The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 21

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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.