-- Late January, 1800
THE GIFT OF TONGUES
"But this I well remember; that they were much abused and persecuted, Mother [Ann Lee] in particular. At one time, the worldly authority held a trial respecting her; when she was so endued with the spirit and power of God, that she spake before the court and a large concourse of people, in twelve different languages, to the astonishment of many present; particularly some of the learned, who understood her, when she spake in French, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin: also some being present who understood other languages." [p. 46;] "There were many operations by the power of God, and wonderful gifts; as speaking in unknown tongues, trembling, groaning, and sometimes turning round . . ." [p. 47 (testimony of Mary Hocknell, b. 1759, who joined the Shakers as a young woman in England, and with whom Brown conversed)]
On the third day after our arrival [thus, on about January 26, 1800], there came an elderly man (by name Seth Youngs) from Lebanon, . . . whom I had heard had the gift of speaking in unknown tongues, or in languages he did not understand . . . [p. 58;] . . . I was satisfied from the appearance of the man, and previous conversation, that he was not a man of learning. . . . [p. 59]
. . . After meeting, all the family sitting round the fire, as he was talking concerning the happiness of a religious life, suddenly his head shook, as if by a severe electric shock; he then closed his eyes and sung half an hour, in some language, said to be Hebrew. As soon as he ended, he said, "this was one of the songs of Zion;" . . .
The same evening he spake a few minutes in some Indian tongue, or it appeared such by the gesticulations, &c. He told us that, "he could only speak as he was inspired by the power of God, and then he had no will or power to stop; and that it often came upon him unexpected, and unthought of; and that he did not understand what he said, except when he had a sense of it given to him." I was informed of an illiterate sister at Lebanon, in the same order, that had the gift of interpretation of tongues; and that she sometimes could translate, or explain languages thus spoken: [Brown, Thomas (b. 1766) "An account of the people called shakers: Their Faith, Doctrines, and Practice, Exemplified in the Life, Conversations, and Experience of the Author During the Time He Belonged to the Society. To Which is Affixed a History of Their Rise and Progress to the Present Day."] (1)
-- 1817
In Germany, Gustav von Below, an aristocratic officer of the Prussian Guard, and his brothers, founded a charismatic movement based on their estates in Pomerania, which may have included speaking in tongues. (2)
Endnotes:
1 - Grunder, Rick, Mormon Parallels: A Bibliographic Source, Brown, Thomas (b. 1766) "An account of the people called shakers: Their Faith, Doctrines, and Practice, Exemplified in the Life, Conversations, and Experience of the Author During the Time He Belonged to the Society. To Which is Affixed a History of Their Rise and Progress to the Present Day."
2 - Wikipedia: Glossolalia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia
LDS History Chronology: Speaking in Tongues
Mormon History Timeline: the gift of Tongues
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
