Speaking In
Tongues Throughout History
Tim Massengale
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
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)
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
his ministry reaching and converting people all over
Europe
understood in the Alpine regions and other parts of
in Brittany and Fanders, in the
only the local tongue. While in
women of mixed linguistic backgrounds, all of whom were said to
have heard him in their own language.(9) The Catholic
Encyclopedia
notes that many biographers of
was endowed with the Gift of tongues. This is perhaps the
closest parallel of Acts the second chapter that we find recorded
in early Church History.
In the first half of the sixteenth century we find the
same report about the two Catholic saints, Saint Francis Xavier
and Saint Louis Bertrand. Both men were reported to have spoken
in foreign language they did not know in the course of their
missionary work. The bull by which Berland was
canonized for his
success in missionary "asserts that to facilitate the work of
converting the natives, the apostle was miraculously endowed with the
gift of tongues."(10)
TONGUES FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
With the birth of Reformation, the Catholic Church no longer asserts
iron rule among the Church world. The instances of tongues
becomes
more and more frequent, beginning with Matin Luther.
In a German work,
Sourer's History of the Christian Church" it is
stated that, Dr.
Martin Luther was a prophet, evangelist, speaker in tongues, and
interpreter, in one person, endowed with all the gifts of the Holy
Spirit."(11)
"Soon following Luther came the French sect known
as the Jansenists.
This group arose in the Roman Catholic Church after the Council of
Trent and was subjected to persecution following the issuance in 1705
of a bill condemning them. After persecution began, speaking in
tongues was reported among this group."(12)
Another group in
as the
occurred similar to that of the Jansenists. Newman in
"A Manual of
Church History" tells us that:
Respecting the physical manifestations, there is little
discrepancy between the accounts of friend and foe. The persons
affected were men and women, the old and the young, Very
many
were children, boys and girls of nine or ten years of age. They
were sprung from the people for the most part unable to read or
write, and speaking in everyday life the patios of the province
with which alone they were conversant. Such persons would
suddenly fall backward, and, while extended at full length on
the ground, undergo strange and apparently involuntary
contortions; their chests would seem to heave, their stomachs
inflate. On coming gradually out of this condition, they
appeared instantly to regain the power of speech.... From the
mouths of those that were little more than babes came texts of
Scripture, and discourses in good and intelligible French such
as they never used in their conscious hours.(13)
Some of the French prophets emigrated to England and
made converts there, with tongues being a part of the British
revival also.
In this same period of time the Encyclopedia Britannica
tells of tongues "among the converts of Wesley and
Whitefield." John Wesley once wrote a protest against a Dr.
Middleton who wrote "after the Apostolic time,
there is not, in all
history, one instance...of any person who had even exercised that
gift (tongues)." Wesley replied, "Sir, your memory fails you
again, it has been heard more than once no further off than the
valleys of Dauphiny."(14)
The atmosphere of the revivals that followed the
Wesleyan movement was one of informality, spiritual fervor, and
religious enthusiasm. Crying out with groans and sobs in prayer,
shouting and uttering of "unintelligible sounds" were common of
this early period."(15)
Another movement that displayed Pentecostal characteristics
developed in
called the Society of Friends or Quakers. W.C. Braithwaite, in
"The Message and Mission of Quakerism," quotes from
Burrough's preface to Great Mystery:
"While waiting upon the Lord in silence, as often we did
for many hours together, we received often the pouring down of
the Spirit upon us, and our hearts were glad and our tongues
loosed and our mouth opened, and we spake with new
tongues as
the Lord gave us utterance, and as His Spirit led us, which was
poured down upon us, on sons and daughters, and the glory of the
Father was revealed. And then began we to sing praise
to the
Lord God Almighty and to the Lamb forever "(16)
The Quakers were followed in the eighteenth century by a
group that surpassed them in religious emotionalism. These were
called the Shakers. The roots of the group extend back to both
Quakers and the
Quakers who accepted the teaching of the
emigrated to
Pentecostlism in nature:
Some who attended confessed their sins aloud, crying for
mercy; some went into a trance-like state in which they saw
visions and received prophecies of Christ's imminent second coming.
Others shouted and danced for joy because they believed that the day
was at hand for wars to cease and God's kingdom on earth to
begin."(17)
Along with other spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues
was prominent among the Shakers. Of all the groups mentioned during the
Reformation, none
has received as much notice as the Irvingites, a sect
which developed in Great Britian about 1825. Edward
Irving, a popular
Presberterian minister in
role in the movement. When several demonstrations of religious
enthusiasm occurred in his services, he encouraged them, believing
they were of divine origin.
