The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

The Testimony of Gibbon

All who are acquainted with the religious views of Edward Gibbon, writer of the monumental “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” must admit that whatever he wrote regarding the early church was written without any bias of favor toward the church. Of the Christian church during the second century, Gibbon, writing in the eighteenth century, gives this very clear and impartial testimony: AGP 177.4

“The Christian church, from the time of the apostles and their first disciples, has claimed an uninterrupted succession of miraculous powers, the gift of tongues, of vision, and of prophecy; the power of expelling demons, of healing the sick, and of raising the dead….

“The divine inspiration, whether it was conveyed in the form of a waking or of a sleeping vision, is described as a favor very liberally bestowed on all ranks of the faithful, on women as on elders, on boys as well as upon bishops. When their devout minds were sufficiently prepared by a course of prayer, of fasting, and of vigils, to receive the extraordinary impulse, they were transported out of their senses and delivered in ecstasy what was inspired, being mere organs of the Holy Spirit, just as a pipe or flute is of him who blows into it. We may add, that the design of these visions was, for the most part, either to disclose the future history, or to guide the present administration, of the church.” Milman’s “Gibbon’s Rome,” chap. 15, “The Progress of the Christian Religion, and the Sentiments …and Condition of the Primitive Christians,” Vol. I, sec. 3, pp. 539, 540, par. 26.

Such are the frank statements of this great historian, regarding a phase of history which it is understood he regarded rather distasteful to himself. Though he presents the possession of the spiritual gifts by the church as only a claim, yet he does not refute the claim, and recites the exercise and aims of the gifts with greater clearness and impartiality than do some of the theologians. His statements are definite and positive, and are of much value in our present study. They are well supported by other accredited writers. AGP 178.1

The Christian church, says Gibbon, from the time of the apostles onward, claimed a succession of miraculous powers, such as the gift of tongues, of vision, of prophecy, and of healing the sick. He also states that the object of the visions—the prophetic gift—was “either to disclose the future history or to guide the present administration of the church.” Id., p. 107. This is precisely the purpose for which the prophetic gift was ever bestowed. The historian’s word harmonizes, therefore, with the Biblical specifications concerning the operation of this gift, and really constitutes a fitting comment on Paul’s definition of its purpose, “for the edifying of the body of Christ.” AGP 178.2