in an unknown tongue, he of course would have to be silent; there are only two gifts that could be made visible—the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy. These are things that are the most talked about, and yet if a person spoke in an unknown tongue, according to Paul’s testimony, he would be a “barbarian to those present.” They would say that it was giberish; and if he prophesied they would call it nonsense. The gift of tongues is the smallest gift perhaps of the whole, and yet it is one that is the most sought after. So that according to the testimony of scripture and the manifestations of the spirit in ancient days, very little could be known about it by the surrounding multitude; except on some extraordinary occasion as on the day of Pentecost. The greatest, the best, and the most useful gifts would be known nothing about by an observer. It is true that a man might prophecy, which is a great gift; and one that Paul told the people—the church—to seek after and to covet, rather than to speak in tongues; but what does the world know about prophesying? Paul says that it “serveth only to those that believe.”— But does not the scriptures say that they spake in tongues and prophesied? Yes; but who is it that writes these scriptures? Not the men of the world or mere casual observers, but the Apostles—men who knew one gift from another, and of course were capable of writing about it; if we had the testimony of the scribes and pharisees concerning the out-pouring of the spirit on the day of Pentacost, they would have told us that it was no gift, but that the people “were drunken with new wine,” and we shall finally have to come to the same conclusion that Paul did, that “no man knows the things of God but by the spirit of God,” for with the great revelations of Paul, when he was caught up into the third heaven and saw things that were not lawful to utter, no man was apprised of it until he mentioned it himself fourteen years after; and when John had the curtains of heaven withdrawn, and by vision looked through the dark vista of future ages, and contemplated events that should transpire throughout every subsequent period of time until the final winding up scene—while he gazed upon the glories of the eternal world, saw an innumerable company of angels and heard the voice of God—it was in the spirit on the Lord’s day; unnoticed and unobserved by the world.