Thursday, April 10, 2025

Francis Scott Key - Better Than F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (100 Years Ago)

 




"Before the Lord We Bow"
by Francis S. Key, 1779-1843






1. Before the Lord we bow,
The God who reigns above
And rules the world below
In boundless pow'r and love.
Our thanks we bring,
In joy and praise
Our hearts we raise
To heav'n's high King.

2. The nation Thou hast blest
May well Thy love declare,
From foes and fears at rest,
Protected by Thy care.
For this fair land,
For this bright day,
Our thanks we pay--
Gifts of Thy hand.

3. May ev'ry mountain height,
Each vale and forest green,
Shine in Thy Word's pure light
And its rich fruits be seen!
May ev'ry tongue
Be tuned to praise
And join to raise
A grateful song!

4. Earth, hear thy Maker's voice,
Thy great Redeemer own;
Believe, obey, rejoice,
And worship Him alone.
Cast down thy pride,
Thy sin deplore,
And bow before
The Crucified.

5. And when in power He comes,
Oh, may our native land
From all its rending tombs
Send forth a glorious band,
A countless throng,
For aye to sing
To heaven's high King
Salvation's song!

Hymn #575
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 145:1
Author: Francis S. Key, 1832, alt.
Composer: John Darwall, 1770
Tune: "Darwall's 148th"
 George Washington at Valley Forge, by Arnold Friberg


 Francis Scott Key
He freed his own slaves, Handbook, TLH, p. 531.





Reformation Seminary Lecture - Acts 3

 




KJV Acts 3

3 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.


2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;


3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.


4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.


5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.


6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.


7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.


8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.


9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:


10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.


11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.


12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?


13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.


14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;


15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.


16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.


17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.


18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.


18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.


19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.


20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:


21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.


22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.


23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.


24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.


25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.


26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Superfluous Pronouns - Winning

 

All Time Views11,986,665

YDS Biography 

"Professor Tonstad is a constructive theologian working at the intersection of Christian theology with feminist and queer theory. Her first book, God and Difference: The Trinity, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Finitude(link is external)was published by Routledge in 2016 and was named both as a best new book in ethics and a best new book in theology in Christian Century in the spring of 2017." 

Employees at multiple federal agencies were ordered to remove pronouns from their email signatures by Friday afternoon, according to internal memos obtained by ABC News that cited two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office seeking to curb diversity and equity programs in the federal government.

"Pronouns and any other information not permitted in the policy must be removed from CDC/ATSDR employee signatures by 5.p.m. ET on Friday," according to one such message sent Friday morning to CDC staff.

I was a bit confused about media people "using their pronouns with their names" when writing to the White House. Apparently the journalists were still adding pronouns to their signatures to prove something as stale as yesterday's scrambled eggs. So the White House did not even respond to the pronoun abusers.

Recently someone from Yale Divinity encouraged me to drive down to Little Rock for some kind of YDS conference, ending the request with he, him, they or some vapid variation for the gender sensitive. I responded by saying "Me, myself, and I will not attend...ever." Messages stopped. 

Before that, the 1973 YDS graduate class seemed to be immune to a 50 year reunion. I wonder why.

I recently noticed that the University of Phoenix was still addicted to pronouns, in spite of their DEI flop. Recently they were still sending out messages with their names and a group of pronouns in parentheses. 




Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Palm Sunday - "First he says: “Tell ye” the daughter of Zion. This is said to the ministry and a new sermon is given them to preach, namely, nothing but what the words following indicate, a right knowledge of Christ. Whoever preaches anything else is a wolf and deceiver. This is one of the verses in which the Gospel is promised of which Paul writes in Romans 1:2; for the Gospel is a sermon from Christ, as he is here placed before us, calling for faith in him."

 



Matthew 21:1-9. Christ Enters Jerusalem: or Faith; Good Works; and the Spiritual Meaning of This Gospel


7. First he says: “Tell ye” the daughter of Zion. This is said to the ministry and a new sermon is given them to preach, namely, nothing but what the words following indicate, a right knowledge of Christ. Whoever preaches anything else is a wolf and deceiver. This is one of the verses in which the Gospel is promised of which Paul writes in Romans 1:2; for the Gospel is a sermon from Christ, as he is here placed before us, calling for faith in him.

8. I have often said that there are two kinds of faith. First, a faith in which you indeed believe that Christ is such a man as he is described and proclaimed here and in all the Gospels, but do not believe that he is such a man for you, and are in doubt whether you have any part in him and think:

Yes, he is such a man to others, to Peter, Paul, and the blessed saints; but who knows that he is such to me and that I may expect the same from him and may confide in it, as these saints did?

9. Behold, this faith is nothing, it does not receive Christ nor enjoy him, neither can it feel any love and affection for him or from him. It is a faith about Christ and not in or of Christ, a faith which the devils also have as well as evil men. For who is it that does not believe that Christ is a gracious king to the saints? This vain and wicked faith is now taught by the pernicious synagogues of Satan. The universities (Paris and her sister schools), together with the monasteries and all Papists, say that this faith is sufficient to make Christians. In this way they virtually deny Christian faith, make heathen and Turks out of Christians, as St. Peter in 2 Peter 2:1 had foretold: “There shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them.”