"It was the Lord who put it into my mind, (I could feel His hand upon me), the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures.......
"I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy, and they have covered me completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous Presence.
"For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah* had prophesied.
"No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will, even though He gives advice. Oh, what a gracious Lord, who desires that people should perform for Him those things for which He holds Himself responsible! Day and night, moment by moment, everyone should express their most devoted gratitude to Him."
Source: Columbus' Book of Prophecies.
This book was for a long time only available in Spanish. The manuscript was translated into English with commentary by Delno C. West and August King and published by the University of Florida Press, Gainesville, in 1991. He quoted the passage above from Columbus's diary in an article which appeared in the October 1971 issue of The Presbyterian Layman.
* Columbus's reference to Isaiah's prophecy was probably Isaiah 40:22.
In this scripture passage the prophet Isaiah says that the Lord sits enthroned above "the circle of the earth."
No comments:
Post a Comment