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The Bishop of Capetown's Letter to the Clergy and Laity, My dear Brethren, The time has arrived when it becomes my duty, in accordance with the decision of the Bishops of this Province in Synod assembled, to separate Dr. Colcnso, by solemn sentence, from the Communion of the Church. In takin^^ this step, I feel that I ought to set before you the reasons which have constrained us to adopt this painful course ; and the duties which it imposes upon us all. The heresies into which Dr. Colenso has fldlen are no light or common errors. They touch the very life and being of the Christian Church— overthrow the faith of Christendom. It is not merely the distinctive teaching of the Church of England that he has impugned. He las assailed those fundamental truths of our common Chris- tianity, which are equally cherished by the Churches of the east and the west, and by every sect and denomination of Protestant Christians. It is with Christianity itself, as a Revelation from Cod, that he is at war. I have gone so fully into this subject, both in my judg- me!it, an I in the charge whicli I deliveroil at Natal, that I do wr.t feel it neces.sary to enter at Ien,^•th upon it again. I will isiniply, tlierefore, recall to your minds here, what I have already shewn, that the system which he would sub- stitute for that which has been held by the whole Christian Church, since the first coming of our Lord, is — (I.j— That the Bible is not, as a whole, the Word of God (i.) ; That several of its Books which the Church has ever regarded as portions of that Word, contain myths, legends, fables, mis-statements, falsehooJs, for- geries, (ii.) ; That no reliance can be places] upon such portions as he would leave to us (iii.) ; That they arc not an absolute guide to us even in matters of ''faith and morals" (iv.) ; That '' every living man" is to judge for himself, by '' the voice which he hears within," which is ''the voice of his Lord"— ''the light of the Divine Lord"— whether any or what portion of the Scriptures are the Word of God— thereby setting his own spiritual per- ceptions above the Revelation of "God's Word written," that "by that light, the words recorded to have been uttered by our Lord Himself must all be tried." (v.) (IL)— That "God manifest in the flesh" the Everlasting Son of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, who came down from Heaven, and (i) Pentateuch : Part 2-pp. 380, 381, 382, 383. Part 3-pref. p. xxviii. (ii.) Pentiiteucb: Part 1-pref. pp. xix, xx. ; pp, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 lart 2-pref. p. viii. ; pp. 184, 185, 208, 202. 203, 330, 332, 339, 343 348' 349, 351, 352, 308, 371. Tart 3-pp. 427, 428, 429 43-3 (iii.) Pentateuch : Part 4-pp. 023. 624,' C25'. Part 2-pp. 237, 351 Part 4— p. 85. n > wj.. (iv.) rcntatcuch: Part 3-pp. 625, 026, 628. Part 4-p 003 i-i'''^,^'*'"'?!!;""''' ^^""'^ ^-i'P- ^2^' ^29- rart 4-p. 297. Part 1-n. li)J. Itoini lo9. 3 took our nature into the Godhead, wns itrnonn.t md in error, (vi.) " ' (IIT.)— That all that is needed to make the Jew—who still believes our Lord to be a deceiver and an impostor— a herald of salvation with tlio ministers of Christ, is that he should '' shake off the superstitious belief of aocs," and *' give up the story of the Pentateuch"—/, r., tln.t^the pure Deism which he would then hold and teach would be the only truth needed to be taught for men's salvation, (vii.) (ly.)— That the f .rmularies of the Church— includin^r npparcntly,, the creeds of Christendom-which euibody! affirm, define the futh of Christ, as held and taught by the '^ Church from the boginninn:, which she requires to be sub- scribed by her Clergy, and which arc a chief security to the Laity that the true faith of Christ shall be ever taught in our Churches, are '^antiquated," "worn out," '' formuhi) of bygone days," which it would be well for us to set aside.(viii.) ( y.)