He, having created all things which are, rested on the seventh day from His labour which He had created and made.

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'In His government of a moral character, He has made no new laws, and given no new commandments; those which He had framed for the government of men's lives, He made once for all. The Ten Commandments were never altered or improved; they are the same now as when first proclaimed, neither have they been repeated.

"The law which regulates the heavenly bodies-the science of astronomy is the same now as when He created the sun to rule the day, and the moon and the stars to govern the night. There has been no new sun, and moon, and stars, and they have not lost their identity. They look down upon us as upon our first parents in the garden.

"The herbs of the field, the cedar-tree and the palm-tree, the forests which cover the earth, the lowly plant which blooms upon the bosom of the land, are the same as when they opened their leaves and sent out their fragrance upon the day of their creation. Their seed-time, and all the laws which regulate their growth and govern their life, are the same as upon that day when they were commanded into being, and for the first time were.

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The animals which roam over the land, the birds which disport themselves in the air, the insects which pervade the varied climates, the inhabitants of the deep, are the same which GOD created, when He first gave them their existence. Some may have lost their use, may have fulfilled their destiny, may have answered their end, and become extinct, but those which remain are the original creations, having the same great and distinguishing characteristics which marked their being when they first knew life.

"Our argument is, that the analogy between nature and grace, between revelation and creation, both emanating from the same Almighty Being, is perfect; and as GOD is unchangeable, He must ever act alike. The conclusion can but force itself upon the mind, that as the Church of His forming was created for the benefit of the human race, and as the human family was to endure in all periods, and was ever essentially the same, so the Church, which emanates from GOD, was not more adapted to one generation than to another, but that in all its great essentials it was as necessary, and as perfectly fitted for the age in which we live, as for the age in which it was at first created. It was, therefore, like the sun, and moon, and stars; like the vegetable formations; like the animals, like man, to endure for ever, and to be the same in its essentials, always."-Pp. 6-8.

The Epistle to the Hebrews the Epistle of S. Paul, by the Rev. W. H. FOWLE, (Masters,) consists in placing together, in parallel columns, a selection of the most remarkable passages from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and others which contain similar ideas and phrases. The idea is a good one, and it supplies a body of evidence which it would be difficult to resist or gainsay.

The Journeyings of the Israelites, (National Society's Depository,) like its companion tract on "S. Paul's Journeys," eschews all moral and spiritual instruction whatsoever. This is bringing the Bible back to the position of a mere class-book in our schools, a condition from which we thought that we had been delivered once for all.

Steps for the Right Understanding of the Catechism, (Parkers,) are really too trifling to warrant publication. At present they do not reach as far as the doctrine of the Sacraments; nor is there any promise of continuation.

We are indebted to Mr. SHIPLEY for some very interesting views in the Second and Third Parts of his Photographs from Original Sketches in

the Holy Land. We have been especially struck with that representing the Mount of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor. It is evident that the animus of the landscape has been thoroughly caught. The same may be said of the Convent of Mar Saba at Engedi, which is thoroughly life-like, and very picturesque. Perhaps the view of predominating interest, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is remarkably clear and distinct, and doubtless perfectly accurate. The other views will no doubt please many; though, to our taste, much less striking than those we have pointed out.

A geologist who is also a Christian is a rare treasure in these days, and we gladly welcome Mr. ROBERTS as such. His Rocks of Worcestershire, (Masters,) contains not only a highly interesting account of the physical phenomena of that county, but it gives a great deal of information on the strata of the earth's crust generally. The work evinces extensive research, and has avoided the almost inevitable dulness of a treatise on such subjects, by adopting the conversational form, in which the rocks themselves are the speakers, and the geological body is represented by a certain Hospes, who criticizes their remarks.

