The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1879, Page 14

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14 The Lutheran Pioneer.

_

am sure you Will be glad to read what that} do not simply hear the Word, as did also the
true Christian and great master in theology has] stubborn Jews, but understand it, and through
written on this subject. In one of his sermons] it become different persons, with new hearts.
he answers the question: How can we get the} Besides this, it is necessary that we do not
Holy Spirit? Dr. Luther says: ‘‘It is very) hinder the work of the Holy Ghost in us, or
important for us to learn how we can get’ the| drive Him entirely away from us, by a lawless,
Holy Spirit, so that He may also be active in} wicked, sinful life; for the Holy Spirit cannot
us and sanctify and save us. Christ, our dear} dwell where the devil dwells. If therefore the
Lord and Saviour, speaks of this in Luke 11,|devil tries to lead you into avarice, anger,
13., when He says: ‘If ye then, being evil,|adultery and other sins, you must instantly
know how to give good gifts unto your children: | pray God for His help, that you may overcome
how much more shall your heavenly Father | these terrible temptations and remain faithful
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?’/unto Him. If you wish the Holy Spirit to
Now, mark well this saying and Jearn that God} come to you and to stay with you, you must
alone gives the Holy Spirit and that He gives| avoid all gross sins; or if through your natural
Him only to them who ask for Him, who] weakness you fall into them, you must arouse
earnestly pray and earnestly wish to have this| yourself speedily and not go on in sin. The
heavenly gift. If therefore this is your heart-| Holy Ghost is then ready to help us, according
felt prayer: O God, give me Thy Holy Spirit!| to our prayer, in our fight against the devil,
then do not doubt, but continue in such prayer. | our own flesh, and sin. On the other hand,
Christ Himself tells you to pray thus to your| they who willingly give themselves up to sin,
heavenly Father. will be possessed of the devil more and more,
But this prayer, like every other prayer,|nor can they, without repentance, get the Holy
must be in the name of Jesus. We must pray | Spirit, whose office it is to lead us through faith
to God that He would give us the Holy Spirit | to the forgiveness of sins, und to help us to re-
for the sake of Jesus Christ, His dear Son. | sist evil and to grow in grace.’’
And this we can do boldly, because Christ went| This is Dr. Luther’s Bible-answer to our
on high, unto the Father, to obtain for us this question. Remember it well!
gift and to send it unto us. Hence we can

pray for it with full assurance. We have not
Dedication of St. Paul’s Colored Lutheran

only the command to pray for the Holy Spirit
and the promise that we shall receive Him, but| Chapel at Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 18., 1878.

we also know, that Christ cannot do otherwise
but answer our prayer, for He sitteth on the
right hand of God that He might give us these
gifts which He has obtained from the Father,
not indeed for Himself, but ror MEN, as we
read in the 68. Psalm in the 19. verse.

But prayer alone will not do. If you sit
down in a corner and pray for the Holy Ghost,
neglecting the Word and Sacraments, your
prayer will be of little value. Why? Because
it is God’s order that the Holy Ghost shall
work only through the Word ‘and the Holy
Sacraments. If we therefore do not use these
means of grace, we shall never get the Holy
Spirit. Hence we are baptized,’ and come to
the Lord’s Supper, and hear God’s Word
preached; for we know that all these are means
by which the Holy Ghost does His work in us.
We have many examples to prove this. The
three thousand souls, for instance, who were
converted through the preaching of Peter on
the day of Pentecost, would have remained in
their sins all the days of their life, if they had
not heard the Gospel; but they did hear the
Word, and were moved by it, and were bap-
tized. That is Christ’s order.

If therefore you wish to get the Holy Spirit,
you must first of all pray earnestly unto the
Father in the name of Jesus; then you must
diligently use the Word, you must remember
the promise God made to you in Baptism, and
you must frequently go to the Lord’s Supper.
Through the Word and Sacraments the Holy,
Spirit is active in our hearts, and enkindles in
them a new light, the light of faith, so that we

they that do not by wilful sinning drive away
that Heavenly Dove! They enjoy all the
sweets and all the beauties of the Gospel-Church
of the New Testament: they have forgiveness
of sins, comfort in all troubles, salvation and
life everlasting.

