In the U.S., Columbus-Day weekend parallels our own Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and although long-standing members of the Church were no doubt aware of this fact, it came as a surprise to the present author to learn that the great adventurer Christopher Columbus is referenced in our scriptures. The “Encyclopedia of Mormonism” (published by BYU and viewable online) tells us that the following scripture refers to Columbus himself: “And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.” (1 Nephi 13:12) The encyclopedia goes on to say: “[Columbus] believed himself chosen by God to find that land and deliver the light of Christianity to the natives there. He was called Christoferens (the Christ-bearer). A map contemporaneous with his voyages depicts him bearing the Christ child on his shoulders across the waters. He believed that he was to help usher in the age of ‘one fold, and one shepherd,’ citing John 10:16 (cf. 3 Ne. 15:21), and spoke of finding ‘the new heaven and new earth. Predictably, today’s Cultural-Marxists ideologues are waging a campaign to diminish Columbus’s heroic legacy and rename the annual holiday that the Americans celebrate in his honour. But the fact remains that although he wasn’t the first explorer from the Old World to cross into the New (long predated by the peoples identified in the scriptures, and by the Vikings), Columbus nevertheless was the embodiment of the restless, insatiably curious nature of European man, a hero for all time, who boldly trekked across a measureless ocean, propelled by nothing but his courage, his faith, and fair winds from God. Of him it can truly be said: one man changed the world. The following poem, titled “Columbus” and penned by the great German writer Friedrich von Schiller in 1796, captures something of the explorer’s sheer audacity: Sail on, oh captain! Though the mockers grin And though the helm slip from a heedless hand, Forever westward! There is a land Which shall receive you. You have seen Its shore before your eyes. Trust your skills. Though oceans may be empty on their verge-- You willed a land. It shall rise from the surge. For nature always yields what human spirit wills. The image posted below is Dioscoro Teofila de la Puebla Tolin, “The First Landing of Christopher Columbus in America” (1862).
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 01:33:02 +0000
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