SOUTH INDIAN MISSIONS.
South Indian Missions. By J. A. Sharrock, M.A. (S.P.G. 2s. Gd. net.)—Mr. Sharrock gives us here the experience of many years' work in Southern India. In this work he manifestly has an intense interest. He is hopeful about its future. Indeed, there are facts that are full of promise. If numbers are a test of success—and in a way they certainly are—Christianity has made great advance. And it has modified, and is modifying, the Hinduism which still refuses to accept it. Of course there are difficulties, as there are everywhere, and one especially Indian difficulty, about which Mr. Sharrock expresses himself with great emphasis,—caste. Caste—not to speak of what it is elsewhere—is a great hindrance to the development of a true Christian life in the converts. The chapter " Caste in the Christian Church" is nothing less than startling. Unfortunately, it has been sanctioned by authority. A native clergyman refuses to live among his con- gregation because they are Shiner's, and insists on living among the Vellalas, though they are Hindus. This clergyman was working under the author. Then there arose a question about the use of caste titles when banns were given out in church. Mr. Sharrock was brought before the Bishop for forbidding it. The clergyman's brother, himself in Orders, was made assessor to the Bishop, who ultimately put the question to him,—Are these title- marks of Hinduism? The assessor answered "No." This was absolutely false, and the man ultimately confessed to the falsehood. He had told it, he said, because Mr. Sharrock had tried to make his brother live among low-caste men ! This is a most vigorously written and instructive book.
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