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90 The House of Israel

scientific branch of their profession, the absence of re- great purposes for His People. Another is to read histori-
cords and the way important voyages and travels were al- ans, who, in their sincere search for truth stumble upon
lowed to fall into oblivion. To remedy this he commenced greater truths than they themselves realize. The patriotic
a series of lectures on the construction and use of maps, Elizabethan poet, Michael Drayton, wrote a poem in 1605,
spheres and navigation instruments. He collected all the which relates to our subject:
information he could concerning every overseas venture
undertaken by his countrymen. To achieve his task he be- To The Virginian Voyage
friended the captains, merchants and mariners of his day,
including Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher. You brave heroic minds
Worthy your country’s name,
He took Holy Orders and one historian wrote that That honour still pursue;
“as a clergyman he became obsessed with an almost Di- Go and subdue,
vine calling -- the duty to tell the Elizabethans that the seas Whilst loitering hinds
were open to all men of courage, that Cathay was within Lurk here at home with shame.
reach and that North America must be planted with Eng-
lishmen.” Through his first book attracting the attention of Britons, you stay too long;
Lord Howard, the Lord Admiral of the Queen’s Navy, Quickly aboard bestow you,
Lord Howard’s brother, Sir Edward Stafford, who had And with a merry gale,
been appointed Ambassador to France, took Hakluyt as his Swell your stretched sail,
chaplain. In Paris he was indignant to hear Frenchmen With vows as strong
speak contemptuously of the “sluggish security” of the As the winds that blow you.
English and he began his greatest work The Principal
Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English And in regions far,
Nation, which was published in 1589. Of this great work Such heroes bring ye forth,
of 700,000 words, Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith wrote As those from whom we came;
with rare insight: “It remains a unique work, a combina- And plant our name
tion of pithy narrative, history, diplomacy and economics Under that star
welded together by a towering historical vision and unri- Not known unto our north.
valed accuracy into the prose epic of the modern English
Nation.” Within the next decade the book had inspired so The voyages attend
much exploration and colonization by Englishmen that the Industrious Hackluit,
second edition required another million words to describe Whose reading shall inflame
them. Hakluyt wrote proudly that “Englishmen, through Men to seek fame,
the special assistance and blessing of God, in searching the And much commend
most opposite corners and quarters of the world, and, to To after times thy wit.
speak plainly, in compassing the vast globe of the earth
more than once, have excelled all nations and peoples of One of the great needs for our day is that in this
the earth.” Again with profound understanding Professor time of crises, YEHOVAH God will raise up new
Lacey Baldwin Smith writes: “His was a heroic optimistic Hakluyts to help our people understand how YEHOVAH
vision -- yet over the next three centuries his dreams were has so richly blessed us and guided us throughout our his-
more than fulfilled and his work remained the epic of in- tory; and that all they have to do is to REPENT and turn to
spiration which he intended.” Him to be delivered out of their grievous troubles.

One of the great thrills for students of Latter Day
Israel is to discern how YEHOVAH God has raised up in-
dividuals like Hakluyt throughout our history to fulfil His

The Berean Voice July-August 2002