On a monument erected by the state of Virginia one can read this inscription, “Matthew Fontaine Maury, Pathfinder of the Seas, the genius who first snatched from the oceans and atmosphere the secret of their laws. His inspiration, Holy Writ, Psalm 8:8; Ecclesiastes 1:6”. In his right hand is a pencil and compass. In his left hand is his Winds and Currents Charts. Leaning against his chair is the Bible which he often read and in which he placed much confidence.
In Psalm 8:8 the discussion is of the Creator giving man the ability to rule over creation, which includes, God says, “Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.” In 1897 the son of Matthew Maury, Colonel Richard L. Maury, tells of a time when his father became very sick and was having his daughter read to him from the Bible. Richard stated that upon hearing the reading of Psalm 8:8, he determined upon the return of his health, to chart the paths of the seas as spoken of in the scriptures. This of course he accomplished, and also became at age 36, the Officer-in-Charge of the Navy’s Department of Charts and Instruments. His inspiration came from a passage in the Bible written a thousand years before the Christ!
The Bible also speaks of another path that our God has created. In Isaiah 35:8 He prophesied of the “Highway of Holiness”. It is the pathway of those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. We can know of this highway through the gospel of Christ. Come and learn more of God’s word to us!
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