John Trapp on 1 Corinthians 13:1

CHAP. XIII. Verſe 1. Though I ſpeak with the tongues]

THe Corinthians gloried much in this gift of tongues: But this a man may have, and yet periſh, as Mithridates, [non-Latin text not transcribed], &c. Plut. who is ſaid to have ſpoken two and twenty languages. And Cleopatra was a great linguiſt, ſhe could give anſwers to Ethiopian, Hebrew, Arabick, Syrian, Median and Parthian Embaſſadours, ſaith Plutarch: yea ſhe could turn and tune her tongues as an inſtrument of many ſtrings, to what dialect ſhe pleaſed.

And of Angels] Not that angels have tongues; as neither have they wings, though they are ſaid to flie, and even unto wearineſſe of flight, Dan 9 21. A certain Frier undertook to ſhew to the people a feather of the Angel Gabriels wing, and ſo verified the old proverb, A Frier a lier. Carltons thank. Remem. p. 174. But the Apoſtle here uſeth an high kinde of expreſſion, ſuch as is uſed, Act. 6.15. Pſal 78.25. Unleſſe perhaps, ſaith Chryſostome here, the angels have. ſuo modo, ſua co[illegible: 1 letter]oquia. The Schoolmen have great diſputes about it, and tell us, that when an angel hath a conceit in his minde of any thing, with a deſire that another ſhould underſtand it, it is enough, it is done immediately. But are not theſe they that intrude into thoſe things that they have not ſeen, Coloſ. 2.18. underſtanding neither what they ſay, nor whereof they affirm, 1 Tim. 1.7. Like unto theſe are our new Millenaries, that upon a miſtake of ſome high expreſſions in Scripture, which deſcribe the judgements poured out upon Gods enemies in making a way to the Jews converſion by the patern of the laſt judgement, think that Jeſus Chriſt ſhall come from heaven again, and raign here upon earth a thouſand years.See M. Co[illegible: 1 letter]tons ſixth viol, p. 26