subjection to an extraordinary influence from without, when thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds were no

longer under personal control, but became, so to speak, passive instruments. Viewing it in this light, we can

understand the use made of music, not only by true prophets, but even among the heathen. For the effect of

music is to detach from surrounding circumstances, to call forth strong feelings, and to make us yield

ourselves implicitly to their influence.

In the case of the prophets at Gibeah and in that of Saul, this ecstatic state was under the influence of the

"Spirit of Elohim."99 By this, as in the case of the judges,100 we are, however, not to understand the abiding

and sanctifying Presence of the Holy Ghost dwelling in the heart as His temple. The Holy Ghost was

peculiarly "the gift of the Father" and "of the Son," and only granted to the Church in connection with, and

after the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord.

Under the Old Testament, only the manifold influences of the Spirit were experienced, not His indwelling as

the Paraclete. This appears not only from the history of those so influenced, and from the character of that

influence, but even from the language in which it is described. Thus we read that the Spirit of Elohim "seized

upon" Saul, suddenly and mightily laid hold on him, - the same expression being used in Judges 14:6, 19;

15:14; 1 Samuel 16:13; 18:10. But although they were only "influences" of the Spirit of Elohim, it need

scarcely be said that such could not have been experienced without deep moral and religious effect. The

inner springs of the life, thoughts, feelings, and purposes must necessarily have been mightily affected. It

was so in the case of Saul, and the contrast was so great that his fellow-townsmen made a proverb of it. In

the language of Holy Scripture, his "heart," that is, in Old Testament language, the spring of his feeling,

purposing, and willing, was "turned into another" from what it had been, and he was "turned into another

man," with quite other thoughts, aims, and desires than before. The difference between this and what in the

New Testament is designated as "the new man," is too obvious to require detailed explanation. But we may

notice these two as important points: as in the one case it was only an overpowering influence of the Spirit

of Elohim, not the abiding Presence of the Paraclete, so the moral effects produced through that influence

were not primary, but secondary, and, so to speak, reflex, while those of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of

God's people are direct, primary, and permanent.101

The application of these principles to "the spiritual gifts" in the early Church will readily occur to us. But

perhaps it is more important to remember that we are always - and now more than ever - prone to confound

the influences of the Spirit of God with His abiding Presence in us, and to mistake the undoubted moral and

religious effects, which for a time may result from the former, for the entire inward change, when "all old

things have passed away," and, "all things have become new," and are "of Christ." Yet the one is only the

reflex influence of the spirit of man, powerfully influenced by the Spirit of Elohim; the other the direct work

of the Holy Ghost on the heart.

One of the effects of the new spiritual influ ence which had come upon Saul was, that when his uncle, Ner,

met him upon the Bamah, or high place (ver. 14), probably joining him in his worship there to find out the

real meaning of a change which he must have seen more clearly than any other, and which it would readily

occur to him to connect with the visit to Samuel, he forbore to gratify a curiosity, probably not unmixed with

worldly ambition and calculations.

But yet another charge had Samuel given to Saul before parting (ver. 8), and that not only a charge, but a

life-direction, a warning, and a test of what was in him. That he understood it, is evident from 1 Samuel 13:7,

8. But would he submit to it, or rather to God? That would be to him the place and time when the two ways

met and parted - and his choice of either one or the other would be decisive, both so far as his life and his

kingdom were concerned.