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revelation? What is the evidence that these languages had proven insufficient for the purpose? It is worthy of note that when^ individual reference is made to the possession of this miraculous gift, it is spoken of as “a tongue” (singular) (cf. xiv. 2, 26, 27 R. V.). Why, if the “gift” represented a foreign language (singular or plural), was the one possessing it, if he did not at the same time possess the gift of interpretation also, or if there were no one present who could inter pret, exhorted to- speak to God by him self, alone, probably at home (xiv. 28) ? We may well ask in this connection if the gift of tongues was not intended more especially for private than for public wor ship (cf: xiv. 19; yet cf. also xiv. 22 ). Further, experience also teaches us that “foreign languages” are not to be under stood by this gift. The most saintly and consecrated Christians who have yielded their lives to Christ for work in the for eign field have had and still have to spend much time and labor in acquiring the lan guage of the country in which they are laboring. Once in a while we have heard and, perchance, will continue to hear of an individual, or group of individuals, here and there who, having, as they claim, re ceived the “gift of tongues,” which they venture to affirm to consist in the ability to speak the language of some particular tribe or country,vhave, on this supposition, gone to that particular country or tribe only to find that they were grievously mis taken.;'and, sad to say, have .too frequently lost their faith in God and religion. ( 6 ) The Purpose of the Gift of Tongues, and Does it Still Exist in the Church ? The purpose of the gift of tongues is set forth here by a reference to the Old Testa ment, which should be carefully studied in this connection (xiv. 20-22; cf. Isaiah xxviii. 11, 12). According to Isaiah, God’s people were in captivity among people of strange tongues. The captivity was a pun ishment, a judgment of God—in a sense, a God abandonment. Not the mercy but the
deep spiritual experience put an end to the doubts and questionings of many a man and placed him in a position of blessing and power thereafter? May it not be that “the gift of tongues was a language of the heavenly Canaan given by God (all language and speech being a divine gift) to express in a manner free from all the impurities and corrup tions of the then present speech and lan guages the new experiences of grace which they were being permitted to receive? Such a language as eye could not have seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived—the expression of thoughts and feelings awakened in the heart of the Christian by the Holy Spirit in language not known to the hearers or to, any one els£ but the Spirit.’’ It does seem that speak ing with tongues was confined (largely, if not exclusively) to praying and singing (xiv. 14-17), and so might be at times, as the apostle intimates it was, an interrup tion of the regular preaching (prophesy ing) service; hence the injunction to keep quiet (xiv. 28). So no praising (or pray ing) “in a tongue” should take place in the congregation unless there were an inter preter present, or the , one so speaking possessed also the gift to interpret; other wise how could the congregation say “Amen” to it (xiv. 16). Such prayer or thanksgiving.cannot produce any feeling of gratitude in' the hearts of the hearers. 'After all is said, we must confess that it is practically impossible for us in this day to definitely and unmistakably define just what really constituted the gift of tongues as possessed by the early church. ’The gift of tongues as described in this chapter (we are not here considering Acts ii, where there was evidently a need for such) does not seem to have consisted in the ability to speak in a foreign language or languages, as a direct gift of the Holy Spirit. Why should the Holy Spirit con vey, thus miraculously, the ability to speak - in foreign languages ? Had not the Hebrew and Greek languages already been chosen by God as a vehicle of divine truth and
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