Separation and Service

It is Hudson Taylor's exposition of Numbers 6 and 7 — the Nazarite's separation to God, the threefold priestly blessing, and the princes' freewill offerings — read as a pattern of the consecrated life. Taylor draws from these chapters three movements: separation to God, the blessing that flows from it, and the glad, princely service that follows, turning an ancient ritual into a picture of Christian devotion.

James Hudson Taylor was the founder of the China Inland Mission and one of the most influential missionaries of the nineteenth century, who gave his life to reaching inland China. Alongside his labours he was a man of deep devotion, and this little book, like his Union and Communion, opens a window onto the inner life of consecration that sustained his work.

It draws on the Nazarite vow of Numbers 6 — a voluntary setting-apart of oneself wholly to God. Taylor reads it not as a gloomy withdrawal but as a glad consecration: the believer separated from what would hinder and separated unto the Lord himself. Separation, in his hands, is the first movement of a devoted life, the giving of oneself entirely to God.

The priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 — 'The Lord bless thee and keep thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.' Taylor takes it as the blessing that flows to the consecrated soul, tracing its rising notes from being kept, to grace, to peace, as the portion of those set apart to God.

The phrase comes from the offerings of the princes in Numbers 7, who brought their gifts freely and gladly. Taylor uses it for the service that springs from consecration and blessing — not grudging duty but the willing, generous giving of oneself and one's substance to God, the natural overflow of a heart that has been separated to him and blessed by him.

Not in subject, but it comes from the heart of a missionary. It is a devotional exposition about consecration, and it reveals the springs of Taylor's own life of sacrifice — a separation to God and a glad service that underlay his mission. Readers often value it as a glimpse of the inner devotion behind the outward work.

Any Christian seeking a deeper consecration, or wanting to understand what it means to give oneself wholly to God. Taylor writes simply and warmly, and the movement of the book — separation, blessing, service — offers a clear pattern for anyone who longs to move beyond ordinary Christian living into whole-hearted devotion.

At the beginning, following Taylor's three movements in order: separation to God, the blessing that flows from it, and the princely service that follows. The book is brief and devotional, meant to be read slowly and prayerfully, and it builds a single picture of the consecrated life from the chapters of Numbers it expounds.