The more the end was approaching, the more Jesus Himself was filled with that glorious thought, to wit, when, just before His death, He addressed His disciples, He repeated to them three times, that now He was about to go away from them, but that, exalted at His Father’s right hand, He would send them, not gifts of the Spirit, but the Holy Ghost Himself, the Comforter, Who would lead them into all truth, Who would take of His, and shew it unto them.

Thus in clear, perspicuous words, excluding all misunderstanding, Jesus Himself had told His apostles beforehand, that, which was to come on the day of Pentecost, would not be a gift, a power, a working, an influence of the Spirit, but God the Holy Ghost Himself, a coming into the world of the third Person of the Holy Trinity, as the second Person of that Holy Triuneness had come into this world in Bethlehem’s manger. And when Pentecost belonged to the past, and, under the direction of the Apostles, had gone out into the world, the apostles of Jesus have always declared unto believers, that they, both all together as a church, and personally in their own soul’s existence, were a temple of God, an habitation of God in the Spirit, for that the Holy Spirit dwelt in them. Yea, this has been declared by the apostles so personally, that they speak to us of the Holy Ghost, as of One, Who in our own heart bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and even mention a praying by that Holy Spirit in our own heart with groanings that are unutterable.

The altogether unique, the beforehand unknown, and afterward never repeating itself event of the day of Pentecost, is and remains therefore the descent of God the Holy Spirit, to make His abode in God’s temple on the earth, i. e. the mystical Body of Christ, at that time represented by the eleven in the upper room at Jerusalem and whoever were united with them in the love of Christ. And this, not a coming down, presently to leave the church again, but a coming down, to make abode among us, and to remain with us to all eternity.

This is what makes the day of Pentecost altogether illustrious, great in the history of the world, that on that day of days the fellowship, the never again departing fellowship of the Holy Ghost is given to regenerate humanity, and that now God the Holy Ghost in Christ as our Head dwells in us as His members.

To the indifferent question of curiosity: where then the Holy Spirit is to be found, and at what point in the visible you can grasp Him,—no other answer remains than the counter inquiry: where and at what point of your body can you lay hold on your own soul? You know, you acknowledge, when in tenderness of love you look at your child, that in that bodily appearance, that stands before you, the soul of your child is present, that your child has a soul and that that soul dwells in that body. But when you are further asked, whether, to lay hold on the soul of your child, you would choose the hand or the breast or the head, you turn away with disgust from so mechanical an inquirer in so holy and tender a matter, as the soul of your child is. And so it has no sense, to ask, where, if the Holy Spirit dwells on earth, He is to be laid hold on in the visible. For the spiritual can not be handled. And who would ever limit the Holy Spirit in place, Him the omnipresent God, Who only in this sense can indwell in the created, that He chooses thereto a prepared creature as focus from which to cause His beams to go out?

Thus you can, you should confess, that the habitation of the Holy Spirit is in the collective saints on earth, since all these together are the members of the mystical Body of the Lord in this world. That is the boundary. In that circle is the fellowship of saints, because all these are incorporated in the Body of the Lord. Hence you know, that in that circle, taken as a whole, and extending itself to all nations and peoples, God the Holy Spirit dwells. But since God and not you limns the heart, and God, but not you knows all His saints in all the world, there can be no mention of an indication of this habitation of God, or of measurements of its length and breadth, and height and depth, and the only question for you is, whether in your place and on the spot, where God the Lord has appointed the place of your habitation, you have come to the fellowship of the saints and live in fellowship with the Holy Ghost.

For this reason also, as often as believers congregate, with the ministry of the Word and Sacraments, the benediction is pronounced: “Grace and peace be unto you from God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost”, that in the congregation this fellowship with the in-hermidst dwelling Holy Spirit may be perceived and enjoyed. And again at the close of public worship, when every one is on the point of returning home, the blessing is put upon the worshipers: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all, Amen”; which means, that the going out into the world and the return to one’s own home and business should not become the occasion of the loss of the personal fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Thus there is a twofold fellowship with the Holy Ghost. One for the congregation as a whole, and in a special way perceived, felt and enjoyed under the ministry of the Word, of the Prayers and Sacraments. The other the fellowship with the Holy Ghost for the individual persons, and for the individual families, which is realized in the work of quiet experience, in personal and family prayer, in the devotions, which in the family or in private, from earnest gratitude for His unspeakable grace, we offer up unto the Triune God.

