rather implied. No doubt from among them sprung those who were afterwards "seers," such as Gad, Nathan,

and Iddo; but the majority seem to have joined the union under a temporary constraining influence of the

mighty Spirit of God. And although, as we gather from many passages of Holy Scripture (as 1 Samuel 22:5; 1

Chronicles 29:29, and other passages in the Books of Kings), they were occupied with the composition and

the study of sacred history, and no doubt with that of the law also, as well as with the cultivation of

hymnology, it would be a great mistake to regard them as a class of students of theology, or to represent

them as a monastic order.

In point of fact, the time of Samuel, and that of Elijah and Elisha, were great turning-points, periods of crisis,

in the history of the kingdom of God. In the first, the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the God-appointed

services had fallen into decay, and, for a time, may be said to have been almost in abeyance. Then it was

that God provided other means of grace, by raising up faithful, devoted men, who gathered into a living

sanctuary, filled not by the Shechinah, but by the mighty Spirit of God. Under the direction of a Samuel, and

the influence of a "spiritual gift," - like those of apostolic days - their presence and activity served most

important purposes. And, as in apostolic days, the spiritual influence under which they were seems at times

to have communicated itself even to those who were merely brought into contact with them. This, no doubt,

to prove its reality and power, since even those who were strangers to its spiritual purpose, and unaffected

by it, could not resist its might, and thus involuntarily bore witness to it. And something analogous to this

we also witness now in the irresistible influence which a spiritual movement sometimes exercises even on

those who are and remain strangers to its real meaning.188

Thus far as regards "the congregation of prophets" in the days of Samuel. In the time of Elijah, Israel - as

distinct from Judah - was entirely cut off from the sanctuary, and under a rule which threatened wholly to

extinguish the service of God, and to replace it by the vile and demoralizing rites of Baal. Already the

country swarmed with its priests, when God raised up Elijah to be the breaker-up of the way, and Elisha to

be the restorer of ancient paths. The very circumstances of the time, and the state of the people, pointed out

the necessity of the revival of the ancient "order," but now as "sons of the prophets" rather than as

prophets. Nor did this change of designation imply a retrogression. What on superficial inquiry seems such,

is, on more careful consideration, often found to mark real progress. In earliest patriarchal, and even in

Mosaic times, the communications between Jehovah and His people were chiefly by Theophanies, or

Personal apparitions of God; in the case of t he prophets, by inspiration; in the New Testament Church, by

the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. It were a grievous mistake to regard this progress in the spiritual history of

the kingdom of God as a retrogression. The opposite is rather the case. And somewhat similarly we may

mark, in some respects, an advance in the succession of "sons of the prophets" to the order of

"prophetics," or "prophesiers," as we may perhaps designate them by way of distinction. "But all these

things worketh one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man" (and to every period in the Church's

history) "severally as He will," and adapting the agencies which He uses to the varying necessities and

spiritual stages of His people.

What has been stated will help to explain how the three embassies which Saul sent to seize David in the

Naioth were in turn themselves seized by the spiritual influence, and how even Saul, when attempting

personally to carry out what his messengers had found impossible, came yet more fully and manifestly t han

they under its all-subduing power.189

It proved incontestably that there was a Divine power engaged on behalf of David, against which the king

of Israel would vainly contend, which he could not resist, and which would easily lay alike his messengers

and himself prostrate and helpless at its feet. If, after this, Saul continued in his murderous designs against

David, the contest would manifestly be not between two men, but between the king of Israel and the Lord of

Hosts, Who had wrought signs and mira cles on Saul and his servants, and that in full view of the whole

people. It is this latter consideration which gives such meaning to the circumstances narrated in the sacred

text, that the common report, how the spiritual influence had subdued and constrained Saul, when on his

murderous errand against David, led to the renewal of the popular saying: "Is Saul also among the

prophets?" For all Israel must know it, and speak of it, and wonder as it learns its significance.