that nothing plainly appears but such objections to the historical truth of the parts of Jewish history upon which he treats as would, if solidly established, deprive them of all historical value, and discovers no other value in them. He objects, and objects, and finishes by objecting. We hope his second part may bring something forth more befitting a confession of the existence of Divine Revelation; but so far as his present volume goes, the position of the bishop seems to us very analogous to that of the persons mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, whom Paul met with at Ephesus, (Acts xix. 2.) and who said, when asked if they had been baptised with the Holy Ghost-"We have not even heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." The Bishop of Natal talks about the "story," and the "history," the "figures," "the family of Jacob," "the writer of the story," the errors, the discrepancies, and so on, that if the Jews did not remain bodily amongst us, and are a race rather difficult to be got rid of, the bishop would have bundled both them and their history right out of the admitted facts of the human race; and as to the Divine Record having anything to do with Divine Revelation, or being part of a Word of God, the language of the whole tone and spirit of this book might be expressed in words by the exclamation-" I have not even heard if there be such a thing as a Word of God!"

There is no recognition of the Word's description of itself:-"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts;" (Isa. lv. 8, 9.)—no trace of the Saviour's definition-" My words, they are spirit, and they are life;" (John vi. 63.)-no recognition of the fact that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) It is the natural man going to the Word of God for natural history, natural science, and natural satisfaction, and nothing else. Finding none of these things in the way that he expects them, and not looking for anything else, he returns and says-" All is barren." He cannot find the Word of God although it is before him, not knowing what to look for, and not knowing it when he sees it. The perplexity of this class of minds strongly brings before us the Lord's question"What went ye out for to see?"

The position of Bishop Colenso has probably been something like this:-He knew much at the university of mathematics, but little of theology, and nothing of the spiritual sense and truly Divine character of the Word of God. He went on in his parochial work in England in

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REVIEWS.

the usual dull, uninquiring way, too common with the Church of England, and too much inculcated by the clergy, urging upon the laity to hear what they say, and ask no questions. So long as he dwelt only with the apathetic mind of the acquiescing mass in England, there was nothing to startle him; but when he came into contact with minds which had not been brought up in an uninquiring atmosphere, but with a lively simplicity and a childlike love of truth, as depicted in the Zulu Chief who assisted in his translations, then the questions of the inquirer brought the bishop to a stand. The questioning began respecting the Divine allegory of the flood, which, as forming a portion of the purely allegorical part of the Word, the first eleven chapters of Genesis, our readers are abundantly aware were never intended to be literally understood. The Zulu puzzled his teacher with such questions as these:-The subject was the flood. The chief began to inquire of the the bishop, and say "Is all that true? Do you really believe that all this happened thus-that all the beasts and birds and creeping things upon the earth, large and small, from hot countries and cold, came thus by pairs, and entered into the ark of Noah? And did Noah gather food for them all, for the beasts and birds of prey, as well as the rest? Shall a man speak lies in the name of the Lord?' (Zech. xiii. 3.) I dared not do so. My own knowledge of some branches of science, of geology in particular, had been much increased since I left England; and I now knew for certain, on geologicol grounds, a fact of which I had only misgivings before-viz., that a universal deluge, such as the Bible manifestly speaks of, could not possibly have taken place in the way described in the Book of Genesis, not to mention other difficulties which the story contains. I refer especially to the circumstance, well known to all geologists, (See Lyell's 'Elementary Geology,' pp. 197, 198.) that volcanic hills of immense extent in Auvergne and Languedoc, which must have been formed ages before the Noachian deluge, and which are covered with light and loose substances, pumice-stone &c., must have been swept away by a flood, but do not exhibit the slightest sign of ever having been so disturbed. Of course, I am well aware that some have attempted to show that Noah's deluge was only a partial one. But such attempts have ever seemed to me to be made in the very teeth of the Scripture statements, which are as plain and explicit as words can possibly be. Nor is anything really gained by supposing the deluge to have been partial. For as waters must find their own level on the earth's surface, without a special miracle, of which the Bible says nothing, a flood which should begin by covering the top of Ararat (if that were conceivable), or a much lower

mountain, must necessarily become universal, must necessarily sweep over the hills of Auvergne. Knowing this, I felt I dared not, as a servant of the God of Truth, urge my brother man to believe that which I did not myself believe, which I knew to be untrue, as a matter of fact, historical narrative."

This interesting account of the way the bishop began to feel his difficulties, so creditable to his frankness, his truthfulness, and manliness, is not equally so for his previous theological training. As a clergyman, and as one judged equal to the important office of a bishop, one would have supposed that these, and many more, and greater difficulties, would have been familiar to him. Startled, however, by these questions into inquiries that should be the common-places of every student for the ministry, and which have been so long satisfied to the soul's utmost content in the literature of the New Church, the Divine allegories of the early Word became to him so palpably "unhistorical," and he was so little prepared to go satisfactorily into such inquiries, that he appears to have swung at once to the conviction that the whole Jewish history in the first six books was "unhistorical" also, and proceeded to examine them with this hypothesis. This examination commenced some time in 1861; now, in November, 1862, he comes forth in print, and proclaims conclusions of the weightiest character, but which will endure, and we trust receive many and many an examination yet, until he sees that though "the letter kills," yet "the spirit gives life;" that "the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever." (Isa. xl. 8.)

