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1 861-66] F. I). MAURICE ON COLENSO 355
that, at all events, Dr. Colenso should cease to be a Bishop
of the Church.
Men like Frederick Maurice felt this perhaps as
strongly as either the High Churchmen or the Evangelicals.
Mr. Maurice, as will be seen, 1
thought a protest against
Colenso s teaching so necessary that he contemplated, on
grounds not very easy to understand, the resignation of
his own incumbency :-
: The pain which Colenso s book has caused he me," said in
a letter to a friend,
your words, *
"
is more than I can tell you. I used nearly
It is the most purely negative criticism I ever read,
in writing to him. Our correspondence has been frequent but
perfectly unavailing. He seems to imagine himself a great critic
and discoverer, and I am afraid he has met with an encourage
ment which will do him unspeakable mischief. . . . His idea of
history is that it is a branch of arithmetic. I agree with you that
it is very difficult to say to what point of mischief he may
go, but it seems to me just as likely,
with his tolerance of
pious frauds, that he may end in Romanism, and accept every
2
thing."
In pronouncing sentence, Bishop Gray gave the incrimi
nated Bishop four months grace, within which time he
might make "
full, unconditional, and absolute retractation
of his opinions. Bishop Colenso, of course, took no action,
and Bishop Gray, the day after delivering judgment,
wrote home as follows :
" We
are prepared, if there is to be a struggle with the world,
to do what we believe our duty to our Lord requires us to do.
If Civil Courts interfere and send Colenso back, God helping, I
will excommunicate, and, if my brethren will join, will (if the
Church at home is afraid to do so) consecrate an orthodox
Bishop. I know that this will provoke the vengeance of the
civil power, but I am prepared to brave everything in this case.
If ever there was a heretic, Colenso is one. If we allow him to
1 See below, p. 511.
2
Life of F. !\ Maurice^ vol. ii. p. 423.