"The Gift of Tongues" was soon to follow and became a
part of his services. A strong faction formed against Irving and
his followers and ultimately they were turned away from the
leadership of Edward Irving. This body wrote a "tongues" tenet in its
theology."
Coming over to
called the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints,
commonly known as the Mormon Church, founded by Joseph Smith in 1830.
The seventh article of faith of the Latter-Day Saints states that
they "believe" in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions,
healing, interpretation of tongues, etc." Herber
Grant, the Seventh
President of the Church, commented on this article of faith:
Now, we have had many men who have had the gift of
tongues, out in the world, preach this gospel in a language of
which they had no knowledge....
Unless the gift of tongues and the interpretation
thereof are enjoyed by the Saints in our day, then we are
lacking one of the evidences of the true faith.(19)
Back in England, the report of tongues began to appear
in the wake of the preaching campaigns of Dwight L. Moody. Dr. R.
Boyd, who was a very close friend of the famous evangelist writes
concerning one instance:
When I got to the rooms of the Young Men's Christian
Association in Victoria Hall,
meeting on fire: The young men were speaking in
tongues, prophesying. What on earth did it mean?
Only that Moody had been addressing them that afternoon:"(20)
As the nineteenth century come to a close, space limits
me from listing all the instances of tongues that took
place. In 1875 R.B. Swan writes that he and others spoke in
tongues. 1879 - W.J. Walthall also receives the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, speaking in tongues. In 1880 in Kara Kara,
Pentecostal Movement breaks out with speaking in tongues.
The same year tongues is reported in
also includes the revival of
All of them are a part of the vast spreading movement of the spirit of
God as these last days grow to a close. No one can deny that there is
definite historical proof to the presence of tongues in the
Church throughout the centuries. God has always had a people
called out for his namesake. His word has always been a part of
the hearts of men, and so it continues today.
1 Philip Schaff, History of the Apostolic Church,
Scribner's, 1853, pp. 197-198.
2 Klaude Kendrick, The
Promise Fulfilled,
Publishing House, 1961, pg. 19.
3 Irenaeus, The Anti-Nicene
Fathers,
Scribner's 1885, Book III pg. 531.
4 Tertullian, The Anti
Nicene Fathers,
Scribner's 1885, Book III pp. 445-447.
5 Carl Brumback, What Meaneth
This, Gospel Publishing House,
Springfield, Missouri, 1947 pg. 91.
6 John Sherril, They Speak with Other Tongues, Revell Company:
7 Alexander Mackie, The Gift of Tongues,
Company 1950.
8 Encyclopedia Britannica 24 Volume,
Inc. 1951, XXII, pg. 283.
9 The Catholic Encyclopedia, 15 Volume,
1912 XV, pg. 438.
10 Ibid, pg. 439.
11 Carl Brumback, What Meaneth
This?
Publishing House, 1961, pg. 20.
12 Klaude Kendrick, The Promise
Fulfilled,
Gospel Publishing House, 1961, pg. 20.
13 Albert Henry Newman, A Manuel of Church History, 2
Volume
Philadelphil: American Baptists Publication Society,
1903 II pg. 478.
14 Carl Brumback, What Meaneth
This?,
Publishing House, 1947, pg. 92.
15 Klaude Kendrick, The
Promise Fulfilled,
Gospel Publishing House, 1961, pg. 23.
16 Carl Brumback, What Meaneth
This?,
Publishing House, 1947, pg. 93.
17 Marguerite Melcher, The Shaker Adventure,
18 Klaude Kendrick, The
Promise Fulfilled,
Gospel Publishing House, 1947, pg. 93.
19 Ibid, pg. 24.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brumback, Carl, What Meaneth
This?, Gospel Publishing House.
Catholic Encyclopedia, The, 15 Volumes, Robert
Appleton, Co.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Volumes, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Irenaeus, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 Volumnes, Charles Scribner's.
Kelsey, Morton, Tongue Speaking, Doubleday and Company.
Mackie, Alexander, The Gift of Tongues, Doubleday and
Company.
Melcher, Marguerite, The Shaker Adventure,
Newman, Albert Henry, A Manual of Church History, 2 Volumnes, America
Baptists Publication Society.
Schaff, Philip, History of the Apostolic Church,
Charles Scribner's.
Sherril, John, They Speak with other Tongues, Revell Co.
Tertullian, The Anti-Nicene Fathers, 10 Volumnes, Charles Scribner's
(The above material was a term paper done for Stockton Bible College.)
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