The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 17

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Ce

-On that day He was for the last time visibly

Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

PusuisHep By THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SyNnopIcAL CoNFERENCE OF NorTtH AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXII. St. Louis, MonMay, 1900. \ inte uniaainagie!

No Other Name. sat at the right hand of God. The disciples
saw Him rising until a cloud received Him out
of their sight.

Who was it that thus ascended? It was
Jesus Christ, the God-man, the same that was
born of the Virgin Mary as the Saviour of sin-
ners. The work for which He came from
heaven was done, and so He went back to the
Father who had sent Him. His ascension is
a proof that the work of our redemption is
finished. Therefore St. Paul says, ‘‘When He
ascended up on high, He led captivity cap-
tive.’? It was our captivity which He led cap-
tive—the captivity of sin, death, devil and
hell. He had come into the world to snap our
bonds and to set us.free. He took our sins
and the punishment which we deserved upon
Himself. In our stead He was thrown into
prison. But He, the powerful God-man, broke
that prison. Rising from the grave He came
forth as the Conqueror over all our enemies,
and ascending into heaven He led our cap-
tivity captive, that is, He made our enemies
| captives and slaves. Through Him deliverance
is now procured for all sinners. Therefore
He, before His ascension, told His disciples
to go into the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature. This Gospel proclaims liberty
to every captive sinner. In the Gospel the
prison-doors are thrown wide open, and sin-
ners are told to come out of their captivity,
they are told that they are free. Many, it is
sad to say, do not believe this Gospel. They
reject what Christ has done for them. They
prefer to remain the slaves of sin and the cap-
tives of Satan. They reject the only Saviour
and are on the way to everlasting damnation.
But those who accept the Gospel and believe
in Jesus as their Saviour and Redeemer enjoy
the liberty which He has procured for them.
They are no longer the slaves of sin and the
captives of Satan. They are the free children
of God and heirs of everlasting life. They
enjoy all the blessings of Christ’s ascension.
Happy people! There will be a day —and
that day is at hand —when Jesus will come in
like manner as He was seen going to heaven.
He will take God’s children to their heavenly
home which He has gone to prepare for them
in His Father’s house. :

“It Doesn’t Hold.”

There is no Saviour but my Lord,
There is no Gospel but His Word;
Upon that Word I stay my soul

Till earth and heaven away shall roll.

Mr. A., an expert accountant who lived
at B., was a life-long Universalist. He denied
the divinity of Christ and believed that all men
would be saved without a Saviour. He prided
himself in arguing men down, and was always
quoting Scripture to hold his ground. Some
months ago this man was taken seriously ill
and was told by his physicians that he could
live but a short time. :

One day he sent for a Christian neighbor
in whom he had great confidence. He said:
‘tYou know I have always been a Universalist,
and have argued that Jesus was only a good
man. But this religion doesn’t hold. I am
about to die, and a mere man can not save me.
Jesus is divine—or I am lost!’”’ His friend
read passages from the Bible to him, assur-
ing him that Jesus is the Son of God and the
Saviour of sinners. ‘‘But I fear,’’ said he,
‘that it is too late; I have rejected Him too
long.”? Then his friend read slowly and re-
peatedly John 6, 37: “Him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out.”” The man cast
himself on the Lord Jesus for mercy and was
filled with ‘‘all joy and peace in believing.””

He lingered a few weeks longer, and before
his departure called around him his wife and
children, telling them all to give up their un-
belief, to accept Jesus, the Son of God, the
only Saviour. Speaking of the religion which
he formerly defended, he added these words,
which were his last: ‘‘I bear you witness that
it doesn’t hold. It leads you up to death, and
lets you die without hope. I want you to tell
everybody that bear witness—it doesn’t hold!”

Dear reader, have you something that
‘doesn’t hold’’ in the last bitter hour? Ac-
cept Jesus as your righteousness, and you will
have something that will hold even in the hour
of death.

«My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus and His righteousness;

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand,
‘All other ground is sinking sand.”

—_». +o or oe

There is none other than His name

To save from guilt and death and shame;
And in that name my heart shall trust—
Yea, when this frame shall sink to dust.

There’s no atonement but His cross,
All earthly means are death and loss:
And through that cross my soul shall stand
Among the just, at God’s right hand.

There is no refuge but in Him,
Secure, when sun and stars are dim;
Tis there this guilty soul shall hide
And through eternal years abide.

No other name to man is given,
No name beneath the vault of heaven —
That name upon the cross engraved —

By which the guilty must be saved.
Selected.

— —- oo ee

The Ascension of Christ.

Christ’s ascension was foretold in the Old
Testament. David says, ‘‘God is gone up
with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a
trumpet.’??. It was also foretold by Christ
Himself: To the Pharisees He said, ‘‘Yet a
little time I am with you, and I go unto Him
that sent me.’? To His disciples He said,
“J go unto the Father.” The morning of the,
resurrection He said to Mary, ‘‘I am not yet
ascended unto the Father; but go unto my
brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto
my Father and your Father, and my God and
your God.””

These prophecies were fulfilled on Ascension
Day, forty days after Christ’s resurrection.

present with His disciples on the Mount of
Olives. He there told them that they should
Stay at Jerusalem and wait for the promise of
the Father, for 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 Gospel
to every creature. And when He had spoken
these things, He was taken up into heaven and

Fairu is to believe what we do not see, and
the end of this faith is to see what we be-
lieved. ; }