or for a detail of the conciliatory measures he proposed. Full statements of them may be found in Pearson's Memoir prefixed to the present edition of his works. They are really surprising documents. They show conclusively that he was far before his age in the breadth and comprehensiveness of his views of toleration, and was even in some measure before ours. The general system of Episcopacy which he advocated was in its features much as ours is here; the bishop being stripped of "lordly prelacy," sitting as constant moderator only in Church Courts, and rather advising with his clergy in all measures, than carrying it over them by the mere force of his own will. And even this very moderate arrangement he was willing to lower for the exigencies of the times; controlling the bishop by a majority in any synod; denying him the power of a veto on its acts; allowing the clergy, if they chose, a declaration that they suffered his presidency of them for peace' sake, and even giving to candidates for orders the privilege of announcing at their ordination that a bishop was considered by them a chief presbyter, no more. These certainly were large concessions. That they did not win over the stern recusants around him can hardly be wondered at in view of the whole case. His voice alone was lifted for them. His brethren held up instead of them the sword. That sword exasperated more than his concessions won.

The issue of his fruitless efforts at conciliation was what might have been anticipated from the first. Depressed by the contentions he found thickening around him, and unable to do any thing effectual for their arrest, the idea of resignation of his diocese arose in him again. Age was now growing on him; infirmities were multiplying, and he longed for a season of retirement and devotion, preparatory to the great change which must be near. Accordingly, he again repaired to Charles, resigned to him the charge of the Archbishopric of Glasgow, to which he had been some years before transferred, and secured from the reluctant sovereign an assurance that should he continue for one year of the same mind his resignation should at the expiration of that time be acted on. was in 1673, his age then being abouty sixty-two. Delighted at the prospect of the release which he desired, he returned

This

rejoicing to his diocese; spent in preparing for retirement the year of probation Charles prescribed, and at its expiration gladly laid aside the dignities and duties of his office and withdrew into the shades of private life. His first retreat was at his old home in the University of Edinburgh, from which he passed to England and settled at Broadhurst, in Sussex, with the family of a beloved sister there. The shadows of life's evening drew tranquilly around him in this shelter, and after ten years spent in the exercise of devotion and in earnest preparation for the eternity for which he longed, he who had hardly seemed ever "of the earth," passed peacefully away from it to reward in heaven. He died, as he had wished he might, as a "stranger and sojourner" at an inn, his age at his decease being about seventy-four.

A better man, almost all parties now concur in saying, never lived. A purer, it is certainly difficult for us to conceive of. He was love personified. A temper, almost superhuman in its sweetness, never was seen ruffled by an intimate and bosom friend but once in more than twenty years; and that friend tells us that he never heard him say an idle word. He seemed to live in a celestial atmosphere, and had detached himself, to a most unusual degree, from regard for "this present evil world." His letters, the true window to the soul of every man, breathe constantly of heaven. They are fragrant everywhere with rich spiritual thought. In all his works, indeed, his pen drops honey to a Christian soul-a honey fresh from the sweet flowers of paradise, and redolent of the source from which it is derived. It would be hard to find in any writings so many precious sentences-gems worthy to be stored away in the best treasure-chamber for choice use.

A man of great contemporaries, in some of the best qualities of a Christian theologian he thoroughly outshone them all. Inferior to Howe in his occasional sublimity, to Owen in his lumbering weight of thought, to Jeremy Taylor in the lavish splendor of his imagery, to Baxter in the perfervidum ingenium of his eloquence, and to Barrow in sustained weight and force of style; there is yet about him such a fulness of instruction, such a melting, tender pathos; such a felicity of ready illustration; such a rich inlaying of the great doctrines

of the Gospel, each in its due place, and with its due fulness of development; that we know no one of all the great men of his day whom we would recommend so entirely and cordially throughout. Robert Hall, than whom in such matters few are more qualified to judge, says warmly of him: "Full of the richest imagery, and breathing a spirit of sublime and unaffected devotion, the reading of Leighton is a truce to all human cares and passions; and I can compare it to nothing else but the beautiful image in the 23d Psalm. It is like lying down in green pastures and beside the still waters."

