The life and letters of Benjamin Jowett, M. A., master of Balliol college, Oxford.

1854-1860] Second Edition of the Epistles

253

Alexander Grant of Oriel, on going to India with
his young bride, Professor Ferrier's daughter, was
charged with the duty of inquiring into the circumstances of Alfred's illness and of recovering his papers.
These were afterwards kept by Mrs. Jowett amongst
her treasures.
Jowett's father died at Tenby in March, 1859. When
in hourly expectation of his death, Jowett wrote to
F. T. Palgrave: ' He has been the most innocent and
blameless man possible. I don't suppose he ever did
a wrong thing. Though not wanting in ability, he has
been like a child through life. I am glad you saw him.'
After this his mother and sister resided at Torquay.
The second edition of the Epistles was published in
the summer of the same year. The work was in great
part re-written and was much enlarged. The Essay on
the Atonement in particular was entirely re-written,
and had threatened at one time to grow into a separate
volume. The concluding passage of the new Essay on
the Atonement may be taken as the author's one answer
to his many assailants:
' If our Saviour were to come again on earth, which of all the
theories of Atonement and Sacrifice would He sanction with His
authority? Perhaps none of them, yet perhaps all may be consistentwith the true service of Him. The question has no answer.
But it suggests the thought that we shrink from bringing controversy into His presence. The same kind of lesson may be
gathered from the consideration of theological differences in the
face of death. Who as he draws near to Christ will not feel himself drawn towards his theological opponents? At the end of life,
when a man looks back calmly, he is most likely to find that he
exaggerated in some things; that he mistook party spirit for a
love of truth. Perhaps he had not sufficient consideration for
others, or stated the truth itself in a manner which was calculated to give offence. In the heat of the struggle, let us at least
pause to imagine polemical disputes as they will appear a year,