TESTIMONY OF PAUL.
The World:—Paul, after your conversion did you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost?
Paul—I did. Ananias, being sent of the Lord, came to me in Damascus, and placing his hands upon me, said: "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, has sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." (Acts 9: 17.)
The World:—Did anyone ever receive the Holy Ghost under your administration?
Paul:—Yes, many. On one occasion, while Apollos was at Corinth, I passed through the upper coasts and came to Ephesus. There I found certain disciples who told me that they had been baptized. I asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed, and they answered that they had not—that they had not even heard of the Holy Ghost. I asked them with what baptism they had been baptized, and they replied, "Unto John's baptism." I told them that John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. I then laid my hands upon them and prayed for them that the Lord would bestow upon them His Holy Spirit. The Lord hearkened unto my prayer and acknowledged my administration, for the Holy Ghost came upon them and they spake with tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19: 1-6.) Timothy also received this precious gift by the laying on of my hands. (II Tim. 1: 6.)
The World:—How does the Holy Ghost operate upon those who receive it?
Paul:—In divers ways. "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." (I Cor. 12: 4-11.) All these gifts, and many others, were enjoyed by the primitive Christians, and were inseparably connected with the true Gospel of Christ.
The World:—Did you not write an epistle to the Corinthian saints in which you told them that the gifts of prophecy, tongues, etc., would cease?
Paul:—I did. I told them that such gifts would cease when that which is perfect should come. I read from my epistle: "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. * * * For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as I am known." (I Cor. 13: 8-10, 12.) I wrote an epistle to the Ephesians, in which I told them that the spiritual gifts which Christ had placed in His Church were to continue "till we all come to the unity of the faith." The following is an extract from my epistle: "Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Eph. 4: 8, 11-13.)
The World:—The witness is excused. (To the Latter-day Saints):—Do the members of your Church enjoy the gifts of the Holy Ghost?