p. 12 | The Gift of Tongues

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 24, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 12.

The Gift of Tongues.

THERE has been much said for the last two years about the manifestation of the gift of tongues as evidence of the gift and sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Below is a testimony from one who supposed she had received the gift. It is quoted from the Evangelical Messenger, of Cleveland, Ohio. We do not use names, tho they are given in the quotation, as we do not wish to bring any one into unpleasant publicity. The lesson is the danger of receiving

half truths, which are often the worst of errors:

“We had the gift of tongues, and went out to teach the rest of the world the real Christ. We decided to sail to London. We escaped a great shipwreck, but they would not receive us there. Then six of us got the call to go to India. We went from London and reached Calcutta in July. Mr. ——, who led us, thought we could do great things in India.

“Besides me, there were three girls from New York and two from Philadelphia. We nearly starved in Calcutta, and went to the north. We reached Benares a month later. There two of our girls disappeared. They were very pretty, and there were some Indians we met who liked them very much. We were destitute, and the girls—well, they just vanished. We didn’t complain to the authorities, because we knew pretty well where they had gone. They are now in harems, and I can’t blame them much. We did not have the real gift, and life was far more terrible than I can tell you.

“Again we went north to Lucknow. Another girl, ——, of New York, was taken from us one night after we had camped for the night. There were some wild hillmen who rode down and stopped at our camp. Next morning all were gone. There were only three of us left, Mr. —— and ——, and I, and we went back to Calcutta. From there we sailed to Buenos Aires to join the others. We had even harder times in Argentina than in India. Then my parents succeeded in getting me home. Our gift of tongues was not from God. It was from some devil.”