning the captive which an Israelite determined to marry, it is said, "And thou shalt bring her into thine house, and she shall shear her head and pare her nails." By shearing her head and paring her nails she enters again into human society.§

If the significance of leaving the hair unshorn is determined, the Egyp

* Carpzov., p. 151: Haud dubia est a, separavit, abstraxit, continuit se a re aliqua et propterea segregatum, separatum notat.-Satis omnino præsidio huic interpretationi est ex sede hujus instituti primaria, Num. vi. 2, ubi votum Nasarai dicitur ad separandum se Domino.

+ In dem Reallexicon, II., 1, S. 165.

Geier, De Hebr. Luctu, p. 203, correctly says: Israëlitarum populum comatum haudquaquam fuisse vel inde colligi potest, quod comam alere proprium esset Nazaræorum, adeo ut hi ipsi ab aliis popularibus facile internoscerentur ex coma. § This passage shows very distinctly with what justice Bähr asserts, S. 437, "It was the Israelitish custom, in mourning, not to allow the hair to be long, but to cut it. The cutting of it must, indeed, be different from shaving, calvitium facere. Only the latter was the appropriate condition in mourning." Comp. Geier, De Hebr. Luctu., c. 8, sect. 6, 7.

tian reference in this rite lies on the surface. Indeed, it must appear remarkable that the Israelites agree with the Egyptians, almost against the whole of the rest of the world, in considering short hair as belonging to social propriety.* Indeed, this agreement is explained most easily by the long-continued residence of the Israelites in Egypt. But it is a point of more importance, that among the Egyptians, not less than among the Israelites, the temporary withdrawing from the world, the going out of society, was symbolized by leaving the hair to grow. We see this from Gen. xli. 14,—according to which the captives in Egypt left their hair unshorn; and also from Herodotus, 2. 36: "The Priests of the gods wear, in other lands, long hair; but in Egypt they cut it off: among other nations it is the custom to shear the beard when a relative dies; but when any of their friends die, the Egyptians leave the hair, which was before cut, to grow both on the head and chin."

Whilst the proof that the leaving of the hair to grow, among the Nazarites, was a sign of separation, shows, on the one hand, that the rite stood in an external relation to Egyptian customs, it serves, on the other hand, for confuting the hypothesis of Spencer concerning the heathenish origin of the whole rite. The cases in which the Heathen devoted the hair of the head and the beard to their divinities appears, from this point of view, as entirely different.-Hengstenberg.

THE EARLY AFRICAN CHURCHES.+

(Continued from our last.)

ALEXANDRIA became early celebrated as a centre of Gospel light, as the capital of Egypt, and the emporium of Eastern commerce. It was calculated to bear a prominent part in the dissemination of the new religion; but, unhappily, a mixture of heathen philosophy seems to have adulterated the pure revelation of Jesus Christ; and the worst consequences ensued from an attempt to explain the sacred oracles according to the absurd dogmas of the Stoics, and other heathen sects. Pantænus, the first master of the Alexandrian school of whom we have any notice, was of the sect of Zeno; and to him succeeded Clemens Alexandrinus, his pupil in Stoic philosophy; but who said of himself, "I espouse neither this nor that philosophy, neither the Stoic, nor the Platonic, nor the Epicurean, nor that of Aristotle; but whatever any of these sects hath said, that is fit and just; whatever teaches righteousness, with a divine and religious knowledge; all this I select, and call it philosophy." This language seems scarcely consistent with the profession of a man who believed that God had, by the Gospel of his Son, made foolish the wisdom of this world, and that the

* Compare remarks upon Gen. xli. 14, where we have shown that cutting the hair was considered as a distinguishing peculiarity of the Egyptians.

+ "Missions in Western Africa, among the Soosoos, Bulloms, &c.: being the first undertaken by the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East. With an Introduction, containing,-I. A Sketch of Western Africa, with a Description of the principal Tribes inhabiting that Coast; II. A brief History of the Slave-Trade, to the present Day; III. Some Account of the early African Churches; IV. A condensed Survey of all the Missionary Exertions of modern Times, in favour of Africa. By the Rev. Samuel Abraham Walker, A. M., Rector of Gallo, Meath.” 8vo. Curry, jun., and Co., Dublin.

So called to distinguish him from Clement, Bishop of Rome, and author of the Epistle to the Corinthians.

Gospel was the wisdom of God, and the power of God unto salvation. We may see, in such a leaning to human systems as this, the seeds of those fatal heresies which continually distracted, and subsequently destroyed, the African church. Clement's idea, that heathen philosophy "waters and softens the earthy parts of the soil, that the spiritual seed may be the better cast in and take vital root in the minds of men,” is certainly not the scriptural view of the matter.

Clement's name would have been handed down to posterity, if for nothing else, as the master of the celebrated Origen, whose character and habit of thinking he was, no doubt, greatly instrumental in forming. Unhappily for Origen's usefulness and fame, he was but too deeply imbued with the philosophic notions of his teacher.

Origen was born in the city of Alexandria, in the sixth year of the Emperor Commodus, and of the Christian era, 185. He was the eldest of seven children; and his father, Leonidas, was a Christian of eminent piety, and sedulously devoted himself to the religious education of his children. Origen was extremely studious, and of a melancholy turn of mind; so that he early turned his attention to theology, into the depths of which he penetrated with untiring industry. Leonidas rejoiced at the disposition which his son manifested; and it is related, that he frequently entered his chamber at night, and, as he lay asleep, offered up earnest prayers for the divine blessing upon him; and then uncovering his breast, kissed it with a mingled feeling of reverence and affection, as being the temple of the Holy Spirit. After having been some years a pupil of Clement, he placed himself under Ammonius Saccas, a teacher of eminence in the Platonic school, under whom he became master of the philosophy of the Platonics, Pythagoreans, and Stoics, and acquired the allegorical and mystical style of interpretation which he afterwards employed in his commentaries on the Scriptures.

