Believed the temple in Jerusalem mirrored the cosmos and that Christ would not return until at least the year 2060, and maybe later. Said Newton, 300 years ago: "This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."
AP/TN (June 20th, 2007)
(Jerusalem)—One of the world's greatest scientists of all time, Sir Isaac Newton, was known for his spectacular breakthroughs in science and astronomy, but he was also a deeply religious man. Now it is revealed that documents by Newton, purchased by a Jewish scholar at a Sotheby's auction in London in 1936 and kept safe in Israel's national library in Jerusalem since 1969, and which were reportedly available for decades only to a small number of scholars, have for the first time been opened to the public.
According to an AP report, the 300-year-old manuscripts calculate the exact date of the apocalypse (no earlier than 2060, according to Newton who used the book of Daniel for his calculations), and detail the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, besides some Bible interpretations as well. (Photo: AP / The Jewish National and University Library, handout)
"It may end later," noted Newton, referring to the Second Coming of Christ, "but I see no reason for its ending sooner. This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail."
In another document, Newton reportedly interpreted biblical prophecies to mean that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ends. The end of days will see "the ruin of the wicked nations, the end of weeping and of all troubles, the return of the Jews captivity and their setting up a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom."
The placement of, and exact dimensions of the temple in Jerusalem mirror the arrangement of the cosmos, Newton adds.
Yemima Ben-Menahem, one of the exhibit's curators, is quoted as saying that the Newton papers complicate the idea that science is diametrically opposed to religion. "These documents show a scientist guided by religious fervor, by a desire to see God's actions in the world," she said.
More prosaic documents on display show Newton keeping track of his income and expenses while a scholar at Cambridge and later, as master of the Royal Mint, negotiating with a group of miners from Devon and Cornwall about the price of the tin they supplied to Queen Anne.
Source: AP
