ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



scandalous or malignant or both, that they cannot as yet recommend any 

 more to be added to the several classes. 



With the evidence at present available it is not possible to w^atch the 

 Presbyterian system in operation. Such parish documents as have been 

 published seem to ignore it, and show variety in the working of the spiritual 

 machinery. At Pittington, for instance, communions were still celebrated; 

 at St. Oswald's and at Houghton-le-Spring they ceased during these years of 

 Presbyterian supremacy ; nor were they resumed until the Restoration.*^* 

 The vestry uses of the parish went on. Churchwardens were elected, but 

 were not sworn. Rates were levied. The church buildings did not always 

 suffer either at this time or during the Protectorate. It may be questioned, 

 for instance, whether at any period more care was bestowed upon the fabric 

 of Houghton Church than in the years immediately preceding the Restora- 

 tion.*" A survey of the existing parish account goes to prove comparative 

 neglect of the building during the Presbyterian period, followed by increasing 

 care from about 1653. After the abolition of bishops in 1646, an Act was 

 passed for the sale of their lands, and a survey was made.*"^ They were not 

 handed over to charitable uses, but were bought up by laymen. A list of 

 those sold in Durham survives.*'^ 



The Scottish army left in 1647, ^"'^ ^ ^^1 ^^ j°y ^g^ii^ went up from 

 an impoverished county .*'* More than one Royalist outbreak in the following 

 years proves that the king's cause was still dear to many in the north. *^' The 

 year 1649 was an important epoch in the vicissitudes of church property. 

 In it an Act was passed for the sale of the dean and chapter lands which 

 had been held in trust since the abolition of chapters in 1648.*^° A detailed 

 survey was made and trustees were appointed to sell the lands for the main- 

 tenance of ministers.*" All this work was carried out by an intricate series 

 of parliamentary committees. The same year witnessed the inauguration of 

 the famous but short-lived society for the propagation of the gospel in the 

 northern counties.*^^ Its chief work was to carry out the augmentation of 

 the livings of ministers, and to appoint suitable schoolmasters. An account 

 of some of its proceedings survives, more particularly of services held at New- 

 castle in 1651—53, when ministers were settled and assessments made upon 

 various parishes for their support.*'*' Spasmodic help had been given before 

 this committee came into being,*'* so that it marks the culmination of a series 

 of attempts to organize the Presbyterian parish system more efficiently. 

 Indeed, whatever the shortcomings of the Long Parliament, it strove valiantly 



*■* Dur. Parish Bis. (Surtees Soc. Ixxxiv), 102, 192-3, 304.. 



"' Ibid. 312-15. Compare the entries in the volume for the years 1644 to 1652 with those after 1653. 



"* Text of the Act in Hutchinson, Hist. Dur. i, 632. For the history cf. W. A. Shaw, op. cit. ii, 210. 

 The ordinance for the sale is dated 16 Nov. 1646. Shaw, op. cit. 213 ; cf 242. For the survey, ibid. 603. 



"' Printed by Strype, j^titia/s, ii (appendix), 65 ; also by Hutchinson. The first sale was on 18 Oct. 

 1647. The total amount realized was ^^68,121 15/. ()J. including parcels outside the bishopric. 



"' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, 160 ; S.P. Dom. Add. 1625-49, ^o'^- 5°9> 43^- 



*" July 1648, defeat of Royalists in Northumberland, where many of the chief gentry of Northumber- 

 land and Durham were taken prisoners ; S.P. Dom. 516 ; cf Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. : List of loyalist 

 gentlemen in 165 1-2 ; Surtees, Hist. Dur. i, App. i, cxxxix. The S.P. Dom. for 1655 indicate further risings. 



"» W. A. Shaw, Hist. Ch. of Engl, ii, 213. 



"' For the survey, ibid. 603. The question of improving benefices was first stirred in 1646, ibid 214. 



"' Described by Shaw, op. cit. ii, 226. 



"^Lambeth MS. 1006, fol. 426-30. 'An abstract of the settlement of ministers in the counties of 

 Durham and Newcastle.' *^' Shaw, op. cit. ii, 218. 



51 



