(1) Here is a time lapse map of the history of Europe showing the shifting borders, alliances, unions, territories, occupied land, etc. from around 1000 AD until the 21st Century.
Software: Centennia
Music: Inception OST
(2) Here is an slower annotated version of the time lapse map of Europe – more zoomed in on the Continent, showing years and some important events.
Music: Inception OST
Software: Centennia
I wrote the following transcript which is an excerpt from a sermon by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson on Romans 10:5-13:
One of our ladies gave me a little sheet the other day and I have searched this out and I’ve found this information in more than one place, but let me tell you what it is all about…
The Great Queen Victoria, one day as she left St. Paul’s Cathedral there in London with that great dome, she asked one of her chaplains, “can one be absolutely sure in this life of eternal safety?”
Sadly the chaplain responded that he did not know any way in which one could be certain.
The Court News published this conversation and a man by the name of John Townsend who was a little nobody knows Evangelist saw the comments and he began to pray for Queen Victoria and he thought about writing to her. And he wrote to her as follows:
To her gracious Majesty, our beloved Queen Victoria,
from one of her most humble subjects.
(that is the kind of thing we British people say to our rulers)
With trembling hand but heartfelt love and because I know we can be absolutely sure now of our eternal life in the home that Jesus went to prepare, may I ask your most gracious Majesty to read the following passages of Scripture: John chapter 3, verse 16 and Romans 10, verses 9 and 10?
These passages prove that there is full assurance of salvation by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, for those who believe and accept His finished work.
I sign myself your servant for Jesus’ sake,
John Townsend
John Townsend and his friends prayed for Queen Victoria and some weeks later he received a letter through the mail:
To John Townsend,
Your letter of recent date I received, and in reply would state that I have carefully and prayerfully read the portions of Scripture referred to. I believe in the finished work of Christ for me and trust by God’s grace to meet you in that home of which He said “I go to prepare a place for you.”
Victoria
From virginiahuguenot.blogspot.com
There are interesting passages in the New Testament that demonstrate the Apostle Paul’s willingness to employ verses from pagan poetry to speak Biblical truth. There may be others; some trace 1 Timothy 5.4 to a line from Terence (195/185–159 BC), Andria IV. Be that as it may, it is clear that Paul was learned in pagan poetry, and found good uses for it, even apart from the idolatrous intentions of the poets themselves. Without adopting the whole false system of belief represented by the sources he quoted, Paul with discernment and for godly purposes, was able, because of his familiarity with pagan poems, to find the good within and bring it to light to God’s glory.
Acts 17.28: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
This verse spoken during his famous speech at Mars Hill in Athens shows the apologetic use that such acquaintance with pagan poetry can provide. The first quote seems derived from a work on Crete by Epimenides in which he rebukes the Cretians for building a tomb to Zeus, whom he believed to be immortal.
Epimenides (6th century BC), Cretica:
They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high one—
The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!
But thou art not dead: thou livest and abidest forever,
For in thee we live and move and have our being.
Paul also may have in mind Cleanthes, who said something similar.
Cleanthes (c. 330 BC – c. 230 BC), Hymn to Zeus:
Most glorious of the immortals, invoked by many names, ever all-powerful,
Zeus, the First Cause of Nature, who rules all things with Law,
Hail! It is right for mortals to call upon you,
since from you we have our being, we whose lot it is to be God’s image,
we alone of all mortal creatures that live and move upon the earth.
The latter quote seems to come from a work by Aratus again in praise of Zeus.
Aratus (c. 315 BC/310 BC – 240 BC), Phaenomena 1-5:
From Zeus let us begin; him do we mortals never leave unnamed;
full of Zeus are all the streets and all the market-places of men;
full is the sea and the havens thereof;
always we all have need of Zeus.
For we are also his offspring;
It is interesting to see how Paul borrowed expressions intended to glorify a false God, which his hearers would have recognized, and applied them to the true God. Eusebius records (Preparation for the Gospel 13.12) how Aristobulus of Paneas, a Jewish philosopher (c. 160 BC) had similarly quoted from the same beginning lines of Aratus, Phaenomena, but to demonstrate that the praise of Zeus was rightly given to God instead. Aristobulus thus: ‘It is clearly shown, I think, that all things are pervaded by the power of God: and this I have properly represented by taking away the name of Zeus which runs through the poems; for it is to God that their thought is sent up, and for that reason I have so expressed it.’ The apologetic purpose of Paul — and Aristobulus — thus finds truth in a pagan poem and employs it for godly ends.
1 Cor. 15.32-33: If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
The phrase “let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die” may be an allusion to both Isa. 22.13 and Eccl. 8.15. However, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Paul may have had in mind the philosophy of Epicurus (341 BC – 270 BC), who put forth a similar view of life.
The phrase “evil communications corrupt good manners” is apparently a direct quote from either Menander or Euripides (John Milton attributes it to Euripides in the preface to his Samson Agonistes). Paul thus bears witness to the maxim of a heathen poet.
Menander (ca. 342–291 BC), Thais: Bad company corrupts good character.
Euripides (c. 480 BC – 406 BC) (fr. 609): Evil communications corrupt good manners.
Titus 1.12-13a: One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true.
The quotation here seems to be from Epimenides, cited already above, or perhaps from Callimachus. Again, Paul shows his extensive knowledge of pagan poetry, and selectively quotes as appropriate to demonstrate a true statement found within an idolatrous poem.
Callimachus (310/305–240 BC), Hymn I. To Zeus: “Cretans are ever liars.”
The Apostle Paul by these examples shows that indeed, as I have noted before, “all truth is God’s truth,” wherever we may find it. The words of Charles Spurgeon on this point are worth heeding.
Charles Spurgeon, Exposition of 1 Corinthians 15:
“Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” Oh! wicked Paul! to quote from a heathen poet! How disgraceful. If I were to repeat a verse, and it looked as if Shakespere or any profane author ever wrote such a thing, how criminal! say you. But I like good things wherever I find them. I have often quoted from the devil, and I dare say I shall often quote from his people. Paul quoted this from Meander, and another heathen poet, who wrote far worse things than have been written by modern poets, and if any of us who may have stored our minds with the contents of books we wish we had never read, and if there be some choice gems in them which may be used for the service of God, by his help we will so use them.