THE WORLD'S PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. Edited by the Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D. 2 vols., 8vo., pp. 1600. Chicago: The Parliament Publishing Co.

1893.

These two magnificent volumes must contain more than half a million of words, subtracting all the spaces for the very rich and valuable illustrations. The portraits of the volumes are worthy of study. Of course some are indifferent, but many of them are expressions of character that accord with all that is known of the individual.

This World's Parliament is too vast for minute criticism. To bring together all the religions of the world on the common plane of the brotherhood of man, and to give to each one perfect freedom to present its own case before the audience of the world, is a noble humanitarian measure. It is in no respect an evangelical and hardly a religious measIt is simply a scheme out of which may come certain results to civilization and general human progress. Many prejudices are removed and the heathen religions appear better than some forms of Christianity.

ure.

By necessity the presentations were one-sided. They lacked complete. ness of delineation and are of little scientific value. The writers wished to conciliate a Christian audience, and they were not all true to their own faiths. The Moslem advocate, Mr. Webb, asserted some things in plain contradiction to the Koran. He would be condemned as a heretic by the Sheik Al Islam of Constantinople. He declared that the Koran did not establish polygamy. He might just as well have said it did not establish the solar system. It recognizes polygamy and legalizes and regulates it. He passed over entirely the great gulf of the death penalty to the renegade from Islam, of the denial of Christian evidence against a Moslem, of slavery and concubinage and the general degradation of women in Moslem countries. His paper might be entitled, "The way in which Mr. Webb would like to have Christians view Islam." As any contribution to our knowledge of Islam it is not of the slightest value.

We have not lived thirty-five years in the dominant regions of the other faiths. We cannot suppose them to be very different in the general characteristics of their presentation from that here made of Islam.

There is much that is true and beautiful in them all but even in these respects they are not equal to those dead faiths of Greece and Rome that have forever passed away. Heathenism has gained nothing in two thousand years. Politically it has almost retired from the field. Intel

lectually it produces nothing. It is on the defensive against Christian missions. Christianity in India has gained thirty-three per cent upon its number in the last decade. Heathenism has not gained three per cent upon its number. In ten or fifteen decades, where will heathenism be?

The earnest Christian reader cannot go over these efforts of the polytheistic nations without some painful thoughts. There is no way of salvation in them. There is no sense of sin as the attribute of a free moral agent in rebellion. There is no way of salvation from without. There is no Redeemer who comes in compassion to the rescue. eternal future is dark and gloomy.

The

Christianity appeared in all her colors. Rome asserted her supremacy and probably added to her prestige. She never loses an opportunity to put herself, if possible, at the front. In this case she was invited to do so, and many opportunities were offered her as though she were a friend to Evangelical Christianity. We do not profess to comprehend the reasons for such a course. The various sections of liberal Christianity often had the floor. The Bible was easily disposed of or torn into such shreds that few will care to collect them. Inspiration is made much of and is a quality of all great men. The authority of the Bible with regard to itself is entirely ignored. The authority of Christ is also set aside and there remains only that which each man judges to be right. You take these old writings of uncultured men who had some good thoughts and you write your own Bible out of them, choosing and rejecting as you please. This whole school of liberalism wears a somewhat speckled uniform in which one color prevails in one, and another color prevails in another. But in certain things they all agree, that evangelical Christianity is fanaticism and that a good moral life, helpful to ourselves and also to our neighbor, is all that is required of us. One can live freely to Christ and the world and the flesh-and as for the devil there is no such being. In some places this seems to be the religion of wealth and culture, and its adherents hope to see it become the universal religion. It will coalesce with all that is good in heathen Judaism and Islam, and the world will have its millennium in the easiest, the most natural and gracious manner possible. This sort of religion has been boldly and eloquently proclaimed at the great parliament.

Evangelical religion also had its able and brave defenders, who stood by the Bible as the word of God. They emphasized with the utmost earnestness the Decalogue as of divine authority, the necessity of discipleship to Christ by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, the sanctity of the Sabbath and the divine origin of the church. Among those who spoke with eloquence and power in defence of the gospel were, Dr. Pentecost, Joseph Cook, Bishop Dudley, B. Fay Mills, Professor Wilkinson, Dr. George D. Boardman, Professor Fisher, Canon Freemantle, Count Bernstorff of Berlin and many missionaries. The

addresses and papers by these men had great effect. Thousands heard from their lips for the first time the way of salvation. The cross of Christ was held up before large audiences as destined to draw all men to the Crucified as the only Saviour.

What will be the final outcome in religion and morals of this unique and wonderful assembly is not yet known. It will be judged variously. It was a grand occasion for so many religions to assemble together and look each other in the face with courtesy and gentleness imposed upon all. Dr. Barrows, who originated the plan, conducted the Parliament as few men could have done. Under his masterful leadership there was no possibility of disorder. The close of his volumes is solemn and pathetic. All hearts will be touched at his reference to his noble boy lying dead in his house. For seventeen days the Lord's Prayer was used by all the members of the Parliament. All of every faith bowed the head and solemnly and earnestly joined in the Lord's Prayer, thus acknowledging the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men. CYRUS HAMLIN.

THE CHRISTIAN VIEW OF God and the WORLD. Being the Kerr Lectures for 1890-91. By James Orr, D. D., Professor of Church History in the United Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh. Andrew Elliot, Edinburgh. 1893. 8vo., pp. 541.