We know there are still mockers, as there
were such on that first day of Pentecost; men
to whom the Gospel is but a foolishness. Un-
happy men! The Gospel-day of the New Test-
ament has come with all the brightness of its
heavenly light, but they still sit in darkness;
the sweet Spring-time has come with all its
beauties, but the coldness of winter still reigns
. in their hearts. Unhappy men!

In the Song of Solomon we read of the glo-
rious time of the New Testament: ‘‘Rise up, my
love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo,
the winter is past, the rain is ‘over and gone;
the flowers appear on the earth; the time of
the singing of birds is come, and the voice of
the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree
putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with
the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my
love, my fair one, and come away.’’

. This, dear reader, is the sweet voice of the
loving Jesus speaking to your soul, which He
loved with an infinite love, and which He re-
deemed with His precious blood. Whenever
you hear or read the Gospel, the Holy Spirit,
the great Winner of souls, comes to you and
tries to win your soul for Jesus, the heavenly
bridegroom. Now, let Him win you. Will
you not? Oh, do not resist, do not resist the
Holy Spirit.

———2>+0- <P or

How can we get the Holy Spirit?

This is a very important question; for the
Holy Spirit alone can bring us to the knowl-
edge of our sin and to true repentance. He
alone can bring us to the knowledge of our
Saviour and to true faith. The apostle Paul
says: ‘No man can say that Jesus is the Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost.”’ (4 Cor. 12, 3.) The
Holy Spirit alone can help us to lead holy
lives as the children of God. No man ever
came to Jesus, and no man ever remained with
Jesus by his own reason and by his own
strength, but only by the power of the Holy
Ghost. How important must it then be for us
to know the right answer to our question: How
can we get the Holy Spirit? How does He
come to us? By what means does He work in
our hearts? The correct answer is not always
given. People are often told that the Holy
Spirit comes without any means whatever; they
are told to shout and to work themselves into
some excitement, until the Holy Spirit sud-
denly come flying direct into their hearts. Oh,
how many are thereby deceived! After the
good feelings and the excitement are gone, they
find out that it was nothing but a “‘straw-fire’’,
-All'gone and nothing left but a sad disappoint-
ment.—Do you wish me to tell you the Bible-
_ answer to our question? I rather let Dr. Mar-
tin Luther give you this Bible-answer; for I

The first anniversary of that occasion is
drawing near. It will be celebrated of course
with appropriate ceremonies, in grateful re-
membrance of the joyous event referred to
above. For, indeed, it was an occasion which
will not fade from the memory of many, who
participated in the festivities, as one of the
most delightful they have ever witnessed. For
the benefit-of those who were not present and
our readers in general we will briefly describe
to them the dedication as it took place nearly
@ year ago.

Many hands had volunteered to decorate the
chapel, and worked hard to give it a pleasant
and bright appearance. One gentleman kindly
lent an organ, another volunteered to furnish
the music. Printed circulars had been distrib-
uted through the city and neighborhood, invit-
ing all to the ceremonies of dedication. On the
day of dedication the chapel was literally packed
with people four times. Every available space
was occupied, many being obliged to remain
outside. The principal ceremonies of dedication
were performed at half past ten o’clock A. M.
by Pastor Berg, Rey. P. F. Germann of Fort
Smith, Ark., preaching the dedicatory sermon
on Acts 4, 12. The Sunday-school and its
friends met at 2 o'clock for an hour. At
8 o'clock a baptismal service was held. ‘Three
adults (Anderson Edmunds, Jane Brown and
Mattie King) and as many children (Rosa and
Robert Gawan’and Seaborn Taylor) were bap-
tized. A very large congregation met again at
night. The sermon was preached by Rey. C. F.