The Portland daily press., 1867-03-27

Mr.. Thomas A. Goddard, merchant of
Boston who is now spending aseason in South
Africa, writing from the neighborhood of Ma
tai to the Unicersaiist, thus speaks of Colen-
so and the ecclesiastic warfare to which his
writings and doctrines have led:
Natalians are considerably exercised upon
several questions, just at this present time
the case o. Bishop Colenso is one of them.-
This gentleman has obtained so much noto-
riety in the Christian world that may be ex-
| cused for devotng small space to him. Hav-
| ing letter of introduction to him, we rode
out to Bishopstowe, his residence, 6 miles
from Pletermaritzberg. We were cordially re-
ce1ved by him and his family, and passed a
couple of hours with them very pleasantly
He is about AZ years old, is tan and carries
himself erect. He is quick in bis movements
and has kindly countenance He talks tree
y OF all the difficulties he is encountering,
| speaks mildly ofthose who are opposed tohim'
but firmly believes himself to be in the right.
| Party spirit runs high in the church here.
though from all that | can learn the i'll feeling
comes almost entirely from Bishop Gray 8
party. This Bishop Gray is the BisboD of
| Capetown, and is the Metropolitan of South
Africa; as such he has declared Colenso to be
unfit ito bear rule in tbe Church of Cod or to
exercise any sacred Office whatever therein" !"
Lately he has sent orders to Dean Green of
MarItzberg who has acquired some notoriety
as one of Bishop Colenso's opponents. direct
ing him to call meeting of certain EpiscopaI
clergymen OF Natal and of delegation of the
city, for the purpose of electing another bish-
op. All the clergy of the church of England
were not invited, but only such as were op-
posed to Bishop Colenso. Fourteen were
present including Dean Green; seven of them
voted against eleeting another bistop at this
time; therefore ii was only by the casting
vote OF the Dean, who had already voted once
as clergyman, that his point was carried and
MI Butler OF England elected; not one of the
seven who voted against eectng another
bishop is in sympathy with Colenso's views,
but they Thought it was unwise to complicate
matters still more by electing another bishop
now. A large proportion of the aity depre-
cate the high handed and uncharitable man
ner in which Bishop Colenso is treated by
Bishop Gray and some OF the Natal clergy,
1t is strange that men win not heed the les
sons OF experience; that persecution of an in
diyldual or sect, in pine cases out Of ten, in
ures to the benefit of the party prosecuted. In
this case, Bishop Colenso says they could not
have done better thing for him.
Now there is something more than meets
the public eye in all this. People not only
here, but in the Cape Colony, do not hesitate
to say that Bishop Gray is terribly High
church and is disposed to carry lis points
with high hand, which the people, l mean
those ofthe Episcopal Church, are by no
means disposed to submitto. The inevitable
result viii be split, if he does not recede
rom his high pretensions. As matter OF
fact, the clergy of the church of England are
Deeommlng more and more divided in matters
OF opinion on doctrnal points. hear it
often asserted that belief in an endless hell is
not point of doctrine with them. Some
clearly discard the old doctrine OF the Atone
ment and Of the Triuity as usually under
stood. On the other hand, the very High
Church rather repudate the name of Protes-
tant and call themselves Catholic, not quite
Roman Catholic yet, though! AS for Bishop
Colenso, he rejects the doctrine of ar endless
hell, and | feel very sure his views on the
Trinity and the Atonement are by no means
Orthodox. H'. s..r
We heard him preach in the Cathedral
at Pietermarizperg, but we should not assent
| to all he said in his sermon. He is hard
worker and is engaged every day upon ano.h-
| er work he is preparing.
Dean Green undertook at one time 10 make
trouble about the Bishops preaching in the
Cathedral, but it did not amount to much.
The Dean has service at O'Clock in the
forenoon and at 4 in the afternoon. The
Bishop has a service at IL and at q. The.
Cathedral is an insignificant building. Some
of the other church editices are neat though
small. -H.. -