Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton and Chronology.Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), the illustrious natural philosopher, was born at Woolsthrope Manor in Lincolnshire. He was the greatest mathematician of modern times. He discovered the binomial theorem, and method of fluxions, and in 1666 the contemplation of the fall of an apple led to his greatest discovery of all, that of the law of gravitation. The following year he discovered the composite nature of light. He held the Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge for 33 years. In 1699 he became Master of the Mint. He represented his University in Parliament, and was elected President of the Royal Society, a post which he occupied for 24 years. He was knighted in 1705. He lived to his eightieth year, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Bishop Burnet described him as the "whitest soul he ever knew." Sir Isaac Newton made a hobby of Chronology, and became an ardent student of the subject during the last 30 years of his life. He read widely, and thought deeply on the problems of early Chronology, and came to the conclusion that the Greeks and the Latins, no less than the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians, had greatly exaggerated their antiquity, from motives of national vanity. In his great work The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms
Amended, which was published posthumously in 1728, the year after his death, he
endeavoured to construct a system on new bases, independent of the Greek Chronologers,
whose unsatisfactory method of reckoning by generations, reigns and successions he
exposed, laying bare the foundation on which their Chronology rested, and thereby
overthrowing the elementary dates of Greek, Latin and Egyptian Chronology. He reduced the
date of the taking of Troy from B.C. 1183 to 965. He followed Sir John Marshall in
identifying Sesostris with Shishak, whose date he thus reduced from B.C.1300 to 965.
Newton cites Thucydides and Socrates, the musician Terpander, and the Olympic disk of
Lycurgus, he uses his calculation of the procession of the equinoxes since the time of
Hipparcus, and he substituted a reckoning of 20 years each instead of 33 for the
succession of the Kings of Sparta. Newton . . . has certainly destroyed the possibility of
regarding the Chronology of the Greeks as a stable foundation for any system of Chronology
that can be used as a standard by which to judge, and correct, the testimony of the Old
Testament. Yet this conjectural Chronology of the Greeks is the foundation upon which the
Canon of Ptolemy rests, and the Canon of Ptolemy is the only obstacle in the way of
the establishment of the Chronology of the Old Testament. Excerpted from The Romance of Bible Chronology by the Rev. Martin Anstey, B.D. M.A. (London) Published by Marshall Bros. Ltd., 1913, page 49. Newton's achievements in so many areas are reflected by the design of his tomb, erected in 1731 in Westminster Abbey. Its carved stonework includes a telescope, furnace, prism, the earth and planets and sun, mathematical numbers, and books labeled Chronology, Optica, Divinity, and Phil. Princ. Math. Sir Isaac Newton and the Bible.By Professor Arthur B. Anderson. Isaac Newton was the greatest scientist who has ever lived. It is, in fact, generally accepted that he is the greatest scientist who ever will live, since no one, no matter how brilliant, will ever again be in such a unique historical position. Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day in 1642 and died in 1727. His most famous work, Philosophiae Nauralis Principia Mathematica (commonly called the Principia), was published in 1687. His discoveries span all aspects of the physical world with special emphasis on experimental and theoretical physics and chemistry and applied mathematics. He invented virtually the entire science of mechanics and most of the science of optics. During this time he invented such mathematics as he needed or as interested him including the discipline known as calculus. His (and the world's) greatest scientific work, the Principia, was published only after his friend, Edmund Halley, accidentally learned of the existence of Part I which Isaac Newton had written 10 years earlier and put in a drawer. Halley convinced him to finish Part II and III and allow Halley to publish the work. Of unequaled mental ability during his entire adult life until his death at age 85, Newton's powers are legendary. It is often told, for example, how later in his life a problem in mathematical physics posed by the great mathematician, Bernoulli, was forwarded to the Royal Society. The problem, to determine the curve of minimum time for a heavy particle to move downward between two given points, had baffled the famous 18th century mathematicians of Europe for over six months. Receiving the problem in the afternoon, Newton solved it before going to bed! In addition to his scientific work (Newton would have said as a part of his scientific work), he devoted a substantial portion of his enormous energy to the study of the Bible and Biblical texts and history. He read the Bible daily throughout his life and wrote over a million words of notes regarding his study of it. Isaac Newton believed that the Bible is literally true in every respect. Throughout his life, he continually tested Biblical truth against the physical truths of experimental and theoretical science. He never observed a contradiction. In fact, he viewed his own scientific work as a method by which to reinforce belief in Biblical truth. He was a formidable Biblical scholar, was fluent in the ancient languages, and had extensive knowledge of ancient history. He believed that each person should read the Bible, and through that reading, establish for himself an understanding of the universal truth it contains. Only one book of Newton's about the Bible was ever published. In 1733, six years after his death, J. Darby and T. Browne, published Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John. With his prodigious knowledge of ancient history and languages and his unequaled mental powers, Isaac Newton is the best qualified individual in this millennium to have written about the prophecies. His study of the Book of Daniel began at the age of 12 and continued to be a special interest throughout his life. Moreover, he writes of the prophecies with a modesty that indicates that he, himself, is in awe of the words he has been given an opportunity to read. Isaac Newton concluded that it is intended that Revelation will be understood by very few until near the end of history, the time of judgment, and the beginning of the everlasting kingdom of the Saints of the Most High. Here is an excerpt from that book:
Sir Isaac Newton and all reputable scientists believed that today's scarred and marred earth was the result of the great Flood. This was the common opinion of the majority of educated people until around the year 1870!! In conclusion: Sir Isaac Newton was totally correct in his Observations. If the greatest scientist who ever lived had no problem believing the Bible, what excuse will evolutionists, atheists, agnostics, or other so called men of science have on Judgment Day!! Vital Link Sir Isaac Newton from Historicist.com References Brewster, David, Sir. Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. (in 2 volumes), Johnson Reprint Corp., New York, 1965. (Originally published in 1855). Christianson, Gale E. In the Presence of the Creator. Isaac Newton & His Times. Collier Macmillan Publishers, New York 1984. Fara, Patricia. Newton: The Making of a Genius. Columbia University Press. New York, 2002. Manuel, Frank E. Isaac Newton, Historian. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MASS. 1963. Westfall, Richard S. Never at Rest. A Biography of Isaac Newton. Cambridge University Press, London & New York, 1980. Observations
on the Prophecies is available from Oregon Institute of Science
and Medicine. For online ordering contact: Amazon Online Books
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