Collection › LCMS Convention Proceedings (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1935 · 36th Convention, Cleveland › Page 7
LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1935, Page 7

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

Ey. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. 1935. 7

What is the special function of the Holy Ghost? It is to dispel
by the brightness of His light shining in the Gospel the darkness
of spiritual blindness in which we are born; to give us new birth
and make us new creatures through faith in Christ Jesus; to endow
us with spiritual life and enkindle the fires of love in our icy hearts.
In doing this, the Holy Ghost gathers and unites all the children of
God into one blessed communion. In the face of all raging and fury
of the hosts of hell, in the face of a hostile world alienated from God,
the Holy Spirit builds and preserves the holy Christian Church.
Oh, it is a marvelous work which He performs, calling for our grateful
adoration as much as does the work of creation or redemption. And
therefore our hymn ascends the raptured heights of praise: —

Lord, by the brightness of Thy light

Thou in the faith dost men unite

Of every tongue and every nation;

We therefore sing with exultation:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

We now turn to the second stanza: —

Thou holy Light, Guide Divine,

O cause the Word of Life to shine;

Teach us to know our God aright

And call Him Father with delight.

From error, Lord, our souls defend

That they on Christ alone attend,

In Him with living faith abiding,

In Him with all their might confiding.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Here we pray for the one thing needful — that we may stand in
a filial relation to our God. By nature man’s attitude toward God
is one of servile fear; he sees nothing benign in God; aye, he wishes
there were no God. Men indeed endeavor in every possible way to
improve their woeful state, in part through religious observances of
their own invention, in part by bold denial of all accountability before
God. But all these efforts prove futile; they only aggravate man’s
misery. The Holy Ghost alone is able to bring us into the right rela-
tionship with God, so that we may “call Him Father with delight,”
enjoy full assurance of our adoption, and draw from such assurance
constant comfort and joy. The Holy Spirit does this by glorifying
Christ, certifying Him to us as the great Son of God sent into this
world by the Father to be the Mediator between God and men, recon-
ciling God to the world. This the Holy Ghost achieves by causing
the Word of Life, the precious Gospel, to shine upon us and illumine
our souls with the certainty that we may cast ourselves unreservedly
upon Christ in life and in death and at all times may confidently
approach God as dear children approach their dear father.