After defeating the British, General George Washington resigned and returned to farming at Mount Vernon. On this day, November 2, 1783, he issued his Farewell Orders to his troops. “Before the Comdr in Chief takes his final leave,” he wrote, “he wishes… a slight review of the past…. The singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving; while the… perseverance of the Armies of the U. States, through almost every possible suffering… for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle.”

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future
to a known God.
--- Corrie Ten Boom


When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark,
you don't throw away the ticket and jump off.
You sit still and trust the engineer.
--- Corrie Ten Boom

... from here, there and everywhere

3     A poor man who oppresses the weak
is like a downpour that sweeps away all the food.

4     Those who abandon Torah praise the wicked,
but those who keep Torah fight them.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

                Authority and independence

     If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments. --- John 14:15 (R.V.).

     Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it. We have to obey Him out of oneness of spirit. That is why when Our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an IF—you do not need to unless you like. “If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself”; let him give up his right to himself to Me. Our Lord is not talking of eternal positions, but of being of value to Himself in this order of things, that is why He sounds so stern (cf. Luke 14:26). Never interpret these words apart from the One who uttered them.

     The Lord does not give me rules, He makes His standard very clear, and if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else in competition with Him, viz., myself. Jesus Christ will not help me to obey Him, I must obey Him; and when I do obey Him, I fulfil my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small petty incidents, altogether unnoticeable and mean, but if I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God, and when I stand face to face with God I shall discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When once God’s Redemption comes to the point of obedience in a human soul, it always creates. If I obey Jesus Christ, the Redemption of God will rush through me to other lives, because behind the deed of obedience is the Reality of Almighty God.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

  Here I think of the centuries,
six million of them, they say.
Yesterday a fine rain fell;
today the warmth has brought out the crowds.
After Christ, what? The molecules
are without redemption. My shadow
sunning itself on this stone
remembers the lava. Zeus looked down
on a brave world, but there was
no love there; the architecture
of their temples was less permanent
than these waves. Plato, Aristotle,
all those who furrowed the calmness
of their foreheads are responsible
for the bomb. I am charmed here
by the serenity of the reflections
in the sea's mirror. It is a window
as well. What I need
now is a faith to enable me to out-stare
the grinning faces of the inmates of its asylum,
the failed experiments God put away.

R.S. Thomas, London: Macmillan, 1978. Frequencies

     The religious significance of the study of logic as a means of integrating an independent spiritual aspiration with a commitment to community is evident from Maimonides’ treatment of the difference between Akiva and Aḥer. It is also possible to respond to the perplexity which philosophical study creates for the halakhic Jew by rejecting the way of Athens rather than of Jerusalem. Maimonides does not educate toward an unquestioning acceptance of Aggadah. He therefore outlines his epistemological map for the general community of halakhic Jews. In “The Letter on Astrology” to the rabbis of Marseilles, Maimonides presents a clear demarcation between the domains of reason and traditional authority:

     Know, my masters, that it is not proper for a man to accept as trustworthy anything other than one of these three things. The first is a thing for which there is a clear proof deriving from man’s reasoning—such as arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The second is a thing that a man perceives through one of the five senses—such as when he knows with certainty that this is red and this is black and the like through the sight of his eye; or as when he tastes that this is bitter and this is sweet; or as when he feels that this is hot and this is cold; or as when he hears that this sound is clear and this sound is indistinct; or as when he smells that this is a pleasing smell and this is a displeasing smell and the like. The third is a thing that a man receives from the Prophets or from the righteous. Every reasonable man ought to distinguish in his mind and thought all the things that he accepts as trustworthy, and say: “This I accept as trustworthy because of tradition, and this because of sense perception, and this on the grounds of reason.” (Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook (Cornell Paperbacks))

     After the rabbis are made to understand these three distinct criteria of knowledge, they are then introduced to an understanding of rabbinic Aggadah:

     I know that you may search and find sayings of some individual Sages in the Talmud and midrashot whose words appear to maintain that at the moment of man’s birth the stars will cause such and such to happen to him. Do not regard this as a difficulty, for it is not fitting for a man to abandon the prevailing law and raise once again the counterarguments and replies [that preceded its enactment]. Similarly it is not proper to abandon matters of reason that have already been verified by proofs, shake loose of them, and depend on the words of a single one of the Sages from whom possibly the matter was hidden.… A man should never cast his reason behind him, for the eyes are set in front, not in back. “Now I have told you all my heart” on this subject.

     Maimonides explains to the rabbis of Marseilles that talmudic authorities cannot make a spurious science, i.e., astrology, into a genuine science. The criteria of what is to count as legitimate, scientific truth is established by the canons of reason:

     The position of the astrologers is given the lie by reason, for correct reasoning has already refuted, by means of lucid proofs, all those follies that they have maintained.

     The rabbis are told to rely on the philosophers when they evaluate the claims of their rabbinic authorities. Throughout this important letter, which is addressed to students of the law, Maimonides does not hide his love for philosophy. He goes so far as to identify “the remnant … whom the Lord shall call” (Joel 3:5) with those philosophers who are able to provide criteria for distinguishing between the genuine science of astronomy and the spurious science of astrology.

