The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1894, Page 17

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, what God’s word says.
the Holy Spirit as of a Person.

Che Autheran Pioneer.

A MI

SSIONARY MONTHLY.

PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNnopicaL CoNFERENCE oF NortTH AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

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

Vol. XVI.

St. Louis, Mo., May, 1894.

No. 5.

Prayer to the Holy. Spirit.

Gracious Spirit—Love divine!
Let Thy light within me shine;
All my guilty fears remove;

Fill me, with ‘Thy heay’nly love. ~

Speak Thy pard’ning grace to me;
Set the burdened sinner free;
Lead me to the Lamb of God;
Wash me in His precious blood.

Life and peace to me impart;
Seal salvation on my heart;
Dwell Thyself within my breast,
Earnest of immortal rest.

Let me never from Thee stray;
Keep me in the narrow way;
Fill_my_soul_with joy divine; _
Keep me, Lord, forever Thine.

sj Selected.
—_—s +34«<> o> oe

The Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, whose outpouring upon
the apostles the Church commemorates on the
day of Pentecost, is still with us and continues
His work among men. It is therefore im-
portant to know Him and His work.

Who ts tue Hoty Srinir?

He is the third Person in the Godhead. | faith by his own reason or strength. The Bible
Some people speak of the Holy Spirit as if| Sys that man by nature is ‘‘dead in trespasses
He were, not a person, but a mere power, or and sin.’” ;
influence, or attribute of God. Such people strength in him by which he could bring him:

_do-not know the Scriptures, or do not believe self to spiritual life or in any way assist in

The Bible speaks of | this work. }
It says that Spirit. ‘No man can say that Jesus is the

men vex, blaspheme, and grieve the Spirit.
Such expressions prove that the Holy Spirit

ista Person. Again, Christ said to His dis-| certain means. These means are the Word of
ciples: ‘I will pray the Father, and He shall God and the Sacraments.
give you another Comforter, that Me may| grace the Holy Spirit comes to us, offers’ us
‘abide with you forever. " Even the Spirit of forgiveness of sins, and works in our hearts,
truth, whom the world can not receive because true faith in the Saviour, by which the for-
it‘seeth Zim not, neither knoweth Him; but| giveness of sins is made our own. Thus by

ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and

shall be in you.’’ Speaking of the Holy Spirit, of Christ’s work for us. ‘And He who works
‘Christ uses the words ‘‘He’? and ‘‘Him’? and
“«swhom.’. From this it is plain that the Holy

Spirit is a Person.

oF ‘Holy Spirit comforts, and guides, and keeps
He is.a Divine Person. In the fifth chapter us in the faith until the end of our pilgrimage.

f the Acts we read: ‘‘Peter said, Ananias,/ | Shey Ar wise
my hath Satan filled thy heart, to lie to the |'the Holy Spirit. They enjoy all the heavenly

Holy Ghost ... thou hast not tied unto men/|gifts procured for sinners by the sufferings
but unto God.’’ The apostle here tells Ana-|and death of Christ. They are children of
nias that, in lying to the Holy Ghost, he had} God and heirs of heaven. The happiness they
lied unto God. From this we see that the] enjoy must move them to bring the same bless-
Holy Ghost must be God. Again, the Bible|ing to others. They can not suffer souls to die
ascribes to the Holy Spirit the attributes, the | for lack of the means of grace, by which the
works, and the honor due to God alone. This} Holy Spirit works faith in the hearts of sin-
could not be done, if the Holy Spirit were not |ners. Knowing from their own experience
a Divine Person. : . the great blessedness of the Holy Spirit’s work,

Christians must be active and zealous in bring-
ing the life-giving Gospel to dying men and
in spreading the blessings of the Holy Spirit
over a ruined world.

Wuar 1s THE Sririr’s Work?

The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring men
to faith and to keep.them in the faith. In
our Catechism we confess: ‘‘I believe that
Ican 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.’’

If sinners are to be saved, the forgiveness
of sins, procured for them by Christ, must be
brought to them and must be made their own.
The forgiveness of sins is brought to sinners
in the Gospel and is made their own through
faith. -The moment the sinner believes in His
Saviour he has forgiveness of sins and life
everlasting. But the sinner can not come to

————~-¢<—> oo
A Home-Thrust.
A story is told of an old Fijan chief and
an English earl—an infidel—who visited the
islands. The Englishman said to the chief,
‘*You are a great chief, and it is really a pity
that you have been so foolish as to listen to
the missionaries, who only want to get rich
among you. No one now-a-days would be-
lieve any more in that old book which is called
the Bible ;. neither do men listen to that story
about Jesus Christ; people know better now,
and I am sorry for you that you are so fool-
ish.’? When he said that the old chiéf’s eyes
flashed, and he said, ‘‘Do you see that great
stone over there? On that stone we smashed
the heads of our victims to death. “Do you
see that native oven over yonder? In that
oven we roasted the human bodies for our
great feasts. Now you! you! —if it had not
been for these good missionaries, for that old
book, and the great love of ‘Jesus Christ,
which‘has changed us from savages into God’s
children, you! you would never leave this
spot! You have to thank God for the gospel,
as otherwise you would be killed’ and roasted
in yonder oven, and we would feast on your
body in no time!”” — : ai tee ee
2s ~<a oe oe
Or Enoch we read: ‘‘He was not, for God
took him.’” These words describe the death
of every belfever as accurately as they do
the translation of the ‘saintly patriarch, who
‘walked with God.’” Union with Christ robs
death of its terrors. ‘To be absent from the
body is to be present with*the Lord. :

There is not the least particle of

It is wholly the work of the Holy

Lord but by the Holy Ghost,” 1 Cor. 12; 3.
But the Holy Spirit does His work through

In-these means of-

the Spirit’s work in us we are made partakers

faith in the heart of man also preserves it un-
til the end. Through the means of grace the

Happy are they who are brought to faith by

a