2, We may add hereunto those especial endowTQients with some i moral virtues, which he granted unto sundry persons for the accom- plishment of some especial design. So he came upon Gideon and upon Jephthah, to anoint them unto the work of delivering the peo- ple from their advei'saries in battle. Judges vi. 34, xi. 29. It is said before of them both that they were "men of valour," chap. vi. 12, xi. 1. This coming, therefore, of the Spirit of God upon them, and clothing of them, was his especial excitation of their courage, and his fortifying of their minds against those dangers they were to con- flict withal. And this he did by such an efficacious impression of
150 , OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK II.
his power upon them as that both themselves received thereby a confirmation of their call, and others might discern the presence of God with them. Hence it is said that the "Spirit of the Lord clothed them/' they being warmed in themselves and known to others by his gifts to and actings of them.
8. There are sundry instances of his adding unto the gifts of the mind, whereby he quahfied persons for their duties, even bodily strength, when that also was needful for the work whereunto he called them. Such was his gift unto Samson. His bodily strength was supernatural, a mere effect of the power of the Spirit of God; and, therefore, when he put it forth in his calling, it is said that "the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him," Judges xiv. 6, XV. 14, or wrought powerfully in him. And he gave him this strength in the way of an ordinance, appointing the growing of his hair to be the sign ajid pledge of it ; the care whereof being violated by him, he lost for a season the gift itself
I 4. He also communicated gifts intellectual, to be exercised in and /about things natural and artificial. So he endowed Bezaleel and Aholiab with wisdom and skill in all manner of curious workman- ship, about all sorts of things, for the building and beautifying of the tabernacle, Exod. xxxi. 2, S. Whether Bezaleel was a man that had before given himself unto the acquisition of those arts and sciences is altogether uncertain ; but certain it is that his present endow- ments were extraordinary. The Spirit of God heightened, and im- proved, and strengthened the natural faculties of his mind to a per- ception and understanding of all the curious works mentioned in that place, and unto a skill how to contrive and dispose of them into the order designed by God himself. And, therefore, although the skill and wisdom mentioned differed not in the kind of it from that which others attained by industry, yet he received it by an im- mediate afflatus or inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as to that degree, at least, which he was made partaker of.
( Lastly, The assistance given unto holy men for the publishing ' and preaching of the word of God to others, — as to Noah, who was " a preacher of righteousness," 2 Pet. ii. 5, for the conviction of the world and conversion of the elect, wherein the Spirit of God strove with men. Gen. vi. 3, and preached unto them that were disobedient, 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20, — might here also be considered, but that the ex- planation of his whole work in that particular will occur unto us in a more proper place.
And thus I have briefly passed through the dispensation of the Spirit of God under the Old Testament. Nor have I aimed therein to gather up his whole work and all his actings, for then everything that is praise-worthy in the church must have been inquired into ; for
CHAP, I.] PREPARATOEY TO THE NEW CREATION. 151
all witliont liim is death, and darkness, and sin. All life, light, and power are from him alone. And the instances of things expressly assigned unto him which we have insisted on are sufficient to mani- ' fest that the whole being and welfare of the church depended solely on his will and his operations. And this will yet be more evident when we have also considered those other effects and operations of his, which being common to both states of the church, under the Old Testament and the New, are purposely here omitted, because the nature of them is more fully cleared in the gospel, wherein also their exemplifications are more illustrious. From him, therefore, was the word of promise and the gift of prophecy, whereon the church was founded and whereby it was built; from him was the revelation and institution of all the ordinances of religious worship; from him was that communication of gifts and gracious abilities which any persons . received for the edification, rule, protection, and deliverance of the church. All these things were wrought by "that one and the self-same Spirit, which divideth to every man severally as he will.'' And if this were the state of things under the Old Tes- tament, a judgment may thence be made how it is under the New. The principal advantage of the present state above that which is past, next unto the coming of Christ in the flesh, consists in the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon the disciples of Christ in a larger manner than formerly ; and yet I know not how it is come to pass that some men think that neither he nor his work is of any great use unto us. And whereas we find everything that is good, even under the Old Testament, assigned unto him as the sole imme- diate author of it, it is hard to persuade, with many, that he con- tinues now to do almost any good at all; and what he is allowed to have any hand in, it is sure to be so stated as that the principal praise of it may redound unto ourselves. So diverse, yea, so adverse, are the thoughts of God and men in these things, where our thoughts are not captivated unto the obedience of faith !