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

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 astonishing 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