The bishop's conclusion will no doubt turn out to be correct as to the first eleven chapters of Genesis, so far as the negative side goes. He tells us what they are not, but he does not tell what they are. And he goes too far. He concludes that the whole Exodus, and the settlement of Israel in the land of Canaan, "is unhistorical," as well as the account of creation, of Eden, of the fall, and of the flood.

But on more mature reflection, we hope the bishop will be able to see that there is a palpable distinction between the two classes of subjects.

Of such a creation as the literalist has been in the habit of thinking of in connection with the first chapter of Genesis, there is not the slightest trace in nature. There are no traces of a natural Garden of Eden, none of a flood universal, and at the period marked as that of the Noachian deluge. These have no remnants in nature, no trace of their having ever had any but an allegorical existence; but Jewish history stands quite in a different cetegory. There is a veritable literal race of

Jews, substantial bodily men; they are associated with a law really such as that detailed in the Sacred Books. "Of them," as St. Paul said, "are the fathers, of them are the covenants, of them, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is God over all, blessed for ever." (Rom. ix. 5.)

These people must have had a history, their institutions must have had an origin. They are more pertinacious of their religious views and observances than any other known people. They have been persecuted during a thousand years at least, in a manner quite unparalleled—yet there they are, with their peculiar faith, their peculiar institutions, the Bible as the depository of both, and preserving all as long as history knows them, and wherever they have been scattered, with unshaken fidelity. Are we to believe that at some unknown period, from some unknown person, this firm, this pertinacious, this obstinate nation, accepted, without evidence, a burthensome and expensive ceremonial, and formed themselves, and influenced centuries and nations, by this fraud, so baseless in itself, and so obscure in its origin? This is a very different question from that of the allegories being allegorically understood.

The difficulties the bishop brings against the alleged facts of the history of the Exodus, are chiefly such as arise from a misconception of time, place, and circumstance on his own part, and increased from his quietly passing over, probably of his never having reflected on, the true character of the Word of God, as the Eternal Wisdom, using external facts only so far as they subserve its great end of unfolding eternal spiritual truths to man. We shall continue the subject in our next.

ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH SKETCHES. By the Rev. O. PRESCOTT HILLER, Author of Sermons: Doctrinal, Miscellaneous, and Practical. London: J. S. Hodson and Son, 22, Portugal Street.

THIS book has been some time before the public, but it has not, we believe, been hitherto noticed in any of our periodicals in this country.

The sketches, we are told, "are intended to express the thoughts and feelings of an American, in visiting some of the interesting scenes of his father land;'" and although they are intended more particularly for the eyes of such of the writer's own countrymen as have not been favoured with the same opportunities of visiting spots "hallowed by so many golden memories and associations," they are not without interest to the English reader.

It is interesting to accompany an intelligent and genial friend (and not less so when that friend is a foreigner) to the homes and haunts

and final resting-places of some of our greatest men, whose works and deeds have become our richest inheritance, whose fame has become our proudest trophy, and whose memories have changed common into classic ground. We accompany our friend to Shakspere's birth-place, to Addison's walk, to Pope's grotto, to Swedenborg's tomb; and we leave these spots with revived or deepened impressions, with some fresh touch of that pleasing melancholy which the contemplation of scenes associated with the departed great never fails to inspire.

The sketches relate chiefly to literary characters and subjects. We almost wish they had been confined to these. A few topics are introduced that bring up the subject of rival nationalities, and on these the author's remarks are not always either very philosophical or very liberal. We are not quite sure that some of his literary judgments are not slightly influenced by this seductive national feeling.

These, however, are subjects that lie beyond our sphere; and we can do no more than allude to them. On the whole, the work is deserving of our commendation, both for its generous sentiments and its literary merit; and we can recommend it to our readers as one that will repay a perusal with pleasure and profit.

As a specimen, we give an extract from

A Visit to Swedenborg's Tomb.

"In a secluded quarter of the old City of London, quite out of the range of ordinary sight-seeing, and seldom or never visited by strangers, lie the mortal remains of one who will probably be accounted by future generations the most remarkable person of his own, or perhaps of any, age. During his life his lot, like that of most great men who have lived far in advance of their time, was to be treated with neglect and obloquy; and his name is now only beginning to emerge from the mists with which ignorance and prejudice have long enveloped it. But the light having once broken through, the clouds of error which have obscured his character and writings will be dispersed more and more, till at length this great mind will shine forth, not merely as a star of the first magnitude, but as a kind of sun in the future intellectual firmament.

"Swedenborg, though a native of Stockholm, and a resident there during the first half of his life, yet spent many years of its latter part in the city of London, and there published some of his most important works. There also he died, in March, 1772, and was buried in the Swedish Chapel, Prince's-square, Ratcliffe Highway.

"I had a curiosity to visit the place; and one day, accompanied by a friend who undertook to guide me through the mazes of London streets, I reached the little quiet square in the centre of which the chapel stands. It is at the east end, far removed from the busiest parts of the city, and withdrawn even from the bustle of the neighbouring highway, forming a recess which the ordinary traveller would pass by quite unobserved. Swedenborg's remains, like the deep truths in his writings, must be searched for to be found.