The Emperor Severus commenced a deadly persecution against the Christians when Origen was seventeen years old; and the principal weight of the calamities which ensued fell upon the church of Alexandria, in which city the Emperor was then sojourning, to examine the antiquities of the place, and whither he caused to be brought from all parts of Egypt the most celebrated of the Christian Divines, that he might satiate his fiendish hatred of the holy Jesus, by feasting his eyes on the dying agonies of his most devoted saints. Vast numbers of Christians suffered martyrdom on this occasion, by every species of torment which heathen ferocity could suggest; and, among the rest, Leonidas, the father of Origen, who, however, was mercifully allowed to be beheaded.

The perverted zeal of young Origen now displayed itself in a manner common among Christians in those times. He panted for the honour of martyrdom, purposely exposing himself to danger, and determined to join his father in prison, that he might die with him; but his mother concealed his clothes, and thus confined him to the house. He now wrote a letter to his father, one line of which only has come down to us: "Take heed, father, that your care for us do not make you change your resolution."

Upon his father's death, his paternal property was all confiscated, and he reduced to the greatest distress; but God raised up a friend for him, in the person of a rich lady, who gave him an asylum in her house, where he applied himself to his studies with unwearied diligence, among which the Scriptures occupied a principal place. He was scarcely eighteen when he opened a school, to support himself and his mother; and his success was

most rapid. Still the persecution raged; and young Origen was unceasing in his attendance on the martyrs in prison, and at the place of execution : his own escape was almost miraculous; for he had become a celebrated character, multitudes crowding to hear his expositions of the divine word; and as Demetrius, the Bishop, had committed the school of Alexandria to him, he was placed in a position of dangerous pre-eminence.

With all Origen's piety and zeal, nothing could be worse than his mode of interpreting Scripture. Forsaking the plain and obvious sense, he discovered a mystic meaning under the most literal statement of facts, and supposed that the sacred history was only a parabolic mode of conveying to the initiated divine truths too deep for common understandings. After this manner, the whole word of God was turned into a fable, and, as a necessary consequence, rendered perfectly useless as a revelation from above ;* speaking, as it was thus made to do, a language foreign to the sense meant to be conveyed.+

* In the tenth book of the work called Stromata, he thus expresses himself: "The source of many evils lies in adhering to the carnal, or external, part of Scripture. Those who do so shall not attain to the kingdom of God. Let us, therefore, seek after the spirit and substantial fruit of the word, which are hidden and mysterious." And again: "The Scriptures are of little use to those who understand them as they are written." No wonder that the virtual suppression of the sacred volume soon grew out of such language as this.

We are tempted to introduce here an example of this method of exegesis, which is furnished to us by Dr. Adam Clarke, in his "Succession of Sacred Literature," as it illustrates, not only Origen's teaching, but that of several others also of his day. The portion of Scripture to be interpreted is that from Exod. i. 15-22, connected with ii. 1-10. This passage contains Pharaoh's cruel order to the Hebrew midwives, and the discovery of Moses by Pharaoh's daughter. Origen thus treats it:

"Pharaoh, King of Egypt, is the devil. The male and female children are the animal and rational faculties of the soul. Pharaoh, the devil, wishes to betray all the males; that is, the seeds of rationality and spiritual science, by which the soul may tend to, and seek, heavenly things: but he wishes to preserve the females alive; that is, all those animal propensities of man by which he becomes carnal, sensual, and devilish. Hence, when you see a man living in luxury, banqueting, pleasures, and sensual gratification, know that the King of Egypt has destroyed all the males, and preserved the females alive. The midwives are the Old and New Testaments: the one is called sephora, which signifies a 'sparrow,' and means that sort of instruction by which the soul is led to hover aloft, and investigate heavenly things; the other is called phua, which signifies 'ruddy,' or 'bashful,' and indicates the Gospel, which is ruddy with the blood of Christ, spreading the doctrine of his passion over the world. By these two, as midwives, souls are born into the church, and educated in spiritual and evangelical truths. Pharaoh, the devil, wishes to corrupt these midwives, that all the males, the spiritual and heavenly propensities, may be destroyed; and this he endeavours to do by bringing in heresies and corrupt opinions. But the midwives feared God; therefore he built them houses; that is, the two Testaments teach and inculcate the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom;' and thus the houses of the church are built in different parts of the world. By Pharaoh's daughter, the church is to be understood; who leaves the house of her impious and iniquitous father, according to the word of the Prophet: 'Hearken, O daughter, and consider; incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father's house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.' (Psalm xiv. 10, 11.) Thus she obeys the word, and comes to the waters to bathe,—that is, to the baptismal font,-that she may be washed from the stains she had contracted in her father's house. Here she finds Moses in an ark of bulrushes, among the flags, daubed over with pitch; that is, being filled, after baptism, with bowels of compassion, Pharaoh's daughter, the church, finds Moses, the law, in an ark made of reeds, daubed with pitch and bitumen, deformed and obscured by the absurd and carnal glosses of the Jews, by which all its beauty and elegance had been con