The Trident, Me Crescent, and the Cross. By the Rev.
James Vaughan. (Longmans.)—This volume, which contains much interest- ing matter, and is written, we think, with fairness and candour, is a review of the religious history of India in its many varied aspects. The subject is a most wide and difficult one, but it is at least treated by a very earnest and diligent inquirer. Mr. Vaughan has laboured for nineteen years as a missionary in India, and it is clear that his heart has been thoroughly in his work. By the "Trident" he tells us in his preface, he means in fact Hinduism, including Buddhism, the trident appearing as a religious symbol on every Siva temple in India, and denoting the Hindu Triad. Buddhism, he explains, was the response to a cry for reform, when the old Hinduism had become hopelessly corrupted by superstition, priestcraft, and caste tyranny. Similarly, Mahommedanism, which succeeded Buddhism, was the result of powerfully-felt necessities, and was in this sense "the outcome of the age." As an eclectic system, made up out of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity, it became in India infinitely more successful than its predecessor, Buddhism. Still it is far from being a complete success, and the Christian missionary, in Mr. Vaughan's opinion, holds the key of the position. The Moslems, he thinks, present a formidable political difficulty, as the most liberal government cannot make them loyal and contented. Hitherto, it seems, they have been too much neglected by the missionary. But they are singularly impressionable, and often succumb to earnest appeals to the conscience. The theistic movement of Kerala Chuuder Sen Mr. Vaughan considers to be a failure,—in which we believe him to be quite mistaken. In arguing with educated Hindus, he holds Butler's "Analogy" to be the most telling of books, and he adds that every Indian missionary ought thoroughly to digest it, a counsel which we heartily second.
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