The Distinctive Messages of the Old Religions, By the Rev.
George Matheson. (W. Blackwood and Sons.)—Mr. Matheson's object is thus distinguished from those aimed at by previous writers : "I do not seek the permanent elements of religion with the Bishop of Ripon, nor the unconscious Christianity—i.e., Paganism—with F. D. Maurice, nor the moral ideal of the nations with Miss Julia Wedgwood. I seek only to emphasise the dividing lines which constitute the boundary between each religion and all beside. In the concluding chapter, I have tried to reunite these lines by finding a place for each in some part of the Christian message." The reader will learn much from a study of the lectures in which this idea is carried out. The distinction between Brahminism as a religion for the few, and Buddhism as a religion for the many ; the contrast between the optimism of Greece which said, " All is right now," and had no sympathy with the invisible (Platonism being, of course, excepted), and the optimism which looks for a correction of present wrongs in the future,—are instances of our author's methods. He is thoughtful and particularly clear in expression.
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