The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1892, Page 17

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The Xuthevan Vioneer. :

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusiisHep BY THE EVANGELICAL Luraeran Synopicat Conrerence or Nortu AMERICA.

R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the'Post Oflice at St. Louls, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XIV.

St. Louis, Mo., May, 1892.

Only trust Him.

«*Blessed Js the man that trusteth in Him.’’ Ps, 34, 8.

Trust in the LoviNG One,
Jesus thy Friend;
Who loveth thee always,
And loves to the end. John 13, 1.

Trust in the py1nG One,
Atonement He made;
The wrath He has borne,

Thy debt He has paid.

Trust in the RIsEN One,
Mighty to save,
For He did destroy
Both death and the grave. 1 Cor. 15, 55.

Rom. 5, 6.

Trust the ASCENDED One,
Seated on high;
Through Him to the Father,
Alone we draw nigh. Heb. 4, 1{—16.

Trust in the L1vixG One,
None can thee sever,
From Him who was dead,
But now liveth ever. John 14, 19.

Trust in the COMING One,
Coming for thee;
Safe home in the glory,
With Him thou shalt be. John 14, 3.

Trust in the REIGNING One,
Never to fall;

Trust, love, and praise Him,

_ Christ al] and in all. Col. 3, 11.

Selected.
SS Eo

Leading Captivity Captive.

Christ, after His resurrection, remained on
earth forty days, showing Himself alive to His
disciples at different times. When those forty
days were passed, He was visibly present with
them for the last time on a mountain called
Olivet. He spoke with them about the king-
dom of Heaven, and told them to stay in Jeru-
salem and wait for the outpouring of the Holy
Ghost. ‘‘And it came to pass, while He blessed
them, He was parted from them.”’ ‘Their eager
eyes saw Him rising higher and higher into the
air, until a cloud received Him out of their
sight. And, while they still looked up to

heaven, two angels stood by them, saying:

‘tYe men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up
into heaven? ‘This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall come in like

manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.’’
And the disciples returned unto Jerusalem.

This is the lesson of Ascension Day. The
King of glory entered the majesty on high,
and with shouts of triumph He was weleomed
to the glory which He had with the Father
before the world was. For it is written: ‘‘God
is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound
of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing
praises!’’ (Ps. 47.) Ascension Day is a day
of rejoicing, a day of glad tidings. St. Paul,
speaking of Christ’s Ascension, says, ‘‘When
He ascended up on high, He led captivity cap-
tive, and gave gifts unto men.’’

Christ, in His ascension, led captivity cap-
tive. Which captivity is this? It is the cap-
tivity in which we were held by sin. Every
man, in his natural state, is a slave of sin,
a captive of Satan; the curse of God’s holy
law is upon him, and eternal damnation is the
punishment which he deserves. No man can
deliver himself from this captivity. Many have
tried, and tried, and—failed. ‘There is only
one Deliverer from this captivity. It is Jesus.
He came into this world to snap our bonds
and to set us free. He took our sins and the
curse of the law upon Himself. Of His own
free will, He, in our stead, was thrown into
prison. Our enemies rejoiced. But behold!
they could not hold Him captive. He, the
powerful God-man, broke the prison. Rising
from the grave, He came forth as the Con-
queror over all our enemies; and ascending
into heaven, He led our captivity captive, that
is, He made our enemies captives and slaves.
He was crowned as the great Conqueror: our
enemies were put under Tis feet. Through
Him deliverance is now procured for all sin-
ners, and therefore the Gospel proclaims lib-
erty to every captive sinner. ;

Blessed are they that accept this Gospel
and believe in Christ as their Saviour. They
enjoy the deliverance from all their enemies.
They are no longer the captives of Satan, they
are no longer the slaves of sin, but masters
over sin, death, devil, and hell. Their captiv-
ity is led captive; and as their enemies are put
under the feet of Christ, their representative,
so those enemies are also put under their feet:
the true believers are made lords and kings.

The Conqueror of Sin.

Not only my sins and thine, but the sins of
the whole world, either past, present, or to
come, take hold of Him, go about to condemn
Him, and do indeed condemn Him.

But because in the self-same Person—which
is thus the highest, the greatest, and the only
sinner—there is also an everlasting and in-
vincible righteousness, therefore these two do
encounter together; the highest, the greatest,
and the only sin, the highest, the greatest, and
the only righteousness.

Sin is a mighty and cruel tyrant ruling and
reigning over the whole world, bringing all
men into bondage. ‘This tyrant flieth upon
Christ, and will needs swallow Him up, as he
doth all other. But he seeth not that He is a
person of invincible and everlasting righteous-
ness. In this combat whatis done? Righteous-
ness is everlasting, immortal, invincible.

In like manner, Death, which is an invincible
queen and empress of the whole world, killing
kings, princes, and, generally, all men, doth
mightily encounter with Life, thinking utterly
to overcome it; and that which it undertaketh,
it bringeth to pass indeed. But because Life
was immortal, therefore, when it was over-
come, yet did it truly overcome, and get the
victory, vanquishing and killing death. Death,
therefore, through Christ is vanquished and
abolished throughout the whole world; so that
now it is but a painted death, which, losing
its sting, can no more hurt those that be-
lieve in Christ, who is become the death of
death.

So, the curse fighteth against the blessing,
and would condemn it and bring it to naught;
but it can not do so. For the blessing is di-
vine, everlasting, and therefore the curse must
needs give place. For if the blessing in Christ
could be overcome, then should God Himself
be overcome.—Luther.

a

As tHe Word of God, well studied, will
help us to understand His providences, so the’
providence of God, well observed, will help
us to-understand His Word, for God is every- "
where fulfilling the Scriptures.