# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1895_S17 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) | Le | aT 12 Che Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PusiisHep By THE EVANGELICAL LuraeraN SynopicaL ConFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XVII. The Ascension. BY P. NICHOLAI, 1599. As they were looking, He was taken up. ACTS 1, 9, O glorious Victor, Prince of peace. Whose kingdom nevermore shall cease, On clouds to heaven ascending! We sce Thee soar above the sky, While angels ‘Alleluia!’ cry, Thy royal state attending. Upon the mount of Olives stand The holy apostolic band To take Thy parting blessing; The cternal gates lift up their heads, High heaven its glory o’er Thee spreads, The stars their King confessing. On God's right hand, Thy chosen place, i Divine Redeemer of our race, Thou art in triumph seated; Oh, lead us upward by Thy grace, Where saints and angels see Thy face, In’ bliss and joy completed. O great High Priest, still intercede, ° Send down Thy Comforter to plead, And aid our weak endeavor; That when as Judge Thou shalt descend, When earth and time, and death shall end, We reign with Thee forever! ———2 - ome - Our Lord’s Ascension. The Bible tells us that Christ, after His res- urrection, sojourned yet forty days on earth and then ascended into heaven. The work of redemption, which He had come to do, was done, and He went to the Father that had sent Him, and entered into His glory. His ascension, therefore, is not a subject of sor- row, but of joy. ‘'God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the shout of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises!’’? (Psalm 47, 5.6.) St. Paul, speaking of our Lord’s ascension, says, ‘‘When he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.’’ What is meant by the captivity which Christ led captive in His ascension? It is the captivity in which we were held by our enemies. By sin men had become the captives, the slaves of Satan, death, and hell. Christ-came into the world to make us free, St. Louis, Mo., May, 1895. to snap the chains of sin by which we were held in captivity and slavery. By His life, His sufferings, and His death He redeemed us out of this slavery, and having finished the work of our redemption, He ascended on high, leading our captivity captive. Those that held.us captives have been made captives by Christ, and we are redeemed. Ir 1s FIN- isHED! This is the cry of victory from the cross. IT 1s FINISHED! This is the cry of tri- umph from the empty grave on Easter morn- ing and from the Mount of Olivet on Ascen- sion Day. In our Lord’s ascension we see that the work which He came to do is done, perfectly done. Sjnners, all sinners are re- deemed and to all the glad news should be brought that they may by faith receive the gifts of salvation procured by Christ for all men. Christ, therefore, told His disciples to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. The Gospel is the glad news ‘lof our redemption, it is the means by which the gifts of salvation are brought to sinners. Blessed are those that accept this Gospel. They enjoy the liberty which Christ has pro- cured for all men. They are no longer the captives and slaves of Satan, but the free children of God and heirs of eternal salvation. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be sayed.’’? But woe to those that reject the Gospel. They thereby reject their redemp- tion and remain in the captivity of Satan. “He that believeth not shall be damned.’ It is, therefore, of the greatest importance that we not only hear, but also believe the Gospel. By faith alone we enjoy the redemp tion from the captivity which was led captive in our Lord’s ascension. ——— —- oo A Ray of Sunshine. A minister relates the following: ‘‘In the earlier years of my Christian life, I was ac- customed to visit a poor district of a city in Scotland. One day I stepped into a house, dimly lighted and scantily furnished, but yet displaying a studied neatness and order. The only inmate, an aged woman, bowed down with infirmities, and almost blind, was seated No. 5. near the fire-place. A few moments’ conver- sation satisfied me that she was one of Christ’s lowly ones, rich in faith, full of peace, and re-~ joicing in hope of the glory of God. After my own soul had been refreshed with her gracious words, I asked, ‘‘And how do you spend the day here?” ‘There is little difference to me,”’ she replied, ‘‘between the hours of night and day, but they never seem long. There is one who abides with me, whose love makes it all light and joy to my soul. When I awake, He is still with me, and the time seems too short to meditate on His perfections, and to commune with Him. My neighbors are very kind, and when they come in to help me, I have the privilege of telling them what He is to me, and of persuading them to taste and see that God is good. There is just one hour for which I watch. You see that window,” she said, pointing to the four little panes that admitted the dim light into the apartment in which we sat. ‘‘For about an hour every day, when it is not cloudy, the sun shines in there. I take my large-printed Bible and sit down in the sunlight, where I can see well enough to. read, and a precious hour it is to me.’”? ‘I thought,’’ said the minister when he related her little story, ‘‘I thought of the great sun, sending his light and heat to so many distant worlds. I thought of all that he shone upon in this busy world—the fields of grain and the golden fruits that were ripening in his heat— all the labors of man that were advancing in his light; and I felt sure, that from his going forth from the ends of heaven, as a bride- groom coming forth from his chamber, as a strong man to run a race, in all his circuit to the ends of it, he did not nobler service, and none more grateful to our Father in heaven, who causeth His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, than when for a short hour he sent a few beams into that little window, to light up the sacred page to the dim eyes of that. poor old woman whom the world knew not.?”’ te ee ee : ‘Tr we could see the end as God sees it, we should see that every event is for the be-. liever’s highest good. When we get to the heaven, we shall see that every wind was waft- ing us to glory.”