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

Motives misunderstood

I860-I865]

293

archdeaconry, and rural-deanery throughout the land
became a busy hive for the manufacture of memorials
against the notorious 'seven.' Still heavier artillery
was brought to bear. In the January number of the
Quarterly Review for I86i, there appeared an article
on Essays and Reviews, in which the subtle influence
of Bishop Wilberforce1 was easily detected, at once
depreciating the literary merit of the volume, and
emphasizing both its dangerous tendency and the invidious position of the clerical contributors. This article
became a rallying point for controversialists on the
orthodox side. And two imposing volumes, Aids to
Faith and Replies to Essays and Reviews, both now
forgotten, though produced under high auspices, helped
to swell the cry of alarm which they proposed to allay.
But besides the Comtist critics, and the clergy of
every grade, the book had other enemies. There were
laymen who claimed that 'Free Inquiry' should be the
privilege of 'Free Inquirers.' To such persons Jowett's
position was wholly incomprehensible. Penetrated as
he was with the conviction that the religion of Christ
ought to be the religion of all men, and seeing in the
Church of England-could she but know 'the things
belonging to her peace'-the best hope for the future
of Christianity, he had overcome the difficulties of
his position, difficulties which were not greater
for the Christian Philosopher than for the Sacerdotalist or the Evangelical Protestant. He saw the
religion of his countrymen dying, like poor Dean Swift,
'from the top'-losing touch, that is to say, with intellectual and rational life; the clergy, meanwhile,
The writer professes to trace concealed bitterness.' This was
in Mr. Jowett's Essay ' a certain shrewdly aimed.
sense of disappointment and