Cromwell died in September, 1658, and the door was reopened to another time of repression through the duplicity of King Charles II who reneged on his acceptance of Presbyterianism and the National Covenant.

In 1661 some 61 ministers refused to accept Prelacy and were ejected from their ministry. Seven ministers were seized and imprisoned in Carlingford Castle and expelled to Scotland; ministers were excommunicated and Bishop Leslie of Raphoe caused four ministers to be incarcerated for six years simply because they were Presbyterians.

The cause of Presbyterians was not helped by an attempt at rebellion in 1663 led by a Captain Blood, the brother-in-law of William Lecky, a Presbyterian minister. The plot was betrayed and Blood escaped while two other alleged conspirators, Mr. John Crookshanks and Mr. Andrew McCormack, fled to Scotland only to be killed at the battle of Rullion Green in 1666.

William Lecky was tried and executed, but there remained the suspicion that other ministers had been involved and there followed another period where the Bishops pursued the Presbyterians for Non Compliance.

Despite these privations there was still the common man who assisted in making barns available for services or provided shelter and sustenance to the surviving ministers. Fortunately the truth of the Blood rebellion was revealed and by 1668 the government was tolerant of small, albeit crude, meeting houses that were being constructed.

A curious anomaly was the granting by King Charles II in 1672 , of the "Regium Donum" of £1200 (later reduced to £600 as that was all which was available) which was a recognition of the Church and its work, yet at the same time the Bishops continued to make life as difficult as they could. This endowment was enjoyed by the Irish Presbyterian Church, with some breaks, until 1869. Persecution returned again in strength after Charles died in 1685 when the Catholic James II came to the throne and with it wholesale changes in government and all positions of power both in England and Ireland.

Covenanters Time Line
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