Natives in |
Dhond,
|
|
About
six months ago we began to hear of Christian believers in different places and
countries receiving the gift of speaking in a new tongue, which they had
never known before. Our hearts were much stirred by these accounts, some of
them having come from those whom we had known for years as most humble,
earnest and devoted servants of the Lord. |
One
week ago today, I visited the Mukil Mission at Kedgaon, 13 miles from here,
which is under the superintendence of Pan** Miss Abrams asked me if I would
not like to go in the room where about 20 girls were praying. After entering
I knelt on one side, with closed eyes. Presently I heard some one near me,
praying very distinctly in English. Among the petitions were.-"O Lord,
open the mouth; O Lord open the mouth; O Lord open the heart; O Lord, open
the heart; O Lord, open the eyes; O Lord open the eyes; O the Blood of Jesus,
the Blood of Jesus; O, give complete victory! O, such a blessing! O, such a
glory!" I was struck with astonishment, as I knew there was no one in
the room who could speak English, besides Miss Abrams. I opened my eyes, and
within three feet of me, on her knees, with closed eyes and raised hand, was
----- whom I had baptized in Kedgaon in 1899 nearly 8 years ago, and whom my
wife and I had known intimately since, as a devoted Christian worker. Her
mother-tongue was Marathi, and she could speak a little Hindustani. But she
was utterly unable to speak or understand English such as she was using. |
When
I heard her speaking English idiomatically, distinctly and fluently, I was
impressed very much as I would have been, had I seen one whom I knew to be
dead, raised to life. A few others, illiterate Marathi women and girls were
speaking in English and some were speaking in other languages, which none of
us at Kedgaon understood. This was not gibberish, but it closely resembled the
speaking of foreign languages, to which I have listened but did not
understand. Again I was at Mukti last Saturday and Lord's day, when some 24
different persons had received the gift of tongues. Quite a number had
received the ability to speak in English, a language before unknown to them. |
Just
why God enabled these women and girls of |
On
Saturday I was much impressed with the speaking of B--------, a Hindi women;
who was rescued in the famine of 1897. She was illiterate, but able to read
the Bible in Marathi stumblingly. During the year of 1899 while my wife and I
were living at Mukti, we saw much of B--------, and knew her as one capable
and very faithful in attending to the secular duties entrusted to her. On
Saturday she was praying in English. Among other things she was saying,
"O, the love! the love! the love! the love! O, the love of Jesus! O, my
precious Lord! my precious Lord! My precious child!" One not knowing her
history would not see the force of the last sentence. She has an only child,
from whom she has been separated for 10 years, and with whom she is not
allowed to have communication. I was struck with the English which she used
as being idiomatic, and the words which she spoke being of a class which she
would not have used had she been learning by study. And I have no doubt from
what I knew of her that she by her own powers could no more have spoken in
English as she did then than she could have taken wings and flown. There was
abundant evidence that God was working in a wonderful way. Those speaking in
tongues gave evidence that their souls were flooded with blessing from God. |
Those
who are attributing the power of the Lord's servants, to speak in other
tongues, to demons or evil spirits, seem to me to put themselves in the place
of the Pharisees of old, who attributed Christ's supernatural power to the
same source. See Matt. XII. 24-32; Mark III. 23-30. |
Here
at Dhond some of us are waiting on God for the bestowment of all the Spirit's
gifts, which He has for us. And we have been already blessed by this spirit
of waiting and prayer. We ask the prayers of our friends that we may know by
blessed experience the uttermost of all God has for us, through His Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ.-Albert Norton. |
|
From:
The Apostolic Faith, Vol. I N. 7, |