The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-20 00:00:00

to give it a patient and unprejudiced investiga tion. Wisdom is often found where least ex pected, and we are taught, on high authority, t hat many deep things have been hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes. It is p o ssible, therefore, that Mr. Harcourt Bland may b e right and all previous expositors wrong. The probabihttes, however, are the other way. But let us see. The author begins well, by striking at the root of an evil practice, followed by nearly every writer on the Apocalypse, of making the same bols convertible literally or figuratively at rwill of the expositor, or in order to suit par ticular theories of interpretation. By common consent it is confessed that the Apocalypse is to be taken as a prophetical anticipation of history expressed symbolically. But there is great difference of opinion as to the principle that should rule the interpretation of the symbols, and, whatever may be the theories or conclusions arrived at, it will generally be found that inter preters have gone to work without any fixed rule at all, and therefore such words as " the earth," "a city," " the ea," " fire," and many others, are sometimes taken figuratively, sometimes literally, by no rule, apparently, but the caprice ot'the author or the necessities of his exposition. Against this practice Mr. Bland protests, and. what is more, professes to lay down a surer and safer principle. Here he shall speak for him self:— If it should be asserteJ, or assumed as a basis of apocs lyptical interpretation, that the Book of Revelation is an anticipated history put before us under symbols and meta phors, then no solution of any passage can be considered satisfactory, to en impartial mind, which may be arrived at by means of a literal interpretation of any one symbol; and still less can any eommentary of the clue referred to be considered satisfactory in which whole psasages may be interpreted literally, whilst all other portions of the book have been solved upon the figurative hypothesis. (p. 1.) Now, in order, if possible, to pnt an end to all such tudinarian principles of interpretation . . . . . . I beg to submit to Christians universally a method of solution at once responsible, consistent, and systematic I propose submitting my whole commentary ( viewed as as historical solution) to the test of a previously defined system of inter. pretation. I shall empower the public to judge not only concerning the correctness of my historical spolications of the various symbols and metaphors, but (what is of in finitely more moment) I shall enable Christians to test both my honesty of purpose and consistency of prin ciple. (p. 3. ) There is some ambiguity in the rather boastful with which the extract concludes. tfe u r a geless, the author's purpose is plainly spoken, and we now know what we are to look for in his book. The peculiarity of this author's volume is in the principles of solution which he lays down; and we will do him the justice to say that, quite irrespective of whether those principles are right or wrong, which we shall examine pre sently, he is indisputably right in taking his ground upon some ;Principles, and the absence of such preliminary basis is the great weakness of almost all former works. His first object is to lay out a neutral ground, about which he thinks there will be no strife. And it is in substance this—that the Book of Revelation contains, be sides the seven ecclesiastical epistles, a grand anticipated or prophetic history of Christendom, and that this history is given by the Prophet to the Churches, not literally, but figuratively ; in other words, under a variety of symbols and metaphors. We think there will be no objection to this, but it does not help us much ; and we begin to doubt our author's guidance when he next plunges into the very midstream of the controversy by asserting that the symbols and metaphors are so systematically arranged and harmoniously con structed as to be capable of a satisfactory and correct solution (at some period or other) by those for whom the book was written—i.e., by Chris tian, in general. It is perhaps scarcely fair to be hard upon an author who makes no profession of scientific theology, and claims only to be judged by the rule of common sense and plain English, or we should be disposed to ask what he means by "some period or other," and by " Christians in general." Is the " some period " determinable ? Is the present that " period" ? In the third place, Mr. Bland asserts that the Christian Church ought to be able to determine with une • accuracy so much of this prophetical history as is y fulfilled; for he assumes that as it is eighteen hundred years since the Revelation !as given, some part of it must needs have been t.ulfilled by thi s time ; an d, further, that if such wry Cannot be satisfactorily demonstrated to everY Party, *pi it must be on account of some THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 20, 1858. error, "not in the book itself; but in the Church." We must be prepared for rashness and sweeping statements in an unaccustomed writer full of his theme and not much drilled in the amenities of literature ; else our author would scarcely expect to solve any difficult portion of Scripture to the satisfaction of every party, considering of what incongruous elements the Christian community is composed. Neither would he, in that case, insist that the only escape from his proposition is in maintaining that one whole book of the New Testament was designed by God to be useless for nearly two thousand years. That, we beg to say, is not the alternative; and if it were, we have some precedent in the prophecies of the Old Testament, some of which, relating to the Messiah, did not receive their fulfilment till after a much longer period than has elapsed since the vision of St. John. On Mr. Bland's principle, it would have fared hard with the genuineness and authenticity of Patriarchal prophecy. Our author's fourth proposition asserts the ne cessity of consistency in the rendering of s'mbols. The same symbol is not to be taken figuratively at one time and literally at another, nor in different senses in different places. This is not a new rule. It was insisted on by Faber long ago, though not always consistently worked out. The fifth and last principle contended for is un doubtedly of great importance : we will give it in the author's own language, albeit it is some what complicated and undeniably inelegant, and with his own italics and capitals : rhe prophetical history of Christendom being symboli rally and metaphorically represented, and it being the very essence of figurative language that all primary symbols should bear a strong resemblance (moral or physical) to the realities signified, and these particular symbols being of divine selection (and, consequently, of the most perfect character), good analogical, or other equally satisfactory reasons, for the application of any symbol to any particular reality should be expected from each com mentator before any explanation of any particular symbol should be accepted as admissible or satisfactory ; and, tanner, that each explanation should be ei►her justified by, or AT LEAST NOT OPPOSED TO, the testimony of Holy Scripture. _ _ . We have noticed our author's plan rather