The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1893, Page 17

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaL CoNnFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Of_ice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

St. Louis, Mo., May, 1893.

Vol. XV. No. 5.

Pentecost. 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.’’ And in the Larger
Catechism Dr. Luther says: ‘‘Neither you nor
I could ever know anything of Christ, nor be-
lieve in Him or have Him for our Lord, except
as it is offered to us, and granted to our hearts
by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of
the Gospel. ‘The work is finished and accom-
plished; for Christ, by His suffering, death,
resurrection, etc., has acquired and gained the
treasure for us. But if the work remain con-
cealed, so that no one knew of it, then it were
in vain and lost. That this treasure, therefore,
might not lie buried, but be taken and en-
joyed, God has caused the Word to go forth
and be proclaimed, in which He gives the Holy
Ghost to bring this treasure home and apply
it unto us.’’

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 means of grace we are brought to this faith
and kept in this faith until the end. As we
call to mind the important work of the Holy
Spirit, and praise the mercy of our God for
His mission, may we also be urged to greater
earnestness in the use of the means of grace
by which the Spirit works, and to greater zeal
in bringing those means of grace to them that
are still sitting in the darkness and misery of
sin without Christ and without hope in this
world. ;

Some one told Dr. Luther this, and the
Doctor said: ‘‘The good man is right. Was
there some bran there?’’ And then he told
the fable of a lion who, once upon a time, pre-
pared a great and costly feast, and invited all
the beasts to be present. The hog was also
invited. Now when the excellent food was
placed before the guests, and they were in-
vited to eat freely, the hog threw up his snout
and asked, ‘‘Is there also some bran here?’’
Thus, said Luther, it is with our worldly
minded men. We'ministers place before them
in our churches the best and most precious
food, as, forgiveness of sin, the grace of God,
and eternal life, but they throw up their
snouts, scratch around, and ask after dollars
or some other worldly treasure. Well may it
be said: Does the cow relish nutmegs? She
readily eats oats straw!

Dear reader, where is your treasure? ‘‘Where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also,’’
says Christ. The Christian’s treasure is in
heaven. He seeks those things that are above
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
He, therefore, is heavenly minded. The as-
cended Saviour draws his thoughts heaven-
ward, and his affections are set on things
above, not on things on the earth. He passes
through this world as a pilgrim and a stranger
who can tarry but a while. He knows that he
is a child of God and an heir of the heavenly
glory. In the light of that glory the things
of this world dwindle into nothing.

Let songs of praises fill the sky:
Christ, our ascended Lord,

Sends down His Spirit from on high,
According to His Word:

All hail the day of Pentecost,

The coming of the Holy Ghost!

The Spirit, by His heav’nly breath,
Creates new life within;
He quickens sinners from the death
- Of trespasses and sin:
All hail the day of Pentecost,
The coming of the Holy Ghost!

The things of Christ the Spirit takes,
And shows them unto men:

The fallen soul His temple makes;
God’s image stamps again:

All hail the day of Pentecost,

The coming of the Holy Ghost!

Come, Holy Spirit, from above,
With Thy celestial fire;
Come, and with flames of zeal and love
Our hearts and tongues inspire!
Be this our day of Pentecost,
The coming of the Holy Ghost!
Selected.

The Holy Spirit’s Work.

On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was
poured out on the disciples in an extraordinary
manner, but He still continues His work on
earth, though now by ordinary means—by the
word of God and the holy sacraments. By
these means of grace the Spirit brings to us
the salvation which Christ procured for all
sinners, and works in our hearts true faith
by which we take that salvation as our own.
Man by nature is ‘‘dead in trespasses and
sin,’? and there is not the least particle of
strength in him by which he could bring him-
self to spiritual life or in any wise assist in
this work. It is wholly the work of the Holy
Spirit. ‘‘The natural man receiveth not the

6‘ child of God! and can this earth’s vain pleasures
Be aught to one for whom the Saviour died?

Rise, rise above them all! its worthless treasures,
Its soul-destroying joys, its pomp and pride!

‘‘Be His in all! Let soul and eye be single,
Fixed on the glory that surrounds the throne;
Seek not Christ’s service with the world to mingle,
Remember God hath sealed thee for His own.’?

s+ or oe

Where is your Treasure?

The treasures of the worldly minded are in
this world, and therefore his heart is set on
the things of this present life. He does not
concern himself about the things which are

a + 0 a + ee

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.
12,8. Such are the plain statements of God’s
Word. We therefore confess in our Cate-
chism: ‘‘I believe that I can not by my own

above. He despises the heavenly treasures
offered to him in the Gospel. He is like that
rich nobleman with whom John Frederick, the
Elector of Saxony, once spoke about the Gos-
pel. The nobleman, whose only concern was
how to get more money, said, ‘*What do I care
about the Gospel! Most gracious Lord, what
does the Gospel concern us???

The Alarm of Fire.

*<T suppose the bells are sounding an alarm
of fire’? sneeringly said a man as the church
bells were calling the worshipers one Sunday
morning ; to which a clergyman, who was pass-
ing, replied: ‘‘Yes, my friend; but the fire is
not in this world.’”