There is only one passage in
Scripture in which the vow is commanded in the most explicit form; but
along with others, in which precepts, inculcating the exercise, are
implied, that one is sufficient as a rule to guide our practice. That
passage,--"Vow, and pray unto the Lord your God," which commanded
obedience under a former dispensation, no less commands it now. As there
is no evidence in Scripture that the injunction has been abrogated,
those who would proceed, as if it were, would act an unwise part. Though
the things vowed, in some cases, under the present economy, may differ
from those vowed under the preceding, no such change has been produced
on the circumstances of men by the transition from the one to the other,
as could render the vow itself unnecessary or unlawful. Changes, in the
matter of the vow, even in the first ages, were continually being
produced in the course of Divine providence; yet the performance of it
continued to be obligatory. The changes that have occurred in the
circumstances of the Church of God, by the abolition of the Levitical
typical institutes, have been no more effective than the other, in
changing or taking away its obligation; nor will all the vicissitudes
that can occur in the Church's condition, till the consummation of all
things. The principles on which the vow is made, are immutable; and
while the Church is on earth, it will continue to be obligatory. As well
might it be said that prayer and praise, and meditation on God's word,
which were obligatory in the earlier times, are not duties incumbent
now, as that the vow should not be made; or that any service essentially
spiritual, necessary for the perfection of the saints, in a former
period, is not requisite in this; or that a dispensation, confessedly
not less spiritual, but as, in regard to the want of many types and
symbols, and to the more abundant effusion of the Spirit, more spiritual
than any that had gone before, should not be favoured with the use of so
many spiritual means of grace, as were vouchsafed under these.

The two passages of Scripture that represent the exercise of vowing, as
not obligatory in certain cases, may be explained in perfect consistency
with the general command enjoining it. These do not imply that the
neglect of the vow may be in general allowable; nor do they teach, that
it may be vowed, solely, or at all, according to caprice. They
manifestly admit that vowing is lawful in certain cases, and