BISHOP COLENSO.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 48, 24 April 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

BISHOP COLENSO.

(From Xh^Argus.) It is not, as our readers kuow, our custom to discuss questions'of theology in these columns, nor does it fall within the ordinary duties of the public journalist,' to take notice of every passing religious controversy. At the same time, the occasion may arise when the journalist cannot avoid all reference to a subject of this nature without departing from his duty to his readers. *A question of theology may, by some exceptional circumstances, be made the ruling topic of the day, and pass from the stage of religious controversy into a subject of universal and ordinary conversation. The points involved may contain some general principle of moral action, in which a larger and wider interest is included than a purely theological one. When this happens to be tbe case, the journalist has no longer any excuse for refusing to take notice of what all men are engaging in discussing. Without if attempting to pronounce dogmatically on questions which must always remain subjects of difference, he is at liberty to set the case fairly before his readers, and to comment on i s general bearings.

The publication by' Bishop Colenso of the first part of a commentary on the Pentateuch, is, in current slang, the " sensation event of the day, The extraordinary excitement created by this modest and humble little book must appear almost ludicrous to those who are familiar with the questions which tbe Bishop of Natal has raised. The excessive alarm and indignation into which The professional advocates of the conventional orthodoxy have been thrown by Bishop Colenso's arithmetical problems, are certainly a little surprising, even after tbe history of Essays and lleviews. The}' may be accounted for principally rather by the character and position of tbe author, than the novelty or boldness of his opinions. As in the case of the now famous Essays, the Bishop of Natal's book has been forced into an extravagant popularity, rather by the accidents of its authorship than its intrinsic merits. The historical character of the Mosaic is not now surely, for the first time under question. The problems submitted by Bishop Colenso can be new to but very few of bis readers. Whether the Israelites, in the course of four «enerations, could have increased from seventy to two million sonls — whether the whole of this multitude could have crossed the desert in the manner specificd — whether Judab, being forty-two years of age, could have been contemporary with his grandsons, born of his son's widow — whether every priest ate ten shoulders of lamb and forty- eight pigeons for his daily food — whether the whole congregation of Israel was ever gathered within the limits of the Tabernacle — whether 90,000 Midianites were slain without the loss of a single man, by 12,000 Israelis, reserving only the young unmarried women — these are problems which must have disturbed the minds of many excellent Christians besides the Zooloo Chief who first inspired Dr. Colenso with his doubts. The marvel is, that a bishop of the church should have been so long arriving at the knowledge of difficulties which, we venture to say, are familiar to uiue out of ten of the intelligent Moses, That he should have given expression to his doubts, is no more than becomes him as a bishop of the church and as a lover of truth to do. That his book has given offence toalarge circle of the orthodox, is no matter of surprise. The spirit of the work cannot but be distasteful to those who hold, with tbe French nlhe of the old school, that articles of faith are like pills — they may be swallowed but must not be masticated.

Regarding the book from a purely secular point of view, as an honest and earnest attempt to apply the ordinary canons of criticism to the historical narrative of Moses, it is impossible to over-value its importance, as significant of the great change which is now taking place in the opinious of men on the questions discussed. The points taken by Colenso may be trivial in themselves, and it is probable that in some of them he may be proved to be wrong ; but the work Avill still have a value in the eyes of all the friends of free enquiry. The very argument now used by the advocates of conventional belief, namely, that Dr Colenso's remarks do not in any way affect the groundwork of the Christian religion, is an admission of the progress of opinion in this particular direction. Only a faw years ago, before speculation had become so bold, and before it had become necessary to concede so much to the spirit of inquiry, the mere statement of these objections would have raised a storm of indignation, as though they threatened the foundations of religious belief And there is a curiousinconsistency in the language of the Bishop of Natal's critics, when they declare the objections taken by him are of no consequence, and yet assail him virulently for having made them. If even one of the objections is to be maintained, then the whole fabric of the belief in the doctrine of plenary inspiration comes to the ground. That doctrine clearly admits of no compromise with the letter of the Word. It must be taken absolutely as the Word of God, or it must be allowed to be imperfect. If acknowledged to be imperfect, and to have been subjectto errors and accidents in the transmission, then it cannot be contended that it is beside the duty of a bishop of the Church of England — of one of the appointed spiritual leaders of the people, and expounders of the Holy Scripture — to inquire into the literal truth of the narrative, and to apply the same rules in the interpretation of the text as would be

applicable to any other book professing to be a literal history of occurrences.

