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

1846 —1854]

University Reform

'75

and Stanleyl, and both the preface and several of the
suggestions are unquestionably Jowett's.
The following sentences are curiously characteristic
of him:'Our only defence against attacks from without is to build
up from within, to enlarge our borders that we may increase the
number of our friends. We have no one to fear but ourselves.
At this moment, to use the language of an eminent writer,
are we not living "behind our dykes" in fear of the German
Ocean? There may be enemies from whom it is right to
fly, but the tide of opinion cannot be escaped in this way.'
One peculiarity of these Suggestions was the inclusion
of a School of Theology (both Pass and Class) side by
side with the subjects of Philosophy, History, and Philology.-When a Theological School was founded under
different auspices in 1867, Jowett, though Professor of
Greek, was excluded from the Examining Board!-In
recommending the study of theology in the spring of
1848, he employed arguments which are strangely familiar
to readers of his work on St. Paul:
'Religious persons feel that the evidences of Paley or
Lardner are not the reasons of their belief, or the answers to
their difficulties. Can it be truly said that much has been
done in this place during the last twenty years for Scriptural
interpretation, which seems to be the most hopeful mine in
theology, and strangely enough the least explored? It would
hardly have been an unreasonable hope that the meaning of
Scripture, like that of any other book, might by this time have
become fixed, and raised above the fancies of sects or individuals.'
The discussion of the new Examination Statute came
on in the following autumn, and it was passed in I849.
The result was not altogether in accordance with Jowett's
views, which had aimed at something like the old final
examination to come at the end of the second year, after
1 p. 193.