Page:The Power of the Spirit.djvu/79

 74 with tongues 'more than you all.'; but none the less the practice seems to have somewhat worried him because of its disorderly consequences, and on the whole he discouraged it, and himself preferred to speak five words with his understanding rather than ten thousand in a tongue. The theory was that the mind slept while God played over a man 'like a lyre'—so at least Montanus described it at the end of the next century, when it seemed only to survive in his sect. The conscious mind of the speaker was certainly asleep; his words were unintelligible, but not meaningless like the sounds of a musical instrument—though there were some in whom the trumpet gave an uncertain sound ); when the speaker recovered consciousness, his memory was a blank, yet sometimes he could interpret for himself.

Glossolaly was evidently much sought after among the Christians of Corinth. It was of less social value than the other Talents of the Spirit, since it could not be shared in the same way; and, as the first enthusiasm died down, it may have become tiresome. None the less, it must have been popular with the congregation at first, and it may well have been impressive. We need not imagine it to have consisted in mere ugly gabble: even baby-talk is pretty and full of meaning, and glossolaly we may suppose to have included not only cries and