We are sorry to hear that the Bishop of Oxford
(Dr. Mackar- ness) inhibited Bishop Colenso from preaching in the City Church of Oxford last Sunday, so that the sermon he would have preached was read for him by the Rector, and a very excellent sermon it appears to have been. The clergyman who seems to have pro- cured this inhibition called Dr. Colenso a "deposed bishop and an excommunicated heretic," but he did so in defiance of all law, for the ecclesiastical trial by which Dr. Colenso was said to be deposed had no validity, and was, moreover, so unjudicial, that Bishop Thirlwall went out of his way in one of his charges to- condemn the proceeding. Bishop Mackarness has been always understood to be a moderate man, and he should reflect that the State Church can scarcely last, if its Bishops throw stigmas in this reckless way on other Bishops whom the Church has sent out, and who have never been found guilty of any heresy or other offence, except by a Court which had no jurisdiction, and by virtue of a judgment passed upon principles-which would equally condemn a large number of the best clergymen of our Church.
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