That was another thing that was
greatly coveted. "Whether there be tongues, they shall cease." As we
all know, many many centuries have passed since tongues have been
known in this world. They have ceased. Take it in any sense you like.
Take it, for illustration merely, as languages in general--a sense
which was not in Paul's mind at all, and which though it cannot give
us the specific lesson, will point the general truth. Consider the
words in which these chapters were written--Greek. It has gone. Take
the Latin--the other great tongue of those days. It ceased long ago.
Look at the Indian language. It is ceasing. The language of Wales, of
Ireland, of the Scottish Highlands is dying before our eyes. The most
popular book in the English tongue at the present time, except the
Bible, is one of Dickens' works, his _Pickwick Papers_. It is largely
written in the language of London street-life; and experts assure us
that in fifty years it will be unintelligible to the average English
reader.
Then Paul goes farther, and with even greater boldness adds, "Whether
there be _knowledge_, it shall be done away.
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