The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1897, Page 21

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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.”’

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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<amo +

The Two Men Inside.

An old Indian once asked a white man to
give him some tobacco for his pipe. The man
gave him a loose handful which he carelessly
took from his pocket.

The next day he came back and asked for
the white man. ‘‘For,’’ said he, ‘I found a
quarter of a dollar among the tobacco.””

“Why don’t you keep it?”’ asked a by-
stander.

“J’ve got a good man and a bad man here,’”
said the Indian, pointing to his breast; ‘‘and
the good man say, ‘It is not mine; give it back
tothe owner.’ The bad man say, ‘Never mind,
you got it, and itis yourownnow.’ The good
man say, ‘No, no; you must not keep it.” So
I don’t know what to do, and I think to go to
sleep, but the good man and the bad man
keep talking all night, and trouble me; and
now I bring the money back, I feel good.’”
(Rom. 2, 15.)