But his greatest work was an unwritten one-the life-work of his Episcopate in Scotland. It may be thought by some that this work was a failure. In respect to the great object he had in view, an immediate reconciliation of church parties, we may grant it was so. He left the two parties of the Church in Scotland very much as he had found them. Twelve years of benignant effort on his part had not sufficed to bring them nearer to each other, or make them in any large measure coalesce. But this was not his fault. It was the fruit of that utterly false state of things, an intimate alliance of the Church and State-an alliance which threw all the benefices on the one side, and all the persecutions on the other; which gave to the creatures of the bishops the warm manses, and to their opponents only the cold caves among the hills; and which, through alternate fostering and harrying, made the one party haughty and the other mad. But yet there was no failure in Leighton's efforts after all. The work of a great man in a good cause never fails. He may not see the fruit of it, but the fruit will come. The pure principles that he inculcates, and the beautiful example that he sets, are seeds of a bright harvest, to be gathered in due time. The harvest of the sowing of the Bishop of Dumblane is all around us. He, and men like him, scattered seed two centuries ago, which is bearing golden fruitage in the religious tolerance now generally enjoyed. And when the pleadings of Howe, Owen, Milton, Vane, and Locke for such a toleration are remembered gratefully, our indebtedness to Leighton, for his twelve long years of effort in the cause, should not be lightly estimated. Indeed, if beauty of example is worth any thing, if a life ever point

ing heavenward deserves regard, if holy labors in Christ's blessed cause claim notice, the name of Robert Leighton should be always thought of by us with respect.

The edition Mr. Riker has given of his works deserves some notice from us. It is the only American edition that we know of. It is the most complete that has been published. It has, what the London and Edinburgh ones have not, a complete index to the subjects treated of, and to the texts of Scripture illustrated and explained. In one thing only can we find fault with it. The "getting-up" is not as good as it might be. Such precious jewelry should be set in better gold.

ART. VII.-THE CATHEDRAL SYSTEM OF THE BISHOP OF ILLINOIS.

"In addition to the matters directly in charge of this Convention," says the Bishop of Illinois to the Convention of his Diocese, "there is one which, although it does not necessarily claim their action, it is obviously most proper to present. It is the plan and purpose of a bishop's church and residence in the city of Chicago, intended to embrace in its foundation a church, the seats of which shall be for ever open and free, for the perpetual use of myself and successors in office, with such a staff of clergy as may be competent to conduct its daily and Sunday services; its charitable, educational, and missionary relations; to comprehend a school or schools of Christian education; the training in part, at least, of the candidates for the ministry; missionary effort in the city or through neighboring destitute parts, as means of communication may allow."

The following is the argument of the Bishop for this new scheme:

"That our bishops should in any case be rectors of churches, elected by, and under the control of, the vestries of the same, is an arrangement more the dictate of the necessity for maintenance, than the choice either of the incumbent or the diocese. All, at the earliest period, express the im

portance of releasing the bishop from a parochial charge. But this leaves the diocesan without any definite place for the exercise of his inherent pastoral office. He should have a church of his own, under his own control, of which he is, ez virtute officii, the pastoral head; in the service and accessories of which, he may be able to bring into demonstrative action what belongs essentially to his office as chief pastor of the diocese. There he is, in an especial manner, the representative of the Church of Christ, where he ministers, not as a parish priest, but to all who may choose freely to come; where open seats, and free, frequent, and varied services, the performance of them in the most decent and solemn manner, a sufficient company of assistant-ministers, connecting with it educational, missionary, and charitable objects, make palpable the working spirit of the Church, associated with that appointed headship, in its best definition, 'servant of all.'"

The Bishop further represents this plan "as capable of expanding to any legitimate measure."*

The gravity of the occasion, circumstances, and manner of this somewhat extraordinary proposal forbids the idea that it was uttered as a mere fancy; and yet it can not be denied that there is a great deal of fancy in it. Indeed, we are soberly inclined to the opinion that fancy was the chief prompter of this magnificent conception. For, as to the practicability of such a scheme in the Diocese of Illinois, our faith must be greatly augmented before we could see much chance of its being carried out in the present, or even in a remote generation. If the Bishop of New-York had come forward in this manner, backed by all the funds and power of Trinity Church, we might, peradventure, have the thing accomplished before a very great lapse of time, provided no remonstrance or opposition should spring up in any quarter. But such a proposal, thus made by the Bishop of New-York, and thus backed, would doubtless excite much attention. If it be suitable, let us have it enterprised where there will be some chance for the experiment.

Or, in addition to the fancifulness of this project, shall we find in part an explanation of it in the non-residence of the Bishop of Illinois? Did he imagine that this scheme would so tickle the imaginations of the people of his diocese as to

*It is proper to state that the above citations are made from a Church paper, which had extracted them from the original pamphlet containing the Bishop's Address; but it is presumed they are correct.