Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-18 00:00:00

1

THE EYNSH -01 COMMISSION.

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A commission of inquiry, instituted by the Bishop of
Oxford, sat at the National School-room, Eynsham,
,Oxon, on Friday last, to inquire into a'series of charges,
made by Mr. Joseph Druce, farmer anti ex-churchwarden,
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Th e offences. specified were reading the
instead- of the reading desk—not ' rchearsieg the Ten
Commandments is-,r reading the EpiAle and Go,p -I at
the north side of the Communion' Table, and suffetrin
the yeading desk to be d •d by number'of g
s., desecrated a
placed there.
The commissioners were the Venerable Aielideacen
Clerke, the Rev. Dr. Leighton, rural dean ; Rix. D.
Adam's, vicar of Bampton
'• Rev. Dr. Goddard. vicar oL __:
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arford; Rev. .E. D. Carter, vicar. of Shipton-ilder-
Wychwood. The Rev. Dr. Goddard, although •pi esent,
did not act. ..
. .
Mr. Brunner, solicitor, Oxford, appeared on behalf of
Mr..Druce, and the Rev. W. S. Bricknell conducted his -
own case. •
.
The evidence having been*. heard in support of the
,several charges, the court was cleared, and after a.
lengthened consultation the commissioners decided
that there was. not sufficient pri)mr fae:e grounds for •
instituting farther proceedings against the defendant,
so far as respected the allegation that he had read
the morning and evening prayer. and the first and
second lessons not in the reading-pew or desk, being the
accustomed place of the said-,church, but in the pulpit,
inasmuch as he had proved to the satisfaction of the
' commissioners his desire to resume the use of the
reading-desk as soon as the adjacent walls had ceased to
emit dampness; also, that there was not sufficient prima
facie grounds forinstituting further proceedings in respect
to:the allegation that the defendant had permitted the
reading-desk to be desecrated by a numher of common
bricks placed and remaining. thereon, because although
proof had been adduced that bricks had in an unseemly
manner been placed and remaina in the reading-
deSk by the desire of ..the ,said defendant, yet that it
appeared to the commissioners that the said bricks were
bona fide placed as a protection of the Wood work of .
the said desk whenever a tireqo dry the adjacent walls
might be lighted in the chdfinf„t dish, which was placed
be the said desk ; but the commissioners considered that
this apparatus had been improperly left in the desk
daring the summer months, when, as it was proved,
there was no intention of any fire being lighted;
and the said commissioners considered that it was
peculiarly within the province of the churchwardens
to remove the bricks. Farther, that it was the unani-
mous opinion of the four commissioners that there was
sufficient prima facie ground for instructing further
pi4oceedings against the defendant, so far as respects the
allegation that in the administration of the Lord's Supper,
or Holy Communion, in the- said church, he had within
the last two years habitually on a Sunday, when minister-
. ing to the congregation assembled for Divine service in the
.said church (excepting on those Sundays on which he had
rehd the whole of the Communism service and administered
the Sacrament), said the several prayers and collects, and
rehearsed the Ten Commandnients, and read the Gospel
arid Epistle, not at-the north side of the Communion
Table, but in the pulpit, in contunsadons disregard of
the admonitions and orders to the contrary, proved to
have been judicially delivered to the . said defendant by
the Lord Bishop of Oxford, as ordinar at his triennial
visitation at Oxford, in the month of November, 1857,
in' consequence of a certain presentation made to him.
'The proceedings then terminated.
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