gentleman. Mr. Barnet did not hold the curacy long, for on the 15th April, 1647, Mr. John Worthington, previously of Tockholes, was ordained minister of Ouldham, at Manchester. In the interval, from 1646 to 1649, the parishes of Prestwich and Oldham were torn by religious and political factions. The rector was obnoxious to the episcopal or royalist party from his ardent attachment to the Presbyterian cause, and throughout the parish, indeed throughout the country, there were three strong parties: the Presbyterians, into whose system abuses had already crept; the Independents, who were endeavouring to grasp at additional power; and the followers of the rites and tenets of the episcopal church, who were attempting to the utmost to overthrow the other two. The classical assembly at Manchester was employed for several months in hearing appeals from Oldham and other places, for and against the ministers and elders who had been chosen. Mr. Worthington, whose opinions seem to have been Presbyterian, ceased to be minister here about 1651. The Episcopal party gained strength for a time, and a vigorous effort was made at Oldham to secure a minister of the church of England, who could evade the test of taking the national covenant, whereby Episcopacy was abjured. This attempt, on the part of the congregation of Oldham, was exerted in favour of the Rev. Isaac Allen, a minister of great learning, and a well known royalist, but it met with a complete failure. Mr. Allen, however, subsequently became Rector of Prestwich, and married Anne, daughter of Richard Ashton, Esq., of Chadderton. The opposition of the Independents and Episcopalians having greatly weakened the power of the Presbyterians, and their own church being torn by intestine divisions, the orders of the classis were set at defiance. In 1652, the congregation at Oldham elected, as their pastor, the Rev. John Lake, a native of Halifax, born 1624, an active and suffering Episcopal loyalist, and a dexterous aspiring churchman of learning

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