# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1890_S17 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Che Lutheran P A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. toner. PosuisHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNODICAL CONFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XII. St. Louis, Mo., May, 1890. No. 5. Ascension. Thou art gone up on high, To mansions in the skies, And round Thy throne unceasingly The songs of praise arise: But we are lingering here With sin and care oppressed; Lord! send Thy promised Comforter, And lead us to Thy rest! Thou art gone up on high: But Thou didst first come down, Through ecarth’s most bitter misery To pass unto Thy crown: — And girt with grief and fears Our onward course must be; But only let that path of tears Lead us at last to Thee! Thou art gone up on high, But Thou shalt come again, With all the bright ones of the sky Attendant in Thy train. Lord, by Thy saving power So make us live and die, That we may stand in that dread hour At Thy right hand on high! <> o_o Ascended into Heaven. Jesus ascended into heaven forty days after He arose from the grave. During these forty days He showed Himeelf alive to His disciples at different times and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God. On the fortieth day after His resurrection He led them out to the Mount of Olives. He there told them that they should stay at Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, the descent of the Holy Ghost. After this baptism with the Holy Ghost they should become His witnesses unto the utter- most part of the earth by preaching the Gos- pel to every creature. And when He had spoken these things, He was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God. The disciples saw Him rising, until a cloud received Him out of their sight. And whilst they be- hold and wonder, two angels appear and tell them that Jesus will come again to the earth in a visible manner, as they have just seen Him go into heaven. ; This is the glorious event at which Christians rejoice on Ascension Day. This day is to them a day of glad tidings. Beholding this day with the eye of faith in the far future, David joy- fully exclaimed: ‘‘God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King, sing praises,” Ps. 47. And St. Paul reminds us of the benefits which are ours by the ascension of Christ. He says, ‘| When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive.’ This captivity is the captivity of sin, death, devil, and hell. In this captivity all men are held by nature. They are the slaves of sin and the captives of Satan. From this slavery and captivity no man can deliver himeelf. Many have tried and tried and failed. There is only one Deliverer-from this bondage. It is Jesus. He in our place was thrown into prison by our enemies. But, behold! they could not hold Him captive. He, the powerful God-Man, broke the prison. Risfng from the grave He came forth the Conqueror over all our enemies; and ascending into heaven He led our captivity captive, that is, He made our enemies captives and slaves. Our enemies were put under His feet. Through Him deliverance is now pro- cured for all sinners, and therefore the Gospel proclaims liberty to every captive sinner. The prison.doors are thrown wide open, and sinners are told to come out of their captivity, they are told that they are free. Many do not be- lieve the Gospel; they find it more pleasant to remain in their dark prison cell; they do not want to enjoy the bright light and the fresh air of Gospel liberty; they go on in sin and remain the slaves and the captives of Satan. But they who accept the Gospel and truly be- lieve in Christ, enjoy the deliverance from all their enemies, they enjoy the Gospel liberty. They are no longer captives, but masters over sin, death, devil, and hell. They are made lords and kings. Sing praises unto our God, sing praises! Ascension Day is a day of rejoicing. soe oo - Poverty is the load of some and wealth is the load of others, perhaps the greater load of the two. It may weigh them to perdition. Bear the load of thy neighbor's poverty, and let him bear with thee the load of thy wealth. Thou lightenest thy load by lightening his.— Augustine. cruel. killed for a very small offence. All I want is blood.’’ of his men to pull his bow-string and discharge an arrow at the heart of the poor slave. Englishman instinctively threw himself in front and held up his arm, and the next moment the arrow was quivering in the white man’s flesh. The black men were astonished. Then, as the Englishman pulled the arrow from his arm, Bought with his Blood. Some Africans are terribly blood-thirsty and A chief one day ordered a slave to be An English- man who overheard the order at once went to the chief and offered him many costly things if only he would spare the poor man’s life. But the chief turned to. him and said, ‘‘I don’t want ivory, or slaves, or gold; I can go against yonder tribe and capture their stores and their villages. I want no favors from the white man. Then he ordered one The he said to the chief: ‘‘Here is blood; I give my blood for this poor slave, and I claim his life.’’ The chief had never seen such love be- fore, and he was completely overcome by it. He gave the slave to the white man, saying, ‘‘Yes, white man, you have bought him with your blood, and he shall be yours.”” In a mo- ment the poor slave threw himself at the feet of his deliverer, and with tears flowing down his face, exclaimed, ‘‘O, white man, you have bought me with your blood; I will be your slave forever.’’ The Englishman could never make him take his freedom. Wherever he went the rescued man was beside him, and no drudgery was too hard, no task too hopeless for the grateful slave to do for his deliverer. If the heart of a poor heathen can thus be won by the wound on a stranger’s arm, shall not we, who are “‘redeemed by the precious blood of Christ,’’ give our whole lives also to His service? ——_= + 69 a Many a man put in the seed who never saw the harvest, just as many another brought home ripe sheaves on which he bestowed no labor save that of the sickle. The worker for Christ, therefore, is to work in faith, expecting the Divine hand to secure the result. He has abundant reason to believe that good is done of which he has no knowledge, and will have none until the great day.