Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1867-12-03
Communicated.
The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand.

Church, which is the Kingdom OF
Heaven. Ia the teachings Of our
Lord we find 3 large space devoted
to the Kingdom tine Kingdom OF
God, " "tho Kingdom OF Heaven. Ii
is the subject Of many parallels, which
explain It's nature add purpose. To
ST. Peter our Lore said, Il will give
unto thee the keys OF the Kingdom
of Heaven" During the forty days
between Ills resurrection aud ascen~
sion, He was speaking OF the things
pertaining TO the Kingdom Of Hea-
ven.
The purpose OF establishing this
Kingdom Of Heaven, OF building this
church, was to convey TO mankind the
purchased reconciliation OF the Faith.
er, and the Holy Spirit by whom the
soul is fitted for Heaven. And it is
evident that this is the purpose for
which cur Lord built His Church, be,
cause we cannot conceive of any oths
er purpose for it to answer During
the life time Of the Apostles this
Church was fully organized socie-
y Of believers, clSibic, seperate from
the world, yet in the world. a pegu--
liar people" rs they are ri this, dsy;
under government which came
from Christ Himself. And IN its or
ganlzation il was portraiture Oft
same Church for all the time OF the
meditoriaI reign Between the res>
direction and the day Of Pentecost
the Disciples were in doubttul'y ex-
pectant state as the sad conversation
Oh the two while walking To the wis
laSe OF Emmaus, and as the question
just before the ascension, lord, wilt
Thou at this time restore again the
Kingdom TO lsra j r. clearly show
They were also ignorant of the great
purpose Of our Lords mission TO
earth, namely, to die for mankind.
"Be it far from Thee Lord, ST. Peter
SAID, the spokesman Of the twelve
Tho after this our Lord spoke plainly
to His disciples a bout His death and
resurrection, as in Mathew xx-IS.
yet they did not understand ,ohy He
died until they received the promised
Spirit of truth, who did guide them
into the great doctrine OF the atone-
ment, (which in other ages was not
made known unto the sons of men"
We are apt in reading the Gospels
to feel the departure of our Jesus
from earth as did the disciples during
the fifty days between His resurrec-
! ton and the day of Pentecost. They
during this time mourned His depart
ure as the loss of a dear friend, whose
friendship was especially valuable be-
cause OF His relation to the Father,
which though they may not have full.
ly understood, yet what they had
seen and heard from Him was suflf>
Gent to satisfy them that He was
sent of God But when the comfort
or, which is the Holy Ghost, came
unto them, and enlightened their
minds with tho full truth as il IS in
jesus, then To their joy they found
again their dear Lord The occa-
sional visit of Jesus comforted them
with this His occasional presence, but
in the intervals between these visits
they felt the absence OF their Master
most sensibly. No lainful absence
OF Him whom they loved ever troub>
led them after Christ reveed Himself
TO them on the day of Pentecost,
which is the birth day Of the Chris
tian Church, subject thus ably han
died by contributor to the Diction,
airy of the Bible, edited by Dr. VIM.
Smith.
''The removal of Christ from the
earth had left his followers a shatter,
ed company, with no bond Of exter~
nal internal cohesion, except the mem.
DRY of the Master whom they had lost.
and the recollection of His Injunction
to unity and lore, together with the
occasional glympsos of His presence
which were vouehsafed to them -
They continued together, meeting for
prayer and supplication, and waiting
for Christ's promise Of the gift of the
Holy Ghost. They numbered in all
some 140-namely, the eleven, the
faithful women, the Lords mother
His brethren, and l20 disciples
They had faith 10 believe that there
was work before them which they
were about TO be called to perform
and that they might be ready 10 do
it, they filled up the number OF the
twelve by the appointment Of Mathi-
as, 'to be true witness with the
eleven "ot the resurrection. The
day OF Pentecost is the birth day Of
the Christian Church. The Spirit
who was then sent by the Son from
the Father, and rested on each ofthe
disciples, combined them once more
into IL whole-combned them as they
had never been before combined by
an internal and spirited bond OF cohe>
sion. Before they had been ndivid
ual followers Of Jesus; now they be-
came His mystical body, animated
by His Spirit The nucleus was
formed; development would do the
rest"
On the day of its birth the Church.
numbered besides the 140, abont 3000i
souls, who were admitted 4" into tho.
Kingdom of His dear Son" by bap~
tism. When upon earth our Lord in
His human body was neceSSGgli,b visit-
bic TO many eyes, bat after His as
cension only to the eye Of faith was
He visible; and not a littIe to our
comfort AMI satisfaction 30 know that
He was as truly, as pG"posely, as faE-
~ present with His followers after as
before His ascension. To our com.
fort because His presence wi til the
Church of the Apostolic age is surely
vouchsafed to His Church of TODAY
with which he promised to be ''every
day even unto the end Of tho world"
And If to our comfort, then to our
walking circumspectly as in His sight.
Hardly anything assists us more in
obeying, and detcrs us more from dis.
obedience to the will of Christ than
our consciousness Of His presence
with us-cven such presence as the
we've enjoyed before their Lords
Heath as they felt after His ascension.