# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1897_S21 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Ghe Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PuBLIsHeD BY THE EVANGELICAL Lutneran SynopicAL ConFeRENCE oF Nort AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XIX. St. Louis, Mo., June, 1897. No. 6. Prayer to the Holy Spirit. “Oh, come, Eternal Spirit Of truth, diffuse Thou light! Shine in our soul and banish All blindness from our sight. Thy holy fire pour o’er us, Touch heart and lip, that we With faithful, good confession Acknowledge Christ and Thee. “Pour, Spirit, o’cr all nations A Pentecostal Shower, The Word of testimony Accompany with power, That hearts and lips may open— The nations’ and our own— And, we through joy and sadness, Make Christ’s salvation known.”’ <> -o= > The Holy Spirit. His Personaciry. Some people speak of the Holy Spirit, as if He were a mere power or influence. But that is not Bible doctrine. the Holy Spirit as of a person. In the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John Christ says to His disciples: ‘‘I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Com- forter, that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall bein you.’’ Here the Holy Spirit is spoken of, not as a power or an influence, but as a person; for Christ uses the words ‘‘He,”’ ‘‘Him,’’ and ‘“‘whom.’’ Again, in many passages of the Bible men are said to vex, to blaspheme, to grieve the Spirit, which they could not do unless He is a person. Again, itis often affirmed in the Bible that the Spirit ‘“‘spake’’ and ‘‘said,’’ proving conclu- sively that He isa person. Again, Christ said to His disciples: ‘‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. From this we learn that the Holy Spirit is a person as truly as the Father and the Son, and that He is a person distinct from the Father and the Son. The Bible speaks of: The Holy Spirit is a divine person. He is called God. Letus look only at one passage of the Bible. In the fifth chapter of the Acts we read: ‘‘Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?... Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.”’ In lying unto the Holy Ghost, Ananias had lied unto God; for the Holy Spirit is God. Again, in the Bible the attributes and works of God, and the honors due to God are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, the same as to God the Father and to God the Son. From this it is quite plain that the Holy Spirit is a divine person. To the question, Who is the Holy Spirit? our catechism therefore gives us the correct answer: ‘‘He is Yhe third person in the Godhead, who from eternity proceeds from the Father and the Son, and regenerates and sanctifies us through the Word and the Sacra- ments.’’ ‘This leads us to consider His Work. The Holy Spirit ‘‘regenerates and sancti- fies us.’? .This comprises all that is done to man, in order to make him partaker of the salvation of Christ. By His life, sufferings, and death Christ procured salvation for all sinners. But this salvation must be brought to man, and he must accept it as his own. Man can not do this by his own strength; for he is ‘‘dead in trespasses and sin,’’ and there is not the least particle of strength in him by which he could bring himself to spiritual life. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,’’ 1 Cor. 2, 14. ‘No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost,’’ 1 Cor. 12,3. Such are the plain statements of God’s Word. We therefore confess in our Catechism: “T be- lieve that I can not by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit hath called me through the Gospel, enlightened me by His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith.” It is all the Holy Spirit’s work. Man can resist Him, but he can not assist Him. The Holy Spirit does His work through certain means, which God Himself has or- dained; namely, the Word and the Sacra- ments. By these means of grace the Spirit brings to us the salvation which Christ pro- cured for all sinners, and works in our hearts true faith by which we take that salvation as our own. How important is this work of the Holy Spirit! Only they that believe shall be saved. Only by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word and the Sacraments we are brought to faith and kept in faith unto the end. There- fore do not neglect or despise the means of grace through which the Holy Spirit works. And if you enjoy the great blessings of the Holy Spirit’s work, then see to it that the means of grace are brought to those that are still sitting in the darkness and misery of sin, without Christ and without hope in this world. The treasure which you enjoy is theirs as well asyours. Butif they are to enjoy it, we must bring them the Gospel, by which the Spirit reveals the treasure unto them and works in their hearts true faith, with which they accept it as their own. —___~o ~0