— That the language " attributed to our Lord Him- self" in the New Testament need not be received by us because He was apparently much influenced by a spurious Apocryphal work, especially on such subjects as ''the Judgment of the Last Day." (ix.) (VI.)— That the progress of scientitic criticism may probably require us '^ to modify our present views of Christianity itself." That the old traditionary syp v, that IS, the Church's faith which has hitherto been received (vi ) rontatoucli: I'art l_pref. pp. xxx, xxxi. Part 3-pn. 622 Q03 (vu.) rentateucli: I'art 2-p. 384. ' ijiii.) Pentateuch: Part 2-pref. pp. xxv. xxvi, xxvii, xxviii xxv note XXX. xxxii, XXXV. Part 4-pref. pp. xiii, xxxi., xx'xv. 2^ ns Divine for well nigh two thou.,and year., U passing away „ mko room for a new faith-that, like the JewishUre t. It v,as a schoolmaster to lead us " to some deener lugher, truer religion, and that the tin.e has arrived for its 1 li , r . ^''™' '^ '"•'""> "''° «"»'« into the world to d,e for our salvation, and ro.se and a.ee„ded into Heaven, there ever to appear in the presence of God for u. IS m some sense to bo no longer our Christ, but is to make way for "the C >rist that is to be,"-,-.,., ^pp.^ently, tha we are to v.ew Una and His work, and Christianity itself, n a w lolly different light from that in whieh the Churel has hitherto regarded Him, and the Revelation whieh He has given, (x.) 1 ^^^l"'-',":'^''"' '' '' "' '■''■'**' ^'""l"f"l whether we have deseended from Adam and Kve; and highly probable "that we did not" That man i» not a fallen beilig, though he may have descended from the gorilla or the ape. Tlmt the notion of an evil spirit" at war with the good Uod and f ble-" the offspring of a Persian myth "-and that, con- eriuently, our blcscd Lord, who taught us to believe in and dread the approach of the enemy of our souls, was either .1 deceiver, or was Himself deceived, (xi ) Is it too much to say that what Dr. Colenso has taught IS a new rehg,on-a substitution of something else for 'the existing Christianity of the worid ? It is this ; and yet at the same time, merely a return to the Deism of the hiaher ■mnds of the heathen world, before the coming of ChrL It was for this teaching that, after having been summoned (X.) reutatcuch: Tart 2-pp. 355, 378. letter to ll,c Laity v 28 XI.) 1-Mi.ro More Anthropological Sock.|y. '^ "">"■?■ ^S- to resign hh «ec by tl>c whole Episcopate of Kn-l.md •„ well a« by tl.e cle.,y of your dloco^e, ho wa.s ,.epoir J, . .- ofhce by the unite,] voiee of all the Bi..,rp, of 1 ro ,„ee mcludmg the one who eoukl not be Jresen a the t„d, but had the whole ease forwarded to 1,L. ij wa., for th. teaehin, that it was declared by the Syn of the Provmee that he nmst bo separated fron. the eon ..mn>on of the Church, if he should venture to aU e government over the Church of God without bcin. resto to h,s ofl.ee by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the W pohtan He has done tins, in «pi,e of repeated warnin^^. ontrcafcs and protests, and no option is ijft to n>e but to' an->^u the resolution of the Synod. The act is oclnl •md so far as we are concerned, of so novel a character that .t .s due to you that I should state to you in virtue of vhat authority, and in obedience to what obli,atio„s, it is done. Consider what the Church of Christ is. It is a _ kingdom." Our Lord exjirossly called it .such. And it .s a spiritual kingdom, of which He is the Head and Ki„<. It IS m the world, but not of it. " My kingdom is not of this world." He has Himself ordained law.s for His kin-.- dom, and has prescribed modes for admission into it and exclusion from it. As He has appointed the Sacrament of J3apt.sm to be the door of entrance into it, so has He ordained that for grave faults there shall be, by formal sen- tence cxclasion from it. T'^o power to exclude is to be within the Church itself ■• If he neglect to hear the Church, let him be to thee as a heathen man and a publi- can. (St. Matt, xvii., 17, 18.) It is to the officers whom He has commissioned and placed within His Church that He has intrusted the execution of its laws. They act under His authority and by His command. As My Fathi 6 liaili .scut Mo, even to Ncnd I you." (St. J„l,i, xx. 21 ) '.I .