THE LAND OF VISION
Is a mystical work, of some fancy and much elegance of style, with a sprinkling of school philosophy, and of theological doc- trines more charitable than orthodox. The subject, however, is of a nature which must always militate against literary success, unless in the hands of the highest order of genius ; and many of the pecu- liar ideas which the writer has endeavoured to present are inex- plicable in our present state. The bliss of heaven—the form, character, and occupations of disembodied spirits—the nature of immateriality, and of its operations upon matter, or of matter upon immateriality—are points which can neither be explained nor comprehended by human faculties.
The Land of Vision is supposed to be written by an inhabitant of earth. A gentleman—we presume a country gentleman- " felt an irresistible inclination, on one occasion, to visit an unfrequented apartment in his mansion. When he entered it, he was astonished at beholding an aged man, with something, .s he thought, unearthly in his ap •
pearance. Mr. was much agitated, and was about to retire, when the visiter said to him, Stay for a moment. I am not so great a stranger as you imagine. I have frequently visited this house. Indeed I was born here, in the sixteenth century. I love it. I love mankind. I love the world, and all it contains of beauty and goodness. I have something to communicate which may be pleasing and useful to men—something relating to heavenly beings. Bring me pen, ink, and paper, that I may write it. I will leave the documents in your hands, and you may read them to your fellow men.' " The stranger seated hiniself at a table. Mr. — procured what was wanted. The stranger said, Now depart. Keep this occurrence a secret. Return to this room in a week, and you will find the papers ready for you.'
4 But,' inquired Mr. shall you want nothing?' ' Nothing,' he replied, but quietness. Fasten the door : let no one enter.' On the appointed time, Mr. — returned. The stranger was gone : the papers were on the table."
The papers thus left contain some passages in the life and "existence beatific" of a glorified saint, whose mundane name was Father Paul. During his earthly pilgrimage, his country was England, his creed the Roman Catholic, and his final retreat a monastery on Mount Carmel, where he died, and ascended into Leaven, some time in the sixteenth century. His arrival affords an opportunity for a description of the place of bliss ; which, though fanciful, is too material and theatrical. His first heavenly ac- quaintance is Ithuriel ; who shows him the sights of heaven ; ex- plains to him the rationale of spiritual existence and material sub- stance: introduces him to Adam, Noah, Moses, Nebuchadnezzar, and the apostle Paul ; assists him in "drawing out's the reminis- cences of those mighties of ancient days ; and accompanies him in several visits which he makes to earth, on the last of which occasions our readers have seen him.
In addition to the unavoidable bars to success which have been alluded to, there is perhaps a want of art in forming the plan and a deficiency of power in the execution. There is too much disquisi- tion, too little action; and the attempts at exhibiting human feelings are trite and commonplace. Thus, except a (questionable) state- ment of his first difficulty in walking and measuring distances, Adam's account of himself is little more than an indifferent dilu- tion of MILTON; the autobiography of Moses is equally puerile.— several of the dialogues in heaven would have appeared indifferent talk on earth ; and though some of the discussions are of a higher merit, there is nothing in them which could not have been produced within the visible diurnal sphere. Even where the angels are on earth, there is a want of grasp in view and vigour of expression. Father Paul, in short, is merely an elegant divine; and Ithuriel is all the older for the six thousand years that have passed over him since he detected Satan in the bower of Eve.
Elegance of writing, however, there is throughout; and here is a specimen, on a crabbed subject.
SPIRIT AND MATTER.
Spiritual things are not only visible to spiritual beings, but they appear as real and substantial as material things to us. We almost fancy, sometimes, that disembodied beings possess no form; that they occupy no space ; that the heavenly country is without comeliness or substance. This is absurd ; the spiritual regions, as well as the material, occupy space. The God who created the latter created the former. As the globe that man inhabits affords him a foundation for his feet, and exhibits on every hand a variety of substantial forms, so the spiritual universe exhibits an equal variety. Ponderosity is relative. Metal is heavy in comparison with water, water with air, air with ether. Spiritual regions are solid and heavy in comparison with spiritual beings who
dwell on them. If there were no apparent difference in solidity, and no re- estence between bodies, one would penetrate another ; and surely it would have been useless for the Divine Architect to have formed lovely plains, and en- chanting islands, and regions exhibiting all kinds of beauty, if spirits, instead • of walking on them, sank into them, or passed on indiffirently through these and the space that surrounded them. In the material universe, some bodies possess an affinity for each other—they unite ; others possess an aversion—they separate; some are more anti others less affected by gravitation ; this is all we know about them. There are mighty secrets in nature which are locked up an the mind of the Eternal. Matter and spirit are somewhat similar, but per- fectly independent of each other. Spirit Can pass through matter ; we have some instances of this kind recorded in the Scriptures. Of Chiist, for instance, it is said that, more Shim once, when the doors were shut? he appeared sad- denly among his disciples. By the same rule, matter can pass through spirit. The universe of spirit, and that of matter, may occupy the same space, and yet remain distinct. A planet or a comet, in its revolutions, may pass through regions inhabited by disembodied beings, while the inhabitants of one world know nothing of the other. Spirits may journey through our earth, and behold it not. When the Supreme Being sends messengers to men, he endows them with a power of beholding material things : when they are gifted with this power, they cannot perceive spiritual objects, but they turn their eyes from the scenes of immateriality to earthly scenery—to sights• extremely interesting even in the opinion of spirits—to the boundless blue vault of the firmament, to suns, planets, comets, meteors, to worlds tenanted with life and beauty.
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