The World's Religions. By G. T. Bettany. (Ward, Lock, and
Co.)—The author of this bulky but not unwieldy or ill-arranged volume does not pretend to be a profound thinker, or an inves- tigator of sociological phenomena who has made fresh discoveries. He has aimed at giving a strictly historical account of the principal religious systems of the world in the sympathetic spirit of the founder of the Brahmo Somaj : "No created being or object that has been worshipped by any sect shall be ridiculed ; no book which has been acknowledged by any sect to be infallible shall be ridiculed or contemned; no sect shall be vilified, ridiculed, or hated." The plan which Mr. Bettany has adopted is a wise one; he proceeds from the lower cults to the higher. Starting with the religions of uncivilised peoples, such as the aboriginal re- ligions of India, he then deals with those of China and Japan, proceeding to Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Parseeism, and subse- quently to European Aryan religions, and Egyptian and Semitic religions. the two final chapters deal with the Jewish and Christian systems, To say that Mr. Bettany has made no mis- takes whatever in the course of his preparation for so considerable a work, even of the "compilation" order, would be itself a mistake. It might be easy to find fault with certain of his classifications and conclusions ; but it would be ungenerous and, indeed, unfair to do so. Mr. Bettany has done his best to do justice to the smallest as well as the largest of religious bodies ; thus, he does not forget to mention even so small a modern sect as the Sande- manians. Altogether, if The World's Religions be accounted and used as a dictionary of, rather than a treatise on, the subjects comprehended within it, it will be found very valuable as a book of reference. Nor can it be considered a rival to other works of the same kind which are already in existence.
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