The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1895, Page 17

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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.”