•Tix-mt unto you h kii^lon,, ,..s My Father hath .mKunted unto Me." (St. Luke xxii. 2!..) " Whatsoever L »!,„11 hn.d on earth .shall be bom.,! in heaven ; wliatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall Ix; loosed in heaven. (St. Matt, xvii world.' (St. aiatt. x.xviii. 21.) None have doubted that our Lord fiave power to His Apostles to shut out IVon, Ills Kingdom any who „,i.ht aUawayfron, llin,,„r that He pledged Ilin.sell' to cmlirm their acts. But the Chureh never supposed that this ofliec belonged only to tiie twelve. St. Paul, not himself one of then- number, repeatedly e.verci.sed it. Throu-h him the Holy (ihost eonimanded Titus, Uishop of Cret'e, as well a,s the Chureh of Corinth, to diseharge it. •• A man that is a heretic, after the lirst and second admonition, reject " (r.tus iii. 10.) " I'ut away from yourselves that wicked person." (I Cor. v. X:-> ) In accordance with the lano-uagc of Scripture, the Church has ever held that its Divine He.id has lodged this power iu the hands of Bishops, to be used by them only as a last resource, when warnings, admonitions and entreaties have all failed, and the sinner persists in his sin. Bishops themselves are no more exempt from the censures of the Chureh than the humblest individual within It. From the first its discipline has been applied to then in accordance with the canons which re-ulate it It has ever rested with the Bishops of a Provi.rce to pui in foi^e the discipline of the Church with regard to any other brother Bishop who might either have been betrayed into sin, oi-_ have fallen from the faith ; and no power but that ot a lugher Synod could, or can, annul their sentence A case, which can scarcely bo paralleled iu the historv of F the Chuicli, h.-iH now unli.q.pily ..ccurroa am()n...t ii>< V brother, once bolovcd, has fallon olK.„ly n^vav frnu. Christ an.l has published work, attac-kiu-, an we luive .v^rn the' futRla.u.ntal truth.s of (he Christian faith, which ho eainc out to this lan.1 to teaeli an.l uphohl. I have n.ysrU' from the hrst, cM.treated him to withhold ov withdraw these books, and, wlun entreaties failed, I warned hin. what the results must bo; he persisted, and the Church, i. hov highest Court of Conv..eation nt liome, condenm.-d his works, and moro than forty Bishops ur-od him to resi<,^» his see, as the clorongst us the he csies f, '' """ "" "«•>' *« demand, and no power to enforce to doi:::: Its " '^^' "^'' "^^' ""^ «""-" -io- - Upon spiritual sentences, or their effects, the jud-nnent does not touch. Incidentally, however, it reeoinize" h spiritual authority of the Metropolitan "iven bv C „ through His Church. To have refuselt , ^ 7 thi«. ^""ght in vain to clothe that power with the authority of law In it-^ attempts to do so, it has hampered and weakened it.' Under these circumstances, the only question really is this • " Is he right to deprive a Suffragan of his power to minister n Christ s name, and with His authority, lodged, by the laws and canons of the Church, i„ the Metropolian and Bishops a region called a Province, because of the peculiar rehtions in which its Bishops stand to each other • and has that right been exerei.sed with a due regard to justice in the present case ?" There can be no doubt, that by the canons of the Church from the earliest ages-canons accepted by the Church of Bngknd acknowledged and acted upon in our courts at homc-the power to deprive a Bishop of his spiritual func - -o^~"h vp- "*» o. x>aiai charge, p. 5. B 10 tioDS rests with the Metropolitan and Bishops of a Province, and that it has, on the rare occasions when circumstances have called for it, been exercised by them in the Church of England. In this case the Bishops of the Province were unanimous in their judgment,-.that their brother had departed widely from the faith of Christ, and ought to be deprived of his spiritual functions ; and their conclusions have had the hearty approbation of the Church