7. The so-called Unknown Tongues, which mani- fested themselves first in the west of Scotland, and after- wards in the Caledonian Church in Regent Square, pre- sent a more striking phenomenon, and the data for judging of its nature are more copious. Here, more than in most other cases, there were the conditions of long, eager expectation fixed brooding over one central thought, the mind strained to a preternatural tension. Suddenly, now from one, now from another, chiefly from women, devout but illiterate, mysterious sounds were heard. Voices which at other times were harsh and unplcasing became, when "singing in the Spirit," perfectly harmonious (Cardale, Narrative, iu ]\/ornin(/ Watch, ii, 871, 872). See the independent testimony of archdeacon Stopford. He had listened to the " un- known tongue," and had found it "a sound such as I never heard before, uncartlily and unaccountable." He recognised precisely the same soimds in the Irish re- vivals of 18.59 (Woi-k and Counienvorh, p. 11). Those who spoke, men of known devotion and acuteness, bore witness to their inabilit\- to control themselves (Baxter. Narrative, p. 5, 9, 12), to their being led, the}' knew not how, to speak in a " triumphant chant" (ihid. p. 46, 81). The man over whom they exercised so strange a power has left on record his testimony, that to him thej' seem- ed to embod}' a more than eartldy music, leading to the belief that the "tongues"' of tlie apostolic age had beeu as the archetypal melody of which all the Church's chants and hymns were but faint, poor echoes (Oli- phant, Life of Irvintj, ii, 208). To those who were
TONGUES, GIFT OF
48G
TONSURE
without, on the other hand, they seemed but an unin- telligible gibberish, the yells and groans of madmen (newspapers of liiol, pafsim). Sometimes it was as- serted that fragments of known languages — Spanish, Italian, (ireek, Hebrew — were mingled together in the utterances of those who spoke in the power (liaxter, .Vurnilire, \\ l.'5:>, 134). Sometimes it was but a jargon of mere sounds {ibid.). The speaker was commonly un- able to interpret what he uttered. Sometimes the of- lice was undertaken by another. A clear and interest- ing summary of the history of the whole movement is given in Mrs. Oliphant's Life of Irrhuj,\o\. ii. Those who wish to trace it through all its stages must be re- ferred to the seven volumes of the MorniiH/ Watch, and •■specially to Irving's series of papers on the Gi/ls of the Spirit in vols, iii, iv, and v. Whatever other ex- planation may be given of the facts, there exists no ground for imputing a deliberate imposture to any of the persons who were most conspicuous in the movement.
8. In certain exceptional states of mind anil body the powers of memory are known to receive a wonder- ful and abnormal strengtli. In the delirium of fever, in the ecstasy of a trance, men speak in their old age lan- guages which they have never heard or spoken since their earliest youth. The accent of their common speech is altered. Women, ignorant and untaught, re- jieat long sentences in (Ireek, Latin, and Hebrew, which they had once heard, without in any degree under- stan<iing or intending to remember them. In all such cases the marvellous power is the accompaniment of disease, and passes away when the patient returns to his usual state, to the healthy equilibrium and interde- pendence of the life of sensation and of thought (Aber- crombie, lutelkctuul Poweis, p. 140-143; Winslow, Ob- scure Diseases of the /^?7/2», p. 337, 3G0, 374 ; Watson, Principles and I'rdctice of Physic, i, 1'28). The medi- cBval belief that this power of speaking in tongues be- longed to those who were possessed by evil spirits rests, obviously, upon like psychological phenomena (Peter Martyr, Loci Communes, i, 10; Bayle, Diet. s.w'-^Gran- dier").
We refer to the above singular phenomena of modern times not as genuine samples of the scri|)tural i/lossohi- lia, but as illustrating some of the physical and mental symptoms with which they were accompanied. In many instances, no doubt, the Hiblical facts have been merely imitated, and in others they have exercised un- consciously a reproductive power. See Wieseler, in the S/ud.u.Krit.]SoS,\u,703: l«30,ii,4S3; iii, 7o-2; 1843, iii, 6.')9 sq. ; 1847, i, 55; al.so the monographs cited by Volbeding, Index Prof/rammalum, p. 73.
IV. This subject is not merely curious and interest- ing, but full of practical moment. 1. It shows how ■well the Gospel message was accredited in its first ]>romulgation. It fixes attention on the high conse- quence of preaching the Gospel; of declaring its mes- sage with a glowing, burning earnestness, and of ob- taining the live coal whi(di is to kindle the heart from off God's altar. 2. Inasmuch as the tongues of fire ap- pear to have rested on private Christians as well as apostles, and on women as well as men — for no distinc- tion, no exception, is made in the narrative — we are ad- monished that all are bound in the measure of their ability to speak for God, to let no corrupt communica- tion proceed out of their month, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it n)ay niini^tt r grace unto the hearers. 3. At the same time we are warned that the tongue might be had in its integrity while the fire was wanting or feeble. Paul himself, though avowing that he could speak with tongues more than they all, felt the need of being prayed for by saints, "with all prayer and sup|dication in the Spirit, that utterance might be given him, that he miglit ojien his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel." 4. We learn, finally, from the apostle that faith, hope, and charity were better than this physical endowment, as liaving a more abiding character.