The author of Meditations suitable for Lent, (Masters, London: Hicks and Allen, Wakefield,) says truly that neglect of the duty of meditation is one reason of the shallow religion of the day, and he might have added that the reason of this neglect is the extreme difficulty of rightly performing that holy exercise unassisted. The manual before us is therefore a very valuable production, as its object is to afford practical aids to the performance of this duty. We should have been glad to have seen it drawn out to greater length, but even in its present unpretending shape it may be singularly useful. Should it be enlarged at any time, we would recommend the avoidance of such phraseology as "a sweet posy of devotion," which might lead to the supposition that it was touched by a morbid sentimentality, from which, happily, it is quite free; and we would suggest that some rules should be given for the guidance of those whose speculative turn of mind renders the duty of meditation a task not only of difficulty but of danger.

The Holy Childhood of our Blessed Lord, (Masters,) comes to us under the editorship of the same author. It is a series of devotional reflections on that sacred mystery, proceeding evidently from a loving and gentle mind. The work is perfectly appropriate for young persons, and the humble and childlike of any age; but we cannot agree with the opinion expressed in the preface, that it would be found useful in Penitentiaries. It is, we think, one of the many mistakes which with the best intentions are made in these institutions, that the most lawless spirits and degraded minds are forced into a high and refined religious training for which they are totally unfit. These reflections appear to us to be suited rather for those who are striving to keep their baptismal innocence unstained, than for the wild impassioned beings to whom penitence is too often but a name.

see,

Messrs. Parker's series of Monthly Historical Tales, we are glad to has reached a second year's issue, a sign, we trust, that the enterprise of the publishers has not been unrewarded. The two last numbers have been The Alleluia Battle, and The Bride of Ramcuttah.

CURZON'S SCRIPTURAL KEY TO THE REVELATION OF S. JOHN.

The Scriptural Key to the Revelation of S. John, presented to us in the 24th Chapter of S. Matthew's Gospel; and the whole subject clearly explained from Scripture references alone. By the Hon. JOHN ROPER CURZON. London; Wertheim, Macintosh, and Hunt.

THE Writer of this little Manual appears to have had a twofold object in view, a general as well as a particular one-his general object being to elucidate, by reference to Holy Scripture, the meaning of the occult language and imagery employed by S. John in the Revelation; his particular object, to establish a certain theory as to the scope and interpretation of the whole Book. So far as he has adhered to the former of these, and contented himself with simply illustrating S. John's mystic phraseology by the light thrown upon it from other portions of the Inspired Volume, he has rendered a useful service to the ordinary reader of the Apocalypse: so far as he has occupied himself with the advocacy and application of his private scheme of interpretation, he has simply wasted his time and labour, and done what in him lay to evacuate this most Divine Book of all its beauty, majesty, and significance, and reduce it to a mere senseless congeries of arbitrary symbols, and objectless images.

Mr. Curzon states his general object in his preface; and his reader has a right to anticipate, from the statement, that he will derive some solid satisfaction and profit from the ensuing pages.

"The principle of the self-interpretation of Scripture has been relied upon exclusively in this work. Careful search has been made for the places in the Sacred Writings from which S. John has adopted his imagery and his language; and these, together with the numerous explanations given by the Inspired Writers, both of the imagery and of the prophecies themselves, seem alone capable of leading us to a full apprehension of this remarkable Book. And with this assistance it will be found that the whole subject explains itself clearly and consistently."Pp. 4, 5.

It is this unfortunate attempt at " clearness" and "consistency" which mars his whole performance, and renders what might have been a serviceable little manual, and guide to the figurative language of the Apocalypse, not only useless, but thoroughly perplexing and misleading.

If the simple process of affixing to a whole series of dissimilar and independent images, one and the same arbitrary signification, VOL. XXII.-JULY, 1860. 2 Q

be a mode of securing "clearness" and "consistency" of meaning, Mr. Curzon may take to himself the credit of having here offered a very clear and consistent interpretation of the Apocalypse:

but not otherwise.

Let us take a very hasty glance at his work.

Prefacing his exposition with a few remarks on the 24th chapter of S. Matthew, he proceeds (passing over the seven Epistles) to an examination of the mysterious introductory Vision described by S. John in the 4th chapter, where the entranced Apostle, lifted up "in Spirit" into Heaven, is permitted, through means of a wondrous system of symbolical appearances, impressed upon his imagination by the "Angel who showed him these things," personally to witness, and then reproduce in language for our devout contemplation, the unutterable realities which environ the very Throne of the Everlasting Trinity.