at home, and, I may now add, of the Churches with which we are in communion throughout the world. His commission there - fore, to minister to your souls, and to govern the flock of Christ, given by the Great Head, through his Church, has been withdrawn ; and it is impossible that it should be restored, unless, by the grace of God, he be led to see the depth of that error into which he has fallen, and turn and repent. But is he bound, it may be asked, to recognise and obey this spiritual act of the Church ? I cannot myself see how any can doubt it. The moral obligation to yield obedience to an authority which one has sworn to obey, is not effaced by any inability to enforce that obedience by law. Dr Colenso took his oath of canonical obedience, both at his consecration, when the Metropolitan, having no Letters Patent, laid hands upon him, and joined in giving him his commission; and again, after the issue of the Letters Patent. Be it, that at the time he thought there was leaal power to enforce the spiritual authority which he recL nised, does the obligation to obey that authority cease when It IS discovered that it cannot be enforced by human law ? "^ Dr. Colenso thinks sc, and in defiance of it, now pro- ceeds to harass the Church, and disturb its peace, not only 11 by maintaining still his grievous heresies, but adding to them, and demanding submission on the part of°the clergy, and the right to proclaim his heresies within their churches. It is this aggression o js part—this attitude which he has assumed towards th-u~claiming, as he does, the right to eject them from their Churches, if they refuse obedience to his authority, that compels us, by a further act, to s'^pa- rate him from the communion of the Church, and this we do, not in virtue of any jurisdiction derived from the Crown, but by the authority of our Lord, conveyed to us through His Church—assented to and accepted by him over whom it is now exercised- regulated and governed by the express injunctions of Christ. Our act is purely of a spiritual character. It is not intended to aflfoct any civil rights, or to carry with it an^ temporal consequences. Every effort has been made, which could be, consistently^ with the rights, privileges, and duties of this Church, to escape the necessity of taking this sad and most painful step ; and to induce him to submit the question of the soundness of his teaching to the decision of the Bishops of the United Church of England and Ireland, or of the Churches m communion with ourselves throughout the world. I have myself offered to refer my own judgment and sentence for revision by either of these tribunals. My offers have been rejected, and no option appears to be left to me. I am bound to carry out the decision of the Pro« vincial Synod, arrived at after special prayer for the guid^ ance of the Holy Spirit. ^ It is no light issue, my Brethren,.which is at stake. The question which Dr. Colenso has raised, touches the honour 12 of Christ, and the truth which he has revealed It ,ff..t also not only the well being of the Chu7c of Nata W Jts very being. It affeets your own highes nter ' a", thc^c of your ehildren-s children for genorations^tt Hefdif 1r n," f" -f "'"^"^^ °"^ '^'y '« '^'^ Groat «cad ot the Church, if we acknowled.»ed as a fntl,„. • Bibie,rd t.:; ^:^v^::r'f^:^' t all delivered ,0 the Saints" has bet J^^^^^ re eeted. We must affirm, maintain, bear wUnoss to Tt !; all costs and hazards. We could nnt L o : ,7 " ' ' t« ;> :p n , """^ "''' OS said to bear witne« to It It we allowed one who has abandoncl it J V- as a recognised teacher .uion-^st us W , /"""""''""^ with hi.