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i86i-66] BISHOP GRAY S FIERY CHARGE 357
"
I start to-morrow," he wrote,
"
to take charge of the diocese,
. . . Keble writes me most
and, if I can, guide it into a right path.
loving letters, and Pusey too, and Denison, in the tone of the
real struggle is now
shield, the sword, and the battle. . . . The
coming on hitherto it has been skirmishing. Now it is witli
the world clothed in ermine.
l
God defend the right."
On May iSth Bishop Gray delivered in the Cathedral
of the Diocese of Natal the fiery Charge which has already
been alluded to :
He had come, he said, to
"
a widowed diocese. The whole
flock is without its pastor. The clergy without their guide,
counsellor, friend. The Church without its ruler. The duty of
my office compels me, sede vacante, to take charge of this diocese.
I have come among you for the express purpose of doing so.
During the vacancy the clergy will hold themselves responsible
to me.
"-
He recapitulated in vigorous language the sum of
Bishop Colenso s errors
"
theories destructive of all
Revelation of Christianity itself- ... put forth with
the reckless arrogance which marked the infidels of the
3
preceding century." He recounted the process of deposi
tion which had taken place, and announced his intention,
if need be, to proceed to a solemn excommunication in
accordance with the command of Christ and the injunc
tions laid down in the Canons of the early Church :
Your late Bishop," he said,
"
"
led captive of the Evil One,
has parted with the Truth of God, and now seeks to destroy that
faith which once he upheld.
If the Church were willing to keep
him company . . . she would be a dead branch of the living
vine, would wither away, die out. She would be destroyed, and
ought to be 4
destroyed."
Bishop Colenso, who was still in England, replied to
Bishop Gray s Life, vol. ii. "
p. 138.
Charge, p. 35.
3
Charge^ p. 20. 4
Ibid. p. 33.