Speaking with tongues is almost the last of the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, and after the rapture and enthusiasm of the first Christian generation had subsided, it waned; ecstatic outbursts made for disorder, and without interpretation were unprofitable.  The language in ordinary use was always that used in the Church’s worship.  Among Christians, says Origen, ‘the Greeks use Greek names, the Romans Latin names, and everyone prays and sings praises to God in his mother tongue’.^[1]  St. Augustine exhorted the priests to cultivate good Latin, so that the people might understand clearly what it is to which they reply, Amen.  ‘There is nothing more certain in history, than that the service of the ancient Church was always performed in the vulgar or common language of every country, that is, such as was either commonly spoken, or at least commonly understood.’^[2]

How the Church’s services came to be rendered in an unknown language is easily explained.  The two greatest world‑conquering powers of antiquity, Greece and Rome, spread their languages Greek and Latin, throughout their domains.  In the West this meant that Latin became the official tongue; the standard version of the Scriptures, St. Jerome’s Vulgate, and the Church’s Liturgy were in Latin.  It was natural that such should be the case, for Latin was then the language used by educated people throughout the greater part of the Roman Empire, and it was very fitting that Latin should be used in the worship of the Church.  But Latin gradually became a dead language, unintelligible to the majority of the people, for racial and cultural differences effected modifications of the general imperial language, and various dialects developed which eventually led to modern European languages, such as English, French, Spanish or Italian.  Nevertheless, the Roman Church insisted on the use of Latin in her services, and tried to justify its retention on the ground that it strengthened the unity of the Church, was conducive to reverence, and helped to preserve the Faith since it was less liable than modern languages to suffer corruption.

The Anglican Reformers were particularly anxious to follow the Apostolic principle that ‘all things be done to edifying’,^[3] and insisted that Public Worship should be in the vernacular.  This is in full accord with the biblical emphasis on edification – ‘Unless your tongue utters language that is readily understood, how can people make out what you say?  You will be pouring words into the empty air,’^[4] says St. Paul.  He therefore emphasizes that praying and singing,^[5] as well as preaching or ‘prophesying’^[6] should be ‘with the understanding’,^[7] and therefore in the vernacular.

The Article appeals to ‘the custom of the Primitive Church’ as well as to the Bible. All the primitive liturgies were in the native language of the people for whom they were written.  Latin cannot be regarded as more sacred than any other language.  The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, but was translated into Greek to suit Greek‑speaking Jews.  A Roman Catholic writer points out that ‘the Italo‑Greeks of Southern Italy have said Mass in Greek for over a thousand years, while the Melkites of Syria, Palestine and Egypt use Arabic and Greek.  The Byzantine rite is used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in fourteen different languages. . .  Greek was originally the language of the Roman Liturgy, Latin superseding it by the beginning of the 5th century’.^[8]

Some men regard this Article as justifying the revision of the entire Prayer Book on the ground that its Tudor English is ‘not understanded of the people’;^[9] others extend its scope to include audible and distinct pronunciation, since even the mother‑tongue may be unintelligently rendered.^[10]