The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-15
THE GILMAN Oh THE KING
1be International Sunday school Les
son for December 20 Is. The As
ccnsion."--Iukc ~24:5O-53; Acts
till.
(Ry William r. Ellis.)

For more than q year past the mil
lions of the SUNDAY school have been
studying the life OF Jesus. For the
past two weeks the lesson theme has
been the Resurrection, concerning
which Lyman Abbott says. 1.-The re
s1rrection OF Jesus Christ is The best
attested fact in history"
Now we have come to the splendid
climax of the career of Christ; a eli
max essential TO the completion Of ali
that has gone before. christianity
could not lie founded on "a closed
tomb. \ dead Christ would have
been an anticlimaX and q failure
even though he would have met all
the conditions of the people who re-
gard Jesus as merely an example and
~ teacher. For the completion of His
mission and the triumph OF His mes
sage Jesus logically had To be the
living and the reigning Christ. So
after an interval OF forty days during
which He had shown Himself alive
by "many infallible proofs the hour
~ ascension came, and this is tho
lesson assigned for rresen, study.
Appropriately this lalls on the sun
day before Christmas. is
the completion Of Advent. The Christ
who came III Bethlehem has finished
Ills course, and now OH Olivet has as
cended i'm triumph. The Christmas
promise has been fulfilled. All that
the shepherds and the Wise Men heard
has been brought to pass. The Re
deeJner is risen and reSnant.
The Story Itself.
First of all let us get the event Of
the Ascension clearly in mind as it
appears in the inspired record. Luke,
that best OF oil historians, narrates
Il most fully. and we shall e his
brief account with which his gospel
closes, and then the supplemental ac-
count that he wrote to Thcophilus III
the Book of the Acts. TO make the
story more vivid We shall quote from
the New Testament III modern speech
Dr. Weymouth's version. which is S.
near TO the original Greek.
and He brought them out to with.
In view OF Bethany, and then liftet
up His hands and blessed them. An(
while Tie vas blessing them, He part.
cd from them and was carried up int
heaven. They worshiped Him, ant
returned to Jerusalem with great JOY
Afterwards they were continually IL
attendance at the Temple. blessin;
Cod"
my former narrative, ~Theophilus
dealt with all that Jesus did AM
taught as a beginning, down to tn
day IN which. after giving instruc
tions through the Holy Spirit TO TIL
Poot'N NiiVIii lC q e11ooVlty Ii
was taken up TO Heaven. He ha,
also, after He suffered, shown Him
self alive to them with many sur
proofs, appearing to them at inter
walls during forty days, and speaking
of the Kingdom Of God. And Will
IN their company He charged Their
not to leave Jerusalem, but to val
for the Fathers promised gift.
This you have heard Of He saiC
from me. For John indeed baptize
with water. but before many day
have passed YOU shall be baptized wit
The Holy Spirit
"Once when they were with Hi,
they asked Him:
MASTER. is this the time at whic
YOU are about to restore the kingdol
of lsrael?'
eft is not for you He replied, q
know times or epochs which tt
Father has reserved within His ON
authority; and yet you will recei'
power when the Holy Spirit has cor
upon You. and you will he my witne
iii Jerusalem and in all Judea al
Samaria and TO the r~einotest par
Of the earth
"When lie had said this, and whi
they looking at Him. He was carri'
NJ, and n cloud closing beneath Hi
hid Him from their sight. But. whi
they stood ~intently gazing into t
sky as He went. suddenly there we
two men in white garments Standi.
by them. who said:
"Galilaeans, why stand looking
into the sky? This same Jesus "
has been taken up from you III
Heaven will come in just the sal
way as you have seen Him going il
Heaven"
A New Life Source.
Wrapped up in the truth OF I
Ascension is the other truth Of I
life OF the Christian Church. She <
her power not from her ~orsanlZati
or from her leaders-of whom. 81
there is such a scarcity--but from
risen Christ Himself. "who ever liv'
TO max intercession." The New [
lament is i~nwrought with the tren
dous teaching that this new organi
ton Of believers, which Christ
behind to carry ON His work. is GU
fed and equipped and empowered