THE SPIRIT OF OXFORD.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1396, 23 March 1912, Page 9

THE SPIRIT OF OXFORD.

—? TWO GREAT SCHOLARS. Writing in the "Sydney Daily Telegraph," under the heading "An Australian in Oxford: The Spirit of tlio University," Mr. M. Scott Fletcher states:"Very fruitful in Oxford to-day is the application of the historical method to tlio studv of all questions relating to the Bible. The work of Sanday and Driver in this respect is too well known and too widely appreciated to need more than a bare mention here. The last Sunday which I spent in that venerable'scat of learning afforded, me a never-to-be-forgotten sceno whoreiu the spirit of Oxford stood revealed and embodied before me in these two distinguished Biblical scholars. It was at Evensong in the Cathedral, fho last beams of the winter sunshine were filtering through tho stained-glass windows. From my scat in the south transept I could distinctly see, standing or kneelin" in the canon stalls in front. Dr. Saudav, and opposite him Dr. Driver. Jhe one was on tho right and the other on tho left of the sanctuary; the first the greatest and most reverent of -\ow J estament scholars, the second tlio oldest and most fearless of Old Testament critics. Often had I listened in the class-rooms ot Christ Church College to their calm, clear, and sometimes almost ruthless, examination of documents and theories, tint hero thev were at worship, the statelj music rose and fell like the tides ot tho Eternal Spirit breaking on the shores ot Time and Space. The words ot confession, creed, and prayer inado articulate the faith and aspiration ot the great congregation, and I saw those two went men transfigured as with a heavenly glow. All the anticipations and spiritual longings ot tho seers or prophets ot the Old Testament seemed focussed in the wisUiil features of Canon Driver. All the holy calm of the Apostles ot the rrmce of Peaco rested like a benediction on the saintly face of Canon Sanday. And I said within mvself, 'This is Oxford!' In one Pis»ah-.sig'ht I viewed tho land of promise. Hera in the atmosphere of the devoutest reverence, men like these watch with feailess hearts and unfaltering footsteps, casting out superstition and error, seeking only Truth, tlio Truth that makes men fU and seeing afar lie City which. halh foundations whose Builder and Maker is God."