Morning Prayer (1662 Book of Common Prayer)

LECTIONS. John Calvin on the Psalms. Keil & Delitzsch: Joshua. Matthew Henry: Isaiah. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown: Gospels. Matthew Henry: Revelation. Dr. Robert Reymond: Systematic Theology. Prof. Berkhof, Systematic Theology: Soteriology. Dr. Philip Schaff, Apostolic Christianity, Medieval Christianity, Swiss Reformation and Creeds of Christendom. Westminster Larger Catechism, 90-93. For Psalm 11.4-6, Prof. Calvin speaks of God “arising” using the metaphor of awakening from sleep without imputing indifference on God’s part. Rather, God is alert, arises and finally strikes. For Joshua 11.16-23, Prof. Keil continues on the war’s completion. The areas and most towns were despoiled, but Canaanites were still here-and-there. Judges will pick up with that issue. For Isaiah 2.6-8, Prof. Henry continues to expound the covetousness, malcontentedness and pride of the Jerusalemites and Israel. For Mathew 1.1-18, Prof. Jamiesson comments on the content of the Messianic prophecy that the child should be born in Bethlehem. He stresses that He, Jesus, was born to Rule, Conquer, and Feed. The Prof. works the Greek word poimein. For Revelation 6.3-8, Prof. Henry continues to elaborate on the martyrs in white robes, safe, protected, free from persecution, conscious and thinking, remembering the past, not forgetting the malice of their murderers, and awaiting the Final Assize. For Bibliology, Prof. Reymond again complains about Dr. Packer’s hermeneutic of antinomies. The Prof. is not letting go of Dr. Packer. For Soteriology, Prof. Berkhof illustrates how Schleiermacher (and his crew) reduced divine regeneration and new birth to a level of the "spirit of the community" that renews a person. Slick-schtick again, using Biblical terms but redefining them. For Apostolic Christianity, Prof. Schaff continued his commentary on August Neander of Berlin and begins to describe Ferdinand Christian Bauer of Tubingen (d. 1860), the infamous initiator of the (fictitious, exaggerated, Hegelian) Peter v. Paul antagonism. Although he had a blackened metaphysic from hell excluding biblical miracles as a cut-throat, he still acknowledged the resurrection. For Medieval Christianity, Prof. Schaff prints the 1171 letter of Pope Adrian to Henry, the English King, outlining his royal duties to subject the Irish to the see of Rome, extirpate dens of iniquity, and bring Ireland under English rule. Note the Pope considers it his authority and duty to SIT ABOVE and command. And, most importantly, NEVER FORGET that every Irish household “owes” 1 penny per every Irish household. Hey, conquer ‘em and, for sure, tax ‘em. The name of the game. For the Swiss Reformation, Prof. Schaff describes the lives and works of Gallicius and Cambell in Grisson, Switzerland, now a city with religious freedom. For the Creeds of Christendom, Prof. Schaff outlines the Reformed Theology of the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople on various issues: Scriptures are superior to the Church’s authority, Scriptures alone rules all things, the Scriptures must be widely dispersed without the Apocrypha, image worship is to be rejected, the church is liable to sin and err, justification by faith alone, the necessity of works, the Calvinist view of the Real but Spiritual Presence of Christ to the believer in the Lord’s Supper, no purgatory, and no second chances after death. Westminster Larger Catechism, 90-93. Q. 90. What shall be done to the righteous at the day of judgment? A. At the day of judgment, the righteous, being caught up to Christ in the clouds, shall be set on his right hand, and there openly acknowledged and acquitted, shall join with him in the judging of reprobate angels and men, and shall be received into heaven, where they shall be fully and forever freed from all sin and misery; filled with inconceivable joys, made perfectly holy and happy both in body and soul, in the company of innumerable saints and holy angels, but especially in the immediate vision and fruition of God the Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, to all eternity. And this is the perfect and full communion which the members of the invisible church shall enjoy with Christ in glory, at the resurrection and day of judgment. HAVING SEEN WHAT THE SCRIPTURES PRINCIPALLY TEACH US TO BELIEVE CONCERNING GOD, IT FOLLOWS TO CONSIDER WHAT THEY REQUIRE AS THE DUTY OF MAN Q. 91. What is the duty which God requireth of man? A. The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will. Q. 92. What did God first reveal unto man as the rule of his obedience? A. The rule of obedience revealed to Adam in the estate of innocence, and to all mankind in him, besides a special command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was the moral law.