Oriental Religions and Christianity. By Frank F. Ellinwood, D.D. (J.
Nisbet and Co.)—This volume consists of ton thoughtful lectures, delivered to a New York Theological College, dealing with Hindooism in its successive developments, Buddhism, and Mahommedanism, and touching lightly on many other of the religions of the world. Dr. Ellinwood does not, of course, profess to give an exhaustive account of any of these religious systems, but he merely attempts to bring out some of their salient features sufficiently to compare them with the corresponding elements in Christianity. Perhaps, indeed, the volume is too full of parallels and contrasts. Wherever the author sees points of resemblance between Christian and non-Christian religions, he brings them forward as "indirect tributes of heathen systems to the doctrines of the Bible," and whoro he dis- covers differences, he adduces these as showing "the divine supremacy of the Christian faith." This is, perhaps, a dangerous method of argument. In one instance at least (pp. 279-283), what the author brings forward as tributes to a doctrine of the Bible (the doctrine of divine sacrifice for sin) might be used by those Christians who read that doctrine differently, in an exactly oppo. site way, as illustrating by contrast the infinite superiority of the Christian faith. In any case, whatever view we take of that doctrine, this passage is hardly consistent with the general trend of Dr. Ellinwood's argument throughout the rest of this book. The key-note of his argument (as suggested by passages quoted from Augustino's "Confessions ") is this : That though a real conception of God may be found in many religions, yet outside Christianity there can be found "no Revealer, no divine sacrifice for sin, no uplifted Cross, no gift of the trans- forming Spirit, no invitation to the weary, no light of the Resurrection." Dr. Ellinwood adduces with much force argu- ments in favour of a primitive monotheism, and points out the slender, partial, and merely negative evidence on which some anthropologists have based their theories of the upward evolution of religion, on the alleged existence of certain savage tribes having no religious ideas. For the benefit of those who wish to pursue further the study of the many questions raised in this interesting volume, a useful list of books of reference is given in an appendix.
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