Noonecan read the Bishop of NataPs preface without being convinced that he has brought to his ungracious task the pure and fervent spirit of truthful inquiry. By his character, his talents, and his position, he has a claim to be heard, which will be admitled in spite ?of ihe vulgar and ignorant abuse with which his name and his motives had been assailed. The day has gonelby when the course of inquiryfcould be checked by any such means. The spirit of doubt is now no longer deemed to be the direct emanation of Satan. It is the very essence of faith, and among a civilized people, desiring that "truth which shall make them free," it is the living principle of all liberty. The golden lines of m e poet include the highest truth and the best Christianity : —

" There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds."

He who has never doubted has never believed, and the faith which takes alarm at such speculations as those of the Bishop of Natal, is but a sickly superstition — the Fetichism which worships the words of the Bible as the African kneels to his gods of wood and stone. It is not within our province to pronounce upon the success of Bishop Colenso's work, or the validity of his objections; but we should be doing Jess than our duty were we to deny him a fair hearing or impugn his motives. Tlie objectlons he has taken to the Pentateuch, though highly important in one sense, have, after all, no real concern for the beJiever in the essentials of Christianity. The hook of Moses may be proved 10 be full of inaccuracies, but tbe foundations of Christian faiih are in no way affected. Those only have reason to treamble for their religion with whom every word of the Mosaic narratives is of equal value with every word of the Sermon on the Mount, and to whom the slaughter of the Midianites has the same historical significance as the juderiient of Pilate. The Church of England, according to the latest ruling of its secu'ar Pope, Dr. Lushinjrton, requires no such faith from her people or her ministers. It has been explicitly (aid down, in the case of Or. Rowland Williams, that the Article which demands "an unfeigned belief in all the canonical Scriptures," means no more than that everything necessary to salvation is contained in the Bible According to this interpretation, Or. Colenso may fairly claim to be within the pale of the Church, even although lie has altogether destroyed the Pentateuch, and proved Moses but an indifferent historian. The clergy of the Church may or may not admit the liishop of Natal to be of their communion — and we know at least one bishop who would be slow to rub shoulders with Dr. Colenso ; but the great body of tbe laity will not consent to attach a peipetual infallibility to the history, any more than to the science, of whosoever were the authors of tlie book of Moses.

The Bishop of London, in a late charge to his clergy, has admirably stated the claims of that " unrestrained spirit of free inquiry" which is the soul of every Protestant Church. They are words worthy of a great Christian teacher, in. a free country. "As to free inquiry," says Dr. Tait, " what shall we do with it? Shall we frown upon it, denounce it, try to stifle it? This -will do no good, even if it be risjht. But, after all, we are Protestants. We have been accustomed to speak a great deal of tbe right and duty of private judgement.

Are we (o bo scared from those great principles which opened the closed door of truth in the sixteenth ceu.'uty, hecause some men, using our instruments of investigation, anive at false and dangerous conclusions ? Shall we, from a craven fear lest these truths be shaken, disparage theuse of that, great instrument of reason which God has given to man for the investigation and defence of truth ? If we are wise, we will not task our people to give to °the Church's teaching an unreasoning and siolid assent." " Nothing would be so likely," continues the bishop, "to spread suspicion and unbelief among our intelligent laity, as any crude attempts on the part of the clergy to treat the difficulties arising from free inquiry without thoroughly understanding them. Dogmatic denunciations — sweeping asseverations as to the corrupt state of the heart from which doudt and unbelief are supposed to spring — unwise and arrogant claims to an unauestioninjr obedience and submission of the understanding — I can conceive nothing more likely to irritate intelligent men, and excite the very evils we desire to allay." In those noble words, breathing the purest spirit of Christian charity, the true believer may find his solace under all the difficulties raised by Bishop Colenso, and under greater than these. — Argus.