A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



and clergvmen- The account of the mere indifference of in^mdual 

 Danishes and clergymen could no doubt be greatly extended if the records 

 Si he classes hJd survived, for we possess minutes of the proceedings of 

 only two of them, those of Manchester and Bury. From ^653 onwards he 

 apathy of the general body of the laity became so pronounced that he 

 de ay^f the clfsses could no longer be concealed Until the end of the 

 Commonwealth they remained practically merely local ^^f°ff ^°"X l^ond 

 the work of examining and ordaining ministerial candidates. The second 

 stream of opposition with which the system had to contend was the hostility 

 of the central power. It was not merely that the more zealous of the 

 Presbyterians felt the sharpness of that hostility in their persons when they 

 refused the Engagement.- The triumph of the Independents in the temporal 

 domain declared itself before the Presbyterians had had time to establish 

 their organization. As a consequence their consistorial system, which was 

 actually and sharply enforced or attempted to be enforced during the years 

 1647-9, was forthwith paralysed, and furthermore the classes were left 

 powerless to deal with Separatist or Independent congregations in their midst. 

 The result was not merely endless intestinal parochial confusion, but also a 

 general cessation of the administration of the Sacrament. Finding that the 

 wooden sword of discipline had been smitten from their hands, and that they 

 could no longer safeguard the approach to the Sacrament, the Presbyterian 

 clergy preferred to cease administration altogether. 



The slow lapse of years of disappointed impotence brought a little 

 wisdom to the Presbyterians as the Interregnum drew to a close, and an 

 honest attempt was at last made in 1659 to establish an accommodation 

 between them and the Independents with the object of again setting on foot 

 the regulation of sacramental admission. But if the agreement which was 

 arrived at in the Collegiate church of Manchester on 12 July, 1659, was 

 of any significance for the religious history of Lancashire, it was not so as 

 bearing on the episode of Commonwealth Presbyterianism. It was only so 

 as foreshadowing the process of fusion or confusion between Presbyterian 

 and Independent which was to ensue upon the triumph of the Episcopal 

 Church at the Restoration."** 



In a resume so necessarily hasty it has been found impossible to make 

 specific reference to many other sides of the church history of this stirring 

 period. But in respect of the Church Survey, the exercise of patronage, 

 private and other, the Plundered Ministers' Committee, the Triers, &c., the 

 experience of Lancashire was in no way singular, being simply a replica of 

 the experience of the country at large."" 



It is not in such matters as these that the importance of the church 

 history of the Commonwealth lies for Lancashire. It is rather and indeed 



'" At Didibury the elders elected were unwilling to undergo their office. At Blackburn the 

 minister scrupled the lawfulness of ruling lay elders. At Gorton, Denton, Oldham, and Salford the 

 election of elders was delayed for years by the mere inertia of the parishioners. At Flixton the minister 

 and eldei^ withdrew from their office. The minister at Whitworth contemptuously ignored the Bury 

 Classis. Even at Bur}- itself, the centre of the Second Classis, the minister of the town scrupled the 

 government and did not act ; neither did the ministers at the chapelries of Whitworth, Rivington Turton 

 and Bradihaw. ' ' 



*'" See Manchester Minutes, 135, for this episode. 



"^ For the story of this accommodation of 1659 see Manchester Minutes, 400-1. 



•"' For its local and personal aspects see various publications of the Lane, and Ches. Record Soc 



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