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 A HISTORY OF LONDON elders, though until these were duly appointed they were forbidden to have celebrations of Holy Communion in their churches.*" In the case of St. Martin Orgar the majority of the parishioners declined for a long while to have ' a minister who would carry out the Parliament's wishes, and pre- ferred wandering ministers.' *^° The severity of the Puritans soon became unpopular with the apprentices and young men of the City, many of whom desired the restoration of the Church.*" In 1650 it was reported to Parlia- ment that ' there was verv wilful and strict observation of the day commonly called Christmas-day in London, shops being closed and a holiday kept.'*-* In obedience to an order from the lord mayor,*^' the royal arms were removed from most of the London churches in 1650.*'" In December of that year, however, the Council of State reported to Parliament that the arms still remained up in some churches ; *^^ and more than a hundred London ministers joined in issuing declarations against the regicides.*'^ In 1657 it was found necessary to pass a fresh Act for the more rigid observance of the Lord's Day.*^^ Nor was the Roman Church idle. Celebrations of mass were held in the ambassadors' houses and elsewhere, to which many citizens resorted, and a number of priests and Jesuits came over to England early in 1651,*** to join those who had remained more or less in hiding in London. *^^ In February 1657—8 a search for Popish recusants took place in the City,*'* and in the following December all Papists were ordered to leave London and Westminster.*" The order issued in 1653 that all marriages were to be performed by a justice of the peace does not seem to have been strictly obeyed in London. For example, at St. Saviour's Southwark, whilst all the marriages which took place in 1653 and 1654 were performed by a justice, in 1655 there was one exception, a couple being married by the minister ; in 1656 the minister married three couples; in 1657 he married six; and from that time till 1660 his services were more in request than those of the justice. *'' In some cases a double ceremony took place, first before an alderman or justice, and afterwards in church. *'' At St. Laurence Pountney the order was strictly obeyed.**" On the other hand, there is only one mention of a marriage by a layman at St. Mary le Bow during the whole period ; even when the banns were published in Cheapside Market the ceremony was performed in church.**^ But in most parishes the two alternated, marriages in church never ceasing for more than a year or so, and becoming more frequent as time went on.**- "' Register Bk. of Fourth Ch^iis, /latsim. *" Ibid. i8 Sept. 1648. Mem. 284-5. "' S.P. Dom. i6;o. Council of State Proc. i, 15, pp. 51-6. "'St. Stephen Walbrook Vest. Min. 1650 ; for the Council Order see S.P. Dom. Council of State Proc. i, 14, p. 32. "° Chwdns.' Accts. St. George Southwark, 1649-50 ; St. Margaret New Fish Street, 1650 ; St. Michael Wood Street, 1650, &c. In St. Margaret's Westm. 'the State's arms' were put up in 165 I ; Accts. "' S.P. Dom. ut sup.; St. George Botolph Lane Accts. 1652, &c. "' S.P. Dom. 1651, xv, 4. "' Ibid. 1657, civ, 73 ; St. Botolph Aldersgate Accts. 1657-8. "' S.P. Dom. 1650, Council of State Proc. i, 15, pp. 51-6 ; ibid. 165 I, i, 65, pp. 189-95. "* Lordi' Joum. ix, 129. "" S.P. Dom. 1658, clxxxlv, 52. •" Ibid. 83. "' Reg. 1653-60. "' St. Vedast Reg. 1653-4 5 ^t. Mary Aldermary Reg. 1656 ; St. Andrew Undershaft Reg. 1653, &c. "» Reg. 1653, &c. "' Reg. 1653, &c. "' Reg., St. Mary Magdalen Milk Street ; St. Peter Cornhill ; St. John the Evangelist ; St. Thomas Apostle ; St. Michael Cornhill ; St. Laurence Jewry ; St. Michael Bassishaw.
 * " Lords' Journ. ix, 330 ; Com. 'Joum. v, 439—40 ; Sharpe, Lond. and the Kingdom, ii, 270 ; Whitelocke,