The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

III. Columbus Both Fulfiller and Expositor of Prophecy

1. EXPIORAIOIO ENTERPRISE HEI PS FIJI iii PROPHI CIES

Columbus expressly declines that the discovery of the New World was not prompted by speculation, mathematics, or mere navigation, but by the compulsive conviction that all the divinely inspired prophecies of Scripture must be fulfilled before the approaching end of the world, including the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth. No trial or disappointment could turn him from his purpose ³⁴ PFF2 170.1

In a letter written about the end of 1500, while returning from the Indies in chains, Columbus said:” PFF2 170.2

I offered myself with such earnest devotion to the service of these princes, and I hae served them with a fidelity hitherto unequalled and unheard of God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth, of which He spoke in the Apocalypse by St John, after having spoken of it by the mouth of Isaiah, and He showed me the spot where to find it All proved incredulous, except the Queen my mistress, to whom the Lord gave the spirit of intelligence and the necessary courage, and made her the heiress of all, as a dear and well beloved daughter I want to take possession of it in her royal name Seven years [had] passed away in deliberations, and nine hae been spent in accomplishing things truly memorable, and worthy to be preserved in the history of man I have now reached that point, that there is no man so vile but thinks it is his right to insult me ³⁵ PFF2 170.3

2. BOOK ON PROPHECIES DISCI OSES IMPELLING MOTIVES

In September, 1501, Columbus began the preparation of his Libro de las Prophecies (Book of the Prophecies) which he further illuminated by citations from the Arthurian friar Gaspar Gorricio. The heading in Lolls’ edition shows that he ended it in March, 1502. ³⁶ it comprises some seventy pages. It was evidently written in the convent of Las Cuevas, when he was for a time wearing the gray frock and knotted cord of the Franciscans. ³⁷ It is penned partly in his own hand and partly in that of his brother Bartholomew and of his son Ferdinand. He continually invokes the Bible and the prophets, claiming to owe all he knew and all he had accomplished to the leading of God. He also quotes ecclesiastical writers, Christian and Jewish. PFF2 170.4

Columbus affirms the world must have an end, and a second advent of Christ, and that the Lord gave an account of the signs preceding it, which are mentioned in the Gospels. He also cites Joachim of Flores, who seems to have indicated that Spain was to have a part in all of this. ³⁸ He touches likewise on the coming of Antichrist, basing his statement on Paul, in 2 Thessalonians, and on Daniel. ³⁹ PFF2 171.1

3. LLD BY LORD WIIH LIGHT FROM HOLY SPIRIT

Columbus’ Libra de lass Prophecies contains a letter to the king and queen, a remarkable report, which reads almost like a theological treatise. After rehearsing his careful study, his extensive travels wherever man had gone, his knowledge of the planetary sciences, mathematics, and geography, acquired after many years of study, and his consultations with the learned, as well as his dexterity in making maps and hemispheres, Columbus writes: PFF2 171.2

“At this time I both read and studied all kinds of literature: cosmography, histories, chronicles, and philosophy and other arts, to which our Lord opened my mind unmistakably to the fact that it as possible to navigate from here to the Indies, and He evoked in me the will for the execution of it, and with this fire I came to Your Highnesses All those who heard of my plan disregarded it mockingly and with laughter. All the sciences of which I spoke were of no profit to me no the authorities in them, only in Your Highnesses remained my lath and my stay Who would doubt that this light did not come from the Holy Spirit, anyway as far as am concerned, which comforted with rays of marvelous clarity and with its Holy and Sacred Scriptures, encouraged me that I should go on, and continually without a moment’s pause they urged me with great haste” ⁴⁰ PFF2 171.3

Picture 2: COLUMBUS CONSIDERS HIMSELF THE MESSENGER OF GOD
First page of royal commission making columbus admiral of the ocean (left); sailing west to reach the east, columbus was moved by the conviction that he was helping to fulfill prophecy (center); page from cardinal d’Ailly’s imago mundi, which influenced columbus, whose handwritten notes appear in margin, with d’Ailly’s picture as inset (right)
Page 173

4. RECOVERY OF JERUSALEM BEFORE THE END

In this letter Columbus presses the providential guidance of his Western discoveries as a miracle intended to encourage the undertaking of the restoration of Jerusalem to the church. PFF2 173.1

