-- Before January 10, 1831
John Corrill, later a convert, visited Kirtland where he said he heard Mormons "speak in tongues unknown to me," and was informed by some non-Mormons who were present "that the tongues were regular Indian dialects, which I was also informed, on inquiry, the persons who spoke had never learned." [John Corrill, A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, (Commonly Called Mormons) . . . (St. Louis: John Corrill, 1839), 9] (1)
-- Eary 1831
Describing the situation in northern Ohio in early 1831, Whitmer said Satan "took a notion to blind the minds of some of the weaker ones, and made them think that an angel of the Lord appeared to them and showed them writings on the outside of the Bible, and on parchment, which flew through the air, and on the back of their hands, and many such foolish and vain thingsothers lost their strength, and some slid on the floor, and such like maneuvers, which proved greatly to the injury of the cause." [F. Mark McKiernan and Roger D. Launius, eds., An Early Latter Day Saint History: The Book of John Whitmer, Kept by Commandment (Independence: Herald House, 1980), 36] (1)
-- February 4, 1831
Thomas Campbell, father of well-known founder of the Disciples of Christ, Alexander Campbell, spent the winter of 1830-31 in Mentor, Ohio, and on 4 February wrote to Sidney Rigdon, complaining that Mormon claims to authority based on charismatic displays of spiritual gifts were "in no wise superior to the pretensions of the first quakers, of the French Prophets, of the Shakers, of Jemima Wilkinson, &c." Campbell criticized the Mormons for "their feigned pretensions to miraculous gifts, the gift of tongues, &c," and challenged them to prove their possession of such gifts "in three or four foreign languages." [As quoted in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 121] (1)
-- February 15, 1831
Eber D. Howe "A scene of the wildest enthusiasm was exhibited,. . . they would fall, as without strength, roll upon the floor, . . . they exhibited all the apish actions imaginable, making grimaces both horrid and ridiculous.... At other times they are taken with a fit of jabbering that they neither understand themselves nor any body else, and this they call speaking foreign languages by divine inspiration." [Painesville (Ohio) Telegraph, 15 February 1831, 3] (1)
-- circa Mar 8, 1831
Revelation, circa 8 March 1831-A [D&C 46]
48th Commandment Marh concerning conformation & sacrament meetings &c ... And again it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of opperations whether it be of God or not so that the manifestations of the spirit may be given to evry man to prophet [profit] withall And again Verily I say unto you to some it is given by the spirit of God the word of wisdom to another it is given the word of Knowledge that all may be taught to be wise & to have knowledge & again to some it is given to have faith to be healed & to others it is given to have faith to heal And again to some it is given the working of miracles & to others it is given to prophecy & to others the decerning of spirits & again it is given to some to speak with tongues & to another it is given the interpretation of tongues & all these gifts cometh from [God] for the benefit of the children of God ... (2)
-- Probably 1831
Smith recalled the confused situation in Kirtland, "many false spirits were introduced, many strange visions were seen, and wild enthusiastic notions were entertained . . . and many ridiculous things were entered into, calculated to bring disgrace upon the church of God." [Joseph Smith, "Try the Spirits,'" Times and Seasons 3 (1 April 1842): 747] (1)
-- May 1831
"... there are many spirits which are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world. ... if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit ... " [D&C 50] (1)
Endnotes:
1 - Dan Vogel and Scott C. Dunn, '"The Tongue of Angels": Glossolalia among Mormonism's Founders,' Journal of Mormon History Vol. 19, No. 2, 1993
2 - Book of Commandments and Revelations (Revelation Book 1) http://bit.ly/manuscript-revelations
LDS History Chronology: Speaking in Tongues
Mormon History Timeline: the gift of Tongues
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
