August 24, 2022 :: Morning Prayer
Saint Bartholomew the Apostle
Here beginneth the 24th chapter of Sirach.
Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her people.
In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth, and triumph before his power.
I came out of the mouth of the most High, and covered the earth as a cloud.
I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar.
I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep.
In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a possession.
With all these I sought rest: and in whose inheritance shall I abide?
So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and he that made me caused my tabernacle to rest, and said, Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel.
He created me from the beginning before the world, and I shall never fail.
In the holy tabernacle I served before him; and so was I established in Sion.
Likewise in the beloved city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my power.
And I took root in an honourable people, even in the portion of the Lord's inheritance.
I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon.
I was exalted like a palm tree in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane tree by the water.
I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle.
As the turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace.
As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope: I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him.
Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits.
For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb.
They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty.
He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me shall not do amiss.
All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, even the law which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob.
Faint not to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for the Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him there is no other Saviour.
He filleth all things with his wisdom, as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits.
He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the harvest.
He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in the time of vintage.
The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her out.
For her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than the great deep.
I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden.
I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea.
I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth her light afar off.
I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for ever.
Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom.
Here endeth the first lesson.
Here beginneth the 22nd chapter of Acts.
Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,
The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.