the hearts of men in all ages, showing that He enlightened and governed them according to the will of God. Christ says that the Holy Ghost spake through the prophets, and St. Peter makes the same statement. The Evangelists also tell us that the aged Simeon, and Anna, and Zacharias, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist, were filled with the Holy Ghost.

Hence we must think and believe of the Holy Ghost as we do of Christ the Son of God, who is from eternity and who, soon after the first promise given of Him in Paradise, began His work of opposing the devil and crushing his head. This deed, begun and carried on long before His coming into this world in the form of our humanity, Christ completed when, in the fullness of time, He became man incarnate, died upon the cross, and on the third day arose again from the dead. In a similar manner has the Holy Ghost been continually active in the world. He ever and anon brought men to believe in God by means of the divine Word; He enlightened, strengthened, comforted, and guided them into all truth.

This work, carried on secretly before, He now for the first time made public with power and might on this glorious day of Pentecost. Every one present on this occasion saw and felt the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, and had to confess it. For the few who ventured to contradict this manifestation of the Holy Ghost by saying that the apostles were full of new wine, were simply malicious liars; their reason must have convinced them that the knowledge of foreign languages is not acquired by getting drunk.

Why was this out-pouring of the Holy Ghost postponed until this day of Pentecost? For this reason, that we might know this great blessing to be ours alone through Christ Jesus. He gained for us these gifts, and alone through Him can we obtain them, as we saw from the 68. Psalm, which we considered on Ascension-day. In this Psalm we read: "He ascended on high and has received gifts for men;" and St. Peter, referring to these words in his powerful sermon on this day, says: "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear."

This lesson we therefore learn first of all from our text, that the Holy Ghost did not for the first time assume and execute His work and office on the day of Pentecost, but that He has ever been active in His Church. Yet on this glorious festival He for the first time made His workings especially potent and public, that it might become manifest what a precious gift our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ obtained for us by His sufferings and death.

Another lesson we learn from our text. Just as the Scriptures designate the Lord by an especial name, calling Him the Son of God, the Word and the Image of the Father, so they also call the Spirit of God "the Holy Ghost," who inspires, moves and sanctifies the hearts which before were corrupt and full of sins. The Christians therefore rejoice at this name, because they are well aware of their own weakness in the conflict with the devil; they are comforted, however, since they know that they, through Christ, have on their side the Holy Ghost,

who strengthens them against the attacks of the evil spirit, who forgives their sins, and admonishes them to true obedience towards God.

How the Holy Ghost accomplishes this is taught us by Christ Himself, John 16, where He says: "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The works of the Holy Trinity are therefore distinguished from each other in our Creed, for the purpose of instructing our youth and the unenlightened. We confess that the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, created us for His kingdom and gave us our life and body. After our first parents fell through sin into death, thus bringing upon themselves and all their descendants the punishment of God, Christ the Sour of God became man for us, reconciled the Father, and redeemed us by His death from sin and everlasting condemnation. This redemption is now proclaimed by the Holy Ghost to the world through the holy Gospel, whereby the hearts are enlightened and changed, so that they accept the truth and believe that Christ died for them, that an atonement has been made, that their sins are forgiven, and that God is now reconciled in Christ. Thus the hearts are purified and sanctified by faith, as St. Peter declares, Acts 15.

Where there is forgiveness of sins through faith, there we can rejoice and be comforted on account of the death and resurrection of Christ, even though sin is yet in us. There also will follow another manifestation of the Holy Ghost in our life; He will also sanctify our bodies, so that we will not burden our conscience with sin, nor love it and cherish it as before, but will strive to shun it and

to lead a life pleasing to God. Thus St. Paul teaches when he says, Eph. 4: "Let him that stole, steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." It is the office and work of the Holy Ghost to create within us a new and true obedience towards God, so that we may withstand sin, crucify the old Adam, and obtain the forgiveness of all our sins through faith.

But this latter sanctification is not so perfect as the former, and is entirely dependent upon it. Our flesh and blood are too weak, and the devil is too powerful to admit of perfect obedience on our part; besides, we have now only the first fruits of the Holy Spirit. But what is wanting in our obedience and holiness is supplied by the other sanctification, in which we have forgiveness of sins through faith, so that we are perfectly just and holy; for the sin and corruption still inhering in us are forgiven. Thus we can understand why the Holy Spirit is so called, namely, because He purifies the believers; that is through the Word He implants in our hearts faith in Christ, whereby we have forgiveness of sins, and begin to be obedient unto God.

The Holy Ghost has yet other appellations from His various manifestations of power in us, all of which pertain to our sanctification. The prophet Zechariah calls Him "Spirit of grace and supplication," because He moves the hearts to trust in God and to cry unto Him for help in every distress. Christ calls Him "Comforter," because He strengthens the hearts to suffer willingly and not to be afraid of any evil, as we saw in the Gospel of last Sunday. Again Christ calls this Spirit "the Spirit

of truth," because He guards us from falsehoods and heresy, and retains us in the Word and true doctrine, against which the devil and our reason argue for the purpose of leading us astray and deceiving us.

Such are the principal works of the Holy Ghost. But He also adorns the faithful with all manner of gifts and virtues and, as Jesus declares, is a Comforter, who remains with us when the world, with its consolation, is powerless and cf no effect.

Since the Holy Ghost is sent to work in us such glorious results, it is of importance for us to learn how we can obtain such blessings and the Holy Spirit, so that He may also be active in us and sanctify and save us. Christ our Saviour speaks of this in Luke 11, when He says: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Let us well remember this declaration, and learn that God alone gives the Holy Spirit, that He gives Him only to them who ask for Him, who are earnest in their supplication for His possession. Let then our heartfelt prayer be this: O God, grant us Thy Holy Spirit! Let us not doubt, but continue in such prayer. Christ Himself instructs us to pray thus unto our heavenly Father.

But this prayer, like every other prayer, must be in the name of Jesus. We ought to implore God that He would give us the Holy Ghost for the sake of Jesus Christ, His dear Son. And this we can do without hesitation, as we saw on Ascension-day, because Christ went on high, unto the Father, to obtain for us this gift and to transmit it unto us.