ordinations. On 17 Oct. he presided over the diocesan conference at Sunderland, and on the 29th he was publicly presented at Durham with a pastoral staff (cf. Guardian, 1889, p. 1699). On 3 Dec. he arrived in Bournemouth. On 17 Dec. he became seriously ill, and he died on 21 Dec. 1889, of congestion of the lungs, due to dilatation of the heart. On 26 Dec. the body was removed to Durham; a vast congregation joined in a memorial service in the cathedral on the morning of 27 Dec.; the body was finally conveyed by road to Auckland Castle, and was buried under the east end of the central aisle of the chapel there. Numerous nonconformists attended, not heeding the vehement protest against disestablishment to which Lightfoot had given utterance at the diocesan conference of 1885.
By will, and an immediately antecedent instrument, Lightfoot created a trust called ‘The Lightfoot Fund for the Diocese of Durham,’ for the erection of buildings for church purposes, the providing of ‘stipends for clergy and other spiritual agents in connection with the Church of England’ in the diocese, and for other purposes under the same conditions at the discretion of the trustees. To the trustees (whom he also made residuary legatees) he assigned full ownership in his works and copyrights. The trustees have thus become virtually his literary executors, and several posthumous volumes have been published under their direction. The whole of Lightfoot's episcopal income had been yearly expended by him for purposes within the diocese. His library was by his wish divided between the university of Durham and the Cambridge divinity school.
Mr. W. B. Richmond's portrait of Lightfoot, painted a few weeks before his death, is in Auckland Castle, and is the property of the see; a replica hangs in the hall of Trinity College, Cambridge. In the library of the same college is a sketch by Mr. Lowes Dickinson, founded on an excellent photograph taken at Bournemouth. An altar tomb erected to his memory in Durham Cathedral was unveiled on 24 Oct. 1892, and a memorial restoration of the destroyed chapter-house is projected.
Lightfoot's contributions to biblical criticism practically began with the review of ‘Recent Editions of St. Paul's Epistles,’ the most important of the articles which he wrote for the ‘Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology’ (iii. 81–121, March 1856). It deals principally with the editions of St. Paul's earlier epistles, brought out simultaneously by A. P. Stanley and Professor Jowett. Of both editions generally he speaks in terms of hearty respect and admiration. He convicts Stanley, however, of numerous misstatements, self-contradictions, and inaccuracies. His still more elaborate examination of Professor Jowett's book turns almost wholly on matters of principle. The two chief positions which he maintains against Jowett are, first, that the late Greek in which the New Testament is written is as precise a language as the classical Attic, however widely differing from it; and, next, that neither St. Paul's antecedents nor the internal evidence of his epistles supply any reasons for thinking that he had imperfect knowledge of the language in which he wrote, or imperfect skill in using it. These pages are essentially a vindication of the conviction which underlies all Lightfoot's own commentaries, that the only safe way to the meaning of a great writer lies through faith in his language, and therefore through exact investigation of grammar and vocabulary. The article at once made Lightfoot widely known as an unusually competent biblical critic. On receiving a copy, Stanley sent it to their common friend, John Conington, professor of Latin at Oxford, asking his opinion about it, and was advised in reply to ‘surrender at discretion.’ Stanley not only took the advice, but sent a kindly answer. Professor Jowett did the same; and thus the foundations of future friendships were laid.
Lightfoot himself published commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles to the Galatians (1865; 10th edit. 1890), to the Philippians (1868; 9th edit. 1888), and to the Colossians, with the Epistle to Philemon (1875; 10th edit. 1892). These were originally intended to form part of a complete edition of ‘St. Paul's Epistles,’ to be ‘prefaced by a general introduction and arranged in chronological order.’ Accordingly they sometimes refer the reader to a projected (but unwritten) commentary on Thessalonians for explanations of important words occurring in those earliest epistles. Some very fragmentary notes prepared by Lightfoot for his lectures on other epistles of St. Paul are extant, and selections from them appeared in 1895. In the first three published volumes the commentary is of a high order, and, though rarely of great length, abounds in valuable and pertinent matter not to be found elsewhere. Technical language is as far as possible avoided, and exposition, essentially scientific, is clothed in simple and transparent language. The natural meaning of each verse is set forth without polemical matter. The prevailing characteristic is masculine good sense unaccompanied by either the insight or the delusion of subtlety. Introductions, which precede the commentaries,