For this reason at every anniversary day of the Jerusalem Pentecost miracle the question always presents itself again to every child of God, whether he really and truly enjoys and practices this fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Remembrance is by itself already something, and he who at the feast of Pentecost at least allows himself the exertion, to think and meditate upon what happened eighteen centuries ago, has already an advantage over the superficial minded man, who sings along thoughtlessly or perhaps worse yet, hails Pentecost merely as a day of recreation and release from labor and care. To be engaged in thought with the illustrious fact of Pentecost betrays already an interest in what is Holy, a sense of higher things. But this is not enough. The fact itself that transpired on Pentecost day, forbids this. For he who confesses and acknowledges, that on Pentecost God the Holy Spirit came to our world, and chose the church for His habitation, and hence still dwells in the church of Christ on earth, can not live along and must not go his way, as though he did not count with that descended God, and paid no heed to this indwelling God. To confess, that He is there, and to act as though He were not there, do not go together. The indwelling of God the Holy Ghost, honestly confessed, puts of itself and inexorably the claim, that you should observe His holy presence, should reverently count with His Divine presence, and seek Him in His habitation, worship, yea, with all the devotion of your soul should honor Him.

Stronger still. You confess that God the Holy Spirit dwells in the mystical Body of Christ and you likewise confess that you yourself, personally, “are and shall remain eternally a living member” of that Body of Christ. It is not something therefore outside of you, but an holy reality, in which you yourself are concerned, in which you have a part, and which must show itself to be truth and reality in you,—or else your personal existence and life directly contradict, what with your lips you confess.

Now the fellowship you should have with the Holy Ghost is twofold. It is on one hand a fellowship in which the Holy Spirit imparts Himself to you, and on the other hand a fellowship in which you impart yourself to the Holy Spirit. Fellowship is from its very nature always mutual. Hence there is fellowship of the Holy Spirit with you, and fellowship of you with the Holy Spirit.

Yet in the apostolic benediction these two should not be placed one over against the other, and it can not be said, that this benediction, either intends exclusively the fellowship which goes out from the Holy Ghost towards you, nor that it merely views the fellowship, in which you disclose yourself before the Holy Ghost.

He who deems this to be the case, separates what is inseparable. Already among people the disclosure of the heart of one, of itself leads to the opening of the heart of the other. Brightness radiates brightness. He who gives himself in love, shall in love receive. The stream itself hollows out the bedding, that that stream may the more mightily speed on.

Thus of the “fellowship of the Holy Ghost” you should confess, that, the richer the fellowship which the Holy Spirit grants you of Himself is, the more intimate your fellowship with that Spirit becomes, and that in the same way, the more your heart discloses itself in conscious fellowship before that Spirit, the more deeply and the more effectually the fellowship of that Spirit penetrates in you.

Truly that holy fellowship does not have its beginning with us. Not we call in the Holy Spirit, but He begins by making His abode with us and to reveal Himself to us. The holy initiative is ever from the side of the Holy Spirit, and never goes out from us. But when from the side of the Holy Spirit fellowship has begun, the operation becomes mutual, ever with mutual tension or relaxation, up and down. We are then enticed to the mutual giving of ourselves to the Holy Spirit; and again, the more we give ourselves to Him, the richer from the side of the Holy Spirit revelations go out to us. While again, the child of God that shuts himself out and does not give himself, grieves the Holy Spirit and repels His holy fellowship.

Thus you have to distinguish herewith a threefold spiritual disposition.

