a devoting or setting apart any thing to the worship or service of God. The Mosaical law ordained that all the first-born, both of man and beast, should be sanctified or consecrated to God. The whole race of Abraham was in a peculiar manner consecrated to his worship; and the tribe of Levi and family of Aaron were more immediately consecrated to the service of God, Exodus 13:2; Exodus 13:12; Exodus 13:15; Numbers 3:12; 1 Peter 2:9 . Beside the consecrations ordained by the sovereign authority of God, there were others which depended on the will of men, and were either to continue for ever or for a time only. David and Solomon devoted the Nethinims to the service of the temple for ever, Ezra 8:20; Ezra 2:58 . Hannah, the mother of Samuel, offered her son to the Lord, to serve all his life-time in the tabernacle, 1 Samuel 1:11; Luke 1:15 . The Hebrews sometimes devoted their fields and cattle to the Lord, and the spoils taken in war, Leviticus 27:28-29; 1 Chronicles 18:11 . The New Testament furnishes us with instances of consecration. Christians in general are consecrated to the Lord, and are a holy race, a chosen people, 1 Peter 2:9 . Ministers of the Gospel are in a peculiar manner set apart for his service; and so are places of worship; the forms of dedication varying according to the views of different bodies of Christians; and by some a series of ceremonies has been introduced, savouring of superstition, or at best of Judaism.