     The rabbis of Marseilles are shown how to use philosophic reason to support or supplement the teachings of Judaism. They are taught to recognize which principles of Judaism rest upon agreement with philosophic reason and which principles in Judaism rest upon the authority of tradition. Astrology is not only proven to be false on the basis of philosophy, but, as Maimonides writes:

     It also is regarded as a falsehood by us because of the religious tradition, for if the matter stood thus, of what utility would the Torah and the commandment and the Talmud be to a particular individual? For in that event, every single individual would lack the power to do anything he set his mind to, since something else draws him on—against his will—to be this and not to be that; of what use then is the command or the Talmud? The roots of the religion of Moses, our Master, we find, refute the position of these stupid ones—in addition to reason’s doing so with all those proofs that the philosophers maintain to refute the position of the Chasdeans and the Chaldeans and their associates.

     However when Maimonides deals with belief in individual providence which is based solely on the authority of the Torah and not on demonstrative reason, he writes:

     The position of the philosophers who maintain that these things are due to chance is also regarded as a falsehood by us because of the religious tradition.

     In contrast to astrology, which is rejected both by the claims of reason and of tradition, individual providence is accepted solely on the basis of tradition.

     We have discussed “The Letter on Astrology” to indicate that Maimonides exposed his legal students and associates to the same epistemological principles which he established in the Guide. All of Maimonides’ students are encouraged to develop their rational faculties without fear of being contradicted by traditional authorities. Because Maimonides carefully and clearly differentiates the three types of criteria upon which one can base one’s knowledge, the student of Torah knows when he must demonstrate allegiance to his tradition and when he is free to follow independent reason. The integrity of man’s intellect will never be violated by the tradition since, according to Maimonides, the tradition distinguishes knowledge based upon sense, upon reason, and upon authority.

     A factor in Maimonides’ anger with the Mutakallimun is that he viewed their method as a violation of the integrity of reason:

     Now when I considered this method of thought, my soul felt a very strong aversion to it and had every right to do so. For every argument deemed to be a demonstration of the temporal creation of the world is accompanied by doubts and is not a cogent demonstration except among those who do not know the difference between demonstration, dialectics, and sophistic argument.

Hartman, D. (2009). Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest (See all Torah Books) .

     Citywide conflagrations seldom happen today, having gone the way of the plague. But Christians of earlier eras often ministered and suffered amid such holocausts. Believers in Nero’s day were unjustly blamed for Rome’s fiery destruction. Eighty-nine churches perished in London’s 1666 fire. D. L. Moody lost virtually all his property in the great Chicago fire of 1871. But none of them exceeded the fire and fear that engulfed Canton during the days of Protestants’ first missionary to China.

     Robert Morrison ministered in Canton despite the misgivings of the East India Company and the antagonism of the Chinese themselves. Yet he plodded on, finally baptizing his first convert after seven years of labor.

     On Friday night, November 1, 1822, Morrison became aware of panic in the city. A fire, starting in a baker’s shop and driven by strong winds, was roaring like a furnace through acres of crowded, wooden houses. Multitudes fled in hysteria. The East India Company’s fire equipment was of little use, for the streets were clogged with fleeing humanity, and the water supply was poor.

     Morrison, transfixed by the sea of flames, hurriedly penned a letter in Chinese before dawn on November 2, 1822 begging officials to pull down buildings in front of the fire to stop the inferno’s advance. But the Chinese refused to even read his letter, though he took it to the governor in person. By 8 A.M., the flames consumed the city’s manufacturing sectors. Shifting winds drove the fire along the riverfront, westward for a mile and a half. Multitudes were killed, burned, or left homeless. Thousands of shops and houses were destroyed. It was the end of the world in miniature.

     Looters tried to beat the flames to abandoned valuables, and Morrison recorded that 28 people were trampled while scrambling for money after a robber cut open a man’s cash-stuffed backpack. The missionary himself was relatively fortunate. He lost nothing of great value beyond a hundred pounds of paper intended for a new edition of his translation of the New Testament.

     The earth came out of water and was made from water. Later it was destroyed by the waters of a mighty flood. But God has commanded the present heavens and earth to remain until the day of judgment. Then they will be set on fire, and ungodly people will be destroyed.
--- 2 Peter 3:5b-7.

Morgan, R. J. On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

     None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
--- 1 Corinthians 2:8.

     The Sadducees held all the high places in the church, yet they had lost all spirituality and all belief in it. (The Galilean Accent: Being Some Studies In The Christian Life ) Religion was all very well, they said, but really, to get things done, you must look only to politics. The axioms of pious people were unprovable and almost certainly untrue. There was no resurrection—no rewards and punishments hereafter; this brief life of ours was really all. A soul? No doubt there was a soul. But don’t brood over that. Give us practical measures of reform for this life here, and the soul will take care of itself. And this [Jesus] was becoming troublesome with his insistence on secondary things and was breeding trouble where they wanted peace and quiet. Yes, they felt, he were better away, and in the council they, too, voted death.