In his brief explanation and illustration of the details of this sublime Vision-the emerald Bow, the Cherubic figures, the august Twenty-four," the glassy Sea, the "Lamps of fire," &c., &c., Mr. Curzon manifests considerable aptitude and ability; and had all his work been equal in execution to his 4th Section, and had he kept his private theory as to the meaning and object of the Apocalypse in the background, he might have written a book which would have been welcomed by many.

We will give our readers the benefit of his theory by-and-by. But ere we pass on from that mysterious introductory "Scene in Heaven," to which we have just referred-that Vision of the Throne of GOD, which forms, as it were, the fixed celestial background of the succeeding Apocalyptic disclosures-we would claim permission to pause for a single moment in order to draw attention to one feature in the description which is unnoticed by our author, and which we do not remember to have seen elsewhere adverted to; a feature which (though apparently trivial and unimportant) is yet sufficiently characteristic to claim a passing word: we allude to the significant sevenfold nature of the representation.

A Throne was set in Heaven :

i. And upon (i) the Throne, One Sitting, like to Jasper and Sardine stone:

ii. And round about (xuxλóbev) the Throne, a Rainbow, in sight like to an emerald:

iii. And round about (xvxλóbev) the Throne, four-and-twenty Thrones, and Elders seated thereon.

iv. And out of (ex) the Throne, Lightnings, and Voices, and Thunderings:

v. And before (vúπiov) the Throne, seven Lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of GOD:

vi. And before (vánov) the Throne, a Sea of glass, like to crystal:

vii. And in the midst of the Throne, and round about the Throne (ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ Θ., καὶ κύκλῳ τοῦ Θ.) four Living Creatures, full of eyes, &c.

Nor must the order of this sacred Heptad be passed over without notice.

For we have here an interesting example of the symmetrical arrangement of the number (the original type of which is furnished in the seven-branched Candlestick) where its first 3 members are inversely parallel with its last 3,-the two extremes corresponding; the second and penultimate; the third and fifth leaving a central member.

:

1. In this case, then, the two extremes are associated. We have the Divine Presence-the "One sitting,"-brought into connection with the Cherubic Four. This is, of course, a most familiar, and constantly recurring combination; as expressed in the wellknown formula "O Thou that sittest upon the Cherubims."

2. In like manner the second and sixth members form a pair. In the former we have the "Rainbow in sight like an Emerald;" in the latter, the "Sea of glass like to crystal." Here is the familiar combination of the "Bow on the Waters," the Emerald Arch spanning the Crystal Wave.

3. And the third and fifth are no less obviously parallel.

In the former (the august "Twenty-four") we see a typical representation of the Holy Catholic Church, united in one common Faith, built upon the foundation of the Patriarchs and Apostles :1 in the latter (the "seven Lamps of fire, which are the seven Spirits of GOD,)" we see a mystical image of that Holy, energising" Spirit of Life" by whom the Church is indwelt and vivified, and by whose quickening Influences alone her ministrations can be effectual. “I believe in the HOLY GHOST: the Holy Catholic Church."

It is possible that the order and arrangement of the several members of this series, and the indication thereby afforded of their special mutual relations, may prove an important element in the interpretation of the several symbols; and may contribute something towards the elucidation of certain of the difficulties which the series opens out--especially that perplexing question as to the difference, or connection between the Twenty-four Elders and the Four Living Creatures. That they both in some way represent the Church, is obvious, and generally admitted: but in what special aspect or relation, is far from evident.

Probably their respective positions in the series may indicate the direction in which their discriminating characteristics are to be looked for.

The Cherubic Four, we have seen, are indirectly associated with the Person of the Everlasting FATHER-perhaps with the Triune

1 "Ecclesiam de Patriarchis et Apostolis generatam, in vigintiquatuor sedilibus cernit." Beda in loc. Cf. Rev. xxi. 12, 14.