Untitled - Electric Scotland

362 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP TAIT [CH. xm.
but I think there is this fault in his character, that he is not
content with merely holding these opinions, but that he wishes
to make every other person hold them too. And, therefore, I
do not wish to endow him with anything like absolute authority
over the Church in the colony in which he presides. . . . He
asks, Is the Church of England in communion with Bishop
Colenso and the heretical Church which he is endeavouring to
establish ? Now, is Bishop Colenso establishing a heretical
Church ? . . . Suppose we granted for a moment which I do not
-that Bishop Gray had acted rightly and lawfully in excommuni
cating, where is the proof that if a clergyman, after taking an
oath of obedience to one Bishop, refuses to concede that another
Bishop has the power to excommunicate him, he is thereby
guilty of heresy ? No such definition of heresy has been given
by any writer on the subject. . . . The whole matter turns, as
the Bishop of Salisbury has remarked, upon the validity of this
excommunication. And that is a very difficult question. What
is Bishop Colenso excommunicated for ? Because he disobeyed
a certain sentence. It was not for holding heretical opinions,
but for disobeying a sentence condemning him on account of
his opinions. He disobeyed that sentence, and appealed to a
high Court in England, and that Court pronounced
the Bishop of Capetown had no jurisdiction whatever over
Bishop Colenso, and, therefore, that the proceedings against him
were null and void in law. ... I think it would be the right
course for the Bishop of Capetown, instead of adhering with
extraordinary tenacity to the step which has been declared null
. . . that
and void, to reconsider the matter, and endeavour to institute
such proceedings as may be sustained by law ; and I do not
believe that any difficulty stands in the way of his pursuing such
a course." 1
The last paragraph gives Bishop Tait s answer to the
question frequently asked of him both then and afterwards.
It used to be said "You have shown your objections to
what was done, but what do you consider ought to have
been done?" In later years he frequently expressed his
opinion that, if Bishop Gray had thought well to accept
Bishop Colenso s invitation to submit the question of his
1 Chronicle of Convocation, June 28, 1866, pp. 505-509.