a prophet. For hundreds of years God had never spoken by means
of any prophet, and at that time the prophet was greater than the
king. Men waited wistfully for another messenger to come, and hung
upon his lips when he appeared, as upon the very voice of God. Paul
says, "Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail." The Bible
is full of prophecies. One by one they have "failed"; that is,
having been fulfilled, their work is finished; they have nothing
more to do now in the world except to feed a devout man's faith.

Then Paul talks about TONGUES. 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 by KNOWLEDGE, it shall be done away." The wisdom of
the ancients, where is it? It is wholly gone. A schoolboy to-day
knows more than Sir Isaac Newton knew; his knowledge has vanished