# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1896_S17 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) «The Lutheran Pioneer. : A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PuBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LutHeraAN SynopicAL ConFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Vol. XVIII. St. Louis, Mo. May, 1896. No. 5. Full Salvation. I bless the Christ of God, I rest on love Divine, And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call the Saviour mine. His cross dispels each doubt; I bury in His tomb Each thought of unbelief and fear, Each lingering shade of gloom. I praise the God of peace; I trust His truth and might; He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my joy, my light. My life with Him is hid, My death has passed away, My clouds have melted into light, My midnight into day. Selected. ——- <> oe oe - Ascension and Pentecost. These two church festivals we this year cel- ebrate in the month of May. On Ascension Day we commemorate the ascending of Christ into heaven and His sitting at the right hand of God. After His resur- rection the Lord sojourned yet forty days on earth, showing Himself alive to His disciples by many infallible proofs, 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.’’? The work of re- demption, which He came to do, was finished, and so the Saviour ascended up into the glory which He had from everlasting, entering that glory with the very human body that was slain for our sins. He went to prepare a place for us, eternal in the heavens, where we shall see Him and be with Him forever when our earthly Pilgrimage is ended. It is not with sorrow, therefore, that we look up to the heavens where our risen Saviour has gone, but with-joy that oe mo of redemption is finished and that Beene a is Eerbaed for His people there, “hee nae His labor and suffering and iteett ye a He “is entered into heaven for = fafpereet in the presence of God : & Seated at the right hand of the Majesty of the Most High, He is able to save to the uttermost; and having entered upon the full use of all power in heaven and on earth, He is able as He is willing to be present with us every day, to lead and com- fort 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 captivity which our ascended Saviour led captive was our captivity, we being by nature the captives of Satan, sin and death. And the gifts which our ascended Saviour re- ceived He received, not for Himself, but ‘‘for men.’’ ‘These gifts are forgiveness of sin, everlasting life and salvation. If we are to enjoy these gifts, 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. ‘If 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. The Holy Ghost was poured out upon the disciples. The day on which this occurred is called Pentecost, and in view of the great importance of this 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 still continues His work on earth, though now by ordinary means. These means are the means of grace: the Word of God and the holy Sacraments. By these means the Spirit brings to us the precious gifts of sal- vation and works in our hearts true faith by which we take these gifts as our own. Pente- costis, therefore, a day of rejoicing. We have the blessed means of grace, and in them the Holy Spirit comes to us also with precious gifts unto everlasting life. —_—_9 +e or o———_ The Holy Spirit's Work. In our Catechism we confess: “I believe that I can not by my own reason OF strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit hath called me threugh the Gospel, enlightened me by His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith.” How important is this work of the Holy Spirit! Only they that believe shall be saved. Without true faith in the Saviour we must perish in our sins. Only by the work of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace we are brought to this faith and kept in this faith until the end. As we call to mind the impor- tant work of the Holy Spirit, and praise the mercy of our God for His mission, may we be urged also to greater faithfulness in the use of the means of grace by which the Spirit works, and to greater zeal in bringing the means of grace to those that are still sitting in the darkness of sin and death, without Christ and without hope in this world. —_—o + 0~