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   From: .robert@mu.way   
      
   A paper I ran across the other day. And where there were tongues there were   
   also other Gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation. This is only a part of the   
   paper. The foot notes will be in the last part of this posting series.   
      
   December 26, 2009   
      
   Speaking In Tongues Throughout History   
      
   Introduction The controversy that exists among Theologians concerning   
   “speaking in tongues” is not a new subject. It is about as old as the   
   Christian Church itself. Paul dealt with the problem of tongues with the   
   Corinthian Church around 57 A.D. Writers following the apostles continued to   
   deal with it. It is not the intention of this writing to prove a biblical   
   existence of tongues, for the Word of God clearly defines itself on that   
   subject. But much of the contention of tongues lies in their continuance   
   following the first century.   
      
   Many would like to say they ceased with the apostles. Others contend they   
   lost their usefulness and therefore disappeared. The fact is that they did   
   neither. The following is an accumulation of evidence concerning tongues as   
   found in history.   
      
   The Bible is not only a book of Theological knowledge, but also a book of   
   history. All references given in the Word of God are evidence of tongues in   
   the first century. But all Bible students will agree upon the existence of   
   tongues in the New Testament Church. Where the problem lies in the existence   
   of tongues following the death of the apostles.   
      
   What is presented here is a history of tongues as it was recorded by numerous   
   men throughout Church history. According to Philip Schaff, a well known   
   writer of Church History, tongues was not confined to the first century.   
      
   “The speaking with tongues, however, was not confined to the day of   
   Pentecost. Together with the other extraordinary spiritual gifts which   
   distinguished this age above the succeeding periods of more quiet and natural   
   development, this gift also though to be sure in a modified form, perpetuated   
   itself in the apostolic Church. We find traces of it still in the second and   
   third centuries.”(1)   
      
   Tongues In The Second, And Third And Fourth Centuries   
      
   Among the Church fathers that lived following the death of John the Revelator   
   in 98 A.D., Montanus of Phrygia stands as a leader in the support of tongues.   
   Eusebius, a fourth century Church historian writes that the followers of   
   Montanus would be “carried away in spirit, and wrought up into a certain   
   kind of frenzy and irregular ecstasy, raving, and speaking, and uttering   
   strange things.”(2)   
      
   Because of his teachings, and the practices of his followers, they were   
   forced to withdraw from the accepted church of the early second century and   
   were ultimately labeled as heresy.   
      
   Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp who was in turn a pupil of the Apostle John,   
   wrote in his book “Against Heresies”   
      
   “In like manner do we also hear many brethren in the Church who possess   
   prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of language and   
   bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men and declare   
   the mysteries of God, whom also the apostles term spiritual “(3)   
      
   Tertullian, who lived about the same time as Irenaeus in 160-220 A.D, writes   
   a passage in his book “Against Marcion” which challenges Marcion to   
   produce anything among his followers such as was common among Tertullian’s.   
      
   “Let him exhibit prophets such as have spoken, not by human sense but with   
   the Spirit of God, such as have predicted things to come, and have made   
   manifest the secrets of the heart; let him produce a psalm, a vision a   
   prayer, only let it be by the Spirit in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture,   
   whenever an interpretation of tongues has occurred to him “(4)   
      
   A few years later in the third century, a certain Pachomius was able to   
   “after seasons of special prayer, spoke the Greek and Latin languages,   
   which he had never learned, under the power of the Spirit.”(5)   
      
   Saint Augustine, who lived in the fourth century (354-430) also wrote: “We   
   still do what the apostles did when they laid hands on the Samaritans and   
   called down the Holy Spirit on them by the laying on of hands. It is expected   
   that converts should speak with new tongues.(6)   
      
   TONGUES IN THE DARK AGES   
      
   The introduction of the fifth century marks the beginning of the Dark Ages.   
   It is here that the Catholic Church rules with an iron hand and people were   
   killed for not following its teachings.   
      
   The absence of writings other than those of Roman Catholic is not surprising.   
   It is the authors opinion that the church was in hiding concerning this time,   
   for I feel that God has always had a Church. Nothing could dare be published   
   or written concerning tongues for fear of it costing their lives. Alexander   
   Mackie in his book, “The Gift of Tongues: puts in this way:   
      
   “From patristic times until the power of Reformation had made itself   
   distinctly felt the gift of tongues is an almost forgotten phenomenon. The   
   attention which the Reformation drew to the Scripture is the reason for the   
   reappearance of the gift. Men do not usually have the gift of tongues unless   
   they know there is a gift of tongues.”(7)   
      
   The first time that tongues appear in the Dark Ages is in the Life of Saint   
   Hildengard, who lived in the twelfth century. She was a German Abbess who was   
   raised in a Catholic cloister but was not educated because she was sickly.   
   Nevertheless, it was recorded that she was able to “interpret Latin   
   scriptures, and speak and interpret an entirely unknown language.” Her   
   first experience with this gift is said to have came as a part of a   
   “strange and powerfully moving religious experience, and following a long   
   series of visions which she had not discussed with anyone.” This also   
   corresponds to the Encyclopedia Britannica which states that tongues or   
   “Glossolalia” was present “among the mendicant friars of the thirteenth   
   century.” One of these friars was a young Spaniard by the name of Saint   
   Vincent Ferrer, a native of Valencia, who supposedly spoke Limousin the local   
   dialect. The Biographers of Ferrer tell of his ministry reaching and   
   converting people all over Western Europe, many in isolated areas. He was   
   reported to have been understood in the Alpine regions and other parts of   
   Switzerland, in Brittany and Fanders, in the Savoy and Lyons, by people who   
   know only the local tongue. While in Genoa he spoke to a group of men and   
   women of mixed linguistic backgrounds, all of whom were said to have heard   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)