# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1886_S21 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) # Che Lutheran Pioneer. A MI SSIONARY MONTHLY. PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTiERAN SYNODICAL CONFERENCE OF Nort AMERICA. “R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Onice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. VIII. St. Louis, Mo., June, 1886. No. 6. The Work, Lord Jesus Christ, is Thine. Translated from the German by the Rev. Dr. C. W. Schaeffer. The work, Lord Jesus Christ, is Thine In which we are employed; And as Thy work is all Divine, It cannot be destroyed. Before the seed of precious grain Can, in the light, its growth attain, Beneath the soil it must decay, Its mortal part must pass away: Free through decay, Its mortal part away. O Jesus, Thou our Head hast gone Through suffering to the skies: All who believe Thou leadest on That path to take, likewise. So then, receive us as we are, Thy trials and Thy joys to share; And through Thy death lead us aright, With Thy great work up to Thy light, Up to Thy light, Through darkness to Thy light. Thou, as a grain of wheat, didst die, And rest within the grave: Save, Fount of Life, this world, we cry, The gift Thy Father gave. Send messengers to every zone, That Thy great name may soon be known, The full salvation through Thy name We, too, are ready to proclaim, With toil and strain, Serving with toil and strain. Church Messenger. a eo + Ascension and Pentecost. After our Lord’s triumphant resurrection from the dead He remained yet forty days up- on earth, being seen of many, that no doubts might remain of the fulfillment of His words that on the third day He should rise again. To the disciples ‘‘He showed Himself alive after His passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.’ ‘Then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.’’ It was a great and glorious day for man when the Saviour of the world, having finished the work of redemp- tion He came to do at His first Advent, as- cended up again into the glory which He hac from everlasting, entering that glory with the very human body which was broken and slain for the remission of our sins. He went to pre- pare a place for His people that where He is they should be also. And there He makes intercession for us. ‘For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”” Being seated at the right hand of the Majesty of the Most High, He is able to save unto the uttermost; and having all power in heaven and on earth, He is able as He is willing to be present with us every day, to lead and comfort, unto the end of the world. Ascension Day therefore is a day of rejoicing and the Church on that day raises her song of triumph, -“‘Thou art gone up on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men.”’ The gifts which Christ secured by His suf- ferings and death are forgiveness of sin, eternal life and salvation. These gifts the ascended Saviour received, not for Himself, but ‘‘for men.” If we are to enjoy them, they must be brought to us and must be made our own. This is the work of the Holy Spirit whom our ascended Lord sent according to His promise. “Tf I go not away,” said He, ‘‘the Spirit will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you.” Ten days after He had been taken up, this promise was fulfilled, as the disciples were all with one accord in one place. The day upon which this occurred is called Pentecost, and in view of the great importance of the event the Church observes this day as one of her great festivals. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples in an extraordinary manner, but He continues His work on earth still, though now by ordinary means. The means of grace by which the Holy Spirit does His work are the word of God and the Holy Sacraments. By these means the Spirit brings to us the precious gifts of salvation secured for us by Christ and works in our hearts true faith by which we take those gifts as our own. Having these blessed means of grace, through which salvation is imparted, we keep the festi- val day of Pentecost with rejoicing, because the Holy Ghost comes to us also with glorious gifts unto eternal | . Waiting for the Lord. Since Christ’s ascension, our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we are to look for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who then will change our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto His own glorious body, by the working of that mighty power which He possesses. There is thus set before us the hope of as- cending with Christ, and to become sharers with Him in that glory to which He has as- cended. Being risen with Him, we are even now to ascend with Him in heart and mind, and to seek those things which are above, where He sitteth. By our faith, hope and affection, we are to ‘‘dwell’”’ there, even while we sojourn here in this vale of tears. ‘‘Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also are to walkin newness of life,’’ ‘‘looking for a hasting unto the com- ing of the day of God,’”’ ‘‘when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,’’ ‘‘when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.’’ We profess to be the followers of a risen and ascended Lord; therefore we are to lead risen and heavenly lives, having our thoughts turned heavenward, our limps trimmed and burning, and ourselves like ser- vants who wait for their Lord, not knowing at what hour He shall come. ‘‘Blessed is that servant, whom, when his Master cometh, He shall find so doing.’” so or oe The Love of God. “God is love,’ (1 John 4, 8. 16). There is a love which is infinite in its measure; there is a love which is everlasting in its duration, which is omnipotent in its power, which is unchange- able in its character, which is all-pervading in its presence, which passeth knowledge. There is a love which has creation for its theatre, earth for its footstool, heaven for its chief abode, its everlasting home. Of all created love it is the source, and of all blessings it is the giver. Christ alone is its full and glorious manifesta- tion, its incarnation and embodiment; and Christ crucified is the opening of its very heart to mankind.—Selected.