St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, newly translated and explained from a Missionary point of view. By the Right Rev. J. W. Colenso, D.D., Bishop of Natal. Cambridge: Macmillan and Forgiveness after Death: Does the Bible or the Church of England affirm it to be impossible! A Review of the alleged Proofs of the Hopelessness of the Future State. By a Clergyman. Lon- don: Longmans. 1862. VI.-LAW OF MARITIME CAPTURE AND BLOCKADE Commercial Blockades considered with reference to Law and Adam Homo. Et Digt af F. Paludan Müller. Tredie Udgave. Synnöve Sölbakken, af Björnstjerne Björnson. Bergen: E. B. Gi- Arne, af Björnstjerne Björnson. Bergen: H. J. Geelmuyden's Grossererens Familie. En Fortælling. Christiania: J. W. Cappelen. A History of the Romans under the Empire. By Charles Merivale, B.D. Vols. VI. and VII. London. 1858-62. The History of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to the Death IX.-LEARNING IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Report of the Church Congress held at Oxford, 1862. Lord Derby's Speech; "Times," Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1862. 116 Eugénie de Guérin, Journal et Lettres-The History of English Nonconformity-Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland-Giraldi Cambrensis Opera-Royal and other Historical Letters illustrative of the Reign of Henry III.-A Manual of English Literature, his- torical and critical; with an Appendix on English Metres -The Missionary Life and Labours of Francis Xavier, taken from his own Correspondence; with a Sketch of the general Results of Roman Catholic Missions among the Heathen-A Lenten Journey in Umbria and the Marches-Mr. Worsley's The Liberal Party in Ireland; its present Condition and Pro- spects. By a Roman Catholic. 1862. Kelly, Dublin. The Irish Church. Speech of Edward Miall, M.P., in the House of Commons, May 27, 1856. Effingham Wilson. II. KINGLAKE's Invasion of THE CRIMEA The Invasion of the Crimea, its Origin, and an Account of its Progress down to the Death of Lord Raglan. By Alexander William Kinglake. Vols. I. and II. Edinburgh and London : Lettres du Maréchal de Saint Arnaud. Paris: Michel Lévy Letters from Head-Quarters on the Realities of the War in the Crimea. By an Officer of the Staff. Third Edition. London: The Story of the Campaign of Sebastopol, written in the Camp. By Lieut.-Col. E. Bruce Hamley, Captain Royal Artillery. With Illustrations drawn in Camp by the Author. Edinburgh and London: Blackwood and Sons. 1855. Précis Historique des Opérations Militaires en Orient de mars 1854 à octobre 1855. Par A. du Casse, Chef-d'Escadron d'Etat- Major. Avec Cartes et Plans. Paris: E. Dentu. 1857. Atlas Historique et Topographique de la Guerre d'Orient en 1854, 1855 et 1856; entrepris par ordre de S. M. l'Empereur Napo- léon III; rédigé sur les Documents officiels et les Renseigne- ments authentiques recueillis par le Corps d'Etat-Major; gravé et publié par les soins du Dépôt de la Guerre, S. Exc. le Maréchal Vaillant étant Ministre de la Guerre, et le Colonel Blondel Directeur du Dépôt de la Guerre. 1858. III.-PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE OF ERASMUS 1. Unpublished Papers in the Public Record Office. 2. Erasmi Epistolæ. Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church. Part I. Abraham to Samuel. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D., Regius Pro- fessor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford, and The Life of Henry St. John Viscount Bolingbroke, Secretary of State in the reign of Queen Anne. By Thomas Macknight, Des Doctrines religieuses des Juifs pendant les deux siècles anté- rieurs à l'ère chrétienne. Par Michel Nicolas. Essais de Philosophie et d'Histoire religieuse. Par Michel Ni- Die jüdische Apokalyptik in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung. Von Dr. A. Hilgenfeld. Jena, 1857. Essays by a Barrister-The History of Frederick the Second, Emperor of the Romans: from Chronicles and Documents published within the last ten years-The Theætetus of Plato, 359 426 466 THE NATIONAL REVIEW. JANUARY 1863. ART. I.—BISHOP COLENSO ON THE PENTATEUCH. The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua critically examined. By the Right Rev. John William Colenso, D.D., Bishop of Natal. Longman and Co., 1862. AMONG the heroes who have done the greatest service to their race, it is hardly paradoxical to assert, that the thanks of the world are chiefly due to those who have most boldly ventured to differ from it. If the evils of obstinacy be placed in the scale against the perils of innovation, it needs but little study of history to show that the former have been far the more pernicious of the two. Since, on most questions, the verdict of the world is as likely to be wrong as to be right, and since on almost every question that is open to doubt we, as Englishmen and Christians, are persuaded that the majority of mankind are in the wrong, it follows that great benefactors must generally be great innovators, and that in most disputed points the prima facie presumption ought to be in favour of change. Doubtless, in practical matters, conservatism has merits of its own. it is in intellectual questions that the world is most prone to obstinacy; and it is in these questions that obstinacy is sure to be most fatal. Rashness may lead to error, but prejudice cannot possibly lead to truth. "Ever regard your friend," said the old proverb, "as a man who may one day be your enemy." Ever support your opinions-so we may safely amend the maxim-as judgments which you may one day have to impugn. But The domain of theology supplies a striking proof of the truth of these assertions. It is impossible to deny that scriptural criticism in the last few years has received far more from the enemies than from the friends of a rigorous theological con No. XXXI. January 1863. B servatism. Whether orthodox views be true or not, it is not orthodox divinity which has brought about the vast progress that has been lately made in the knowledge of Sacred Writ. So it has been from the earliest ages of the faith. St. Paul was more than suspected of heresy when he offered the Gospel to the Gentiles. All the superstition and tyranny of which the church has been guilty has been due to its conservative champions; every step of progress has been first trodden by one who refused its yoke. It surely is more than a chance coincidence that the first known commentary on Scripture, the first extant canon of the sacred books, even the first virtual assertion of their inspiration, are all from the hands of heretics. A Protestant church should deal but little in anathema, which remembers that the first protest for freedom of private judgment came from the heretic Luther. In modern times, the task of "searching the Scriptures" has been preeminently the work of writers who have bowed with some reservation to their authority. "The Bible as it is, and its interpretation as it was!" Such, if we may parody a modern party watchword, is the rallying cry of too much English divinity. It is a maxim from which little light can spring, and in which all superstition may lie hid. In the stir and tumult of critical controversy, amid the harvests of fresh knowledge that are springing up in Germany and England, in face of the patience, zeal, and courage of the pioneers of theological labour, a large party of our churchmen claim ostentatiously, like the faded constitutionalists of France, to have forgotten nothing and learnt nothing. And yet action is so much better than inaction, progress than inertia, that knowledge is cheaply purchased at the risk of some rash caprice. Let men have freedom of inquiry, of speech, and of thought, and leave the consequences to the future. The first article in the creed of every friend of intellectual progress should be, that conservatism in intellectual questions is the head and front of error. It must needs be that offences come in the march of theological belief. Chiefly, however, because it will in the end be serviceable to the cause of peace, we must welcome the publication of Bishop Colenso's book. The mass of Englishmen of the middle class, though they care little for the refinements of controversy, care a great deal for the authority of a bishop. Heresy under episcopal sanction is a species of heresy which men will readily pardon in themselves, and easily accept in others. The infallibility of the historical details of Scripture is a dogma under the yoke of which generation after generation of Englishmen have groaned, and which it requires but a few bold leaders |