CONSECRATION OF THE REV. S. T. NEVILL TO THE SEE OF DUNEDIN.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2589, 5 June 1871, Page 2

CONSECRATION OF THE REV. S. T. NEVILL TO THE SEE OF DUNEDIN.

Yesterday, in St. Paul’s Church, the Rev. S. T. Nevill was consecrated ). ishop of Dunedin. The ceremony was to have taken place on Ascension Day, but it was found that the arrangement did not suit all the Bishops invited, and it was therefore postponed to yesterday, Trinity Sunday. So unusual an event :.s an episcopal ordinal ion very naturally created great inteiest in the minds not only of Church members, but in those of ail Christian denominations. It was considered, however, by the authorities of the Church that, as far as possible, a Bishop should be set apart for Ids work in the presence of members of the Episcopal Church, and as the seat accommodation in St. Paul’s Church is limited, six hundred tickets of admission were issued, and seats placed on each side of the aisles. The benefit of this plan was evident in the order with which the congregation took their allotted places; and with the exc ption of the occupants or the extra benches, all the sittings were tilled before the procession entered the church. Special services suitable to the Church in the Colonies were arranged for tlic day. Morning prayer Lad been bold at eight o’clock, mid at eleven o’clock the Consecration Service commenced. At that time a procession of oliicers, clergy, and bishops, with the bishop elect, entered the church in the following order : The Churchwardens—Messrs Mason and Howorth. The Chancellor of the Diocese —Mr James Smith. l>ev. Messrs Gaskin, Nevid, Stanley, Beaumont, Daseut, Granger, Stanford, and Gilford. The Bishop ii-lect. The Bishops of Wellington, Nelson, and Waiapu. Chaplain to the Primate—The llev. E. G. Edwards. The Primate. As they walked up the aisle to the cbaucvl, the choir, accompanied by the organ, sang Owsley's arrangement in E of the 122ud Psalm. The Epistles were read by the Bishop of Nelson, and the Communion Service by the Primate, the Bishop of Christchurch. The Kyrie was chaunted to the arrangement by Mendelssohn, and the Gloria and Niceue Creed in those by Tallis. .After singing the 214 th Hymn, the text for which is—“As my Bather hath sent me, even so send 1 you,” the Bishop of Wellington preached trom Paul's Epistle to Titus, eh. i., V. s—“ For this cause left I thee in Crate, that thou tjiuuldat set in order the thiugs that are wanting, and ordain elders in every pity, as 1 had appointed thee.” The object of the sermon was to shew that from the first days of C hriatiauity men had been set apart for special duties in the Church as the

