On the Wings of the Wind by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 21, 1910

On the Wings of the Wind

By W. A. S.

“THE wind goeth toward the south,” said the preacher, “and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.” Eccl. 1: 6.

Dr. J. Hamilton, of England, once put into a paragraph some instances in which stormy winds proved special providences in British history:—

’Tis a boisterous night, and Pictish savages curse the noisy blast which shakes their peat hovel round their ears; but that noisy blast has landed the gospel [by the boats bringing Columba from Ireland] on St. Andrew’s [Scotland’s] shore. It blows a fearful tempest, and it sets some rheumatic joints on aching; but the morrow shows dashed in pieces the awful Armada which was fetching the Spanish Inquisition to our British Isle. The wind blows east and detains James’s [the Catholic king’s] ships at Harwich; but it guides King William [the Protestant] to Torbay. Yes; the wind blows south, and the wind blows north; it whirleth about continually, and returneth again according to its circuits. But in the course of these circuits the wind has blown to our little speck of sea-girt happiness the gospel, and Protestantism, and civil and religious liberty.

Macaulay, in his “History of England,” is inclined to scoff at those who interpreted the winds as fighting on the side of Prince William of Orange, as he came from Holland to take the throne of England by solicitation of the Protestants.

Nevertheless, Macaulay himself leaves a good testimony to the fact that the balancing of the winds was a distinct providence in that crisis of British history:—

The weather had indeed served the Protestant cause so well that some men of more piety than judgment fully believed the ordinary laws of nature to have been suspended for the preservation of the liberty and religion of England. Exactly a hundred years before, they said, the Armada, invincible by man, had been scattered by the wrath of God. Civil freedom and divine truth were again in jeopardy; and again the obedient elements had fought for the good cause. The wind had blown strong from the east while the prince wished to sail down the Channel, had turned to the south when he wished to enter Torbay, had sunk to a calm during disembarkation, and, as soon as the disembarkation was completed, had risen to a storm, and had met the pursuers in the face.

No human wisdom or penetration can read always the scroll of providential dispensations. That is a realm too high for mortal man. But it is meet to recognize delivering providences in history or in experience, come by whatever agencies they may, even by “stormy wind fulfilling His word.” Ps. 148:8.

W. A. S.