The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1890, Page 17

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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.