necessity for supervision arose. The first separation of spiritual from lay duties, was when deacons were appointed to superintend the distribution of provisions to the poor members of the Church. He pointed out that “ elder," “ presbyter,” and “ priest," were words designating the same office in the church, being merely translations of each other—but that “priest” as applied to the clergy of the Anglican church did not siguify the same as “priest” iu the Jewish church, as it did not denote the offering up sacrifices, as in the Jewish ritual. Au English priest was therefore not a sacerdotal priest, but a teacher. Although there ' was no distinct record in the New Testament of the appoin'ment of Bishops or overseers, that office was recorded to have been held during the first century of Christianity. No fair inference could be drawn from the fact that James was Bishop of Jerusalem, for it was not clear that he was not an A postle—one of the founders of the church, from whence all succeeding bishops derive their authority; but it was Fair to infer from the minute directions given to Titus and to Timothy that they were specially ordained to that work, and, as in the early church, the gift of the Spirit was communicated by laying on of hands, so, from those primitive times to this present, it has been transmitted j by the same means. His Lordship concluded by a few appropriate admonitions to the Bishop elect. After the sermon, a voluntary, from Beethoven’s Op. 2S was played, after which followed an anthem from Men- ' delssohn’s St. Paul, “How lovely are the messengers.” The anthem concluded, the Bishop elect, in his rochet, was presented to the Primate, who was seated at the Communion Table, by the Bishops of Nelson and Waiapu, one of whom said, in the form prescribed by the ritua l , Most ilevciend Father in God, wo present unto you this godly and well-learned man to be ordained and consecrated a Bishop.” The Primate having asked for the mandate for the const c ation, not being the Queen’s mandate, the Chancellor of the Diocese read it in the altered form adopted in the New Zealand Church. In Great Britain the rubric prescribes that, on consecration, a Bishop shall pay reverence and obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Of necessity this was altered, and instead, one promising reverence and obedience to the Primate "was substituted. The customary exhortation and ex urination were then prodeled with, and the answers were given by Bishop Ncvill in a clear and distinct voice. After which followed the Litany, the responses to which were intoned according to Tallis's service. 'Hie Bishop elect having been invested with the robes of office, knelt down at the Communion rails, the Choir chanting Veui Creator Spiritus. After the consec; ation and prayer, the Primate and Bishops of Wellington, Nelson, and Waiapu laid their hands on the head of the Bishoo elect, the Irl a esaying “ Keceive the Hdy Ghost, for the office and work of a Bishop in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the imposition of our hands: la the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Ameu. And remembt? that thou stir up the grace of Go I which is given thee by this imposition of our hands ; for God hath nob given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind.” <>n rising from his knees, the Bishop of Dunedin was presented with a Bible by the Primate, who, in the words of the rubric, exhorted him to be diligent in reading and 'teaching the doctrine contained in it. This portion of the servipe was brought to a close by a voluntary from Handel’s Jeptha, “Waft ye Angels;” and after the collection of the offertory, Handel’s Coronation Anthem was splendidly played as the congregation were leaving the Church. The Holy Communion was administered by the Primate, assisted by the Bishops of Waiapu, Wellington, and Nelson, to a large number of communicants. 'The afternoon service was especially a lapted to children. Between 400 and 500 children from the Sunday schools in Dunedin assembled at St. Paul’s Church at 3.30, and about 400 adults were present. The hymns chosen were pecularly adapted to children. The Bishop of Waiapu addressed the children briefly from Mark, 10 eh. 13 to 15 v. After which the Bishop of Dunedin gave an appropriate discourse to parents, showing their responsibilities for the education and religious training of their children. The religious service over, the children and their teachers adjourned to St. George’s Hall for the distribution of prizes. These prizes were awarded to children recommended by their teachers, after careful examination for proficiency in Scriptural history. There were four special prizes provided by the teachers for children who underwent a voluntary examination and gave the best written answers to the questions submitted to them. The Superintendent introduced them to the Bishop. Jo on Core received the first prize, a Bible handsomely bound, the gift ot Mr Arthur Webb ; the second was taken by Emma Eyre—a prayerbook with hymns, ancient and modern, bound up with the Church Service, a present by the liev. E. G. Edwards ; William Armstrong took the third prize—a volume of Leisure Hour, the gift of the Superintendent of the School, Air it. T. Wo eider; and the fourth, a volume of Sunday at Home, became the property o£ Miiry Wetherburn, was given by Mr Arthur West. Extra prizes were given to Walter Cairucross, Frank Macarthy, and Alary Davis. Further prizes were presented to the meritorious in eight of the girls’ classes ami three of the boys’. 'Jlie The lateness of the hour prevented th; further distribution, and the remaining prizes will be given on Sunday afternoon next. John Gore, William Armstrong, and Alary Wetherburn had extra prizes given them by their teachers on account of their general good conduct. In the evening the Bishop of Dunedin was inducted into the Church before the commencement of the Evening Service The whole of the bishops and clergy were in the chancel when the Chancellor of the diocese rose and read the certificate of the appointment of a Bishop to the See of Dunedin and of his consecration, in accordance with the decision <•£ the General Synod. The Chancellor having finished reading, the Primate rose and formally inducted, installed, and enthroned the Bishop of Dunedin “into the real, actual, and corporealpo session” of the Sec, “ with all and singular the rights, dignities, honors, and appurtenances thereof and concluded with the words, “And the Lord preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth forevermore.” The Evening Service was impressively read by the ilev. E. G. Edwards, the choir iutou.ng the responses, and in the course of the evening singing Handel’s “Their sound is gone out,” from the Me-siah. The Bishop of Nelson preached an e.oqueut sermon from a text taken from the 6:h Chapter of Isaiah and the Bth verse : “A so I heard the voice p£ the Lord saying, i Wnom hall I sehJLaud who shall go for u? 7 ’ Theq said I, ‘ Here

am .1; send me.’” The rev, preacher considered this marked a distict period in the Spiritual experience of the prophet, which seemed to indicate that by a preparatory previous process, he had become better fitted for the w..rk of the ministry than before. He pointed out that the conviction of onworthines or sin, which had been wrought in his mind by the vision presented to him was tho fittest preparation for usefulness, and must be experienced by man before he could realise a full sense of his responsibilities and duties. Bemarking on the condition of the Sunday schools, he made some very severe remarks upon the apathy of members of the Ch’ r hj. pointing out that ministerial work was not to be confined to the olergy, but that in one form or of er every m. mber of the Church was bound to labor. In the course of tho sermon, alluding to the Bishop of Dunedin, he said : “ Our brother, ■wlio is today placed over this diocese, js going Home for a short season to airange for the prosecution of the Lord’s work in the parish in which he has bceu so success,id. I am happy to bear testimony to his efficiency and devotedness to his work. lam than,*.ful to tell you that his appointment in C>ew Zealand is not the matier of a few months past, but that four years ago, when I was about to come out to New Zca'and, and was endeavoring to excite some sympathy from those connected with the Church at Home, 1 met with sympathy from him. In a letter •which 1 value much, he said, ‘ I take great interest and feel nuichjsympathy with you in your work for I may, some day, come out to New Zealand.” That event had been brought about by causes and by a way unexpected. He came in a spirit of self sacrifice, leaving a parish in a highly efficient working state, and leaving a circle of warm and affectionate friends. He had come thrown himself amongst us for he took a view that many concurred in, that New Zealand was too important and too populous a colony to be neglected.” He thought this ought to be known. . m We cannot too highly praise Mr A. iowsey on the taste and skill with which he played the voluntaries and the accompaniments on the organ. The selections were good and from the works of masters that required a ) master to render them effectively. We cannot award him higher praise than that ho succeeded. The choir was full aiid on the whole ' accurate ; the intonation especially being good. Crowded as was the Church in the morning and afternoon, in the evening, it was so full as scarcely to leave standing room. The Church wardens and numbers of tho Deanery board, were uuablc to find seats for themselves afti r doing their utmost to provide them for the congregation and had to accept any position comfortable or uncomfortable, where standing or resting room was to be hnd.l Thu offertory will ho devoted to the Bishop’s fund.