are not, and cannot be, the grounds of conviction and belief (so Const. Ajwsl. c. viii). They involve of neces- sity a disturbance of the equilibrium between the un- derstanding and the feelings. Therefore it is that, for those who believe already, pro|)hecy is the greater gift. Five clear words spoken from the mind of one man ic the mind and conscience of anotiier are better than ten thousand of these more startling and wonderful phe- nomena.
(5.) There remains the question whether these also were " tongues" in the sense of being languages, of which the speakers had little or no previous knowl- edge, or whether we are to admit here, though not in Acts ii, the theories which see in them only uiuisual forms of speech (Hleek), or inarticulate cries (Bunsen). or all but inaudible whisperings (Wieseler, in Olshausen, ad loc.}. The question is not one for a dogmatic asser- tion, but it is believed that there is a preponderance of evidence leading us to look on the phenomena of Pen- tecost as representative. It must have been from them that the word tongue derived its new and special mean- ing. The companion of Paul and Paul himself were likely to use the same word in the same sense. In the absence of a distinct notice to the contrary, it is probable that the gift would manifest itself in the same form at Corinth as at Jerusalem. The "divers kinds of tongues" (1 Cor. xii, 28), the '■'■tongues of men" (xiii, 1). point to differences of some kind, and it is at least easier to conceive of these as differences of language than as belonging to utterances all equalh' wild and inarticu- late. The position maintained by Lightfoot {Hm'm. of Gasp, on Acts ii), that the gift of tongues consisted in the power of speaking and understanding the true He- brew of the Old Test., may appear somewhat extrava- gant, but there seems ground for believing that Hebrew and Aramaic words had over the minds of Greek con- verts at Corinth a power which they failed to exercise when translated, and that there the utterances of the tongues were probably, in whole or in part, in that lan- guage. Thus, the " iNIaranatha" of I Cor. xvi, 22, com- pared with xii, 3, leads to the inference that the word had been spoken under a real or counterfeit inspiration. It was the Spirit that led men to cry Abba, as their rec- ognition of the fatherhood of God (Rom. viii, 15; Gal. iv, 6). If we are to attach any definite meaning to the " tongues of angels" in 1 Cor. xiii, 1, it must be by con- necting it with the words surpassing human utterance which Paul heard as in Paradise (2 Cor. xii, 4), and these, again, with the great Hallelujah hymns of which we read in the Apocalypse (Rev. xix, 1-6; Stanley, foe. cit. ; Ewald, Gesch. Isr. vi, 117). The retention of other words like Hosanna and Sabaoth in the worship of the Church, of the Greek formula of the Kyrie Eleison in that of the nations of the West, is an exemplification of the same feeling operating in other ways after the spe- cial power had ceased.
(6.) Here also, as in Acts ii, we have to think of some peculiar style of enunciation as frequently char- acterizing the exercise of the " tongues." The analo- gies which suggest themselves to Paul's mind are those of the pipe, the harp, the trumpet (1 Cor. xiv, 7, 8). In the case of one "singing in the spirit" (ver. 15), but not with the understanding also, the strain of ecstat- ic melody must have been all that the listeners could perceive. To "sing and make melody" is specially characteristic of tliose who are filled with the Spirit (Eph. V, 19). Other forms of utterance less distinctly musical, yet not less mighty to stir the minds of men, we may trace in the "cry" (Rom. viii, 15; Gal. iv, 6) and the "ineffable groanings" (Rom. viii, 26) which are distinctly ascribed to the work of the Divine Spirit. To those who know the wonderful power of man's voice, as the organ of his spirit, the strange, unearthly charm which belongs to some of its less normal states, the in- fluence even of individual words thus uttered, especially of words belonging to a language which is not that of our common life (comp. Hilar. Diac. Comm. in 1 COr.
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xiv), it will not seem strange that, even in the absence of a distinct intellectual consciousness, the j^ift should take its place among tlie means by which a man " built up" his own life, and might contribute, if one were pres- ent to expound his utterances, to "edify" others also. Neander {Pflanz. u. Leit. i, 15) refers to the effect pro- duced bv the preaching of St. Bernard upon hearers who did not understand one word of the Latin in which he preached {0pp. ii, 119, ed. iNFabillon) as an instance of this. Like phenomena are related of St. Anthony of I'adua and St. Vincent Ferrer {Acta Sanctorum, Jinie 24 and April h), of wliich this is probably the explana- tion. (Conip. also Wolff, Curie I'hilolog. in Xoc. Test., A cts ii.)
(7.) Connected with the " tongues," there was, as the words just used remind us, the corresponding power of interpretation. It might belong to any listener (1 Cor. xi\', 27). It might bL'long to the speaker himself when he returned to the ordinary level of conscious thought (ver. 13). Its function, according to the view that has been here taken, must have been twofold. The inter- preter had first to catch the foreign words, Aramaic or others, which had mingled, more or less largely, with what was uttered, and then to find a meaning and an order in what seemed at first to be without either; to follow the loftiest flights and most intricate windings of the enraptured spirit ; to trace the subtle associations which linked together words and thoughts that seemed at first to have no point of contact. Under the action of one with this insight, the wild utterances of the "tongues" might become a treasure-house of deep truths. Sometimes, it would appear, not even this was possible. The power might be simply that of sound. As the ])ipe or harp, played boldly, the hand struck at random over the strings, but with no ciceotoX/j, no mu- sical interval, wanted the condition of distinguishable melody, so the " tongues," in their extremest form, passed beyond the limits of interpretation. There might be a strange awfulness, or a strange sweetness as of " the tongues of angels;" but what it meant was known only to God (ver. 7-11).