IT is with great regret that we hear that Phillips Brooks has declined to accept the call of the President and Fellows to the Plummer Professorship of Christian Morals. We cannot too strongly commend the course which led to his choice, as he is the man who would have done most to place Harvard on a good footing with the Orthodox world; his coming here would have proved that Harvard was non-sectarian, and at the same time not non-religious or anti-Christian. As to the good that he could have done in the College, little need be said. We all know the place that he holds with the young men of Boston, and if he had come here, his advantages for guiding young men would not have been diminished. Dr. Brooks has that about him that would induce men to go to him; he would not have to go to them, and in that way his relations would have been most friendly with the students. As he has declined to come, we can only deplore the necessity that obliged him to remain in Boston, and, while we pity ourselves, we are glad for those who are still to have him. There can be little doubt that Dr. Brooks has decided for the best, as, if there is a greater need for him in Boston, he is the one to recognize it and to decide. So, bidding farewell to the hope that so many have cherished, we can only hope that some other man equally acceptable to us may be the one finally chosen by the College authorities.