„ against our LorS ainsTnt t1 1? glance to Christ demands that we Should wMi/r^fro^i; spintual intercourse with thi^ f.,l«n f^ i, "^ ""m aij a righteous sentence of condemna i n° and tul th" T' n. aeUnowledge him as having autho;it;1n s^i tt^^ ledge hin. as thlSo; ■ "' "" "" '""""'^ '"=^»- The eonserjuenccs of acknowledgin.. him as still i„ . -nion with the Church, would be-lirr; tirh" 171 Cf 111 It affects fatal, but fests, and IS yet to be Great ^ather in rites and and the once for 2t aside, to it, at witness ontinue J siding AUe- 'rom all thereby squally esenta- jy can clergy hority under 1 dare mat- "de- cnow- com- dalf 18 destruotivo of the faith ,„,i <=»nstitutional or-ans as She would be responlle f T"""" '° "'" ^""'^ "^ "'»»• the guilt of hi.rel"!!; „?r^^^^^^^^ ^« -P>-ted in that the poor „ an oi^ i^f '^ '? ""<"'"-'' ''--'f- Ne.t, faith, t„L„s liMo 0? 4^^^^^^ ■;V!;« Christian' his soul's loss : while thn v 1 • f ' ''""''' ""^ ""'^'«d *« - tody where, at least, ossentS^ttS'ri?- 1' ?"="'"" communion, would be taught • i„d th7p A • ' "''" into deadly hcresv »vonI,? V , ^ '"'''''' having sunk The presJnee o7; b of 'If '",°"' "' "''= '-'^• tin.oretard,bntw;Kt;or :,*r t^ ■"¥,"/- « be expeetcd long to endure t ^ne Trf T"T Bishop, feeing himself into their ehurce't't ! ,""' trmos to their nonnln «,i • i .i ^""^ciies, to teach doc- wouldfly t rdtsT f ^°^ "''"'"^"° •^'"' »W.or, but out, thei ;i^s ben?i:,ier'H''°^^™"''^^^='^-'"^<>- Bishop, and'sharing hfs £' 'ftl'"" "'""'' ''^' ""= traeted by the opposite elehintf^M"""^''-''!""^' •^- would fall away and sock ^^^^ '"'f ''"'''■ solves. spiiitual homes for tlicm- Duty, therefore, to yourselves R..„,i o»r Lord, has com nclled r , ' '""' "° ^''' "'"" 'o the Bish ps of t iflt i r ' ° "' "" '=°"'-^« -'™'' -•1^^ .0 tike this :.;;•:; dirortSth 2''"- "" --- it in this Church, as we ha!: :;t^ 14 paired, and hand it on to those that shall come after in its integrity, and in its purity. And wc have felt called to protect you, and your chil- dren, and the converts of the heathen around you, as far as in us lies, from the preaching of " another Gospel' which is not another," bearing in our minds the Divine warnin^^ and injunction, '' Though wc, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." (Gal. i. 7, 8.) Most unwillingly—and God is our witness— with great sorrow of heart, all other means having failed, we have felt constrained, out of duty to our Lord, and to the flock that lie has committed to our keeping, to fly to this last, and only remaining remedy, and separate, by open sentence, this false teacher from the communion of the faithful. It is the method pur Lord has bid us use, as wc have seen, for the purging His Church from the leaven of false doctrine. It is the medicine too which He has prescribed for the recovery of the fallen ; for this cutting off from the Church is not for the destruction of our Brother, but in the hope, and with the prayer, that, through the nieans of it, he may be led to repentance, and so to restoration, that "his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus " (I Cor. V. 5.) I invite you, my Brethren, to join with me in daily inter- cession before the throne of God, that such may be the case With regard to him who was your Bishop-that his eyes may be opened-tiiat he may be led back to the truth which he has forsaken, and recover his lost faith, and escape from the snare of the evil one. But, meantime, and until he shall be restored to the peace and communion of the Church, I entreat you, for his i ter in its )ur chil- as far as which is linn; and 1, preach lodunto h great lave felt )ck that ast, and 3ntence, ill. ive have of false iscribed if from but in cans of n, that lesus." ^ inter- he case is eyes which e from to the for his 15 sake, and for your own, to act towards him as tlie Word of God enjoins—'' If he will not hear the Church, let him be unto you as a heathen man and a publican." (St. Matt. xvii. 17.) "I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother," c^c. (I Cor. v. 11.) " Mark tliem Avhieh cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them." (Rom. xvi. 1 7.) " If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed." (2 Thcss. iii. 14.) " If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." (2 John, 10, 11.) In confortuity with these commands, the Church has ever shumied the company of those separated from her com- munion. The example of St. John, with regard