than his execution at some length, because it indicates with how much care he has begun his work ; indeed, all through his prosecution of it there are marks of great industry and research. It is this manifest conscientiousness that overcame our first reluctance to enter upon so wearisome a task as that of investigating a new theory of apocalyptic interpretation ; and we are glad that we find ourselves able to say, that if we cannot adopt all his conclusions and applications, we cheerfully praise the systematic and consistent character of his efforts. Passing hastily from this introduction to the body of the work, we must remark briefly upon the manner in which the author works out his own rule. The first part is occupied with his in terpretation of symbols, the second with his application of them. The symbols are arranged in a kind of tabular tripos—the first column giving the name of the symbol, as " earth," "fire," " the sea," &c.; the second containing the analo gical and scriptural reasons for the solution ; and the third expressing the reality signified. We are bound to say that these symbols are generally most reasonably interpreted and exhibit much patient thought and some originality. Some times, however, they are quite arbitrary, the reasons given being insufficient, and often fanciful. To follow out Mr. Bland's appli cation of :these symbols in all the instances of their occurrence in the Revelation would be to write a review as long as the original work. We can therefore only speak generally of the performance, and say that it well deserves a careful study. Crude as it is in its present state, inelegantly as it is written, and provokingly dull as portions of it unquestionably are, the book is one that should be received with the respect ever due to honest purpose, consistent action, perse vering industry , and transparent fairness. It is astonis hing how works multiply on this subject. Since we began this article we have seen half a dozen new books upon the Apocalypse. One, containing six hundred pages octavo, is devoted to showing that the Beast of the Revela tion is the Emperor of the French (!). While such miserable trash is being perpetrated by men of some pretence to theological reading. it is cer tainly not for the public to frown unon a publica tion like Mr. Bland's, which, with all its short comings, aims at logical process and rational but not irreverent induction. It is due to the author to 1137 state that he never transgresses the bounds of charity, or shocks our sense of propriety by a levity unbefitting his solemn theme. His own words towards the close are so good an index to the tone of the work throughout that we give them to the reader : I shall here take leave cf this mysterious ste)jecit—a careful attention to which has been for some years past the sole employment of my leisure hours—s task not less charming than it has been instructive, nor more laborious than it has been beneficial to myself; for it has taught me, however wrest and irresistible to candid minds must ever be the generally advanced evidences (external and internal) in favour of the Divine inspiration of Holy Scripture, yet that one book of the canon at lust may boldly assert As claim to Divine revelation and general acceptance with a confidence which • ST AlißrNil MIRACLE, in corroboration of its claim, must ever com mand and justify ; for, to my mind, so beautiful in their selection are the various symbols and metaphors of the Apocalypse, so appropriate is esch to the reality sought to be expressed, so wonderful is theirrespective analogical connection throughout, and so accurately and minutely have the various important facts of history, profane and ecclesiaAtical, been thereby prospectively narrated. that I solemnly declare, did no other book of the New Testament advance sufficient claims to apostolical authorship, the Book of Revelation—so arbitrary is its intrinsic evidence of inspiration—would be amply sufficient to confirm my belief in the integrity of St. John's Divine mission. Feeling thus, need I say that I tru'.t I have approached the task I have imposed npon myself with a mind not only fully alive to the awful warning contained in the nineteenth verve of the present chapter (the nil.), bat in a spirit as suitable to the solemnity of the subject as it is possible for fallible and erring man t imbibe; for, whatever may be the demerits of my work, I can freely call wy conscience to witness that my single motive in commencing this (to me) gigantic undertaking, was a sincere desire to support, to the best of my humble ability, the sublime, the all-important cause of Christian truth, by endeavouring to remove from the bright disci of Christian testimony which symbolical prophecy presents certain apparently noxious clouds that (as it had seemed to me) had hitherto somewhat olwoured the original brilliancy of that mystical orb; while in pursuing this object my earnest desire him been as carefully to avoid all fanatical and fantastical flights, as to abstain from all prejudiced and unjustifiable assumptions and specula ions. (p. 605.) In laying down this volume we say, without hesitation, that though Mr. Bland may not have made out his case so satisfactorily to theological readers as to himself—though he may not have produced a book that will rule the disputed questions so long in agitation, he has neverthe less done a very acceptable service to reading and thinking men in presenting them with the instructive results of so much intelligent and honest labour. 1. Poems. By Henry Cecil. London : Smitb, Elder, and Co. 2. Poems. By Ada Trevanion. London : Smith, Elder, and Co. 3. lonica. London : Smith, Elder, and Co. When the hour shall come when it will be known what becomes of pins, and why, as Erskine said, shoes are always made too tight, then also will it become patent to mankind why so many small volumes of smaller poems are pub lished, and likewise what becomes of them. Let no one imagine from this exordium that, like Don Quixote with the wine-bags, we are about to slash away at the humble offerings to the Muses which head this notice. Far from us such truculence. A sorry churl and a morose would he be deemed who should hiss a maiden speech, or talk of Mrs. Siddons to a blushing and trembling d6butante. In like manner do we lay aside our severe aspect and microscopic glasses, u we open at random the votive offerings laid on the Muses' shrine by the ardent youth of either sex. Though, perchance, less tuneful, they may be regarded as the springtide song of birds upon the leafy spray, or the sweet humming of insects on a summer's morn. It is pleasant to think that these untutored warblings came welling up out of a grateful and joyous heart, in love with life and all that makes life dear. What matter, then, if now and again a harsh note grate upon the ear, or the burden of the song be trite and common place ? No hypercritical smile shall curl our lip when the bard of " lonics" tells of " trau sered robbers" who "spoil at will the bounties of Pactolus." The meaning, truly, is recondite, but there is something chaste about the trousers, albeit they please not the author of " Phila delphia." What though we fail to conjure up the lady of his ideal love, is it his fault, or ours, that we cannot grasp the "throat bp sie dres moulded " ? or a dm ire the " little