     We [today] also are not worrying about immortality, hardly believe in it, or at least are not sure. We, too, have limited ourselves to this dust-speck of time, leaving unclaimed the vast inheritance of which Christ told us. We, too, are putting all our passion and enthusiasm into things of this earth—material things—quite certain that that is the only road to progress and that this chatter about the soul is quite beside the point.

     People are so certain, so often animated by lofty motives, so sure that there is no need for Christ. Given a particular panacea, the world will manage very well. To talk about Christ and changing people’s hearts and making us new creatures is to lose precious time and wander from the practical into daydreaming.

     Today, too, there is a great shouting for Barabbas, for the man of action; we, too, believe in politics and economics—but religion? Set their circumstances right, and people will need no savior, will soon show that they can take care of themselves! “If… the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). If the cures and remedies of an age touch none of the roots of the disease, what then? And still Christ holds to it—as he did in his own day, full as ours is now of social sores and economic problems—that in the last resort nothing can save the world but a new race of men and women, with new aims and likings and a new ardor of self-sacrifice. And still that angers people, and they rise up and cast him out. We are all members of the council before which he is tried. And how does your heart vote?
--- Arthur John Gossip

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

PROPER 26, WEDNESDAY
YEAR 1

Psalms (Morning) Psalm 72
Psalms (Evening) Psalm 119:73–96
Old Testament Nehemiah 13:4–22
New Testament Revelation 12:1–12
Gospel Matthew 13:53–58

Index of Readings

PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 72

Of Solomon.

1 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to a king’s son.
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
3 May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor.

5 May he live while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth.
7 In his days may righteousness flourish
and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 May his foes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles
render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts.
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations give him service.

12 For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.

15 Long may he live!
May gold of Sheba be given to him.
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all day long.
16 May there be abundance of grain in the land;
may it wave on the tops of the mountains;
may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
like the grass of the field.
17 May his name endure forever,
his fame continue as long as the sun.
May all nations be blessed in him;
may they pronounce him happy.

18 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
who alone does wondrous things.
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.
Amen and Amen.

20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 119:73–96

73 Your hands have made and fashioned me;
give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
74 Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice,
because I have hoped in your word.
75 I know, O LORD, that your judgments are right,
and that in faithfulness you have humbled me.
76 Let your steadfast love become my comfort
according to your promise to your servant.
77 Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight.
78 Let the arrogant be put to shame,
because they have subverted me with guile;
as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
79 Let those who fear you turn to me,
so that they may know your decrees.
80 May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
so that I may not be put to shame.

81 My soul languishes for your salvation;
I hope in your word.
82 My eyes fail with watching for your promise;
I ask, “When will you comfort me?”
83 For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,
yet I have not forgotten your statutes.
84 How long must your servant endure?
When will you judge those who persecute me?
85 The arrogant have dug pitfalls for me;
they flout your law.
86 All your commandments are enduring;
I am persecuted without cause; help me!
87 They have almost made an end of me on earth;
but I have not forsaken your precepts.
88 In your steadfast love spare my life,
so that I may keep the decrees of your mouth.

89 The LORD exists forever;
your word is firmly fixed in heaven.
90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
91 By your appointment they stand today,
for all things are your servants.
92 If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my misery.
93 I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
94 I am yours; save me,
for I have sought your precepts.
95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,
but I consider your decrees.
96 I have seen a limit to all perfection,
but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

OLD TESTAMENT
Nehemiah 13:4–22

4 Now before this, the priest Eliashib, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. 6 While this was taking place I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon I went to the king. After some time I asked leave of the king 7 and returned to Jerusalem. I then discovered the wrong that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah, preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the room. 9 Then I gave orders and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them; so that the Levites and the singers, who had conducted the service, had gone back to their fields. 11 So I remonstrated with the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah, for they were considered faithful; and their duty was to distribute to their associates. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys; and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day; and I warned them at that time against selling food. 16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of merchandise and sold them on the sabbath to the people of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17 Then I remonstrated with the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day? 18 Did not your ancestors act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.” 19 When it began to be dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the sabbath. And I set some of my servants over the gates, to prevent any burden from being brought in on the sabbath day. 20 Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath. 22 And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

NEW TESTAMENT
Revelation 12:1–12

12 A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. 3 Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,

“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Messiah,
for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.
11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.
12 Rejoice then, you heavens
and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!”

GOSPEL
Matthew 13:53–58

53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

54 He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.” 58 And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary

     The Dead Sea Scrolls have made their way online some 2,000 years after they were written through a partnership between Google and Israel’s national museum.

     The important documents are available in searchable, high-resolution images, accompanied by informative videos, background information, and historical data. So far five of the scrolls have been digitized, including the biblical Book of Isaiah, the Temple Scroll, and three others.

     Managing Director of Google’s R&D Center in Israel, Professor Yossi Matias said they plan to add additional Dead Sea Scroll documents to the site in the future. The AP says nearly all the scrolls will be online by 2016. (PC Magazine)

     Here is technology at its best!           Click Here