to Cerin- thus, has never ceased to be followed in such cases. IIow early Christians acted, we may gather from the Apostolical canons (x., xi.), which forbid any to communicate, even in a private house, with such. And from the language of one of our primitive African Bishops, whose praise is in all the Churches, " We ought," says the martyr Cyprian, " to withdraw from sinners, and even fly from them, lest if a man join himself to those who walk disorderly, and go in the paths of error and wickedness, he himself also be°held ill the guilt of the same crimes " (Dc Unltate Ecdtslce) ■ and again, in a case similar to ours (Epis. G8), his langua<^J to the f\iithful laity is, " They should not flatter themrdv^s, as if they were free from partaking of sin, if they commu- nicated with a sinful Bishop, and give their consent to his unlawful and unjust establishment of him in his bishopric, 16 since tl,o divine judgment l.aci tl.re.itened and s-,id W tl,„ F0,l>et Ilosoa, "Their sacrifices «hall bo un" thi ' WI.0 «hall say, „,y Brethren, what the issue may be if Chr,st and to the Truth, has sought to lead you away ther fron,, and refraining from his company, you yet dZ bvdrj pray earnestly for his restoration.' Throul/ our'pr/vcr/ w... ^««twhether^:;i:re':,:e''ir;nr'its urge you, beloved Brethren, patiently to endure jlr ia A stonu ispass,ng over the Chureh. But the LonI thoul to .^me He n,ay appear to sl,,n,bor, is in the ship E^r siiil. However tlireaten n<'' then nn.l a;.*. • 4*1 , , «^i<-iiiij_;, iiicn, ana aistressin"" T)ro«;enf :t";;Tt lo ""'■' rf ^'°"' " "^^^ ^"•^''- '- -^ "■ ( 1 nr!l f ■. '^"■"""' '"""''' ''"' Sather round your Churcli for ,ts protection and your safety. He who Z ^sed to I is Chureh that He would be'. with i Lay " even unto the end of the world," is, ,ve doubt not w th ™o!f nf J '"? '■"'' '" "■'"•='' '' '^ ^'"bjccted give p.oof of tus Satan docs not shoot out all his fiery darts aga.nst a dead and lifeless body. It is because His Chureh ::; Tir"T '" r""' '" ""'^ '""'' '"»'"<= "^us rS again, ,t II,s mahco is the token of our life. The tinsel, s lot .s to be ever n.ilitant upon earth, and this t Auudst diseouragen,ents from quarters whence you mLdit 1.- lookcl for succour, and under the injury inflicted upon J by the them as shall be y be, if, 1 you to y there- by day 3rayers, ice over ost and I must ir trial, though Ere ice, be )rcsent uind." your 3 pro- ways, with 3 it is I give darts mrch ragos The lis IS light ipon 17 you and your children by the oppressive judgments of the courts of the world, look up to your Lord for help, strength and guidance. Your cause is Ilis cause. lie sympathfses mth you ; sorrows in your sorrows : shares your troubles : suffers in His .mbers. Any wound inflicted on his body, ^e Church, pierces Ilim also. To those who persecute it, He says, 'nVhnyersecufcst thou Me ?'^ Lean then upon Him, in trust and confidence ; He will not fail you. In His own good time He will vindicate His cause and His Church, and the faith which is in Him. In patient per- severance possess ye your souls. " Consider Him that endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." (Hcb. xii. 34 ) What in my weakness I can do, amidst present distresses for the strengthening of your faith and the supply of your spiritual need, I need scarcely say I gladly will do, as my ofiice requires. If God spares me, I will again, when my presence is needed, visit the diocese as Metropolitan, and ordain, as I may be able, faithful men, and render such services as may be in my power, until this tyranny be over- past. Meantime, I shall not cease to pray for you that in the hour of peril to the faith, and to your own' souls,' you may witness a good confession-stand up for the faith and for your Lord,-and that, your warfare being ended you may enter into the rest that remaineth for the people of God. ^ ^ I am, dear Brethren in Christ, Your faithful servant, R. CAPETOWN. To the Clergy and the Faithful in Christ Jesus, in the Diocese of Natal. 35onlrcal: PPJXTED BY JOHN LOVELL, 18C6.