‘In this voyage of the Indies our Lord wished to perform a very evident miracle to comfort me and others in this other one of the holy House [Jerusalem], the restitution of the holy House to the holy Church I have already said that in order to execute the enterprise of the Indies neither reason, nor mathematics, nor maps profited me, what Isaiah said was fully realized, and this is that which I wish to write here in order to bring to the mind of Your Highnesses, and in order that you rejoice of the other which I shall tell you about Jerusalem through the same authorities, about whose enterprise, if there is any faith, hold victory for more than certain ⁴¹ PFF2 173.2

5. IMMINENCE OF END BASIS OF APPEAL TO MONARCHS

Columbus, following Augustine, said that the world would last seven thousand years. He adopted the creation date of King Alfonso (about 5,344 years before Christ). Therefore he believed that there were only about 150 years remaining until the great consummation. Believing that the ends of the earth were to be brought together and all nations united under the banners of Christ, and convinced of his own selection as the instrument of Providence, he sought to persuade Ferdinand and Isabella to make possible a new voyage, the fourth. The new continent he had discovered must be explored, and if possible, a new passageway found to China and India ⁴² PFF2 173.3

6. 150-YEAR EXPECTATION BASED ON 7,000 YEAR CONCEPT

According to the astronomical calculations of King Alfonso X, the Wise, Columbus deduced that from Adam to Christ are 5,343 years, and adding 1,501 years since His birth, one has a total of about 6,844 years since creation. There lacked, therefore, according to this reckoning, only 155 years for the completion of 7,000. Columbus consequently concludes that, according to these authorities, the world must then come to an end. Here are his own words, addressed to the king and queen, who were thus made fully aware of Columbus’ views: PFF2 173.4

“From the creation of the world, or from Adam up to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, are 5,343 years and 318 days, according to the reckoning of the king Don Alfonso, which is considered the most accurate. Peter d’Ailly, in ‘Elucidation of the Concordance of Astronomy with Theological and Historical Truth,’ in chapter 10, adds 1,501 [years] incomplete to make altogether 6,845 incomplete. PFF2 174.1

According to this reckoning, there are lacking but 155 years for the completion of 7,000, in which it says above through the above-mentioned authorities, that the world is to come to an end. Our Redeemer said that before the consummation of this world all that was written by the prophets is to be accomplished.... Cardinal Peter d’Ailly writes much concerning the end of the Mohammedan sect, and of the coming of the Antichrist in a treatise, which he wrote ‘About the Concordance of Astronomical Truth and Historical Narration,’ in which he relates the saying of many astronomers about the ten revolutions of Saturn, and especially at the end of the said book in the last nine chapters.” ⁴³ PFF2 174.2

7. OPENING OF WORLD TO GOSPEL TO FULFILL PROPHECY

Columbus cites the prophecies of the Old Testament, particularly the Psalms, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. He believed that the whole Gentile world must have the knowledge of the Lord, and many nations gather to Mount Zion, and Jerusalem come under the sway of the Redeemer. ⁴⁴ He expressly believed the discovery of these lands, and the opening of these pagan countries to the teachings of the gospel, in which he had a part, was a direct fulfillment of prophecy. PFF2 174.3

“Our Redeemer said that before the consummation of this world all that was written by the prophets is to be accomplished.... PFF2 174.4

“The greatest part of the prophecies and [of] the Holy Scriptures is already finished.... PFF2 175.1

“I said above that much remained for the completion of the prophecies, and I say that there are great things in the world, and I say that the sign is that Our Lord is hastening them; the preaching of this gospel in so many lands, in recent times, tells it to me.” ⁴⁵ PFF2 175.2

There seemed to Columbus to remain only the recovery of Jerusalem and Mount Zion for the completion of prophecy and the end of the world. In his report to the king and queen, on his third voyage, Columbus expressed his conviction that the project was more than merely a human venture. ⁴⁶ it was this faith that made Columbus a discoverer. Near the end of a letter to Raphael Sanchez, describing his first voyage, he says: “Let Christ rejoice upon Earth as He rejoices in Heaven, as He foresees that so many souls of so many people heretofore lost are to be saved.” ⁴⁷ PFF2 175.3