Description

Troward, Thomas. The Years 1914 to 1923 In Bible Prophecy Scripture Prediction of The Present War. New York: Keslin Press. 1915. An original WWI-era prophetic publication.

 

12mo. Fair condition. Wrinkles and folding along front and back wrapper edges as well as two small tears midway down. Superficial tears to top and bottom spine. String binding solid. Former owners signature in pen on cover as well as title page, there accompanied by another in pencil. Inner cover bears small “Goodyear Book Concerns” sticker from period bookseller. Minor grease mark on last two pages.

 

Thomas Troward (1847-1916), famous for his Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science (called “the ablest statement of philosophy I have met” by William James), was a British colonial judge in India who turned his attention to esotericism in retirement. An early New Thought author, Troward’s pre-WWI work went on to inspire Alcoholics Anonymous and The Secret, and was especially admired by his student Genevieve Behrend who went on to found the “School of the Builders”, teaching Troward’s Mental Science, before writing this work on bible prophecy.

 

Uncharacteristically for Troward, this short manifesto on bible prophecy is a perfect example of early religious fearmongering during WWI. In 1914-1915 alone texts like The Great War—In the Divine Light of Prophecy: Is it Armageddon? and Is it Armageddon? Or Britain in Prophecy? were quick to tell readers that “The War to End All Wars” was nothing less than the biblical apocalypse. Unlike other authors, however, Troward is clear to say that the war signaled not the end of the planet or the human race but, “the End of the Age, that is the termination of the present order of things and the introduction of that New Order to which the whole of Scripture leads up.”

 

If you liked this, you might also like these original handwritten prophecies from WWII.