“History, from one standpoint, is a record of the doings of men, and one learns the philosophy of humanity from the story of the race. From another standpoint, history is the study of God, for the Divine Ruler has not left the world to itself, but is continually acting in it, bringing to pass his great designs. God is sovereign, and man free; and history records the divine and human as they move together in the world. In history, then, man learns God and himself. If this be true, there can be no more profitable study.

The Bible itself, the Book of books, is history; yes, history; not naked animals, but lines of events as they stand related to certain great fundamental truths, glowing with the interest which attaches to the joys and sorrows of humanity, overshadowed by an infinite love. Real history is the annals, the truths, and pathos of human existence combined; in other words, it is the world’s life lived over again.” — Robert P. Kerr, The Voice of God in History (1890), p. 5