Omniana/Volume 2/Columbus
Columbian Islands, because, he says, many foreign nations might interpret this latter name to mean the Isles of Doves, and therefore it is better to preserve the original name of the great discoverer. Columbus, however, was the discoverer's family name, and it is thus curiously allegorized, or as the Methodists would say, improved by his son Fernando,.. in a manner which might have delighted Mr. Shandy. "His name and surname were not without some mystery. We may instance many names which were given by secret impulse, to denote the effects those persons were to produce, as in. his is foretold and expressed the wonder he performed. For if we look upon the common surname of his ancestors, we may say he was true Columbus, or Columba, for as much as he conveyed the grace of the Holy Ghost into that new world which he discovered, shewing those people who knew him not, which was God's beloved Son, as the Holy Ghost did in the figure of a dove at St. John's baptism; and because he also carried the olive branch and oil of baptism over the waters of the ocean, like Noah's dove, to denote the peace and union of those people with the church, after they had been shut up in the ark of darkness and confusion. And the surname of Colon, which he revived, was proper to him, which in Greek signifies a member, that his proper name being Christopher, it might be known he was a member of Christ, by whom salvation was to be conveyed to those peOple. Moreover, if we would bring his name to the Latin pronunciation, that is Christophorus Colonus, we may say, that as St. Christopher is reported to have bore that name, because he carried Christ over the deep waters, with great danger to himself, whence came the denomination of Christopher; and as he conveyed over the people whom no other would have been able to carry; so the admiral Christophorus Colonus, imploring the assistance of Christ in that dangerous passage, went over safe himself and his company, that those Indian nations might become citizens and inhabitants of the Church triumphant in Heaven; for it is to be believed, that many souls, which the Devil expected to make a prey of, had they not passed through the water of baptism, were by him made inhabitants and dwellers in the eternal glory of Heaven."