On one side the spiritual condition, in which the Holy Spirit has already favored and enriched you with His inward fellowship, the whiles you have not been aware of it, or from your side have not yet responded with real fellowship to it. Especially with children this occurs. It is that spiritual period of our life, which precedes the breaking through of faith, and the conversion of our soul to the Savior.

Another phase is, when you begin to perceive not only the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in His church, but also in yourself personally; and now, vanquished by the love of God, you give yourself to the Holy Spirit; discover His fellowship, and respond to it with fellowship in return; and then blessedly realize, that in that ever deeper and closer fellowship you progress from strength to strength and from glory to glory, delighting yourself in your God and in His blessed nearness, as though melting away in His soul-warming love.

And the third phase which alas, occurs with almost every one in its time, is, that God the Holy Ghost truly made His abode with you and granted you His fellowship, and that you yourself responded to it, and were permitted to go on from grace to grace, but that afterward coolness came in again which extinguished love; that worldly intents came upon you, whereby a veil was drawn between you and the Holy Spirit in your soul; or that by a sudden deep fall in sin you became estranged from the blessed fellowship with your God. Then the Holy Spirit did not cut the tie with your soul, for His love is unchangeable and He never lets go what His hand began. But to your sense, to your consciousness, from your side, it is then become death in place of life, and though then the Holy Spirit still knocks from within, and though He still prays in you with groanings unutterable, from your side fellowship is ended. Then the Holy Spirit truly still dwells in you, if you truly are God’s child, but you no longer believe and no longer observe it, and you live, as though you did not know the Holy Ghost; till in the end this phase is broken again by the compassions of your God.

And therefore in this word of blessing: “The fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all” there speaks very surely first of all the voice of God, which comforts you, and assures you, that the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, once begun, endures unto eternity, that you might never lose courage, and after every insinking of your faith, you may always again seek refuge with the indwelling Holy Ghost.

But yet, it also implies the warning, the summons in the Name of the Lord, that you from your side should never desist from your fellowship with the Holy Ghost, but rather enrich it, deepen it and make it perfect.

And for this it is necessary, that you strengthen that fellowship in two ways, in your consciousness first, and then in the issues of your life.

In your consciousness. For it is not good, when you continually forget the Holy Ghost, and devote the thoughts of your soul to the Father indeed and to the Son, but not to the Holy Spirit, do not count with Him, are not engaged with Him, give yourself no clear account of His presence and His indwelling in the congregation and in your own heart and in the heart of your children and members of your family. In brief, when seeking your God, you lift up the eye on high, and lift up the soul to the right hand of the Father where Christ is, but pass the Holy Ghost by, Who dwells in the church and in your own heart, do not address Him, do not call upon Him, and do not consecrate to Him the love of your heart.

It is surely not easy to avoid this. Faith in, confession of, and association with the Holy Ghost, is, if we may so express ourselves, so high, so sacred, so purely spiritual; and our heart inclines so strongly, from afar to boast of a God Who is high above us. The sin of our heart also stands continually in the way, to really believe, that God Himself dwells in us. But all this is no excuse. You confess, that that indwelling is there. Live then in your heart according to it. And experience, the blessed outcome shall show you, that only he who can find God near at hand, i. e. in his own heart, can become aglow with that warm intimacy of love, which by giving love and by receiving love already here on earth renders one blessed.

And together with this, learn to understand, that the Holy Spirit does not seek your fellowship only in your consciousness, but far more still, desires that fellowship in the temper of your heart, in the deepest impulses of your life, in the soul’s roots of your inward existence, in brief, in all your tendencies and in all the issues of your heart.

For deeds also come into account, and in nothing so much as in good works is God the Holy Ghost glorified in His saints. But then those deeds, those works must proceed from the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Then, if we may say so, it must be deeds and works of the Holy Spirit and of your spirit together. Your spirit must meet the Holy Spirit in the inner chamber of your soul, be animated by that Spirit, allow itself to be approached and impregnated, and in the end it must become one Godhuman impulse of holier intention, which exhibits itself in your life, to glorify God the Holy Ghost.

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