And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
When he sees that God is being praised and that Christ is being adored and that nothing is disguised or being done in secret, as happens among pagans, he will understand clearly that this is true religion. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest. Out of the gift of discerning of spirits, or because God directs the tongue of the prophet, i.e, the preacher, the most hidden sins of his heart will be described and reproved, and the man will think that the preacher speaks as a prophet to him in particular. It is evident from this that this was a common occurrence; it is also evident that these teachers and preachers were, strictly speaking, real prophets.
There is a parallel case in the, life of S. Augustine by Possidonius (c15), where it is said that on one occasion S. Augustine left the subject that he had decided to speak on, and discoursed on Manichism. This led to the conversion of a certain Manichan, who chanced to be present, as S. Augustine afterwards learnt. He believed it to be due to the direct guidance of God. Hence (de Doct. Christ. lib. iv. c15) he says that prayer should always be offered to God before preaching, that He would direct the mind and tongue of the prea...
Great in this place is the difficulty which one seems to find arising from what is said. For if tongues are for a sign to them that believe not, how says he, if they that believe not should see you speaking with tongues, they will say that you are mad? And if prophecy be not for the unbelieving, but for them that believe, how shall also the unbelievers gain thereby?
For if there come in, says he, when you are prophesying, one that believes not, he is reproved by all, and judged.
And not only this, but also after this another question hence springs up: since the tongue will appear on the contrary greater than the prophecy. For if the tongues are for a sign to the unbelieving, but prophecy to them that believe, that which draws in aliens and makes of the household, is greater than that which regulates those of the household. What then is the meaning of that expression? Nothing difficult nor obscure, nor contrary to what went before, but rather very agreeable to it, if we give heed:...
