“They were not most earnestly and especially to desire to be able to speak foreign languages, or to work miracles. But they were to desire to be qualified to speak in a manner that would be edifying to the church. They would…highly prize the power…of speaking foreign languages…. [Yet] the ability to speak in a plain…manner so as to edify the church…was a more valuable endowment than…the power of speaking foreign languages….
“The faculty of speaking intelligibly, and to the edification of the church, is of more value than the power of speaking a foreign language…. He did not undervalue the power of speaking foreign languages when foreigners were present; or when they went to preach for foreigners. See [I Cor. 14] ver. 22… It was only when it was needless, when all present spoke one language, that he speaks of it as of comparatively little value.”
