The fallacy then is of this nature. When Professor Jowett would put forth something especially deserving of reprehension,--some sentiment or opinion which he either knows, or ought to know, that the whole Church will resent with unqualified abhorrence,--he assumes a plaintive manner, and puts himself into an interesting attitude; sometimes even folds his hands, as if in prayer. He then begins by (1) throwing out a remark of real beauty, and so conciliating for himself an indulgent hearing; or (2) he goes off on some Moral question, and so defeats attention; or (3) he delivers himself of some undeniable truth, and so disarms censure; or (4) he says something of an entirely equivocal kind, and so leaves his reader at fault. Candour, of course, gives him the benefit of the doubt. It is not till the sentence is well advanced, or till it is examined by the fatal light of its context, that one is shewn what the ambiguous writer really was intending. A cloven foot appears at last; but it is instantly withdrawn, with a shuffle; and you experience a scowl or a sneer, as the case may be, for your extreme unkindness in inquiring whether it was not a cloven foot you saw?... Meanwhile, the learned Professor has gone off _in alia omnia_, with a look of earnestness which challenges respect, and a vagueness of diction which at once discourages pursuit and defeats inquiry. The fish invariably ends by disappearing in a cloud of his own ink. It shall suffice to have said thus much. These pages must now be suffered to go forth; not without a hearty aspiration that a blessing may attend them from Him _sine Quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum_; and that what was intended for the strength and help of those who want helping and strengthening, (I am thinking particularly of what has been offered on the subject of Inspiration,) may not prove misleading or perplexing to any. _Oriel, June 24th, 1861._ FOOTNOTES: [1] The reader is invited to refer to the passages cited in the present volume, at pp. lxxxvii. and lxxxviii. [2] See p. 47 to p. 50. Also Appendix (B.) [3] In illustration of what is meant, may be particularized a highly objectionable Sermon which Dr. Temple preached before the University some years ago, and which occasioned no small offence to many who heard it,--as all in Oxford well remember. It was almost as unsound as the same writer's Essay "On the Education of the World," which, to the best of my remembrance, it strongly resembled.--A printed Sermon by Dr. Temple may also be referred to, "preached on Act-Sunday, July 1, 1860, before the University of Oxford, during the Meeting of the British Association," entitled _"The present Relations of Science to Religion."_--Professor Jowett's handling of the Doctrine of the Atonement, needs only to be referred to. [4] Page 80 to 82. [5] "To the Reader," prefixed to _Essays and Reviews_.