BISHOPS OF WELLINGTON AND NELSON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 641, 29 December 1858, Page 8

BISHOPS OF WELLINGTON AND NELSON.

On Wednesday' the consecration of two 'Bishops for New Zealand was celebrated in the Chapel of Lambeth Palace—the Yen. Archdeacon Abraham, a name most honourably known at Cambridge; and the Rev. E. Hobhouse,; of Merton College Oxford, having been consecrated to the Bishoprics of Wellington and: "Nelson.

At eleven o'clock the procession, which formed at Lambeth Palace, entered the church by the west door. It consisted of the churchwardens of the parish, the curates in their surplices, Mr. Francis Hart Dyke her Majesty's Proctor, the Bishops nominate, the Bishop of Lichfield, the --Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop of London, Mr. r,"Felis Kny vett, the- secretary to the Archbishop, i\ie Archbishop of Canterbury in his robes, the, ' the Rev. J. Thomas.B.C.L., his Grace's chaplain,; and Mr. J. Barber, the apparitor. j The Archbishops and Bishops went within the j 'rails of the communion table, the Bishops;) nominate, who were habited in their ordinary ] -black academical gowns, having seats without. • j /Prayers were read by the Rev. C. L. Alexan- j der, M.A., the senior curate of the parish, the; j ante-communion service by the Archbishop of! j Canterbury, the epistle by the Bishop of Or-; j '/ford, the gospel by the" Bishop of Lichfield, and; I -ihe Nicene Creed by the Bishop of London. The sermon was" preached by the Bishop of } Oxford, who selected for his text the 13th and ! >14tli" verses of the Ist chapter of St. Paul's Se- j. - corid Epistle to Timothy'•.-—" Hold fast the form, j of sound words "which thou hast heard of me in: j " faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. That j • good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." His Lordship descended from the pulpit and? took his seal with the other Bishops within the; j communion rails. The Bishops-nominate, vested; "in their rochets', were then presented to the. Archbishop by the Bishops of London and Lichfield, the Bishop of London saying,■■"" Most * Reverend Father in God, we present untoyou this godly and well-learned man to be ordained and consecrated Bishop." The Queen's mandate for the consecration was then read, and Archdeacon Abraham and; Mr. Hobhouse were admitted to the episcopate; ;,by the imposition of hands. .--.- ' _From the,' Clerical Directory' we take the; following in reference to the new Bishops :— Hobhouse, Edmund, Merton College, Oxford, BA., 1838 ; M.A., 1842; "8.D.. 1850; licentiate in theology of the University of Durham, 1840; deacon, IS4I ; priest," 1842; vicar of St. Peter's in the East, city, and diocese of Oxford, J843. ----- „_ . . <

Abraham, the Venerable Charles James, Eton Collepe, then Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, B.D. in Cambridge" University, Archdeacon of Waitemata, and chaplain to the "Bishop of New Zealand.

The new Bishops will be admitted by their respective universities to the'degree of doctor in divinity, on the opening of next term, by Boyal <jnanda'te.— lbid.

A fifth bishopric has now been formally constructed the seat of which will be at Waiapu, the bishov) having jurisdiction over an almost oxclusivelv Maori or native district. The Yen. William Williams, who during the last 15 years, has. lacted in the capacity qf Archdeacon of Waiapu, has been '."'appointed,first' bishop of the jiew see. Hitherto the Bishpp.of,Sydney has -acted -as metropolitan over the diocese of New Zealand," but that authority will be henceforward transferred to the Bishop of New- Zealand. the Bishops of Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington, and "Waiapu being his suffragans/ It is in contemplation to erect a sixth bishopric for thecolonv, the seat of which will be at Tauranga, another Maori district. It is expected that the consecration of the new Bishop of Waiapu will take place in the colony.-— lbid.