This is a timely and thorough treatment of the most urgent questions now before the world concerning philosophy and religion. It is a very able book, besides being unquestionably orthodox and evangelical. It will be found of high interest to the general reader, but is indispensable to students of recent movements in theology. Its chief topic is the relations of Christianity to modern views of the world. It contains replies to Pantheism, Deism, Agnosticism, Pessimism and defends a living, spiritual Theism. It is particularly full and rich in its citations of the freshest discussions by experts of the various branches of these topics. The author is not thrown off his balance by the theory of evolution and yet gives due attention to speculations under that name. The immortality of the soul, the freedom of the human will, the authority of conscience, the incarnation of God in Christ, the Divine provisions for redemption from sin, the idea of the Kingdom of God, the sociological problems of modern times, are among the subjects which this work discusses with affluence of learning and with so much good judgment, courage and reformatory insight that we cannot omit it in our list of works bearing on recent reform. It is a book for the statesman as well as the preacher, and for the philanthropist as well as the theologian. THEOLOGICAL PROPÆDEUTIC. A General Introduction to the Study of Theology. By Philip Schaff, D. D., LL.D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1893. 8vo. pp. 536.

Professor Schaff's memorable and pathetic speech at the World's Parliament of Religions places an aureole about his head, for he died at his

post of duty, acting as a church reformer and church historian. His physicians predicted his death in case he attended the Parliament but so eager was he to bear his testimony to the cause of Christian union that he disregarded this warning. His exposure to the heats of an unusually sultry September and to the various discomforts of travel had a fatal effect. His departure is a great bereavement to all the churches of the Protestant world. Born in Switzerland, educated in Germany and adopting America as his field of activity as author and professor in Church History, he has been for many years our most accomplished internationalist. No one of our theological instructors in the United States had as thorough and comprehensive a knowledge as he possessed of modern theological, historical and philosophical literature in the German language. He understood England and America also, as no German professor of his time except, possibly, Professor Christlieb, has done.

In this Theological Propedeutic or General Introduction to the Study of Theology we have the precious result of his prolonged studies in a department in which America hitherto has produced almost nothing of importance. This volume is a manual for students in the methodology, bibliography and encyclopedia of the various branches of theology, exegetical, historical, systematic and practical. The value of the book to beginners in these branches cannot fail to be very great. We commend it also to the use of those who wish to review these topics and place themselves abreast of the most recent discussions of these themes. This manual is very rich in references to the latest literature of its topics. It concludes with a special bibliography of sixty pages of titles of books appropriate for a ministerial library. We notice very few errors in the references to controverted matters, and yet on page 286 it is incorrectly stated that "the Court has decided in favor of a liberal construction" of the Seminary Creed in the famous Andover Case. The Court remanded the Case to the Visitors on technical grounds and gave no decision as to the interpretation of the Creed. The Visitors of the Seminary are expected to give a decision on the merits of the case. Professor Schaff is very cordial in his references to the two Professors Hodge of Princeton, Professor Shedd and Henry B. Smith of New York, Professor Taylor of New Haven and Professor Park of Andover. (pp. 385, 498.)

Concerning Edwards' Doctrine of the Will, Professor Schaff says: "Edwards makes the metaphysical distinction between natural ability and moral inability by which he tried to maintain a certain kind of freedom of the will with the denial of it." This account of the Edwardean theology will hardly satisfy those who are best acquainted with it and regard it as by no means denying the real freedom of the will. Professor Schaff evidently wishes Professor Briggs to justify himself and leans towards his side in current controversies, (p. 401) and yet not so

far as to occupy dangerous ground. With all his reverence for German learning he concedes that " as far as practical theology and practical Christianity are concerned, Germany may learn much from England and America. State churches have the tendency to make the people slavishly dependent upon the Civil Government for support, while free churches develop individual liberty and the capacity for self-government. But in the development of theology as a science in all its branches Germany unquestionably occupies the first rank in the nineteenth century." "On the other hand English and American divines are beginning to influence German theology by their published works." "In reality," says Harnack, "there no longer exists any distinction between German and English theological science. The exchange is now so brisk that scientific theologians of all evangelical lands form already one concilium." And yet (p. 381) Professor Schaff admits that he first learned the name of Jonathan Edwards from Dr. Park when he studied at Berlin in 1843. "I suggested," he says, "to Dr. Herzog, who had never heard of him, to secure a contribution from Dr. Park or Dr. Stowe in Andover for his Real-Encyclopedia. This is the origin of the article on Edwards by Stowe, which appeared in the first edition of that great work in 1854."

On the whole we have found this book a fascinating volume for purposes of review, and can recommend it as such for those who are in the commencement of professional theological study. It ought to be of high interest to the general reader who would keep step with the progress of the most vitally important departments of modern thought. FOREIGN MISSIONS AFTER A CENTURY. By the Rev. James S. Dennis, D. D. F. H. Revell Co., New York and Chicago. 1893. 12 mo. pp. 368.

No one who desires to keep abreast with the latest and most strategic facts in Foreign Missions can afford to be without this book of Dr. Dennis' to read, mark and mentally and spiritually assimilate.

It is not a book to borrow from a friend or take from a library. One must own it, for it is invaluable for reference and the reader is constantly grateful to the author for the results of his painstaking researches in the history for the past hundred years of what Bishop Thoburn calls: "The leading enterprise of the coming century, the most sacred enterprise of all centuries."

Dr. Dennis has not omitted the Index which is an indispensable addition to such a work, and he has also added in the appendix a select bibliography of recent literature on missions, mentioning only volumes published since 1890. These volumes are arranged under the following heads :

I. Historical, Philosophical and General. 2. Biographical. 3. Literature on Special Fields. 4. Literature of Comparative Religion. 5. Periodical Literature. 6. Encyclopedias and Reports.