Promoting the Glory of the Holy Spirit - 1888
Abraham Kuyper gathered material on the Holy Spirit.
Introduction
Abraham Kuyper was one of the most extraordinary men of the nineteenth century—a linguist, theologian, university professor, politician, statesman, philosopher, scientist, and philanthropist. As a young pastor, he was a rationalist, but God used a fervent Christian peasant woman to bring him to Christ. He became a national leader in the Netherlands, standing for all things good and holy. Among the many books he wrote was a systematic theology of the Holy Spirit, whom he felt had been too much neglected by theologians. In a preface, dated this day, April 10, 1888, he acknowledged some notable predecessors, prominent among whom was the seventeenth-century writer John Owen, but Kuyper explained that what they had done was not sufficient to answer attacks and arguments against the Holy Spirit made in more recent times. He also mourned the general lack of interest in the Holy Spirit shown by many Christians of his day.
Quote
“For although professing Christians acknowledge this Work [of the Holy Spirit], and all that it includes, and all that flows from it, yet the various groups into which they divide represent it in very divergent ways….He that has not first staked off the entire domain in which the Holy Spirit works can not successfully measure any part of it, to the winning of a brother or to the glory of God.
“Hence leaving out polemics almost entirely, I have made an effort to represent the Work of the Holy Spirit in its organic relations, so that the reader may be enabled to survey the entire domain. And in surveying, who is not surprised at the ever-increasing dimensions of the Work of the Holy Spirit in all the things that pertain to God and man?
“Even tho we honor the Father and believe on the Son, how little do we live in the Holy Spirit! It even seems to us sometimes that for our sanctification only, the Holy Spirit is added accidentally to the great redemptive work.….
“And since this is the result of an inexcusable lack of knowledge and appreciation of His glorious Work in the entire creation, holy enthusiasm constrained me, in the power of God, to offer my fellow champions for the faith once delivered by the fathers, some assistance in this respect.”
Kuyper, Abraham. The Work of the Holy Spirit. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1900.